David and Goliath

Yuna leaned her head on one hand, the ice cream cone disappearing into the shadows of the hood. Somehow completely obstructed from Naren's view despite him staring directly at it. Her gaze still directed at Naren.

"Yeah? You remember?"

Naren tilted his head. Sucking air in through his teeth as he tried to think.

"Yeah that's all. I got nothin else."

The figure stood up from her seat, her cone gone. Approaching Naren, leaning in.

"Alright, since you still don't remember anything, how about you just become my soldier and do as I say?"

Naren scrunched his face pulling his eye bags down.

"You wish."

The hooded figure tilted her head. At the same time Vera's eyes widened as she screamed:

"Naren, behind you!"

A tall, brootish cloaked man emerged from the terrace floor. Almost floating up like a ghost. He stood right next to the hooded figure, rematerializing as his shoes gripped the ground beneath him.

The hooded figure pointed at Naren, two fingers held up, before pointing back at Theron right next to her.

"Okay number two, you're first job is to deal with him."

Theron lunged at Naren, leading with a fist. Naren jumped over, attempting to grab him. Instead, he went right through Theron, falling flat onto the ground as the brute passed right through him.

In the next moment, a back heel struck Naren's head sending him tumbling back. He got up, grasping his head.

"Annoying ass fable..."

He assumed a boxer's pose, holding his guard high. As Theron threw a punch, Naren weaved out of the way. Theron simultaneously sent a knee tunneling at Naren's stomach, using his outstretched arm for balance.

Naren contorted backwards, his torso somehow completely avoiding the knee. He went to grab it, but just as before, he's entire body just went through.

However, at the last second he rematerialized barreling two interlocked fists down that Naren just barely rolled out from. Though, in the process, Naren was able to pull off the, or rather rip off the cloak around him.

Naren backed up a couple steps, his golden eyes focused on his opponent.

A frog-faced man with metal plates all throughout his body. His abdomen, forearm, quads. It seemed like everywhere where skin should have been but his head and hands were replaced with iron sheets.

Well that explained the creaky noises. But what now. Every attack Naren threw at this cyborg would just pass right through.

Yuna sat at her table, bringing Vera there as well. A white coat sleeve held around Vera, as she enjoyed watching the fight continue.

Theron continued an aggressive assault. Like a man swinging around a sledgehammer in a frenzy. His fists swung around, but never truly landed. Naren slipped and weaved each attempt. He would duck, side step, jump over.

Each attempt from Theron left him more and more tired. At the same time, it diminished the already tired and hungry Naren even more. It was like watching a machine constantly fight a slimy lizard.

Yuna removed two white buds connected to a wire from within her head as her voice slipped out:

"Looks like watching David and Goliath go at it."

Vera's eyes were glued onto Naren. She would wince a little every time it looked like he'd get hit, only to sit up whenever he'd find a way to dodge. But the princess's words snapped her out of her daze.

"David and Goliath?"

Yuna ruffled Vera's hair.

"David was a shaman. He was a fairly small and weak shaman though. Goliath was a golem. A fearsome faint, a monster that earned a name. He terrorized David's village, attacking with no remorse... With all the warriors' absence, the frail David decided to fight Goliath. Somehow, someway, the small and feeble David was able to slip through all of Goliath's ruthless attacks. And somehow, someway, David did the impossible."

Naren's crimson scarf streamed through the air. Like an elegant dance, flowing in a rhythmic beat, followed by the thrashing of Theron. Vera was torn between the two. Naren and his impossible fight. Yuna and her alluring story.

"But do you know something strange? The stones of furnaces, of wells, of houses. They were all the fallen kin of Goliath. Slain and humiliated, turned into steps for their killers. And David? David was forced to fight his best friend."

Naren pivoted on his left leg, whipping his right leg through a tight arc. His shin was supposed to drive right into Theron's ribs, but instead it went right through. The arc completed his bare right foot immediately pushing off the ground into a step back.

"Golem's were the companions of the villagers. You've probably seen them around. Stone statues carved to look like children. They used to be very friendlty...until the villagers learned of their value. Of the jewels stored inside their cores. The villager's betrayed them and Goliath was furious. Even David sided with Goliath until the villagers threatened to hang his family. He had no other choice but to kill Goliath. Kill his best friend."

Yuna sighed before continuing:

"Those poor golems now. They're afraid of light and won't even move if someone looks in their direction at night."

Theron shifted his stance. Heaving in exhaustion. Similarly Naren was also tired and hungry and thirsty. He put his hands down, shifting his weight back and forth on the balls of his feet. Golden eyes staring right at Theron.

Despite Theron's metallic body glinting in daylight, Naren couldn't find any use of his reflections in this scenario. What use was it on someone who couldn't be hit.

He could always teleport behind him, but Theron was just waiting for Naren to attack, constantly intangible until the he'd passed through in an awkward position. How annoying.

"Hey hoodie, if I'm your soldier, shouldn't you help me out."

Yuna leaned her hands on the table, as she laid her head down facing Naren.

"You should call me princess. I am your master now."

Naren scrunched his face as Theron threw a shoulder at him. He ducked slipping through the dematerialized shaman. He realized by now that Theron would just become intangible after every attack, so he might as well use it to dodge.

"Princess my foot, just help me!"

Yuna sat up, oversized coat sleeves grabbing the sides of her hood in a surprised expression.

"You want little old me to help you?! A strong mighty soldier?!"

Naren lifted a side of his face, letting his teeth show in a look of annoyance.

Theron doubled back around, spinning over his own pivot foot. He drove his heel blindly in an arc, Naren easily jumping over it. But for a second, Naren grew distracted. A familiar voice spoke from just below, just out of ear shot for any normal person: "Get out here, princess."

In that second of misdemeaned hesitation, Theron grabbed onto his scarf, pulling it tight. Naren pulled in, his stomach colliding straight into Theron's hulking fists.

Vera gripped her hands, trembling as she tried to run off the table to Naren. The figure stopped her though, pulling her back, speaking through gritted teeth.

"That ugly scarf really did him in."

At the same time, the hooded figures attention was drawn elsewhere.

A flash of orange and red burst from a couple buildings over. Walls bulged at first, like skin, before scattering into pieces in each and every direction. A spray of burning debris raining down as a mini shockwave rippled through the air.

Then the sound hit a deep bone rattling BOOM , stopping Naren's fight. He immediately fell to the ground, smushing his ears in pain as he winced.

Just as fast as it hit it disappeared, now flooded by the sounds of panic and mutiny. The crackle of fire and spilling debris hidden behind mobs of people scattering.

Then a voice. One that not only Naren, but everyone atop the terrace could hear.

"YOU WEED-HEADED BITCH COME OUT HERE!"