Horns ✖

Awakening

Wake, said a voice. 

And I obeyed.

Every bone, muscle, and fiber within me jolted to life in an instant. Like the waves of a sea, it's tide dragged me from the depths of the night and back into a world I knew. 

Or... I used to know. Nothing came to sense, nor to mind or thought. Only my two amber eyes blinked into focus, taking in a welfare of light before the pink skies welcomed them with open arms.

I only responded with a grunt of confusion.

Where am I? I immediately wondered, stiffening as the tall blades of grass sloshed to and fro like seaweed before my eyes. Why is it so... quiet?

As I arose from my slumber I first became aware of the coolness of the air and it's loamy fragrance. The air was rich with an array of scents, but above all others was the dry spicy aroma of crusted leaves and overturned herbs: telltales of a new season on the rise. Down below, the frosted ground felt lumpy, almost as if I were sitting upon a bed of spikes and rocks.

A cautioned glance assured me that it was just dead grass.

Next to be examined was my body. This slashed skin upon my spine leaned in one way, my poor crushed underbelly pushed in the other. Both front paws crisscrossed at an angle, and my thick skull -- withholding three magnificent horns -- laid slightly tilted upon the muddy earth, allowing one eye to stare to the heavenly glow above, the other to gaze down at hell.

But of all the surprises given, perhaps the strangest was this new flavor in my maw.

A lukewarm metallic tang began to spread out upon my tongue - thick, heavy, and very much alive. I reeled in the taste at first, swallowing once to dispel of it, yet the essence continued to leak out. Gurgling in confusion, I began to notice a cramp rising in my chest, throbbing harder and harder as more of the liquid gushed toward my maw.

And unable to hold it all back, I jerked open my maw and coughed hard, spraying it everywhere. Rather than clear saliva, water, or anything else I was hoping to find, all I saw in the frame of two bulging eyes were specks of red... everywhere.

What is happening to me?!

My poor beak was now soaked in this crimson ooze, as was my chin. The smell was of death and decay, old and rotted, and broken indeed. And as bad as I hoped to restrain myself from yet another painful cough, I couldn't control it.

And I couldn't stop it.

Agony overcame wonder, and wonder turned to fear as yet another pained squeal escaped my chest, spilling more out like waves of molten lava. A dizziness fell over me as the ground became soaked in this essence, a clear sign that I was gravely wounded.

My body rocked hard, tail slapping the earth as another splatter of blood soaked the grass before me. Alas, I squeezed my eyes shut, too terrified to watch this sickening display continue, and too scared to endure much more of this anguish. The twin nostrils upon my scaly snout were immediately overwhelmed by this powerful stench rising around me.

If such an essence could be so pungent, then I was already in danger.

A full minute passed before the pain began to numb, and as the bulge inside me began to cease the terrible wheezing died along with it. I took a short gulp of blood, shivering from it's unearthly texture and whimpered softly. I figured my current state was worse than I feared.

All of it was.

The forest of grass that hung over my body like demons, the blood that dripped and shook beneath me, even the rising pain within felt unreal, and evil. And as I stared at them with wide eyes, a thought fell over me: I had no clue what to do. I couldn't move, at least not yet. I couldn't see above the grassy domain all around me. And I couldn't seek help. Aside from the rotten stench and the seasonal breeze, there was nothing else out there. No scents of any living creatures. None of the edible food leaves and bushes too. Not even the water by which may quench my rising thirst.