The Calamity (Short Story)

Chapter 5: Monster

   I thrust the basket with the edible foodstuffs in it to Yu and told him to get back to camp and stay there. He looked torn for a moment but I reminded him of his sister and he left after telling me to be careful.

  I made my way over to where the sounds of a struggle were coming from. On my way there, I picked up a rock about the size of a baby's head and a branch that looked like it had enough weight to be used as a club. Another roar came which caused me to flinch as it was closer than I expected.

  Finally, I saw what was making those roars. It was something that I recognised as a Winged Lion. An adventurer had sold a corpse that looked similar to this beast to Gu Ying once. However, this one in front of me looked both bigger and in a better condition than the one sold to Gu Ying. In fact, you could say the corpse sold to Gu Ying was a runt compared to this one.

  It had sleek brown fur on its body which was like a regular mountain lion which could occasionally be spotted on this island. That was where the similarities ended though. The Winged Lion had a pair of wings with feathers the same colour as it's fur. Also its limbs and tail seem thicker and stronger than a regular mountain lion's. Its claws were pitch black but seemed to glisten with a liquid that was probably blood as I noticed Yan laying prone on the ground and clutching her stomach. Her partner, a muscled teenager named Shi was desperately trying to hold off the beast with a branch but seemed to be losing if going by the numerous scratches on his body.

  Just as I processed all this, the Winged Lion swiped its paw in a seemingly casual manner which broke Shi's branch. Now weapon-less, a hint of despair surfaced in Shi's eyes. Without thinking much further, I launched the stone I held at the beast. Somehow it landed on the back of its head which seemed to stun it.

  With a yell, I charged forward with the branch and swung it at the beast. It hit the spot that the stone hit with a satisfying thud. Somewhat stunned that I actually hit it, I didn't really notice until it was too late that the Winged Lion spread its wings, causing me to fly backwards and hit a tree. The back of my head seemed to have received a blow because I was rather dizzy.

  The Winged Lion's roar allowed me to clear my head. Unfortunately, it seemed as if I had lost my branch when I went flying. When I looked up, I saw the Winged Lion glaring at me with a madness-filled gaze. I gulped. It seemed I had really done something to anger it now. I desperately groped for something to use as a weapon as I saw its hind legs tensing as if getting ready to pounce. I managed to grasp something that felt like a twig just as the beast pounced over.

  Rolling to the side in order to avoid its pounce, it seemed it had hit tree but that didn't seem to do anything else but make it even more mad. It lunged at me again and I could only lift my arm to block. I felt the intense agony of having flesh ripped out. I think that swipe might have scratched a bone too. My vision was swimming from the pain but the beast just clamped its jaws down on that arm. I screamed from the pain and jabbed the twig I was holding at the Winged Lion's head. Unfortunately, this time I didn't managed to hit it in a good spot and the twig just bounced off its thick skull.

  I felt a burning sensation from my chest and when I looked down I realised it had been cut open from another swipe of the beast's paws. I could feel myself losing consciousness due to the pain and felt somewhat resigned to my fate. Just before I slipped under I felt the beast release its jaws from my arm.

  Is this where I die?