The Near Future III. Battle - I Fight Dragons

Finally, the light turns green and the boy peels away

As he rounds the next bend, he comes upon four men

Attacking a girl by the side of the road

Instinctively, he slams on the brakes and jumps out of

His car to try and defend her

The four men turn on him with vacant expressions

And begin to advance

Outnumbered and weaponless

The boy nonetheless decides to stay and fight

If nothing else, he hopes his sacrifice might

Give the girl time to escape

He raises his fists, prepared to go down swinging

When all of a sudden a strange blue light flares out from his palms

And an alien symbol blazes to life on the back of his hands

The four attackers pause for a moment, taken aback

Then they charge

What should have been a quick defeat

Somehow turns out to be a fair fight

With his hands radiating blue fire

The boy finds himself in control of skills and

Powers he has never possessed, and by sheer force of will

He is able to keep his four attackers at bay

The men pause, reevaluating the boy

Then they advance again

This time at full force, in a chaotic attack formation

Designed to maximise the advantage of their numbers

As he considers the girl these men have been attacking

The boy’s fury begins to rise

Who are these strange men

And why do they think they can get away with

Hurting this defenceless girl?

Suddenly, the light starts surging forth from his hands

Completely overpowering his attackers

Dealing blows that send them flying into the air

All at once they cease their onslaught

The four men share a look

Then in unison, they flee

Panting, the boy turns around to find that the girl has remained,

staring at him in utter confusion

As his adrenaline recedes

He suddenly realises that even though she is battered and bruised

She is the single most beautiful girl he has ever seen

Then, just as he opens his mouth to speak

She leaps up and runs away into the night

He stands there stunned, as the blue light emanating from his hands begins to

flicker, then fades away altogether

Finally gathering his wits, the boy runs after the girl

But she disappeared without a trace

He walks back to his car and spends the rest of the night driving around

Searching desperately for any sign of her

But it’s no use

The sun is rising, and the girl is gone