The rain was now pouring down in thick blankets and blurred my vision. I was now trapped now with my back against the wall of the dead end and I faced my opponents; three boys, all two grades ahead of me in school, all two feet taller than me, all about to beat the hell out of me again.

I backed up as far as I could go. They were huge compared to my small frame and I could barely make out their features through the relentless rain. I tried to be brave by standing up straight and clenching my fists, but I knew that it would do nothing. They approached me and I suddenly found myself praying for my newfound guardian…Pyramid.

My heart beat against my ribcage and my head was pounding. The moment they touched me, I screamed. They beat me with their fists over and over again and I was on my knees in the puddles, wailing out of fear and pain. I felt a fist connect with my face and the next thing I knew was that I was tasting blood in my mouth. I spit it out and it hit the face of one of the boys. Enraged, he picked me up by the back of my shirt and body-slammed my tiny frame into the ground. He stomped on my stomach and kicked me in the ribs. I had no clue how he didn't break a bone, but he continued to ruthlessly attack me. They were yelling things at me with huge smiles on their faces and I was scared. I was just so scared.

All I could think of was, "Pyramid, Pyramid, Pyramid, Pyramid."

With my eyes squeezed shut and my body curled in a defensive position, I heard a loud screeching noise of metal against a solid surface. It sounded so familiar, but I couldn't think of what it might have been. It sounded about three more times before I realized just what it was.

One of the boys screamed and when I looked up, he was suspended a good five feet off of the ground with a large, jagged, rusty blade protruding from his abdomen. Blood spurted out of the fatal wound against the wall and the red substance drained out on the ground, gallons at a time.

The other two bellowed out curses and wheeled around to see what had just happened.

There he stood, the seven-foot-tall figure. Broad shoulders, muscular body, tetrahedron-shaped helmet, and skirt made out of what was probably human skin. He was holding onto his blade, suspending the boy in the air. He jerked it a few times and the boy's body slid down the blade until it reached the handle, then Pyramid flung the blade off to the side. His tremendously strong grip on his blade allowed him to continue having it in his hand while the body flew off and slammed against the wall.

He turned to the other two, towering over all of us, looking like a god in the powerful rain that pelted down on everything. Then I realized that he wasn't just anyone's god. He was my god.

The boys screamed, yelling things like, "What the hell are you?" and "Get away from us!" as well as a wide variety of colorful curses. Pyramid simply put his blade behind himself, purposely allowing it to make a horrific scraping noise that sent chills down all of our spines. With the might of his entire body, he rose the heavy blade and thrust it downward, slicing one of the boys vertically in half. Blood and guts were strewn about the floor. I couldn't believe how clean the cut was.

The alleyway was narrow so when the last assailant standing attempted to run away, my gigantic and frightening friend caught him in the midst of his escape. He lifted him off the floor, ignoring his cries and pleas for mercy. Pyramid dropped his blade and rose his hand, grasping the clothes on the boy's chest. With one swift move, he gracefully ripped the clothes off of his body. Then he grabbed onto the boy's naked skin with a rough grip and he pulled back.

The skin snapped off in one piece, like a blanket or a pelt. Everything inside of him fell to the ground and Pyramid dropped the corpse and the hide.

I stared at him, still kneeling down on the ground. He turned his sharp-edged helmet to me and held out his hand. I found myself gripping it and he pulled me up onto my feet.

I was still trying to register what had just happened. It didn't seem real. Did he really do that? It happened so quickly. I saw it, but…it happened just so fast that maybe I didn't actually see it. Or maybe I did and I refused to think of it. There was so much blood and gore on the ground that I failed to realize that I myself was covered with blood.

Not wishing to think of it any longer, I found myself wrapping my arms around Pyramid's waist. I was so small and he was so large that his waist was the only thing that I could embrace, but he was so warm. I just couldn't let go. He obviously didn't mind that the side of my head was placed on his groin and I was probably accidentally pulling down his skirt. He just let me hug him. It was so nice to hug someone. And he hugged me back. Despite my size, he bent down and wrapped his strong arms around me and held me tightly to his body.

He may not have been speaking, but I knew that he was telling me that everything was going to be okay. He took care of the situation. More importantly, he took care of me.

His promise to protect me…I liked it.