My strength came back with every step I took toward the Scarred Man. I could feel my wounds close slowly, only increasing in speed when I concentrated on them. I made it halfway up the hill by the time the Scarred Man reached the treeline. After throwing Mallory over his shoulder, the Scarred Man leisurely limped into the woods.

When I reached the edge of the forest, I froze. How could I stop him? I had no clue, but when I noticed the bright moonlight hit Mallory’s face my doubts were a concept I no longer understood. I sprinted into the forest, screaming with a mix of fear and determination.

The Scarred Man whipped around, causing Mallory to fall off his shoulder. His face displayed utter bewilderment as I charged at him. I made contact with his body, which was now his actual height. Whatever he did to grow as tall as he did had since faded from his system. We fell off the makeshift path and onto the grassy forest floor with a loud thud. How a scrawny kid like me was able to knock a grown man to the ground was unknown to me. Though I must assume he was staggered by his being surprised more than anything else. Or it could have been the sight of the child he had just killed, now with a hole running through his skull sprinting at him, that caused him to stumble over his own feet.

He grunted before he pushed me off of him. I got to my feet and retreated deeper into the forest.

"How are you alive?" The Scarred Man rubbed his forehead before an odd animalistic noise came from his throat. He angrily charged at me, pinning me to a tree by holding my chest. It was difficult to breathe, and near impossible to talk.

"Do you have any idea what pain you two have caused us?" He threw me to the ground when I didn’t respond.

After a quick analysis of our surroundings the Scarred Man hovered over me. He placed his cold hands around my neck then began to squeeze. I started to panic, causing me to flail around. Surprisingly my hands fit around his wrist, unfortunately his arms wouldn’t budge. I tried sticking my thumbs into his eyes, but that only made him grow angrier. That caused him to throttle me harder. My knee made contact with his groin. He winced in pain and loosened his grip on my neck. His iron grip returned as I searched the ground for anything I could use to bash his skull. Unfortunately I found nothing on either side of us.

I concentrated on the ring, hoping fire would come from it. Maybe it could cause explosions or turn me invisible, but nothing came from it and as far as I could tell I was perfectly visible. Did God lie to me? Was she even God? Was the ring just a normal ring and the reason I couldn’t remove it was because my finger was too big? My heart had already been racing but now, it was pumping faster than ever before.

I looked into the face of the beast who was about to kill me again. His eyes seemed to well with tears as I felt my face slowly lose the color of life.

I wish I had a rock, I thought to myself. Or maybe a knife.

I felt something warm ooze all over my left hand. It slid onto my palm and solidified into a hilt. I was little more than surprised.

I’m right handed, I thought.

The hilt returned to liquid form and seeped into my skin. Through my bloodstream it went from my left hand and into my heart. Then from my heart it was pumped into my right hand. As quickly as it went through my body it reformed into what was presumably a knife.

Without thinking I thrust whatever it was I was holding into the side of theScarred Man’s head. He bolted up, reaching for the knife that had disappeared when I let go of it. I managed to get to my feet then I backed away from the Scarred Man. One hand reached toward me while the other still grasped the air in an attempt to take the nonexistent knife. Blood squirted from his wound, drenching his hand.

I brought my hand up to my mouth in shock, I couldn’t believe I had managed to hurt the beast that’s been silently terrorizing the town. The Scarred Man stumbled backwards and fell onto his back. As he lay on the ground the Scarred Man applied pressure to his wound. His face grimaced with pain while he rocked side to side in an effort to roll over onto his stomach.

My shock faded as I watched him struggle like the animal he was. What does someone with a conscience do when faced with the ethical dilemma that is a suffering animal? Obviously that person would put the animal out of its misery. But I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want him to escape this world so easily. Besides he was no animal, he had a sliver of a human soul within him, even if it was buried beneath all of that filth. What made the decision easier was that he had successfully killed me and he knocked out Phillip, and most egregious of all, he had hurt Mallory. There was no way he should have his suffering cut short.

I wanted to turn and assure Mallory was alive, but something within me was transfixed on the dying manbeast. After a few more moments the Scarred Man removed his bloody hand from the gaping hole on his head. He began to claw at his forearm with his bloody hand, bloodying it further as he ripped the skin off. With muscle exposed, he continued to scrape. Approaching cautiously I could see his radius and ulna through the bloody meaty soup that was his arm. He glanced at me with tear filled eyes then returned his gaze to his arm. He rocked side to side once again, this time managing to turn so he lay on his stomach. Before he did so I could have sworn I saw the scratches he caused on his bones begin to glow a faint orange.

Can nails even scratch like that? I wondered.

I watched as the Scarred Man dragged his limp body away from me. Through the shadows that rested on his gray back, I could see the same orange glow. It wasn’t as vibrant as it was when it was on his arm, almost as if it was coming from underneath his decayed skin. I thought he was on the cusp of exploding, or something worse. That’s when I noticed the glow matched perfectly with all the scars he had. The scars looked vaguely like inseams mentioned in Mallory’s books. I believed him to be doing some magic nonsense that I really wouldn’t want to see.

"Stop that!" I shouted.

The Scarred Man continued to drag himself.

I kicked him as hard as I could on the side of his head, "I said stop."

He refrained from moving, but continued to glow. I knew I had to stop whatever this was. I sat on his back, and once again thought, I could use a knife, and a knife formed in my hand. In the moonlight I could see the weapon that had saved my life. A beautifully crafted hilt made of bronze bore many marks that I knew I had seen on the inner band of the ring. The marks continued onto the sharp silver blade, but they stopped half way up. I knew I should ask Mallory to help translate what I slowly started to realize were inseams.

My attention returned to the Scarred Man. Using both my hands I raised the knife high into the sky. With on swift motion I plunged the knife into the nape of his neck. When I pulled it out, the knife scraped against bone, creating a loud cracking noise that was paired with a sloshing sound. I raised the knife to the sky then plunged it into his back. The knife felt right in my hands as I repeatedly stabbed the Scarred Man.

After a number of lacerations, the glowing faded almost completely. I raised the knife once more then plunged it into the back of his skull. I did this until the glowing ceased completely.

As I sat there, bloodied and tired, I realized I was hyperventilating. I breathed in deeply before slowly exhaling. Looking down at the mess I had created, clearly the mangled meat that was the Scarred Man was no longer alive.

The pounding of my heart began to subside. After standing up I ran back to the path. As I got closer I was able to see the faint movements of Mallory’s chest as she softly breathed. Kneeling beside her, I moved her head around to assure myself that she wasn’t bleeding. When I found no trace of blood or any wounds on her head I stood up.

I attempted to lift her up, but being a child made it rather difficult to carry her properly. Her feet dragged against the hard ground as we left that accursed forest.

Next Chapter: Mallory’s Turn to get Powers Because She’s the Protagonist