Will of a Prince

The snow was getting worse, the wind wasn’t letting up, and everyone’s armor had long grown cold. Slimo’s skin was almost a light shade of blue. Jacob couldn’t believe he was still able to walk forward.

No one spoke.

All anyone could hear was the light howling of wind crashing against them over and over. Everything was hopeless. Maria fell to the ground, unable to walk any further. Jacob looked down at her body and lifted her back up on his shoulder while grunting.

"Maria."

Then, it was Slimo’s turn to fall. Lidia caught him before he could hit the ice.

"No..."

Sarah fell next, Squabee being burdened with the responsibility of carrying her. Jacob felt a strange sense of deja vu.

’Have I... been in a situation like this before?’

Jacob’s stomach roared with hunger. His appetite felt just as strong as he remembered. Suddenly, Lidia couldn’t walk much longer. She stumbled on the ice and fell on her knees. She threw her leg in front of her trying to stand up, but it was useless. Jacob cursed and started to drag Lidia and Slimo while holding on to Maria for dear life. He looked over at Squabee who still looked to be in a much greater position than everyone else. His vision started to fade.

’No. I can’t be the one to pass out before Squabee. She can’t... I don’t think she can handle it.’

A scream echoed across the icy expanse. Jacob’s eyes widened.

’If I pass out. We all die!’

Jacob began to feel multiple rumbles under his feet. There was a group of something heading their way. Squabee turned her head towards the noise. Wolves with beating red eyes, thick white fur, massive jaws, and long sharp claws started hurdling towards them. She clenched her teeth at the sight and squashed against Jacob.

"Jacob. What do we do?! Do we try and run? Do we fight?"

However, Jacob wasn’t responding. Squabee shook him, but it seemed like that was all it took for him to come crashing down. Jacob fell on top of Maria, Slimo and Lidia while facing the cloudy sky. Squabee was by herself. If she couldn’t kill this pack of monsters, they were all dead. A guilty, selfish thought serenaded her ear.

’What if I just run away? I can use them as bait. It would guarantee my survival.’

She hesitated.

’No. I can’t. I could never live with myself. But... what will happen to me if I stay? My power can’t protect them from this. I’m too weak to transform.’

Squabee’s thoughts wandered back to what Jacob was telling the group. There was only one choice she had for everyone to survive. Squabee had to fight with everyone’s lives depending on her. She walked over to Maria and grabbed her spear that was laying across her back.

Being extremely inexperienced with weapons, Squabee had no idea what the proper method to holding a spear was. She tried copying the stance she would see Maria take all the time and gripped the shaft until her fingers turned red. She planted her foot on the ice as best as she could. Strangely, she was able to ground herself exceptionally well. It had seemed like all that training with Avala wasn’t for nothing, even though she would slack off most of the time.

The first wolf was almost on her. It bent its knees, preparing to jump at Squabee and strike. However, it seemed like it was waiting for something first. Suddenly, Squabee saw something approaching her from her peripheral vision. One of the wolves had already started its attack. She swung the spear at its head as hard as she could. The tip of the spear managed to slice up the wolves’ eye, but that was the extent of the damage.

Staggered by the first surprise attack, Squabee forgot about the second wolf that was just on her. As she turned her head, its jaws were already about to close around her arm. At the last possible second, Squabee managed to throw the butt of the spear in between its teeth to prevent it from closing on her. She kicked it in its stomach as hard as she could, only sending it flying back a few feet. Six more wolves surrounded her. Some of them started sniffing her friends on the ground. Squabee slashed at any snout that got too close to one of them.

"Get the hell back!"

A few times she was able to poke them hard enough to make them bleed, but these attacks were no more than cuts. Nothing serious enough to do some real damage. Squabee was getting desperate. Her friends were most likely dying at an alarming rate, especially Maria or Slimo. She needed to go on the attack. There was no time to wait around passively. Squabee screamed and charged one of the wolves who was trying to take a bite out of Slimo’s pale flesh. The wolf was so caught off guard by the attack that it slipped on the ice trying to get away. This was just the opportunity Squabee needed. She trusted the spear right through the wolfs body, causing a stream of blood to pour over the ice. The wolf whimpered and limp away. Squabee watched as the blood gushed from its wound to paint its fur and freeze on the ground. Squabee appeared to hit something vital, but it would take some time before the wolf would stop moving around.

All while this was happening, the other wolves seized the group on the ground. A few jaws closed around Maria’s arm, tearing small bits of flesh off. Another one managed to get a hold of Slimo’s back and tore some cold flesh off him as well. Squabee swung her spear around as fast as she could, desperately trying to get them away from her friends.

The situation was turning more hopeless by the second. It seemed like there was nothing she could do. Even while she tried attacking the wolves, the other ones would attack her friends. It was as if her power was using her friends as bait so Squabee could land some lucky hits that she normally wouldn’t be able to.

Squabee managed to stab another wolf through the eye. Then another one through its leg. Then cut off another one’s tail. A slush of frozen blood started layering on top of the ground as both her friends and the wolves blood mixed together.

"I can’t win."

She stabbed another one, this time a much cleaner hit. The wolf struggled to move after the attack.

"I can’t win."

Another bite was taken out of Jacob’s hand. Squabee threw the spear as hard as she could as it tried to run away with its snack. The spear embedded itself deep in the wolf’s torso, but all it did was cripple its movements, similar to the other ones. Now, she had lost her only weapon to protect her friends, and to make matters worse.

"I-I can’t..."

Dozens of howls now surrounded Squabee. An army of wolves was surrounding her, ready to finish her off. Squabee dropped to her knees and sobbed. Everything felt weak. She was exhausted beyond measure. Somehow, it felt like even a power such as hers, couldn’t save her from this situation. For the first time in Squabee life, it felt like she was truly facing an unavoidable death.

"Did I... do good? Did I do enough?"

She watched on as the wolves all began charging her at the same time.

"Jacob, Maria, Lidia, Sarah, Slimo... I’m sorry."

"AHH!!"

Just then, Jacob closed his mouth around a wolf’s throat and thrashed it around in the air. He used its limp body to ram the other ones close around him. The pack seemed startled by the sudden attack and hesitated to jump in. Jacob chomped through the rest of his bite and swallowed it whole. Only his right eye was open, his ever-changing eye. It was glowing brightly as the colors danced to different shades.

Squabee shivered seeing Jacob’s expression.

"J-Jacob?"

Jacob was breathing harshly like a beast. His teeth were barred and steam was rolling off his flesh. Without wasting any more time, he pounced on to the other wolves close behind Squabee. The wolves all whined and howled as Jacob tore through them with nothing but his bare hands. Instead of attacking Squabee or her friends, the entire pack started focusing on Jacob. More than five wolves jumped on him at a time, tearing small chunks of his body away. More blood seeped from his body as he continued his onslaught. All Squabee could do was watch.

Sqaubee had never seen Jacob this desperate before. It looked like he couldn’t even feel the pain attacking him. His face was full of rage, and every part of his body was being used to kill or hurt everything around him. However, even this short burst of energy looked to be fading. There were simply too many wolves for Jacob to handle on his own. Squabee tried moving her legs, but she felt something touch her knee as she was about to stand up. The spear that she had once thrown was back to where Maria’s body was laying on the ground. Squabee’s eyes widened. She grabbed its shaft and stood up, wiping the frozen tears off her face.

Doubt had no room in her mind anymore. All that was left was the hope of a single goal: save everyone.

Using all her strength, Squabee kicked off the ground beneath her and stabbed straight through the head of a wolf about to bite Jacob’s neck. Jacob’s eye stared at Squabee for a moment before immediately going back to hunting for more prey. Together, Jacob and Squabee killed over thirty wolves in total. The lukewarm blood was surrounding the area, quickly freezing as the harsh winds continued to roll across the desolate expanse. Squabee panted and stared at Jacob’s injured body.

"Thank you, Jacob. I... I needed that."

Jacob didn’t respond. Instead, he simply collapsed to the ground once more, completely unresponsive.

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