Eternal Beasts

Bond

Frowning, the short, young man pushed the book he had been studying back into the space it had come from in the eighth book rack and turned to step around the corner, his backpack over his shoulder and his mind on the physics test he had that afternoon. And in doing so, missed an opportunity to witness an event very few, if any, on this world had seen before.

Like a rock pushing itself out of the water, the gleaming brass door knob pushed its way out of the solid concrete wall beside the bookshelf, sending ripples in every direction like those made by a stone cast into water, the ripples traveling across the suddenly unsolid material. Then, as soon as the knob was clear of the surface, it began to turn. And as it turned, a door of large proportions faded into sight behind it until the knob finished twisting open and the door swung out. With a blur of motion, Jared dropped out to sprawl unevenly onto the floor where he lay for a brief moment. A moment in which the door quietly closed behind him and faded out of sight.

A few seconds passed before the entity managed to regain enough control over Jared's body that he could pull him to his feet and carefully regain his balance. That done, it then oriented jared towards the corridor and staircase that, according to Jared's memories, would take them to the door leading outside. With a hand on Jared's satchel, the entity then started Jared off at an awkward run, weaving as best he could through the bookshelves.

Despite its best intentions, however, the entity had little real experience in guiding a living body through motion. And so managed to slam Jared's body against several shelves before he was finally clear and into the corridor leading to the stairs. Now, if he could only get him to walk normally back to his dorm room across the quad, they'd be set.

Unfortunately that corridor leading to the stairs wasn't empty. Head down, the entity ran Jared headlong into a member of the university's football team, the muscular student athlete running in the opposite direction to get to a late biology class. While used to colliding with young men with similar builds to himself all the time, the football player was nevertheless knocked almost casually aside when Jared knocked into him.

"Hey!" the young man snarled angrily, reaching out to snag Jared by the arm. "What the fuck, dickhead? Watch where you're fuckin' going!" And his anger only grew as the entity tried to tug Jared's arm out of his tight hold.

"Can't even apologize, asshole?" the muscular young man growled, balling up a fist and meaning to plant it into the middle of Jared's face.

Sensing impending harm, the entity triggered Jared's defensive reflexes. With a blur of inhuman speed, the tall young man slapped away the hand that held him with enough force, the the other fellow was forced to release it with a startled "Hey!" Then, open-handed, he slammed the player in the chest with his palm, the impact picking him up and throwing him against the wall a couple strides away.

The player blinked in shock as his mouth worked without a sound, the impact with the wall sending trauma shuddered through his muscular body. It felt like he had just been hit by a battering ram. Lungs empty, he gasped weakly as he slowly slid to the floor, staring at Jared as the taller man pulled up his hood over his head, the player's chest throbbing in pain. Ignoring him and his gasping breaths, Jared resumed his wobbly path down the hallway, the other human already forgotten in the entity's mind in the face of its desperate mission.

The book managed to get Jared to stagger up the stairs and outside. There, after slowly turning in a circle to orient himself, he stumbled onto the quad, heading north.

By the time it pulled aside the police crime scene tape that covered Jared's broken door, got Jared inside and repaired the door with a surge of magic, the entity could feel the energies it had used to animate the big man failing. Spotting the bed, it let Jared's body tumble forward onto it. Then, with a final scan to make sure nothing was broken, it released control over Jared. 'Hopefully it'll be enough,' the ancient entity thought as it used its remote POV to watch Jared slump deeper into unconsciousness, his mind cowering behind its shield.