Aithan Alistair...
River clenched his hands into his fists, looking down at the still unlifted serpant sigil. How did Aithan find him?
The retriever growled behind him, a grim reminder that his battle for survival today was far from over. Even with one eye blinded and one limb incapacitated, the beast still showed no sign of going down.
Another arrow flew overhead and dug into the monster's neck. In comparison to the sheer size of the beast, it seemed no more threatening than a splinter.
Two more arrows pierced through the air with deafening whistles and hit it on the hind legs. The retriever roared in anguish, the sound threatening to puncture River's eardrums.
"This attack is classified under 'gentle breez' in our arsenal."
Wolfram shouted over the screech of the retriever,not even trying to mask his disappointment. He had a valid argument. The arrows weren't doing shi-
The arrow in its eye exploded with a boom that sent shockwaves through the air. The other four arrows followed suit, rattling the ground under their feet with each thundering blast. River's heart squeezed in terror at the memory of Aithan Alistair pointing one of these arrows at Shu Huxley .
There had been hesitation in his gaze. He was fully prepared to blast the Northern general in to dust.
Chunks of flesh and sinew scattered in all directions, and blood rained down on the hilltop, covering every surface in the thick, cool,cool golden liquid.
This was divine essence.
This was the blood that ran in Heavenly Beasts and Gods. The power River lacked his whole life; it was raining down on him, dripping down his hair and his face.
It smelled sickeningly sweet, unlike the blood of humans, which smelled disgusting. River let his curiosity win and gingerly parted his lips,trying to taste the blood dripping down them.
But then he tasted rust.
The nauseating stench of blood hit his nostrils with such force that it sent his head reeling. He stared down to see his whole person covered in slick, warm crimson blood-the previous golden glory gone.
This was the deterioration.
According to the scriptures, divine essence could not maintain its original form outside of a divine body for more than three heartbeats. Its power will deteriorate, reducing the elixir of immortality to mere warm,crimson blood. This ensured that the essence didn't fall into mortal hands to be abused.
He had read that the divine essence of Heavenly Beasts was not compatible with humans and could even act as mild poison-a fun fact he had forgotten when he tried to lick it up a few seconds ago.
He heard Wolfram groaning in disgust and turned to see him drenched in blood,just like he was. His visage was contorted like he was regretting his snide remark just minutes ago.
"Just when I thought today couldn't get any better" he sighed and shuddered.
The once fearsome creature now laid in pieces, a macabre testament to the power unleashed upon it. River gazed at it, feeling the contents of his stomach gushing upwards.
Kaizer Schulz's pallid face caught his eye. His mouth hung in a soundless scream, his eyes bulging in both disbelief and rage.He seemed to shaken to his core at how soundly he was defeated.
The hound howled, bothered by its master's ire. The two heads wailed in harmony, the sound foreboding and melancholy.
River had a very omnious feeling.
He must run. Fast. God speed.
"We should get out of here!" He cried out to Wolfram.
They both sprinted toward the flight of stone steps. River frantically descended the stairs down the hill, despite the excruciating slash on his chest, leaving the blood-covered clearing and mourning hound behind in his dust.
River looked to his side and saw that the ship was quite close now. By the time they reached the foot of the hill, Alistairs could manage to come ashore. Hopefully, they could sail away before the next heavenly beast made an appearance.
River caught something in his peripheral vision and froze on his tracks, causing Wolfram to crash on to him with a thud.
A few steps away, a dark cloud of smoke emerged, seemingly out of thin air. It curled around before taking the shape of a long, black creature.
Jinxed it! Fucking jinxed it!
This one was a snake.
Thicker than River's torso, it crawled languidly up the stairs, hissing . Its obsidian scales shimmered iridescently under the sun. It gracefully ascended the winding staircase carved into the hillside, each sinuous movement sending chills down River's spine.
"Don't look it in the eyes!" Wolfram warned.
But venomous gold eyes already held River's cerulean blue gaze captive.
River was faintly aware that he should look away before it was too late. Still, he found that it was impossible to tear his eyes away from those narrow, vertical pupils.
Within seconds, River felt the adrenaline rush that kept him alive so far wash away from his systems. Tranquility took its place, numbing all his pains and sores. His mind quietened down, and it was very hard to keep his eyes open.
Yes, he just needed to give up. Stop running and let the sweet numbness swallow him whole.
Wolfram's panicked voice seemed to be coming from the other side of the ocean. River was faintly aware he was moving . It felt like he was floating away in the sea breeze.
The ground abruptly gave away under his feet, and he was stumbling through the air, falling, falling. River felt weightless and let the gravity be his sole guide on this mad decent. There was no panic , no fear. He felt utterly peaceful.
His body crashed on to a hard surface, and dull pain shot through him. It was not enough to snatch him out of his half-lucid state. He was invincible to pain now.
He felt very cold .
Now he was sinking.
It was hard to breathe.
He no longer felt light and feathery. His body was as heavy as a boulder now, rapidly decending into an unknowing abyss of darkness.
River's lungs burned as his body struggled to draw in air. But there were none. A small voice screamed in his head that he was drowning and that he was going to die.
Sadly, he did not care.
River succumbed to darkness and let himself drown with no struggle.
Author has something to say
Cliffffffhangerrr
Like literally ...
Author apologizes for failing to update yesterday .
Author will try her level best to crank out another chap by tonight because she has plans tomorrow .
Author - * spends whole week doing absolutely nothing, suffers from writter block
Also Author -* goes to lectures on sundays and gets hits with the urge to write
River Verlice
Aithan Alistair
Wolfram - *staring deadpan into the camera with a microphone in hand *
And here ,you can see the endangered River in his natural habitat
River - *falls down the stairs,spilling cereal everywhere *
Wolfram - Natural selection is coming for this specimen .
Prompt from pinterest ..