Beast

The merchant dropped his pack and bolted, his boots slipping and sinking in the deepening snow. His breath came in ragged gasps, plumeing in the cold air as he staggered forward, half-stumbling, half-running. I watched him go, my heart hammering against my ribs. My fingers clutched the rifle, but I hesitated.

Chase after him? Or stand my ground and face whatever was coming?

Before I could move, before I could even think, the forest ahead exploded.

A massive shape erupted from the trees, moving with impossible speed. My breath caught in my throat. The thing was a grotesque amalgamation of muscle and sinew, its body covered in patchwork fur and scar tissue, stitched together like some godless experiment. It had too many limbs, too many eyes, each gleaming with something raw and malevolent.

"By the Empress' Fury…" I whispered. My hands trembled around my rifle.

The beast was coming.

A voice barked behind me. "Lanni! Get ready!"

Kvatz. His voice barely registered. My focus locked onto the nightmare hurtling towards us. Snow whipped in its wake, a supernatural wind following in its charge. It felt like the world itself recoiled from its presence.

I forced my arms steady and raised my rifle. "Kvatz!"

The trigger pulled, and the rifle kicked against my shoulder, the crack of gunfire shattering the night. Muzzle flashes lit the creature's grotesque form in flickering glimpses. The bullets struck, sending splinters of frozen flesh flying, but it wasn't enough.

It wasn't stopping.

"Keep it together!" Kvatz yelled, firing beside me.

The beast lunged.

The last thing I saw before impact was the gaping maw lined with jagged teeth. Then, the world flipped.

It hit me like a runaway wagon. My body left the ground, thrown back like a ragdoll. The rifle wrenched from my grip, vanishing into the snow. My lungs emptied in a choked gasp as I slammed down, pain bursting through my back.

The sky spun. Stars blurred. The world dimmed.

Somewhere, distant but clear, Kvatz shouted my name. Gunfire rang out in erratic bursts. I forced my body to move, but the snow held me like a frozen grave. My breath came in short, sharp gasps, each one burning against my ribs.

Above me, the beast loomed. Its too-many eyes bore down on me, gleaming like shards of dark glass. The cold around me thickened, not just from the snow, but from something deeper. Something unnatural. It rumbled, a sound felt more in my bones than heard. The weight of its presence crushed down on me.

I wanted to run. I wanted to scream. But I couldn't move.

"Lanni! Get up!"

Kvatz's voice barely pierced the haze. I turned my head just in time to see him fire again, his pistol bucking wildly in his grip. The bullets sparked uselessly against the beast's hide.

Then, something shifted.

The monster hesitated.

It had me at its mercy, yet it wasn't striking. Its gaze lingered, its too-many eyes narrowing. A sickening realization crawled into my mind. It wasn't looking at me as prey—it was considering me. Studying me.

Then, it turned.

The beast lunged at Kvatz. He barely had time to move. He dove to the side, his breath hitching in a ragged curse as the thing crashed into the snow where he had stood. He landed hard, his pistol slipping from his grasp.

"What the fuck is that thing?!"

Kvatz scrambled backward, his hands clawing at the snow for purchase. The beast twisted its grotesque limbs, turning on him with terrifying precision. Its body moved in ways that made no sense—like it had too many joints, too many pieces forced together in unnatural ways.

And then, it grabbed him.

One massive, clawed hand wrapped around his head, lifting him effortlessly off the ground. Kvatz kicked wildly, his legs flailing as his hands clawed at the thick, scarred flesh around its grip.

"Lanni—!"

I reached for my rifle. My fingers met cold metal. I gripped it, shaking.

The beast's jaws parted. Its teeth gleamed in the moonlight, dripping with saliva.

Kvatz thrashed, his screams sharp with panic. But he was powerless. We both were.

The jaws clamped shut.

The sound—Gods, the sound. A wet, crunching snap. Flesh and bone torn in a heartbeat.

Blood sprayed across the snow. A dark, crimson arc painted the white expanse. Kvatz's body convulsed once—twice—and then it fell limp. His decapitated corpse slumped to the ground, steam rising from the gaping wound where his head had been.

His head was still clenched between the beast's fangs.

A low, strangled sound escaped my throat. I pressed my hand to my mouth, bile rising.

I had seen death before. I had seen men torn apart by gunfire, burned to ash in Magiastorms, cut down in battle. But this—this was something else. Something raw.

I had known Kvatz.

He had joked with me over stale rations. Shared cigarettes on long, frozen marches. He had been real. And now, he was nothing more than a husk bleeding into the snow.

The beast turned toward me.

I gripped my rifle. I had no plan. No hope. But I wasn't going to die cowering in the snow.

I raised the barrel—

The monster stared.

It didn't move.

It only looked at me, its gaze lingering for what felt like an eternity. Something unreadable lurked in those too-many eyes. I braced myself, waiting for the end.

But it never came.

The beast let out a low, guttural growl. Then, without another glance, it turned. Its massive form lumbered back into the trees, vanishing into the darkness like a nightmare fading at dawn.

Silence swallowed the world.

I stayed there, frozen in the bloodstained snow. My breath came in ragged gasps, misting in the cold air. The wind howled, carrying the scent of copper and death.

Kvatz's body lay beside me.

The merchant was gone.

The beast had left.

And I was alone.

Alone with the weight of what had just happened. Alone with the knowledge that I had survived where Kvatz hadn't. Alone with the horrible, lingering feeling that the beast had spared me for a reason.

But why?