T/W: Mention of arachnid-like monster. Not heavily described. You may continue reading at the *** where the interaction ends. Summary available in description.

Swoosh! 

“HAAAH!”

Splash!

I hear a multitude of sounds around me. Cutting, grunting, splashing.

It’s hard to see in the darkness, but I can make out shadows.

Someone I assume is Sir Zantar, no longer on the creature's back, runs cutting one leg after another, three legs in a row, not letting the spider gain any semblance of balance. 

It falls straight to the side, black liquid flooding out from its dismembered limbs.

Not bad.

A shadow I assume is Blaze, based on the shape of the sword, cuts through the leg that almost stepped on me.

The monster is too crippled to stand and falls flat down, spotlight on whatever place makes the most sound.

Pip gets off me, and I stand up. 

Falling on armor hurts, but compared to getting hit by a car while on fire, this is nothing.

Finally, Knightshade can get some action.

I run straight into the battle and immediately cut clean through one of the last legs, purple light lighting my path.

I head to the next leg, but—

“Don’t go further!” I hear Leo call, looking at me worried.

Leo points at the crippled spider’s backside, on what I can only assume is its butt.

“Wh—?”

SPLOOOOOSH!

A silvery thread-like substance spreads out from the booty.

“FORE!” I call out, not remembering that these characters probably don't even know what golf is, but it seems my urgency comes through and they get the idea. They all move away from the wrong end of the spider while ducking and taking cover.

SIZZLE!

A horrible sound of burning goes through some of the stones in the cave.

A shudder runs through me at the thought that it could have been us.

But it isn’t, and we can end this now. 

I run to one of the last two remaining legs and slash Knightshade through it. It cuts through like room-temperature butter. On the opposite side, Blaze slashes his greatsword through the final leg, sending the spider to the ground.

CRASH!

The monster is down and it will never stand again.

The spotlight from the eyes dims and only the purple plants shine over the scene.

With a sigh of relief I call an internal ‘cut’.

*** The long fight was finally over.

I had done many stunts in my life. Many. 

Every time I’d leapt from a building, fought a brutal enemy, or… even a giant monster on a big CGI screen… I’d never felt like my life was truly in danger.

But here, it was different.

I thought I might die. 

But instead I lived in the moment, fighting for my survival in a way I had never experienced before.

Yes, since coming to this world, I had fought people, but this was different. This was a monster. Something not someone.

This was something I could never experience in the real world.

As I looked at the mangled, dismembered body of the monster we defeated, still oozing with thick, black blood, I couldn’t help but think this was the coolest fucking stunt I’d ever pulled off.

I could do this.

Be a knight! Fight with swords against monsters! Save the world!

It took a few moments of silence before anyone moved, like we were all waiting to make sure the thing was really, truely dead.

“The legend is dead by my hand,” a very small, yet murderous voice called out as a huge clatter rang out when his body collapsed beneath him.

Ah right. Blaze.

He had to be injured.

“You… alright there, Blaze?” I couldn’t help but ask, looking at his body shivering and shaking. He tried to use the greatsword as support to get up, but he only fell back down. 

I couldn’t really believe this was the same person who ran around cutting legs off just a second ago.

“I’m doing great! I killed a legend!” Blaze hissed with short breaths as he flailed like a little child struggling to stand, but it seemed like every movement hurt him. I should try to calm him down.

“Yeah, you did great.” I agreed easily, “we… you killed the legend.”

We killed a fucking legend… A big huge-ass monster. It could have stepped on us, disintegrated us, paralyzed us, eaten us.

But we killed it first.

Blaze was right, killing a legend was fucking awesome.

“Though I know you’re great, do let me know if you need help,” I told Blaze who gave a small nod. He was going to be fine.

I looked around to assess the others.

I could hear Sir Zantar and Vincent talking and checking for injuries somewhere off behind the corpse of the monster while Leo spoke with Pip.

“That knife had been with me since training. I’m gonna miss it,” Pip squeaked sadly to Leo with his head hung low.

Leo patted his back. “I’m sorry the Disintegrating Nightweb melted your knife, buddy.”

Ah. Well that explained why Pip was hiding in a pile of bones. Regardless, I couldn’t imagine taking out a giant monster with nothing but a chef’s knife was easy, even if it hadn’t been melted.

Again… who gave these weapons to these poor characters?

Damn.

“But it’s okay! I found a new weapon!” Pip said as he popped back to his peppy self. “It poked me reaaaallll good when I hid in here.” 

Pip skipped over and reached down into his bone pile and gripped something clearly way too heavy for his small frame. With strain and struggle, firmly gripping with both hands, he revealed a short but thick, tarnished, wooden stick, then a chain, then… nothing else because Pip was huffing and puffing too hard to move it anymore.

“Don’t… worry. I’ve… got this,” Pip said between pants, putting all his body weight into leaning backwards to pull out… whatever it was. “I… can… wield… a morningstar… fine!”

“That’s no morningstar!” Leo said with a smile. He slipped over to the pile and pulled the weapon up with ease. He lifted it into the air with one arm and over his head with Pip still attached, revealing the end of the chain which held a metal ball with spikes sticking out.  

“It’s a flail!” Leo squealed with glee.

Pip, hanging by both hands at Leo’s face-level, tilted his head. “What’s the difference?”

“The chain, of course,” Leo said and plucked Pip off to place him back on solid ground. “I’ve always wanted to have a flail, but I’ll never be strong enough to swing it around, so I’m stuck with this.” Leo patted his trusty toothpick at his side with his free hand.

Both Pip and I stared at him long and hard. 

My squint got tighter and tighter as he kept holding the dense bit of wood, chain, and miniature-spikey-wrecking ball in one hand, like it was a ball-in-cup toy.

Leo looked at me, then at Pip, then at the flail, then at me… only then did it strike him.

“Oh! Hey! I guess I’m strong enough!” Leo said and started to swing the flail around, sending the ball ripping right past Pip and my head.

I wasn’t sure I’d ever understand that man. Where did all his delusions come from, anyway?

“That’s great! But I still don’t have a weapon, then,” Pip said and kicked the dirt with his armored foot.

I really had to do everything around here didn’t I?

What would they do without me?

Good thing I wasn’t going anywhere.

“I think that rapier would be much more suited for Pip, don’t you think, Leo?” I said, trying not to sound too condescending.

“That’s a great idea!” Leo shouted. He dropped the flail which hit the dirt with a THUNK! and proceeded to unhook his belt and scabbard to hand over to Pip.

Pip lit up brighter than the Nightweb’s hundred eyes. “Wow! Thanks Leo! I promise I won’t melt this one!”

He put the belt around his waist—which did not fit at all, even on the tightest loop—before opting to hang it over his shoulder. Then he whipped out the rapier and swooshed it around a bit.

Leo joined him in a fun round of practice, as Pip tried and failed to block the hunk of swinging metal with the rapier. I clenched my teeth for the poor sword, but at least they were happy.

“Oh! Wait! I forgot!” Pip squeaked after dodging what would have been a lethal blow from the flail. He put his new rapier back in its sheath.

I followed him with my flower light, I’d finally gotten from Leo, until he popped up to the bucket that had lowered him down here. I hadn’t even realized we were below the original entrance. None of the light made it down from above.

The bucket had keeled over, which Pip kneeled down to and picked at something stuck to its bottom.

 Once he got it loose, he held it up above his head. All I saw was a shimmering of something shiny in his hand. “The key piece was on the bottom of the bucket the whole time. It’s almost like none of this had to happen at all!”

…

I’m sorry.

What.

The key piece was where now?

Part of me wanted to scream and yell and curse the book to the deepest depth of hell.

But a larger part of me—the side that won over—just had to laugh.

And once I started, everyone joined in.

You know what? Fuck it.

We killed a legend.

We survived.

Blaze was hurt, but he looked awesome and said he felt great.

We were a bunch of badasses that took down a humongous monster… even if we didn’t have to.

Yes, it was a side quest, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way, and hey!

We got the first key piece!

Everything was finally working out, and for once, it felt like I really could be a knight. Be like Tiara, nay, a better Tiara.

I could be Sir Krystal.

When the laughter subsided, Blaze hobbled over, finally able to move. Guess he just needed a short rest. Sir Zantar and Vincent then joined us, looking mostly unharmed.

Sir Zantar gave me one, single nod before a smile. “You fought better this time.”

“Thanks. You weren’t so bad yourself,” I said with a smile back… that lasted way too long. The discomfort kicked in and I turned away.

No weird romance scene.

Not here.

Not now.

Not ever.

Nope.

Let me have this victory. I finally felt like I belonged here and I wasn’t going to ruin that with romance.

Ew.

And this scene wasn’t even in the book! There shouldn’t be romance here in the first place!

“I do feel as if this team worked quite effectively in this fight.” Vincent began a bit loud, as if trying to get all the attention on him. “It was a good call you made, Sir Krystal, telling us to cut the legs.”

Damn.

Even Vincent was complimenting me.

My vision was blurring. Tears?

I really had done something good here.

Why were there so many lights all of the sudden?

The monster? No. It was dead.

This had to be it, though. The moment.

The turning point.

Wow, the lights were really blinding me now. My eyes burned.

Focus. This was the moment the main character gets her shit together and understands exactly what needs to be done.

I had to shut my eyes to stop the bright lights from hurting.

From here, everything could finally go according to plan. 

Or, no plan! Screw the plan! Plans had done nothing for me. I didn’t need a plan. 

I could live here.

I was finally finding my place in this worl—

“And CUT!”

That… voice… 

Why did that voice send shivers down my spine?

There was no fight. I didn’t call a mental ‘cut’. So why was that fucking voice vibrating through my brain?

When I opened my eyes, I was no longer in a cave. There was no dead monster. Pip and the others were gone.

And there, in the director’s chair, sat…

Arri Fucking Ryker.