The Eternal Sleep

Ignorant the brave, weary the wise

            “Luca… are these what I think these are?”

            “Yep.” Luca had no doubt in his mind, these were similar to the creature they had faced in the cave. Their skins as dark as night, their cloaks painted to match, darkness rose from their shoulders like smoke, weapons varied from guns, to wrist blasters and whips. Luca stared back unflinchingly at the one pointing its gun at him, he recognized those purple eyes anywhere, it was the same pair he’d stared directly into at the exit of the cave, “And looks like he brought friends.”

            “Luca, what do we do?” Olivia grunted as she pulled herself back on her feet, lashing her whip at her side, “You’re the only one that’s really faced these things.”

            “More like ran from it.” Luca pulled a sniper’s weapon from his inventory, “It can get hurt but I don’t know if it dies.” Luca had barely pulled the weapon to his shoulder when another bullet sailed too close to his eye, piercing through the tile, and rocking the ground as it landed.

            “It’s going after the owl!” Rena hollered, waving her arms frantically to get their attention. Jay nudged Luca’s gun roughly and pointed to the one standing on a branch of the cedar tree with a bazooka in its arms. He aimed his gun and fired, yelping as a familiar screeched filled the library, tripled in strength as it echoed off the walls.

            The ‘sniper’ appeared right in front of him, clawed hand raised to strike, Luca could only watch as it moved to his neck. It pulled back sharply as a knife protruded from its arm, screeching loudly as it threw itself off the tile. Luca darted to the edge in time to see it disappear in a puff of smoke, reappearing near the other with a whip in its hand. He raised his head to see Rena holding her throwing knives in her hands with a pleased look on her face.

            “Whatever you do, we can’t let them get to the owl!” Luca nodded in the shouts of confirmation, knowing with confidence that his rag-tag team could handle themselves. He aimed his gun at the kneeling sniper, watching as he disappeared again, “And if possible… take them out.”

            Luca dodged the bullet aimed at his leg, teleporting to another tile, and taking aim, his bullet millimetres off its mark. His team spread out, taking the creatures that followed them with determined faces. He wanted a rematch with this shadowed creature, and he was finally getting it.

            He recoiled as another bullet hit ricocheted near his foot, shaking his head and aiming at the direction of the bullet and firing. A loud screeched filled the area, followed by two more as Jay and Rena managed to land their own hits. An ominous presence appeared over his head. Luca, having learned from his previous experience, teleported mid-air and turned, firing several times.

            A bullet grazed his side, sending him crashing into a tile. It rocked slightly as under the sudden weight, forcing Luca to his feet. He swept the area with his eyes again, taking in his surroundings, Armando was fighting valiantly, his back to a bookcase and the shadowed creature advancing relentlessly. He took aim and fired with grim satisfaction, nodding at the genius’ thumbs up as he was able to jump to the ground safely.

            The owl had taken to guarding the book, placing itself as a shield between it and the fighting. Luca paid it no mind, searching the area again for his enemy. He was not surprised when it landed on a tile across from him, stance almost cocky as it aimed the barrel of the gun at him.

            They went back and forth like this, jumping from tile to tile and firing. Several times, Luca stopped to aid his team members when they were back into a corner, paying for it with bullet grazes along his arms and legs. He counted himself lucky as none had struck him in the face, shuddering mentally as he remembered the pain.

            Luca hissed in irritation, they’ve been fighting for almost an hour now and were getting nowhere. He rolled on another tile, coming up in a kneel and searching for his enemy, there was not sight of it yet. His eyes were ringing from the fair number of screeches he heard but was not satisfied to see that they were no closer to their goal.

            There was one being that could help him, but he was not certain if he were ready to hear anymore riddles. A bullet grazing his hand finalized his decision, “Owl, how do we fight these things?”

            “You know the answer, sniper.” Luca could barely hear him over the sounds of fighting, but it was enough for him to stop and think. He remember when he’d run through the tunnels, falling out into the reach of the sunlight as a bullet pierced his leg. The way the creature had stopped and stared, never advancing.

            “We don’t exactly have sunlight here and I hardly think it’s gonna follow us outside.”

            “I was not talking about that.”

            “For the love of Eternal Sleep, what are these creatures?” Luca hissed, the ‘sniper’ appeared above him, knocking him roughly to the ground. He lunged for his gun, yelping as it fell over the side. The creature grabbed his shoulder tossed him none to gently on his back, aiming its gun right at his chest.

            Luca yelled and kicked its knees, silently enjoying the small screech as it kneeled ungracefully above him. He narrowly missed the butt of the gun aimed at his head, twisting as much as he could to avoid the blow and pulling his arms up to shield his face. The creature got to its feet again, intending one last swipe at him.

            He didn’t hesitate to grab the barrel of the gun and aim it over the side of the tile, yelping as the ricochet of the gun firing shook his arms. He pulled the barrel, forcing the creature to fall forwards before successfully landing a kick at its stomach. In surprise, it released the gun and stumbled back, Luca took this opportunity to pull himself to his feet.

            The human sniper targeted the creature’s chest, firing. He missed, Luca flinched as claws swiped across his stomach, the gun slipping from his grasp. The creature knocked it from his hands and watched as it tumbled off the tile, turning to Luca and swiping its claws again. Luca hissed and blocks the blow, landing his own punch.

            They move back and forth, trading blows and scrambling on the ground like some sort of deadly dance. He could hardly look up from the creature’s rapid blows to check on his team members. Luca shouts his word to the owl again, “What are we fighting?” the answer was immediate this time, shocking enough for him to fumble and collect a dizzying blow to the face.

            “You are fighting your greatest enemy.” Luca could hear the sounds of battle slow around him, his enemy standing at the edge of the tile calmly. “You are fighting… yourself.”

            “What?” Jay screeches, body tackling his enemy to the ground, he keeps him pinned long enough for the owl to start speaking again.

            “A greater form of yourselves.” Luca took note of creature’s gun that had just been tossed over the side, “A being with the same skills.” He remembered the way it teleported with ease, “But lacking one thing.”

            Luca snarled as the creature took a couple unhesitant steps towards him, forcing it to stop lest it be body tackled to the ground. “They are without emotion.”

            “What difference does that make.” Olivia growled as her whip was pulled roughly from her hand.

            “A being without emotion has not remorse, no guilt, they have no need for mercy.” Armando gasped as he jumped recklessly to another tile, “They can show their full potential, their strengths, they’re us, but unstoppable.”

            “A being with no emotions huh?” Luca muttered, stepping out of his defensive stance, watching his dark side cautiously as it stepped closer, hands unthreateningly at its side. It didn’t attack, merely stared at him curiously. He replayed Armando’s statement in his head, circling the creature without fear.

            He launched himself at its unprotected side, wincing as he was met by resistance. In the same move, he aimed a punch at its face, going through the motions as it ducked and grabbed Luca at the side, effortless tossing him to the tile. He pulled himself to his feet slowly and observed as the creature stood still.

He doesn’t believe in giving up his emotions to get the job done, emotions is what makes him human, makes him alive. It’s the little things in life, being with the ones you love, laughing, crying, even anger. It’s what gives you the joy when you’ve accomplished something, the pain you feel when you experience lost. If this creature was anything like him, then he was confident that it wouldn’t attack without reason and provocation.

“Ignorant the brave, weary the wise, these brothers will fight…” Luca muttered, reciting the clue on the card. These creatures showed up at the quest in the cave, and they showed up again in the library, it was possible they were more than just a wall between them and their goal. They could a clue of the quest.

“Knowledgeable is the one who picks up the sword… and brave is the one who picks up the pen…” Luca shook his head as the grating sound reached his ears. The creature looked at him, Luca could’ve sworn it had smug posture, nodding at him.

 He balked as the sound of breaking glass reverberated off the walls, Luca whipped his head to the base of the tree. There stood Armando, his hands on a card, stretching it out in front of him. The library slowly filled with blinding light; Luca turned to face the creature as it hissed. Its arm smoked where the bright light touched it.

“Find me… fight me…” The creature nods at him, Luca was struck with the familiarity of the move he’d perfected over the years. He closes his eyes as the light fills every corner of the library.