Knight's breath hitched. His vision tunneled, heart pounding so hard it muffled the sound of the forest around him.
Then came the sound.
Rustling.
The armored snake slithered through the trees with terrifying ease, its body gleaming under patches of light. Massive, plated scales overlapped like metal armor, each one the size of a man's chest. Its tongue flicked out, tasting the blood in the air.
Knight's grip tightened around his sword as his hands trembled.
There was no space in his head to think about running or about hs own safety. Bloodlust and emptiness overcame him as he took a step forward.
The serpent hissed and lunged.
Knight yelled and swung with everything he had, aiming for the middle of its head.
The blade snapped in two the instant it connected with the beast's skull. The jagged metal clattered to the ground.
Knight's breath caught. He had no time to think before the snake's body slammed into him like a battering ram with the only thing between them being his now broken sword.
He flew back, crashing into a tree hard enough to knock the wind out of his lungs. Bark cracked. His body folded like a ragdoll, and he dropped to his knees, coughing violently.
His vision blurred. He tasted blood.
Get up.
Get up.
He staggered forward by pushing himself against the tree with his teeth grit, hands grabbing the broken half of his sword. The snake turned, its head swinging back toward him.
Knight sprinted toward it again, ducking low and aiming for its eyes or mouth or anything soft.
He leapt, plunging the jagged blade toward the slit between its plated nose.
But the snake twisted, and his weapon bounced off uselessly. He barely avoided its snapping jaws as it retaliated with a violent whip of its head.
Knight was flung through the air, crashing through underbrush and slamming into the dirt hard enough to leave a crater. Pain exploded through his ribs, his shoulder dislocating on impact.
He groaned, trying to crawl.
But the serpent wasn't done.
It came after him, rearing its head and bringing its full weight down in a bone-crushing strike.
Knight rolled, feeling the ground quake beside him as the beast missed by inches.
He couldn't breathe nor could he stand.
His limbs trembled with exhaustion, while his muscles shredded from overuse.
And yet…
He tried again.
He had to stand back up to murder the creature that killed his dear friend.
He got one foot under him, pushing up with a snarl, the broken blade trembling in his hand.
The snake lunged again, mouth wide, rows of dagger-like teeth glinting.
Knight thrust upward in a last-ditch attempt—aiming for the inside of its mouth.
But it was too fast.
It slammed him into the ground, coiling its body around him and flinging him sideways again. Knight crashed through a bush and hit a rock, blood spraying from his mouth.
His ears rang and the world spun.
Without hesitation, the snake moved in for the kill.
Knight closed his eyes.
A flash of movement.
A scream.
Two figures charged from the woods—one with long white hair streaked red, the other with a blonde ponytail and dual daggers in hand.
Soon the pair of daggers slashed through the air, clanging against the snake's armored flank while a barrage of fire balls exploded into its side, just enough to make the beast flinch and recoil.
Knight blinked.
And that's when a final large ball of fire slammed into its side, erupting with a loud BOOM that shook the trees.
Knight's eyes widened. Through the blur and ringing in his ears, he watched the two strangers coordinate without missing a beat. The warrior girl danced in close, drawing the snake's attention with rapid strikes to the gaps in its armor—under the jaw, behind the neck—while the white-haired elf mage circled at range, hurling fireballs that burst against the serpent's thick scales.
The snake roared in frustration, lashing out in wild arcs.
Knight, dragging himself behind a tree trunk, could hardly believe what he was seeing. His arms trembled just trying to hold his weight up.
They didn't even look scared.
But they were struggling.
Yet they were still here.
And they weren't letting him die just yet.
"What the hell is this thing!?" the dual blade wielder shouted, ducking a swing of the snake's tail. Her voice was sharp, cutting through the chaos.
A second voice called out, urgent and firm. "Miriam! Keep it distracted! I'll hit it from behind!"
"Amber, now would be a great time to actually melt something!"
Miriam landed a hit—barely—and rolled away just in time to avoid being crushed. Amber launched a wave of fire, and though it hissed against the snake's plating, it barely left a scorch mark.
Knight saw the moment Amber clenched her jaw.
"It's not working," she growled. "I can't get through the scales!"
The armored snake reared back, its thick, plated body twisting through the underbrush with unnatural speed. The sheer force of its movements shook the nearby trees. Miriam dashed to one side, daggers slicing in precise arcs, aiming for joints and gaps—but there were so few.
Creating clanging noises, sparks flew as her blades scraped uselessly against the serpent's armor.
Amber raised her wand high, her eyes narrowing as she chanted under her breath. A half-dozen fireballs spiraled outwards, painting the air in red-orange light. They slammed into the snake's flank.
Smoke clouded the air.
But when it cleared, the creature barely looked phased—its armor was scorched, maybe dented, but far from broken.
Amber cursed. "Shit, fire is useless against it!"
"We need to aim for the soft parts like the eyes!" Miriam shouted, flipping backward as the snake struck again.
The serpent slammed its head into the forest floor where she had just been, dirt and roots flying upward in a violent spray.
Knight staggered to his feet, leaning heavily on a tree. Blood ran from a gash at his temple. His breath came in ragged gasps. Every muscle screamed. His right arm hung limp.
But his eyes—his eyes locked onto the snake.
Toby's body hadn't moved.
It was still crumpled, still dead.
Knight's teeth clenched and his vision swam.
"Back off!" Amber shouted at him as he started forward, dragging his foot. "You're in no condition to fight!"
"She's right!" Miriam added, darting past him as she went in for another slash. "You'll just get yourself killed—get out of here!"
Knight didn't respond.
The desire to tear apart the flesh of the serpent took over. The inside of his head was silent, filled only with cold bloodlust.
He ducked under the swipe of the snake's tail, barely keeping balance as the wind of it nearly knocked him over. He rolled, grunted, and grabbed something off the ground—a familiar shard of steel.
The shard of his blade that broke off.
Although it was extremely jagged, it was sharper than his broken weapon.
The snake shrieked and turned, focusing now on Knight as if recognizing him as the one who had survived its earlier assault. The snake's body tensed—and then lunged.
Knight threw himself sideways, just missing another strike. The impact of the serpent's head hitting the ground sent rocks into the air.
Amber raised her wand again. This time, the fire she summoned pulsed brighter, hotter—laced with desperation. The flame twisted into a concentrated lance and hurled forward, striking just beneath the snake's jaw.
It roared. The magic had singed away a tiny patch of armor.
"There!" Amber yelled. "We can break through that spot!"
Miriam nodded, kicked off a tree, and dove for the weak point. She struck once—twice—each time her daggers digging a little deeper.
But the snake thrashed violently, tail sweeping sideways and catching Amber mid-cast.
She was sent flying, smashing into a tree with a yelp. Her fire sputtered out as she hit the ground hard.
"I—I'm fine—!" she cried.
The serpent turned again, this time focused on Miriam.
But none of that mattered.
Because the snake was still breathing and Toby wasn't.
Knight's vision pulsed again, red and broken and burning around the edges. There was no plan nor thought. Just something building in his chest like a scream that didn't know where to go.
You let him talk and talk and talk——and now he's quiet forever.
Something in him cracked.
He started laughing.
Just a short, and quiet harsh sound—like metal dragging across bone.
The kind of sound a person makes when their brain finally stops pretending it's okay.
He didn't care anymore. No, he couldn't care. Not about pain, nor dying nor what happened after.
His hands moved on their own. He gripped the blade shard without feeling it, his fingers sinking into the jagged edge, tearing through his skin and into his flesh. Blood ran down his palm, hot and steady.
Then he ran.
Straight into the monster.
"No!" Miriam shouted. "Stay back—!"
The snake lunged.
He leapt straight into it—into the snapping maw, the glinting rows of teeth, the boiling stink of rot and blood.
Knight slammed the shard downward with all the strength left in his trembling body, right into the dark slit of its eye.
The steel didn't slide in—it sank, like pushing metal into wet clay. There was a sickening pop, and then a burst of black fluid exploded over his arm, scalding hot and reeking of bile.
The snake screamed—not a hiss, but something deeper. A war-howl that tore through the forest, shaking branches loose and sending birds scattering into the sky.
Its entire body twisted violently but Knight held on.
His legs flailed wildly in the air as the beast thrashed, its armored head swinging like a wrecking ball. His arm—still lodged elbow-deep in the creature's eye socket was caught inside, pinned and burning.
The snake bucked again.
Knight heard something crack inside his arm.
A sharp, wet snap echoed through his shoulder. Pain lit his nerves on fire. His humerus had split at the joint—broken completely, and not clean. The bone pierced through tendon, pushed into muscle, maybe out the back.
But he didn't scream. Instead, he bit down hard enough on his own tongue to bleed.
He clenched the shard tighter with his remaining fingers, the edge carving deeper into his palm as the pressure forced it inward.
His fingers spasmed as his tendons tore, making the steel carve through his grip like it hated him too.
But he shoved it deeper.
The snake rolled, slamming him into a tree. His back caved against bark, ribs creaking, lungs collapsing in his chest like punctured leather.
Still, he held on.
Blood from the serpent's eye socket gushed down his forearm in thick, blistering waves. His shoulder was loose—barely attached now—but his grip hadn't failed.
"Just—" his voice cracked, broken, raw from smoke and screaming, "—DIE!"
The blade punched deeper, tearing more of the eye apart. Something inside the skull gave way. A spasm rocked through the serpent's entire body.
Its tail slammed into the dirt again, carving a crater that nearly swallowed Amber where she lay. Trees bent from the force and its roots tore up from the earth.
Knight felt the body beneath him go rigid, then begin to seize.
The snake thrashed—not like it was attacking anymore, but like it didn't know how to die properly. Its spine snapped and coiled. Its head reared back, flinging Knight into the air before he crashed down again, still somehow gripping the embedded steel.
His world spun.
The creature gave one final jerk, like its soul had gotten caught on something on the way out.
Then the entire weight of it collapsed.
The snake's skull slammed into the ground, throwing up a burst of dirt and blood and shattered leaves. Knight landed hard across its head and slid down the side, crumpling against the forest floor like a discarded rag.
Silence followed. A long, eerie silence broken only by the rasp of breath and the crackle of dying flames.
"Hey! Hey!" a voice shouted.
Footsteps thudded close—boots on forest floor.
"Is he alive?" another asked, panic creeping into the words.
"Barely. Damn it. We need to get him out of here."
He stayed slumped against the creature's head, arm still lodged in the gore, body barely upright, trembling like loose wires.
He couldn't feel anything.
Not the blood soaking his clothes. Not the way his legs buckled beneath him. Not the sting of the broken bone jutting from his arm where it had snapped inside the serpent's skull.
His helmet tilted slightly downward.
From beneath the visor, only a sliver of his eyes was visible—but what showed there wasn't anger nor victory or grief. The only thing he felt was emptiness.
The light that had returned to him, slowly, since coming to this world—the faint glimmer that had flickered through shared bread, through dumb conversations, through Toby's voice—it was gone.
His eyes had gone hazy again. Clouded. Washed out.
Like someone had taken a brush and smeared the color out of them. Pale and unfocused. Like they weren't looking at the world anymore, but through it.
The same look he used to see in the mirror. Back when his curtains were taped shut. Back when his voice hadn't been used in days. When everything in him had already stopped.
Miriam skidded to a stop beside him. She knelt, one hand reaching toward his shoulder.
No response.
She leaned in, peering through the slit in his helmet.
"Hey. Say something. You're alive, damn it."
But the boy behind the mask didn't move.
His breathing slowed.
And the eyes behind the helmet didn't blink.
Just stared into the mud-soaked dirt where Toby's body still lay, half-buried in red.