march madness post.

I know this post is already a monster, its huge. but it needs some explaining due to the fact that it is my favorite chapter of a very lengthy story i have been writing. i have only posted the first few chapters. this event occurs pretty far into the plot when Cage Cabell, Ilene and Rocky go out to find a mysterious man known as Lune who may be able to help them, alongside cages sword of legend, saxridgoqab, fight the rising power of an ancient deity. but they are soon confronted by the threat of notoriously fierce and evil creatures known as whitenings. (another thing, i have been told whiteling sounds like kind of a racial name to describe someone who is like, i dunno, me. but its not its just they are very pale bony creatures. ok im done now finally, please read thank you 🙂 )

The silence was deafening, the forest appeared old, the trees scattered about like a broken rib cage. They stood weekly. a paled bark color shadowed by layers of leaves. If there were any birds, then they kept to themselves in silence. Perhaps they knew something we didn’t.

Ilene frowned sheathing her sword.

“…..maybe i was mistaken.”

Rocky hesitantly lowered his golf club as well.

“You sure?”

She nodded. “Yes. I think.”

Something slithered into the darkness from the trees. Like the end of a tail.

i quietly stammered, “G-guys i think i saw something-”

A shrill inhuman scream tore through my ears and a 12 foot long animal pounced into Ilene, the sheer velocity of the beast sent them tumbling through the air for 20 feet before the beast landed atop her.

It howled raising a set of claws to finish her off before being struck in the eye by Rocky’s golf club.

It turned to see Rocky practically yelling his beard off.

“GET YOUR WRINKLY @$$ HANDS AWAY FROM US!!!” He smacked the whiteling yet again and it looked at him with confusion. 

It finally came to the conclusion that Rocky WAS in fact trying to do harm and it opened its mouth in a ferocious shriek.

Rocky seized his opportunity and hit a golf ball into the roof of its mouth. The blow knocked a few teeth out, which lined the entire roof of its mouth in endless rows of razor sharp fangs. The whiteling was fed up with being bullied by a golf club wielding smurf and climbed off of Ilene to engage him, Ilene laid on the floor unconscious. The force of having the whiteling slam into her must have been enough to knock her out. That’ll really give you a sense of our odds here. I drew my sword and the whiteling stopped in its tracks. it had sensed the unsheathing of saxridgeocab. It howled furiously and turned on a dime running at me. The sword burst in flames and i swung as hard as i could. Flames swept over its skin but with little effect and i felt its bulky palm slam me to the floor. It roared right into my face triumphantly. As if mocking: Get up! I’ll put you down again. Try and fight! I dare you.

I hate people like that.

I slammed the hilt of my sword into its eye, then brought the blade down into its hand, its bone-like armor cracked as the sword bounced off of it, at least i had done something. It growled, side stepping away from the sword, its tail simultaneously whipping Rocky into a tree.

He screamed like a dying goat, which to be honest fit his personality perfectly.

The whiteling lowered its head like a cat about to lunge, arching its bony yet muscular back. its spine protruded as if its flesh were wrapped too tightly around its bones. The whiteling lunged faster than i had ever seen it move…perhaps it had simply been toying with us up until this point. Either way, it took Ilene’s arm in its jaws, her body trailed behind without consciousness, id never seen so much spite, so much hatred in an animal before…. Rage boiled up in me, so much harm ….so much bloodshed… 

The swords fire disappeared.

“Gee thanks saxridgoqab, that’s really helpful.” I growled. I could barely manage to say anything other than “AGGGHHH MY LIFE IS OVER” and sob uncontrollably.

As if in answer icy white flames flooded over the blade. They weren’t hot or cold, they were simply there. I ran and swung it at the whiteling only to feel it clang against its giant bone armored forearm. The whiteling let ilene tumble to the floor, it seemed genuinely annoyed that i hadn’t given up yet.

And Ilene…. her right arm was barely still attached to her body, like a child’s baby tooth being held only by a little thread of flesh. My Anger boiled over the pot inside me, There was something in the whitelings eyes…. Perhaps it was rage. Hatred, or maybe nothing, simply the absence of any love or kindness at all. I swung the sword clashing with its bony armor again. Then again, and again, i had never been so infuriated; not since Marcella and my father were killed. Rocky’s unconscious body was strewn haphazardly on the dirt floor, he had never shown any vulnerability. Not until he had to risk his life for his friends. And Ilene, she didn’t even know what hit her. Maybe she had at least been happy we chose to take her side in finding Lune…until now. And now she might be dead. I screamed with rage, with vengeance for my fallen friends and family, I swung at its head with everything i had. Icy white flames trailed the strike and blade met bone with a crack that shook the forest to its knees. I felt every wisp of air that had been forced from the impact, as if time itself had slowed to take a look. The blade smashed through bone, shattered through skull and flesh, then kept going. I felt it swing into the earth and embed itself 7 inches in solid rock with a power i know for a fact didn’t come from my very average muscles. The whitelings body evaporated in a mist of white dust. No blood, no sign it was ever there. Just me and my 2 friends…

Another growl came from behind me, I turned to see a whitelings gaping maw of teeth 7 feet away, another was 16 feet away, a third one 40 or so but gaining fast. I glanced at Rocky and Ilene…. If they had been alive after the first whiteling…..they were definitely dead by now. Tears came to my eyes. I-I barely even remember. It was a blur. whiteling skulls shattered like glass at the touch of sakridgoqab. I remember feeling no control, simply spinning about swinging my sword. if i could just protect them a little longer, i thought to myself weakly. But more whitelings came. Too many…