A terrible stench fills the room, and charred corpses are everywhere. You realize that the fire you set caught the tapestries and cause them to fall from the ceiling, setting the whole room ablaze. Tiny charred corpses litter the floors, many huddled in corners trying to escape the flames. Towards the back of the room, the large creature lays under a heavy covering of soot, puffs of fire still glowing along parts of its hunched body. the large dome egg towards the back of the room, however, seems nearly untouched by the flames.
Your men move forward slowly, cautiously, towards the strange wall of brown splotches and black ichor, and as you grow close you can see that the brown leathery patches are actually covered in very small, dull looking scales.
As you grow close, you feel the air move as something stirs.
With a roar, the large burnt creature you had taken for dead rises to its feet, revealing four or five of the smaller creatures it had hidden, shielded from the flames, beneath its body. Your men turn as it rushes you, its six legs pumping furiously, full of ferocity and anger, and your spear sings, but the creature is fast. Before you can reach it, it has batted one of your men against the far wall with a swing of its arms, and its serpentine head jabbing forward to sink a mouth full of teeth into another. A third man is brought down by the concerted efforts of the remaining smaller creatures, though he spears one before falling. The final warrior leaps to his aid, stabbing into the writhing mass before it turns on him. As one leaps for his throat after getting past his spear point, your own weapon finds its mark. Falling back, he whispers a prayer to the spirits, and you stab the last of the smaller creatures before you hear him scream. Snapping your eyes upwards, you see a claw darting towards you, and you barely throw yourself out of the way in time to avoid it. The other man was not as lucky, and he's sill screaming, clutching at his stomach as he falls to the ground.
The creature advances on you steadily now, but seems to be cautious around you. It seems almost wary of your spear, and almost jumps backwards whenever you make to strike at it. Seeing an opportunity, you rush forward, the creature turns as if to run. You let a cry of victory as you raise your spear high and prepare to strike at its heart... before its tail hits you hard in the ribs, sending you sprawling across the floor, your spear skittering away across the stones. Not stopping to catch your breath, you roll with the blow as you hit the ground, barely evading a quick succession of claw swipes. And then you hear a whoop from across the room - the warrior who had been knocked away earlier had struggled to his feet, and that whoop was his momentary sound of victory as the spear he threw struck home, lodging itself under the creatures shoulders. The monster turned sharply to address this new threat, the warrior already running as best he could for the safety of the stairs.
Seizing your chance, you pushed forward, racing across the floor to scoop up your own spear once more. The creature swiped at the man as he went up the stairs, catching a leg and sending him sprawling, but then your own spear was traveling through the air, taking full advantage of the distraction.
As it traveled, it seemed to cackle with energy, almost glowing, and then it struck true, hitting flat against the side of the creature, avoiding the ribs and finding purchase in what you imagined to be some crucial, if alien, organ. The creature writhed and failed, clawing at the spear that had lodged itself in its body, struggling in fear, until it struggled no more. Breathing heavily, you noticed the warrior still crawling up the stairs, and you rushed to him.
"Tarric!" you yelled, and he looked up to you and stopped crawling. Then you were next to him, supporting him as he rolled onto his back, looking into his face, taking in the torn face, the blood running down his chin, and then looking into his eyes. "We did it Tarric. We killed it." you said to him, and he nodded. He reached up an arm, feebly, and clasped a hand around your shoulder. He went to say something, but only blood came out, and then he was gone. You set him down gently, stood, stepped back. It was only you, now... only you, and the job was not yet done.
And only now did you realize that you had not escaped unscathed. The swipes you had thought you'd managed to dodge completely had, in fact, nicked you, and as the adrenaline went from your body it was replaced with pain. You didn't look down, though you could feel the blood drip. You had to finish this.
Walking up the creatures corpse, you wrenched your spear free and dragged yourself to the opposite end of the room. As your body shuddered from the effort, begging you to let it fail, you raised the spear above your head. And as your knees gave out, you thrust it forward, piercing the the leathery scales of the pulsing mass, and its heart beat faltered. You smiled, and all around you, you saw the thing breaking up, bursts of red light breaking free from it, long tendrils of light... and with a sinking horror, your grin of triumph fell away. The tendrils of light were followed by true tendrils, of red and raw flash, and as they wrapped around, and the light filled your eyes and the whispers filled your mind, you realized what you had done.
This had been no egg, no nurturing cocoon, and no ritual had been cast to bring this demon forth into the world. He had always been here, and this had merely been his prison.
"And you, great descendent of Miksocotle, slayer of Gucametz, you have set me free."
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Topic: Sanity's Elegy (Read 3757 times)