GadielMay 8, 11:44 am, Queanbeyan, Australia
The trio walked into the darkness, aware that the light behind them was getting further and further away. After a while, they felt a woosh of air, and the doors closed behind them, leaving them in darkness.
Tarik raised his phone for some light, but just as he did, floodlights suddenly turned on all around them.
Gadiel squinted as he looked around, getting his bearings. He blinked in confusion as he looked around and saw the brown floor beneath them extend in to infinity. He looked up, uncomprehending, and realized that he was in the middle of what looked to be a large coliseum.
Made entirely out of mirrors.
As Gadiel noticed his reflection in the distance, all around him, he froze. A cold sweat broke out across his body, his eyes growing wide.
"Welcome, boys and girls!" said a loud, masculine announcer voice from above them. Tarik and Medina looked up.
Above them was simply inky blackness. Out of the abyss, a small wire slowly lowered itself, from which a pretty-faced, muscular man hung. Tarik"s first impression of the man was that he seemed like a goat. His smile was as wide as it was manic, his emerald-green eyes burning with mad energy. He was s.h.i.+rtless, his wide chest oiled and sparkling. His pants were wide and tied at the ankles, giving him a weirdly...foresty vibe. His wispy, ginger beard only made him seem more goat-like.
"Welcome to your deaths!" he grinned as he swung down on the wire. "How did you like my challenges so far?"
Medina didn"t even hesitate. She immediately dropped her bag, un-holstered her gun, and shot at the goat-man.
Immediately the goat-man fell. For a moment, it seemed like he had been shot out of the sky. But somehow, the goat-man twisted his body mid-air, and managed to land feet first on the floor.
DOOOM!
The ground cracked and broke where the goat-man landed, but as soon as his feet hit the floor he disappeared. The next second, he was right in front of Medina, grinning maniacally.
"I don"t like you," he said, still grinning. "You"re rude."
FWOOOOs.h.!.+
Before he could anything, the goat-man was forced to leap backwards, warded off by Tarik"s flames.
"Ohoho, is that the Sun I see?" said the goat-man tilting his head, his eerie smile still plastered on his face. He leaned forward, bending his knees to get ready to leap again.
"Then that must mean..."
The goat-man"s eyes slowly moved over to Gadiel, who was still frozen still. The goat-man tilted his head again, intrigued.
"Gadiel!" Tarik shouted.
Gadiel knew he needed to move. He knew that this was a matter of life and death. But now that he had seen his own reflection, he couldn"t do anything but stare at it. He couldn"t look away.
What if it came at him?
What if it took his body again?
What if it attacked him?
He knew these were irrational thoughts. But knowing that didn"t stop his heart from thumping up his throat, it didn"t stop his legs from shaking, it didn"t stop for the fear- no, the absolute terror, of wondering if he would lose his body if he looked away.
So he froze. Completely unable to move, sweat trickling down his back as the goat-man leaped towards him.
Immediately, Medina shot a couple of shot towards the goat-man. Somehow, he managed to dodge the bullets, but it did stop him in his tracks. He turned his manic eyes on Medina once more.
"You should really stop that," he said. "I"m gonna get very angry if you don"t stop."
FWOOOs.h.!.+
The goat-man dodged as Tarik threw a fireball at him.
"Oh, right, maybe you can tell me, Sun," said the goat-man, as if he just remembered something. "What"s up with Moon? She seems kinda out of it. Is it that time of the month for her?"
"F*** off!" Tarik and Medina yelled at the same time, shooting and throwing fireb.a.l.l.s.
The goat-man dodged easily, and ran up to Tarik, getting right in his face. He grabbed Tarik"s face, and slammed him against the floor.
"AAAAAHHH!"
The sound of Tarik"s scream snapped Gadiel out of his fear. He immediately turned to find Tarik in a crater created by the goat-man slamming his head in the ground.
"TARIK!"
Gadiel threw an ice spear, running towards the goat-man, completely ignoring everything else. He knew that the moment he focused on something else, he was done for. He needed to ride this wave of rage as far as it would take him.
"Oh? Moon is coming to play?" the goat-man dodge the spear, and stood up. His unhinged grin didn"t change this entire time. His eyes gave Gadiel the creeps; the way they looked at him made him feel very uncomfortable.
"Medina, hel-"
Before Gadiel could even finish his sentence, the goat-man was in front of him. He felt the goat-man grab his face.
Immediately, Gadiel released his pent up rage, his cold aura freezing everything around him in a two meter radius. Somehow, the goat-man managed to get away before getting caught in Gadiel"s cold zone.
The goat-man tilted his head once more, staring at Gadiel with those crazy eyes. For a moment, they seemed lucid, staring straight at Gadiel"s soul.
"You"re no fun, Moon," said the goat-man.
Gadiel decided that he didn"t really like the goat-man. Just something about his general vibe.
As the two stared each other down, Medina rushed over to Tarik. She placed her hands on his head, and closed her eyes.
SCHWING!
The goat-man"s eyes narrowed as he saw the ice spear blocking his path. He had just tried to rush towards Medina, to interrupt her healing. However, Gadiel had thrown a spear in his way, blocking him.
"You"re fighting me," said Gadiel. "Not them."
If possible, the goat-man"s grin got even wider.
The next second, the goat-man was in Gadiel"s face once more. Gadiel release his cold aura instinctively, but the goat-man was out of his face already. Immediately, Gadiel placed his hands on the floor, creating a wall of ice to cut off the goat-man"s path to Tarik and Medina.
"Wrong prediction!" the goat-man gloated from behind Gadiel.
Before Gadiel could even react, he found his face rus.h.i.+ng towards the floor. It stopped inches away from the ground, his nose just barely touching the dirt.
"Clever," the goat-man applauded, already a few meters away. "You"re not fun, but you are sharp!"
Gadiel felt a cold sweat break out. He had managed to stop his head from getting shoved into the ground by sending a cold snap directly behind him as soon as he realized where the goat-man was. But even then, with his fastest reaction speed, he had almost gotten his face smashed into the ground.
This goat-man was too fast.
Gadiel got up, still looking at the floor, worried that if he looked up, he would see himself. To prevent that, he closed his eyes.
The goat-man tilted his head once more, grin never fading.
"Why are you closing your eyes, Moon?" he said, seemingly genuinely curious. "Are you sleepy?"
"Nah, I"m just tired of your ugly face," Gadiel replied automatically. "This is much better."
For a moment, everything was silent. Then-
"Ugly?"
The goat-man was no longer smiling. His pretty, grinning face suddenly morphed into a twisted mask of hate.
"Did you just call me ugly?"
Gadiel did not have time to react as the goat-man raced up to him and punched him in the face. Gadiel was sent flying. He crashed into the ice wall he had just created.
But the goat-man wasn"t done yet. Before Gadiel could even hit the floor, the goat-man was behind him.
"BURN!"
The goat-man disappeared into Tarik"s flames as Gadiel hit the floor, head spinning. He blinked a couple of times, disoriented from punch. He hadn"t expected that at all.
"I"ve decided. You are all RUDE and BORING!" he heard the goat-man howl. He looked up to find the goat-man"s hair on fire. It would"ve been a comical sight if not for the fury on the goat-man"s face and in his eyes.
Instantly, the goat-man appeared in front of Tarik, but Gadiel was already way ahead of him. His hand on the floor, Gadiel instantly created a thin film of ice over the floor, making the goat-man overshoot his distance due to slipperiness. Medina, who had been biding her time, did not miss this chance.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The goat-man howeled as holes appeared in his shoulders and at the center of his chest. Medina cursed.
"He dodged," she muttered, reloading. "Those should"ve gone through his eyes."
But Tarik was already on the offensive. He threw a couple more fireb.a.l.l.s at the skidding goat-man.
"I just need him to be still for one moment," said Medina, looking at Gadiel. "An instant is enough."
Gadiel nodded. He turned to look at the goat-man just in time to see him regain his balance, and blink away instantly once more.
Right in front of Gadiel.
Oh, s.h.i.+-
The goat-man kicked Gadiel, sending him flying once more. He crashed into a mirror, and lay there, b.l.o.o.d.y and unmoving.
The goat-man then turned to Tarik.
"Now then, Sun," he said. "I think it"s-"
Just as he was about to leap forward again, he frowned. He looked down at his leg.
To find that it was frozen stiff.
BANG!
The goat-man"s leg exploded into a million tiny shards, and Medina blew the smoke off her gun.
"Nice one Gadiel," she whispered, holstering her gun and heading over to him. Tarik could take care of the rest.
The goat-man blinked, unable to believe his eyes. He fell over, unable to keep his balance, eyes uncomprehending as he looked at his missing leg. A shadow fell over him, and he looked up.
To see Tarik"s hand grab his face.
"Bye bye," said Tarik, and blasted the monster"s face off.
Soon, there was only the charred remains of the boss monster left. His death had been mercifully quick; he hadn"t even had time to scream.
As the body fell, Tarik quickly made his way over to the shattered mirror wall and Gadiel. Medina was in the middle of healing. Her hands were glowing, as was Gadiel"s entire body.
Soon, the light faded, and all that was left was Gadiel, knocked out on the floor. Tarik couldn"t help but smile as he saw Gadiel like this; unguarded. Even asleep, Gadiel��s forehead was slightly furrowed, as if he was thinking about something.
It made Tarik"s heart ache terribly to see such a soft side to Gadiel.
As if he could feel their gazes, Gadiel stirred. He opened one eye, and squinted.
"Did we do it?" he asked. "Did we win?"
Tarik smiled.
"Yeah," he said. "We won."
"This place should return to normal now," said Medina looking around. "We should get out before then."
"So..." Gadiel hesitated. "Does this mean I can go to cla.s.s now?"
Both Tarik and Medina simply looked at Gadiel.
Then, Gadiel grinned. Tarik snickered. Then Medina.
Their laughter carried through the halls as the scenery around them slowly changed back into a Target.
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