Sanctum – Hopla Farmhouse

Mara the Hopla concentrated on the tiny firebolt she held in her shaking palm, trying to direct the flow of mana in her small body into the flame.

Around her, her friends shrieked:

"She can't do it!"

"The teacher's pet can't do it!"

"Yesyes she can! Stop being mean!"

She felt all their eyes on her, like a bunch of watchful sentries waiting for her to fail.

Come on… she urged. You can do it…

She felt sweat roll down the fur on her forehead, then finally let out a wheeze of effort.

The spell fizzled and died in her hand, and she flopped down from the demonstration stage.

"Seesee! She couldn't cast it!" Merton cheered—the boy who had been teasing her ever since Miss Fauna had left them. "She's only good with magic when Miss FaunFaun is around!"

"Shut up!" her friend, Nikki, shrieked back. "You're just jealous of her!"

"Jealous of whatwhat? Her magic is bad now!"

"Shut up!"

Mara looked at the group before her—the only family she'd ever really known—and stifled a sob.

"I—I—"

Everyone turned and looked at her. Silence dominated in the farm cavern.

"I—I'm sorry!"

She ran off before anyone could catch up with her, leaving them to shout after her and berate Merton for calling her names.

But Merton hadn't been the only one. Plenty of them—boys and girls she thought were her friends—were thinking the exact same thing. He had just said it out loud.

They think I'm just a useless crybaby now that Miss Fauna isn't here anymore, she told herself. Maybe they're right…

As she ran, scrambling over loose rocks and stones, ignoring anyone who tried to call out to her to see what was wrong, she ignored the paintings of the Archon that adorned the barn walls and the entrance cavern to the farm. Ever since he'd come here, everyone hadn't been able to stop talking about him. They'd gathered their paints and crayons together and created a set of murals that spanned the entire length of their cavern—their little home in the darkness of Sanctum. Images of the Demon Hat and all his friends, including Miss Fauna and Miss Lamphrey—all linked hands as they took down the bad humans above. Some outsiders had even wandered into the cavern and remarked on the beauty of the drawings.

It was Mara's pride and joy. After all, she'd been one of the first ones to start creating the murals. But now, she turned away from them in disgust.

Because these days, she had a new little voice in her head. A voice that she couldn't quite shake off, telling her things she'd never thought before.

I'm a useless girl, it said. Nobody likes me. Without Miss Fauna, I can't do magic. I'm not good enough.

She ran through cavern after cavern, staring into the darkness beyond the farm's perimeter—beyond even places the Hybrids of Sanctum dared not go. The darkest shafts that were yet uncharted. She kept running until she didn't even know where she was anymore. She kept running until the patter of her tiny feet could no longer be heard.

Instead, another sound overpowered her sobs.

The sound of breathing.

She looked up, at first seeing nothing but the black void of the tunnel before her.

Then, all at once, a snarling, hairy snout appeared from out of the darkness, followed by a set of four amber eyes—eyes that rolled around until they settled on her.

Her System screen flashed as it told her what she was looking at:

Umbral Stalker [Level 50] HP: 300/300 Status: Hungry

Her breathing grew heavy, labored. She knew she had to back away, but her legs wouldn't respond to the screaming in her brain. Her sniffles became ragged gasps that couldn't even form a scream. Instead, she watched the hulking beast open its hairy mouth, displaying rows of grime-soaked teeth that smelled like death itself.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

And only then did she scream.

She turned as soon as the thing lumbered forward to snatch her, narrowly missing her twitching ears. Thinking fast, she formed a hastily invoked [Haste] spell to quicken her little feet just enough to carry her out of the monster's four sets of swiping claws. The thing's body was thin and wretched—like it hadn't eaten a meal in months. It was known that Umbral Stalkers could survive on moisture alone down here, but this one was clearly desperate for a proper meal.

Mara cursed herself as she ran, almost tripping over the sharp stones and rocks in her way, hearing the agonized roar of the beast as it pursued.

Okay, okay, okay… haste won't last forever. Someone—anyone—help me!

She shrieked as she felt a rush of air behind her and realized the creature's frontal claws had narrowly missed her back, shattering some stones behind her. She tripped, fell faceforward, and banged her head on the rough floor of the cavern.

She wasn't bleeding, but her head went hazy. Turning around, she looked up to see the Stalker blinking down at her from the top of the cavern, its hairy lips snarling in triumph.

I'm about to die here… because I'm stupid. Because I can't do anything ri—

"Hopla girl!"

A voice suddenly broke through the beast's savage roars. A voice that was nasally, wretched, and almost… giddy?

"Be sssshielding yourssself!" it repeated. "Now!"

Mara watched the massive bulk of the Stalker come down upon her.

"Now, Hopla girl!"

She closed her eyes, willing a shield to form. When it did, she could scarcely believe it.

The Stalker crashed into her meager shield, shaking its great head. It roared in frustration, clawing at the protective sphere. Within that bubble of energy, Mara's entire body trembled.

What now? she wailed in her head. What—what do I—?

She was answered by the mysterious voice nearby.

"Be doing nothing but keeping your sssshield up," it said. "There issss no need to intervene."

Cocking her head, Mara saw a dense patch of green smoke beginning to fill the cavern. From inside her shield, she couldn't smell it, but the Stalker certainly could.

Its eyes bulged as the plumes of smoke entered its nostrils. Suddenly, its head jerked back, and a series of ragged coughs wracked its body. It fell to the ground before Mara, heaving and retching as though plagued by a deadly disease.

Then, almost as quickly as it had appeared, the beast fell back, legs curled like a dead insect.

"Yessss!" the voice cried out from the darkness. "Tessst #183 issss being a total succcessss!"

Mara glared at the Stalker's inert body, her System display showing her all she needed to know:

Umbral Stalker Status: Unconscious.

Then, from behind the beast, came the wet steps of someone familiar. The only ratman in all of Sanctum.

"M-Mr. Fraxx?"

Mara's murmured words reached the rat as he emerged, his face covered by a strange-looking mask with tubes attached to its cheeks.

"Fine work, Hopla girl," the ratman said. "You are bringing my ssssubject out of itsss hiding place."

Mara, still shaking, tried assuming "big girl" mode. "I—I wasn't trying to help you," she pouted. "And it—it is not good to scare a lady like that!"

Fraxx stared at her, then swiftly bowed. "I am apologizing, my little lady. But you happened to run into my desssignated zone of experimentation. I would have ssstopped you, but you presented me with a good opportunity to tessst out my latesssst concoction."

Mara frowned as she watched the ratman prod at the unconscious Stalker, checking to make sure it wouldn't suddenly rise and devour him.

She'd always found him creepy, and hadn't had much contact with him in the past. Still, he had helped her out, in his own odd way.

"What—what do you mean, 'concoction'?"

The ratman chuckled at her question.

"Our good Lord the Archon has given me leave to procure defensssive measssures for Ssssanctum, in cassse of Greycloak attack," he explained. "What you have jusst sssseen was the resssult of Vermia Ssserum, a mossst potent poissson that renders monsssters completely inert."

Mara gulped. "And what does it do to humans?"

Fraxx grinned beneath his mask. "I am hoping to have sssome tessst sssubjectsss ssssoon."

Mara shook. It seemed to her that she had met two monsters today, and she wasn't sure which one was more dangerous.

"Allow me to be taking you home, Hopla girl," the ratman said. "Assss compensssation for upsssetting you."

Mara grimaced but couldn't exactly refuse. After all, she had no idea where she was.

But, as children often do, she wanted to be honest.

"…You didn't upset me," she said. "I was… already upset."

Fraxx cocked his head, whiskers twitching in curiosity.

"I… my friends… I've not been good with magic recently. They think I'm… worthless."

She hid her face.

"Maybe they're right…"

"HAH!"

The ratman's sudden exclamation startled her so much she almost dropped her shield and breathed in a good dose of his poison.

"Oh, little Hopla girl, you are caring too much about what othersss think. Do you think Fessstusss's brotherss and sisterss treat him fairly? No, they think he is sstrange and unusual, and a failure because he does not fight with sword or magic. Pah! Look at Fraxxx now. He is far more ssspecial than they."

Mara wasn't sure, but the ratman's bravado did manage to draw out a small chuckle from her.

"Besssides," he continued, stepping over the corpse of his fallen prey, "you are ssspecial, too."

Mara blushed. "N-no," she said. "I can only do basic magic. Sometimes not even that. I'm not so—"

"That is where you are wrong!" the ratman exclaimed. "For, though Frax issss no mage, he isss knowing that Thaumaturgy is no sssimple ssskill."

Thaumaturgy? Mara thought. The skill of projecting one's voice into another's mind. It was one of the most rare of all magical talents—in fact, among all the hybrids of Sanctum, only the Prophet Jun'Ei had ever perfected the technique.

Suddenly, her eyes widened.

"You… you mean—?"

"Yesss, Hopla girl," Fraxx giggled. "You are calling out to me with your mind, and that is how I found you in thissss cave. Fortunately, I wasss nearby. But you could not have known that, unless..."

He left the statement hanging, and Mara could scarcely believe the implication.

"You sseee?" the ratman said as he ushered her back along the tunnel. "You may be more ssspecial than you think. And you may be jussst what we've been looking for..."

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