A Cry of Disbelief

Before Lucius could move, the little girl acted.

A monster sprung from her shadow.

It had a black figure, which looked like a combination of a dragon and a warrior made of shadows, had emerged and was now protecting her. No wonder Alexander let her be on her own.

She could have squashed me like a bug.

While I was looking at her, Alexander ran towards Lucius and went for a hit, but Lucius easily evaded and hit him in the arm.

The deafening roar that came from Alexander was the first warning sign of the true danger that we were facing. Lucius had pretty much just touched him, and Alexander had already lost his arm.

I ran to heal him, while the shadowy figure threw a punch at Lucius. Lucius simply grabbed the punch with his hand, and instead of directing his attention towards the monster, he was staring at me.

Desperation flooded my entire body.

I realized what a Hunter that had killed many others truly meant to this world. The more they hunt, the more powerful they would become. This man had hunted a lot more than what they knew possible. I realized in that moment. Nothing could touch this monster.

"Alexander we have to run. His strenght is beyond reason!" I told him as I started to heal him.

"Then stop using reason!" He shouted at me.

Lucius was still looking at me, and he seemed to be contemplating, almost looked like he was daydreaming, while the shadow tried its best to push him back. Alexander got up and came from the side, trying to take advantage of the pinned down Lucius, but in a motion so fast I could not even see him, he punched Alexander's arm.

The next thing I saw, Alexander was missing an arm again.

This time though, Alexander simply threw another hook with his other arm.

But Lucius was simply too fast. He let the shadow's punch go, veering it so that it would hit Alexander, which sent him flying. Then, Lucius hit the shadow and it disapparated. This was not looking good.

Alexander was too far away for me to heal.

And he started screamed in pain so hard I could not hear anything else. Alexander had lost not one, but two of his arms. Even though I could heal them, that did not mean that he would not suffer its excruciating pain. Too much for the human mind to handle. Alexander felt like he was on the ground and his arms were being crushed by two tractors, one for each of his arms. And the pain this process gave him was multiplied by a thousand times.

It was just me and the little girl now. I was scared. My legs started to betray me. I couldn't even move. I have never felt such raw power in front of me. The power to deny reality. To challenge any outcome, any fate given to him. The power of those at the top of the world.

I felt true desperation.

And it was the little girl who moved before me.

She got in front of me and screamed, with all her might,"Don't touch my friend!"

I was speechless. This little girl, whose name I did not even bother to remember, was here, protecting me while I could not even move.

I felt like a total loser.

Lucius got close, but Alexander had gotten up, even though he felt so much pain he wished he would die. I didn't see Lucius move, yet Alexander suddenly was missing a part of his chest.

Yet he kept going.

This time, he tried a kick, but Lucius only stopped it by grabbing it with his hand. Alexander was sent flying with a broken leg. Then, before Lucius could look at the little girl and me, I pushed her away and went for a punch in the stomach.

Or so I thought I did, but he stopped my fist before it even touched him.

The little girl's shadow was back, and he covered my face, but Lucius did not go for my face. He went for my chest, easily piercing my lung with his fist. Luckily for me, as long as my face was okay, I could recover.

Yet I still felt the pain of losing an organ. My brain went numb, as I got down on my knees, unable to stand. Iwas already fully recovered, thanks to my seemingly overpowered ability, and my mind was finally able to understand just how much pain I was in. My next thought was that Alexander had faced this pain not once, but three times.

And he was still trying to fight him.

Without a proper leg, Alexander was crawling towards Lucius. He was functioning on willpower alone, trying to reaching him. He had lost both of his arm and a part of his leg, yet he kept going.

He would not stop for anything, until he could reach Lucius.

"Why do you try so hard?" asked a curious Lucius.

Alexander, bearing soo much pain that any other human being would have passed out already, said, with a smile on his face.

"I was finally able to touch you", as he fainted.

He was bleeding way too much.

Luicus was impressed. He had never seen such an amazing warrior. Such an insane amount of willpower. He had felt deep regret. If it was not for his mission, he would have never harmed these people, but he was forced to. And for him, it was a shame to have hurt such an amazing man. But, he was happy now, for they had proven themselves. In Lucius eyes, I was the only one in the group who had not proven myself to be worthty of being in Epsilon.

But before he could stop the fight, everything went to hell.

Black teardrops started flowing from the little girl's face. Her scream echoed throughout the landscape as her shadow expanded, covering the entire floor. Neither Lucius or me could escape its grasp.

Suddenly, dark tentacles started to rise from the shadowy floor.

"The witch" Lucius said.

I knew then, what was happening. Everybody knew of the witch. She was a myth known in both the higher and lower parts of society. Every child was told that the witch was a monster that tried to oppose the gods. And, in her opposition, she discovered powers not meant for humanity. Yet the witch had failed her mission, and was punished for all eternity. It was a tale told so that the children would learn never to oppose the gods.

But that was a tale as old as time. Why was the witch now this little girl?

I had no time to ponder that question, as a huge black monster rose from the shadows.

The monster was truly massive. His face was the first thing that emerged.Looking at it, he seemed like a half-octopus, half-demon sort of creature. But because he was formed out of shadows, it was very hard to tell many of its features. He slowlyk kept rising. His massive wings formed of shadows came out. He didn't have one pair of wings, but three, all of it coming out of its back.

To say that it was massive was an understatement. He was the size of three skyscrapers on top of each other. He could cross a football field with a single step, easily. We were ants, looking at a giant. His body was so big I could not tell you if he was humanoid or not. Just staring at his foot was enough to completely block my sight.

The witch was nowhere to be seen.

Lucius was the first one to snap out of the daze. He then told me, with a voice of authority,"Heal him, he will die if he continues to bleed".

That took me back to reality. I started healing Alexander. Even though I could heal him, he would not wake up for some time. I could not wake up someone that was in a comma because of too much pain.

"What should we do?" I asked.

He chuckled. He looked at Alexander, and said as simply as possible,"We are going to save that witch"

"That's suicide. Just look at the size of that thing" I said.

"Size does not matter. Reasonable, we will never win this fight. So if you want to win, then do not be bound by logic. Abandon reason and gamble everything. Stake your life in what is unreasonable, risk everything just for a scratch in your opponent. That is how your friend fought. That is how Hunter's fight. That is what it means to be truly alive" Lucius said.

This was not going to be an easy fight.