Blood and Bone

From his vantage point, Mathew saw a striking woman. Her ivory skin was draped in a torn white silk dress dyed red with blood. He could see her lips moving, but was too far to make out what it was she was saying.

A sudden crash drew his attention.

He turned and stared in awe. The man clad in the silver and black accented armor fought with almost inhuman speed and power. Moving like a blur, he delivered precise strikes against the Draugr. The beast though, was not still. It raged and retaliated with a bestial ferocity. Moving faster than what should have been possible for a beast of its size.

The man dodged expertly. Avoiding every one of its advances. Each clash between his blade and the beast's scales sent sparks flying. it was as if they were made from metal. But that didn't stop the swordsman. He continued to rain down strikes upon its body without receiving any of his own. It was almost as if the man could read the beast's mind.

"Amazing!' Mathew thought. The movements of the man seemed akin to the beautiful performance of a dancer. 

Block, parry, dodge, counter and repeat. Even Mathew who lacked experience could tell with a glance. The state of this battle was on a knife edge. From this point, anything could happen. And as fate would have it, something did.

The beast raised the slithering tentacles protruding from its back. Opened the mandibles at their ends, revealing a grotesque mouth at their centers. For a moment they convulsed, and from it, a flurry of jagged bone spears shot forward.

The man dashed to the side. Moving faster than Mathew's eyes could perceive. Parrying and blocking every shard of bone that came flying at him-well, almost every one.

In the ensuing bombardment, a few slipped past his defenses and pierced through his armor. The thin shafts pierced his shoulder, his legs, and his abdomen. but they just kept coming. One after the other, they flew past his defenses. 

If before, the battle looked like a beautiful dance. Now all Mathew saw was a struggle for survival. A reminder of the life and death struggle unfolding before Mathew. This was not his fight, yet he couldn't help but feel the pressure. Taking a deep breath he turned away from the battle.

'This is madness! Absolute madness!'

He sat for a few moments contemplating his next course of action. Finally concluding, he began moving cautiously but quickly down the passageway. The stench of blood filled the air once more, making him gag. But he forced himself to keep going. Just as he thought he'd avoided the danger, fate intervened.

Suddenly, he heard a low rumble. Like a distant thunderclap rolling through the earth. The sound grew louder, accompanied by a slight tremble at his feet. Before he could process what was happening, the wall in front of him shuddered violently. And with a deafening crash, the wall burst apart. Sending a cloud of debris flying.

A figure shot through the opening, slamming into the opposite wall with a bone-jarring thud. In that same instant, the silhouette of the armored man followed, the dark steel of his blade glinting ominously through the now dust-filled passageway.

Caught between the instinct to flee and the shocking spectacle, Mathew froze.

'Shit!'

For a brief moment, the ground shifted as though threatening to give way. But he remained unnerved. Mathew's attention was suddenly dragged away though. He felt a strangely cool breeze brush past him. Looking down, he noticed a few loose cobblestones that wiggled precariously, with some having slipped through, exposing a hollow gap.

As he peered into the abyss the dust began to settle. When it did, the beauty in tattered clothing stormed through the gaping hole. With an air of pride, she brushed a lock of her jet-black hair from her face. Her expression was a mix of annoyance and disdain.

"Ugh, What are you doing you useless guard!" she groaned.

In her haste, she didn't notice Mathew standing only a few feet away and just walked by. Desperate not to draw any attention to himself, Mathew looked to seize the opportunity and began edging away. Retracing his steps one after another. But unfortunately, fate wasn't going to let it be that easy.

His trailing foot struck a rock, sending it skittering noisily across the floor. The sound of the debris echoed in the hallway, drawing the woman's attention. Mathew's eyes widened. His expression became a strange mix of frustration and embarrassment.

Tuning to face him, the beautiful woman's eyes opened wide and she raised a curious brow, then asked.

"How are you still, alive?"

Mathew stared back at the woman, bewildered. 

'How am I alive she asks. Is this woman crazy? Do I not have the right to live or something?'

Feeling no obligation to muster a proper response in this absurd situation, and barely resisting the urge to roll his eyes, he offered a crooked smile, and just stood there.

The woman frowned. But before she could utter a word the cloud of dust fully settled. At first, they could only make out the faint outline of the armored man standing tall and imposing above the still beast. But something felt off. The way the man held his sword, the tension in his posture Mathew had seen before—it wasn't right. Hinting at a deeper unease that sent a chill down Mathew's spine.

The last traces of dust finally drifted away, revealing the true, grim state of the man. He stood atop the beast, his pristine silver and black-accented armor stained red with blood. But it was not that of the beast. It was his.

His chest had been pierced clean through by the Draugr's mandibles. The ground rumbled as the beast stirred. Its massive frame shifted with an earth-shaking groan.

Pushing itself upright, its blood-stained black scales glinted in the dim light. With an almost casual motion, it lifted the man into the air. With the man held tight by one mandible, in the next moment, the second shot forward, opened wide, and snapped shut, severing the man's head. But it didn't stop there.

Driven by a bestial hunger, it began gnawing at his remains. Its mandibles, claws, and teeth tore through flesh and shattered bone with grotesque ease. Blood sprayed in a dark arc, splattering the ground and Mathew's feet. The familiar metallic scent mingled with the stench of death that now filled the air.

Horrified by the sight Mathew's stomach churned. Watching in horror, the woman staggered back, her breath quickening as she struggled to process the gruesome scene. A visceral reminder of the fragility of life. Its movements stilled briefly, then its tentacles quivered and Its head tilted slightly as it savored the taste of its kill.

Mathew held his breath as Its gaze swept the chamber. Hoping desperately to remain unseen by the nightmarish beast. The creature's eyes glinted with a malevolent intelligence, filled with curiosity. And for a moment, it froze.

Looking to the side, it seemed to sense something. Following the path of its gaze, Mathew came to understand what it was it sensed. It was fear. The fear radiated from the woman who stood trembling by his side.

The beast turned sharply toward the woman who was frozen in shock. With her eyes wide and unblinking. It took a step toward her, its claws scraping against the stone floor. Somehow as he had hoped, the creature hadn't seemed to notice him. Not yet at least. But that advantage would be useless to him unless he could figure out what to do in the brief few moments he now had.