Things You Should Fear!

AS soon as they got far enough away from the beach, a stray wave washed over the sands and carried their boat away, only for it to be done in by one of the many rocks and reefs that ringed the island.

"There goes our ride." Simon said as he watched the boat dash against a rock and break apart.

"What do we do now?" Ryan asked

"We move forward," Jasmine said, "We still have the astyrometer, we can worry about our exit when we need one."

"That is bad planning." Ryan said, "But it's the only planning we have right now."

They walked up the beach until they got to the edge of the forest. From inside, they could hear all sorts of discouraging sounds; growling, roaring, hissing, stomping.

"Sounds like we are going in the right path." Ryan said as he walked into the forest.

[Hi, the walk through the forest took a while, so let me just sum up what happened mostly; a lot of walking, a lot of swatting off bugs and a few skirmishes with ravagers. Good? Now, let's stop at where it gets interesting.]

They reached a clearing, the trees looked like they had been mauled by some kind of giant scorpion.

"Wait." Christie said as she ran to one of the trees, examining the marks and prints on the ground "I've seen this before."

"Is it bad?" Ryan asked

They all looked at him,

"Hey, someone had to ask."

"What does it mean?" Jasmine asked

"Something very, very bad." Christie said, her eyes darting around frantically, noticing that monstrous noises that sounded in the background of their journey had gone silent. "Unicorns." She whispered

Ryan did his best to stifle his laughter, though not very well. "Unicorns? You mean those stupid white horses with the cone-like horn that every six-year-old girl wants?"

"No, that is just a stupid stereotype." Christie said, "they're…"

Then, there was a sound from the forest, it was a horses' neigh, but seemed different… more sinister. Then it stepped into the clearing. It was a horse, or at least something that resembled a horse, its body was completely black, like a skeleton covered in thick muscle strands, on its snout were sharp fangs that lined its maw. Its mane, tail and hooves were covered in dark purple flames. Its eyes were bright red and on its forehead was a wicked looking jagged horn.

It huffed through its nostrils, and spurts of purple flames shot out.

"What the hell is that thing?" Ryan asked drawing Draxonn

"That," Jasmine started, "Is a unicorn."

… )]≥( …

In the few months Christie had known Ryan, she had never seen him more afraid, and he had good reason to be, the unicorn is one of the deadliest, most dangerous and terrifying breed of ravagers known to magus. It is carnivorous like all ravagers, with a thirst for destruction, but it was totally feral, unlike most others, and stood as an apex predator among ravagers. Encountering one was considered a dark rarity.

The one before them was a fully grown male, Christie considered them lucky that they hadn't come across a female. The unicorn took a step forward and Ryan and his friends backed up. The daemon horse seemed to study them.

"Everyone," Christie said calmly, "No. Sudden. Moves. Back away slowly."

Everyone did as she said and backed away slowly. The horse watched them curiously, then it got on its hind legs and spewed fire at them.

"So much for that plan," Ryan said, "RUN!"

The daemon horse whines as they ran into the woods. Ryan grabbed Christies' hand as they ran deeper into the dense forest. Not too far behind, they could hear the unicorns horrible wailing following them.

"Do you trust me?" Ryan said

"What?" Christie asked

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes."

"Well, you probably shouldn't."

Ryan stopped dead in his tracks and Christie ran into him.

"Ryan what are you doing?" She asked

He steadied his sword arm and looked in the direction of the unicorn. Christie's eyes widened, "No, Ryan, you can't do that, the unicorn horn is crazy strong, it can cut through steel like cardboard."

"Well then it's a good thing I'm not going for its horn." Ryan said

The unicorn came into sight. It stood on its hind legs about to trample on Ryan and Christie, then Ryan slashed hard across the monster's throat. The wound steamed and sizzled as red sludge gurgled from it.

"That's nasty!" Ryan said as he stepped back

The horses' body started to steam. The hair, skin and flesh started to solidify, turning gray and chalky, until its' entire body was a huge horse statue with a metal horn and spines sticking out of its face and back.

Ryan punched his fist in the air, "Boo ya!" he then recoiled, "Ugh, that is still not me,"

Then he noticed Christie backing away slowly, "Ryan, kill it now."

"C'mon," he said, "The thing is made of rock now."

Then he heard a grinding noise and the monstrous neighing again, "Oh, come on." Ryan whined

He looked back to see the monster statue, the cracks though out its body were filled with swirling purple fire, its eyes were still bright red, but its mouth was now a flaming inferno. The horns and spikes on its body seemed to look even more menacing.

Ryan and Christie backed up as the stone monster tested its new body by moving back and forth.

"What the hell just happened?" Ryan asked

"It's like a back-up life for unicorns. Most rare kinds of ravager have one. That's why its general knowledge to kill them twice."

"New flash; it wasn't general knowledge to me!" Ryan said as she grabbed his hand

"This is the part where we run for our lives again." Christie said,

As far as Simon knew, the unicorn wasn't chasing him and Jasmine anymore, but they were now lost.

"Where's Christie, and Ryan?" she asked 

"I don't know." He said, "But maybe I can find out."

He pulled out his makeshift wand and punched in some commands.

"What are we going to do about that unicorn?" Jasmine asked, "I just hope it doesn't go into its second state." 

"I've got Ryan." Simon said, "and he's on the move, fast."

"Alright," Jasmine said, "Let's go bail him out, again."

… )]≥( …

Back at the 45th sanctum, Stephanie was in her office, reading a report from an arkan. 

"Still no sign of them?" she asked 

"No ma'am," the arkan said, the woman was young, probably a new member of the ordo arkanum, mystics who were devoted to the study of the Naexis. Their order was closely allied with the Argus. "We haven't been able to ping Jasmine Sumner's location since her badge vanished off our sensors."

"Well, keep looking," Stephanie ordered,

The arkan bowed her head and walked out of the office. Stephanie sat back in her chair and sighed.

"Worried about your best soldier, or about the boy?" came a voice

"Both," Stephanie said, "Jasmine, as you said, is one of my best, and Ryan can hold his own. But they've been gone for almost two weeks now,"

"Well I can tell you that they're safe." The voice offered

"Don't lie to me," Stephanie snapped, "we both know they're not."

"Well, I can tell you they're alive… for now."

"What do you mean, for now?"

"Someone is going to die," the voice said,

"What do you mean?" Stephanie asked.

"Given where they are and what they're up against… their path ends in death. However…"

"What?" 

"They are in a very precarious situation, and it affords me a little leeway." The voice cackled, "I could tip the scales a bit more in their favor, and you could have them back here by tomorrow."

"What's the catch?" Stephanie demanded, her patience wearing thin, "there's always a catch with your offers."

"The death is already locked in, so not everyone will make it home," the voice said, "that is the catch."

"What are their chances?" Stephanie asked,

"Not good," the voice said, "they're basically on a suicide mission. The best even I can do is guarantee is that only one of them dies."

"So if I leave the choice, they all might die, but if I make the choice now, only one of them will die?" Stephanie surmised, "that's a crap deal,"

"You're not wrong," the voice huffed, "but in the end, it's your decision."

Stephanie sat back in her chair, contemplating the weight of her choice.

… )]≥( …

The stone horse from hell was slower than its first form, which was a bonus for Ryan and Christie since they were running out of steam. They broke through the trees and found themselves on another beach, this one was full of ash colored sand and huge menacing looking boulders. The unicorn followed them, its red eyes glowed with murderous intent.

Out of breath, Ryan drew Draxonn. The blade felt heavy in his tired arms, but he willed all his remaining energy to hold it firm.

"How do you kill this thing?" he asked

"How do you kill a statue?" she asked him back, "Just watch out for the mouth. Right now, that's your biggest threat."

Ryan charged at the monster and raised his sword, the unicorn backed up a bit then stood on its hind legs, about to trample Ryan, he ducked to one side and when the hooves came down, Ryan used the moment of distraction to climb onto its back. The unicorn was now thrashing and Ryan had to use both hands just to stay put. The monster ran back into the forest at top speed, which surprised Ryan because he and Christie would've been dead if it was chasing them at this speed. He had to drive his sword into its back act as a handle, which didn't help calm the beast.

It ran very fast, incredibly fast even. Along the way, Ryan passed Jasmine and Simon.

"What are you doing up there?" Jasmine yelled

"What does it look like I'm doing? Daemon rodeo!"

Before he was out of their earshot, he yelled, "Get to the beach!"

The monster was running all over the place and, sooner or later, Ryan would be thrown off.

He took off his jacket and pulled it over the beasts' eyes. The unicorn screeched in surprise, as it was now blinded. Ryan tugged on the makeshift reins and the ravager obeyed. [Guess some horse instincts are ingrained]

"Awesome." Ryan said,

He began driving the unicorn towards the beach and as soon as he plowed onto the sand he turned towards a firm looking boulder and set the horse on full throttle, then he jumped off. The unicorn had a genuine look of shock on its face as it rammed into the boulder, splintering into million pieces of burning rock.

… )]≥( …

All Christie saw, was Ryan riding the unicorn into a boulder, then there was a big explosion and debris fell everywhere. She was so shocked, that for the first moments, she could barely move. Then she saw something falling from the sky, directly at them. Jasmine had to push her out of the way to prevent her from being impaled by it. When it landed, Christie was mortified to find out it was Draxonn, steaming and sizzling.

They ran to the wreckage to search for Ryan, but all they found were broken stone horse parts and chunks of boulder.

"Where is he?" Christie yelled

"Who are you guys looking for?" said a voice right behind.

Christie turned around and saw him; Ryan was okay, dusty, but okay. She was so glad to see him that she ran into him in a big hug. Then, most surprisingly, she kissed him. It was a short kiss, lasting only seconds, but when Christie came to her senses, she was mortified, she quickly shoved him back, and he fell into the sand.

Christie just looked at him, her face turned bright red.

Jasmine and Simon were chuckling as Christie marched into the forest.

"Hey," Jasmine said, still giggling, "Wait up."

Once again, they were in the forest. The boys were covering the rear in case of a sneak attack and were at least ten feet away. That left the girls to talk in the front.

"Mind explaining what happened at the beach?" Jasmine said

"I… I was just glad he was alive, he's my friend after all." Christie said

"Chris, when you're glad to see a friend, you don't kiss them the way you kissed Ryan. What's really going on?"

Christie sighed, "You always did see through me Jazz, I… I think I'm in love with Ryan."

"Why?" Jasmine asked, genuinely confused

"I don't know, it's just, there's something about him. He's so nice, and cute, and… I don't know."

"Well does he feel the same way about you?"

"I don't know, at least… I don't think so. He sees me as a friend, a roommate, and I don't want just that."

"Well, have you told him?"

"Oh god no. We are on a life-and-death quest right now," Christie said, "The last thing any of us needs is distractions,"

"You should tell him before it's too late."

"Geez, you sound just like Simon."

"Simon knows?"

"Yes, and he wants me to tell him now, but it's too risky."

"You're afraid of being rejected, aren't you?"

"Yes." Christie confessed, "What if I open up, pour my feelings out to him and he doesn't feel the same way?"

"Well then that's his loss," Jasmine said, "besides, what if he does feel the same way?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know a lot of things for someone so smart," Jasmine commented, "You'd like it if he did, though, won't you?"

"I'd like that very much." She touched her lips, "I can still feel a tingle from when I kissed him, imagine how I'd feel if I could kiss him all the time?"

"Okay, this is getting uncomfortable." Jasmine said

"Sorry, I just get carried away."

"So, will you tell him."

"Yes." Christie said, "When we get home."

Jasmine wanted to say something, but Christie glared at her, making clear that the conversation was over.

"Alright," Jasmine said, "I hope you can live with that,"

"Yeah," Christie said, "me too."