I stared down the slope of my chest - built like a burly boat - and at the head of the gang before us. How I knew it was a gang? The way they held themselves. Each member behind another, eyes sharp and crooked. Nothing but a dark promise in them. Temporary, blind loyalty to their leader. A snake of a thing that stood at the front. Thin limbs, vaguely green scales, body drooping with something that may have been slime but was probably something worse.

  There was ambition in those eyes. Want like a child's. A ck of care like a merchant from the guild.

  Blind desire leading the blind.

  I met it with a gre of my own. Suspicion hidden behind a diplomats smile.

  "Yes?" I asked, nice and cheerful.

  And the snake curled his lips. As close to a smile as he was gonna get. "I was wondering what you were doing out here in our... Lovely little town. Friend. Wonderin' if ya might need some help."

  It wasn't a question, I noticed. Not with all that muscle behind him. Abyssals shaped like things. Beastly men, manly beasts. Even a few that were all but bugs.

  I looked out towards the woods. Broke for a moment and frowned. "We were just headed out for the city." I said, offering nothing more.

  Not that I needed to. I had a feeling that no matter what I said whatever was about to unfold was going to.

  "The city, eh? Well, why don't you let us escort you? After all, Stygia's a pretty dangerous pce."

  "No thanks. We'll make it to the city on our own." Fisher challenged. Eyes hot with fiery defiance.

  And to my surprise the bandits actually backed off. Slinking into the shadow alleys of the vilge. Vanishing out of sight and leaving us alone.

  I didn't expect it to st long.

  I knew their type. They'd be back if we didn't move soon. And they wouldn't come under disguise. After all, when barely concealed extortion didn't work, violence was typically next. So rather than wait to see if the adage was true, I grabbed Fisher by the arm and started moving.

  "Uh, where are we going?" He asked.

  "Out of town." I said, offering no more eboration than that.

  Which obviously wasn't enough.

  "Shouldn't we go ask for directions. To, ya'know, the city?"

  "We can ask ter."

  He resisted. Physical might so much greater than mine. "Why?"

  I looked toward where the gang had vanished off to. Stared a moment. Frowned. "Those guys are going to be back, and when they find us, we'll have more than words."

  "You mean a fight. Right?"

  I nodded. "Yeah, and I don't think we'd have all so great odds."

  Fisher frowned at that. Realization perhaps dawning on him at st. Whether it had or not, he followed. The both us walking towards freedom as fast as we could. Stepping past the border separating vilge from forest. We were free.

  For all of a half hour.

  But not long after that, the gang found us. Some from behind. I could hear them running. And some from in front. Stepping out from behind the trees to block our path. Ten of them in total. Each wearing the closest approximation they could to a grin.

  Horrendous, crooked things, too varied to properly expin. But most were mix of jagged teeth and fleshy spines. Twisted horror shows for mouths that were sickening to look at. The way they drooled was even worse. Moreso for it's implicit implications.

  But as I stared at them, their leader stepped forward. Tail coiled around him. Hands mid motion, going back and forth as he rubbed them together. A mischievous glint in his red eyes.

  He was almost a caricature.

  And he ughed like one too. "Ha. Funny meeting you here. Looks like we'll be able to help you with that trip after all."

  "..." I said nothing. Instead choosing to look for a way out. Eyes scanning the forest around us. Looking for gaps in the formation his men had taken up. And calcuting if we'd be fast enough.

  The odds weren't in our favor, and somehow, I doubted he didn't know that.

  "Not gonna deny our help this time, huh? I guess light born really aren't fun. Get he-"

  He was interrupted by a roar. Loud. Piercing. And close. Too close.

  It came from the left. Somewhere behind the bushes and branches. Behind the wall of vegetation. And when it showed itself, it broke through. Fangs and fur barging into the little clearing we found ourselves in. It's coat a light eating bck. Three heads staring down at us.

  If only for a moment. Short. Broken in the next breath when it snapped one of it's heads out. Teeth cmping down on the bandit leader with a bone crushing crunch. Then it shook that head and started it's hunt. Prowling forward on all fours. Each paw tipped with dagger like cws. Tips shining with anti-light, stealing the suns embrace.

  I prepared a spell. Backing up as I did so. Mind racing with new escape vectors. A faint hope that it might miss us. Whether it did or did not, it began to tear into the gang. Leaping at the next nearest member, a bear like Abyssal, with cws out.

  He died screaming. Impaled twice and bleeding green. And when he did it was like all of this became real to the rest of them. Eyes widening in terror as they realized, and tried to back away. To escape. But it was too te for them. The monster, three headed and build like some terrible mix between a bear and a wolf, was already upon them. Shredding flesh and bone with each swipe of it's cws. A feral hunger in its eyes as it diced them into pieces.

  Third to fall was an Abyssal of flesh and bone, it's body star shaped and covered in bck patches of armor. Armor which did very little to protect it. After that it was an Abyssal practically made of eyes. Short and with very little in the way of visible muscle, the three headed beast dissected with disconcerting ease.

  Before the fifth one of them fell, I turned towards Fisher, grabbed him, and attempted to make a run for it. Only to be stopped by... Something.

  I realized, almost immediately, that it was a barrier. A wall made by weaving Arcane energy into the air and solidifying it. And typically, it'd be blue. The default color of Arcane energy in most instances. Or purple, if not. This one was translucent. A shimmering thing so thin it may as well have been invisible.

  I couldn't sense the Arcana used to make it either. Not even a trace. Which, even as inexperienced as I was, shouldn't have been possible. There should have been something. No matter how faint.

  But there wasn't, and we were trapped. No where to go but towards the three headed monster tearing the other Abyssals apart. A fight that I was pretty sure we couldn't win.

  That didn't stop Fisher though.

  He raised his tendrilled hands and charged, snarling like a wild dog. And the monster met him with a derisive swipe. Single paw smming into him. The effect of it was immediate. The force sending Fisher flying through the air, almost spinning as he flew towards me. Past me, and right into the barrier. The translucent wall flickering for just a moment.

  I didn't hesitate to run to his side. Burying at least half of him as I checked to see if he was alright. Grabbing an arm and feeling it. Only to remember he didn't have bones. A strange bit of his anatomy that saw him rising to his feet.

  Still, he was bruised. The red of his bizarre flesh dark and purple where the beast had struck him.

  "You alright?" I asked him.

  And breath heavy, he nodded.

  Then it was my turn to face the monster. It wasn't by choice. It was necessity. Born by the fact that everyone else had fallen, and Fisher looked like he couldn't take another hit.

  So I stood, and turned around. Coming face to face with the three headed thing. All six of it's eyes pinned onto me.

  "Light born." It said. Not a question, but statement. An acknowledgement of what I was. And it was eloquently spoken. Intelligence hidden behind the three beastial gazes.

  I saw that. I saw it and realized that I wasn't ready to die yet.

  "Abaddon." I said, hoping for the first time that my dream wasn't a dream.

  And fire, bck and green and wicked, fell from the sky.