Two Worlds among the Stars (G/t)

2. Chapter: Beyond the River

The ground underneath Noah began to shake even harder, to the point where it made his whole body vibrate. At least Noah wanted to pretend that was the reason why he was shaking as well. This could only mean one thing. He may be a lot, but he wasn't an idiot. He knew exactly what was going to happen to him. He had heard all the horror stories about the man-eating monster, that lived across the river. And, of course, he also knew about this dumb rule about not crossing the river or whatever. He used to laugh about all the people, who were either naive or stupid enough to believe this prattle. Never in his wildest dreams would he have thought they would turn out to be true. And yet, here he was, about to be proven wrong in the worst way possible.

He had always thought they were just made-up stories parents told their children, when they refused to behave. But those tales, which caused little kids to have nightmares, about being kidnapped and eaten by a gigantic monster were far from being imaginary. It was like exactly one of those nightmares came to life and Noah was trapped inside of it. He wanted to believe, that he was also just having a bad dream and was hopefully going to wake up soon. But he knew that was just wishful thinking. This wouldn't end with him waking up in his bed. This was real.

For the first time in his life Noah was stuck. Normally in situations like these he would already have a plan to escape, but not this time. He couldn't think of a single way, that would get him out of this mess. Not with the guard behind him, having a tight grip on his shoulders. Noah could, of course, try to beg for mercy and hope for the best, but he doubted this would get him anywhere. To the guards he was just another criminal and therefore a problem they had to deal with. They would be glad to get rid of him. And it wasn't like he had any other options. Noah couldn't even think of one person, who would be willing to help him and stop the mayor from sacrificing him to the beast. Because as much as he hated to admit it, for once the damn mayor was right. No one would miss him. So even if he was willing to swallow his pride and cry for help. Nothing would change.

Noah had been through a lot, but this..... this was the icing on the cake. It literally couldn't get any worse. Or maybe it could. Because the worst of all was the fact, that for once he was completely innocent! He wasn't the one, who broke the maybe-not-so-stupid rule. The mayor was just using him as a scapegoat to get rid of him.

Fear was slowly rising up inside him, like an invisible force was clutching his chest, making it harder to breathe. He knew very well that he didn't have much time left, as the ground started to tremble with so much force that little stones bounced up and down with every step the beast took towards them. Yet, instead of letting his fear consume him, he tried to focus on his anger. It may seem childish, but Noah wanted to hold onto it as long as possible, if that meant he could hide his fear just a little longer. If he had to die, at the very least he wanted to keep the little piece of dignity he had 'til the bitter end.

Thankfully, anger was no stranger to Noah. He had a lot of practice in ignoring his other feelings in favour of anger and preferred to act out, instead of showing how he truly felt, so he wouldn't appear weak infront of others.

It wasn't that hard, when it was directed towards a rat like Delmore. Despite never meeting him in person, Noah had always hated that man with passion. He was one of the reasons why his life had turned out the way it did. Because of him and his greed a lot of people here lived in poverty. If it weren't for the high taxes Noah's childhood may have turned out differently. Maybe he would have never ended up in the orphanage, with trouble always on his heels. Maybe he could have had a happy childhood like a normal kid. Maybe he wouldn't even be in this situation right now. Maybe...

Noah squeezed his eyes shut, trying to blend out these thoughts. Thinking about the what-if's wouldn't help him either. The best would be to just accept his fate and hope he wouldn't have to suffer too long. He didn't even want to imagine what a creature this size was capable of.