Those days waiting to go outside disappeared like a child in the hands of a starving demon. Finally, two days later, Archibald was dressed in an obnoxious amount of gear. Each piece of clothing had at least a dozen pockets, and he carried three bags, one on his back and one on each shoulder. His job was to carry out any weapons that his siblings needed and carry back anything they might find.
Meanwhile, his siblings were each given light armour. There were ten children in total, and Archibald’s nine siblings all towered over him. In age order, there was Johnny, Peter, Nancy, Dimple, Veronica, Jorgen, Pritchard, Chance, Benji, and Archibald.
Tapping Johnny’s shoulder, Archibald made sure to mention, “Father said I could go out first.”
“Archie, it’s too dangerous at the front,” Johnny said, “I need to make sure it’s safe. You stay in the middle of the group where it’s safest.”
“No, I’m meant to be the first one out!” Archibald said.
Johnny sighed and turned to an instructor. “Tell Father we’re going on the mission now.”
As the instructor hurried off, Johnny pulled out a key and carefully inserted it into the keyhole. Then, he opened the door.
Outside was the forest that Archibald had seen before. There was a clearing around the tower walls, and the air shimmered a fluorescent purple. Johnny stepped out, with the others following behind in age order.
At the edge of the clearing, there was a clear divide. The shimmer was brightest where the forest started, but after there, the shimmer stopped suddenly.
“I’m meant to be in front,” Archibald murmured as Johnny left the clearing.
“There’s no point in arguing,” Benji said.
“But Father promised me,” he whined to himself.
Losing hope of leading the group, he took a moment to appreciate the outside. First, with a deep breath he tasted the freshness of the air. The tower air was stale, practically rotten compared to the breeze that flushed past. And the trees seemed more beautiful now that he could touch them, feel their rough bark that reminded him of decaying flesh and smelt as bitter when he ripped it away, trip over their roots. And the leaves were so much smoother than he expected. He had seen them as fluff, like green clouds tied to the trees, but up close he saw each one individually. Lines were drawn down the slender blades. The leaves fluttered in the wind like an army of berserkers, slashing in every direction at the air in their pursuit for the ground. Relentless. Powerful. Scary by all means, but Archibald saw beauty.
Benji had to grab him and pull him along to stop his fascination.
As they made their way through the forest, they followed Johnny. In the distance, the ground rumbled, and Johnny led the group behind a bush to peer from.
Archibald also poked his head out. Ahead was a hound, eyes white, whose ears poked above the treetops. As it growled, a drop of spit dripped out from the corner of its lips, landing with a thud and singeing the soil beneath it.
Johnny motioned the others to go back, but they didn’t move. In his frustration, he turned to find a bird perched between them and the tower, staring blankly around with its pale, white eyes.
The group stood still; the bird hadn’t seen them yet. However, Archibald wasn’t as optimistic as the others, and he began to slowly inch off into the bushes. “Where are you going?” Peter whispered to him, not daring to turn his head, though still side-eyeing Archibald.
“Isn’t that a demon?” Archibald asked.
Peter carefully nodded, saying, “But most demons are just animals. And I don’t think it can tell that we’re here unless we move.”
After turning its head a couple of times, the bird took off. As each of the children let out a sigh, Johnny checked again to find the hound also gone. He gestured for the group to move forward. Now as they kept moving, their gaze skittered from side to side. When a small fox hopped past, a few children leapt behind a tree, and when a twig snapped, they froze.
A cat poked its head out from behind a bush, prancing forward. As it danced, swaying gracefully, most of the group ran forward to pet it. Only Johnny, Peter, Veronica and Archibald stayed back.
“Can we go home now?” Archibald said.
“He’s right,” Peter said, “Archie’s weighing us down. We should bring him back to the tower.”
“No, I’m not!” Archibald cried, “I’m just… just…”
“Scared?”
“No!” Archibald said, “I don’t wanna… I’m just…”
Johnny nodded to Veronica.
“Hey, Archie?” Veronica said, “We can go back. Come on, I’ll take you.”
As the pair started to walk back to the tower, Peter stopped them. “I was joking. We still need our bags.”
“He’s just a kid, Peter,” Veronica said, and she kept walking with Archibald. Johnny grabbed Peter’s shoulder to stop him from following, the two turned back to look at their children crowding in the open.
The cat kept walking past them, and they followed. It moved its tail like water, waves lazily washing down. Johnny’s eyes followed the waves, and they led far past the cat’s body. Its tail wound into the tree far further than it should have.
Then, the tail bunched up, and at the end of it was a strange creature. It had an open jaw with rows of teeth streaming down towards its throat like a whirlpool. The creature was white-eyed and furry and its tongue was strutting forward, the tip in the shape of a house cat.
The cat was bait.
The cat flew to the side, wrapping around one of the children and yanking them into the razor-ridden jaw.
When the other kids tried to escape, claws jumped out from the creature’s side.
It mangled another kid. They were diced in an instant by the claws and thrown into the open mouth of the monster, still screaming until they were shredded by its teeth.
Archibald, only a few metres away from Johnny, turned to see the commotion. Peter rushed past him, moving around to the back of the demon, and Johnny moved into the opening with his siblings.
“Archie!” Johnny called out, “Give me my staff!”
Before Archibald could move, Peter shouted, “Archie! Pass me my rings, quickly!”
The two boys were a dozen metres away from each other. Johnny might be a good choice: he was the oldest and the strongest.
Archibald reached into his bags, but then he considered Peter. Even if Peter was younger than Johnny, he was behind the demon. He could launch a sneak attack, and the demon would be gone. Archibald snatched into a pocket on his left.
Then, he considered Johnny. He was at the front of the demon. He was near their siblings. Their brothers’ and sisters’ lives were in danger, and Peter would have no way of helping them. Johnny could take them all away from the demon before they fought.
He couldn’t decide. He didn’t know who to help. He couldn’t decide who needed their weapon more.
Then, Archibald heard a screech from above. He looked up to see the demon bird from earlier circling them. It eyed Archibald, then it began to swoop. Archibald saw two options ahead of him, and one behind, and he chose the tower over either of his brothers.
“Archie! I can’t channel draconic without my staff!” Johnny said, before turning around to find the boy close to the tower wall. Johnny chased after Archibald, catching him in seconds. He snatched at one of the bags, but before he could pull out the staff, an impact came behind them. Johnny carefully turned his head.
The bird had landed. It let out a squawk, revealing the same rows of teeth as in the other monster.
As Johnny yanked his staff from a bag, the bird jutted forward. It bit at his elbow, letting Johnny’s forearm fall to the dirt before it pecked at him again. Veronica ran forward, grabbing Archibald and dashing away.
Peter ran with her, but he didn’t grab anything. He sprinted straight back to the tower without even a glance at his siblings.
Peter, Veronica and Archibald collapsed by the tower, covered by the purple shimmer. Veronica looked back to see who else had gotten back, but no one was following behind. The chaos settled and quiet came over the forest.
Then, Johnny jumped through bushes. He was bloodied and bruised, and he dragged himself towards the tower with one arm and a broken leg left.
As Veronica ran forward to help him, the bird followed out of the bushes. Veronica grabbed Johnny’s arm, pulling him into the shimmering purple, and the bird flew off.
“Archibald…” Johnny murmured, his face planted firmly in the grass, “My… staff… where…”
“We can’t save any of them,” Peter said, “They’re all dead.”
A puddle of tears spread at Johnny’s face, and he cried out, “Archie! My staff! I can go back! I can save them!”
Johnny brought his hand up, opening his fingers expectant for the staff. Archibald, still on the floor, crawled back.
“Archie!” Johnny yelled, “Archie! Archie! Archie!”
Finally, his throat went hoarse, and his body grew heavy. His arm fell to the floor, and the puddle of tears was overcome by a puddle of blood.
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Archibald didn’t want to accept what had happened. Even hours later, he could scarcely talk. That afternoon, Archibald sat at the door of his father’s office. Beside him was Veronica, who had left the office and let Peter in. Veronica held Archibald, her hand covering his ears.
“I sent you out with that group because I thought I could trust you!” came their father’s muffled screams through the door. Archibald could hear it too, though he didn’t have the heart to tell Veronica.
Their father continued, saying, “You let seven of your siblings die without so much as thinking of saving them! What happened?”
“It was Archie’s fault-”
“I don’t want excuses. I just want to know your side of the story.”
“…I ran away. When we were ambushed by a demon. I… I freaked out, and I thought there was nothing I could do to help.”
“You mean there was nothing you could do to help your younger siblings?”
“W-what do you-”
“Veronica said you ran right past Johnny. You left him alone and unarmed and facing off against a demon.”
“Johnny can run away on his own.”
“Johnny is dead.”
There was silence, then a faint sobbing.
“Johnny is dead! Your brother and my son, but it seems like I’m the only one out of us two who cares! I don’t care about your excuses now, because those same excuses got my children killed! Get out!”
The door opened, and a tear drenched Peter walked out and down the hallway, hiding his face from his siblings.
Their father now came out of the room, turning to Archibald and bringing him inside. The two took their seats, each on one side the desk. “Hey, Archie? Do you still wanna go outside?”
“I’m sorry,” Archibald murmured.
“Sorry, could you say that again? I didn’t hear properly.”
“I’m sorry,” Archibald said, losing the courage he had built as soon as he finished.
“Oh, my boy, what are you sorry for?”
“I… I didn’t give Johnny… his staff… I got scared… I…”
“No, I’m sorry,” his father said, “You’re only twelve. It was wrong of me to send you outside. I just thought I saw something inside of you. I thought you might be able to kill a demon. I was wrong.”
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and then Add to home screen.