Hellbeast

0

1521 words

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Ava knew it was stupid to be running around during such a dangerous era of life, with the fabled red beast lurking around near these lands, but she couldn't help but sneak out of her cottage and run to the fields to see some flowers blossom under the full moon, the only time they'd open up and reveal their iridescent glow. She smiled and crept into the fields, leaning over to pull a vine up to smell the sweet earthy fragrance.

Nearby, under a tree, she spotted a deer laying on bloody grass, its skin torn apart and the insides ravaged. Crouching down, she pet the soft fur of the animal and magic curled from around her fingertips and embedded itself into the carcass. A soft green shimmer grew over the ground and flowers climbed onto the animal, twirling around it's antlers and covering the mess. Ava smiled, and whispered words of encouragement to the deer, as if relieving it of any pain it might've felt during its final moments, when a sudden rustle of a few branches above made her freeze.

'It's just a bird, it's just a bird Ava- a bird.' Blood rushed through her ears and her heart pounded as she slowly looked up at the leaves above. At first, she saw nothing. Then her eyes adjusted to the soft glow of the moon, and she saw two eyes staring back at her, unblinking and wide open. Dread curled in her stomach. Like the demon destroying the nearby lands, the eyes were the color of quicksilver, and they glowed faintly. Then Ava spotted the liquid dripping down his lips. Blood.

With a startled cry, she fell backwards onto the grass, and stared up at the real-life monster that had been terrorizing everything in its wake. She numbly watched as the beast stood up on it's two strangely human legs, and continued to stare down at her as it jumped down effortlessly in front of the now flower-covered deer carcass. Slowly, the tall beast- no, the tall (handsome) man, inched towards the carcass and crouched down to poke a daisy growing on top of it's head. Ava watched, denying her urge to ask if this was a child rather a bloodthirsty beast.

Slower than ever, the red-maned lion man peered up at her quietly, silver eyes wide, pupils widened, staring at her in wonder. 'it's like a cat,' she thought dryly. The monster man blinked owlishly at her and then lunged forwards to grab her hands. Ava bit back a scream as the stranger looked at her hands curiously, poking and prodding the soft skin, before looking at the flowers then back at her.

"Do- do you want me to grow more?" They stared at each other. Ava blinked. "I mean, I can- it's one of the few things my magic can actually do." With a small wave, a small green stem broke through the dirt and a red flower popped into existence. Beast man stared in bewilderment, his mouth agape slightly. Ava plucked the flower and handed it to him. The red haired man's gentle take of the flower surprised Ava, and her cheeks burned a soft pink.

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Weeks later, Ava had not forgotten about the red haired man with eyes like pale pools of water. They had been spending the night together, blissfully unaware of the time passing, when the stranger looked up, saw the moon setting, and promptly got up and ran. Ava sat stunned, unable to call out for her new friend, because they hadn't even exchanged names. All they'd done was sit together as Ava taught him how to use magic to grow flowers. Ava looked at the only plant the man had been able to grow before disappearing, a moonshine flower, the flowers she'd snuck out to see especially.

When Ava came to visit the deer two weeks later, she noticed the most peculiar things. For one, the flowers growing over the carcass did not need to be regrown or replaced, they looked exactly the same as they did the night she'd made them. Second, the moonshine flower that bloomed only on a full moon, was openly displaying its petals, same as the night it was grown. Ava was stunned. Is it because the red haired man had grown it? If so, how powerful did his magic have to be to go against nature?

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Three months later, Ava woke up to the sound of screaming. She rushed outside, still in her night clothes, and flung open the door. What she saw was mostly all the other houses nearby caught on fire. Families ran out of their homes, and those with powerful magic had managed to cast fire-proofing spells on their houses and were now running to do the same for their neighbors.

Ava was about to ask what was happening when a man she knew as old man Tom ran by, shouting at anyone within earshot. "The red devil! The red devil's here! Save yourselves! Everyone run!" Ava stilled. Then, just as fast, she started running in the opposite direction of everyone else. Her friend that worked in the town clinic, Lilia,  grabbed her arm and stopped her. "Ava what are you doing? Run the opposite way! The devil's there!" She nodded and pulled away, shouting back to assure her. "Don't worry! I just have to get something," and she ran.

In the town square, the bells were ringing, buildings surrounding the patio were all burning down, people screamed and tried to escape, and in the middle of it all, there he stood. The familiar long red hair, the tall stature, the toasted wheat skin. Ava choked back any words. What was he doing? Where was the man she taught to grow flowers? This was not the man she met that night three months ago.

Throwing caution to the wind and running forward, she grabbed his arm. Fast as lightning, the man turned and grabbed her throat, holding her up in the air. Ava flailed and grabbed his hands, trying desperately to loosen his hold, yet to no avail, the beast was too strong. Instead of his usual silver eyes however, they burned red, but when the focused on Ava, they stopped, flashing grey again. The demon dropped her, and Ava gasped for air.

The beast stared down, eyes displaying brief confusion and guilt, before a red glow emitted from a collar around his neck, that Ava had not spotted before, and he howled. His eyes burned red again, and he lunged down to choke her, all consciousness regarding his actions gone. Ava wondered momentarily if the collar was somehow controlling the beast, forcing him to cause this carnage. She had seen the pause, the guilt swirling in the man's eyes, the sadness, the confusion. 'Like he couldn't control what he was doing..'

With her lungs screaming for air, and her vision turning dark, Ava gave up on trying to force the demon's hands away, and instead reached up to grab the collar. pooling together all her remaining energy, all her lingering magic, she gripped the collar and released a spark of electric shock, before passing out completely.

The demon stopped, his hands loosened their hold around the limp girl's neck, and he stared incredulously at the collar that was once around his neck, now snapped in two, and defective. Snarling, he kicked it away before looking around and stopping his flaming inferno. The fires vanished immediately, and his magic coursed through the half-ruined town. slowly, the houses started rebuilding themselves, fueled by his energy.

He turned to see who it was that finally released him of his prison, the stupid collar that had trapped him inside his own body, forcing him to poison the world and harm countless innocents. All the blood drained from his body to see that familiar girl. The same black hair curling around her now-pale face, once red lips now blue, honeyed eyes shut, lashes still, chest unmoving, unresponsive, lifeless body, of the woman who taught him how to use his magic to create instead of destroy.

He dropped to his knees, picking up her head and cradling her body gently into his chest, eyes watering, confusion infused in his soul. What the hell just happened? How could he hurt the one person that didn't try to kill him on sight? How could he harm such an innocent girl? He caught her growing fucking flowers on a dead deer. And now, just like everything else he ever laid his hands upon, she was dying.

Suddenly, a woman dropped in front of him, her blonde hair pulled up into a ponytail with a single blue ribbon, brown eyes burning with determination and anger. She reached for Ava, which the demon pulled away, glaring at her. She glared right back. "Give! She's my friend! She's dying and I can help her! Give her here you stupid demon!" He paused, eyes searching her face for any form of lie, and when he saw none, offered Ava immediately, croaking out his first words in years. "Fix her, please."

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