Hello there! This is my first story, so all critique is welcome. Anything, from plot holes to logic. With no further ado, please enjoy.

Introduction: The Escape

On a ship in the cold void of space, two boys were running for their lives.

One held a strange weapon in his hand, the other clutching a ratty black bag. Monsters of varied and horrendous forms were in pursuit, clamouring over who would capture the escapees. On an ordinary day for the boys, the monsters would've been dead within a second of initiating chase. However, after several months of captivity, their strength was almost gone. This was their last chance at freedom. Another week of the prison life and they'd be dead.

"Come on! Behind here!" Shouted the boy with the weapon. He grabbed his partner's hand and jumped behind a large door, sealing it shut with a magic spell.

"And what exactly is a door gonna do for us now?" The other boy replied, earning a rather angry glance from his companion, "Wait... What?"

The duo was standing in a large hanger bay, but all the smaller ships had been reduced to slightly burned scrap metal. The airlock had been blown off, and they suddenly found themselves thinking that they were very lucky that they didn't need oxygen to live.

"Well done, well done. I didn't expect you two to be the last ones. Not after all the others..." Up on a large platform close to the ceiling, stood a man in a long, white cloak.

"Angel," said the boy with the weapon angrily.

"Hello, Illusion Prince. Dream Thief," Angel replied, jumping down from the platform.

"What did you do to the others, you backstabbing traitor?" Asked the boy with the bag.

"That is simple. I had to dispose of them. Much like I will dispose of you now." Angel said happily.

The duo tensed. They already knew that Angel had been getting rid of their kind, but if they were the last ones left... Was there really any hope for them?

"Oh, don't worry: I won't kill you. You're much too valuable for that," he said, "But... You'll probably end up killed by something else."

Before either could make a sarcastic reply, the ground began to shake violently. So violently, in fact, that the partners were thrown near the gaping hole into outer space. A noise that sounded somewhere halfway between a scream and a growl drifted out from the void, and the boys slowly turned their heads to see an even more horrific sight than the monsters that lurked the halls.

It slightly resembled a squid, with large, rotting patches of blue skin. Sewn into the creature's body were the corpses of countless dead humans, mouths still open, screaming for their dying breaths. It's hundreds of teeth were poking out at seemingly random angles, and were made of the bones of the innocents the beast had killed.

"You'll probably end up getting killed by that."

The boy with the bag stepped back in horror. He had only ever seen one thing viler than this, and he never wanted to think of it again. The boy with the weapon, however, turned to face Angel.

"What the hell is this? Your newest experiment?" he yelled.

"Yes, isn't she a beauty? This is the Cracker," Angel said affectionately, "and it looks like she's hungry."

The creature screamed. The boys ran.

Its tentacles shot into the bay, pursuing their targets. Both put their last remaining stores of energy into sprinting as far away from the gap as possible. They made it to the far end, then ducked behind a metal outcropping. Panting heavily, they seemed to be unscathed.

Until the boy with the weapon looked down and saw a tentacle wrapped around his ankle.

He screamed, and the other boy grabbed his hand just as the creature began to pull back. The Cracker thrashed around, and the floor began to fall apart. Soon, they were dangling over the edge.

"HOLD ON!" screamed the boy, throwing down his bag in an attempt to grasp on to his friend's hands.

"WHAT ELSE DO YOU THINK I'M DOING?" he shouted back.

"Gino... Gino! Whatever you do, don't let go! Please..." the boy sobbed.

Gino smiled weakly, "Don't worry. I promised that I'd stay by your side forever, remember?"

"Oh, what a cute little sob story," said Angel, walking up to them, "Sorry, but I'm going to have to end this charade."

He kicked their hands. Hard. Their fingers slipped.

"NO!" the boy screamed, reaching out for his friend, watching in horror as the beast swallowed him whole.

"And so ends our sorry little story," said Angel wistfully, "such a sad ending, isn't it, Dream Thief?"

The boy whipped around, "You... You..."

"I what?" Angel picked up the boy by his throat, "What can you do that is so threatening to me?"

The boy let out several choked breaths.

Angel threw him to the floor.

"Game over."