The creature appeared as formless darkness, the edges of its being shimmering. Certain movements and patches of darker, dancing black provided what little form it did have, creating the faint outline of a cloak. A patch broke away from the rest, and what must have been a hand of black energy reached from the lighter black cloak toward them.
The reaper, according to the boy. Quite the fitting name.
And less than a few hundred feet separated them from it.
"Attack!" Cale barked.
The chains that bound them in place snapped. Mara shot her arrow, Cale summoned a spike of earth that sped upward, and Josh blasted a beam of light. The reaper's form grew faint, almost transparent, and the first two attacks passed through the creature.
The beam, however, collided with its middle, and its form darkened once more. Wails like hundreds of nails against chalkboards split the night air. It slimmed into a straight line as it writhed in the sky.
"So, light works," Josh said.
"Good, so we—move!"
The reaper swerved and plummeted to the earth.
Josh darted, but the shock wave of its collision with the sand sent him flying forward. He forced back the instinct to tuck and roll, hitting the ground chest first. Sand stormed around them. The boy screamed.
Twisting, Josh squinted through the dust cloud. Cale and Mara had met the same fate as him but recovered faster without a kid on their backs. The reaper's form had spread out, but now it rushed back together.
"I'm sorry," the boy murmured into Josh's shoulder. "It's going to get you guys now."
Flashes illuminated the night as Cale and Mara channeled beams of light at the reaper. It squirmed around most of them, letting out its ear-piercing wail when scraped by the attacks.
"We've got it," Josh said, pushing himself back up. "See? We're already holding it back."
The boy shook his head. "It isn't enough."
Josh frowned. He turned to face the reaper, focusing light into his hands. As much as he wanted to say everything was fine, the sheer terrified certainty in the boy's voice unnerved him. "What do you know—"
The reaper screeched, and the moment Cale and Mara flinched, it moved like a whip forward. Its form slammed into the two, sending them flying back.
Josh released his light blast. The reaper squirmed out of the way and dodged subsequent beams as it moved closer. Josh released his hold on the light and sprinted out of the reaper's path. A biting gust brushed past his back, and the boy yelped.
"You okay?" Josh asked as he hurried in Mara and Cale's direction.
"It stung, but yeah," the boy said. He continued on with his apologies and warnings, but Josh tuned it out. His focus needed to be on keeping the boy alive so he could continue making the excessive remarks.
The moment Josh reached the others, Cale exclaimed, "Draznik terrath!"
Earth shot up from the ground and formed a dome around them. Cale dropped to his knees almost at the same time the top of the dome sealed closed. He panted, and even with no light, Josh could see he'd gone pale again.
Their small rest hadn't been long enough.
The reaper slammed into the earth. It shuddered and cracks spread across its surface, but it held. For now.
"What's the plan?" Josh asked.
"If only light works, we blast it and don't stop when it breaks through," Mara said. She peered over Josh's shoulder. "Unless the child knows anything."
The boy sniffled and peeled his face away from Josh's back. "I don't... I don't know anything. I just woke up here, and then that reaper was chasing me. I don't even know how I know what it's called."
Something about the wording raised a question Josh couldn't quite grasp. He pursed his lips and kneeled. "Get down and behind us. We will"—another crash shook the dome—"protect you."
The boy did slip off Josh's back, but instead of going behind them, he stepped in front of them. "No. Just let it have me. It doesn't want you guys."
Josh ruffled what little hair the boy had. "Hey, playing hero is our job."
"And we don't know it wouldn't come after us. It's a monster, and this one has a thirst for violence," Cale said. He shoved up to his feet. Although unsteady, he remained standing. "We know its potential weakness. We fight, we win, and if we don't... No sacrifices."
Josh couldn't tell in the dark, but it looked like Mara flinched.
The next attack by the reaper broke a spot in the dome. The detached rock hit the sand near Josh's foot.
"That won't work," the boy whispered. He whimpered and clenched his head. "That won't work," he repeated, louder.
"Hey." Mara took a half step toward the boy. "Are you okay?"
"We have to get away," he continued. "It will kill us if we don't."
"We cannot run away from it forever—"
Cale cut off with a yelp. A light flashed to life around the boy's hands. Josh winced against the sudden brightness and shielded his eyes.
Mara whispered to the boy, but whatever she said was lost in the reaper's next collision. More rock fell, a piece nicking Josh. The light expanded, enveloping everything in the dome.
"Samara!" Cale called, and Josh heard the sand crunching with movement.
The reaper wailed, the sound growing louder and louder—
Silence.
Josh stumbled. The sand under his feet no longer gave as easily. It almost felt solid.
The light started to fade, but flares danced in Josh's vision. He blinked and rubbed at his eyes. He didn't hear the reaper, but another, unexpected sound met his ears: rustling leaves.
As his sight cleared, he found the source. A small group of trees waved in the wind.
And behind those trees, a vast expanse of broken buildings peered down at them from over a crumbled wall.
"Kid, what did you do?" Cale asked.
"I don't..." He cut off and sighed. He shakily lowered to the ground and wrapped himself into a small ball.
"What do you know?" Mara asked. She spoke in a quiet, knowing tone. And the resigned expression on her face when he answered proved she had guessed right.
"Nothing," the boy said. He stared at the ground, a few tears trailing his dusty cheeks. "I just woke up in the desert, and I couldn't remember anything. But when that monster showed up, I recognized it as a reaper."
"Why would an amnesiac kid be in a temple?" Cale didn't direct the question at anyone. He dropped his head back to look at the stars, and Josh had the distinct impression the other Paladin wanted to yell at them for answers. "Do you maybe remember a name at least?"
The boy opened his mouth, the pain in his expression providing the answer before he could say anything. He paused, and his eyes widened. "Actually... I do." He looked at each of them in turn, and a small smile lit up his face. "My name is Aharon."
The name jolted through Josh, and he turned to meet Mara's eyes. They carried the same shock he felt.
"What?" Cale demanded.
Josh gulped. This was just a boy with no memory, and the Paladin who sacrificed himself to seal Sheol would have been a man upon his death. The name couldn't be a coincidence though, not in the temple that required the scale of Aharon's dragon to enter.
"Caleb," Mara said, "I don't think we can just hope for help anymore."
Fun Fact: Because we got so much Cale awesomeness this chapter, random Cale fact xD His birthday is September 1st :D
Man, Cale's earth dome is the MVP for right now xD Crushing louse and keeping them mostly safe from a reaper. A reaper that doesn't want to go down. Wonder how one defeats that 👀 Also, Aharon has appeared! Or at least, a kid named Aharon... Surely that name is just a coincidence, right?
Let me know your thoughts on the chapter down below, and if you enjoyed it, don't forget to vote and comment. Or even join my Patron, which can be found in my bio. The lowest tier only costs $1 a month and gives you access to my discord, where you can get chapter previews and other perks detailed in Now That You're Caught Up.