Attacked at Night

Elmo was startled awake at Bart calling out the alarm. The sky was still dark, so he wasn't able to say exactly what time it was, but since Bart had the last watch, it had to be either pretty late or pretty early, depending on how he chose to look at it.

He wasn't sure what it was about, he just could hear sounds coming from around them that indicated that something was out there.

It was clear that it wasn't an animal, but Elmo didn't know what else to think that it might be. Especially since it wasn't like he could see what was making the noise. Though, whatever it was, it was clear that it knew Elmo and those in his group were there.

Kim was already moving towards the sounds with her sword drawn by the time he managed to stand up. He also couldn't be sure, but it felt like there was light flickering in that direction as well, though he wasn't sure if it wasn't just his eyes trying to adjust.

However, as soon as he had that thought, he realized that there had to be some light source then. Otherwise there wouldn't be a need for his eyes to adjust.

Something whistled by his ear as he felt the air disturbed by his head. Elmo slowly turned, his heart feeling like it was getting ready to stop in his chest with how rapidly it was beating.

He couldn't see what had gone by his head, but his mind was screaming at him to move. That he'd barely avoided getting killed. Even though he couldn't be completely sure, all that came to his mind was that it had to have been an arrow.

Elmo quickly crouched down, not sure what else to do. The other times that he'd been in combat, they'd been the ones initiating it rather than the ones getting attacked.

Through the trees Elmo started to hear metal ringing as it struck metal, making him believe that Kim had engaged whatever was attacking. Even as Elmo struggled to get a grasp on what exactly was happening around him.

A heavy weight slammed into his back, knocking him to the ground and he struggled against it, which fell to his side easily enough. However, as he started to get back up, he couldn't help but notice that it was Heather who had been that heavy weight.

"Sonya!" he called out, not sure what else to do or if it was a good idea. "Heather was hurt!"

Elmo was confident that Sonya would react to protect Heather, but even as he spoke, he felt a chill travel down his spine. Aside from Elwin, Owen, Bart, Patricia, Patrick, and Kim, he didn't head any other sounds of fighting.

If they had been attacked, he would have expected that Sonya would have woken up. Even if she didn't move her body, she could still move her head and neck, and maybe breathe fire or something. Something that would at least allow her to be useful in combat at least.

Elmo suspected that Bart had let the campfire go out because it was getting closer to morning, even though the sky hadn't started to lighten up. Which would be why it was completely dark for them, making Elmo having to hope he remembered which direction Sonya had been in.

A part of him also wondered how they'd befriended a dragon in the first place, but since when Heather returned, it was with Sonya, he couldn't argue that point. He just hoped that Sonya hadn't decided to abandon Heather, as he seriously doubted that he'd be able to protect Heather from whatever it was attacking them.

In fact, some of the events in this moment were making him wonder a few things. Such as how did a twelve year-old boy know how to fight so well in the first place? He was pretty sure that Bart came from a world where he spent more of his time training his mind than his fighting ability, so he had to assume that something was going on that felt like it was being rather contradictory to his sense of reality.

As he crawled across the ground, Heather draped across his back, he hoped that he would reach Sonya before anything else. That way he'd at least be able to figure out what was wrong with her and maybe get someone to help protect Heather while he helped deal with what was going on around him.

Even as Elmo heard noises coming from the trees all around them. He struggled to keep the sense of panic he felt rising up within him from taking over, even as he could feel tears streaming down his face.

Another piece that felt off to him was the fact that he was confident that he'd been in combat before, but he couldn't really remember anything about it directly. Almost like it never actually happened, despite how he knew that it wasn't just his imagination.

Elmo felt a headache coming on. It didn't feel like a regular headache, but rather one that was caused by something that was keeping him from remembering exactly what had happened. He wasn't sure if what little he did remember was true or not, at least since he had been at the Best Buy, but he knew one thing for certain: Something had affected his memory somehow.

Maybe some of the things that didn't make sense that Kim had said a while ago might be part of it. Such as about whatever she said about a 'system' or 'systems.' He wasn't exactly sure what she'd said as it just sounded like a jumble of words that didn't mean anything. Yet, now he wondered if his memory issues were part of the problem. Which also meant, was ''Elin' someone who really existed? Was her existence important?

Elmo wasn't sure, but didn't get much time to think about it as it was at about that point when he bumped face first into something in the dark. Something that didn't react and was softer than running into a tree would have been.

Elmo reached out to feel what it was that he'd encountered and blew out a sigh of relief as he felt scales. He'd found Sonya.

Though, the problem he encountered now was that if she was still there, then why wasn't she doing something? Especially with how she'd always seemed to him to have been awake most of the time anyway. So, the fact that she wasn't awake now only made Elmo a little more uneasy about what was going on around him.

Elmo heard sound coming from the other side of Sonya and he worried that her safety could be at risk, so he set Heather on the ground next to Sonya before starting to climb over onto her back. If she woke up and had a problem with him doing that, then he'd face whatever happened after that. Right now he didn't want anyone in his group to get hurt if it could be helped.

As Elmo reached her back a moment later, he wasn't able to see anything, but even still, he could hear them. He wasn't sure if they had been able to hear him or not, but he didn't consider that a real issue right them. As words came to him, almost like it was a kind of muscle memory that would still be there even if he had complete amnesia.

"Dark Impact," he called out, focusing on a single spot that was making noise. He assumed that it was talking to those around it, but he couldn't make sense of what it was saying, but that hardly mattered. What did matter was if it was in charge or not.

Elmo felt something flow out of him, though he couldn't say what it was. Merely that it didn't feel like he'd experienced it before and that it wasn't anything to be concerned about. Although, it did take him a moment to shake the sensation off and return his complete focus to the problems at hand.

He couldn't say how many enemies there were in front of him, as they didn't carry any lights with them, but he wasn't that concerned about it. Instead, he was more worried about what to do if they realized where he was specifically.

While the noise that had been coming from whatever it was that seemed to be in charge had stopped, Elmo wasn't convinced that he'd killed whatever it was. Instead, he hoped that he'd instead knocked it out. Just so that way he wouldn't have to deal with it later, in the even it had merely shut up after whatever had happened when he'd called those strange words out.

"Dark Impact," Elmo repeated, turning his attention to each of the sources of sound in front of him. Each time he spoke those words, he felt whatever it was flow out of him, in an almost comfortable way, and the sounds would stop. Though Elmo wasn't sure what to make of it.

Part of him wished he knew what was going on, but all he could do was hope that he wouldn't get attacked, simply because he wasn't sure what he'd do in the even that happened. Especially since he wasn't anywhere near where the others were fighting. Which mean if he was attacked directly, then he might have to fight back, and he was pretty sure that he didn't have that much ability.

Elmo was pulled out of his thoughts a moment later, a he heard sounds coming from the other side of Sonya, the side where he'd left Heather. He wasn't sure what they were, but aside from moving, they weren't making any sound. Even as he heard fighting still going on nearby, where the flickering lights were. Though, while it was a source of light, it wasn't strong enough to illuminate where he was. If anything, it only made it harder to see around him.