15 days until the Last Ordeal

Harley’s arm was fine by the morning after our battle. One of the extra perks of this rapid healing was not having to explain weird injuries to other people.

On Monday, I got a text from Rita, asking me to come over after school. It’s not unusual for her to invite me over, but given the timing, I had a feeling I knew what it would be about. I dropped by after school, we hung out for a while, played some video games, and eventually she got around to what she wanted to talk about.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” Rita said suddenly, with a worried expression.

“Well, we’re on an emulator, so just save state before we go in.” I knew what she meant. I was half joking, half stalling before I had to get serious.

“You know what I mean. Fighting monsters. I don’t want to kill anything, even if it’s a monster.”

I let out a small sigh. I had a feeling this was going to happen; Rita wouldn’t hurt a fly. “101 said they’re like robots, right? Does that help at all?”

“Not really,” Rita replied. “101 said that, but I don’t think I believe it. If they’re intelligent enough to hunt, then they’re intelligent enough to count as living things. Besides, even if I could accept that… well, my weapon’s useless.”

“What is it?”

Rita glanced towards the kitchen to make sure her dad wasn’t watching, then summoned her weapon. I don’t think she needed to hide it; other people never acknowledge magic stuff anyway. The weapon looked like a tree branch made of metal, with smaller offshoots branching off at random points. As she said, it looked pretty useless as a weapon.

“Does it do anything?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know how to use it.”

If I had a beard, I would have stroked it thoughtfully. “In my first fight, I could use my weapon basically on instinct. Have you tried fighting at all?” She shook her head. Unfortunately, I had an idea.

A few minutes later, we were in the backyard: Rita with her weird tree branch, me with a pool noodle.

“All right, Rita. I’m gonna attack you as hard as I can with this thing, and just do whatever comes naturally, okay?”

“Okay…” Rita braced herself, looking extremely unsure about this plan. I couldn’t blame her; the plan was stupid. Still, it would be better to get hit by a pool noodle than a spear, right? I gave a half-hearted battle cry, charged, and swing it at my best friend’s face.

The noodle stopped a few inches before hitting Rita. She flinched, holding the weird twig in front of her like a shield. One of the branches had grown longer, wrapping itself around the noodle and holding it on place.

“Oh, hey!” I said, relaxing. “Look, you did something.”

Rita opened her eyes, then stared with fascination at her weapon. With a bit of concentration on her part, the extended branch shrank back to its original size and shape, letting go of the pool noodle. Then, a different branch grew, apparently following her mental commands.

“That’s awesome! You could do all kinds of stuff with that. How long can you grow it?”

Rita didn’t answer. Her gaze was fixed on a point behind me. I hesitated before turning, having a good guess of what I’d see and hoping I was wrong. I wasn’t.

Over the fence at the edge of the yard, something unnatural was just barely visible. Two horns, straight vertical, moved by with an unnerving smoothness. We both crept closer to the fence to peek over it and get a better look, and were met with a new monster, with their usual bizarre appearance. It was like a huge, bloated snake covered in shifting armor plates. Instead of a head, the end tapered off and split into two points – the “horns” we saw before. It slithered ponderously down the street, ignoring our presence.

I turned to ask Rita what we should do, but she was already texting the group. We stayed hidden, not wanting to risk provoking it before getting backup. Marie replied saying she was close enough to join us, but it looked like that was it. Three against one again.

After a couple minutes carefully stalking the monster, Marie slid quietly into position behind us. “What are we looking at?” She asked.

“No idea,” I answered. “So far, it’s just slithering. Looks tough but slow. I don’t see any weapons, which probably means it’s gonna do something weird.”

“All right.” Marie summoned her weapon – a golden, circular shield with a ring of blades around it, like a sun. “Let’s go before it gets bored and kills someone.”

I summoned my spear, and we headed out into the open to attack. As we approached, it didn’t change course at all, but it did respond to our presence; a point of orange light flickered into existence between its horns. It rapidly grew to about the size of a baseball, shining but shifting around in place, like it was made of liquid. As soon as it was done growing, the monster fired the ball at me – if the first monster I fought was throwing spears at me, this was more like a bullet.

It took everything I had to get out of the way in time. The orb soared past me, leaving a wave of searing heat behind it. When it hit the ground, it splashed apart into a steaming puddle of molten metal.

“One hit from that thing and we’re dead!” I yelled, closing into attacking range as it started gathering a second shot. The slow rate of fire meant that I should be able to get in, get in a few hits, and get away again before the next attack. My first strike did dent and crack one of its shifting armor plates, but at the same time, a pair of plates moved apart to reveal some kind of glowing vents underneath. It belched out a column of superheated air so intense that I recoiled on reflex. While I was recovering, it fired again – not at me, but at Rita.

Like a deer in the headlights, Rita froze. Time slowed to a crawl. I saw the next moments playing out in horrible clarity in my head. Rita being struck in the chest by a blast of molten metal, shattering and incinerating her body. She would die instantly, if she was lucky, and it would be my fault for bringing her with me.

The shot burst against Marie’s shield. By some miracle, she had been able to get between Rita and the monster in time to save her life. I exhaled as the moment passed.

“Get the hell out of here,” Marie growled, her eyes not leaving the monster. After a long, tense moment, Rita nodded, and ran.

Once we knew the monster’s tricks, the fight proceeded smoothly. Get close, damage it, fall back to avoid the heat bursts. Dodge the molten metal bursts. It took the longest of any of my fights to date, but eventually Marie tore it open with her shield, its blades spinning like a buzzsaw, and I thrust my spear inside. The monster died. I was getting used to this, a thought that disturbed me.

As we caught our breath, Rita came forward nervously. She looked like she was about to apologize, so I started to let her know that she didn’t need to. Marie cut us both off by stepping forward and slapping her across the face.

The next thing I knew, Marie was on the ground. I was standing over her, my knuckles stinging from a punch I half-remembered throwing. As my instinctual rage subsided, I calmed down enough to scream in Marie’s face.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

“What do you think you’re doing?” Marie shot back from the pavement. “Your friend almost got me killed!”

“I, I’m sorry…” Rita mumbled in a rising panic. “I couldn’t… I didn’t mean to…”

“Rita doesn’t have to fight!” I snapped back at Marie. “We never asked for these powers, so we don’t have any obligations!”

“What if I didn’t have a shield?” Marie asked evenly.

“What…?”

“What if I had a gun, or a whip, or something. I would be dead right now. In all likelihood, so would you.”

I took an involuntary step back. “That’s not… it doesn’t mean that…”

“What if she was the only person who could save an innocent person, and she froze again?” She continued. “You don’t get it. It doesn’t matter what you want or don’t want. We’re the only people who can stop these things, so we have to step up. If you don’t, every death you could have prevented is on your hands.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but something stopped me. It was the burns on Marie’s arm. She must have gotten them when she blocked the shot that would have hit Rita.

When Marie stormed off, I was left standing with a crying Rita. I hugged her, but I couldn’t get Marie’s words out of my head. Was she right? Did someone like Rita, who couldn’t even hurt an unfeeling monster, have a duty to fight regardless?

No answers came to me as I clung to Rita, crying against my shoulder.