[ WP ] You are a lowly minion in a computer game . The hero has just completed a speed run , and you have to report to your boss and explain why you were spared , while so many of your comrades were slain .

It wasn ’ t the death or the blood that broke my will. No, as a servant of the Dark Lord you understand that you ’ ll be seeing the kind of thing that would turn a weaker man ’ s stomach and you are prepared. It was simply the speed that it all happened and the awful, *awful* way he moved. 
 
 Back in the early days of our dark dominion it was young adventurers who came through the black woods. Often they would be caught by a simple fire spell or one of the many skeleton minions who roamed the lands and die horribly at their hands, but over time they grew fiercer, they learned our traps and got closer to my lord and master. It was only a matter of time until he was finally caught and though the battle was fierce, he was killed. 
 
 We did not grow disheartened though, oh no, for we have a sacred mission, to raise the spirits of the damned from the pit of despair and we *will* succeed. His second in command took up the mask and took his master ’ s place and for a time, all was well again, we fought them back and it seemed as if we had succeeded. 
 
 We were wrong. They came back, now so much stronger, wiser and more powerful, levelled up to an incredible degree with armour that shone in the moonlight, slick with blood and viscera as they laughed through our traps. Skeletal warriors were brushed aside in a single blow and time and time again the great gates were blown wide open. 
 
 Leader after leader fell, each time a new devotee rising up to take the Master ’ s place, but each time being struck down again. It seemed hopeless until… they stopped coming. We heard on the wind that the heroes had found a new adventure to take and we were seen as old and slow and no use anymore. The insult stung, but we were happy to be left alone and made preparations to complete the ritual - at last we would be successful. 
 
 Then one returned. He was not wearing armour as the others had, but ran at a huge pace through each trap, dancing through at incredible speed. We had no defence against his speed and he exploited every gap to get through faster, to beat the master and to steal one of the many Crystals of Power at the heart of the castle, before leaving, his mission satisfied. 
 
 Now at least in his speed we could occasionally kill him with a lucky shot, but he was not finished, oh no, he had worse planned. It was I who was on guard duty that day and saw him first. Coming out of the east, his movement erratic and terrifying. It was not until he was close that we could even see that he was hopping… backwards. 
 
 He made no attempt to fight, except where he had no other choice, but mostly he skipped past the guards and simply slew our Lord with no mercy, each time a fraction quicker. Now we hardly ever hit him and when we did it made no effect, but only made him faster at times. We were defeated, but with no way to surrender. 
 
 Our evil plans were abandoned and many wanted to leave, but we held out place, our numbers dwindling as we died. One by one we took the throne until at last, it was my turn and now I sit and I wait. It has been a whole day since he came, but he will return and then I shall summon the powers of the ancients, as my brothers have before me and try to defeat him. 
 
 The call has risen on the battlements, he has been spotted and will be here soon. It takes him less than a minute to cross the Marsh of Despair now and the walls are no impediment at all. I hear him coming, an awful shuffling crunch as he leaps backwards, both legs splayed forward before propelling himself at great speed on another hop. 
 
 It is time, I strand from the throne and feel no fear, waiting for the door to open. I have lived my life waiting for this moment and I shall have my time protecting one of the Crystals. He shall not have it while I live, although that seems like an unlikely ending to this. 
 
 I do not hear him at the door, instead he falls on me from above, he has learned a new way in here and I spin to strike at him… but it is too late. I see him seize the Crystal and suddenly he is gone and I… I am still alive. He has found a way to humiliate us without even killing me, this is the final indignity. 
 
 It is all I can do to gesture for another crystal to be brought up before I slump I the seat. Today I thought I would die, but I still live. He will not let me die, he will not release me. 

