Tock lifted his arms, protecting his face as the creature relentlessly clawed his arms. Tock grunted in pain. Taylor had taken flight, and unsheathed the needle at her hip.. She stabbed the creature’s neck dozens of times until it growled and swatted at her, momentarily releasing its grip on Tock. 

Tock took the opportunity to climb to his feet and launch five more arrows with lightning quick speed. Each one met a vital area of his opponent’s body: One lodged into his heart, one into his eye, one into his stomach, one into his forehead, and one into his neck. The problem, was that the creature appeared to be little more than a walking corpse, and hitting its vitals didn’t do much good. 

Tock backed away from the creature as it began swiping at him. He ducked under its reach, dodging its blows, and jerking from side-to-side. 

Tock heard the sound of a soft voice filtering through the air. He glanced at Taylor, observing that she was humming a song. He wondered what she was up to, but quickly turned back to the creature as his life was at stake. He observed its lids becoming heavy–observed it blinking slowly. Tock recognized that the song must be putting the creature to sleep, and that he only had to hold out to survive. 

When Tock got into fights, it was as if he got lost in a trance. The outcome of the battle didn’t enter his mind. He was focused only on the current fight. He focused on each blow from his enemies, easily predicting the ebb and flow of his enemy’s blows as if they were the ocean lapping at the shore. His enemy’s blows became slower as he became drowsier.  

Eventually, the creature stopped in its tracks, blinked heavily three times, and collapsed. Tock pumped his fist cheerfully, exclaiming, “Yes! We’ve done it!” 

For a moment, the heat of battle, and the exhilaration of besting an enemy washed away his previous experiences. He forgot all about the fact that Terran was dead–that he had abandoned his friends, that he had lost his closest friend, Pete. 

The fire of battle lit him up, burning away all his reticence and worries in a mad firestorm of pure heat. 

“So that was your plan. You could have warned me you were planning to put it to sleep. Might have saved me some heart palpitations.” Tock grinned at Taylor. 

Taylor giggled. “I wasn’t sure it would work, and didn’t want you to rely on it for survival.”

Tock smiled gently. “You have a point. I probably would have been too reliant on you. Where did you learn of this song?”

“Juree told Eory about it. He knows of many ancient creatures. I was listening in on their conversation. This creature is called the Blackened Lady.” 

“The Blackened Lady…” Tock repeated doubtfully. “But that’s clearly a man!”

“There’s a woman inside of him. In fact, she devoured his soul whole, and crawled inside of him, unwilling to let him go. They were married while they still lived–deeply in love, too. Thus why she would rather have him live in some form, even if it is only because her soul is controlling him like a puppet.” 

Tock frowned at that. What a tragic life… 

“At any rate, I’m going to speak to her.”

***

Taylor laid down next to the unconscious Blackened Lady. Sleeping was easy for Taylor. She had been sleeping inside of her own body her whole life, and could bring on sleep whenever it suited her. She closed her eyes, let her mind wander to the beach. 

Beaches were places that neither she nor Eory had ever truly seen, but both had always wanted to visit. They had spent their lives reading about beaches–it wasn’t only Eory who adored the idea of a walk on the beach. Taylor had long desired to take a walk on the sandy shores… to hold hands with someone she truly admired, to experience rain dribbling on her head as she sunk her toes in the sand. 

Usually, when she imagined herself on the beach, she was always by herself. This time, she was shocked to feel warmth on her hand–to feel fingers interlinked with her own. Her eyes were drawn away from the sand beneath her feet, and to the person holding her hand. 

She was surprised to see that it was Tock. 

For a moment, Taylor wondered if she could be happy just living a simple life like this. If she could be happy just experiencing the things she was robbed of her entire life with someone she cared for.