Nira wasted no time switching into combat mode. She sprinted ahead to the two demon dogs behind them.  “I’ll take care of the other two. You keep that one busy in the meantime!”

“Not like we have much of a choice… Be careful!”

The dogs took their turns chomping away at Nira, missing every single time. Nira was a fierce and swift warrior, with or without the aid of her charm. Her mentor had taught her that to be a strong fighter, you had to embrace the fear and danger that came with every battle. A fight was always a dance with death, that much was impossible to avoid. She hated that his wisdom still echoed in her mind.

“Do not avoid death, Nira… Defy the possibility of it. Fight with every muscle, every bone in your body like any

move could be your last. The strongest of warriors aren’t the ones that can overpower every enemy,

but those that can face anything and anyone with an unstoppable will.”

A tail swipe from one of the demon pups grazed her cheek. A close one. The other demon pup didn’t give her much room to breathe either. These dogs weren’t mindlessly swinging at Nira. Their attacks were coordinated in a way to limit her chances of a counterattack. The damn demon dogs were a huge pain in the ass and Nira loved every second of it.

“Sly little demon doggies, aren’t you?”

She took to the air and sliced off one of their tails. The hound howled in pain. The other took advantage of Nira’s opening and headbutted her straight in her abdomen. Nira reacted in time and absorbed most of the force with her sword, but it still hurled her aside.

***

Lio’s fight was not any less chaotic. By having the benefit of ranged combat, she had a slight advantage over Nira’s close-combat approach. What she lacked in strength, Lio made up for it with clever tactics and fast multi-hitting attacks. She had landed a substantial number of slashes on the demon dog, but none of them were enough to incapacitate the beast. It moved too fast for Lio to pull off a precise attack. And unless she was losing her mind… The first wounds she had dealt had started to heal. How? She saw no charm or artifact that insinuated to such power. Upon closer inspection and having just evaded an attempt to tear her head off, Lio’s gaze fell upon multiple scars the beast had. Bite marks.

“You fed on each other for sustenance. Fascinating, but creepy.” It was a fair guess. If true, it meant the beasts had access to an endless supply of food in their otherwise barren sand prison, but now they had the chance to savor a new taste. Nira and Lio were the first real meal they’d seen in a long time. The skeletons scattered across the dungeon kennel turned to dust the second the hounds surrounded them. A testament to the long stretch of time since they had met their demise.

She had to convey this information to Nira. Otherwise, this fight would never come to an end.

***

Nira had propped herself up only to be greeted by one of the demon dogs about to swallow her up. A greedy little puppy, Nira thought. She stopped the mutt by digging her blade in between its jagged teeth.

“Nira, listen up!” Lio shouted.

“Yeah?” Nira yelled back.

Lio dodged a tail swipe and grabbed her dagger in midair. “Turns out our doggy friends have regenerative powers.”

“What?!” The cut-off tail on the demon pup had already recovered a portion of itself. The hound waited behind his sibling for a moment to strike.

“Well, shit.”

“We need to hit them with a fatal blow otherwise they’ll tire us out and we’ll be joining their parents as dungeon kennel memorabilia.”

“Say no more… I don’t like killing animals, but they don’t look like the cuddly and cute type.” Nira sliced through a demon dog’s mouth clean in half. This wasn’t the time to do things half-assed. The beast recoiled in pain, exposing its chest to Nira.

“That’s one!” Nira thrust her blade through its chest. Giant or not, that would drop the curtains of any beast. Lio reunited with her just in time. They had each other’s backs. Nira never doubted that even for a second. It looked like their opponents shared a similar sentiment as they were not keen on their sibling’s gruesome demise.

“No more trap activating for the rest of the temple, please?”

“Promise.”

“I’m gonna go all out for a second. Follow my lead.”  Lio concentrated her focus on the sand in the arena. Nira felt almost sorry for their opponents. Their home would end up being their undoing. The sand bent to Lio’s will and lifted into the air, amassing into a vortex of sand. The perfect distraction to allow Nira to run wild.

“You got me covered?” Nira said.

“To the edge of the world and back.”

“That’s right. Here we go!” Nira lunged forward for one last dance with the two beasts. She lured their attention toward her and engaged in a deadly exchange of blows. She jumped, dodged, and sliced away any chance she could get. Lio covered her openings by smacking the attacking demon dog with a sand blast straight in their eyes. The dogs recoiled in pain.

Nira’s blade slid across the hound’s neck. Down to one. The most important piece of the doggy puzzle. This was the one that had swallowed Nira’s charm, which was their only way out of the Dungeon Kennel. The battle of attrition neared its end. The hound quivered in fear, whimpering like a puppy calling out for its mother.

“Let’s finish this.”

“Yeah…” Nira approached the hound with caution. It didn’t move a single muscle. She raised her sword, ready to strike it down. This was the right call. They couldn’t risk leaving it alive, and even if they did, they still needed to get back the charm somehow. They could wait for nature to take its course and collect it then, but there’s no guarantee this thing’s stomach wasn’t full of all sorts of crazy acids. It was an unnecessary and exceedingly stupid risk to take.

“Ok, can I suggest something?” She turned to Lio with a pleading tone.

“No. Your suggestions are always things I don’t want to do.”

“And this might not be any different, but! Look at him, isn’t he kind of adorable now that he’s not acting like a vicious bloodthirsty monster?”

Lio didn’t understand. There was nothing cute about the… Shit. It was insanely cute in that way that only something ugly, but not ugly enough could be. Huge floppy ears and white spots… It reminded her of her dog, Pearl.

“Let’s say I hear you out… What’s the idea?”

“We need the charm to get out of here, right?”

“Yes, that’s the only way out of here mind you.”

Nira held out her Hain hand close to the hound. “What if…”

“Nira. Stop that. This is why we end up in trouble. —Oh no, you’re not stopping.” Lio looked away from the madness.

The demon dog growled at Nira. She backed away for a second and then tried again. Worst case scenario she loses the arm she already lost. Low stakes, high reward. “What if we tame it?”

She reached out her hand slowly. Sure, it wasn’t her real arm but losing any appendage wasn’t a fun time even by Nira’s standards. This was, as Lio would say, an incredibly irresponsible decision that only she could suggest with little to no hesitation. A harsh but fair assessment to make.

“There we go. You’re a big ol’ softie, aren’t you?” Nira had a soft spot for animals and if she learned anything from her first encounter with Blueberry it’s that giant creatures love her. A valid assessment even if she only had that one record to back her up. That was more than enough in her mind.

For a second it looked like she had done it. The hound’s whimpers calmed down and it gazed at Nira’s approaching arm with a cautious, yet curious look.

And then it chomped down on Nira’s arm.

“Shit!”

“I told you! Why did you think this would work?!” Lio readied herself for battle.

“Wait! Let me handle this.” Nira pushed the demon dog away with a kick to the nose. “You don’t see me as your master, do you? Alright, let’s see who’s the real top dog.”

“I’m gonna take a seat. This is clearly going to take a while.” Lio made herself comfortable on the sand floor.

It took a solid thirty minutes or so of tossing and turning, multiple close calls, tail-biting, and a lot of other improbable scenarios that Nira enjoyed way more than she should’ve but eventually she got through to the beast. What started out as the most vicious wrestling match she’d been in (first time for everything) the demon hound’s demeanor softened until it looked like a regular play session between a dog and its owner. That’s two for Nira. Zero for giant beasties.

“I think… I did it.” Nira slumped down to the ground. The demon dog laid down next to her and nudged her hand for pets. Nira had done the impossible. She caressed the hound’s head, feeling its soft black fur engulfing her hand.

“What?” Lio cocked her head in disbelief. Nira had done her fair share of feats that blurred the line between fiction and fantasy before, but this took it to an extreme even Lio found difficult to believe.

“Come on, it’s not that strange. These little ones have been alone for who knows how long. I’m guessing these scars are from them keeping each other alive, am I right?”

Nira laughed and caressed the dog with less caution. It wagged its tail with delight at its newly acquired master.

Lio scooched over to Nira. She wanted to try petting the demon hound too, albeit was too shy to admit it. “Yeah… It was the only choice they had.”

“They probably wanted some love. And food. But now that we showed them our strength, this one recognizes us as its master.”

“What you’re saying is we’re gonna wait until this thing takes a dump to get your charm back?”

“Yup. But worry not… We don’t have to wait long to get back up there.”

Lio scratched the pup’s chin with glee. “How so?”

Nira jumped on top of the hound. She pointed at the top of the chasm with her blade and a triumphant gleam in her eyes. The temple of Jarr had proven to be just as thrilling as she imagined it to be.

“We ride.”

CHAPTER TWO END.

Author's Note:

Chapter 2 done! This was an exciting one for me to write and I hope it was just as exciting for you to read! Demon dogs are pesky, but with the right incentive they're just as lovable as any other pet!

Would you take a demon dog home or would you send them off to the great beyond(nicely)?