Every muscle in my body was tense. Every instinct was telling me to run from the monster that towered over us. Its heavy, wheezing breath echoed around the room, cutting through the silence like a blade. As it lowered its head, its mouth open and sharp blackened teeth exposed, Alvin glanced back at me, his right hand tightening its hold on the handle of his sword.

“Matty?” he whispered, all previous joviality at exploring the crypt now gone from his voice.

“Yeah?”

“Get ready to run.”

He slowly drew his sword, crossing it against the lit torch in his other hand as he stared down the monster.

I backed up, trying to make my steps as light as possible so as not to aggravate the monster. Alvin could fight, sure — he was one of the most skilled fighters in the village — but neither of us had ever seen a monster before. Were all of them so big, and so… scary?

I kept backing up away from the monster, until I was standing next to the desk where the journal had sat. Though Alvin stood between me and the beast, its focus seemed locked onto me, following me as I moved. 

“Oi,” Alvin growled, sidestepping to place himself between the monster and I. “Look at me, you freak.”

Even as he weaved his sword back and forth, shifting his feet to brace himself for the monster’s attack, it still did not take its focus off of me. It seemed to hunch down, the liquid that dripped off of its body pooling and gathering onto its legs, making them bulge. Through the now-thinning body, as more and more fluid dripped away, small tufts of blackened fur started to become visible.

“What’re you up to, there?” Alvin asked breathlessly, his legs still locked in a battle stance.

The monster lifted one of its front legs, taking a slow step that seemed to echo around the room forever. It took another, gradually moving towards me as if Alvin wasn’t even there. And another, as Alvin backpedalled away from it.

The point on my neck where something had dripped... it tingled. Every step the monster took, that tingling feeling on the back of my neck grew, shivers running down my spine. Every step closer intensified every feeling inside me — adrenaline, but combined with the fear of the unknown and the fear of death.

A strange, powerful heat swirled within me as my heart raced faster and faster, starting from that point on my neck, and ending at the tip of my fingers... the same fingers I’d used to wipe that drip from my neck. 

Small clumps of the burning, buzzing warmth started to gather together around my body — both on the top of my head and down on my lower back. 

Did that liquid… when it dripped from the ceiling onto me, what did it do? What… was it?

“Back off from my brother,” Alvin hissed, standing his ground in front of the monster as it approached. 

The monster lowered its head, shifting its focus to him as he waved his sword in front of its face. The two of them stood, locked together, staring each other down, though the monster had no eyes to speak of — its only visible feature the stars that glittered in the pitch-black liquid that was its body.

I slowly reached for the flask of ink that sat on the table, next to where the journal had been. Something about it… I felt like I had to take it — like it was important. If we were to escape the crypt, I wanted to take both the journal and the ink with me. That would rely on Alvin being able to fend off the monster, though, which…

The moment I’d moved, the monster had shifted its focus back to me, its gaze seeming to bore into me despite its featureless face. 

Alvin let out a growl, readying his sword. The monster raised one of its front legs as Alvin raised his sword in turn, ready to slice at it. 

Then, it swung.

A loud, metallic crash echoed through the room as its bulky leg made contact with the sword. Alvin’s swing was stopped by the monster’s leg, but the black beast kept pushing, and his blade slipped underneath, cleaving a large gash in the oily, congealed lumps. Sprays of that mysterious substance splattered down across his chest and onto my shoulder.

Before Alvin could react and lift his sword in time, the monster swung its front leg again, and it collided hard with his torso, sending him flying to the back of the room. 

I screamed, “Alvin!”

A different voice came out of my mouth — one that I didn’t recognise — as the burning heat that pulsed around my body grew more and more intense. It built up further in my shoulder, buzzing as it travelled down my arm. I dropped the book, reaching out towards Alvin without thinking as the monster charged at him.

Warmth pooled into a ball in my empty hand, turning to hot, then scorching heat as a fierce orange glow began to fill the room. A loud crackling followed soon after, like the sound of old wood burning in a stove. The air began to swirl in front of me, spiralling and twisting together in red and orange streaks towards my open palm, eventually forming a large ball of flame.

And then it released, the fiery projectile launching towards the monster. It was fast, as well — too fast for the beast to dodge, even in its mad, galloping dash at my brother. Time seemed to slow down for a moment, as the fireball got close... and then, with a loud, violent explosion of flame and heat, it crashed into the monster’s side. 

I watched in disbelief as the monster was sent flying, only to then collide roughly with a heavy shelf. Everything was still for a moment, and then the shelf groaned, creaked, and collapsed atop the beast.

“…Mat-ty?” Alvin gasped, shaking as he tried to lift himself back upright. 

“Alvin!” I choked back as I rushed to his side. My... my voice was still different, and I lifted a hand to my throat in surprise, palm still warm from the fireball.

“Matthias, what was… who are…”

“I—” 

Everything seemed to flash for a moment, only for it to then suddenly become much darker. Lighting the room, there was only the soft, dim glow of the liquid on the partially-obscured monster’s body, and the faint shine of embers on the end of the torch tossed asunder.

“Matty, what did you do?!” Alvin exclaimed, scrambling upright and grabbing for the dropped torch. “That was fire! Fire came out of your—”

He stopped as a strangled, hair-raising growl rang out from the monster, the shelving atop it beginning to shift with creaks of protest as it tried to get itself free.

“We need to get out of here.”

I nodded, scooping up the journal I had dropped as Alvin blew on the torch to relight it. I followed behind him as he limped towards the door, his breathing ragged and heavy. How injured was he? I couldn’t stop myself from worrying, especially given our rush to make our way out of the underground structure and back into the cave. 

“I remember the way out,” he said, sheathing his sword and leaning on the wall with his free hand as he held up the torch. “It’s fairly straightforward… as long as there aren’t multiple exits to this place.”

Glancing around at the cave walls as I stumbled along behind him, I spotted the marks I had scraped into the stone with the loose rock on our way in.

“We’re going the right way.” I hurried to catch up with him, clutching the journal and the flask close to my body. “I’m pretty sure there aren’t any forks in the path, so we just need to follow it until we get out.”

The rest of the journey was spent in silence, save for the heavy breathing of the injured Alvin and the pounding of our hurried footsteps. The cave seemed too small for the monster to climb out of, luckily, and as we started to see the first faint glows of moonlight, both of us breathed a sigh of relief.

“We’re out… Finally…” Alvin exclaimed breathlessly as the two of us staggered forward out of the cave, both utterly exhausted.

Climbing through the bushes that hid the entrance to the cave, and exiting into the dense forest we called home, we made for a small lake situated in a nearby clearing. The reflection of the moon was bright as we approached, and the moment we got to it, both of us collapsed onto the ground.

Alvin stabbed the torch into the soft dirt, letting it burn just next to him as he fell onto his back with a heavy thump.

“That was terrifyin’... but it was so cool!” he exclaimed, before coughing and twitching as he rolled onto his side. I quickly crawled over to him, but he held up his hand, shaking his head. “I’m okay… I’m just a bit winded.”

“O–okay…” I said hesitantly, my worries not yet abated. Leaving him to lay there, I looked over the two things I had brought out of the crypt.

The cover of the journal was still a bit dirty, but the gold detailing on the spine shone slightly under the light of the moon. I had only read the first few pages, so I had no idea what else was in it.

“Whatever he says…” Alvin started, still breathing heavily, “don’t tell Dad what happened. If he asks, I took you out to teach you to hunt.”

“Agreed,” I mumbled, lying down on my back. Reaching out to the side, I picked up the flask I had taken from the underground structure. 

The glass seemed intricately carved, with complex patterns weaving down the side. A small cork sat in the top, sealing the ink inside. It… was okay that I took this, right? Ink was very difficult to come by in the village — normally we’d have to wait for a travelling merchant and hope that they had some in their stock. 

It was only as I held the flask up against the moonlight that I realised, the liquid inside it was softly glowing, small white dots spread throughout it like the stars in the night sky above me. 

*     *     *     *     *

“We can’t tell him ‘bout the crypt, but…” Alvin paused as we weaved through the forest, looking up at a gap in the trees at the night sky. “That monster… I’m goin’ to have to tell Dad that we saw it. If it gets out of there, the whole village could be in danger.”

“Yeah…” I mumbled, only half paying attention to what he was saying as I focused on following him in the near pitch-black of the forest.

He leaned back against a nearby tree, fidgeting with the loop in his belt that held the now-extinguished torch.

“The huntin’ party can act as the guards, and I’m pretty sure someone’s still mannin’ the guard tower out the front, but if the monster’s comin’ from the forest…”

I slumped down next to him, staring at the flask of liquid that I had taken from the crypt as it softly glowed. “Does that mean… I’ll have to join training too?”

“Unless you can spend the whole time runnin’ away from Dad, yeah…” Alvin replied, reaching around to ruffle my hair. “It was the strength trainin’ you didn’t like, wasn’t it?”

“Mhm.” I slumped forward, resting my chin against my knees as I thought back to the times that Dad had tried to drag me out for training. The earliest memories I had were of him grabbing my arm, when I was still just a child, and placing me in front of some weights carved out of a hardwood tree.

Even as I tried to lift them, failed, and cried, he still dragged me out of my room and outside for this training. It was only when I started hiding from him that he stopped, at the insistence of one of the other members of the village.

“As much as you hated it… there’s only so many able-bodied guys in the village,” Alvin said, sighing loudly. “And you’re, what, nearly twenty by now? The mercenaries told me that in other villages, guys get recruited into the defense force when they’re fifteen, way before they become adults.”

“I know, I know,” I grumbled, ripping bits of grass up and scattering it beside me. “And everyone goes on about how we’re so lucky, living in a village so isolated that we don’t have to deal with monsters.”

“And that isolation doesn’t mean a thing if the monsters are in here with us.”

Alvin grunted as he lifted himself off the tree, staring up at the stars through a gap in the canopy in an attempt to regain his bearings.

“Think about what I said back in the crypt. Brute strength isn’t the only way to fight, as much as Dad might think otherwise.”

I scrambled upright, stumbling along behind him as he set off.

“And you saw what happened when that monster showed up. My sword barely made a dent. The only thing that hurt it was that… weird fire thing you did.”

“Right, the…” Try as I might, I couldn’t figure out a lot of what had happened, back in the crypt. First there was the strange mirror that was showing someone different in the reflection. Why was it doing that? Then there was that strange tingling, and the warmth that I’d felt... and it had all started with that drop of liquid that had fallen onto my neck. 

And then, when the monster had shown up, what had happened to my voice? And… the fireball that hit the monster... As much as Alvin seemed to think I did, did I really make it?

“We’re here,” Alvin whispered, sidling up behind a tree and peeking around it.

A few stray outside torches and lit up windows were visible through the gaps in the trees, though no one was wandering out and about. Alvin and I ducked from tree to tree, making sure that if someone happened to look in our direction, they wouldn’t be able to spot us.

“Tomorrow, I’ll tell Dad about the monster,” he said quietly, his eyes locked on the open window of a nearby house. “Other than that, the only thing we need to tell him is that I took you out to teach you to hunt. No crypt, no monster, nothin’ else. Just us two in the forest, learnin’ how to navigate.”

The light in the window he was staring at slowly dimmed, and he gently grabbed my hand, pulling me out of the forest and into the clearing just outside the village.

“Looks like Dad’s goin’ to sleep.” He crouched down next to a small bush, peering over it. “Do you want to sneak back in, or are you goin’ to stay at Colette’s place?”

“I’ll sleep at home. There’s some stuff I want to grab, so I’ll head over to her place in the morning.”

“Alright then, let’s go.”