Finding Courage  

"You can do this, you can do this," Jaybird repeated over and over.

The sound of his footsteps was all he could hear as he sprinted across the dark corridor. That and his heartbeat which was beating like a drum solo in a heavy metal concert.

"You can do this," Jaybird said one final time right before he heard a sound in the darkness ahead of him. "Um, what was that?"

The sound of heavy footsteps reached his ears.

"Sir?" he called uncertainly.

A nauseous stench — like rotten meat that's been left to dry in the sun for too long — wafted up to Jaybird's nose.

"Um, sir doesn't smell that bad… most days," he said while his nose wrinkled.

Jaybird's danger-sense tingled. He took a single step back, and then another, and then he stopped.

"Courage… I can do this," he whispered.

He raised his torch forward with his left hand while his right hand gripped tightly on the hilt of his falchion.

It was the eyes he saw first. From a height nearer to the ceiling, a pair of dull yellow eyes with cat's slit irises.

"Holy pretzel…" Jaybird gulped. "It's definitely not sir…"

Then came the screech that was all the confirmation Jaybird needed.

"Ho, boy," he expressed just as he dodged the outstretched arms that had just reached out for him. "I am so not cut out for this!"

The Abomination's arm whipped back the way it had come and nearly cut into Jaybird's back but his danger-sense kicked in a second time, allowing him to duck out of its way.

The other arm came swinging into view. Sharp nailed fingers formed into a claw reached out for Jaybird's neck.

"Holy pretzel!" he yelled again.

Then, with a swiftness that Jaybird had never managed before, he smacked the claw away with his falchion, cutting into the Abomination's palm and causing the creature to screech in pain.

"Whoa… I just did that," Jaybird said, sounding quite surprised.

His danger-sense kicked in a third time, allowing him to jump back from the Abomination's hand swipe that nearly gouged out his guts.

"Oh my God… that was close," he realized.

Then something unexpected happened. A notification window appeared in front of him.

[CONGRATULATIONS, SUBSTITUTE REAPER, SUCCESSFULLY AVOIDING CONSTANT DANGER HAS AWAKENED A POWER HIDING WITHIN YOUR SOUL.]

The window vanished and was quickly replaced by a second one.

[[ABILITY: DANGER SENSE ACQUIRED] you gain an uncanny sense of when things aren't as they seem, giving you the opportunity to escape danger in the nick of time.]

Without warning, something smacked the side of Jaybird's shoulder and sent him crashing into the wall on his left.

"Oh…" he moaned. "Anyone get the plates of that car…"

A third window appeared before Jaybird.

[WARNING: DANGER SENSE ACTIVATION IS NOT A HUNDRED PERCENT CERTAIN. SUBSTITUTE REAPER IS ADVISED NOT TO OVERLY RELY ON THIS ABILITY.]

"Now you tell me," Jaybird sighed.

Suddenly, his danger sense tingled yet again. This allowed him to jump out of the way before the Abomination's misshapen form slammed down on the floor he was just resting in a second ago.

"No distance can separate me from my prey for all things come within my range… Warp Strike!" Jaybird yelled.

He threw his falchion forward and as far away from the Abomination as he could manage. Seconds later, Jaybird's body materialized a good distance away from his enemy.

"I'm not running away… this is just a tactical retreat," he told himself.

Then he ran back to the salamander's lair as fast as his feet could take him all while the Abomination chased after him.

"Oh my God, please stop screeching!" Jaybird yelled over his shoulder. "I get it, I get it… You want to eat me!"

Despite the groaning of his legs, Jaybird pushed them past their limits, and with one final jump to dodge another of the Abomination's extended limbs, Jaybird cleared the entryway into the salamander's lair.

He rolled forward and then came to a stop with his head face down on the earthen floor. He looked up and yelled, "Sir!"

A low growl was all the answer he could get. It had come from behind the salamander's carcass.

"Hold on, sir!" Jaybird reached into his bag. "I've got an idea…"

He reached into his bag of holding and pulled out one of the items he and Black Howler had discovered inside the mines, something the miners must have been using to mine fel iron.

It was a round red stick about the height of Jaybird's arm with a blasting cap at one end of it. In reality, such an item would be known as dynamite, but here in the Abyss, the name of the item was called [Boomstick].

Jaybird popped the cap. Then he glanced over his shoulder and saw that the Abomination was at the door now.

"Please, please don't cause a cave-in," he whispered right before he threw the boomstick toward the entrance. "Fire in the hole!"

Jaybird ran. He heard the Abomination screech once more. Then he heard the resounding boom as a mild explosion rocked the cavern. The force of it smacked Jaybird in the back, causing him to pitch forward just as he'd cleared the salamander's carcass.

"You're not very agile, are you, kid," Black Howler growled.

Jaybird looked toward his left and found his master resting his back against the salamander's carcass while blood seeped out of several nasty wounds.

"Sir!" He picked himself up off the floor and moved over to Jaybird's side. "Man, you look like hell, sir…"

"Thanks for stating the obvious," Black Howler chuckled. Then he coughed. "I'm out of potions… do you have any?"

"Y…yeah, sure, hold on," Jaybird reached into his bag of holding and pulled out a tiny red vial from inside it. "Here… It's my last one… sorry."

While Black Howler gulped down the minor healing potion, Jaybird took a quick peek at the entrance. The Abomination was on the ground, buried underneath a pile of rubble. Thankfully, the entrance hadn't caved in.

Jaybird breathed a sigh of relief. "Sir… I think we're in the—"

The Abomination's fingers twitched.

"Crap… sir, I hope you're ready for round two," Jaybird said worriedly.

He heard Black Howler crack his neck before the other player spoke. "I'm ready… although even my Berserk state barely kept me alive against the thing…"

"Um, not to sound presumptuous, sir, but I think… I think I have a plan," Jaybird said as he glanced over his shoulder.

His master was stretching his limbs like an athlete readying himself for the upcoming match.

"Let me hear it, kid," Black Howler said.

For answer, Jaybird reached into his bag and pulled out the string of boomsticks he'd kept in there. There were a total of five of them, each attached to each other by two short strings on each end like a very short but deadly ladder.

"Interesting," Black Howler noted. "But we'll need to get it inside that thing for maximum damage."

"About that, sir," Jaybird began. "Can you still transform?"

They heard the screeching that grated on their ears.

"I've got a bit left in the tank," Black Howler answered as he draped his claymore over his shoulder. "What do you want me to do?"

The Abomination was rising to its feet now.

"You think you can open its mouth long enough for me to shove this inside it?" he asked while raising the string of boomsticks up.

"I've got plus four to strength… what do you think?" Black Howler asked with a smirk.

There was a screech much louder than the last one, forcing both Black Howler and Jaybird to turn their eyes on the Abomination.

It had cleared the debris, but something was wrong, they realized. It looked different.

"Holy pretzel… is it bigger now?" Jaybird asked in confusion. "And when did it have four arms?"

Black Howler growled. "Looks like this thing can evolve too… You ready kid?"

Jaybird gulped. "Y…yes, sir. I don't think his larger mass will make any difference as long as we get the boomsticks inside him."

"Follow my lead," Black Howler ordered.

Then he ran forward first, claymore over his shoulder and ready to swing. On the other side of the salamander's carcass, the Abomination, now twice the size of its former self, charged forward too.

"I can do this," Jaybird whispered one more time. Then he too charged forward.