The War Against Aberon (Rough Draft #1)

Chapter Seven

    She was done for and she knew it. What stood before Zaffre as it emerged from the trees was a hulking beast that no one had survived an encounter with. They were rare, intelligent, and about the size of the average one-story house. It was growling deeply, the noise rumbling in its chest as a massive paw stepped forward. The midnight scaled paw dug into the dirt with power and a shudder traveled through Zaffre's body as the razor claws on the foot glinted in the moonlight. The maw on the monster was pulled back to reveal a mouthful of fang-like teeth made to rip flesh from bone.

   Dread seeped into her every pore as she backed up from the terrifying Pumeon. The all-black creature was one of myths and legends, but Zaffre knew it on sight. Far too many rumors had spread across the nation marking mysterious deaths as that of a Night Terror. Stories she heard as a child she thought to be fake were part of history. Like that of a soldier camp that was terrorized and left with no survivors after some beast had ripped heads from necks, and limbs from bodies. That story and all others talked of Pumeon's.

   They were truly magnificent creatures and master hunters. Sometimes solitary other times in packs they were feline-like monsters that lived for bloodshed. With lion-like heads, they grew manes of night-colored fur. Their panther bodies were covered in thick dark scales that deflected even the strongest arrows. They stood four-legged with massive paws and talons of steel. Their tails were whips, the tuft of fluff on the end misplaced on a predator of such caliber. Truly they were things of nightmares and one was snarling at Zaffre, drool dripping from its frothing mouth.

   She gasped for breath as her fear ignited a fire in her heart. The warning heat screamed at her very soul to get as far away as possible. Zaffre knew that as far as she ran the beast would catch up and she would not make it through the night. She was facing the physical embodiment of death. She could only wish for luck as she turned on her heels and ran. She ran deep into the woods, no thought in her head other than escape. Her feet dug into the dirt below her as they flung her forward as fast as she could push herself. She knew the beast was prowling quickly behind her, but the behemoth's footsteps were silent.

    Tears grew in her eyes, blurring her vision, she did not have time to wipe them clean. It wasn't five minutes before her breath was starting to get heavy. Her breakneck speed was not something that could be maintained, especially on the hard ground of the forest as stones and sticks stuck out to stab at her soles. She pushed faster when she heard the snap of a branch behind her, the Pumeon on her trail seemed to be steps away from slashing at her back.

    With a cry of pain, she plummeted to the forest floor, a hidden root her downfall. Her tears fell readily now as she sobbed silently trying to pull her body forward as the beast behind her finally let its footsteps fall harder. There were sparks of pain shooting up her arm from a rock that scraped down her arm in her hasty movements to move away on the ground. Her crawling pushed dirt into the wound and slowly increased the sting. "Please," she pleaded into the open air. Unsure of what she was begging for. "Please"

    She repeated her plea over and over in a whisper. The footfalls of the Pumeon seemed world-shattering in her sorrowed state. Zaffre did not want to die like this. She did not want to leave life with so much ahead of her. The universe was not merciful. Seering pain stabbed into her legs as an incredible weight pushed down into her lower limbs. A cry slipped out her lips and her tears fell harder. No's came spilling from her mouth like prayer as the beast flipped her on her back, allowing its claws to retract from her legs and let her blood flow out into the ground below.

    Zaffre's blurry vision looked up at the midnight lion face in front of her. The milkwhite eyes seemed soulless as they drew in her helpless state. There was nothing she could do as the monster sniffed at her sweat-soaked skin and opened its mouth to make a guttural noise of hunger. She breathed heavily as she tried to come to terms with her upcoming death. Memories flashed in her eyes like lightning. Moments from her childhood of running around on the farm, galloping in the fields on Atlas's back, her father reading her to sleep. They all came flooding by as a drip of saliva fell from the Pumeon's jaws onto her cheek to slip down her face and into her braids. The warm liquid brought her to reality as she faced the beast whose head was just above her own.

    "I'm sorry." The words escaped unconsciously as Zaffre closed her eyes. There was nothing left for her to do. The peril was imminent and the most possible was just to accept her fate. Yet, something changed.

    Suddenly there was warm fur touching her forehead and as soon as the contact was made a burning white light broke out. The shine was blinding and Zaffre tried to squint her eyes to get rid of it, but the second she did she realized the light was in her head. Its brightness was the forefront of her being within her mind, cutting everything else out. She was deafly aware of some noise going on outside of her head. Out in the forest beyond. A rumbling like a purr, but it was insignificant to the warm light blinding her thought process. There was a tingle starting from her temples and traveling down her body until it reacher her toes. It seemed to come in waves.

    This went on for what felt like hours and nothing existed for Zaffre inside this light-filled bubble. As time she was unaware of continued to pass, she realized the pain from her legs and arm were beginning to fade. With each pass of the tingling sensation the sting slowed and drifted away. She began to think that this was death, that this was her passing into the realm of spirits. If this was it she thought that it wasn't a bad way to go. A peace settled into her bones, relaxation flooding her senses. Maybe this wasn't so bad.

    The light flared once then quickly flickered before shutting out. Zaffre had grown used to its presence and the sudden disappearance was a shock to her system. She gasped as her eyes opened almost as if from a long sleep. Her pupils shrunk quickly at the amount of sun digging into her eyes. This caused her eyebrows to raise as surprise took hold. From the way she was being deprived of vision, the sun had to be in the place to make it midday. Was she dead?

    She did not feel the pain from her wounds which made her sit up quickly. At which point a pounding headache made her groan as she held her face. When the throbbing became bearable she looked down to find blood all over her pants. The brown cloth was dark from the sticky substance. Assuming the worst she turned her painless legs over to see the holes in the fabric from wear the Pumeon's claws had dug in, but there were no wounds. No scrapes, no gashes, nothing. Zaffre pulled her pants this way and that to expose the skin below and nothing, just the violet of her scale. "What in the f-"

    A slimy purple tongue wiped itself across the side of Zaffre's face cutting off the curse about to leave her lips. Freezing, she turned her head to come face to face with the Pumeon. Tongue lolled out in some sort of smile it held an expression of amusement. The beast's tail thumped the ground in a show of excitement, as it laid calmly on the ground beside Zaffre's prone form. The shock of all that happened in the past few hours combined with the headache, missing wounds, and the sight of the relaxed predator was all too much. Zaffre fainted on the spot. 

Word Count-1410