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There- there’s a monster in Virion’s town. It’s dark and he can barely see even with his night vision.
He can feel the blood on his side under his shirt. It’s sticky and his arm is pressed against it. There’s people yelling- Min throws up a spell as Strider fires off a round and all he’s thinking is run away. He isn’t- he’s trying not to but the pain shoots up his hip and the blood runs down into his boot.
He can hear people yelling. Not fighters. Just- children and parents as they flee. The area is cloaked in flames and he feels soot in his eyes and mouth.
His sword is still in his hand. He can help- he can help- the blood is warm against his side but he can ignore it because he can help. His grip is wet against the hilt as he begins to run back again to the battle.
His mind flashes through books when his eyes focus enough to see the monster again. It’s leathery, and has a mouth with rows of teeth. It screeches as it flies upwards with a woosh, before swinging its large, barbed tail through the air. One of those barbs- scratched him earlier and it stings as it mingles with the sweat and cold air.
Cloaker. Its screeches echo in the surrounding buildings and they pierce his ears as he gets closer and closer. If he looks down he can see his boot being stained with blood. He doesn’t look down again before ducking behind a building and watching the battle, waiting.
It’s focused on the spellcaster woman now, and he holds his breath as it turns around, flying up and channelling that bright, yellow energy again. The world gets very, very colourful for a moment- there’s another yell from Min and it’s pained and-
He can’t wait now. He can’t hide behind this collapsed building and hide like a coward. His sword almost slips out of his grasp and he hisses as something shifts against him and-
He holds his sword. He stumbles out from behind as he hears another gun shot go off. The creature screeches- screeches like it was hurt by that as it floats closer to the ground as it circles.
Now’s his chance.
His foots soaked with blood now. It squelches as he steps and vaults- crossing the distance and throwing himself at the monster. It- well Virion doesn’t even if it has ears but it doesn’t hear him as he leaps onto its back, digging into its hard skin with his toothpick of a sword.
It tries to get him off. It doesn’t work for a while. Pain stabs through his body as his side slams against the hard skin of the Cloaker as it screams. It screams as it flies side to side and up and down and Virion feels nauseous.
He doesn’t let go though. Even as his blood mixes with the monsters and he gets dizzier and dizzier and he tastes iron he doesn’t let go until-
It gives one last movement. His sword lodges free right when it reaches the point where the tail and body meet and there’s this moment where he’s falling in the air.
It’s weird. He feels weightless- he can see himself slipping off and the monster spiralling off below him before he hits the ground.
He didn’t think he even fell that much, but the airs knocked out of him and he’s so, so dizzy as his side impacts the ground. His side. The side that's already torn up and bubbling blood. It pools under him and he grits his teeth before slamming his arm back against it and holding his sword again.
Min’s still recovering. Strider shoots off another round from somewhere he can’t see. One- one last hit. He can do this. His side is starting to hurt now and it feels like he’s getting a fire poker stabbed into him. That might be accurate.
Virion realises he can’t move that much right now. His hip feels like it’s about to pop out of it’s socket and there’s so much blood. He can still do this. He just has to finish it off and he can rest- he’ll sleep for a couple nights and he’ll be good as new. He just- has to do this.
He takes a step forward. He’s not surprised when his knee buckles and he nearly gets sent to the ground. His hands are shaky but they still work and it’s- it’s not a big distance. If he can’t move as fast, neither can it.
He draws his hand back. His sword is light in his hands- and he does something that would usually get him scolded.
He throws it with all his might. He wants to cheer as it sails through the air- his arms shake and he didn’t think that he could even throw it- and it lands. It lands. But it doesn’t pierce.
He feels less like cheering as the monster whirs around- and it stares at him and he thinks he’s going to die before-
There’s another bang of a gun. He’s glad he’s used to gore because if he was anyone else he might have thrown up seeing monster brains sprayed against the pavilion.
He- he lets out a shaky breath- andddd proceeds to fall to his knees. His hands won’t stop shaking and his knees scratch against stone and everything hurts until-
“You did good, Virion.” Is the first thing he hears when he blinks the dizziness away. There’s a cool, icy feeling spreading from where a hand holds pressure against it. He bites his tongue as there’s some pain- okay it’s a lot of pain- and he can taste blood.
“…really?”
“Yes. You can rest now- I promise. We’ll take care of this, boy.”
He breathes out- it’s shaky- and he lets himself slump against the other.
“Your father will be proud .”
Virion hopes so. He really, really hopes so as he fades into the night with the taste of mint in his mouth.