The Watch – Part 174:

‘When the holographic enemy appears, you task is to reach the switch to turn it off. The switch is located in a random place each time. If you are hit, you will lose one chance. You know the rest,’ he said as the door had finished sliding open.

Find and reach the switch to turn the enemy off. Sounds easy enough, but how easy it actually is all depends on what enemy I will be facing. The large room in front of me was near identical to the one before that held the city, right down to the door at the other end. A low humming sound came from every direction as the walls started to light up with an array of multicolours all flashing at once as the hologram machine switched on to project the first enemy.

I’m so glad that none of these are real. As much as there is still a high amount of danger from them, it’s a different kind of danger compared to if they were actually real. All I have to do is avoid getting hit, not getting killed, and whilst both do involve not getting hit, there is a massive difference, and it’s because of that difference that I can relax a little. Only a little though. I don’t want to start thinking that because this is just a hologram that this is going to be a piece of cake. I have no idea what the machine is going to throw at me. It could be anything.

The multi-coloured lights all around the walls finished pulsating and settled on a steady blue colour. Is that a sign to what’s to come?

I could see some activity in the middle of the room. Subtle at first, but it started to grow bigger and denser, more fiercer and threatening. A dark shade of red brought some personality to the spawning creature. It grew larger and larger, yet still I have no idea what it is yet. Whatever it is, it will be massive. From the looks of it, a tail appeared, wrapping itself around the body that has yet to finish fading it. I now know what I will be facing. With realistic-looking, tough, shiny scales, this dragon heaved its newly generated head high into the air, bellowing out an almighty raw that shook every bone in my body and forced me to cover my ears from fear of losing a good percentage of my hearing an indefinite amount of time. It would be very hard to focus if I had a loud ringing in my ear. The body may not be real, but the sound it creates certainly is. The claws were last to be generated. Thick, powerful claws that would cut through steal as if it was hot butter.

A gigantic red dragon stared down at me. I’ve never been more thankful in all my life that this is just a hologram. But, nevertheless, it is still dangerous. I must not get caught by it otherwise it will be game over. How do I get passed a massive dragon that easily takes up three quarters of the entire room without getting hit? No, before I focus on getting passed it, I have to find where the switch is so that I can head straight for that. If I know where the switch is, I will then be able to figure out a suitable path towards it.

Before I knew it, the dragon had finished spawning in and made its move towards me. I was so wrapped up in finding that switch that I didn’t notice it swinging its claw towards me. I only noticed in the last few seconds.

‘Woah,’ I yelled aloud as I ducked, hitting the ground as fast as I could. The claw swung over my head, just missing my hair.

‘OK, pay attention,’ I said. ‘I can do this. Where is the switch?’ It attacked once more. I rolled to the left as the same claw collided with the ground, throwing sparks into the air. The sound of them scraping along the ground as the dragon readied itself for another go was deafening. This might be a hologram, but by heck this cannot be any more realistic. Again, if I weren’t in the situation that I’m in, this would be a great way to make money. Why am I thinking about making money when I should be thinking about getting passed this beast?

I rolled onto my back as the dragon raised its claw once more. I scrambled to my feet as fast as I could, just missing it for the third time. It roared in frustration at not being able to catch its prey. If I don’t act fast, I’m only going to make this dragon angrier. I studied every angle that I could before registering that the only possible route that I could take to get passed this dragon is to my left. But if I do make any amount of movement in that direction, the dragon will be there before me. Its huge body doesn’t mean it’s slow.

What am I doing? I can’t just stand here aimlessly. I have to make a move. But where is the switch? Don’t panic. It’s just a hologram. Nothing to worry about. Pull myself together. I can do this. It’s just a simple game of duck and run. Nothing to it.

It roared once more, blasting my eardrums with an incredible, high pitched squeal. Once again, my hands were forced to my ears. When I was able to refocus once more, I saw that the dragon had its head raised. What’s it planning on doing? The moment I asked that question, I got the answer. What’s the one thing dragons are known for above all else?

A powerful stream of fire burst out from its mouth, tumbling forward at an incredible speed, spreading out as far as it could reach and I was standing right in its path.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)