“I have a test for the two of you.” Edmund said as he suddenly drew to a halt in the middle of the dusty path. “We have some nasty little critters incoming and they aren't far off. Get ready now.” he moved to the side of the path and casually took a seat in the grass, he picked a flower and began spinning it idly between his fingers.

  “Ready, how? What are you talking about?.” Hazel asked, as she shielded her eyes from the sun and peered into the distance.

  “You’lll see in a moment, not to worry. It's a low level threat, you’ll be fine.” Edmund remarked.

  “But why us? And why are you sitting down?” Asher asked as he felt the first beads of sweat starting to form. He knew he wasn't ready to fight a monster yet.

  “Forgive me for sounding rude, but I’m not sure that you have time for all this chatter.” Came Edmunds casual reply.

  Asher and Hazel looked at one another. Asher had a pitiable expression on his face, he didn’t want to do this. Hazel was harder to read, her expression was mostly empty, but she seemed resolved to face what was coming.

  “Have to get our hands dirty eventually.” Hazel shrugged.

  Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Asher saw movement. He realised all too late that he had not been taking this threat quite seriously enough. He had known something was coming and yet he had still allowed himself to be taken by surprise.

  He whipped around and by instinct shot his arm out in front of Hazel protectively. Unimpressed, Hazel unceremoniously pushed his arm out of the way and stepped forward to stand by him. Rightfully, he felt like an idiot.

  Asher had no idea how Edmund had known something was approaching, but he’d been correct. There was a pack of what looked like monstrously overgrown, rats sprinting towards them at an unnerving pace.

  Asher wasn't sure if rat was the right word to describe these things. They stood almost as high as his waist, their fur was patchy and matted, and their snapping jaws sprayed foam as they sprinted towards Asher’s group. Their rotten mouths were filled with rows of jagged, broken teeth.

  Asher felt the spectre of death looming. He didn’t even know how to fight people let alone multiple enraged, and probably magical beasts. Next to Asher, Hazel was taking a step forward, shield in hand. She held it up in front of her, perhaps more of a symbolic gesture than anything else. Asher wasn’t sure exactly how helpful a shield would be once the mad rats arrived.

  This was not the time to cower in fear behind his friend, if this really was a test or a trial as Edmund said, Asher would face it head on. He found his hand was already resting on the metal head of the small axe which was looped onto his belt, the weighty cool steel reassuring him slightly.

  Asher had never considered this hatchet to be anything more than a tool, a handy multi purpose blade he carried as he completed his chores. Now, with the life of his brother on the line, stuck in a world of powerful magic, Asher needed to stop thinking like a farmer, and he needed to do it quickly. This axe was a blade capable of brutal violence just as any other. The necessary, terrible violence of a man fighting for his family.

  Asher pulled the axe up out of its holster and held it pointed towards the oncoming creatures. It was time to start fighting back.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Asher’s hesitation, recovery and moment of renewed resolve all passed by in just a few brief moments. The giant rates were still probably 20 or so paces away but they were covering ground with disturbing speed. Understanding that time was running out fast Asher took the last step to stand beside Hazel.

  Though he had only taken a few steps Asher felt like something had changed. Something about him. He was now choosing to put his life on the line. He had always been able to take living the next day for granted, but here in this moment, the weight of his own decisions bared down on him like a boulder.

  Everything that happened next passed by in a flash. The beasts were suddenly right in front of them, having closed the distance in an unnaturally short time. The largest of the three monsters, a completely white, feral looking thing, leaped at Asher. He managed to maneuver his axe in front of the lunge, the rat's own weight causing the blade to rip and tear flesh. An obviously deadly wound. Asher felt a moment of exaltation at having survived the first attack, but that relief was quickly squashed aside as he realised that his own defence had thrown him completely off balance. Asher panicked, falling to the ground with these things around was absolutely off the table.

  He desperately attempted to regain his footing. Asher was able to see that as he had struggled, Hazel had, amazingly, caught the next pouncing rat on her shield. In the next moment she shoved, launching the mass of claws and fangs an impressive distance. If she hadn't been there to defend him that might have been the end right there. Asher knew he would only get so many second chances.

  Asher silently thanked Hazel and used the moment she bought to get back into position next to her. Just in time to face the last rat. This time when the beast lunged Asher began to swing proactively, he wasn’t going to keep using this axe like a shield. He tried to aim for the skull of the thing but missed, misjudging its speed, Asher instead ended up burying his axehead deep into the monster's spine. The rat’s momentum carried it into Asher and they both tumbled to the ground.

  Sputtering and gagging on the smell of the rancid blood, Asher began the process of extracting himself from the spasming, dying creature. He couldn’t believe they were actually doing this. Two kids from a world where magical beasts were the stuff of legend, were now standing their ground in the face of actual, real monsters.

  A thought popped into Asher’s mind, he realised with a shock that, in a way, he was enjoying this. Betting one’s own life had a kind of a thrill to it, as if doing so were starting to scratch an itch that Asher had never before noticed.

  Hazel came crashing into Asher’s sight, landing in front of him. She had been knocked down by the rat that she had launched away moment’s ago.

  A fresh wave of panic crashed over Asher and in his shock he missed that Hazel’s assailant had turned and set its sights on him. His eyes widened with horror as he saw, all too late, the incoming attack. He knew in that instant there was no time to react. Once again he had allowed himself to be caught off guard and now this beast was here to slash his throat to properly teach the lesson.

  Suddenly Asher was blinded, light erupted from somewhere nearby and painted the entire world a searing white. A deafening sound of thunder cracked the air and completed the overwhelming effect. The light felt like it had come from every direction, as if the world itself had, in an instant, exploded with its own light. For a few terrible moments Asher was blind and deaf.

  For a stomach churning few seconds Asher wondered if he was dying, maybe the rat had somehow landed a fatal blow and this was the light of the afterlife. Fortunately for the sake of his sanity, Asher’s senses gradually began to return. For now hazy forms of light were all that he could see. and the disorienting silence was slowly resolving into a high pitched, painful ringing. It must have only been a few seconds in all but being left absolutely defenceless in the middle of a fight for survival, even for a single instant, was heart wrenchingly terrifying.

  Asher’s fear was replaced by total bafflement as his eyes finally adjusted and saw that the beast that had been lunging at him a moment ago was just gone. He spun round, searching for the next threat, but he found nothing. His mind raced for an explanation, some kind of logical accounting of events that would make sense of what just happened, but he came up frustratingly empty. He lifted his eyes to the sky and found what he suspected, a deep blue expanse without a cloud in sight. Next he sought out Hazel, he found her looking just as confused and disoriented as he was. To his immense relief she looked uninjured.

  Asher, still shaking from the thrill of the fight and now completely confused by how it had ended, allowed himself to collapse to the floor.