A light and a fight

Looking to be about nine years old, the white-haired girl looked to be in a state of rest. Her face was in her thighs, and her pale, white arms wrapped around her legs.

The girl was wearing a short sleeve dress, and she was shivering.

'Ah,' Skeleton E thought.

Humans feel cold. Skeletons don't.

It was simple common sense, for skeletons don't feel anything because they don't have any pain receptors.

Actually, why could he still hear things? Also, why could he still see?

More questions left unanswered.

Other than his fellow bretheren looking at her, and the strange pull towards her direction, the skeleton man knew for sure why the girl was special.

For she 𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 light.

A white, dim light, but a light nonetheless. It wrapped around her like a halo, slightly lightening up the dark, rainy world around her.

Now, he knew this was a fantasy world.

Alas, the light was like a tiny candle compared to the giant sea. It was a noticeable light, but it was a small one.

As they were all looking at her, the white-haired girl moved. As she did so, she looked up.

Five tall skeletons and their soulless, empty eyes were looking at her.

The girl immediately scooted deeper into the crevice. Unfortunately for the poor girl, after just a single scoot, she found her back against a rock.

Then, the poor began shivering. In the crevice, she trembled as if the cold became colder. As she shook more and more, the light around her began to dim at a noticeable rate.

Suddenly, Skeleton E felt an unpleasant feeling. There was a strange tingle; a pang of pain in his chest-not that he has one anymore.

Be that as it may, he felt cold. Not from the rain, the wind, or anything like that.

It came from inside him.

Skeleton E looked at himself. All he saw was bones and a ribcage. Then, he looked at her.

Perhaps there was a connection.

So, he watched as the halo of light around her dimmed even more, the cold feeling in his soul or something grew. Now, it was as if he jumped into a bathtub of ice-cold water.

The skeleton man looked at his fellow skeletons, but they didn't move. Being as still as statues, they seemed to be only waiting for something.

Skeleton E wanted to wait, so he waited.

...

It had been a few minutes since he started waiting, and the feeling in his chest was growing even more.

His fellow bretheren weren't doing crap, and they were as dumb as they look.

Useless numbskulls, the lot of em'.

After looking back and forth between them, the skeleton man gave up.

In the end, the skeleton man made his way over to the girl. Immediately, the girl's shivering rate exponentially increased.

The light around her grew dimmer, and the skeleton man felt himself grow colder and colder.

Nevertheless, Skeleton E carried on with trudging across the muddy, wet dirt floor. As he arrived at the entrance of the crevice, he saw the white-haired girl covered her head, shaking at a more tremendous rate.

The skeleton looked at his cold, wet, bone hands, and then back at her.

What can a skeleton even do?

...

The girl was scared. She had never been more scared in her life.

She was given a big fright when she saw the hulking, tall skeletons. They're empty bodies, cold and dead.

The girl shivered as she looked at the menacing cloaked one.

It was so cold.

The girl could feel its soulless, empty eyes, hidden under the hood, staring at her.

Watching her every move. Her every breath. Her every…everything.

The girl trembled. She trembled even more when the scary one began walking to her. She tried to scoot deeper, but the cold, stone rock blocked her.

She only watched as the scary skeleton stood over her. The girl closed her eyes, covering her head as she waited.

Waited for-

Then, the girl felt something drop on top of her. Something heavy...and warm.

Following that, she felt a gust of cold air on her face as the heavy thing wrapped around her, leaving an opening.

Looking up, she saw the empty, soulless skeleton's eyes.

However, it was patting her down, fixing the cloak so that she could see through the opening. The girl didn't know what to do but simply watched as it patted the cloak around her.

After a few seconds, it simply stood back up, and walked away.

𝘛𝘢𝘱.

𝘛𝘢𝘱.

𝘛𝘢𝘱.

In the dark dim world, under the gray sky and in the rain, the skeleton walked back to the other skeletons. The girl watched the scary skeleton walking back, and as it did, she looked down at the cloak.

Touching it, it felt strangely warm.

...

𝘛𝘢𝘱.

𝘛𝘢𝘱.

𝘛𝘢𝘱.

The day seemed to have become a tad bit brighter.

Although there were still gusts of wind washing over them, and rain falling onto them without abandon, the skeletons all stood as motionless as statues.

All of a sudden, the sound of water splashing and mud squishing was heard.

The five looked on as a small cloaked figure slowly crawled out of the crevice and into the open, cold air.

As she crawled out, she pushed herself off the floor, and looked up. From within the brown cloak, a small, pale face was seen.

The top half of her face was shadowed, by the clock, and although her face was as serene as a ripple-less flat lake, the skeleton man could see that she was trembling.

The white haired girl watched them, and they watched her.

Then, the poor girl hesitantly stepped forward.

One step.

Two steps.

Another step.

Taking her time, she began to approach them at a slow pace.

The skeletons only watched as the white-haired girl slowly, yet steadily, made her way to Skeleton A first.

Rain fell onto her cloak as she looked up from within. She really had to stretch her neck when looking up at Skeleton A.

The skeleton in question eye's followed her, and as the girl stood before it, it only looked down at her. Other than that, it remained as still as always.

After staring at it for a good minute, she walked to Skeleton B.

Then Skeleton C, and next, Skeleton D.

The white haired girl simply approached each one, staring them in their soulless, empty eyes until moving to the next one.

Each one of them only looked at her, their empty eyes following her every move.

Finally, she stood in front of the skeleton man.

Skeleton E simply looked at the girl that barely reached where his chest would be at. As she stared at him, and him at her, he had a thought.

If he was being honest, he would have laughed if he still had his voice.

The brown cloak was too large for the white-haired girl. At least a one-fourth of the cloak was on the wet muddy floor, and it was sadly being dragged behind her.

As she was staring at him, Skeleton E's head shot up.

Although it startled the guy, the skeleton man didn't have a moment to think to apologize.

From the right, the sounds of water splashing and the squishy sounds of something stepping on mud, although it was overshadowed by the rain, flowed into his ears.

His imaginary ears.

As he looked to the right, the skeletons and the girl simultaneously looked towards that direction.

From an alleyway between two broken down houses, something staggered out from the darkness.

A skeleton.

...

Under the dark sky, in the ruins of where people had once lived, rain drops continued to stain the ground with its tears.

𝘛𝘢𝘱.

𝘛𝘢𝘱.

𝘛𝘢𝘱.

To Skeleton E's, the falling rain seemed to have slow to a crawl, and the skeleton man felt as if he could count each raindrop near him.

Which was impossible, but he was overwhelmed with the sense of deja vu.

𝘛𝘢𝘱.

𝘛𝘢𝘱.

𝘛𝘢𝘱.

Unfortunately, he did not have the time to enjoy it, because he along with his fellow bretheren stared down upon this newcomer.

Unlike them, this skeleton was strangely...menacing. Unnerving. Something crawled up the skeleton man's spine as he looked into its red eyes.

Skeleton E wanted to step back, but he stopped himself.

'I'm already dead, why not die again?' the skeleton man thought, and he felt tremendously better.

Unlike the five of them, it had a unique set of red eyes in its empty eye sockets, and it has a knife in its right hand.

A rusted knife, but a knife nonetheless.

As they stared each other down, the red-eyed skeleton skull slowly turned towards the white-haired girl. Spotting her, it tilted its head, as if contemplating something.

As if it was actually alive.

The white-haired girl took a step back.

Then another.

Then another.

Then, she ran behind Skeleton E.

To be honest, it wouldn't have really mattered because anyone can see through the gaps in his rib cage.

Even so, she peaked from behind him, and she looked at the red-eyed skeleton.

However, just as she had moved, the red-eyed skeleton began staggering towards them. No, it began approaching the direction where the white-haired girl was.

Behind the skeleton man.

The poor girl shivered, as she tugged on Skeleton E's left arm.

The skeleton man looked at her.

What was he supposed to do? Fight it off?

Nevertheless, she was still tugging him. As he was about to shake her hand off, all of a sudden, something inside him stirred. Something seemed to be changing, and it came from inside him. It was a familiar, yet foreign feeling, and it spread through his chest.

Then, the skeleton man recognized and understood the feeling.

𝙃𝙚𝙡𝙥 𝙢𝙚. 𝙋𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚.

At that moment, the slowed world resumed its normalcy, and Skeleton E felt the desire to help. His small, unnerved feelings vanished.

At the same time, the four skeletons promptly moved.

In a synchronous and robotic manner, and within a matter of a few seconds, they arrived before the red-eyed skeleton.

The skeleton man thought they were just slow robot zombies, but seeing them like this...

'It was rather astonishing,' he thought.

If Skeleton E could describe what he was feeling, it would be awe. Such teamwork was impeccable and faultless-even he had never seen it before in his old world.

All of a sudden, like the flip of a switch, his jaw fell to the ground.

Literally.

He couldn't help it. His mouth gaped open, and his jaw just fell onto the muddy ground with a 𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘥 and a squish.

He didn't bother trying to pick it up.

The skeleton man was too surprised to even get it back.

...

In the rain, a skeleton and a white-haired girl watched as five skeletons were dancing in the rain.

Their footsteps, disorganized, stepped on the muddy ground, creating splashing and squishing sounds on the floor.

Incredibly off tempo, they all were.

Skeleton A, the large one, was swinging its arms as if it was swinging a large weapon. Obviously, it was wielding nothing from the start, so its fists were a few inches away form the skeleton head.

Skeleton B, the one with the bent spine was behind the skeleton, swinging its arms quickly. Clearly something small was supposed to be in his hands, like knives, but its bony hands just barely grazed the red-eyed skeleton.

It was also important to note that its footwork was superb, as the red-eyed skeleton kept trying to slice it, and yet Skeleton B dodges each strike seamlessly

Skeleton C, the one slightly shorter than himself, was standing far behind Skeleton A, waving its arms here and there.

Magic caster? Priest healer supporter person?

Skeleton E doesn't know, but what he does know is that nothing ain't happening.

The last skeleton, Skeleton D was like a mix of Skeleton A and B. It was swinging its arms from a short distance away, as if he was wielding a long weapon. Its footwork was also superb.

Although it wasn't not as fast as B, it still cleanly dodged each time the red-eyed skeleton tried to hit it.

From the side, the skeleton man watched them swing their arms, their footwork moving in a manner that seemed strategic and trained.

Even with his untrained eye, Skeleton E knew they were clearly trained when they were alive.

Perhaps it was safe to assume that they were seasoned professional fighters.

It was a pity that they were literally brainless. Only their muscle memory remained.

Or perhaps it was 'bone memory' in this instance?

In any case, it was terrible. Skeleton E thought he could die again, this time of second hand embarrassment seeing his bretheren like this.

At this rate, it'll just be a stalemate.

As they were 'fighting,' the skeleton man bent down and picked his jaw back up from the muddy ground in one swoop. Then he tried attaching his jaw to the bottom of his skull.

It took a couple tries, but once he got the perfect angle-

𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬!

Rubbing his chin, Skeleton E nodded his head.

Perfect.

Now then...

Clearly, after what he saw in the cathedral and this red-eyed skeleton, there are enemies. Also, the four skeletons may be on Skeleton E's and white-haired girl's side because the girl herself called to them.

Probably.

Even now, when she asked for help, the skeleton man felt the desire to help, and the Skeletons A-D moved at the same time.

Sadly, his fellow bretheren cannot think for themselves.

They literally need to be given help. Like literal overgrown babies or even toddlers, their hands need to be held, their every action guided.

Therefore, Skeleton E looked around, trying to find something. He can just jump on the wildly swinging skeleton, but he might get hurt.

'Wait, can I get hurt?' the skeleton man thought.

Then, he shrugged.

So then, almost stealthily, the skeleton man began taking action. The white-haired girl watched as her protective barrier left, beginning to walk along the edges of the rectangle shape clearing.

It was inevitable that Skeleton E would make sounds as he moved. The ground was muddy, and there were several puddles.

Fortunately, the dancin-no, 'fighting,' was extraordinarily loud. No huffing, gasping, or yelling-but the simple sounds of rain and things stepping on puddles and mud.

In just under a minute walking, the skeleton man arrived behind the red-eyed skeleton.

It was still swinging the knife wildly, and yet it never landed on any of his fellow bretheren.

Then, Skeleton E walked behind it, waited...and simply pushed it.

It staggered forward-right into Skeleton A's swinging fists. Its larger than average fists smashed into the red-eyed skeleton's skull, creating a resounding 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬.

The red-eyed skeleton fell right onto the floor with a 𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘥, and its bones suddenly fell apart and tumbled all over the place, like a house losing its foundation.

As the bones stopped tumbling on the floor, Skeleton E saw something rise from it.

From the bones, a strange white mist of sorts emerged. All of a sudden. it separated into five parts and they headed towards the skeletons, with the largest mist heading towards Skeleton A.

Before Skeleton E could move, the white mist fused itself into his bones, and disappeared.

As it did, he felt strangely energized.

Like his bones had grown stronger.

Perhaps the white mist was milk. It explains why it was white.