A Burning Heartbeat

Chapter One: A Night in the Courtyard

The courtyard was still in the crisp light of the Evening Star with only the faintest of breeze rustling the surrounding gardens that hung over the walls like inquisitive visitors leaning in the doorway. Standing at the entrance of the courtyard underneath a green wood canopy, that spiraled and weaved together as if it wanted to ensnare those who passed under it, was a young woman. She held a barbed trident whose size matched her in height in a firm and deliberate grip that was well acquainted to the dark, seasoned, and rough hands. The trident was held behind her at a diagonal lean and though her toned figure stood straight and tall, the tension that rippled through her body could easily change that.

Her piercing golden brown eyes laid transfixed across the courtyard leading to a stone mausoleum covered in moss and overgrowth with thick and deep oak doors adorning the entrance of the gothic burial site. The woman took a breath, a long and slow intake filling her chest, and a quick release of that air in a measured exhale. Her lips pursed and a clear, ringing note filled the courtyard echoing across the stone.

Within moments of her whistle, the courtyard floor began to rumble beneath her feet. The woman crouched down bringing her weapon forth as she adjusted her grip. The stone beneath rumbled and an approaching steady cracking echoed out muffled by the mausoleum doors before the first shattering impact splintered the deep oak snapping the wood outward. The woman slid her foot forward crossing the other as her eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

Another smash screamed into the courtyard as the top half of one of the doors snapped off revealing a giant, moss covered claw snapping and reaching out in the dark, open air. The woman leaned down, her dark hand scooping up a sturdy stone tossing it up testing its weight. The ancient architecture of the mausoleum held firm though in vain as it threatened to crumble. The claw gripped the other door, it's serrated grasp slicing through like it were glass as the creature slammed into the doors, the wood's shattering groaning dying in a defeated roar.

Bursting from the doors, a crustacean the size of a whole room scuttled out each of its six jointed needle tip limbs spearing cracks into the stone of the courtyard. The giant claw snapped repeatedly accompanied by a smaller arm with a claw flat and fit for crushing as the air whistled and clacked with each snap. It's body was plated with thick, dark blue chitin as giant layers of shelf fungus grew from its back at odd and thick angles stacking up like a small island illuminating the crab with the same turquoise bioluminescence that the surrounding environment gave off. The three eye stalks poked out from the center as all three twitched and turned scanning the courtyard until the center one fixed itself on the woman and the other two snapped her way. It's mandibles clicked and shuttered out as a second set of graspers snapped in the air with a deep and gurgling hiss shooting from the interior of the beast.

The woman tossed the rock into the air, twisting her body twirling her trident along spinning fast as her foot stamped into the ground, a firm anchor, as she swung the trident turning her shoulders making contact with the stone, her biceps tensing with force pushing through them. A sharp crack sent the stone flying hurtling towards the crustacean veering just above it as the stone exploded against the base of the mausoleum's triangular stone slab near the door frame.

The front of the building buckled, the lack of support from the door caused the stones at the center to crumble as the stone slab pitched forward and slid quickly, its full weight crashing onto the crustacean's back breaking through shelves of fungus and moss as stone hit chitin with a crash. The crab buckled with the weight of the slab splitting into pieces raining down on its body as it was buried by rock pinning it to the ground. The woman was running forth now, her legs prancing along with surprising speed.

The crustacean gurgled a louder roar as the stalks of its eyes stayed close to its body, its large claw smashing stones off of its right side as the other claw steadied itself against the ground. It swung its legs out one at a time flinging stones haphazardly across the grounds sending rocks high into the open air. Several crashed around the woman, as she shifted her direction slightly. The front leg of the crustacean flicked out in front of it sending a chair sized stone rocketing towards her. She reacted quickly kicking off the ground changing her momentum to the side, the stone howling by. She slid across the courtyard pressing the bottom of her trident against the ground helping to stabilize her. She shifted the angle of her footing and weapon pushing off on it and continued forward.

The crab pulled itself off the ground shaking its body as it tossed the rest of the off and charges with its glowing eyes trained on the woman moving to intercept, its legs quickly closing the distance. It reared it's serrated claw back as it came into reach of her swinging it swiveling its whole body with the strike. The woman sprung up onto a stone bench kicking off onto a sculpted statue and leaping again just as the claw smashed both the statue and bench.

She flew through the air and spiraled the trident downward approaching the hard back of the crustacean and brought it down. The trident sunk into the fungal layers before hitting the mossy chitin sending a harsh jolt up her arms rocking into her shoulders; the tri-tips bouncing off the armor but anchoring her to the dense growth on the crab's back as she forced her legs down and helped slow her momentum to a stop. She gave a quick exhale and the three eye stalks snapped back to her, big, beady, and close.

The creature gave another watery gurgle as it began to rock its body violently shaking the courtyard. The grounds cracked and smashed with its bucking, the rumbling destroying any in the path of its body. The woman gripped the trident firmly , her boots digging deep into the shelf fungi grunting with each impact the crustacean made. The harder it shook, the deeper she dug herself in timing the impact to reinforce her movements.

The crustacean slowed taking a different approach, lifting its smaller, more flexible limb above its back. The cubed shaped claw smashed down onto itself, the erie collision of chitin against chitin was only muffled by the moss getting closer to where the woman anchored herself. As the claw's random blows got closer, she could only work to dislodge her legs from the fungus that now served to trap her. She freed one foot from the moss after a long minute that felt more like an hour. Her focus was interrupted with an ominous shadow overcasting her, the claw now rising above her.