Changelings Chapt. 1, Pt. 3

He raced on, driven by hunger, becoming ignorant of his surroundings, the smell of warm flesh living in his nostrils, crawling over his tongue, pervading his senses and overloading his mind and so he did  not notice the small creature running after him, trying her hardest to keep up with him.

He wound through the rocks unheeding of stone and plant.

She stumbled after him, tripping over rocks and plants, falling, picking herself up again and again, chasing, chasing, ever chasing. She must know his purpose where he was going.

Closer, closer, closer! He could smell them, rodents of some sort, much like the family of mice he had been born near. He began to slow his pace, wary of frightening his prey.

Closer, closer, closer! She was gaining on him, he was beginning to slow but she had no intention of doing so. She was gaining, her prize was in sight. What that prize was, she was no longer sure, but she had it. 5 body lengths from him, she leaped.

Thap thap thap thap thap! Something was running up behind him, close enough to feel the vibrations through the rocks around him. He raised his head and turned to look behind him quickly. It was one of those large, annoying lizards that always stomped around eating each other and everything else smaller than them. He had never had one interested in him before though, and he had never seen one quite as small as this either, not with adult proportions. He flickered his tongue and caught the same scent as before. “Here’s our little stalker…” Again the noise echoed, but this time it held no fear for him. His heart rate sped up as his survival instinct kicked in and adrenaline coursed through his veins. It leapt. “Oh, damn…” He struck.

She had bare time to see that he had noticed her presence and as he rose and looked behind him, she saw a coldness in those eyes that shot a bolt of fear through her. She was going to die. His open maw struck her square in the chest, his body wrapping tightly around hers, crushing the life from her. They hit the ground, raising a small cloud of dust, skidding still with her momentum, sending small rocks flying.  She only had use of one of her arms, the other was crushed against her body by his. Her free arm flailed uselessly uable to reach him. She reared her head back and bit down hard on his neck, right where it joined to his head.

Pain! It sent spots of light flashing before his eyes, weakening his resolve, and his grip. He felt her arm come loose, and again, blinding pain ripped through him, this time along his underside.

She felt him weaken, and it allowed her to free one arm. She ripped upward, tearing off several scales, and pushing a single loop of his body up closer to her head. In a split second she realized this was a mistake. His head was no longer in her reach.

The pain in his neck began to dissipate as her movement had forced his body between her head and his. It also allowed him a death grip about her neck. He snapped all the muscles in his body, pulling into a coil about her neck.

Her arms flailed wildly as her air supply was cut off, and she felt the bones in her neck begin to creak and snap. She couldn’t breathe!! “Damnit, don’t do this.” Came again the noise. She no longer cared. She was going to die. Spots of light, bright as the high sun, began to burst before her eyes. Her ribcage imploded.

He felt her bones begin to crush underneath his body, slowly slowly breaking, vertebrae and ribs alike. Her movement began to slow, he felt her pulse in her neck quicken, then slow, and ever so finally, he felt the vibration of her panicked heartbeat give it’s last.

As her mind shut down, her awareness retreated from the world, away from the pain, turning inward. She saw a green shining light, and two forms within it. The first form moved towards her. It was tall, with oddly shaped features, unlike she had ever seen, and it frightened her. As it drew closer, it began to make a low crooning noise, rhythmic and soothing… And the other form now came out from behind it. This creature was tall, but not nearly as tall as the other. It had long shimmering fur coming from it’s head, the color of darkest night, and when it opened its mouth, she heard a familiar sound. ”Don’t worry little one, all is well...” It crouched, bringing it’s face to hers, and she looked in it’s eyes, and felt peace. Here was herself. All was well, and everything would be well in the end. And then, there was nothing, nothing but the beautiful Melody of the creature that bent to take her broken spirit into it’s hands.

“What a waste…” Came the noise again, as he loosened his coils from her body. He studied the animal for a moment. “It was quite beautiful…” He couldn’t eat it. It was too large. Why had it come after him? It wasn’t even near big enough to kill him. A momentary feeling came over him, it made him feel like crawling into a hole and staying there, regardless of his own needs. He felt… it was something inside. He thought about the last throes of life in the small creature he had just killed. He looked at it again, and felt a strange connection to her. He felt… Sorrow. The feeling passed. He flickered his tongue slowly, tasting the air. He was still hungry, and now exhausted from the struggle.

A small blue spark flipped off the end of his tongue, drifting lazily down to the broken creature before him, resting on her chest, then absorbing into her body.

He crawled away, towards the source of food. He did not notice that he had no wounds upon his body, not a scale missing. He continued on towards the scent of his original intent. Not too much farther now. 100 body lengths away perhaps, just off in the jungly growth ahead.

He moved on, and the plain grew quiet.

She slowly came to, opening her eyes with great care. She arose from the ground. Music still rang in her ears. She stood for a moment. The ground was much farther away than it was a few moments before. She teetered for a moment, steadying herself. She brought her claws to her head, cradling her skull, spots of light still bursting before her eyes from her… She had died. Why was she still here?

 She looked down, examining her body, which had been crushed in several places. She found an unfamiliar sight. Not only was she completely whole, but she was many times taller than she had been before, perhaps six or seven times. She was a dark mottled brown, with powerful arms and a broad chest. Her arms ended in wickedly curved claws, and her legs were now twice as big around as her previous size, and upon each foot were 3 claws, one massive one on each on the inner side, designed to kill. She could move them. She tapped one upon the rock.

She ran her tongue around her mouth, and felt perfect razors on every side, hundreds and hundreds of teeth made for cutting and slicing. No more worms for her. She was a killing machine.

She looked up from her body, and saw her murderer crawling through the grass ahead of her. Green light swirled in her eyes as she opened her mouth and let out a snarl of hatred and rage.

She would have her revenge!