Bloody hell. I will not be outdone by the two of you!
The sky is filled with dark clouds, ever so rumbling with the close sound of thunder. Rain pours down hard on my ragged chestplate, dripping with enough force to pin a small animal to the ground. Lightning strikes a tree in the distance and I see its fiery blaze quickly put down by the relentless strength of the murky rain. I sit atop my prey. Bodies of elves, kobolds, orcs, dwarves and even humans, all quietly and eerily watching with an open mouth and wide eyes. Drinking down the last remainder of what had been a bottle of wine, I jump off that ruined pile of corpses and hop onto the ground with a clank that was deafened by the raging onpour.
In front of me stands my next challenger. Another human. This one heavily armored by the looks of it. Bad choice in this weather, even though I'm not one to speak. He takes a step forward, slowly starting to run and shouts a cry of revenge. One of these dead was probably a relative or a friend of his. I ready my blade, straighten my body and calm my breathing, entering a state of calm and brace for the foe running.
He was but a few meters away from me when lightning struck behind him and a fearsome creature stepped out of the resulting shadow flash. There it stood. A horror mounted with three eyes and wings. Body made of wax glittering as rain graced its so-called skin. The charging warrior started turning around to see what had happened, but he did not expect the next moment. His legs gave in and he immediately fell prey to the shadows, disappearing almost as quickly as the creature revealed itself.
A new foe, a worthy foe, a frightful foe, had shown itself. I grin at the feeling of joy of finding somebody worth my time. I turn my head around cautiously and observe the shadows with my trained eyes, waiting for a time when this beast shows itself. Wait I did, but it did not come again. Disappointed I returned to my pile of bodies, sat atop one and started opening the next bottle of brandy, hoping to drown myself.
A new flash of lightning strikes exactly at the center of the bodies and sends me sprawling on the ground in front of me, bottle broken in my right hand and pieces of glass penetrating my gloves but not yet reaching skin. Quickly I try to get on my feet to react at what had happened but I was too late. Already there was something on my back, giving such hideous sounds that would leave a man bleeding from the ears. Thankfully, I knew its exact position and quickly get a dagger from one of my leather boots and stab my back with all due haste.
The Dagger pierced true. The foul beast had felt that and retreated in the shadows, giving me enough time to get my wits about myself. I take position of defense next to the pile of refuse, wary of the creature not leaping again from it and ready my blade a second time. It was hard to see in the rain and all that alcohol during the past few hours left me feeling dizzy. This was not the right time to fight, but fight and survive I will.
Something moves in the shadows; I turn and watch. I hear something behind me; I turn and observe. I see the creature leaping behind a tree and move in anticipation from an attack from a tree. After all, it was but one tree, even if rather big. I would notice if the horror decided to move again and then it is when I would strike. I move slowly to the tree and then quickly go around it and attack falsely, for what I hit was air which smelt of plants. The surprise on my face was obvious. I had been fooled totally.
It was in that moment that something came behind me and spat a growl. I slowly turned around and fear enveloped me. The monstrosity was airborne! Too close it was for me to dodge and it struck at me with one of the spikes in it's wings. Right in the abdomen it did and ripped the area around there until my armor allowed it no further movement. Then it retreated into the shadows once more and left me bleeding in while I reared up to rest on the trunk of the oaken tree.
Is this truly the end for good 'ol Urist? I suppose it is, haha. It was a good life, filled with many experiences and joy. I look at my left hand for one last time, sword in the other and notice the remains of the bottle. If I wasn't feeling drunk, I'd say that they were bigger than they appeared to be. Maybe they even managed to pierce the skin. The beast shows itself, this time directly in front of me. I could feel its foul breath on my face, stinking as it was. I have neither the strength nor will to fight anymore. I can't even lift my sword, let alone strike the beast. It puts its warped hands on my face and once again looks me with those three eyes of its, curved in a gleeful manner that was only matched by its wicked smile. It finally decides that it spent enough time fooling around with me and decided to start enjoying its meal. Silently it opens its mouth, revealing accursed dagger-like teeth, looks at me with those eyes, smiles and plunges for my throat. I close my eyes and hope that it's a quick and painless death. What I found happened next was not what I expected. After a few moments I opened my eyes and saw the beast's eyes wide and a dagger sticking from it's throat and middle eye.
From the side shows up a six foot tall man with long deep red hair and pushes the body to the side with his legs gracefully, careful not to take any of the wax onto his shoes. He kneels down next to me and checks my wounds.
"Thanks for that. I never would've made it if it wasn't for you. You have my eternal gratitude. Say, what's your name?" I ask him with a ragged breath and sincere gratefulness showing in my words.
The man smiles at me and answers with a controlled and kind voice.
"A name you say? I have many of them. Some call me milord, others the Crimson Deceiver, but you my friend, can call me Aurel."
My eyes go wide at the mention of the second name and I try to force a scream, which is left deafened by the harsh reality of the rain. A dagger splits my throat and eternal darkness embraces me.
Poll
0 (0%)
Author
Topic: The Forgotten Beast Art Contest 2: Stasno Nokastomsu, A Bloated Towering Ape! (Read 283401 times)