Guardian (Part I): Last Winter

Chapter 12: Finn

Mom rushed out from our cover behind her lightshield, and the Knight at the top of the watchtower opened fire on her. While he was focused on her, Emma aimed her pistol at the Knight and fired until he stopped firing. There weren't any more plasma bolts striking Mom's shield, and no words coming from the Knight's mouth.

"Did you get him?" I asked, to Emma.

"I don't know," Emma answered. She took out a pair of binoculars and looked at the top of the watchtower through them.

"He's dead," she reported. Now, we would have an easier time making it through Old Logres, but there were still the monsters to fight our way through. These minor behemoths frightened me more than the Lost that were in Central Logres, but I knew how to kill them easily. I was hardly sure if my bow would do the trick, but I knew my aura blade would. I formed it in my hands to fight the ones that we ran into on the way to the other side of Old Logres. I saw Mom tear a few to pieces with her bare hands if she wasn't using her sword and shield, but I stuck with my blade. Emma was using her own radiant sword, luring them towards herself with shots from her pistol before cutting them down. I had my own strategy of attack depending on what I was fighting. With these lesser behemoths, I would normally warp behind them and kill them instantly with a swing to the head, but we must have been having to face at least a dozen at a time as we went further into Old Logres. I wasn't as aggressive as I would normally be. When one swung its clawed arms at me, I would duck under the attack before swinging my sword at its chest with a pirouette. The very tip of my aura blade would nick their chest, and it would cause them to bend down so I could go for the head. It wasn't a strategy that I would see a lot of my friends use. Connor would trade hits with certain kinds of monsters if it meant killing them. Ruth would either warp behind them and take their heads off, or blast them with ice, fire, or lightning, depending on what she was fighting. Morgan and the rest of Fireteam Pegasus would never even separate when they were making their way through a place like Old Logres. They were a smaller team of lesser Guardians, but still a strong one. It wasn't long before we felt the darkness hanging over Old Logres beginning to fade, but there was still something here, and I wanted to be as far away from it as possible. I looked over and saw Emma stepping towards the door of a small church, though, and remembered what she said earlier. She was in Logres to find something, but Mom and I weren't to know what it was.

"Is that where your objective is?" I asked.

"Yes," Emma answered. "I can't thank you both enough for getting me this far, but this is as far as we may go together."

"It's that important, is it?"

"I'm afraid so," Emma admitted. "Again, thank you." She opened one of the large doors of the church, and I suddenly sensed something behind it. A faint, radiant aura. I saw Mom looking my way. She sensed it, too.

"Did Emma go in there?" Mom asked.

"Yeah, she did," I answered. "You... felt something, right?"

"Yes," Mom hissed, and she reached her hand to the door. Before she touched the door, though, an ear-piercing roar came from the other side. Mom immediately ignited her lightshield and knocked them down with a bash from behind her shield. Emma had her sword drawn in front of a larger behemoth than the ones we've been facing up until now. Like every behemoth, it was covered with thick, black fur, but there wasn't a head on this one. Not one that was obvious to me, anyway. After a moment, I saw a skull that seemed to be in the shape of a human's, but its flesh and skin were hanging from its neck, covering its furry, slender arms. The sight made me want to vomit, but when I saw it raising a clawed hand to attack Emma, I instinctively warp rushed through its arm before it could lay a scratch on her. I severed its entire arm with my broadsword-shaped aura blade, and a blood-curdling screech came from its skull. I covered my ears to protect them from the horrible noise, but then it swung its remaining arm at me. I ducked and rushed at its legs before any of its claws could touch me. My aura blade missed the behemoth's legs, and it landed a kick to my chest that sent me across the hall of the church. I heard a horrid "crack" from my chest, and pain shoot through my entire body as I rolled on the ground.