Fiction | Flash Fiction | Fantasy | Mashup

Giant Strength

A ‘Monday Mashup’ response

This story is a response to the following fiction challenge:

Zaxon rubbed his eyes as he staggered away from the cave. The orcs were destroyed, slain, dismembered — that was the main thing. And he had the loot.

But yet, everything was wrong. He was nauseous, seeing double. Lights danced before his eyes.

He pulled out the empty vial, sniffed it. It smelled like horseshit. Strength potion, bargain price, so Makalay had said. “Hmmph.” Zaxon patted his pocket, and the gold coins chinked. The elf could forget his fee.

A few paces further on, Zaxon stopped dead on the path…

Ahead, a glowing white rabbit was surrounded by ghostly foxes. Then another rabbit appeared, and handed the first a cake. Eating it, the first rabbit grew in size, and began to slay the ghostly foxes, stealing their golden tails. But its body was shrinking all the time, until it was skin and bone. Betrayed, the rabbit-warrior collapsed to the ground, and the one that had brought a cake ran away with the fox tails.

“Damn potion, messing with me…” muttered Zaxon, shaking his head and then breaking into a run, leaving the vision behind him.

He expected Makalay to be waiting further down the path, and sure enough, as Zaxon approached approached the trees, he saw the elf kindling a campfire.

Looking up, Makalay stood and waved, a cheery grin on his face. “Wow. You actually made it!”

“Hmph. Orcs all dead. No thanks to you.”

“I disagree! Your muscles look gigantic. Whew!” Makalay licked his lips as he admired the warrior. “Sometimes, I impress even myself. I think adding ice made a real difference.”

“Elf — no!” snapped Zaxon. “Your potion messed me up…” As he spoke, Makalay face seemed to flicker in a rainbow of colors, writhing tentacles covering the elf’s slim body.

“…because of this!” continued Zaxon. He waved the vial angrily in front of the elf. When Makalay tried to snatch it from him, the warrior roared and smashed it down on top of the elf’s head.

But as Zaxon blinked and tried to focus, he realized it was a tree that he had pounded. The clinking noise that he had taken for falling glass was the sound of coins leaving his pocket.

“Goodbye, Zaxon.”

The warrior spun on his heel, but was now unable to see Makalay anywhere.

He groaned, then sank down, trying to stave off nausea, and finally lay flat on the ground as night fell.

At least the fire was warm.

Points:

Main Theme:
Your hero drinks a potion, but it doesn’t have the intended effect (2 points).

Elements:
Somebody doesn’t pay the bill (Zaxon decides not to pay for the potion, 1 point).
An unsanitary beverage container (the vial smells of 💩; 1 point)
Start a fire 🔥 (Makalay does so; 1 point)
Use a fantastic ingredient selected from the image (ice, 1 point)
This box (1 point).

Hardcore Constraint:
Smash a bottle over someone’s head! (the vial over Makalay's... sort of; 2 points).

Literary Device:
A play within a play (the rabbits; 5 points).

TOTAL: 14 points please and thank you ⚔️

Well, all that remains is to thank Jonathon Sawyer for the prompts, and to challenge someone else to give it a try. I challenge Jay C Wells, as he seems to have got his writing mojo back on lately.