Broken

Chapter 14

Shaking, from both anxiety and exhaustion, I got ready for another fight. It felt an awful lot like this mini war would never end. It was one fight after another... after another, after another.

The men looked close to the same age- early twenties if I had to guess- and were wearing damaged outfits that reminded me of the training gear some bigger guilds provided for their members. Also, despite one of them having dark brown hair and the other a plain greyish/blonde color, their facial features looked enough alike that I assumed that they were related.

Another thing that looked similar between them was the madness in their faces. They had just slaughtered a woman to the point where she was barely distinguishable as a human, much less a female, yet neither looked bothered in the slightest. In fact, they looked excited and ready to kill again.

"Just one left Aaron." Smirked the brown haired man as the two edged to either side of me, trying to box me in. Both were drenched in blood and he had to wipe his stained hands on ripped jogging panted.

"Right." Panted the grey haired man who was apparently named Aaron.

Confused, I chanced a quick glance around, unsure what they meant. It was then that I realized that the few people that had been left only moments ago were now all gone. How?! How had ten or more people died so fast, leaving only me and the two men?

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a small pile of three or more bodies, smoldering. Had something gone wrong with the person who had been tossing fireballs around?

"Look at her." Laughed the first man, drawing my full attention back to the enemies before me. "She thinks its smart to take her eyes off of us."

The other man did not even bother answering his brother. Instead, he rushed me, arms open wide as if he was planning to give me a damn bear hug.

Flash step was a skill I hadn't had before, but I'd seen my fair share of similar speed skills that it came to me easily enough. If it weren't for the fact that I could practically teleport several feet away, then I might very well have died right then and there.

I came to a stop and spun on my heel, not wanting my back to the pair for any length of time at all. As it was, I was pretty sure the only reason I wasn't a dead woman was the fact that the crazy pair appeared to be just as exhausted as I was. Constantly running and fighting definitely took its toll on the body and mind; It made me slow to respond, and it also made them slow to act.

Just as I was wondering how I was going to take on two crazed men with my bare hands while half dead myself, I heard the man name Arron grunt. I saw the flesh beneath his skin move and bubble, then his eyes changed shape. Whatever the new skill he had gotten was it appeared to be some kind of transformative one. He was quickly taking on a strange, grotesque shape. I couldn't tell if he was attempting to take on the form of an animal, or if the skill simply was attempting to optimize his body for battle.

As for his brother, he still seemed unsure what to do about his own skill. But Arron wasn't going to give me time to focus too much on his brother. Instantly it was a strange dance between he and I as he went on the attack and I did my best to flash around, avoiding his claw-like hands as best I could.

"Gah! Make her come this way!" The mutated Aaron snarled at his brother, getting frustrated at not being able to land a blow on me.

"What do you expect me to do when she keeps vanishing every two seconds!" The brother snarled back, face flushed and his breaths coming out in pants.

"Just shut up and do it!" with that roared out demand, Aaron barreled at me. It seemed that with every second he grew faster and stronger, but also seemed to loose a little of his reason. My best guess was that this skill of his was somewhat like a berserker's.