Chapter 4: The Storm

"Why should I care? I thought I just had to destroy the monsters," Howard looked up at the large, forming chrysalis, towering above him in the expansive white sky. The Spawn that had formed had an extremely muscular body made out of sand with a frame that stood at over 15 meters tall. Even the smallest movement from it struck fear into most mortals, but Howard seemed unamused by it's powerful showmanship. "So what if I have to fight a bigger monster. I'll just destroy it too."

"You have a brain, don't you?" Monica rolled her gorgeous blue green eyes and held out her cute freckled hands with a tinge of anger. Howard seemed to only use brute force, and didn't try to anticipate the consequences of his actions.

She'd seen many students in her school attack first and ask questions later. However, almost all of those careless students had vanished from existence because they hadn't planned their next steps. 

"Haven't you noticed every time you kill a Spawn, it merges towards its closest ally?"

"So what?" Howard slashed through a Spawn to his right, causing it to burst into hundreds of little, tiny pieces. "What am I supposed to do? You said I have to destroy the Spawn right. I want to sleep with you tonight, and I can only sleep with you if I get an A."

"Ugh, look around you! That's all I'm telling you, or teacher will punish me!" Monica pulled out a bag of chips from her little brown duffle bag and began chewing them with anger while the cloud finally dispersed.

A Spawn hundreds of times the size of the previous Spawn appeared. It looked like a moving mountain and gave of a feeling of superiority with every motion. It had six arms that each had turned into sharp blades that seemed dangerous enough to cut through the void. Rushing towards Howard, it seemed to cover an endless amount of space before it slashed down at his little form.

Swoosh!

Howard stepped off his back foot and dodged the large blade before appearing in front of one of the towers. A few hundred hissing snakes laid on the floor hissing in front of thousands of jars. Immediately, an idea flashed through Howard's mind, causing him to smile before he picked up one of the snakes.

"Do I put the sand in the jars?" Howard looked over at Monica as she ate her chips. Earlier, he realized if he just looked around the room, these jars could've been used to catch the sand from the Spawn. However, because he had just killed the Spawn, a towering figure of endless bestial might had formed, causing him to dodge and dodge and dodge without the ability to counterattack.

"Monica, are you allowed to help me?" Howard sent out three large fireballs that burned through the space and crashed into waves of attacking sand. "Please, this is getting annoying. I'm getting tired."

"Oh, so you're learning your lesson?" Monica bit a chip while watching the woozy Howard run around and try and dodge attack after attack. "You may be powerful, but even down here you can run out of energy! That's why I got so mad at you for trying to fight the zombies earlier!"

"You could've told me that," Howard felt the last bit of energy leaving his body, watching the Spawn's hand descend towards him at a fast speed, before he fell onto the ground.

Boom!

Howard got sent flying to the distance, and crashed into a tower like a small bug that just got swatted by a giant. With little power remaining, he smiled at Monica as the large beast ambled over towards him, forming a weapon from its own arm. A large sword appeared in its hand with such a sharp blade even the air seemed to get cut in half.

Walking over to Howard, the large figure lifted up its arms and prepared to plummet the sword into Howard's body. Looking up, Howard smiled and said "Got you," before a gigantic fireball shot out of the palm of his hands and burst through the Spawns face.

By the tower, hundreds of open jars caught the Spawn remnants, before Howard ran up to them and shut the lid. Grasping at what was left of its head, the Spawn fell down onto the floor, letting off a piercing scream.

"Heh, I tricked it. You're sleeping in my bed room tonight!" Howard held out his thumbs and snickered before the large Spawn collapsed into dust. Monica could barely believe her eyes, and dropped the bag of chips on the floor. A golden chest appeared in the massive pile of sand, opening while a large howl from the Spawn disappeared from the space.

"You-you got a perfect score," Monica rushed over to the chest with a smile on her face. "I get to open the chest!"

"I don't care. It's just a stupid golden chest," Howard walked over to her with his arms behind his head, and stared at her figure.

Monica had gorgeous green hair that seemed to turn orange underneath the glitterings of light. Her happiness seemed to pervade from the aura around her, as she rushed up the mountain of sand from the defeated Spawn. Opening up the Golden Chest, with delight she pulled out a small paper.

"You-you got an S+ on the Mission!"

"There is just a paper in the golden chest?" Howard looked down into the golden coffer and to his disappointment only found a small little trinket. "There is a little trinket in here. What do I do with it?"

"Just take it. It might be useful later," Monica grabbed Howards hand and rushed him to the exit. "However, why are you such an idiot! You're supposed to look at your surroundings first!"

"I did that on purpose." Howard walked into the elevator shaft and grabbed Monica's hand. "You didn't say you'd sleep with me yet. Vicky promised me I'd never be alone at night."

"Howard, one warning. Don't talk about teachers height anymore!" Monica bit her lip and grabbed his hand. At the same time, the elevator shaft opened and their teacher appeared with two little children sitting in front of her.

One of the children had a long horn on his back that curved downwards and formed a hook. The other girl had no discernable horns, but had two pairs of wings flapping lightly and causing the sand around her to stir.

"Howard, how did you perform?" The teacher smiled and held out her hand. "Did you learn anything valuable while in the obelisk?"

"He got an S+" Monica handed the teacher the paper she received from the golden coffer and crossed her arms. "That means we don't have to do anything dangerous today, right?"

"Not good enough," The teacher sighed and tossed up the paper, blowing it into the wind. "Howard, what took you so long? You made your two classmates so long."

"Teacher Anibell, he got a perfect score," Monica said, scratching her head with confusion. "How is it not good enough?"

"Monica, do you want to die?" Anibell grinded her ball into a fist and forced a smile that wreaked of disdain and anger. She couldn't help but remember over and over again how Howard had talked about her height.

She had tried to ignore it, but something about it stung her. Hundreds of years ago, she had just been a normal girl before she started to grow taller and taller and taller. The world tortured her and made her life a stream of endless sorrows before they finally tossed her into the Furnace.

Feeling the rage surfacing inside of her, she looked down at Howard and placed her hand gently on top of his head.

"You-you don't think I'm a bad person do you? For getting mad at you for doing so well,"

"Nope, you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen! There is so much to hug!" Howard laughed and put his arms against teacher Annabell's legs. Instantly, the teacher's face seemed to crack, causing her anger to disappear as a burst of laughter came out of her mouth.

Monica winced and stepped back from the teacher, heading over to the two students who also seemed terrified beyond measure.

"Howard, maybe if you keep complimenting me like that, It'll go away. All the pain will go away."

"Teacher, you don't realize how special you are. Everything about you twice as comfortable." Howard hugged her tighter causing the teacher's face to suddenly snap. Calming herself down, she sighed and walked away from Howard, looking up at a large cloud blossoming in the distance.

"Howard, these are your new classmates." Annibell grinded her teeth together and patted the horned Blake on the back. "Blake and Lera. For our lesson today, I'm going to teach you a simple strategy that's really important in the Furnace. How does that sound?"

"That sounds great! However, teacher, why do you call it a class? Shouldn't we be in a building then?"

"Death is the only lesson with meaning," Annibel walked over to Howard and patted him on the back, pushing him and Monica forward towards a strange, ominous storm brewing on the horizon. "Besides, if we don't keep moving, the Furnace will swallow us whole. Isn't that right, Lera?"

"It's complicated down here." Lera's high voice broke the tension in the space. She spun her white hair around her head and flapped her wings several times and floating gently in the air. "Teacher here helps us survive and get stronger."

"I also don't like it when someone talks about my height. Got it, Howard?" Annibel laughed and patted him on the back. She seemed to have calmed down, and even smiled at Howards words going through her head. "Anyways, today, we're going to show you what the enemy does if we stay in class. How does that sound Howard."

��I'm okay with that. However, what enemy? Where is the Furnace anyway."

"The Furnace," The young male student Blake said while patting Howard on the back. "The Furnace is an underground wasteland where they toss dangerous beings like us in the hope that we all kill each other. Of course, that's after they experiment on us."

"You mean? The regular world is above us?" Howard could see orange clouds above them, moving listlessly through the expanse. If they were underground, it didn't seem much different from the surface. "I don't get it."

"That's what today's lesson is about," Teacher Annibel leaned down on her two knees, and pointed once again to the storm brewing in the distance. "The storm is coming. Let's get inside of it, little one."