Checking herself over, the girl saw her dark, grey hair was just as long as it was before. reaching all the way down to the top of her butt. Her violet eyes still shown brightly, even in the shade of the tunnel she was standing in. Breathing a sigh of relief, she trudged on, hoping to find some help.

As she walked, she noticed from the openings of the tunnel, there was what appeared to be a stone fort ahead. Not paying much mind to it as she figured a height advantage would serve her well, she reached the end of the watery walkway.

Looking around the corner however was a must as she heard some strange groaning. What she saw perturbed her greatly.

It was a strange horse person in dirty brown rags. That in itself wasn’t the only thing that was strange about it though. The eyes were wide, the pupil was the size of a pea, and the mouth, slightly agape. The body lacked fur as the being was like some horse man made of beef jerky. The only retaining hairs were upon its head. The head hair it had left of was dull, thin, and nothing but loose strands of it left.

Against better judgment, she walked around the corner to confront it. Hesitation, evident in her breathing as it neared. She noticed a weapon in its three fingered hand. Either it was a sword, half broken, rusted, and as dull as a pipe, or a rusted metal stick. either way, a weapon. Its left hand held a small, wooden shield. Its small size suggested the tool being that of a buckler.

As it got near, the horse person raised its weapon. Rather slowly actually. Probably due to the rotting beef jerky flesh it had, weighing its arm down.

The girl sidestepped the slash, then swung her blades around. Due to her training coming from anime’s, her swings were somewhat exaggerated. Still got the slash through though.

The rotted corpse fell to the ground, bleeding whatever blood was left in it as it withered on the floor. The flesh dissolving away and the bones were cracking as if age had caught up to it. There was nothing left but the rags it wore, the shield, and the weapon.

Sheathing her weapons in the back belt loop of her shorts, she picked up the sword and shield. Giving a few test swings, she found the weapon to be quite light. The shield was a little too small however. she wondered if the shield was even a shield anymore by this point. Without much in options however, she progressed on.

=====***=====

After walking through another watery walkway, and running into another large wooden door, she was relieved to find a few steps up to her right, along with a large busted in door. from the door came another horse man, or woman in this case.

The horse woman leapt at her with its weapon drawn back. As it lowered from its jump, its weapon thrusted forward, attempting to stab her through. The girl rolled out of the way to dodge it as the horse woman began swinging wildly in place. When it was done, the girl swung the weapon she had. A slash across the side followed by another down the chest, hen a thrust through the neck. The rotted horse woman corpse fell, leaving the same items as the other before.

The girl stepped forward into the new door before being attacked by two more. She rolled between them before turning around, throwing the shield and weapon. One bonked the head of one while the other was stabbed in the gut. Taking the chance, she drew her knives out, jumping forward, slashing while spinning. The maneuver surprisingly worked. The two were felled, allowing her to claim a replacement for the shield and sword she threw.

With a sigh, she analyzed the room she was in. A closed gate to the right from her entrance with empty blackness behind it. Another closed gate to the left revealing a courtyard of some sort. Within it, she saw some shadowy figures. She didn’t know if that was a good thing, or a worse yet to come type of thing. Ahead were stairs. The corridor was quite narrow however. With no other option though, she advanced up the stairs.

A few feet up, another figure came from around the corner, leaping at her. Instinctively reacting, she swung her shield, parrying the attack. While her opponent was off its guard, she took the initiative and ran her blade through the heart. If it still had one that is.

It flopped to the ground, rolling down the stairs. She just hoped there weren’t too many more of them.

=====***=====

“Hoooo.” She sighed as she saw from the top of the wall she was currently perched on was that she was screwed.

looking out from were she was water. Wherever she was, it was a fortress on an island. There was some land around the fort, but no sight of any boats. On the other side was a great view of the courtyard from earlier though. Half of the yard was drenched in water. Flooded. Sunken into the ground a bit on one side. There, she saw more of the rotted horse people, whatever they were.

Walking to the end of the wall led her to an iron gate. Clearly closed with darkness behind it. An opening on the side of the wall would lead her into the yard, but there wasn’t any other way to go, so.

*PLOP*

the landing was surprisingly soft. The green grass must have grown strong and thick over whatever amount of time had passed .

Righting herself up, she walked forward, preparing for the inevitable.

And just like that, one came charging at her. It leapt at her, then began slashing wildly in place. She wondered, yet was thankful they didn’t move forward as they swung erratically. After it was done, she moved forward, slashing at random points of its body. The legs, shoulders, and neck were the only viable weak points as those areas weren’t covered.

After that one was dealt with, she walked forward to meet the rest. Not two, but three more came at her. Lucky for her, like rest, they were slow as well.

She ducked under one attack, then sidestepped another, and spun around to dodge the third.

“Too slow.” She said as her counterattack was made.

The first to go down was stabbed in the gut. As it swung back, she ripped the blade out, then sliced the head off. Immediately grabbing the sword for the next one that approached.

The second, she swung the sword and cleaved off the leg before a stab through the back of its head.

The third swung its weapon only for it to be deflected away by her shield. Sadly, the shield, piece of crap that it was, broke in two. She swung the sword while it was in reverse grip The weapon shattered, but so did the horse persons skull.

realizing the shield and sword she was carrying were useless now, she dropped the useless equipment, and decided to look around. Sadly, to her dismay, she couldn’t find anything relating to that of a boat, nor an exit from the courtyard. the only thing she could see that was even remotely interesting was the spell circle looking symbol on the ground within the small gazebo.

With nothing else, she stepped on it. it then glowed an aqua green color before she vanished in a large cloud of blackness.

=====***=====

When the blackness cleared, she found herself now within a new location. All she knew from looking around her immediate area was that there was a much smaller closed gate behind her, and there was an open area in front of her. Though how opened was the question.

‘Am I inside the castle.’ She thought.

Walking into the opened area revealed another horse person. Nothing special, except for the large axe it was wielding. Pulling out her knives, she charged after the horse person. As expected, it swung down with its axe, hitting the ground. Taking the chance, she slashed the right arm with both knives, causing deep cuts if anything.

The axe fell to the ground with a clanking. Grabbing it, she swung with all her might, beheading the horse creature. Afterwards, she inspected the new weapon she had.

The axe was large, so she had to wield the weapon in both hands, forcing her to sheathe her knives again. The axe itself looked rather worn. Sadly, it also looked like it would break if given enough force. Now with that, she looked around her knew location.

The area was indeed the fort, or what’s left. The wall was collapsed allowing the grey sky to shine through. It even allowed the view of even more of the place. Between the walls outside was a large drop to whatever ground was there. Looking towards a higher position was wooden rafting. As if there was renovations going on. Maybe a hint of survivors would be evident.

With no other place to go, she walked on, over some planks of wood. Past that was another horse person to fight.

‘I’m not catching a break here, am I?’ She raised the axe for battle.

The horse person ran at her, swinging the axe horizontally. While the attack was dangerous, it also let the horse person stagger. With the opportunity presented, she swung the axe with an overhead strike, cleaving into the head of the horse person. Ripping the axe out sadly broke the weapon, forcing her to take the next axe as a replacement. She hoped it would last a little longer than the last one.

She heaved the weapon over her shoulder before moving on. She didn’t notice before, but the air didn’t seem all musty as it should have been. No excess dust or anything. Strange would be a bit underrated. Were the horse people smart enough to mindlessly clean or something.

She decided to put her thoughts on hold as a curved hallway was before her. looking around the corner, to her surprise, was an actual horse soldier. Well, maybe soldier was taking it too far as the ‘armor’ appeared to be pots and pans tied to him. Although the sword and shield looked to be in better condition than the rest.

She ran around the corner and confronted the ‘knight’ with her axe. The horse brought its shield up before charging with it raised. She dodged as the shield moved to the side and the sword thrusted through.

Swinging low to hopefully stagger caused the ‘armor’ to bend inward on itself, inflicting a wound on its bare, jerky flesh. She saw it turn towards her and raise its shield, guarding against the next attack. In response, she swung the axe upward, knocking the left arm over its head.

*WHOO-SHLING*

“Aah.” She gasped as a cut was present on her left side.

The horse swung again at her head. Luckily, she recovered enough to duck from it and cleave through one of its legs. This in turn caused the horse person to collapse onto its only knee to ‘stand’ up. When it looked, the axe came down, cleaving through its pot helm with ease. The skull splitting underneath.

Taking a breather, she hoisted the axe up. Only for the blade to not come with it. Luckily she had a better sword and shield to use now. And spare cloth to wrap around her wound. With that done, she progressed up the wooden steps to her left.

With her luck, she found a food storage area. Looking around, she gathered what she could. though most of it was merely whole loafs of bread, she wasn’t complaining. Checking each one, she found no mildew upon any of them. the only thing to drink however were from these large, round glasses of strange, purple-ish liquid. From the smell, she realized it was wine. Though she was clearly too young to drink any, there was no one to say otherwise. So she took all of the wine. All of it.

It was only four bottles anyways. the only problem was how to carry it all. Looking around, she found a large enough sack and some rope. Together the items worked perfectly as a proper container for her rations. And with that were the stone stairs.

As soon as she was at the top, a bolt of color hit the wall. It was an icky green-ish brown color. Moving behind a support beam, she took a peak. It was another horse person, but they had a horn. A horn that was clearly glowing.

With no choice, she ran around, causing the horse person to fire again. She ran around and closed the distance fast. Just as the horse shot another shot, she slid under it before stabbing up into its throat. Tearing the sword out, causing the neck to be halfway cleaved through.

Smelling something, she walked into the next room. In it was a furnace with a giant soup bowl on top. before she could wonder any further about its contents, she looked left to spy another horse attacking her with a sword. this one had wings however.

It dived at her with its sword drawn to kill. The attack was obvious and dodged well enough. She tried to hit it, but it flew behind the bowl. She was so focused on it, she failed to dodge the kick to her head. It didn’t hurt much, but it still frightened her a bit, yet relieved that it didn’t use its sword.

She saw it flying behind her to swipe again. She rolled, allowing the blade to miss. It went behind the bowl again. this time she wasn’t so focused on the just the sides. Instead of above, it attacked from the other side it came from. Swinging the shield knocked the sword away, and caused the winged horse to flop onto the ground. Its head fell as soon as it rose itself up.

“Hoooo. Well that was relieving. I hope I don’t have to fight too many if those soon.” She mumbled to herself.

Grabbing the sword, she realized it wasn’t a slash type of blade, but a thrusting type of blade. She decided to sheath the it in the left belt loop of her shorts before walking up the wooden stairs the horse person came down from.

After arriving to the top, she dodged another energy bolt. And again it was one with a horn, charging to fire again. With no other choice, she rushed it with her shield raised, allowing it to take the bolts for her. One bolt took the upper portion of the shield while another took the lower right.

Wanting to keep some of the shield intact, she took out the thrusting sword and threw it. It soared as it impaled the horned horse through the chest. It didn’t get the chance to counterattack as the girl swung her sword into its face, cleaving the upper half of it off.

Walking through the doorway the horned horse was guarding, she was face to face with another winged one. The wings seemed to be damaged however. no such luck of it flying around. The sword it wielded was still deadly though. It was rusted yet sharp, giving the blade a sort of barbed, or rather a saw look.

Dodging by rolling out of the way, the winged horse rose again. This one showing some skill as it swung from low to the ground in a wide upward slash. With no choice, she brought her shield up, only for her to be flung into a wall.

She ducked from the stab attack it did and tried to slice off its legs. No such luck as even though the wings were gone, it was still quite nimble. She rushed forward and swung again. Again it dodged. Something was odd about this one. A kick to the gut proved that. if not the actual battle stance it took. Realizing it wasn’t as mindless as the others, she’d have to come up with a better battle plan.

The winged horse rushed forward, attempting the slice her in half. She dodged and swung her sword in return. It too dodged, but gained a small cut. Somewhat annoyed, it rushed at her again. This time with a head butt. Despite blocking with the shield, she was still pushed a few feet back.

‘Talk about hardheaded.’ She thought as a new idea formed.

She got close to slash the horse, but it easily dodged the attack. she waited for a counter, but it gave none. After a few more swings, she realized it was trying to tire her out. In response, she swung lazy swings and fake panted. She needed it to attack for her idea to work. It finally did.

It swung its sword as she bashed it with her shield, knocking out of its weird hand thingy’s. It responded by punching her in the face. She however expected it. It rushed over to grab its sword and raise it again. As it did, she swung her sword down, chopping both of its ‘hands’ off.

It wailed. it wailed not of pain, but of anger. It swung its arms around wildly, attempting to hit her. She kept backing away from it, not wanting to get hit by the corroded stumps it had. Just like with the thrusting sword, she threw her current weapon. It struck, but got lodged in its mouth. Seizing this, she grabbed the blade and shoved it through the skull, leaving it there. She then took the offenders better blade, equipping that instead.

Before going up the large stairs with the massive set of wooden doors, she decided to take a breather and rest. She also looked at the room she fought in.

An octagon shaped room with two halls exiting it. One where she came from and the one ahead. In the room were four pillars, still intact. Part of the roof was on the floor, allowing sunlight in. There was exposed ground with plants growing. That was the most odd as she was sure she was on the 50th floor or something. She saw a practical bottomless pit. Well, not really bottomless, but it was quite a ways down. Regardless, sitting herself down, she had lunch.

She decided to have some of the bread she took. Using the wine to wash it down. While she would be scolded and grounded for something like this, she couldn’t care less. They didn’t have any water to drink, and she didn’t want to die choking on the bread after coming this far.

Speaking of which.

She tried to remember what happened before all this. All that came up was she was going to go after that boy. the one with the skeleton arm. She didn’t remember why, but it seemed important to her. The next thing were the knives. She was bringing them solely for self defense purposes. at some point, she started falling into an empty blackness. Where the empty blackness came from, she didn’t know, but she knew there had to be a way out of this place. Somehow.

=====***=====

After a nice hardy meal, and a small nap on the grass, she did a few exercises to get her body woken up. A stretch here and there. A roll of the shoulders, and she was good to go. Now feeling refreshed, she walked up the large stairs, awaiting to confront whoever was beyond the door.

As she entered the room. She saw how large it was and spacious it was. Four pillars also took position in it as well as a large dark brown beast in the back. It’s back was turned, so she couldn’t see all of it. She did note how it had large bat-like wings, and a long tail.

“So, you are here.” It spoke with a voice of old age. “I expected a visitor, sooner or later.”

The beast finally rose up and turned around. It revealed itself of having dark matted fur and a long snout. It’s arms were long, yet almost frail. In fact, its whole body seemed to be weakened. It was tall, but it was lanky. It had claws, but seemed to prefer the axe it wielded. A massive hunk of metal with a very blunt blade. Actually, the axe appeared more like a hammer with an axe design by how purposely blunt it was.

“So, you have come to end me.” It, or rather HE spoke again.

She noticed the eyes were grayed out. Not fully, but it signified him being somewhat blind. His twitch a bit before he spoke again.

“I do not recognize your scent, but know that I know where you are. I am Scorpan, the fallen prince of the, well it doesn’t matter. Not now. Not anymore. Just, prepare yourself. take your time. I’m not ready either.” he said solemnly.

“Who do you think I am?” She asked, curious of his answer.

“If you’re hear, does it matter? Honestly, no. All I know is there will be an end in this room. Soon.” Scorpan responded.

She thought about saying something, anything but, it seemed he was lost in some delusion. With how large he is, she might have no choice, but to take him down.

Without warning, he swung his axe at her. thinking quickly, she ducked under it and slashed at his legs a few times. He swung again, but much closer to himself. She rolled away from the backhand of the axe. She noticed how slow he was. That also meant he was strong though. or at the very least, hit very hard.

Another attack came. this one an overhead strike. It struck, causing dirt to rise. A slash to Scorpan’s arm was the only indicator she was still alive. Before the smoke cleared, she ran through it, slashing again at his legs. Using his wings, he flew up to smash her with his weight. Unsuccessful as she ran away from the impact spot, but it did give her an idea from a video game.

As he stood up again, he spun faster then expected, smashing through her shield, shattering it into pieces. The impact was so great, it knocked her through one of the pillars, into the wall behind it. She coughed up blood as she fell to the ground.

Coughing as she rose, she saw his silhouette around her. He was standing over her. Seeing the shadow of his arms raise, she dropped her sword in favor of her knives and waited.

*WHOO-CRASH*

The axe struck and Scorpan collapsed to his knees, whining as he did. He began shrieking as he felt multiple pains going up his back. Little did he know, the girl was using her knives to climb him, stabbing him over and over until she reached the head.

He swung his arm up as she jumped to avoid being grabbed. The next thing she did was thrust both knives down on his head. The shock caused him to falter onto the ground, unable to move properly. Most likely due to brain damage. She grabbed the sword and before plunging it through, she spoke one word.

“Kratos says hi.”

*SHLINNNK*

Scorpan became lifeless. The old, withered beast felled by a child, blind as he was. he was too frail to put up a real fight. his body soon dissolved away, leaving nothing but broken bone fragments, and a belt. She didn’t notice him wearing a belt as his fur was quite long. the axe was also left behind, but it was too heavy for her to even wield properly anyway.

*Vrrrr*

A strange sound was heard which prompted her eyes to peer at the floor. Upon it, a red spell circle. It had the same markings as the aqua green that brought her here. maybe this one led her out.

Before she could step on it, more appeared around the walls of the room. Each one slowly beginning to turn yellow.

“Oh no.” She said as she fled from the room in blind panic.

Every room she ran, more circles appeared. Each one beginning to spout ember like sparks. It wasn’t long before they began combusting. Walls, floors, pillars. Everywhere around her, they burst in flames. Fires roared, stones toppled, towers fell.

One tower fell near where she began, giving her a new route to take. Through there, she saw a door on fire. Grabbing a crate, she flung it, crashing the door open. Through the doorway was even more broken walls and crashed areas. She also noticed more horse people, but they were falling to their deaths as they tried to get to her. That or they burned to death, or were smashed by debris.

She ran through as the area behind her exploded causing her to be shot through the air. She landed safely in an outpost tower. Quickly rising to her feet, she ran out of it an towards the nearest shore area. through a gap, she saw a boat, perfect for escaping.

More circles appear, but these ones were blue. Large pillars of blue lightning shot up into the sky. It was merely moments that passed when blue spears of lightning rained down onto the fortress. each one piercing the stone.

it wasn’t long before she felt an earthquake. Witnessing the ground itself split open, swallowing some horse people alive, if they were even considered alive, only for water to shoot up. The island was sinking.

She ran as fast as her thirteen-year old legs could carry her as another tower fell in front of her. An opened window allowed her entrance through a door on the opposite side. Said door was probably one that led into a hallway before the tower fell.

Once exited, she wasted no time and leapt over a chasm. Again she used her knives to get a holding onto the ground, and pulled herself u. The boat, though rough looking was in sight. She hurried to it before anything happened to it.

When she was merely a few meters away, a spear of lightning struck behind her, launching her forward, into the boat. her consciousness fading soon after.

Author's Note

Scorpan is dead. Old, but dead.