For half a second my mind went blank. I had only seen this kind of event on paper. But I had received training when I started working at this cafe, and it kicked in faster than I expected.

As the goblins were smashing a table, I ducked under the counter, and pressed the emergency services dial button, requesting a low to mid-level military team on-site asap. I then reached across towards the coffee machine. I quickly unplugged it and covered it with its slide-down protective casing. I knew I would have to pay out of pocket if it got damaged (or rather out of my father’s pocket).

“Are you alright?” Etienne asked as he kneeled beside me.

He had been baking downstairs and missed the start of all this excitement.

“Yes, I’m fine. I called the cops, covered Manon’s precious baby, and am now all set to wait here for the next 10 minutes, ‘till the cops get here.” I reported.

“You should hide in the kitchen.” Etienne softly told me, as he peeked over the counter to assess the situation.

“What about you?” I asked.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I’ll just check-”

A loud inhuman scream resonated throughout the café. I covered my ears with my hands, and closed my eyes, trying to hold back tears. The scream was painfully loud.

 

As soon as the scream stopped, I opened my teary eyes and glanced over at Etienne. He had covered his ears just like me. I saw his lips move but I could not make out any words. My ears were still ringing. I glanced around us and saw shattered glass on both sides of the counter. I felt a hand land on my shoulder, and I snapped my head back towards Etienne.

He gestured to his ears, probably trying to tell me that he too could not hear. I nodded and tried to sit up to look over the counter. I was immediately pulled down by Etienne. ‘Too dangerous’, he seemed to be saying.

And yet, that didn’t stop him from getting up, after gesturing for me to stay where I was, and disappearing behind the counter. He was probably going to check if all the customers got out safely. I nodded, trying to reassure myself about both my fate and his, and leaned from my hiding spot to check the clock.

There were 6 minutes left before the cops would bet here.

As I was distracted by the clock, I felt something slither over my hand. As I looked down, I saw it was some sort of plant root, and as my eyes followed it to its source, I saw the creature it belonged to. A giant mish-mash of roots, which reached almost all the way to the ceiling in height, occupied the centre of the café. It was currently busy whacking a goblin against a wall, while relentlessly stabbing its friend with its roots.

As gory as that spectacle was, at least it gave Etienne plenty of time to evacuate the rest of the clients.

 

 

 

I felt a sharp pain in my hand. The plant had stabbed me right through my palm. But although it hurt like nothing before, as soon as the mandrake removed its root, the wound closed back up. I thanked my lucky star for giving me such high luck points, before reaching out for a knife, a proper sharp one used to cut cakes, and violently stabbing the root with it.

“That’ll teach you.” I said.

Suddenly the scream resonated through the shop once more. I dropped the knife and covered my ears.

 

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was a disgusting face formed by twisted roots and dirt looming over me.

I screamed. Or at least I thought I did since I couldn’t hear anything but that horrible ringing noise in my ears.

The mandrake moved its roots towards me, as time seemed to slow down.

 

I knew I should reach for the knife. The system pop-up seemed to tell me to do so as well. But I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. My skill must have negated the effects of the mandrake’s mind attack, but not my own fear. What if I died? Oh god, I didn’t want to die again.

A blue lightning bolt hit the creature on its side, and it instantly turned away toward its new target.

 

I didn’t have the time to thank whatever miracle had caused this, as I realised that the lightning attack could have come from no one but Etienne.

Although I no longer had a passive buff, was thinking more clearly than ever. I picked up the knife, and launched at the creature, aiming for what I hoped to be its head.

The blade made contact, and it screeched once again, but this time the sound was no longer unbearable. I pushed the knife deeper and deeper into its wood-like flesh, surprising even myself with this newly found strength.

 

 

 

Dark liquid started oozing out of the wound, and with the last of this adrenaline rush, I pushed the knife fully in, until only its handle stuck out.

 

 

 

 

It seemed as if I had overexerted myself. I didn’t even feel it when the creature used one of its root-limbs to throw me aside.

My vision went blurry when I hit a wall.

“Laura!” Etienne cried out.

He fired another bolt of electricity to get the mandrake’s attention back to him. Then, he ran his right hand over his left arm, as if gathering energy in one spot. Almost instantly, this energy formed into meter-long claws, which he used to launch at the mandrake.

But this energy-based attack seemed not to have damaged it as much as my blade one, and while keeping its wood eyes on Etienne, it pierced my side with a root, before unceremoniously throwing me down the stairs.

 

 

I groaned in pain. I was in no mood to do maths, but I could just about figure out that I was under 20 luck. This meant that if I got hit by that thing again, I would start taking the kind of damage that would land me in a hospital. Or worse.

I heard police sirens in the distance. The noise got louder and longer, and by the time I was up, I could hear several more voices coordinating an attack upstairs. Slowly, while still holding my side, I headed towards the stairway.

Just as I grabbed the handrail, I saw a bright red light flood the room upstairs. Before I had had the time to react, the light had reached me. It felt nice and warm, until it didn’t.