Eleven
 
Kon started to curse himself a few moments later when he realized he was a giant, glowing torch that anyone could see. The heat of the half hundred balls of light was beginning to grow uncomfortable and he panted heavily as he aimed for the nearest of the abandoned hill barracks.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” Kon cursed under his breath as he rushed into the barrack, looking around frantically to see if there were any more of the bronze warriors standing around. Just like the other he had seen, this one was empty as well. Twelve beds lined the edge of the room but other than that there were no personal affects to be seen.
He waggled his arm back and forth energetically until the first of the orbs went flying from his body. The adhesive of the orbs was strong enough to keep it attached with gentle activity, but the more active he was the easier it was to send them sailing around the room.
“I’m glad Alice can’t see me shaking like a dog. She’d never let me live this down.” It took only a minute to get all the orbs off of him and then he was pressed against the side of the rotunda, trying to catch his breath as he waited. It didn’t take long before a cry rose up, quickly taken up by dozens of others. The clamor grew from just shouts, to the clomp of metal boots marching as search parties were deployed.
The grip on the stolen sword was slick with sweat, but Kon stood ready. The glow from the orbs didn’t amplify one another thankfully and the light spilling free of this barrack looked similar to what a single orb did. They would have to enter the room to see the stolen hoard.
It didn’t take long for the crashing of metal to sound as some of them entered the hall of the barrack. Two figures rushed into the room and stopped suddenly, staring around at the dozens of floating orbs. They hadn’t bothered to clear the room in their rush.
The short sword was heavy and chopped effectively as Kon twisted his hips and brought it around in a hammer blow that cleanly beheaded the closest of the guards. Blood spurted up as the warrior fell in a crash of armor, its partner spinning around with wide eyes filled with fear. Kon arrested his momentum and thrust with mainly his arm strength and almost ended the fight then and there.
The guard dipped its head and twisted its hip and the edge of Kon’s sword scraped along the edge of its long face guard with a shriek. Its arms were too short to effectively ripost without getting closer and Kon used it to his advantage. He wailed away with wide overhand sweeping blows like a mad axeman. It bobbed and weaved like a drunk boxer, sweeping out with its wide dagger to knock aside his sword blows.
Yellow light glowed off of the bronze armor from every angle as its octagonal pupils remained dilated as Kon pushed it across the room. The stolen dagger stayed close to his hip, ready to counter if the warrior pushed through the barrage of sword strikes. It was weaker than Kon, relying on speed and heavy armor to stay alive, but Kon felt it slipping.
He feinted a diagonal cut and waited till the warrior raised its dagger to parry the blow. Kon straightened the downward blow and caught the dagger straight on and drove it down and toward the guard’s shoulder. The blades clanged loudly off the armor, but did not damage.
Kon stabbed it with his own dagger, ramming the blade into its throat and twisting viciously to open up a wide wound. Legs folded and the warrior collapsed at Kon’s feet. He kicked its knife free and across the room before whirling around to look at the entrance of the barrack.
No more warriors followed the duo. As he controlled his breathing he realized that the sounds of the search had drifted away. He wouldn’t have long before they checked the entire camp and doubled back and realized they were missing a few people.
Abandoning what little caution he had, Kon broke out in a sprint with bloody sword and dagger in hand. His long legs stretched out as he raced directly toward where the anchor was. Behind him he heard the shouts and clamor as they got to the walls and the fierce fighting that happened there. Then he rounded the depository building and was staring at a trio of guards standing in front of the anchor.
He pushed harder, running all out and praying that they didn’t all turn and see him at the same time. Their helmets were terrible for their periphery vision and they were all staring ahead and away from him. Running wasn’t subtle though and the sound of his feet beating the stone alerted them as he got within ten feet of the closest guard.
The three guards were spaced out with maybe fifteen to twenty feet between each of them, with the furthest guard being about forty feet away. Ornate armor jingled as the guard spun around and lifted its own sword and screeched like a bird as Kon crashed into him.
He didn’t slow at all as he closed in on the guard. The guard’s weak thrust was easily deflected with a circular parry and then Kon rammed the dagger home into the guard’s brow and rode the guard to the ground.
“Speed. Speed. Don’t let the gang up on you.” Kon left the dagger in the guard's face and rolled on a shoulder to bounce to his feet just in time to meet the next warrior as it got within feet of him. Kon shuffled his feet and got away from the dead guard as he reflexively swatted away enraged sword strikes to the side. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Kon picked up speed as he pushed himself to the full extent of his body and managed to land a strike at earlevel with the flat of the sword. The guard’s knees went wobbly and it staggered away just in time for Kon to jump back to avoid being eviscerated by the third guard.
Each breath was a fire that scoured his lungs as Kon was forced backward by a dizzying blitz of dagger thrusts and slashes. Kon blocked and dodged but the cold bite of bronze tore down his leg and across his free arm as he cried out in a mix of shock and pain. Anger burned away his exhaustion and refilled his sword arm with strength as he used his superior reach to batter the guard down.
It was no masterclass of swordplay, more like a brute with a sharp club. It was effective. Kon rose up to his full height and brought the short sword down and through the thinner armor where the neck met torso and left it buried there as the guard gurgled its last behind its beak mask.
“Fuck,” Kon gasped as he turned to look at the final, concussed, guard. It was holding its head with one hand and its sword was loosely gripped in the other as it staggered one way then the other like it was drunk. Kon grabbed the handle of the embedded sword and put his foot on the breastplate as he pried the blade free in a shower of gore as he turned his attention back.
He had to thrown himself to the side as the guard had dropped its act and launched itself at Kon with suicidal fervor. Air was driven from his lungs as Kon landed hard on his back and watched as the guard sailed by him. Kon rolled and got to his feet in a crouch, sword stretched out in front of him as he waited for the guard to turn around and come back toward him.
“AIEEEEEE!” Kon ducked his head and used his free hand to grab at his ears as the screech caused him to stumble, but he kept his eyes on the guard as it raced toward him. It lifted the sword up and over its head like an executioner's blade and Kon simply lunged inside of its guard and speared it through the chest. Its own momentum betrayed it as the breastplate yielded and the guard died in his arms.
Kon threw it to the side and looked around wildly as he expected to see a thousand more of the guards come swarming toward him. It was silent. No tramping boots or questioning cries. Even the constant sounds of fighting had fallen silent as the dead guards shriek echoed over the area.
“Oh, shit. That’s not good.”
Kon ran and grabbed the giant anchor. It burned, but not with heat. Energy flowed into him and he gasped as his heart tripled its pace and his eyes bugged out of his skull as his breath was stolen from him. He tripped and caught himself as he broke into a sprint while laughing manically.
The camp exploded into action as the guards abandoned their posts and Kon saw hundreds of the armored warriors begin to chase him. Behind them; the monsters got to the lip of the wall and started to climb over. A sea of pale, many eyed monsters that tore into the back of the stragglers and began to consume with terrible ease.
Kon continued to laugh breathlessly as he ran faster than he thought was possible before. Wind tore at his eyes and made them water as joy spread through him even as a distant part of his brain screamed.
“This is wrong. This is wrong. Drop it. Drop it. Bad Kon!” His logical mind was locked away by a prison of euphoria and strength. The newly formed node in his gut was an inferno of pleasure as the giant orb cradled in his arms continued to feed him. He entered the barracks and leapt ten feet with ease, ignoring whatever it was that just popped in his knee, and hit the ground hard. He stumbled and fell in a sprawl down the stairs before bouncing to his feet and running straight ahead.
He hadn’t stopped laughing.
“I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. It’s not funny. STOP LAUGHING!”Kon was locked out of his own body, driven by instinct and energy that he couldn’t control. Fighting was happening behind him, metal met flesh and screams of rage and pain filled the hall as he kept moving as fast as he could. They were close behind him, but his longer legs allowed him to lengthen his lead. Even with his right knee feeling weird and the blood that poured out of the cuts on his arm and stomach.
What had taken seemingly hours to cross now took minutes as he raced without concern for his own safety. Stone steps appeared before him and he took them three at a time and vaulted over the dead warrior and the lip of the sarcophagus in a single bound. The rotunda was empty save for the floating yellow orb which zipped toward the flashing orb in his hands and melded with it.
Smoke burned at his lungs, but he couldn’t be bothered to care as he ran forward. Monsters lunged through the smoke with questing claws that dragged themselves across his flesh, but Kon didn’t slow. His mind had fallen silent as the laughter finally halted to be replaced by brutal coughs, but he could feel the rift opening in a way he couldn’t describe.
One moment he was in a sea of gray smoke and the next he bounced off of a solid pillar of muscle. He slammed into the stony ground as Alice leaned over him, coated in gore with only her eyes and face visible as she smiled at him.
“What you got there?” she asked, innocence on her face. She reached out with her free hand and effortlessly plucked the anchor out of his hands and held it up to her face. She frowned for a moment and then the orb disappeared instantly, drawn into her skin as she took a breath.
“Better. Now, let’s get you cleaned up and then we can debrief about what went wrong.”
“You were there?” Kon wheezed. He had never felt more wretched in his life. The exhaustion was the only thing that was keeping him from pathetically crying.
“Of course I was. What type of teacher just throws their student into a dangerous situation like that?”