Alter: Lineage

"A demon?" Elise asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"That's what my analysis told me," I nodded, leaning against the door frame as the court mage stared at me, eyes brimming with scepticism.

"And what analysis did you perform?" she asked. "Resonance? Energy residue? Any actual magical means other than just assuming?"

"No. I don't have the ability nor the talent to do any of those things, Elise," I responded. "But what I do have the talent for is identifying specific traits in corpses that give me a general idea of what I'm hunting for. The savagery, the gnaw marks on the bones, and everything else about our vicious beast tells me it's something of demonic origin."

"Is it sapient?" she queried, shifting her sitting position.

"Not a chance. Way too brutal, not sadistic enough," I answered, shooting the idea down immediately. "We're dealing with a demonic beast here. No more, no less. It's not an invasion, it's not some kind of mole. It's one, rogue demon that's tearing these people apart."

"And how can you be so sure of that?"

"Because if it were either of those things, we'd be dealing with a lot worse than mauled corpses," I said firmly. "I've dealt with these stray incidents before. Most likely, a bunch if idiot mages got drunk on fine wine at a college, decided to set up a summoning circle, and dragged the thing through that way. It probably has no Houndmaster keeping it in charge, and that's why it's just randomly mauling things."

Elise crossed her arms over her chest again, pursing her lips as she thought it over. She stood with naught more than a sigh, moving over to a large chest of drawers that she began to loudly rifle through.

"You can promise me this isn't a prelude to something bigger?" she asked.

"You don't send rogue hounds as a pre-invasion strategy," I said, shaking my head. "That's the way to get everyone's guard up, not down. Only a commander who happens to be an absolute moron would do that. And if our demonic invasion is lead by a moron... we've nothing to worry about."

"Then take this-" she said, walking over to me with a tool I didn't recognise. "-and fix our problem."

I took the object in hand. It was a gnarled, old wooden wand with what appeared to be a ruby set into it. It looked like the wood had been sung around the gem instead of it simply being fixed in place, an Elven magic used to make wood grow around things due to their dislike of damaging trees, dead or alive.

"Proximity detector?" I asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Energy tracker," she corrected. "It'll flash when it picks up the energy type it's attuned to, that being demon, and it'll glow brightly whenever you're following that trail."

"Perfect," I said, whirling it around in my hand briefly before tucking tying it against my belt with a spare strap of leather. "Thanks, Elise."

"Don't lose it," she said, flicking me on the shoulder. "It was a present to the kingdom from an old Elven queen a very long time ago."

"And you're trusting it to a stranger?" I asked.

"I'm trusting it to a professional," she said, holding a finger up before me. "I hope."

"Right. I'll be back soon, hopefully with something to show for all this trouble," I nodded, heading back towards the door.

"You got any idea where you're searching?" she asked. "Or is the plan to just wander around in the freezing cold until you find the trail or die?"

"The latter," I shrugged, turning back around to face her.

She didn't look very happy about that one.

"One of the bodies was recovered from the southern market's alleyways," she said. "Follow the path down from the castle, down past a large tavern lit up with silver lanterns, and then keep going straight down that road until it opens up into a square area. Check the alleys around there for any trace of the energy. Try not to die."

"I'll do my best," I said with a wink, heading back out the door and through the castle.

I wanted to formulate a plan, but didn't have enough information to go off. I couldn't prepare a battle strategy, couldn't think of a luring trick, and certainly couldn't conjure up a trap without any idea of exactly what kind of hell beast I was dealing with here. What if it could fly? What if it had some kind of elemental ability? What if it had already died of starvation? I hoped it'd be the latter, as it'd be the easiest hunt I'd done and the easiest pussy I'd ever gotten as a result, but that still meant finding the bastard thing first.

The wind seemed to have picked up since I last ventured out, pulling the cloth wrap tighter around my face as I trudged through the snow. My legs were burning and my chest was heaving after a mere ten minutes of fighting against the elements. Every time I blinked, I could feel the ice on my eyelashes crack from the contact, and I could feel the ice having formed at the part of the cloth covering that was wrapped over my mouth, the icy temperatures freezing the water moisture gathering on the fabric.

But I soon came upon the square, and soon spotted a brief flash of red on the snow from my hip. I looked down, seeing the pulsing light once again before taking it off my belt. I held it aloft like a torch, an idea that didn't get me anywhere as all it did was illuminate the hellish snow flurry inches around it and cast a rather unsettling light over the place.

Why could demonic equipment never be a nice, bright colour like gold or violet? It always had to be such an oppressive red colouring, and it was really bringing the mood down. I stomped through the snow again, feeling the sub-zero temperatures of the city begin to creep through my clothing after so long out in the cold. I couldn't keep this up for very long, it would be suicide to stay out here for such a long amount of time.

The tracker flashed again, this time brighter and more frequently than before. I stumbled around for a bit, trying to find where exactly it was pointing me to and keeping an eye on the frequency of the flashes. Soon enough, it caught the scent, so to speak. I took a deep breath, this activity really taking it out of me, before stomping on through the snow. I came to an alley that was somewhat sheltered from the wind and the snow.

I leaned against the wall, panting heavily as the oppressive wind was blocked by the ancient stone buildings around me. I took a look around the alley, the faint red flashes briefly illuminating the gore that still lined the walls. They'd bothered picking up the pieces, but hadn't got around to cleaning the blood from the walls where the attack had happened. I squinted, holding the tracker against the wall and using it's light to make out claw indentations on the wall... and something else.

There was a puncture mark on the wall, about an inch wide and seven inches deep. I brushed my fingers at the brick, seeing it crumble away around the edge of the hole as well as inside it, but the condition of the wall elsewhere was in pristine shape. I furrowed my brow, holding the light even closer and noticing the blood caking the wall... as well as something else. I squinted, trying to get my eyes to focus on the secondary stain under the blood. It was dark, nearly impossible to make out, so I did the same thing I'd done with the hole in the wall.

I rubbed at it with my fingers, feeling, seeing, and hearing the stone crumble away underneath the abrasive rubbing. My eyes widened in shock, realising exactly what I was dealing with here. I slowly pieced it all together; the goring, the shape of the teeth, the powerful jaws, and now this new piece of evidence... the acid...

"It's a fucking Chimera," I sighed with a heavy growl in my voice. "But..."

I fell silent for another moment, thinking over my conclusion and realising something. Chimera weren't demonic creatures naturall... but this one was radiating demonic energy, the tracker told him that much. A fake chimera? A demon-made Chimera? He could simply throw the idea out of it being a Chimera, but the acid was what swayed him. It was something that came from the stinger tongue the snake head had in it's mouth.

They used it to pierce the heart of their pray and dissolve them from the inside out. A Chimera's acid has no effect on its own body, so it acted as flavouring and nothing more to the meal, but... the hole was too small to be a proper barb. They were easily the size of a spear and produced way more acid than that. There wasn't any way that a Chimera was packing a barb that small unless...

"It has to be a juvenile," I murmured.

It'd explain why nobody had seen it. Chimera's were fucking enormous creatures, some of them being the size of a cottage in their senior years. You'd notice that running around. But a juvenile? Even a baby one? They don't get much bigger than six feet tall as infants, can't hunt efficiently without their mother, and have a barb that's about the size of a grown man's index finger.

That raised another question: Chimera had lion teeth, not demon teeth. Why were the teeth marks on the corpse serrated? Lion teeth were often as smooth as they came, designed to sink in and tear meat away. They weren't sadistic killing machines made for torture and agonising.

So... what was I dealing with here? A demon Chimera? A demon emulating a Chimera? Or simply a new species of demon I'd never studied before? I removed my hand from the wall, rubbing them together to restore some warmth while holding the tracker... only to have my heart sink as the tracker suddenly went ballistic on me. It started flashing so fast that it pretty much never ceased glowing, producing a boiling red light that illuminate the entire alleyway.

I tore my sword from its scabbard, standing in a prepared stance as I whirled around, seeing glowing red eyes set against black sclera staring at me from the other end of the alley. I bolted backwards, knowing that the alley was wide enough for this thing to fit through, but not wide enough for me to fight against it. I almost cleared the alleyway, was so close to getting out into the open square once again, only for a thunderous flap of its wings to carry it across the alley in less than three seconds.

The lion head bit down around me, picking me up with one of the incisors piercing my arm. My roar of agony was drowned out by the thunderous wings and the screaming wind. I dropped the tracker and my sword, watching the light spin away from me as the Chimera lifted me Goddesses-knew how far into the air. I couldn't tell which way was up or down, I had no clue if we were a mile in the sky or two feet of the ground.

And I found out that answer when the jaw's suddenly released me, the Chimera employing their favourite hunting strategy: dropping their pray to their doom. That meant it was hungry and wasn't in the mood to play around with me. My mind told me to stick my hand out and brace myself, but reason told me that was the perfect way to splinter my arm and bleed out in a matter of minutes if the Chimera didn't finish me. Instead, I tucked my arms against my head and remained as flat as possible while falling.

The fall lasted no more than two seconds, possibly even closer to a second and a half, but that easily meant a fall of over ten meters. I slammed into the several foot deep snow, something that definitely acted as a cushion, but wasn't a force negator. I slammed into the stone beneath it, hearing something crack loudly and having the wind smashed out of my lungs instantly. I couldn't even cough out a curse and couldn't breathe in for a solid few seconds.

I heard the terror flapping above me descending, ready to start snacking on me as it was positive I'd died. I felt a boiling pain rise up in my leg, my thigh to be specific, and that told me it was without doubt broken. With the main supports of standing gone, my sword nowhere to be seen, and my range of vision being less than two feet in front of me, it was safe to say I didn't feel like I had this in the bag.

I threw my hand out in front of me, blasting a stream of fire eight or so feet in the air to act as some kind of startling technique and to give me some kind of light source to work with. It didn't do much of anything, casting a light onto the snow around me, giving away my exact position, and telling the Chimera that I was still alive, meaning that it still had a fight on it's hands.

Off to a great start, so far.

I dragged myself along the ground, the cold snow crunching beneath my as my weight pushed down on it. The initial shock of the impact had ceased and now the pain was starting to eb into me, almost definitely having some level of cracked-or-broken ribs, my neck felt sore beyond all belief, and I still found it hard to breathe. I heard the Chimera land, felt the vibration through the floor followed by it's loud roar, drowned out mostly by the tearing wind. That explained why nobody had heard or seen the fucker before it ate them. I threw another blast of fire at it, singeing the thing's mane and, as you'd expect, making it more angry by doing so.

I heard it's wings flap loudly in the darkness, snow drifts blasting all over the place as it did so. It sounded like it was preparing to pick me up and drop me once again, probably from a higher height to make sure the job was finished this time. Either that, or it was just gonna eat me, plain and simple. I then heard the goat's head bleat in the darkness, a strangely comical moment that I really shouldn't have found funny at that moment.

I could feel the ground vibrating with frequency: it was sprinting towards me. I crawled as fast as I could, trying to move sideways to get out of the sprint path, but I knew it wasn't gonna work. It was probably just gonna bite a hole in me like the one in my arm and I'd die in it's mouth. Fucking brilliant.

I rolled sideways as one last-ditch effort, hoping to feel it thunder past me, only to have my luck work in a way that I would never have expected in a million years. I heard a loud howl, a familiar howl, followed by a roar of agony from the Chimera's lion head, a bleat of pain from the goat, and an angry hiss from the snake head that had yet remained un-introduced to me. I squinted through the snow, trying to make out exactly what was happening, before I heard the Chimera tumble to the ground and slam into a building. It cracked the brick and rumbled loudly, whatever had attacked it causing it to lose it's balance and fall over.

I looked around desperately for either my sword or the demon tracker, wanting either light or a method of defence against the beast once it rose again. I looked around, catching the faintest glow of the red crystal in the far distance. I tried to hurl myself to my feet, only to feel the agony of my punctured arm, now properly bleeding through my coat, and my broken thigh be unable to assist or support my attempts to get back to my feet.

I tumbled back down, head over heels as I landed flat on my back, coughing what I was positive had to be blood down my chin from a possibly rupture organ.

"Doing great, Richter," I groaned to myself, rolling back onto my stomach and crawling on my belly for the tracker.

I heard the Chimera screeching in the darkness, clearly recovering from whatever attack had toppled it, as it tried to sniff me out. Had I been uninjured, I'd have been safer due to the snow and wind making my scent difficult to follow, blowing it in too many directions. But I was bleeding, and bleeding heavily. Blood was easier for them to track, especially when I was leaving a trail of it the further I went.

This fucking Chimera still had the advantage, and my saviour in the darkness hadn't saved me yet. But lord, were they trying. I was suddenly ripped from the ground, at first I thought by the Chimera, but the familiar scent, the pounding of paws in the snow, and the speed of the sprinting told me I was in good hands.

Or... jaws.

"Grael!" I exclaimed, my heart swelling with relief as my Familiar had come to my aid.

"You're an absolute moron," he snarled over our connection. "I should have let that thing eat you just to let you learn a lesson."

"I'm very grateful you didn't," I said as he threw me with a heave of his jaws at the glowing red object.

"Grab it!" he ordered, giving me no time after I'd closed my hand around the object before he grabbed the scruff of my neck again and hoisted my up onto his back, allowing me to ride him like a horse.

"I thought you hated it when I did this?" I asked, wrapping what part of my legs still worked around his chest.

"I hate the idea of burying you more," he snarled, lowering his stance as his head flicked from left to right. "Do you know where your sword landed?"

"Not a clue," I coughed, sputtering up more of whatever else I was leaking.

I noticed Grael's ears twitching just as his nose wrinkled, snarling angrily as he turned back to look at me.

"You're dying," he commented.

"Really?" I responded sarcastically. "I hadn't noticed."

He took off at a sprint, blitzing back up the way I'd entered the square and towards the castle.

"What's your plan?" I asked.

"Getting you to a healer, first," he answered. "And if that winged bastard follows us, having the guard chase it off or take it-"

I couldn't hear the last of his sentence as I was once again snatched by the Chimera, a tooth piercing my side and coming dangerously close to rupturing a lung as I hoisted into the air.

"Richter!" Grael roared up at me, leaping as high as he could reach and sinking his fangs into the throat of the Chimera's lion head.

It screamed in anger and agony from all of it's heads, barely able to keep flying as the added weight of both myself and the seven-foot-long wolf became more load weight than it could bear. It started to lose altitude, having to flap harder and harder to keep aloft all the while trying to shake Grael's vice-lock jaw from it's neck. Not a chance on earth was that happening. You'd have an easier time getting the brown out of wood than Grael's jaws off something.

I gritted my teeth angrily, using the glowing tracker to see exactly what I was looking at. I was still in its jaws, its eyes scanning everything in front of it with a panicked gaze. It was scared, that much was obvious. It had bitten off more than it could chew and was now just trying to escape.

And now it was time to bring the fucker down.

I hiked back the tracker I was carrying, taking a good look at that big, squishy, weak eye before slamming the blunt end of the tracker right into it. It ruptured the eyeball instantly, spraying blood and gore everywhere as well as causing the lion head to scream. It threw its head to the side, trying to throw me away, but my hand released the tracker just in time to grab hold of a clump of its mane. I clung on for dear life as it thrashed about in the air, angered and agonised by the pain in its throat and eye.

I swung up my damaged arm and slammed it down on the crystal, trying desperately to crack through the thing's eye socket and damage its brain. If I could just scrape off enough of the frontal lobe, it would lobotomise it, and it'd go plummeting to the ground again. We weren't that high, I could see the floor less than ten meters beneath us and it wasn't getting any higher. It struggled to keep level, unable to judge distances with the single eye... which lead it to crashing straight into the church tower near the castle.

It had to have broken its shoulder, slamming straight through the stone tower, showering both itself, Grael, and me with a painful hail of rocks and mortar, one catching me in the cheek and splitting the skin wide open. The fall was short and the impact was painful, sending the three of us crashing and rolling through the snow as I ended up getting slammed into an iron gate, Grael went cartwheeling wherever he ended up, and the Chimera seemed break it's neck on impact. Consciousness faded from me rather quickly, slipping into the blackness and feeling a sense of relief as the pain finally stopped.