Heroes of Dreamland Rewritten, Book 2: Stars in Far Places

Chapter 24

Yuki | ユキ

My heart races as I push myself, trying to run faster and faster, trying to get away from the monster that's chasing me, a monster that is essentially a ball of electricity with eyes and two gloved hands that float in the air around its body the same way that Poppy's do. Gasping for air, I dive out of the way of yet another burst of electricity, able to feel the air crackling around me. Behind me, the monster giggles wickedly.

"Why don't you fight back, tiny thing? I've never seen a monster like you, and I've killed plenty while rising through the ranks! You must be a fluke species, if you can't even fight back!"

Trying to ignore it, I hide behind a fallen piece of the metal that covers the walls, careful not to actually touch it at all (since, duh, it's metal). The other monster knows where I am, of course, but even just a moment out of its line of sight is enough to help me catch my breath before I have to start running again.

All I have to do is survive the training period, outlast the time limits set for the other monster to kill me, and I'll be free for the rest of the cycle. Of course, I'll be punished first before I'm returned to my cage, but it's better than dying. It's just a matter of staying alive until the training period is over.

Over time, I've come to realize something. Hardly any monsters, aside from the other Heartbeat monsters, are made wanting to kill from the instant they're first thrown into a cage. Most monsters are like Poppy, Wolfie, and I, at least at the very beginning. They don't want to hurt anybody. They just want to stay alive.

But in the Lord of Nightmare's world, you have only two options. Either you die at the hands of another monster or a monster trainer robot, proof that you're weak and worthless, or you move up in importance as you kill more and more of the other monsters. Those are the only options you're supposed to have; either death or killing.

The fact that Poppy, Wolfie, and I have all chosen to accept neither option means that we're flaws in the system, and that we have to be forced into one or the other. And with every cycle that goes past, the pressure grows stronger.

Poppy has admitted to fighting back, not in an attempt to kill the other monster, but to force them to stop hurting him, to protect himself. I'm assuming Wolfie does the same, though I can't exactly actually ask him. But I don't know how to fight back, and no one's ever bothered to tell me. Other monsters are born knowing how to protect themselves; Poppy can make bombs from nothing and throw them, and Wolfie can bite and tear. All I've got are two tiny fangs and no real way to get close enough to anything to use them; I have no other way to protect myself. I can float around, and I can suck things up, but what good does that do me? I could try swallowing the stuff I can suck up, but knowing my luck, I'd just die (because congrats, genius, you've just swallowed a hunk of metal. That's great for your insides, I'm sure).

As the piece of metal that I'm hiding near erupts in a shower of sparks, I tuck and roll away from it in order to avoid getting shocked at all. It feels like I've been running and hiding and just trying not to die forever. For all I know, though, we're still near the beginning of the cycle and nowhere near dim lights.

I manage to run and hide from the monster for quite some more time, but she finally gets me cornered with my back against the wall of the training room.

"I really don't get the rumors about you," she says as she floats back and forth in front of me, seeming almost bored. "They say that you used to be scary or something, that you're one of the most powerful sorcerer monsters in this place, that hundreds or even thousands of monsters have died at your hands. That you used to be called 'Little Terror,' even. And yet here you are, actually nothing more than a weak little fluke with no powers at all. It's enough to almost make me feel pity. At least you're good at running and hiding; too bad that's not worth anything to the Lord of Nightmares."