Oscar had found himself in a strange position. On one hand, a million thoughts were running through his mind at the same time. Where was he? When was he? How did he get here? Was he dreaming? Hallucinating? What was that curious smell wafting through his nostrils. The smell that reminded him of sushi, feet, and whatever that old book smell was in the library. Would he get home? Was he far from home? 

Of course with so many questions rapidly going through his brain at the time it didn’t so much help him with the situation as it did give him the mental equivalent of white noise. He didn’t know for how long he had been standing in the darkness. He just stood there as the sound of water droplets continued to sound in the darkness.

What started as inky blackness slowly shifted to a barely visible void with vague shapes surrounding. 

Vague shapes that were moving.

Oscar squinted at the motion. Now that he had something to focus on he could proceed. He wasn’t entirely sure if it was friendly or not so he took to shuffling himself to the side to find some sort of guide. It wouldn’t stop him from knocking into things, but at least it was something.

He slowly began pressing himself against the wall of what felt like a cave and moved towards the shifting figure he had seen in the darkness. It wasn’t particularly large, but he had no idea where he was and wasn’t about to tempt fate while blind. He made sure not to pick his feet up too much in case there was something he could stumble over.

As he got closer he heard something from it…a slow rumbling sort of noise. It was consistent and followed a pattern. Slow paced at that…

Was it snoring?

Another low rumble escaped the figure. As it did, Oscar focused as hard as he could on the figure. Slowly a part of it rose, then fell.

Well best not to wake a stranger in a cave with no means of escape. It was at that moment that Oscar realized he had dropped the horseshoe he had on the ground. He would have let out a relieved sigh were he still not in the metaphorical frying pan.

A fact that became more apparent when the glow further down the tunnel began to move.

There wasn’t exactly a plethora of opportunities to hide with the limited vision, either. Oscar spun around and began to scoot backwards deeper into the cave. He would occasionally let out a frustrated grunt as he ran into various items poking out in the darkness. A chair, some crates, a barrel. He would have to make his way around them without jostling them too much. 

Though at his current pace he’d be spotted. He heard the sounds of conversation coming from behind him. The faint glow of light had started crawling up to him and he’d soon be visible as well. With his heart pumping and a cold sweat starting to form on his brow, Oscar slid himself behind the barrel he had only just bumped into.

He felt that his head was barely covered, his shoulders nearly stuck out from the side, his breath had begun to pick up, and to add insult to injury the floor was soaking wet and brutally cold. In the few seconds that he had to recover himself he focused on steadying his breathing.

‘Easy…’ He thought to himself.

‘Just try to keep calm…’

As he sat there the sound of the voices echoing along the walls of the cavern became clearer.

“I’m tellin’ ya, I heard something.” It was a scratchy voice, old sounding. It seemed like the words were almost eaten up by the mouth that uttered it as well. It almost didn’t sound human.

“I know you heard something. I heard it too.” A separate voice came. It was smoother, higher pitched with a more even tone. It had an almost melodic tempo to it.

“Then why’re ya giving me such a hard time over it, hm?” The other responded. The sounds of footsteps could be heard now as light bathed the area Oscar was in.

He did his best to keep himself hidden.

“Because you apparently deemed it necessary to drag both of us from your post to investigate.” Came a grunt of a reply. 

“Have you considered it’s an animal? Or our prisoner moving around in the dark here?”

Oscar heard the sounds of a groan. It seemed that the figure on the ground had started to stir from its slumber.

“You!” The rougher voice shouted. Oscar could see a shadow come into view. The figure seemed thin, pointed, and tall. Though that could’ve been the light playing tricks. Though the movement definitely wasn’t. Aggressively it pushed itself forwards and the sound of feet dragging could be heard.

“Myeah?” A third voice emerged. A woman’s voice, though deep and baritone. The figure in the shadow seemed a good deal shorter than the aggressor.

“What’d I do today, Peck?”

There was a grunt that came from the captive as Oscar watched the shadow of the pointed man sink a fist into her stomach. 

A burning sensation began to overtake the boxer as the hairs on the back of his neck began to rise. He had to fight to keep from emerging from his hiding place. Though he did start to hazard a glance around his shoulder…

Just a quick look from the peripheral couldn’t hurt, right?

His eye widened slightly as he finally caught a view of the three in the dimly lit cavern. The pointed figure was…somewhat humanlike. It had the same general shape of a human anyway. Its joints, however, were exaggerated and looked incredibly bendy, he had long pointed ears, a wickedly long and pointed nose, and it wore a red hat that seemed to leave stains on its forehead.

It held a woman, short in stature. Very short, actually, but what she lacked in height she more than made up for in breadth of shoulder. She was very clearly muscular from what Oscar saw of her arms. They were tied behind her back, and so were her legs.

The third, who had been holding a lantern, was probably the most eerie of the three. He had ears that weren’t just long, they extended past the back of his head. He had skin black as asphalt with white eyes and hair. His features weren’t fierce, or square, like the other two. Rather they were refined, smooth, likely the most beautiful man Oscar had ever seen. Granted he hadn’t exactly seen a lot given where he spent most of his time.

“Don’t you play games with me.” The tall man hissed through crooked teeth. “What were you doing back here?”

“Sleeping.” The woman coughed and turned her head up to her captor. “About the only thing I can do in this shithole.” 

He couldn’t see it, but Oscar could sense the woman’s fiery glare from his spot.

“I said no games!” The gangly creature gave a grunt and hefted the stocky woman into the air.

“What was that noise? What are you up to?!”

“Dunno what I could possibly be up to, but maybe the noise was your nethers finally dropping…”

The comment sent the white-haired man to laughing. 

“Seems she has you there.” He commented with a wry grin.

The red-hatted creature formed a scowl that put its wicked teeth on full display as its brow furrowed into an even more wrinkled mess. He threw the woman on the ground and seemed to be reaching for something on his back.

Oscar caught a glimpse of something shining in the lantern light. The foul creature had started producing what appeared to be an axe. It had a gnarled handle and a warped blade that had been stained in multiple places with a dull rust color.

That wasn’t a good sign.

“I think you’d best watch your tongue, dwarf!” It howled. Slowly it raised the weapon over its head.

“Grennick, watch your temper.” The fairer creature replied. His tone shifted quickly to a much more serious tone.

The one known as ‘Grennick’ didn’t lower his weapon, instead keeping it over his head. He did, however, seem to force himself to relax.

“You’re right, Hanivel.” The creature grunted. “Might be a bit too much for her, now…” 

At the deescalation of the attempted murder Oscar found himself letting out a small sigh of relief. Only to his own horror to find that the cold air of the cave frosted his breath. His eyes widened and he stared, almost in slow motion, as the puff left his lips.

“What was that?” Hanivel’s voice rang out like a death toll of a bell.

Oscar’s heart began to race again after so much effort to keep himself calm. An image flashed before his eyes. An image of that wicked axe swinging at his head as the gangly creature cried out. An image of the ax smashing the barrels, and cutting straight through to him. He wasn’t sure if it was panic or an invasive thought, but he reacted to it. Almost reflexively.

He ducked his head low, as low as it could go. The moment he did he heard the sound of splintering wood and a loud howl of anger.

“So that’s your game!” The gangly creature cried out.

Wood chips sprinkled across Oscar’s back as the weapon swung harmlessly over his head. He didn’t take the time to ponder his luck, though. Oscar rolled forwards as another image flashed before him. The axe striking at his exposed back this time.

A second later he heard the sounds of the blade hitting the ground. A shower of sparks accompanied the blow along with a cry of frustration. 

As Oscar swiftly rose to his feet, fists up and ready, he had only a moment to wonder what had just happened. Once might have been instinct, or panic. Twice he predicted what would happen?

“The fuck are you?” Grennick snarled through his twisted teeth. He gripped his weapon in both hands and wrung at it furiously as though he were wringing a neck.

“A human?” Hanivel commented from behind. “We weren’t expecting another delivery…guess Dahmrick got greedy.”

“Okay, now you guys are just making words up!” Oscar shouted in frustration. “Who are you? Where am I?”

“You’re not exactly in a good place to be asking questions.” Hanivel replied.

There was a low ringing noise as he drew a sword. 

“Think we can just kill this one? Hat’s getting dry.” Grennick growled again. He leaned forwards as his grip tightened on his axe. The wood creaked in response as though he were hurting it.

“I don’t see why not. If Dahmrick wants more cattle he can at least tell us about it first.” Hanivel grunted.

The grin that formed on the gangly creature’s face was enough to send shivers down Oscar’s spine. It took a step forwards and began to let out a low chuckle.

“Well then. Looks like this day just got a whole lot better.”

Again a vision flashed before Oscar’s eyes. A wide swing from the red hatted creature that was aimed at his chest. This time the vision was clearer, more focused…

Definitely not made from panic, either.

A second later Grennick leapt forwards with the weapon as he swung. Oscar stepped back and avoided it with ease.

This time the vision that came wasn’t of an attack, but an opening. The attack would be enough to throw the creature off balance. Oscar, not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, swung his fist with all his might.

It connected well enough to send Grennick spinning to the floor. The axe flew from the creature’s hands and skidded off to the side.

“Should’ve figured you couldn’t handle it.” Hanivel spat. 

Another vision crossed Oscar’s mind. This time of fire flying towards his face. He dove to the side just as a ball of pure heat and hate flew past where his head had only just been. It collided with the nearby wall and turned into a shower of embers before dissipating.

Ordinarily Oscar would have questioned the sudden manifestation of an inferno. However, now wasn’t exactly the moment to be questioning things. He looked up and found he had landed next to the chair he had bumped into in the dark.

This time he didn’t wait for the vision to come. He grabbed the hunk of wood and immediately chucked it at the source of the fire as another ball of heat had begun to form.

It made direct contact with Hanivel who gave a surprised grunt and fell to the ground. The chair shattered upon his head. As the white haired man hit the floor so did the lantern and the light scattered across the cave in odd directions. Oscar saw that the woman they had captive was nowhere to be seen. 

Though he did get a vision of the gangly creature trying to tackle him from behind.

The boxer spun around and slammed his fist into Grennick's chin with a powerful uppercut.

That blow had been enough to knock out a few teeth as they clacked against the ground. Grennick didn’t hit the ground this time, however. He stumbled back and clasped his hands over his jaw.

“You upstart bastard!” He spat. Blood came from his lips. “Do you know how long it’ll take to regrow those?!”

Gross.

Oscar didn’t give him any time to recover and instead followed up with a slam to the gut. He had to jump back to avoid a rather nasty looking bite that he foresaw the creature throwing his way.

He was actually getting used to the vision thing.

Though the longer he fought with this creature the more apparent it was becoming that his attacks were having less and less of an effect on it. With every punch he’d land Grennick would just get back up, even more annoyed. With every hit his opponent got better at standing his ground. Oscar’s heart was racing, but as he was handling himself decently well he came to realize it wasn’t the beat of fear.

His adrenaline was pumping and he was having the time of his life.

Though with Grennick tanking more and more damage, and Hanivel sounding like he was coming too, he was running out of options.

“You upstart little…” He heard the white-haired creature groaning.

Oscar prepared himself to fight on two fronts again. With this newfound…gift? Instinct? With this newfound ability he was confident he’d be able to hold his own for a little bit. Though he wasn’t sure for how long…

Then to the side he heard a loud THUMP and the sounds of fists meeting flesh. He dodged a clumsy attack made by Grennick and slammed his fist into the creature's nose. Then turned to see what happened.

The shorter woman had tackled Hanivel and was now slamming her fists, with a good degree of skill, into his face.

“The horseshoe!” She turned and shouted at him. “Use the horseshoe!”

Oscar looked down at the ground and saw that the horseshoe that he had brought in was still here. He caught another vision of Grennick trying to bite him and he jumped to the side. Closer to the item. He wasn’t sure how it would work, but this woman seemed to know what she was talking about.

His hand scraped along the ground as he scooped up the rusted iron thing and he flailed his arm out as he saw a vision of Grennick closing in on him for the kill.

Then the sound of metal connecting with bone was made as he struck the creature in the jaw.