Khaos Wars

Chapter 3 - Parasites

Dark clouds gathered in the sky. A gruesome, sharp shrieking almost threw Aika off balance. The gigantic, horrifying creature in front of her had instantly scared away every living being around them. People were running and screaming all round her. Someone accidently pushed her to the ground, but kept running. She waited for the masses to disappear; she had to keep her identity a secret.

Someone must have called the police. Six police cars had already surrounded the monster. People were running out from them and shooting and it, but the bullets had no effect on its hard skin. The monster lifted its heavy tail and slammed it on top of one of the cars. The rest of the policemen in their cars tried to escape, but the monster swept them away, wrecking their cars.

The policemen on foot tried running away; one of them got grabbed by the monsters paw and brought to its mouth. The poor man begged for his life, but to no avail. Aika tried turning away, but couldn't, she was frozen by the morbid sight that followed. The monster bit his head off and threw his lifeless body at his coworkers.

Aika couldn't waste more time, people were dying right in front of her. She pressed the crystal button on her green bracelet.
"Crystal Emerald! Transform!"

A green light emitted from her bracelet, which slowly disappeared into thin air. It felt like her body was wrapped in the warm, safe embrace of the light.

Her hair changed its color to fern green and a light green ribbon tied around the part she usually has tied up. Her clothes changed to an off shoulder, short sleeve, minidress.

The transparent crystal from her bracelet became a part of her dress, placed on her chest.
Her shoes become light green with ribbons up her leg, one ribbon shorter than the other, and ring-gloves appeared on her arms. All her senses had become enhanced and her whole body felt light as a feather.
A long, green staff with an emerald on top materialized in her hand. She swung it once and pointed it at the muddy brown monster standing in front of her, boldly staring at it.

The creature wiggled its long, alligator-like tail: most likely getting ready to attack. Aika took a few steps back and prepared to defend herself, expecting it to smash her from above. She didn't want to meet the same fate as the policemen. But to her surprise the beast swung its tail horizontally towards her.
No way could she out-run it, her only choice was to leap on top. Her heart pounded faster and faster as the tail came nearer to her. She only had one chance.
The air was shaken up around them.

Aika waited for the perfect moment to jump.
Now. Her feet came in contact with its harsh, rugged skin. There was no to time to think, she had to act on her instincts. She sprinted up the greasy being.
No foothold. Too slippery to climb.
An unexpected jerk sent her flying off. A concrete building closed in on her.
She reflexively curled up to a ball, turned around and kicked away from the wall. The recoil shot her at a high speed right in the direction of the monster's head. An opportunity.
The eyes must be its weak spot.
When she got close enough; the staff emitted a green light and shot three big, green orbs at its left eye.

Its disgusting face twisted in pain and it let out another one of those horrific cries. Aika fell back on the ground and covered her ears. The horrid sound made her want to rip her own ears off.
She forced herself to get back up on her feet. But before she managed to, a huge, coarse claw folded around her and picked her up from the grassy terrain. The creature's tight grip made it hard for her to breathe.

It brought Aika closer to its hideous face; she could smell its rotten breath. Drool dripped down from the corner of its mouth; one big, slimy chunk fell right on her. She instantly felt sick in her stomach and wanted to puke.
That was when she noticed the round cat-like eyes glaring at her like a lion hunting down its prey. She could throw up later; right now she had to get away from this monster before it devoured her alive.

She had to do something. Quick. The second it loosened it's grip, getting ready to consume her, she aggressively attacked.
"Eat this!"
A big green orb burst in its mouth.
The best furiously hurled Aika away and she heavily crashed into something hard.

***

She must have lost consciousness for a few seconds, since she couldn't recall them. Ouch, her back felt like it was on fire. Her eyelids weighted a ton, but she slowly managed to open them. The sight before her made her tremble in fear. The creature closed in on her. If she had been out cold for a little bit longer, she already would have been turned into monster-snacks.

She wanted to cry for help, but no one would hear her. Everyone had already escaped, and even if they hadn't; no one would be able to kill the monster. Every cell in her body screamed for her to get out of there.

Aika struggled to stand up. She had to get her staff. Wait. Where did it go? Her entire being filled up with horror the moment she spotted her weapon behind the approaching, barbarous beast. She had never felt so helpless in a battle before.
Her only option was to run between its legs.

Each step ached more than the last. She could feel the blood streaming down her back. Wind blew dust in her open wounds. The ever-growing pain started to get unbearable.

Aika collapsed right in front of the bloodthirsty beast. Another scream. Inexplicably, this one sounded triumphant.

"YOU ARE GOING TO REGRET THIS!"

Emiko's words resonated in her mind. Ugh, what an annoying voice. She couldn't give Emiko the satisfaction of being right. She couldn't give up here.

Aika gathered the last of her strength and slid underneath the monster, barely avoiding getting snatched again. The action made a rift in her dress, but it didn't matter. She had to get her staff back; without it she was defenseless.

Aika felt a glimpse of hope when she got closer to her staff. Just a little more...
The hope shattered before her eyes as the tail swept it further aside.
At this point the creature had to be toying with her.
She had no other choice than to bite the bullet and continue forward.

The monster tripped her with its tail when she only had a few steps left. She stretched out an arm towards her staff, barely managing to grab it the moment she got snatched. She didn't have the strength to do anything other than play dead. Hopefully her performance would be believable.

Aika closed her eyes and waited to sense that rotten breath. She would strike when the time was right.

The revolting smell got stronger ad stronger. But it was still too early. Her sense of smell had increased after all, especially with her eyes being shut.

For the first time, Aika could hear the beast breathing heavily. She had to be near. It was now or never.
She quickly turned around, pointed at its right eye and fired a last attack.
"DIE!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.
The monster roared in agony and fell to the ground, pulling Aika down with it.

Once back on the ground, she crawled away from the presumably dead creature. She looked at it and saw that it had already started to dissolve into thin air. She could finally let her guard down.

Aika distanced herself as far as she could and pressed the crystal on her chest. She couldn't risk being spotted by anyone, not in this state. Who knows what would happen if anyone found out about her. There were some pretty crazy people out there; anyone would want to keep this a secret if they were in her position.

A green light emitted from it and she turned back to her old self.
A sudden jolt shot through her like lightning and she let out a pained scream. All the support the transform gave her until now disappeared with it; and all the wounds she had received, now hurt twice as much.
She couldn't hold it in anymore. The sickness forced her to throw up.

The bone crushing pain was still there, but she felt a little bit better now. Everything she wished for right now was to fall asleep in her comfortable bed and forget this ever happened.

All of a sudden someone grabbed her by the hair and pulled it backwards, while placing their arm around her throat.
"If you scream I'll kill you"
Aika didn't recognize the deep male voice.
"You only have yourselves to blame,"
"you parasites".
Everything went black.