King of the Humans!

Chapter: 9 - Bad Moon Rising

Wandering through the forest is not fun, as you can imagine. Stumbling around, I swipe at buzzing glowing bugs as they try and land on me as I walk. The light produced by these pests casts a small dim aura around their chitin-coated small bodies. Though the tiny amounts of bioluminescent light nearly blinded my vision each time they flew in front of my nose, the light could not fight back against the inky darkness the night had brought. Had I known just how short the days on this island were, I would've not decided to accept this errand. But, since some people could be stranded in a shipwreck in the night, I pushed on to retrieve them as soon as possible. Though the beach head a few metres from me gave more visibility, being just within the forest kept me from being open to attack since no forest creatures could spot me within this darkness.

The silver rays cast by the full moon above created an unnerving atmosphere, the rays not granting the same warmth the sun's would. Because of this, I was cursing myself even more for taking that old fool's advice of not taking armour, because at least my armour had thick fur padding to insulate me from this wretched cold. At least I have my weapons, is the main thought which runs through my mind. Grumbling to myself, I wonder how much further the ship could have gone before running a ground.

"Gods, how much further?" I ask half joking and half serious.

But then, it seemed like my false prayers had been answered when I spot a ship-like shape in the distance. Gasping in relief, I sprint forwards with my sheaths bouncing around on my thinly clothed back, thankfully not slipping off thanks to the many thin leather straps securing the blades' confines to my body. I come to a quick halt within the treeline, my body freezing at the carnage before me. All around the wreckage, bodies lay strewn around and mutilated. Most hardly even resembled humans, their bodies butchered so brutally they looked more like piles of gore than corpses. Blood is splattered everywhere, crimson drenching most wooden splinters caused by the initial impact the boat had on the rocks. Some splinters of wood float around in the water nearby, given that the ship had ran aground so violently that the ship was only a few metres from the treeline.

The centrepiece of this destruction, however, both surprises and horrifies me. At the centre of the carnage is a thickly muscled beast lined with deep grey matted fur. Its beastly dog-like muzzle is wavy in structure, similar to that of a mountain range. Shoving its mouth into the blood heap in front of it, the beast begins to maul and chew on the fleshy mass before it. I nearly vomit as the beast removes its head from the mushy gore, and begins to sloppily slurp and chew on the disgusting gore. Snarling silently, I slowly reach for a small rock on the snowy floor and lift myself into a standing position. With a growl, I launch the rock through the air. Whizzing through the moonlit air, it collides with the muzzle of the abomination. Snarling with outrage, the beast stands into a bipedal stance with its claws flexed outwards to its sides.

Walking casually forwards and out of the forest, I stand defiantly before the lycanthropic monstrosity. The beast howls into the night air, pale air escaping its mouth from the coldness of the night, before it begins to run on all fours towards me. Quickly drawing my blades from their sheathes, I roll to the side as the beast pounces for me, launching itself into the forest. Scurrying away, I drag myself upwards and spin around to face my furred foe. I turn just in time to receive a grey claw to the chest, tearing through my fabric shirt and scratching the skin of my chest, leaving four bloody claw marks. Sent flying back from the force, I slump against the broken hull of the ship, the impact causing some strewn gore to slump off the wooden planks.

As the beast pounces once more, I dive to the ground and allow it to fly by and slam face first into the hull, the impact causing the beast to go momentarily limp in shock before thrashing around to escape. With my left blade, I raise it high and bring it down on the beast's left shoulder-blade. The cold steel of my blade penetrates the flesh with ease, slicing straight through the flesh and bone and dismembering the werewolf's vile limb. Howling in agony and boiling rage, the beast's head springs from the hull and collides with my still outstretched left arm, savagely mauling my limb by latching onto the flesh and shaking its head feverishly. Yelling in agony, I drop my left blade onto the bloody ground and punch the head tearing up my arm with my right hand, still clenched around the handle for my other dual sword. My punch impacts with the creature's eye, one of my knuckles strikes a pumpkin orange eye and causes a gush of blood and other fluids to ooze out the eye as it is immediately crushed inwards.

Yelping in pain, the beast releases its jaws from my arm and reveals the heavily bleeding wounds left behind by the wolf-man's assault. I frantically press the hand still holding my right blade against the wound roughly, attempting to slow the bleeding. Blood splatters my lower chest as the wounds sustained by me ooze my life-essence. My hair is matted by dirt and grime, speckles of blood locked within the hairs. A small cut leaks crimson from my forehead, the blood's thin trail running down around my nose and dripping from my chin. The wound of my left arm is vastly superior to all others in terms of damage, the muscle being barely hidden by flaps of serrated skin bleeding heavily. Splinters embedded in my back from the rough landing on the hull leak speckles of crimson down my fabric shirt, staining the back a rich crimson. My legs even have some splinters can cuts, leaving the integrity of my body increasingly poor, with my final set of wounds being the group of shallow slices in my chest from the initial strike by the werewolf, some crimson ichor clotting haphazardly.

The wolfish being before me fares even worse. Its makeshift amputation spewing forth torrents of gore, blood splattered across the beast's torso thoroughly. Oozing life fluid is the now decimated eye of the werewolf, the socket hollow with only the remnants of its eye clinging to the bloody tissue. Snarling weakly, the wolf slowly crouches down and prepares one final pounce to try and cause a fatality, my head ringing as it surges forwards through the air and towards me. Tiredly, I slump to the ground at the last second and go limp on the ground as the wolf-like being flies over me and slams into the heavily destroyed piece of ship which was behind me. Sluggishly, I roll onto my back whilst coughing up blood, some speckles of it splattering onto my mouth.

From this position, my head is facing the night sky above, but moving my head weakly, I turn my eyes to the werewolf who lays impaled by several spikes of wood, one impaling it through the muzzle and coming out the other side of its skull. The entire body is still, its chest no longer moving as a sign of life, giving the confirmation that it has perished after the conflict. Slumping my head back against the ground, I close my eyes and laugh to myself with satisfaction at my victory. Ending my laugh with soft chuckles, I give a pained groan as I crawl up into a kneeling position before cradling my wounded arm with my healthy one. Moaning in pain, I push myself upwards with my knees until I'm stood upright, hunched over slightly as my wounds continue to wrack my body in pain.

A faint crack of a twig causes me to look up, the sight of dozens of eyes staring back at me is presented. All the eyes are a deep pumpkin orange, and glow in the inky blackness flowing between the trees. The air of the wreckage is thick with the sounds of snarls and growls. Snarling myself, I lean downwards and scoop one of my dual swords into my functioning arm, and point the blade's piercing tip towards the mass of wolfish monstrosities. With snarls dying down for just a moment, a ghostly howl in the distance diverts everything's attention to the side, the rustling of bushes greeting my eyes as I look. For a split-second all I see are bushes and trees. The next, a much larger hulking lycanthrope looms above me. Coated in thick black fur, this werewolf is even more different to the rest hidden in the treeline. This one has even larger tapered ears which are angled to not point behind the wolf's head but more to the left and right of the monster's great skull. Piercing luminescent crimson orbs stare straight into mine, the tiny black pupils locked onto me before turning to the large grey corpse near to me. It snarls for a moment, turning to the gaping wounds covering my body with unnerving interest.

Turning to its large group of inferior brethren to its side hiding in the background, the alpha growls before snapping its head rapidly towards the forest behind it. Tipping its head back, the creature screeches a howl before being joined by lesser werewolves, their howls decreasing in volume as they scurry off into the darkness of the forest, the sound of the wind and bushes becoming more loud than their ghostly howls. Turning from the pack running into the forest, I look at the alpha before my eyes widen as It grabs me by the neck and hoists me upwards. It roars in fury straight into my face, the stench of death and decay bellowing from its open maw as rows of yellowed pointed teeth reveal themselves. Still clenching my blade, I go to stab the beast only to stop when a golden bolt of energy smashes into the creatures chest. Howling in pain, I'm dropped onto the ground in a bloodied heap as the creature turns towards his assailant.

A figure bursts from the treeline, the unmistakeable shape of a pony being cast in the moonlight. Dressed in an almost full-bodied suit of plate armour, the moonlight cast above shines along the cool metal worn by the alpha's attacker. Instead or armouring the head like a regular full bodied suit, the figure instead has their head exposed with a black cloak tied around their neck with its tail waving in the night's breeze. The golden aura around a unicorn's horn casts a yellow light upon the face belonging to the figure, the identity even more recognisable now that the mane and coat of Lyra is shown in the light. Glaring at the wolf-like being in front of her, she glares before throwing her horn forwards and launches another bolt of energy towards the creature, the beast being to large to dodge the slick attack. Another strike to its chest causes the air around it, with me within, to smell of burning hair. The vile stench of burning fur wafts up my bloody nose, leaving me to gag for a moment before watching the barrage of magic again.

The werewolf absorbs hit after hit, its torso losing most of its fur as the torso begins scarred with fiery burns and the fur which is left even sets alight from the onslaught. Despite her attacks dealing damage, Lyra is showing some strain if the sweat and heavy breathing is any sign. Seeing his assailant beginning to weaken, the wolf-like creature begins to growl menacingly before advancing slowly towards a frantic looking Lyra. With a burst of energy, I stand up from the ground unsteadily before slumping against the creature's back. The alpha roars in pain as my firmly held sword pierces through its furred back and out of its scarred and burnt abdomen. Turning around with the sword still penetrating the alpha's hide, I cause a jagged slice through the beast's abdomen resulting in the critical damage of most of the beast's innards. Howling in pain and anger, the alpha swats me away, sending me skidding across the snowy ground which leaves a faint red trail in the snow. The freezing cold ground numbs my back and saps the energy from my body as the edges of my vision begin to darken.

The alpha turns around to face me with vicious snarls promising pain and agony as it forgets the huffing unicorn now running towards it from behind. Lunging its thickly furred claw towards me, it latches around my neck and begins to lift up my limp form as my body begins to shut down, its piercing red eyes glaring at me through the darkness consuming my sight. The alpha reaches with its jaws and tries to lock them round my throat, only for another feral roar of pain to escape them as Lyra launches searing hot energy into the beast's open wound caused by my blade. As my vision continues to darken, I feel the now much heavier and colder blade in my grip slip from my grasp and land softly onto the tightly packed snow below. Slipping from the beast's grasp, I land heavily onto the ground and remain motionless except for the slight movement in my chest caused by my strained breathing. My vision becomes a lengthy tunnel as the sight of the Alpha slumping into the forest presents itself, the last thing I see before slipping into unconsciousness being the sight of a frantic Lyra collecting up my blades and lifting me up in a strained telepathic grip.