The ride went on for another while longer, with the silence being interrupted periodically when the wheels drove over something particularly hard. And throughout the ride, Brutus couldn't help but notice Lady Alicia staring at his face very intently.
"Is there something on my face?" Brutus sighed.
"Huh?" Replied Alicia.
"You were staring at my face?"
"I was?"
"Yes? How can you not know if you've been staring at me while staring at me?"
"Oh, i don't know, do you not get that alot though?"
"No, I don't think I ever have. Why?"
"Oh that's odd, considering your facilities in the face department I would've figured that all the girls would stare."
"Whats that supposed to mean? Whats a face departme-" and before Brutus could fully ask, the entire carriage shook as if the ground under it had been shattered. "What the..." said Brutus warily.
"Ugh, there must be a holdup outside the carriage," sighed Alicia.
"Holdup? What holdup?" Asked Brutus looking out the window.
By the time he looked back to where alicia was, the cabin was occupied only by Brutus.'Where the hell did she go now?' Stepping outside the carriage, Brutus looked at what had caused the delay, and what he saw made him freeze.
Alicia was battling blurs, vague silhouettes of monstrously large creatures, a head that seems to have not grown properly and whose vertical mouth parts it down the middle, lined with short jagged teeth. The head attached to a thick neck too big for the head it supports, and frail elderly limbs sticking out of a torso in the shape of a large lions.
Their slick grey skin flickered between having fur one moment, rotting the next, then glinting scales, as if reality couldn't decide what they were. Above all, no noises could be heard coming from the creatures, just an occasional soft tick, like that from a clock.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE THINGS?!" Brutus shouted.
"They're the Misaligned!"
"The misa-what?!"
"Misaligned! They're beasts that aren't alligned with time!"
Brutus wanted to look for more answers but before he could ask questions, he saw for a blur flicker infront of him before immediately feeling a bone-shattering impact on his chest, launching him metres to the side.
Groaning and struggling to get back to his senses, Brutus felt himself being pulled to his feet by his armor's collar.
"Get up! Unless you want to die a gruesome death, you need to fight!" Alicia beckoned. "Dammit, If only i wasnt wearing this damned dress!" She grumbled.
"Fight?! How the hell do we even fight something like this!"
"It's simple really!" Before finishing, Alicia swung at thin air, but instead of passing through nothing, her sword made contact and wedged itself into the body of a blur. "You have to predict where they'll attack from!" Tugging the sword out from the blurs body, Alicia plunged the sword into its torso. The Misaligned flickering exploded into a frenzy of fur, rot, and scales. The flickering quickened to a point faster than eyes could see, and as quick as the flickering began, it stopped, and the Misaligned body shuddered and grew still.
"What the hell..." Brutus stood dumbfounded. 'Guess? I have to guess where these monsters are gonna hit me?!' Before another thought came to his head. Another blur appeared before him, this time Brutus tried to react but was again struck in the chest.
"You can't react to their movements! If you see them, they've already hit you!"
Groaning on the ground once again 'what... the hell... how am I supposed to predict the future...' crawling off the ground and shakily rising to his feet, Brutus unsheathed his sword, and grasped it tightly in his hands. Taking a steady breath, Brutus swung his sword... and hit nothing. Then, was struck in the back.
"Argh! How am I supposed to hit these assholes!" Brutus roared
"I don't know myself! You just have to trust your instincts!" Alicia called out.
"...you're useless!" Shouted Brutus once more.
"Hey watch how you talk to me!" Alicia yelled.
Disregarding anything else she had to say, Brutus stood back up and grounded himself. Inhaling slowly, Brutus narrowed his eyes, waited, and swung once more, and once again sliced nothing but air. But before past events repeated themselves, Brutus dove forward, avoiding a long, skinny limb striking where he should've been. "Aha! How d'you like that you little shi-" Brutus was struck in his chest again.
"Stop fooling around or you'll really die Brutus!" Warned Alicia.
Rolling away on the ground, Brutus got to all fours and spat out a crimson liquid on the orange sand.
"I got it!" Brutus called out. Once again, Brutus grounded himself, this time focusing on his instinct.
Left.
Swinging his sword in an arc to the left, Brutus felt... air, and pain. "ARGH!" on the ground once again, Brutus realized Alicia's method only works for her, a regular knight like Brutus can't realistically replicate her instincts.
So Brutus back on his feet focused, not on his instinct, but on the flickering blur, he looked for subtle tells, 'maybe the flickering stops when it's about to attack or something.' On the ground Brutus learned that's not the case.
'Maybe their image sharpens?' Nope.
'Maybe-' Nope again.
Back on the ground, Brutus felt his body slowly failing, too many hits, too many close calls, and there being no pattern to the Misaligned erratic movements. Brutus was about to give in to the piled weight of sleep.
Then something shifted.
A shadow stretched across his body.
A shadow with nothing above to cast it.
He snapped his eyes open. A shadow.
Instinct overtaking exhaustion, Brutus flung his body to the left hard, hearing a thunderous boom behind where his head used to be
"Its not the body! Its the shadow!"
For the first time, Brutus was certain where to swing.