The foremost creature lunged forward, taking hold of Janus by the shoulders. It swung him back and forth, grinding Janus’ back against the glowing red wall. All the while, the rest of the creatures continued their tumultuous hissing as they watched with what appeared to be pleasure in their vaguely human faces. Janus took his hands and held onto his attacker’s protruding limbs. He squirmed from side to side, trying to escape from its clutches.

But he was overpowered. In a single heave he was thrusted on to the blistering pavement below, crashing onto the side of his arm. Pushing himself forward with his legs, Janus tried scurrying away only to have a monster leap over him and cut his escape short. He lay surrounded on all sides by the shadowy figures, all staring at him as he managed to wiggle himself upright and prop his back against the glowing red wall. The creatures closed in on him, each one clutching onto a different part of his body. Janus attempted to curl himself up, but the monsters began to tug what they could grab hold of, removing all agency he had over his limbs.

“Help! Please!” He exclaimed as the creatures continued to yank his body in different directions, hoping that his cry would overcome their high-pitched and indefinite hiss.

“Alright, I’ve seen enough,” a feminine voice rang out. The creatures stopped their assault and turned towards the direction the words came from. Janus found the strength to lift his head up. He peered through the gaps between where the monsters stood and could make out the silhouette of a woman leaving the shadows.

“Serrated Gale!” She called out with a confident tone. Janus couldn’t see her movements, but he could hear what sounded like a heavy wind blowing in the distance. The sound became more intense in the next moment. Then there was a crunchy splat as the creature in front of begin to split into two horizontally from the center while a rush of cool air sent his short black hair backwards. The monster’s halves slowly began to separate further, attached only by long and stringy bits of black gunk. The two sections became too heavy for the dark strands to hold. There was another splat as the creature’s remains separated, leaving a dark pulpy mess where the monster once stood. With the creature defeated, Janus got a clear view of his rescuer.

The woman was lean, evident by the short top and belted jacket that she wore that exposed her light bronze midriff and arms. Her long brown ponytail still flowed from the wind created by the attack she had just used. The woman walked forward at a comfortable pace, making the finer details of her ensemble more visible. She wore long, laced-up boots that almost met at the bottom of the shin-length pants she wore. Around her waist were two wide belts, one plain and the other studded like the other bands on her pants and long fingerless gloves.

As she approached, the remaining monsters began to move along the length of the wall, trying to retreat into the alleys. The faster of the two creatures turned into the space between a pair of buildings, only to bounce back as soon as it entered. Janus watched as it landed on its rear side then began crawling backwards as if it were terrified. Emerging from the shadow was a single foot; a large, scaly blue one wrapped in white bandages. The rest of the figure stepped out, revealing a massive crocodile-like being that stood on its hind legs. Covering the upper half of its long jaw was a scratched and dented metal mask. Before the creature could flee, the crocodile opened its massive jaw and trapped it between its teeth in one swoop. The crocodile twisted its upper body downwards as the limbs of the monster trapped inside its mouth began to flail. It then swung its head upwards, letting out a loud growl as it flung the monster high into the air.

Half of the creature’s limbs thrashed about as it soared above. The ones that were inside the crocodile’s mouth remained motionless, frozen in mangled positions as it came careening back down. The monster then hit the pavement, half of it shattering upon impact and sending bits of black ice across the ground while the other half lay motionless in a dark gooey mess. Without giving the monster’s remains a second though, the woman approached a terrified Janus; he was now in a sitting position with his arms crossed, watching the last of the creatures scurry away back towards the buildings he had previously passed. She extended a hand, the one with the shorter glove, towards him. He looked at the woman’s hand and then at the woman herself, blinking rapidly as he tried to regain his composure.

“Come on. Get up,” she said with an annoyed tone. Janus accepted the invite and with her help rose to his feet. He brushed off the dirt that covered his purple leather jacket and black pants.

“T-thank you,” he muttered. The woman remained motionless, giving Janus an irksome look instead of responding. Janus shifted his attention to the crocodile in the distance, pointing at it with one finger. “Should we be worried about… that?” he asked in a low voice. She turned to look at the crocodile. It gave a small and brief wave of its massive, half-gloved hand.

“What do you think?” she asked with a hint of derision. With one hand she motioned for the crocodile to cover over. It obliged, taking long strides before stopping in front of the other two. It towered over Janus by a few feet, casting a shadow over him. As his eyes moved up, he took note of what the crocodile was wearing; its pants struggled to fit, evident by how they were torn at the bottom. Around its waist was a contrastingly lavish coat adorned with fur around the collar that hid away some the bandages that wrapped around its mid-section. Janus then stared at the metal mask; it was shaped to fit the upper half of the crocodile’s face perfectly. The material was dull and damaged but what stole his attention were the yellow and black eyes that stared back at him. Janus took a step back, struggling to figure out what to say next. The crocodile slowly extended one of its scaly fists towards him. Upon opening its fingers, it revealed Janus’ glasses. However, instead of taking them, Janus remained fixated on the fearsome teeth that jutted out of the side of its jaws.

“Are you just going to keep staring at him?” The woman snapped. She waved one hand in front of Janus’ face and broke him free of the trance he was in. “Anyone ever teach you manners?”

Janus blinked a few times, shaking his head as his senses came rushing back to him. He reached down and took his glasses out from the scaly palm. “I’m sorry,” he said in a low voice. “I’m not from here.”