Chills & Thrills Anthology

Adventure in Action | Sypher

Emblem by GeorgiaMay_Writes

"Do we really have to look through all these boxes?" Julian asked, staring up at the shelves filled with rows upon rows of wooden crates. Each of them was branded with an emblem signifying who the crate belonged to.

"Only the ones with this symbol." Sypher held up the scrap of cloth the King had given him, embroidered with a blue shield sporting a picture of a Dahlia.

"That's the King's crest." Julian's eyebrows rose. "When did you meet the King?"

"This morning."

"And he enlisted you to find a family heirloom for him? He knows you're the Saviour of Valerus, right?" Sypher nodded. "Leave it to a King to make someone as powerful as you run errands."

"It's not an errand. The item we're looking for is important."

"Why?" Julian asked, taking the fabric from Sypher to study the emblem.

"Because it'll help us fight the Behemoth on its way to destroy the city," Sypher answered, casting his fiery eyes around the room as he searched for the right crate.

"There's a Behemoth on its way to Eden?" Julian shook his head sadly. "I'm so out of the loop. You used to tell me everything, Sy." His silver eyes glittered as he pressed a hand to his chest dramatically. "What happened to us?"

"Moron," Sypher answered, fighting a smile.

"In all seriousness, how big is this thing if you need a specific item to fight it?"

"Big." Julian craned his neck as Sypher scaled the side of the closest shelf, hoisting himself up to check the crates on each level.

"Why don't we just start opening some crates and see what happens? We might get lucky."

"Or we might die," Sypher answered, frowning when none of the symbols matched the one he needed. He dropped down from the highest shelf, landing lightly on the balls of his feet. "These crates are protected."

"Rich people hate making things easy."

"People tend to dislike having their things stolen, you know," Sypher chuckled.

"Yeah but being a Vampire is hard enough without adding booby traps into the mix," Julian muttered, climbing up a shelf of his own and skimming the boxes. Once again he came away disappointed.

"I'm sure the booby traps aren't a slight against you personally." They walked further into the stone warehouse, searching every shelf for what they needed and finding nothing.

"We're going to be here forever!" Julian groaned, nudging a crate a little too hard with his foot. It toppled off the shelf and the lid cracked open. "Oh, fu-" was all the Vampire had time to say before something crawled out of the box and leapt at him.

"Basht!" The demonic profanity flew from Sypher's lips as he grabbed Julian by the collar and yanked him back.

"Not the face!" the Vampire yelped as the small, green-skinned goblin tried to claw out his eyes. He slapped at it but the little bugger was too fast for him, scuttling up to latch onto his hair.

Sypher snatched it off the top of his head, grabbing it by the throat and stuffing it back into its box. He slammed the lid shut and pressed down on it with his boot, not moving until the box sealed itself up again.

"Those things are disgusting," Julian shuddered, wiping at his face as though the goblin had made it dirty.

"You okay, Princess?" Sypher asked, grinning.

"Screw off, tall, dark and scary. It just took me by surprise," the Vampire glowered.

"I've never heard you scream like that before."

"Ass." Sypher snorted, unable to help himself. He was still grinning when they finally found the shelf they were looking for.

"Well, that's the right emblem," he sighed, nodding his head towards a huge shelf lining the back of the warehouse from floor to ceiling.

"You've got to be kidding me," Julian groaned, staring up at the many, many crates lining the shelf, all emblazoned with the same emblem; a royal blue shield sporting a Dahlia. "How are we supposed to know which one it is?"

"We guess."

"This is gonna suck." Julian scowled and crouched down to open the first box. He hesitated, shooting his companion a sideways glance. "Are you sure we need this magic artefact or whatever it is?"

"Yes," Sypher replied, prying open the first crate and jerking backwards as it belched white hot flames at him. He threw an arm up to shield his face, barely managing to get the lid back on without singeing himself. "Agamemnon predates all the other Behemoths except one. He's been around for millennia. He isn't mindless like the others and he's much harder to put down."

"Gah!" Julian jerked and fell flat on his back as the crate he was opening shot lightning, sending sparks zapping all the way up his arms. He rolled and scrambled to shove the lid back down. "How are we supposed to know which crate it is when the protections don't even let us look inside?"

"The right crate won't harm us."

Sypher and Julian worked their way methodically through each crate, sustaining bruises, burns, scratches and various other unpleasant injuries, until one turned Julian's sandy hair a startling shade of purple.

"That's it!," he announced. "I'm done with this. You're on your own. I draw the line at these things messing with my hair."

"Suit yourself," Sypher shrugged, cracking open another crate. Julian immediately covered his head with his arms. When nothing happened he frowned.

"What, it's not going to blow up?"

"We found it." Sypher reached into the box and lifted out an intricate silver staff with a glowing ruby set into one end.

"Thank the Spirits for that."

"Now we just need to figure out how to get rid of the purple. I think it suits you," he teased.

"You really suck sometimes. You wander into trouble like an idiot."

"And yet you choose to tag along. Who's the real idiot here?" Julian opened his mouth, then closed it again. Sypher chuckled.