Hey! Anthony stumbled, the rock fell. He heard a voice but it was different, it felt like it was in his head.
"Hey! Anthony!" He heard as he felt small hands grab onto his shoulders shaking him. It was Evelyn. "Anthony! Turnaround! What is that?!"
"Okay, Okay" Anthony grumbled disoriented, "Stop shaking… me"
Anthony could see it as he slowly got up, above the treeline, in the direction of the village, his village, his home, he saw smoke, a massive amount, a plume unlike anything he had ever known, but Anthony knew it was bad. Fear seemed to overtake him, his face contorted as a scowl warped his face.
Everything seemed to suddenly stop, there was no beautiful forest, there was no Evelyn, there was no stream! No birds! No stone! No. Magic.
Then it all happened, he broke into a sprint. His legs moved on their own.
"Anthony! Wait!" Evelyn yelled for him, but Anthony couldn't hear her. He couldn't think.
He could control the magic in his body though. He felt it move through him. He made it swell in his legs, through his muscles. He was faster. He was a lot faster as he leaped and bounded through the forest.
Then all of the sudden, he broke through the tree line and just stopped. There it was, his village, or at least that was what was supposed to be there.
The sight was horrifying, his nostrils filled with a sickening stench of blood, smoke, and burnt flesh right before him. He could see the flames, the destroyed houses, the mangled corpses, and the creatures that caused the destruction.
They were huge, muscular creatures, each of them carrying frightening spiked clubs. They had massive manes, beards, and fearsome red eyes. Giants, he thought. He had learned about them once but seeing them in person was a whole other thing. He was too stunned to move, too afraid to process.
"AHHHHHH!" A scream echoed causing Anthony's neck to snap in it's direction. He saw it, his Mom and April were fighting two giants. There were a few giant corpses around them, but more were circling, focusing in on them but his mom had went down, clutching her leg. April stood in front of her mother, violently waving her sword at the two giants as she slowly conceded ground.
Anthony stared at the scene but he couldn't move, he couldn't-
"Anthony! What do we do!" Evelyn said as she shook Anthony's arm, he stumbled but he caught himself. Slowly he turned his head to Evelyn, she was crying, her lip quivered, tears rolled down her cheeks, her eyes shook, trembled, along with her whole body, as she stared deep into his like she didn't want to look away.
"Evelyn" he whispered to himself. He woke up! He calmly, carefully, cautiously, reached for her face and he pulled her head into his chest. He whispered calmly in a steady tone into her ear "Don't be afraid Eve, it'll all be okay just stay here, hide behind the tree.Whatever you do don't follow me, I'll be back soon. Don't you worry for even a second."
"Where are you going Anthony?" She asked, looking up at him, tears still rolling down her cheeks, but at least she wasn't trembling anymore.
"I'm just going to help," he said calmly and slowly.
"Be safe," she said.
"When am I not?" He asked but it wasn't a real question. He smiled at her but he wasn't happy, he just wanted her to feel okay. He turned and he ran, he ran towards the fires, he ran towards the dangers, towards his family.
"Mom! April!" He yelled. April, still warding off the giants, looked towards him, slowly it felt like her face contorted with fear.
"Ant look out!" time suddenly slowed as he looked to his left, he couldn't move quick enough but he could take it all in, his death, right before it happened. A club, with spikes, was coming right for him from his left. A Giant, a bit behind him to his left, swung his weapon towards Anthony. He was smiling, smiling so wide you could see it in the wrinkles around his eyes, almost laughing as his fatal club closed the distance about to strike Anthony for the final time.
Then all of the sudden, he felt a hand shove him to the ground. And as he laid there, the spiked club sailed above him. It missed, but it didn't sound like it, there was a massive thud, blood splattered, and the Giant's bellowing laugh echoed through the valley, pounding in his eardrums.
He turned away from the Giant but he couldn't believe the sight before him. His dad laid there, drenched in blood. Blood was splattered all around him, holes covered his torso as a dark clumpy red drained from him, taking the lively color of his skin from him.
His mouth quivered like it was trying to make out words, but Anthony couldn't hear him. In the split second he saw his father before he pushed himself to a standing position again, he saw his fathers eyes go blank, nobody was behind them anymore, the man he had known all his life had left.
He rose up, anger boiled through his veins, he wanted to cry but he couldn't. He looked at the cruel laughing Giant before him. Then he raised his arm and screamed, screamed as loud as he possibly could with every inch of his body and mana exploded from him in a bang.
Suddenly the Giant wasn't smiling anymore, in fact it was gone, its top half had been flung somewhere unbeknown to Anthony, out of sight, and out of mind. The Giant's smile was not replaced, Anthony could not smile, he looked around and caught April's eyes looking at him with bewilderment.
Unfortunately for him he could also see four other Giants looking at him, all with the same shocked look, but unlike April their mouths would soon become foul smiles similar to that of the first Giant. They looked down upon him, delighted by a new challenging prey to snuff the life from.
They lost all focus on April, they began to move towards him faster and faster. Anthony knew he couldn't handle all of them, he was already spent, he was just a kid in the end, he could see the end yet again.
Hey! Anthony heard.
"What– What are you?"
That doesn't matter right now, you can finally hear me. Listen, you need to let me take over. I can help you. I can help your family
"Huh– take over?– you can help my family?"
Yes, just let me- But Anthony didn't need more convincing, he surrendered so quickly, he closed his eyes to rest as he didn't really have much to surrender, he was entirely spent, nothing left to give.
A new force, presumably piloted by the voice, took over his body. He didn't feel invaded, he felt safe at this point, it was time to be done. The power forced Anthony's eyes to fly open but Anthony couldn't see out of them, they weren't his eyes anymore, it was time for him to rest but he still couldn't cry.
–
When Anthony came to everything was bright, it was loud, it was disorienting. Anthony looked down at his hands and they glowed with a peculiar gold color. He looked around and was overwhelmed, power flowed around him, it seemed as if golden lightning had flashed around him. He slowly turned around and saw April, his sister fighting but she was being pushed away, she couldn't get to him.
"April," he said calmly.
"Anthony! You're back! How did you do all of this?!" She yelled trying to push for him.
"Do all of what?" He asked.
"I- I- Everything! How did you do Everything?!"
Anthony looked around as he took it all in, he was surrounded by corpses but there were no more giants. There were no more people either, just April. She was safe, April was safe! Anthony calmed down and he began to hold back the overwhelming power from flowing from him, and he fell to his knees, April rushed to catch him. While the power had stopped pushing her away it did not stop surging inside him.
"April I'm scared. What happened? Are you okay? Am I gonna be okay?" Anthony said, whimpering. "I'm so scared."
"It's okay Anthony," April said, trying to calm him, "Everything is going to be okay."
Suddenly, Anthony felt tears flowing down his face. As he looked at his sister for what he worried might have been the last time, he discovered he could cry again. Then the bright golden energy that was grabbing his destiny by the throat was gone, unfortunately it took Anthony with it.