GOBLIN WITH A GUN

Akayima Leviathan

The dead man had been walking from the east, the only town anywhere near walking distance in that direction was Steinway. It was a company town deep in the forest which made chocolate bars, although legally they couldn't call it chocolate they could at least stay away from the prying eyes of worker's unions and tax auditors. It didn't take long to find out what the problem was, a slender reptile coiled around thin air with wings wider than an entire wyvern. The creature was long enough to coil a mammoth five times over as a conservative estimate from seeing bits of it peeking out of the ruins of Steinway. Mason dashed through the foliage which was largely rotting stumps this close to town, but some brambles had survived and slowed him down as he tore through thorns and stinging nettles. Fianna hopped from stumps to stump at a slower pace, avoiding the floor of viscous flora. Any excitement Mason could have felt was dulled by the desolation. Steinway was built quickly and cheaply, so every building aside from the factories further up the hill were wooden, sheds stacked atop each other on scaffolding terraces. The winged monster slipped through the alleys, tearing apart anything it brushed with sheer mass, at this closer range Mason could see the beast in greater detail. It had stubby fore limbs with three bony talon which helped drag itself through the shanties of Steinway, its head was flat and wide dark teal scales. A flap like that of a cobra going down into its long featureless body. He had never even heard of such a thing let alone born witness to it. A piercing scream tore Mason back to reality and despite such disgust contorting his face into a grimace, he had to ask.

"what the hell is that?"

"Lindwyrm-" Fianna did not get to the important part before Mason chased down another scream, leaving Fianna with the lindwyrm. The creature eyed him before diverting course and sliding down the gutter of a horse track toward Fianna, lindwyrm are one of the few living creatures which never sleep as they must be constantly hunting to keep up with their high metabolic rate. if it has caloric value a lindwyrm will eat it and goblins are actually quite calorically dense. Fianna slid under the lindwyrm's mouth, rolling out from under it before the mass can crush him went in scrapes against the earth. Fianna puts his entire body behind a thrust of his javelin, the effort leaking out his teeth as a grunt, but the weapon splinters on its scales. Lindwyrms were not something he had read about, he had only identified it because nothing else even looks like it. The lindwyrm carried on, not wasting time turning to Fianna when plenty more food is squealing in the cramped homes along the mountain side. They think their homes will protect them, but the lindwyrm can smell the piss in their pants and adrenaline on their breaths. Anyone still drawing breath can give thanks to the god of luck and nothing else.

Mason tore through rubble on foot, slipping over and under fallen struts and beams. A chemical smell burns his nose when he takes too deep a breath. Mason tracks down the origin of the squealing to a child, maybe eight years old, but malnutrition has clearly stunted some growth. The youth was lying on the ground with a leg snapped along the shin and trapped by the façade of a home pinned down by piles of shattered slates.

"hey! Talk to me!" Mason practically begged the kid, they screamed in response, an animalistic noise with no intent behind it, aside from reliving some pain through the outburst. At least they were alive, there was enough blood seeping out from beneath for him to doubt it as a universal condition. Mason stuck his blade under the façade, once it was solidly lodge he put his entire body into lifting it just high enough to yank the babbling youth out from under it. They both collapsed breathlessly on the trash heap covering the alleyway path. Mason had no opportunity to check on the survivor before his attention was taken by a sudden rattling of the floor beath him, as the lindwyrm tore through the housing like it was only partially more solid then air. Lindwyrms don't hiss, roar, bark or make any intentional vocalisations, the only noise they really make is the smashing of bony claws against whatever was unfortunately in its way. Mason on the other hand did roar, somehow furious at the colossal beast for doing the thing it evolved to do. "I'll be the last thing you ever fear! Now let your blood water the soil!" Mason held his blade by is side with his lead foot perched on dusty planks of pine strewn about and shattered by the ongoing disaster. The lindwyrm was upon him between blinks, thing so large moving so fast made his heart skip a beat, before the same organ burst into adrenaline-fuelled fervour. Mason skipped off the rubble to another taller pile of debris as the lindwyrm turned its head into a wide salivating maw. which gave him enough height to soar through the lindwyrm's gaping jaws, the only downside being acrid saliva staining his clothes as he bound across the scaley hide. Mason felt like a rock skipping across the jagged surface of the lindwyrm's skin, he spun with the aim of burying his sword down to the hilt, but it glanced off the beast with Mason spinning away so fast he could not even make out the slight scuff he had made. Mason caught the base of it's wing with his hand, he could already feel the grip slipping so he slammed the sword into the joint between a few scale. The blade burst through just before Mason's grip slipped off the wing, it had started flapping and took the lindwyrm of the ground with a flight path that followed a curved line until it was flying straight up. The wing beats of a lindwyrm dealt the killing blow on some of the damaged structures leading to a wave of splintering timber. Mason dangled from the lindwyrm's side as it rose into the air with no concern for the stowaway, forcing him to rapidly hammer the pommel with his off and as it tried to slip out of the lindwyrm, a matter which became more dire as it rose higher and higher. The sword started descending the scales like a broken zipper as it went lower and lower, the cutting aided by wind resistance, gravity, and panic which also led to a colourful vocabulary escaping Masons mouth. Blood poured out of the growing gash and splashing into his face to leave him with a coppery taste and scent overriding all other stimuli. Mason was doing his best not to look down, but the rapidly approaching clouds and severe decrease in oxygen were giving away their current altitude. The lindwyrm dove into a cloud, shattering Mason's understanding of the world as he had thought they were about as far away as the sun. by the time Mason was out of the cloud he was gasping for air and drenched to the bone, hair slicked back like he had been dumped into the ocean. Were there more air to work with he might have been screaming, he had not trained for this. His blade had been washed of lindwyrm blood in the cloud and now shone with brilliant clarity, in front of him, so not in the Lindwyrm.