"Quest of Lotana"

Swyx and Hannah rounded the corner and bolted down the hallway. Somewhere in this labyrinth of a building was the last egg of Lotana, the powerful serpent goddess.

“There! Stairs!” Swyx burst through the door and descended. “We need to go as deep as we can. It would be somewhere cold, dark, and damp.”

Swyx had tracked the egg for many seasons. Every time he thought he was close, the egg was moved. Finally, he was one step ahead of the Temtumi guards. 

Three flights down, Swyx and Hannah reached the lowest point of the building. The smell of damp earth filled their nostrils. Before opening the door, Hannah closed her eyes. “No signs of life, but there is a presence somewhere nearby. I think this is it.”

“I don’t trust it.” Swyx cracked open the door. Immediately, their ears rung with a piercing alarm, echoing through the hallway. “Run!” He ran left down the hallway. 

“Wait! I feel it. This way!” They swung around and dashed up the hallway in the other direction.

Bots rounded the corner ahead of them. Hannah ducked into a doorway just in time as the lasers crackled past. Swyx returned fire, destroying several foes. 

Hannah started working on the keypad, trying to unlock the door. Though young, her intuition was strong. The door released and they clambered in. They quickly slammed the door back shut and moved what they could to barricade it. Swyx grabbed his shoulder and winced at the fresh wound. 

Finally turning into the room, he realized where they were. In front of them, the egg of Lotana was perched on a trunk-like pedestal. A single droid poured water over it, keeping it at the necessary saturation for incubation.

Swyx swiftly raised his weapon, forgetting the pain in his shoulder, but the droid seemed unequipped to attack. Behind them the door rattled as the bots tried to enter. The barricade shifted.

“Do it.” Hannah’s voice was soft, barely audible through the continuing alarm.

The weapon quivered in Swyx’s hand. He was now aimed at the massive egg before him. His forefinger slowly squeezed. A shot rung out. The droid crumpled. 

Hannah gasped loudly. The egg’s shell had deflected the attack. It sat unblemished. “What now?” she asked.

Swyx swung the butt of his weapon down upon the egg but made no damage. He grunted as he repeated the attack again and again. Exhausted and in pain, Swyx dropped his weapon. He closed his eyes. “I failed. The monster will hatch and fulfill the prophecy. We’re doomed.”

“Let me try.” Hannah’s powers were still developing. She didn’t know what she would be able to accomplish. She placed her hands on the egg’s shell and stood motionless. All the while, the bots outside the door were making their way in. 

Swyx was poised to defend but kept his eye on the egg. It quivered. Slowly, it started shaking faster. A noise, low and terrible, sounded from the egg. “It’s working,” said Swyx.

A shot fired from the doorway, barely missing its target. Swyx fired back, trying to hold off the attackers, trying to give Hannah more time. 

The shell’s white exterior turned dark, then crimson. A horrifying screech drowned out the blaring alarm. The shell withered and was still again. 

Hannah fell to her knees, barely conscious. Shots fired all around her. Swyx tried desperately to fend off the bots in the doorway. His resistance was futile…

Hannah grabbed his arm…a white light…sky…darkness…

Swyx woke in unfamiliar surroundings. Hannah lay beside him, unconscious. They were free, their quest fulfilled. 

This was a piece of flash fiction I wrote for my writing group based on a picture prompt. (Originally Posted March 5, 2016)