Reaper went flying. One moment he was there and the next, a gigantic club swung through the spot where he had stood. Tyler could almost hear the stadium announcer scream, “Hoooooooooome Ruuuuuuuuun!” He watched as the strange man who had come to take him flew upwards, back arched away from the blow he had just taken.

  With Reaper gone, the demonspawn had free rein to surge through the portal with grunts and snarls and the thirst for blood. Alina and the other two didn’t panic. They stood their ground, the three in a half-circle almost acting as a shield for Tyler. A couple of demons got hold of their scent and charged towards them, but Imanie let loose two arrows in quick succession. They whistled through the air, burying themselves with a thud in the rotting flesh of goat-like faces. No sooner had those two fallen than others turned to see what had killed their brethren.

  Above them in the lightening sky, Reaper controlled himself in his uncontrolled flight, twisting mid-air to face the ground. The black liquid metal that writhed over his body shot out multiple grappling hooks from his shoulders. How it could do so but still cover the man’s entire body was a mystery, but those hooks smashed into the demon that had swatted Reaper away, digging deep into its flesh in a spray of green blood. The behemoth of a beast growled, the sound like rocks grinding against each other, the green flames around its head flaring with the pain. Reaper had the purchase he needed, the hooks halting his momentum away from the fight, and slingshotted him right back towards it before he released the hooks.

  “This foe is beyond you, but may I ask for your assistance until my companions arrive?” Reaper’s voice spoke directly into Tyler’s mind, as the man hurtled towards the giant demon. “Given this could have been avoided had you allowed me to kill the two shapeshifters, I do believe you owe me, as they say. My companions shall be here shortly. Until then, contain the lesser ones in the area, and kill as many as you desire.”

  From the portal, demonspawn surged through, wave after wave, an endless tide of nightmares, stampeding over the bodies of their fallen kin, flooding the pebbled bank. Several of the goat-heads charged towards Tyler and the three women. Alina drew her sword, a gleaming blade of silver with gold inscription along its length that seemed to match the engraving on her scabbard. Emelyn shrugged her shoulders, reached around her back and unhooked her giant battle-axe, about half her height in length. It had a wickedly curved serrated blade to one side, and a massive hammer-head on the other, with gold inscription curving along the edges of both. Imanie was already shooting arrows, nock-draw-release, almost faster than he could blink, her quiver seemingly as full as before her first shot.

  Tyler watched as the growing horde came closer, stumbling over the ones felled by Imanie’s arrows. He held his club firmly, determined to help in any way that he could, but seeing the numbers across the field, he knew there were far too many to hold out for long. Only a handful came towards them, but it wouldn’t be long before more would appear and overwhelm them. For a passing moment, a part of him wanted to flee. He could turn around. Run back to the forest. Maybe find a way back to the Gamesmaster. Tell him it was a mistake. Tell him he’d rather go back to his broken body and lost mind on Earth.

  Suddenly, a blue screen appeared in front of him like he had called up his stats, but it wasn’t his stats.

  {Reaper offers you an [ENDOWMENT]}

  [EPIC ENDOWMENT][REAPER’S SHIELD]

  [Immune to all damage from demons less than or equal to level 100 for ten minutes. XP cannot be gained during the duration of the endowment.]

  {Do you accept?}[YES][NO]

  {Reaper offers you an [ENDOWMENT]}

  [EPIC ENDOWMENT][REAPER’S BANE]

  [Hits cannot miss and damage is multiplied against demons less than or equal to level 100 for ten minutes. The multiplier applied is equal to the difference between you and your opponent’s levels. XP cannot be gained during the duration of the endowment.]

  {Do you accept?}[YES][NO]

  {Reaper offers you an [ENDOWMENT]}

  [LEGENDARY ENDOWMENT][REAPER’S VIGOUR]

  [Endurance will not decrease for the next fifteen minutes. XP cannot be gained during the duration of the endowment.]

  {Do you accept?}[YES][NO]

  He pressed [YES] to all three. The first one alone was enough. He couldn’t be damaged. That’s what counted. To survive this. To move forwards. A brilliant burst of metallic violet light enveloped him, similar to when he had gained levels, but he had the feeling of an invisible coat settling on his shoulders, and immediately after, another burst with another invisible coat. The final burst of light was a metallic amber flare, followed by a warmth spreading through his body. Alina and the other two shone briefly like a violet and amber bonfire. Tyler understood that they must have also taken endowments, though he wondered if they were given the same as him.

  His thoughts were brief, as packs of blood-seeking demons descended upon them in an unholy din of howls and snarls. Imanie shuffled backwards, taking a position beside Tyler behind the other two, but she never stopped loosing arrows. “You guys take care of the ones on the ground,” she shouted above the clamour of the hundreds of clawed feet clattering on the stones beneath them

  “I have the ones in the air.” She was tracking moving targets above them, a trio of the winged beasts flying southwards over the stream. Imanie nocked an arrow, drew, released. The arrow flew towards the middle of the trio, before splitting into three, and striking the winged terrors, sending them plummeting into the stream with a splash. She didn’t even bother watching, as if she knew what the result would be, her eyes already on another pair off to the left.

  Stolen story; please report.

  Alina crouched down, sword held across her body. She held the position for a few seconds, looking down at the pebbles, speaking silently to herself. The pebbles at her feet seemed to be getting ready to dance, stirring softly against each other.

  To Alina’s left, Emelyn swung her battle-axe like the seasoned veteran she was, the giant of a human carving through any beast that came within her range. A head went flying here. A torso there. Two demons were sent crashing to the side together, stopped only when they hit a tree on the forest’s edge. The pack stopped. Tentative. Unsure. They had not expected such resistance, but they had little time to consider their next move.

  The pebbles at Alina’s feet bounced into the air, almost suspended in time, before clattering to the floor as Alina burst forwards, her sword arcing through the demons ahead of her in a spatter of green and blue blood. She came to a halt, arm outstretched, sword held away from her body. Where she had passed, several of the demons, goat-heads and sprites alike seemed to almost not understand what had happened, before their upper bodies slid past the stump of their torsos and fell to the ground in wet, heavy whacks in a synchronised dance of death.

  But the three women did not stop there. Alina needed a moment to recover, but finding herself in the midst of the horde, a moment was all she had. She swung her sword with relentless precision as Emelyn slowly waded through the numbers ahead to get closer to Alina. The demons hesitated. Stay and die. Or run back to the safety of the Rift. Those were their only options.

  Emelyn took advantage of the confusion, spending a few seconds like Alina had to charge up, before she jumped forwards through the air, battle-axe held in both hands behind her. She swept the axe over her head as she smashed the hammer side into the ground. A blast wave of air toppled the beasts to the floor like dominoes. Alina jumped on them, sword stabbing downwards, and scything through necks wherever a demon had dared to survive. Ahead of them, the demon surge through the portal was slowing down. Where five or six had been jostling to burst through together, now only the occasional one or two stumbled across the threshold.

  Everything felt like a surreal dream, a series of events unfolding before his eyes, the likes of which he could never imagine. Alina, her silver hair whipping in the faint breeze, her violet armour glinting in the weak morning sunlight as her blade swung with the majesty of an orchestral composer, conducting her masterpiece of death.

  Emelyn danced, her delicate balance and speed more suited to ballet halls than a battlefield, belying her overwhelming stature, and making a mockery of her size. Imanie, to his right, had not moved except to spin on her toes like a figure skater on the ice, her bow constantly raised to the heavens, the bowstring continuously loosed with a satisfying twang.

  And besides these fearsome women, he stood. A novice amongst a company of veterans. A child amongst a dance of adults. A lamb sheltering amongst a pack of wolves. And yet, watching them move, watching them kill, watching them fight to survive; to protect, filled him with a determination to prove himself amongst their ranks. He might be weak. He might be a nobody. But even the greatest of rivers began with a single drop in space and time. He held his club with a firm resolve, holding it in front of him in both hands. He would not run. He could not run.

  “They look like they have things covered over there,” Tyler shouted to Imanie above the dying howls of the creatures around them. “I’ve got your back.” The older woman found another target in the air and followed it with her bow, before releasing the arrow and briefly turned to him.

  “Make sure you do,” she smiled.

  As Alina composed, and Emelyn danced, and Imanie spun, Reaper was engaged in a frantic battle with the demon lord. The two of them had moved closer to the forest, some way from the rest, and it was apparent that Reaper had done that intentionally. As cold as the man seemed, he understood that Tyler and the rest would stand no chance.

  The behemoth was slow, but every swing of a sword or whack with a club left a wave, like a hurricane was passing through the area, the air cracking with the ferocity of the blow. Trees in the forest leant back as if to duck. The water in the stream surged away from the bank as if retreating from the battle. Every time the demon lord smacked the ground, a deafening crack could be heard from the pebbles and small craters were being left in its wake as it was drawn closer to the forest.

  Reaper dodged everything, twirling between the demon’s arms, his suit of armour shooting hooks anywhere and everywhere into the behemoth to help Reaper manoeuvre. Every hook that landed drew blood, as Reaper manoeuvred himself onto the demon’s back. He sliced and diced with his swords furiously, his movements almost invisible but for a blur of silver blades and green blood. The behemoth roared, hands tearing at his back to swat at the little man, but before Reaper was hit, he would jump off and swing on his hooks again.

  A claw clacking on stone to his left snapped his head around. Alina and Emelyn were in the thick of battle and Imanie still felled the flying beasts from the sky, her quiver never emptying. Tyler was the only one to have noticed it. A few metres away, it had been edging around the dangerous women, its eyes on Imanie, hoping to take her by slyness. No, not just her. He could see other shadows beyond it, circling around the two warriors and their fearsome sword and axe and hoping to take what they deemed to be the weaker members.

  He hadn’t noticed before but the short, grotesque ones didn’t all have goat’s heads. The one sneaking up on them had the head and torso of a wolf, with thick, stale yellow drool hanging from the edge of its long canine teeth. This one had two longer legs, skinny in the lower half, thick and powerful in the upper, and arms ending in sharp, powerful claws. It snarled as it noticed he had seen it and it dropped to all fours, tentatively shuffling forwards.

  “Imanie,” Tyler shouted. “They’re getting behind us.”

  Imanie whipped her head around, saw there were more to her right. “Alina. Emelyn. To us. Now!”

  It was too late. The wolf-head leapt at him. He panicked and raised his left arm to shield himself, but the wolf-head was upon him, bringing its teeth down on his arm. Tyler grimaced, expecting the inevitable, steeling himself against the pain. He’d been bitten by a dog once. Had needed stitches. He knew this would be worse. But nothing happened. The wolf-head bit down but its long canine teeth came to a halt against an invisible barrier. The endowment.

  Tyler raised the correct arm this time, and swung his club with all the force that he could muster. He gave the wolf-head a ferocious whack across the jaw but it barely moved. That wasn’t right. From his physique alone, he knew he had to be strong, and he was young, in his peak. And then he had the endowment on top. He knew the women were higher level than him, but they were carving through these beasts like a Sunday roast and he barely made it move.

  That pissed him off. That damn-well pissed him right off.

  “I have had it…” he swung his club, “…with these motherfucking beasts…” he swung again, “…on this motherfucking riverbank…” he swung again, “…I’ve had it with this fucking world…” he swung again, “…and with being scared…” he swung again, “…and with relying on others…” he took a deep breath, swung again, “…to protect me…” he swung again, “…I have had it…” he swung again, “…with being pushed…” he swung again, “…and pulled…” he swung again, “…and I WILL NOT…” he swung again, “…FUCKING…” he swung again, “…TAKE THIS SHIT…” he swung again, “…ANY…” he swung again, “…LONGER.”

  He stopped swinging. In truth, he had long since stopped feeling any resistance to the club but as he looked at the wolf-head, the head wasn’t there anymore. In its place was a pulp of flesh and green blood, of burst eyeballs, broken teeth, a ripped tongue. Green brain matter lay spread across the stones of the bank like mouldy popcorn. As he looked upon his masterpiece; his painting; the gentle strokes of his club, he realised what he had done. He had killed the beast. The bastard. How dare it try to sneak up on him? How dare it think he was an easy target?

  Tyler looked up. Looked ahead. On the edges of the forest. He saw more of the foul human-animal hybrids looking at him. Kill them. Kill them all. Make them regret the day they met you. His eyes had a feral look, and he snarled. Snarled like a beast had overcome him. He had a thirst for demon blood.

  With a roar, he charged.

  In that moment, a river was born.