Wrath Of The Beast

It was Blood

Jaksyn sighed deeply as their cool night air licked the back of his neck. Beams of sunlight cut through openings in the trees like a meat cleaver through a hog's hide. As the wind snaked through the leaves, Jaksyn's leather boots pushed against the black mud, while he made his way to the squealing swine pen. Every night this past week, it seemed they were agitated, and his sleep was lessening each evening. As he approached the smell hit his nose, but something was different, there was iron in the air. As the sun fell lower and lower he could see the swine huddled in mass to one corner of the pen nearest to the barn wall. As his gaze wandered around the enclosure, he began to check for any disturbances. 'Hogs ain't usually this spooked...must be a wildcat or a drake nearby..' Jaksyn thought to himself. He grabbed an iron shovel from the shed and stood dutifully by the swine pen. He'd driven off drakes and big cats before, so he knew what to expect if it were one. A few loud screeches, him roaring back at it, and maybe a few strikes from his shovel, then the beast would retreat. He could place a bounty on it in the morning for a few copper scales and,- suddenly one of the hogs broke out of the pen, and bucked into the nearby tree grove. Without a thought, he chased after it. He heard squeals and snorts echoing off the birch trees. Each step he took pounded against the ground. Here and there he would check the ground for tracks, then it hit him. He hadn't heard a squeal in a while, and the smell of iron was heavy in the air again. 'Lord…' he gripped the shovel tightly in his hand. 'I'm gonna spank the hell out of this hog when I catch it.' He pushed through the thicket, the iron smell growing as he heard the sound of smacking and crunching. 'Damn thing's probably found some squirrel to chomp on. Finally, I can get the hell out of' as he came upon an opening in the trees Jaksyn found the swine. Torn to ribbons, it's flesh and entrails were strewn over the nearby branches. Hulking over it was an armored figure. Its segmented body was as tall as three men. It's bloody crablike claws pulled chunks of meat from the swine to its spiked maw. It's six black eyes were beady and had pupils red as the blood it lapped off its claws. Jaksyn was paralyzed in fear as he memorized every line of detail on the creature. In the dark moonlight, he noticed it's armor plating was a brown similar to the colors of a tree. The fiend's soul-piercing eyes turned to him, and they met eye to eye as it leaned close to him, it's dozens of legs moving in unison as it approached. Jaksyn took a step back, and the fiend took a step forward. The beast bellowed and shattered, flashing its daggers. It narrowed its eyes and swiped with a massive claw, sending the man hurtling into a tree. The pain was like being kicked by a bull in the balls, except everywhere. Jaksyn stammered and reached around for his shovel finding it a few feet away. Bracing himself against the farm tool he rose and saw the fiend growing closer and closer, the thumping of its feet like a dozen men on the march. He mustered all the strength he could, and flung the shovel at the creature, striking between the plates of armor. 
The next turn of his heel was the one where he'd forgotten. He forgot what the ground was made of, the hard-packed dirt and leaves seemed to go vanish beneath him, the whipping of tree branches passed him along and seemed to be the low buzzing of insects passing by in the darkness, but in all his haste, as his arms swung in the air, and the sweat burned his eyes, the creature was twice as swift on a dozen legs. Jaksyn kept pressing with all his might, then jolted to a stop as the creature bleated. He took a deep breath, really he stole the breath, as it was suddenly much harder to get any. By instinct, he grabbed his chest, but instead of feeling his linen, he felt the stinger. Massive, the half-meter length was dripping from his warm blood and a green thick liquid which mixed with it. Jaksyn looked up to the stars as he felt the burning sensation enter his nerves, it must have been poison. He heard somewhere that some poisons burn when they get in your blood. He noted how beautiful the moon looked, and the stars that danced around the beautiful marble, in all his years, Jaksyn hadn't noticed how beautiful it was. The little pick marks on the surface danced with shadows from the surrounding starlight and the stars themselves seemed to move in harmony. As he felt his legs buckle, he coughed another spurt of blood, and he smiled. He would have to tell his father about this when he saw him again, and as his eyes closed, Jaksyn held the stinger in his chest tightly, so tightly he thought he heard a crack as the creature loomed over him, it's beady eyes enraged before it flashed its teeth. As it's arrow shaped head drew closer, the smell of iron on it's breath, he knew it was blood.