Part 4 - Eye of the Beast

The creature of stone looked down at the Baron's young daughter with an expression that despite its features could only be categorised as disgust. As she screamed at the sight of it the Lord rose its arms to the sky and let out a mockingly simliar squeal teasing the woman as it towered over her, its midsection alone dwarfing her as it stretched to its full size nearly twenty feet tall. Abruptly it stopped and focused its gaze on her. The sudden silence caused her own scream to catch in her throat as she waited to see what had caused the Lords pause. I stood transfixed as the Lords mouth changed into a malicious smile and its whole body lurched forward before collapsing into a rockslide and crushing the girl, silencing her scream of terror before it even passed her lips. The pile of rocks and boulders remained there only a moment longer before it slowly began to reform into the hulking beast which had stood there seconds before. The ground beneath my feet rumbled as it did so, but it was not the movement of the rocks that did this but instead the sound emenating from the largest boulder, the torso of the Rock Lord. It was a laugh. A deep belly laugh of satisfaction at the horrendous act that it had just carried out. Its eyes easily caught more movement as the crowds continued to run in panic, and it stalked off, looking for more pain to inflict.

I stood, still transfixed by what i had seen and began to wander towards the young woman, eager to check if she was ok. I was too young to really understand what had happened to her, and even when i stood over her crushed, blooded and broken body, i did not know what it meant. It was only when i looked in the girls eyes that i saw what was wrong. What the Rock Lord had taken from her. Only then did i realise the danger i was in.

Bodies began to fly around like the Baron's had in even more frequency and the Lords passionate and unsettling laugh grew with each throw, escalating into a mordant song of celebration for the act of death. A sudden fear gripped me as i began to search for my parents, but amongst the tumult of people i could see nothing. Before long my worst fears took hold of me and instead of searching the faces of those fleeing i began running between each corpse that landed, expecting to see the face of my father or mother. And then through the screams, the laugh, and the sounds of the Lord destroying houses, i heard something unique in this scene of chaos. The sound of a baby crying. From my earliest years when i had begun playing with the other children of the village, one lesson had been drilled into me by my father. It is the duty of every little boy to take care of the boy thats littler than them. I suppose if id thought about it a bit more at that moment it would have occured to me that there was no larger boy taking care of me. But according to my father it was my duty and i couldnt dissapoint him, no matter where he was. So i followed the crying as quickly as i could, hurdling the bodies, and the blood. The screams and crashing noises gave me a vague idea of where the Lord was, but that wasnt important to me, i had to reach the baby. Near one of the houses i found the sound, and for some reason approached it cautiously, almost afraid of what i might find, that somehow despite the sound i would be too late, or not up to the task. The baby still lay in the crook of its mothers arm, wailing for her attention. But her forehead had been caved in by a bloody rock which lay at her side, debris from one of the destroyed buildings. Now that i saw the baby i honestly didnt know what to do. I was still one of the smallest boys in the village so had never needed to take care of anyone else before, and id never given much thought to what it entailed. As if in response to my confusion the baby slowly stopped crying and looked up at me with its big brown eyes and began to flail its limbs towards me. A smile creased my lips and i bent down to lift the little boy. I didnt need to know what to do just yet, he just needed me.

As i stood there cradling the child a sudden realisation came over me. The screaming had stopped. The laughing as well. All i could hear now was a low grumble, close, and closing. I turned slowly, already knowing what to expect. The Rock Lord advanced towards me, slowly, staring straight at me with that same twisted grin. I dont know where i found the courage but i stared right back at the Lord with defiance that went far beyond my strength or years. I held the baby closer and invited the Lord to test my mettle, to do his worst. The look he returned told me he was going to do just that. He continued to advance until he was only a few feet away and then raised his arms in the same fashion he did before the Baron's daughter. Despite knowing what was going to come, i stood my ground, attempted to cover the baby as best i could. The Rock Lord smiled broadly before its face contorted oddly and it stumbled forward, but instead of collapsing ontop of me and the child, it lurched backwards again and began reaching behind itself, as it turned i saw what had caused its odd behaviour, a man clung to the huge Rock Lords back with all his might with one huge arm, while the other held a pick axe. He took wild swings at the Lord, but none of them seemed to connect. His largest swing simply deflected off the Rock Lord and carried his weight away from the monsters torso, the Lord saw its oppurtunity and spun throwing the man off him. With horrified certainty i recognised the face of the man as he flew away from the Lord, it was my father. I ran to his side the moment he hit the floor, but cringed as i heard the sickening crack. Crimson fluid trickled from my fathers mouth but he smiled as he saw me, still cradling the baby. He pushed the pickaxe into my free hand as a horrible racking cough took him and more blood erupted from his mouth. A deafening roar caused me to turn as the Rock Lord stamped towards me, its arms raised high. Instinctivly i tucked and rolled to the side, protecting the child but losing my grip on the pickaxe, it flew off in the direction i rolled, slightly out of reach. I heard the thundering pound as the Lords fists landed on my father, obliterating the skull which only a moment ago held merely a fracture. I feared to move, remained huddled in a ball hoping that the Lord would forget me or that the world would open up and hide him from his terrible power. But then the baby began to cry. And i knew what sick pleasure the Lord would draw from that. I heard him rise back up again and begin stalking towards me. My fingers groped along the floor, stretching for the handle of the pick, i didnt know what i would do when i had it, my father hadnt even been able to make a dent, but somehow i knew i needed it. Abruptly my sprawl along the floor stopped and i began being pulled backwards, the Rock Lords rough and disjointed hand wrapped around my waist and lifted me up towards its face, i loosened my grip on the child, allowing it to remain on the floor as it continued to wail and attempted to turn in the titans grip to face it. Its malevolent grin met my determination and for a moment our two countenances battled before the Lord became aware of something it hadnt expected. The pick was gripped firmly in my hand. I levelled a huge swing at the monsters head and the point of the pick ricocheted along the creatures cheek into its eye socket ripping the flaming amber stone from its perch. The creature howled in pain and dropped me to the floor where i quickly scampered to the boy i had sworn to protect. The Lord gathered itself and clutched at its eye before looking down at me with all the contempt and malice it could muster. But then it stopped. That same smile creased its face for some reason and that deep belly laugh shook my body once again. It saw some future in me that i had yet to live out, something i couldnt yet know and it laughed with malignant glee. The Rock Lord spared one last moment to smile at me before stampeding away leaving nothing in its wake but a young boy wielding a pick axe, a small baby crying for its mother, an annihilated village and its own left eye no longer aflame, but still holding the ill that bore it.