I Need a Hero

The mountain of legends that reach upon the skies loom over Pherlif's dark desolate island. She awoke from a deep slumber after last night's troubles. She let out a yawn that could be heard all throughout her empty halls outside. She stretched her arms upwards and gazed to the sad image out her window.

"Where have all the good men gone?" She solemnly whispered to herself. She turned away to a messy pile of dusty paintings that once displayed each of the seven deities the people have worshipped, "And where are all the gods?"

She put her feet down her bed and caressed a thick wooden club blanketed by a lion's flayed skin. "Where's the streetwise Hercules to fight the rising odds?". She smoothened her skirt and shook her hair from her shoulders to the back as she stood up. The morning breeze had been especially cold this time so she headed for the furnace and headed to grab a long metal rod. She knelt down at the side and lifted a few small logs with her free hand and threw it at the already weakening ember. She poked a blacked burning skull as the logs turned white. "Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?" Along with the small skull are numerous thinner sticks of charred bones and some other bigger ones that doesn't seem human-like.

She stood once again and glared at the fair woman staring back at her. As she approached, she thought of how uneasy she felt as she slepy last night. "Late at night I toss and I turn and I dream of what I need!" she said to her reflection.

"I need a hero!" She sharply turns and heads for the door. "I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night." Pherlis runs out through the halls, the stomping of her feet echoing on the walls. She runs past a huge chiseled block caked with dried stinking maroon fluid; a fully armored cadavere lying on its stomach with its arms crushed below the block. She cheerfully sang, "He's gotta be strong..." then she continued past numerous rotting corpses stabbed by hundreds of arrows while still singing "...and he's gotta be fast...". She reached the end where she stops just in time to push against the balcony overlooking many hungry looking glowing eyes, "...and he's gotta be fresh from the fight." she grinned ever so happily while sliding down the stairs.

"I need a hero! I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light!' She scratched the fur of her wild pets as she passed by towards the ruined entrance of the keep. A hanged man is tied at the center of the doorframe, he was a knight that tried to enter but quickly turned away when he saw her beloved felines. "He's gotta be sure and it's gotta be soon and he's gotta be larger than life..." She pushed the man's feet aside and continued to exit, staring longingly out to the open sea past the shore of bodies and field of red grass. "...larger than life." She stopped, looking up to the gigantic mountain that covered the first light of the morning sun.

She ambled through the field careful not to set off any trips on the way. "Somewhere after midnight, in my wildest fantasy..." A few large pits become visible as she neared them, sharp black spires impaled through mailed armor covering thick batte seasoned flesh. "Someone just beyond my reach, there's someone reaching back for me." She stretched her right arm towards the cloud shrouded peak of the mountain and imagined streaks of light flew all around towards her. She clenched her fists tightly and lowered them to the ground. Dark clouds soon began to cover the once clear sky, and the earth trembled. Thunder crackled as rain poured weakly and the earth broke as it shook even more, "Racing with the thunder and rising with the heat.". A red glow seeped through the earth's cracks and it followed Pherlif when she swung her arm up in an arc. The wave moved back and forth as the ground beneath it get cracked and soon, larger fissures crawled up the mountain until it can't be seen at the top anymore. "It's gonna take a superman to sweep me off my feet!" As she finished her sentence, she heard a loud explosion coming from the far peak of the mountain followed by an orange light that barely passed through the clouds.

"I need a hero!" She screamed as the rain became stronger and the winds whipped the ground loudly. "I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night!" The explosion continued to roar in the distance, small burning rocks accompanied the cold piercing rain. "He's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast and he's gotta be fresh from the fight!"

"I need a hero! I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light, he's gotta be sure and it's gotta be soon and he's gotta be larger than life!" She challenged whoever it was up there. I'm holding 'til the end of the night, she repeated. I NEED A DAMN HERO!

Sheer cold rain and scorching molten boulders fall from the sky like cats and dogs with spears of lightning. "Up where the mountains meet the heavens above..." She is getting excited with the thought that she's finally getting what she wanted. "...out where the lightning splits the sea." The waters rise like tall walls and crash down like a giant's palm. "I could swear there is someone, somewhere watching me!" She felt him nearing. Finally after months of butchering his men, all that it took for him to go down is just a bit of fireworks. "Through the wind, and the chill and the rain, and the storm and the flood!" She chanted as the clouds opened a hole to give way. "I could feel his approach like a fire in my blood!" She can't help but smile intently, finally seeing her revered foe.

Her cold suitors began to rise and chant with her. "Like a fire in my blood." They say repeatedly in a unison of high pitched voices, raising an octave everytime the finish saying the line. Like a fire in my blood. Like a fire in my blood. Like a fire in my blood.

They all stopped when the hero finally came crashing down, fist on the ground, kneeling in the landing posts most heroes do. His fall resulted in a crater forming and a wave of strong wind sweeping anything near a five mile radius. Pherlif didn't stir nor flinch unlike her suitors who got knocked away if their bones weren't shattered first.

Pherlif charged with lightning speed and tried to land a killing blow to the head which was unfortunately blocked by the ever so alert hero. "Now there's the hero..." she said glowering at him. "A hero valiantly entered but will not leave alive." She twisted and aimed to kick him out of balance but the hero dodged in time. She tries to swiftly punch his manhood but again, the hero managed to block by quickly swatting her arm away with his bare strength. "And for sure he is strong, and no doubt he is fast..." She successfully landed a kick on the gut when the hero failed to hit her. "...but so were the last heroes they sent."

"I need a hero!" she teased the man, as he missed again and again, only ever landing a hit on her silky smooth hair. "I'm tired of repeatedly winning all of my fights." The dead soon joined the fight, closing on the combatants but only swinging their rusty swords against the lone hero. "He's gotta be sure and it's gotta be soon and he's gotta be larger than life..." They continued to bash and crash and dodge against each other for what seemed like hours. All while the earth trembled and the mountain shrouded by stormy clouds crumbled. The hero became more and more tired but Phersif endured. He managed to destroy all of her minions but he didn't get to land a single hit at her. Disappointed, she sighed and drew a dagger to finish off the intrepid but weak hero.

To her surprise, the hero shot her a fierce look in his eyes and she felt a pang of fear for the first time in years. She froze for a moment, but shrugged it off and sauntered towards her opponent. With a sudden flash of light the hero lunged at Pherlif and drove her crashing hard to the ground. She felt the air escape her lungs as the man dropped all his weight down; her bones seemed to crack even louder than the roar of the skies. They laid there still for several minutes as the clouds shone with white and orange and water and rocks rained down. She heard the man grunt in pain just as she realized that she held the hilt of the dagger upwards; and strangely she could feel his hard abdomen pressing hard against it. The storm subsided almost immediately as her breath got more and more shallow.

She heard him chuckle and whispered, "Need a hero now?". The cool air seemed to slowly freeze the droplets left because the sun still hasn't shortened the mountain's shadow. Something really warm coated her hand. "Maybe you do." she replied. The hero's weight weighed even more when he drew his last breath; but she felt very light as the first light hit her eyes and blurred her vision.