Skystriker: seeking Aspects

~~~~~Approximately one thousand years ago~~~~~

I stood out, finishing the process of gathering sunshine when the moon rose up, covering the sun in a solar eclipse. Something seemed wrong with the moon however. Instead of the normal black disc it should have been during a solar eclipse, it seemed to suck the suns light in to it, as though trying to prevent the sun from shining by sheer force of presence. I ignored it. Whatever the sun and moon were doing would have little effect on me in the long run.

The brilliant flashes of lights and loud explosions likewise brought little reaction from me. A few of the animals ran farther from the castle, which had been built alone, far from the rest of civilization. I wasn’t sure why though. The castle had been there since the skies stopped being pink. I turned away and grabbed up my baskets then headed back home, not waiting to see what menaces the twilight hours would bring, with such easy prey about.

Perhaps ten minutes after the lights began; the forest suddenly began to glow around me, prompting me to turn, as the only things in the Everfree that resulted in glows were quite dangerous predators, usually far roaming dragons or chimeras and the like.

As I turned, I saw perhaps the two most shocking things of my life, simultaneously. The first was a brilliant comet, flying from the earth toward the moon. The second, slightly more pressing thing was a twenty headed hydra staring at me. I did the most sensible things and bolted. I hydra with twenty heads had to have survived nearly two thousand years, based off the average number of heads gained per year for their race.

I ducked under a tree, spinning and tossing off my baskets, landing them outside the door to my house before completing the turn to face the hydra. It stopped, perhaps in shock that I would turn to face it. I took the advantage and shot towards it, using the manticore aspect to let me hit far harder than I could otherwise.

“Why do you not run in terror at the sight of us?” the hydra had a bit of an echo, though considering the number of heads, it was impressively small.

“So you can speak then?” I swerved just past it, kicking off their (it’s? I still don’t know how one addresses hydras) leg to send myself in the opposite direction.

“Yess, though we would prefer that you remain ssilent while we attempt to eat you, puny pony-thing.”

“So you aren’t just going to let me be then?” I ducked under a clumsy attack by an overeager head.

“No. Why would we?” The other heads swung to face me before angling to strike. Two shot out streams of acid, burning away the ground near me as I ducked just in time. Curse my limited aspects!

“Then let’s dance!” I shot towards it, slamming both daggers into its leg before leaping back, twisting as another trail of acid shot past.

“ROARRR YOU’LL PAY FOR THAT ONE!” Three heads shot towards me as another three spat acid, trying to trap me between them. I shot into the sky, flying for only a moment before diving back down to the creatures back, slashing and stabbing as it tried to understand what had just happened. A moment later, another head stabbed towards me, forcing me to change direction quickly. I smiled as it cried out in pain. Hydras might be powerful, their acid unmatched in potency, but they were notoriously uncoordinated. I stabbed it in the back again as I tried to cut my way to its heart.

“What are you doing? You are not like most creatures we have faced. How did you get there? Stop doing that!” another head swept towards me, level with its back while two more came from the opposite direction, just over the other two. I leapt over the first, taking advantage of the failed cooperation between the heads to duck under the other two. Another cut, followed by a leap off the back of the creature as a stream of acid shot towards me.

I shot through the air to strike again, slashing at it once before leaping off again and cutting its uninjured leg. As each head swiveled to face me again and reorient, I reared up and bucked the first leg as hard as I could before leaping aside to avoid the now unsteady hydra.

“Cease this at once! We are the predator, you the prey. You are to remain docile and be eaten when we wish to feed!” I snorted and slashed at its tail.

“You must not have gotten the message. In this forest, I’m the predator, doesn’t matter what you are. You just happened to be dumb enough to continue an assault after I suggested you not do so.” Another slash and the tail fell off completely, sending the creature crashing to the ground as I backed off among the trees.

“We will find you and devour you for the loss of our tail! Then you will feed our regrowth!” I fished out a vial of poison, coating my blades with it carefully as My prey roared in anger.

“You should have understood this cycle by now. The predator catches the prey and kills it, not the other way around. And today, you ventured into my territory, so you are the prey.” I flew above it as the unearthly comet finally vanished in the moon behind me. The hydra looked around, trying to find me for only a moment longer.

“We are the prey! Not some Pony-RAAAAAOOOOWRRRR!” I flipped off the hydra, backing into the forest as my venom did the work, paralyzing it and leeching its vitality as it coursed through its system. A moment later, the last head hit the earth with a thud.

“I am the predator in this forest, though I take only what offends. If you had gone on, you would have lived. Farewell and good rest in the lands of death.” I picked up my bags again and entered my house, flying over the strangle vines that ringed the clearing. *If ever I face an ancient hydra again, it’ll be too soon. That was closer than I’d like to admit. Assuming you ignore being immortal.*

I organized the herbs carefully, making sure not to combine any of the powders while I was at it, not wanting to create any poisons I didn’t want. I had learned my lesson the first time I was too careless when storing my various materials and created something akin to poison ivy, but thousands of times more painful. Ever since then, I’d been very careful to keep everything right where I wanted it.

As I lay down to sleep, I looked up and the moon for a moment as I scanned my surroundings through the thorns. Something was off about it, prompting me to look back after I finished my search. It had a black image imprinted on it, one matching a unicorn, if there was a unicorn made of black spots. *Tomorrow I’ll have to look and see what happened at the castle. Maybe the forest can reclaim the stolen territory.*