8 days until the Last Ordeal

“Okay, how about an athletics scholarship?”

The afternoon saw me killing time at the park with Laura. We had been getting along pretty well since we fought together. After we ran out of ideas for things to do, we were both just sitting on the grass, trying to think of ways to monetize being Chosen.

Laura shook her head. “Too slow. That would get me into college, but wouldn’t pay real dividends for years.”

“Find someone looking for proof of the supernatural?”

“Already checked, nobody local.”

“Underground wrestling?”

“In this town? Please, we don’t even have a football team, let alone secret underground combat sports.”

“Damn. This is harder than it sounds.”

Laura laughed. “I know, right? I always wondered what makes comic book characters turn to supervillainy, but it turns out that it’s hard to get rich quick off of superpowers without turning to a life of crime.”

“Does that make this conversation your evil origin story?”

Laura didn’t respond. She sat up suddenly, holding up a hand to urge for silence.

“Laura?”

“Do you feel that?”

“Feel what?”

“I think there’s a monster nearby.”

I blinked in surprise. How could she tell that? I didn’t ask, though. We barely understood our own powers, so it didn’t seem out of place that she might be able to sense monsters somehow. I stood up and followed her without question. She was right.

Once, at an aquarium, I saw a starfish climbing the glass of its tank. I had always thought of them as slow, lazy things, but on the underside of that body was dozens of tiny legs, swarming in constant motion. This monster made me remember that sight. It was a four-pointed star, floating over a small pond, with hundreds of short limbs extending from the flat upper side, drifting like grass in the wind. It moved through the air at a sluggish pace, slowly approaching the shore.

Laura summoned her hammer. “What do you think?”

“I think it’s gross.” I summoned my spear, not taking my eyes off the monster. “Those things on the top are definitely going to attack us somehow.”

Laura texted the location to the other Chosen, then started slowly approaching. “Be ready for anything.”

As she approached, the monster reacted all at once. A dozen of its tiny limbs suddenly grew, spiraling upwards in chaotic arcs. They continued to extend, looping back downwards to strike at Laura. She jumped back in time, but the speed of the attack was terrifying. How would we be able to get near it safely?

“Would kill for a sword right now,” I muttered. Maybe Julio would show up again and help us cut those tendrils down to size.

“Let’s hit it from opposite sides,” Laura suggested. “Maybe we can confuse it, and reach the main body.”

I nodded. It was worth a shot. We split off, each trying to attack it from a different direction. Unfortunately, the monster had about a hundred arms, and there were only two of us. One grazed my shoulder, tearing through flesh with ease. Laura wasn’t able to get any closer, and we ended up falling back both worse for wear. The monster was unharmed, and moving towards us faster than before.

“Okay, this thing sucks,” Laura said. “Got any ideas?”

“Not much. If we can knock it over or unbalance it somehow it might interfere with its attack pattern, but we’ll have to get close to it. It’s too damn hard to approach it.”

Laura looked around. We had a pond, a picnic table, and a tree to work with. Her eyes locked on the last one. “I’ve got a plan – “

Before she could explain further, the monster attacked again. We had thought we were out of range, but it just hadn’t shown us how far it could attack from. By the time I noticed it was coming, it was too late for me to react. Two spiraling tendrils were coming right for me.

The next thing I saw was Laura’s back, with two gray, bloodstained tendrils piercing through it.

I screamed. The tendrils withdraw, and I grabbed Laura and ran. I put her down after taking cover behind the tree. The attack had punched two holes clean through her. There was blood everywhere. I couldn’t think. Everything was going wrong. We were going to die.

“…Val…”

The sound of Laura’s voice snapped me back to the present. “Laura! I thought you were dead!”

“Not… quite.” Laura struggled to get up. It would be impossible for a normal human, but something in her was refusing to give up that easily.

“Don’t get up!” I said desperately. “You’ll only make it worse! We have to wait for someone else to show up!”

“And let it… kill someone…?”

“I… I’ll do something! If I go fast enough, I’ll dodge all its attacks, and – “

Laura stood up. Her face was deathly pale, but her grip on her hammer was strong. “I have a plan. We’ve got one shot at this, and it’ll take us both.”

I didn’t like Laura’s plan, but I couldn’t think of a better one. The monster drew close. I stood behind the tree, waiting for it to come even closer. As it got within range, its tendrils started to move again.

“It’s in range!”

Laura roared in pain and determination as she swung her hammer into the tree. She hit it so hard that it splintered, falling directly on top of the monster. It reacted quickly, piercing the tree with twenty or so tendrils to stop it from falling. In doing so, it left itself just a little bit vulnerable.

I followed right behind the falling tree with a leaping strike. With its tendrils stuck in the tree, it didn’t have enough free to stop me before I landed. My spear came down on the eye at its center, breaking just an inch or two into it. Not enough for a killing strike.

Laura swung her hammer again. The same way our last battle together ended. Hammer and nail. She pushed my spear clean through it, and the monster went limp.

“Laura, we did it – “

As I turned to face her, Laura fell. I caught her before she hit the ground, but in my heart, I already knew. Her fate was sealed the moment she had been hit.

Laura Selby was dead.