At the end of the short hall, light stretched forward. Straining his eyes, Matthew could see a circular platform rising several feet above the ground. Exiting the hall, the group became privy to the crowd around them. bleachers filled with a plethora of creatures. Boars lining the bleachers, octoplants clinging to the walls, fowlcrows perched at the top, all creating a ruckus as the group were escorted to the arena. “You kids got this!” Anita and the two men dismounted their boars and stood by in the field.

It was then that Matthew pointed straight ahead, all eyes had directed toward a specially designed part of the colosseum where the large boar sat atop a luxurious throne. The group watched as the creature lifted Eric with his left arm before tossing him into the ring. Gunning forward, Adriana transformed her body into lightning, zipping across the field in an instant before returning to her natural state, catching and saving Eric from a nasty plummet.

The others tried to join Adriana but were cut off by a large brown worm that had smashed its way from under the concrete. The creature’s deafening bellow had silenced the ruckus from the stands. The worm had stretched out wings from folds of its flesh, exhaling a stream of fire upwards as it did so. After showing off, the prideful beast focused its sights on the remaining group of Matt, Brian, Jessica, and Anita. The earthwyrm revealed a sharp row of teeth before it lunged at the dragoon. Brian jumped in to the air, believing the safest place from a worm, but he was not prepared emotionally or mentally as his pursuer used its wingspan to swiftly follow the dragoon across the sky.

“Hey there, sunshine.” Adriana looked away from the dragoon juking and jiving mid-air to see the boy in her arms was awake. “Not now Casanova, Brian is fighting for his life.” Upon sitting up and inspecting the sky, Eric understood the situation, “So he is. Tell Brian to give you a clear shot at the creature’s wings. When you see the floor is made of ice, that’s your cue.” Adriana stood up before engulfing herself in electricity once more, this time rocketing toward the sky and latching on to the worm’s back. Meanwhile, Matthew and Jessica approached Eric, “Jess, I need you cover the middle of this floor in ice. Matt, stand by.” Without hesitation, the mage did as he asked, freezing the floor, including the area the hole left by the worm.

“Brian, keep this thing straight while I clip the wings!” Brian managed to hear the girl’s shouts between his predator’s lunges and howling wind, “Easier said then done.” Summoning a fire orb, he blasted himself away from the worm; pursuing the dragoon had led the worm to straightening its body. Digging her knives in to the monster’s back, Adriana made her way to the wings, cutting them after seeing the stage below was covered in blue.

Before long, the giant had come crashing down from the sky, cracking the ice as it landed. The worm struggled to move on the slick ice, but its struggle was in vain. Taking the initiative, Brian focused his mana in to his spear head, encasing it in a blade made of heat far larger than the weapon itself. As he brought the massive weapon down on the worm, the head separated from the body. “Guess that put him on ice.” The other four warriors groaned at the cleric’s pun.

Brian’s victory was short lived however, as the head began moving again, spewing flames that melted the ice. Before Brian could cut the head in to bite-sized pieces, it leapt for him, “Why can’t this thing leave me alone?!” Matthew jumped between the two, his shield expanding with light, keeping the monster’s jaw agape. Jessica was about to solve the problem, but to everyone’s surprise, the head was crushed in a single stroke. The attacker was none other than the boar that was previously sitting on the throne.

No one had noticed when he descended, but now their attention was fixed on the tall blue swine as it sent the worm’s head out of the arena. Instead of going after the two boys, still shocked from what they had just witnessed, the creature had the courtesy to throw the worm’s body out of the ring too before going back in the direction of its throne. About half-way between the kids and the throne, the beast turned, making a hand gesture toward itself and then to one of the teens. “What? You wanna fight me?!” Brian burst out, trying to mask the fear welling inside.

The beast nodded its head. “No? Then who?” The beast pointed again, adjusting the direction toward Matt. “Well Matt, looks like you get to beat the big guy. You got this.” Brian was all to eager to push his friend forward after he had been worm bait for so long. “I mean, who else is going to take a hit from that thing?” Adriana joined in. “Yeah, don’t be a scaredy cat!” Jessica’s words tried to cut Matt, now being forcibly pushed toward his opponent. “Even if you aren’t fine, we can just say you died with honor!” Eric’s words only made Matthew want to dig his heels in to the dirt, but it was too late, Matt was face to face with the boar.

Realizing there was no running, Matthew gathered his courage, straightened his posture, and held his weapons sternly. The creature attempted a downward strike, but Matt easily dodged to the side, attempting to get a stab in. Just as Matthew’s blade was about to make contact with the beast, he felt his stance give way to massive shaking; looking back, he saw the creature’s strike must have caused a quake that upset his balance. Quickly giving himself distance from his opponent, Matthew tried to reassess his strategy, but the beast began to strike again, this time a swipe. Believing in his resilience, Matthew shielded against the attack. The resulting swing had made contact, knocking Matt back a few feet, but letting him attempt another counter attack, this time landing a blow to his target’s gut.

As Matthew pulled his sword from the creature, he hadn’t taken noticed of what his opponent was doing, “Pow!” he took a full force blow that sent him reeling backward, reaching a destination next to his friends. “Well that was fun. You’re up Brian.” Matt gave his last words before passing out. “Nobody hurts my best friend and gets away with it!” Brain was fuming seeing Matt hurt, forgetting about the previous display of power.

The dragoon flew toward the boar at a breakneck speed, sending his weapon down hard against the enemies’ club. Brian had figured he wasn’t going to do much in a single stroke, but he hadn’t accounted for what happened next: the creature elegantly pushed the teen up in a way that caught him off guard, then proceed to send him flying much further than his friend. “Forget what I said, he’s totally getting away with it,” were Brian’s last words before he too passed out.

“As always, the boys are useless when real danger shows up.” It was Jessica’s time to step up, and she was eager. Despite watching two of her friends get sent across the arena, Jessica had confidence her fight would be different. As she stepped forward, she waved her staff and send a small chunk of ice flying at the creature’s face, “here, cool down a little.” The boar opened its mouth and ate the chunk of ice, unperturbed by the attempted mockery. “Fine, let’s just get this over with.” Jessica summoned a large platform of ice with a sharp bottom pointed at her target. The pillar made its way toward the beast, but it was answered with a club strike hard enough to shatter it. Taken aback by the feat, Jessica didn’t realize the beast was approaching her rapidly, sending her flying to the side with a blow to the stomach. “I’m not hungry anymore.”

“Well Eric, looks like we bit off more than we could chew.” Adriana looked distraught at Eric who was healing Matt’s injury the best he could. “Hopefully Matt can finish him after I’m sent flying.” Adriana walked up to the beast, ready for her attempted scuffle to meet the same fate against this juggernaut. As it swung, Adriana swiftly dodged and stabbed it on the side, her balance not thrown off like Matt’s. “I’m lighter on my feet, your little earthquakes won’t do you much good.” Adriana continued with a flurry of stabs as the once fearsome strikes were proving ineffective against the swift rogue. The monster began to get furious as it felt stab after stab, each attempt to knock his assailant away being too slow. Adriana had begun to get a pattern down, but before she knew it, the girl was flung away by a strong elbow.

Instead of being sent flying, the girl had simply tumbled away. Despite only being an elbow, the creature’s desperation attack was able to daze the rogue long enough for the boar to move in and preform a killing smash. Adriana froze with fear when she saw the beast about to come down with his massive club. Before the creature could finish her off, it was interrupted by water slicing its back. Eric had stepped in, a stream of water between his two palms. “Run!” The girl attempted to do just that, as Eric managed to dodge the creature’s swing, he caught up with the girl. Before the pair could reach Matthew, a violent quake had caused the two to stumble over each other.

Embracing each other, the couple looked toward the cause: the boar, with its many cuts and face clearly bitter compared to earlier, approached with massive stomps. “Eric, thanks.” Adriana buried her head in her savior’s chest, Eric closing his eyes, fearing he had only delayed the inevitable. “Clang!” The two had looked up at their demise, only to see the boar stumbling back and a shield in the air.

Matthew rushed forward, collecting his shield before slamming it down furious on the dazed monster’s exposed toes, further throwing off its balance. The creature’s attempt to retaliate was met with a swift cut of the arm, forcing it to drop its weapon in pain. Matthew was about to continue, but he noticed the adult woman coming toward them, “give me a boost,” she yelled. Matt kneeled and raised his shield above his head, the woman jumped on top, and after taking a second to line up her shot, sent a stream of water through the air with enough force to penetrate the large boar’s skull, causing it to fall over for good.

“Sorry about that kids, it took me way too long to grow a backbone.” Anita hopped off Matt’s shield, the two picking up Adriana and Eric, Jessica and Brian joining them after finally recovering enough strength to hobble. Remembering they were entertaining a crow, the group watched as the monsters in the stands disbanded, leaving from whence they came. “Looks like the shows over. Thanks Anita.” Matt turned his attention from the adult woman to the couple who managed to get out relatively unscathed, “Good job Eric, you really came through for us.” Eric blushed at this.

As the group left the colosseum, the two men had rejoined them. “And where were you two during all of that? Playing with the boars, the birds, and the scorpions?” The two men simply looked at each other, trying to excuse their absence to the boss. “I know you don’t fight, don’t worry. Just take us to the wagon.” Doing as instructed, the men led the way, Eric and Adriana sticking together while Matt helped both Brian and Jessica.

The trip to the wagon was unexciting, yet that in-itself was notable. “Where’d all the monsters go?” Brian was the one to ask, but it was a question on everyone’s mind. “Guess now that we killed the big guy, the rest splintered.” Jessica figured while still clutching her stomach. “You’re not going to leave us, are you?” Anita was both curious and concerned at the possibility.

“Nah, a bird might poop on you guys and heaven forbid we’re not around to clean that mess.” Everyone had a chuckle at the response, even the adults.