Last Week’s FFF: Hero Needed

The day had started like any other day. He awoke to the sounds of his dorm mates music around quarter to ten and made it to class by ten thirty. After that, he headed to the cafeteria for his normal slice of double decker pepperoni pizza and headed across the street from campus to eat in the park.  He often spent the time between classes there, drawing, walking, thinking, and today was no different. Sitting on his normal bench, he observed the world around, drawing the things that interested him.

Then she caught his eye.  Standing in front of him on the bridge, she looked as though she was searching the path below, waiting for someone. Her silhouette spoke to him, slender and tall, her chestnut locks flowing in the breeze. He began to draw her profile. He was so lost in her beauty that he did not even realize that she had noticed him staring.

“So, do I get paid?” she said to him with a smile.

“Excuse me?” He asked, suddenly pulled from his daze.

“Well, if I’m going to model for you, then I expect a pay check.”

“Oh, this. No. I just, I’m an art student at the college next door. You have really great lines.”

“I bet you say that to all the girls.”

“Oh, no, that’s not what I… What I meant to say is, my name is Bryten.”

“Kaylee. So, if you’re done pictorially assaulting strangers, do you want to walk with me?”

“I’d love to.”

With a building excitement, he packed his sketch book into his satchel and got up. They began walking further into the park, the foliage above getting thicker as they went deeper.

“So, are you a student?” he asked.

“No. I’m not into the academic thing. I’m more about doing then sitting in a room.”

“Doing, huh? What kind of things do you do?”

Bryten opened his eyes. He was on the ground and there was chaos around him. His head throbbed.  He reached his hand up to find the source of his pain, a small bump trickling with blood.  He wondered what had happened but didn’t have much time to ponder.  He struggled to sit up and was immediately flattened again to the ground by a creature. It was like nothing he had ever seen before, humanlike, but very different. It was shorter than a normal person and covered in dark, sticky fur. The stench from this creature would have been powerful enough to satisfy Bryten that he was awake.  The creature got a hold of his throat and that convinced him plenty. Bryten grabbed it by its arm and then by the torso in an effort to force it off. His eye momentarily caught a glimpse of Kaylee, who was holding her own against three similar creatures.

Inspired, he summoned all his strength and managed to rise for a moment. He fell down hard atop the creature, knocking both the wind out of it and his throat free of its grasp. He started towards Kaylee, desperate to help her, but she didn’t need it. She ducked, struck, flipped. Left, right, three on one, it did not matter. She was a master at this. Just when he thought his bewilderment could not intensify any more, something even more incredible happened. One of the creatures began to charge her from in front. Without a misstep, she raised her arm and a burst of blue energy erupted from it. It struck the beast and stopped him in his tracks, laying it out. Another creature began to rush her, but before she could react, Bryten was seized from behind by the creature he had forgotten about.  It jumped on his back and began to claw at his face. It blindly tore at him, hoping to incapacitate him in any way possible. He struggled with the beast, shook, turned in circles, trying to knock him off. Bryten felt a slight shock on his back, and the creature fell off.

He turned and looked behind him, and there stood Kaylee. She was glaring, still out of breath from what had just transpired.

“What just happened?” Bryten asked.

His green eyes were wide, his black hair a mess, and he was out of breath. His clothes were torn and dirty from the tussle that had just ended, and they hung off his muscular frame. Not believing his eyes, he looked at the ground and stared at the lifeless creatures that lay on it.

A stunning young woman with dark hair and an athletic figure grabbed his hand.

“I’ll explain later, but we have to get moving. There’ll be more of them.” Kaylee said calmly as she tried to lead him away.

They hastily began to walk through the park.

“More of them? What are they?! I’ve never seen anything like them! One minute I’m having a conversation with this amazing girl I just met, and the next we’re being attacked! What have you gotten me into?”

“What you were born for.”

“What I was born for?” He stopped walking and snatched his hand away.  “You really expect me to just buy that line and come with you?”

“Well, you could stay here and die if you prefer.”

Bryten scanned the horizon with fear.

“Alright, I’ll come with you. But I need to know what’s going on here.”

“Start walking, and I’ll start talking.”

They began to move again.   Bryten couldn’t help but stare at Kaylee as she spoke. As the light hit her face, he could see how strong she was. Passion exuded from her with each word she spoke, he cold blue eyes alive with fire.

“You must have noticed by now that you’re… different. You’ve never exactly fit in with the people you know. You’ve always felt that you were meant for something… more”

“Everyone feels that way sometimes.”

“The difference is that you are different.”

“Different? How?”

“It’s a matter of where you come from, your lineage.”  She sighed.  “How little you know.”

She paused, stopped walking, and looked him in the eyes.

“You’re descended from Gods.”