Game of Life

Chapter 17

"Eric!" I screamed. I was hopeless, unable to do anything as the beast latched onto his body, sweeping him off the ground and flying high. It paused for a moment, demanding our attention before it dropped the boy into its mouth.

"No!" I sat back on the ground, fighting off choking sobs. Why had it g- 

Severin.

He'd planned this, retaliation for my refusal to join him. "That's not fair Severin!" I choked out.

Life isn't fair. He didn't appear but I heard the words clearly.

"Breaking your own rules," I snapped. My god. I was dealing with the demon equivalent of a sixteen year old boy.

Perhaps you should focus on saving them, as you were so desperate to do, instead of trying to tell me my own rules.

I grit my teeth, not having a response to that, and slowly got back to my feet as the beast lunged again. "C'mon guys." I jumped into the water and was immediately struck by how bloody cold it was. It hadn't been like this before. We never would have survived being trapped underneath, we would have frozen to death in minutes. Well it was never his intention to make it easy for us.

You better hurry up now, shouldn't you? I scolded myself. Teeth chattering, I forced my arms to move, summoning fire to warm myself up. The slight relief fading when I couldn't get the element to stay. What is going on? I tried to pull it again but nothing happened. It's too fucking cold.

I was shivering uncontrollably at this point, feeling like there was ice buried under my skin. Move it, I clenched my teeth to stop them from chattering and slowly moved one arm at a time, kicking my frozen feet behind me.

After what felt like an agonizingly long time I finally made it to the shore, collasping on the ground and shaking like a leaf. Again I tried to summon fire, only managing a slight glow but it was enough to warm me so I could get back on my feet.

Game on, Severin. Game on.

The darkness was a little bit disorienting but the light from the beast allowed us a constant view of its movements, a mistake on his part. It would have been much more effective if he had placed this in the dead of day and allowed it some camouflage.

I truly looked it over now, noting how horribly massive it actually was. Although, aside from its size it really didn't look all that terrifying, the golden glow from its body was breathtaking and the only mutation I could really see was its fangs and grasping antennae.

Well Severin never disappointed.

It hadn't moved after the second attack, still hovering high above our heads, waiting for....something.

Standing around here won't do anything. I stuck my thumb and index finger in my mouth and whistled, long and loud, to draw its attention.

Slowly and deliberately, the beast turned to face me and I shot a tentacle of darkness, wrapping it around one of the wings and attempting to pull it out of the air.

It wasn't fazed, swiftly lurching to the side and pulling me from my place on the beach, easily throwing me across the shore. I would have been in for a hard landing if one of the others hadn't cushioned my fall with wind. "Thanks!" I shouted, unsure of who exactly I was thanking but grateful nonetheless.

An attack had apparently been what it was waiting for as now it dove at us, snatching a couple people up with its antennae and tossing them across the lake. "Wind and water users help them! Healers focus on the wounded! Everyone else help me get this thing out of the air! Darkness should be its weakness!" I barked commands at people, trying to spur them into action.

Now that was interesting.

Swirls of different colors rose up around the lake, pulses of red, blue, purple...their users hidden in the shadows. If we could ignore the fact that we could die at any moment it would be perfect, breathtaking. I'd have loved to just sit on the beach and watch for hours, our own personal light show.

I could almost picture it. A picnic, a sunset, a swim that wasn't tainted by a giant monster dolphin.

But that wouldn't be happening any time soon. If at all after this.

We had to face the fact that not all of us would make it out of here alive. Hell maybe none of us would survive, not if Severin had his way. And he had so far.

Well not entirely, but look where that got us.

No matter the outcome of the game none of us would really win. We'd still have to return home and try to move on knowing there were beasts like him around in the world, watching us, able to do another thing like this any time they wanted.

The good guys always win. Bullshit.

I glanced around, watching the battle, watching my classmates fight for their lives. We were students, most of us fifteen or sixteen, and look how far we'd gotten.

We couldn't just give up.