Her back hit the cupboards with a force hard enough to share them. The pieces of the cupboard fell with her, crashing to the ground and on top of her, their contents following mere seconds later. Wood splintered, glass shattered, ingredients and wells of ink poured and scrolls tore and scattered.
Audrey opened her eyes to see a great big pair of glowing green eyes on her bedframe. Its eyes narrowed at her, then she noticed the claws and the teeth. The realization dawned on her. Those fucking kids had turned her bed into a literal beast! And it looked like it was not done transforming. Cotton sheets turned into a heavily scaled hide, pillows and the headboard turned into hips and the legs grew longer, thicker.
Audrey got up from the rubble and ran out the door, the beast swiped at her and tried to give chase but it could not follow her because of its size. Audrey continued running, she knew it would not be long before it figured out how to get out.
She had to be prepared for that, and since potions and mana were just not an option at the moment, she would have to look for a weapon that could actually do some real damage. Trouble was there was nothing of the kind in the house and she heavily doubted a butter knife could do any damage to a creature that looked like it had skin seven times thicker than hers.
Why could her parents not even have a worthwhile dagger just laying around somewhere for this specific reason? It was not like this had not happened before. A series of loud bangs told her the creature was getting frustrated. If it kept banging at the wall like that it would be out in a few short minutes. She had to find something quick.
She raced to the ritual room and rummaged through the drawers and boxes in there. At this point, she would take her chances with a ritual dagger than nothing at all.
She must have opened all the drawers and more than fifteen boxes before she found something but it was not in the least bit useful in her current situation! She turned and twisted each of them in the white light the hanging orbs gave off but there was nothing hidden on them. Why were there so many empty boxes in this place anyway?! She picked another one and opened it. It was as of everything had already been taken out before hand.
Audrey snapped the box shut and hurriedly set it aside. That was when she noticed the house was silent. The banging sounds and the snarls were gone.
Which left only one explanation, the creature had gotten out, and she knew exactly were it was. It was behind her, blocking her exit. Her only exit.
She slowly turned to face her hunter, it was almost a head taller than her and fixed her eyes on its green reptilian ones. Hungry eyes collided with her scared ones. Audrey's heart recklessly pounded in her chest. She was never that good with reptilian beasts especially when they were hungry. They would much prefer to take a bite out of her than the food she readily offered, but if it was a gecko, that she could handle. She definitely could not handle this one. She did not even know what this thing was. It was hard to tell if it was purely a work of Augusto's mind or an actual beast from part of Kalurin.
It stood at the door, four legs spread, eyes pinned on her, jaws at the ready for any form her escape attempts. When it saw none, it took a step into the room. How long had this thing been created? If her calculations were right, since eight this morning. It was nearly eleven right now, maybe a few minutes past. An hour and twelve minutes give or take till midnight. So that was, sixteen hours! And then some.
This thing had been in her room waiting for over sixteen hours! What was Augusto's plan anyway?! To get her killed!? The creature moved in more and a glint of something on the ground caught her eye. Her heart skipped a beat, a sword. Her eyes slid over its sleek blade and the blood red ruby that adorned its handle. She could definitely use that, but how did she miss it? The only question was, how she would get to it with this rat lizard crocodile mashup in her way.
She could see it bunch its muscles ready to pounce, teeth dripping with saliva, ready to rip into her. Beads of cold sweat ran down her back and she swallowed thickly. It lunged for her, she jumped out of the way and dove for the sword.
The wall behind her shattered and dust flew into the air as her right hand gripped the sword's handle. Audrey got up and turned her head back to look for the exit through the dust, she saw the creature shaking itself off.
Definitely not that way, she turned the other way and felt her way to the door post. Once she was sure it was the exit, she ran out of the room. It dawned on her that even with the sword in her hand, she could easily get cornered in the house. To avoid that, she had to leave the house but if she left she would be a sitting duck.
The creature roared its frustration and Audrey promptly chose to be a sitting duck in the dark rather than a cornered mouse in the light. She ran out of the house and into the dark. Her destination, the lake. More precisely, the ceremony.