Random OC Events

Consubis

“Come back, child,” the man shouted. “I mean you no harm!” The child ran through the forest, the leaves crunching dryly beneath their feet. They felt a stitch in their side, having been running for a good while. They were aware of the man chasing closely behind them, but their senses were focused on another issue.

To the left side of the child, they could hear the distinct, calculated footfalls of a predator closing in on its prey. The problem was the child knew what was making these footsteps, and it wasn’t very happy. They kept running, hearing the shouting of the man behind them mixing with the mostly-silent sound of the predator quickly closing in. Clearly the man couldn’t hear the predator, much to the child’s annoyance.

“Child, please, you do not know what you are doing,” the man screamed. He was catching up fast, and the child was panicking. “You’ll be safe with me,” he continued, prompting the child to scowl.

Soon the child broke through the foliage and into a large clearing, looking around for somewhere they could hide. But there was nowhere to hide. They whipped around to face the man chasing them, and he doubled over out of breath.

“Why do you run, child,” he asked breathlessly. “I only wish to help.”

The child just stared at him, their face not displaying any emotion. The man looked around at his surroundings. The field was filled with white flowers, and smelled of an awful smell he couldn’t quite identify. When he looked back at the child, he realized he couldn’t quite tell what exactly they were.

They didn’t appear to be a boy, but they also weren’t quite a girl. Maybe if he got closer…

He slowly walked closer to the child holding his arms out, as if approaching a scared injured animal. The man was a hunter, after all. He had experience with this sort of thing. As he got closer, however, he got a look at the child’s eyes.

The left was red with a blue pupil, while the right was the opposite. This child was either very sick…or not human. He kept approaching, more cautiously this time. When he finally got close he knelt down to look at them. Then before the man could react, the child bit down on his arm, sending a searing pain up to his shoulder.

The child’s teeth dug deep into the man’s forearm, the familiar, metallic taste of blood filling their mouth. They listened to the man scream, but they didn’t care. This was their prey, and he wouldn’t get it. Their day to prove themselves. And he wasn’t going to interrupt.

The man was screaming loudly, having never felt a pain this intense before. The man wedged his other arm between his arm and the child’s mouth, pulling as hard as he could. Eventually, he wedged them off of himself and threw them aside, hitting their head on a rock. 

The child cried out as the man cradled his injured arm, not daring to look at it. He knew if he did he’d have to acknowledge it, and he couldn’t do that yet. Not until he got away. He turned to flee and saw eyes staring out at him from the leaves in the trees. There was something watching him. 

He went to flee the other way, but the child had stood back up seeming incredibly angry. They were holding the back of their head and scowling with their sharp, bloodstained teeth bared. Then they looked past him and didn’t seem as angry and more smug, while simultaneously seeming disappointed. The man slowly turned back around and audibly gasped at the sight before him.

The creature was easily the height of the small trees surrounding the clearing, its skin covered in scales that glistened in the sunlight. The main body was gray with the arms and legs fading to blue, and then fading again to red closer to the creature’s claws. It wore a black crown upon its head tipped with red jewels, the crown emanating an ominous aura. But what caught the man’s attention the most was its face.

It had an elongated, tooth-filled mouth with no lips, just the sharp teeth bared out for the world to see. And its eyes….its eyes were an exact replica of the child’s, with a long scar running over the right eye. And in its eyes he saw only fury.

The man suddenly understood. That child had been the spawn of this horrific creature…and he had caused it injury. He went to run, but the child tackled him to the ground. He struggled to shove the child off of himself again, but all he could focus on was the sound of the creature’s footsteps growing closer. Soon enough the creature had arrived and picked up the child, setting them on its shoulders and grabbing the man by the head.

The child crossed their arms and watched from above as their papa grabbed the man and began walking away. The man kept screaming but papa soon put a stop to that with a swift hit into a tree. Good. His screams were starting to hurt their ears. Once they reached the cave they and their papa called home, they climbed off and walked over to their pile of old clothes they used as a bed. 

Their papa threw the man into the fire and let him cook before walking over to the child. “You could have gotten seriously injured, Maximilian.”

Maximilian crossed their arms. “I had that. This was my hunt, and I could've handled him just fine.” 

Their papa’s face curved into a small smile, ruffling their hair. “That is not what I saw, but it matters not. Come,” he said, “it is time for dinner.”

Maximilian’s stomach grumbled and they stood up and walked over to the rock they used as a table, their papa walking back to the fire and picking some charred meat out of it, dropping it in front of them to eat. 

The child stared hungrily at the mystery meat, smiling at their papa, before digging into their meal.