He should have known shit was going to go down.
What was he thinking joining them in the forest when he barely held any knowledge of the world or only needed to walk a little to get breathless?
Now, he was left with one dead rabbit by his feet and a hovering cloaked being above him glaring at him.
The Slinktail had nothing to protect him with unless he counted the rabbit, and at this point, he did. He could use it to hit it with or throw at it as a distraction. Yet the entire time, while Zephyr had been panicking and then speculating about what to do, which was only over the course of a few seconds, the freaky creature hadn't moved.
It just… stared at him with those glowing yellow eyes.
Creepy. As. Fuck.
Slowly, Zephyr lowered to grab the rabbit, expecting the creature to fly towards him or something. It didn't. But the tension in his body remained, his breathing slowing as he focused on the hovering dude. Besides its horrifying looks, it didn't really do anything.
Or so Zephyr hoped. But why would Garzon run off like that? It had to be something far more powerful if a Daegorth wouldn't face it.
A sharp, slicing sound, akin to a swift whisper, emitted in the air before Zephyr saw the faintest glint of light flashing on a silver metallic object sailing through the air. Only when it hit its mark did Zephyr realise it was a blade. With a thud and a crack, the dagger struck between the creature's eyes.
The creature fell to the ground in a heap, the yellow glow where its eye sockets should be zapped out. With widened eyes, Zephyr twisted his head in the direction the knife came from, in the trees. But the Slinktail with turquoise hair was already running off along the branches. Before he could contemplate what had happened, a growling sound came from his left.
Right, of course. Just his damned luck!
Obviously, that fucker wasn't the only thing that could kill him in this forsaken forest!
And now that his protection was gone, everything was coming out to play. Zephyr's eyes flicked toward the growling, his feet slowly stepping in the cloaked figure's direction, hands hovering by his sides, ready for this new threat to attack him. Glowing amber eyes met him, its sharp teeth glinting in the dim light as it bared him a menacing snarl.
Pointed ears, large paws, grey fur- it was a wolf. But this wolf wasn't like any he'd seen in the documentaries. None were this size. It had to be at least four times the size of a normal wolf, the pads of its paws sinking into the mud from its weight.
There was no way he could outrun that thing. Or possibly fight it off. One snap of that jaw, and he was sure half his body would be gone.
Zephyr wasn't about to give up on his life, though. Not this time!
As though it sensed a slight change in the Slinktail, the wolf's ears flicked, its body lowering, ready to pounce, just as Zephyr dashed toward the creature on the floor. Skidding across the ground, he reached for the blade only to yelp at the searing pain shredding his shoulder where the wolf clamped down on him, missing its aim for his neck. His vision flashed and blurred momentarily, the blood vessels he shouldn't see throbbing into existence as his body tried to recover and his mind pushed through this agony.
Must… Survive….
No. I will survive.
Zephyr's hand wrapped around the dagger as the wolf continued tearing into his flesh, shaking its head and growling, yanking him one way and another. It released its hold on him as he jerked the blade from the creature's skull, twisting in time as the wolf dove towards him, going for his neck. The dagger pierced the beast's chest just as its jaw clamped down on his throat.
However, it promptly let him go, a pained yelp causing it to recoil. Zephyr withdrew the blade and repeated the action, ignoring the warm blood streaming down his side and neck, mingling with the creature's spraying on his white scales. With one final blow to its neck, after its last attempt to finish Zephyr by going for his throat again, the wolf stilled, its glowing eyes wide in what appeared to be astonishment.
"No!!" A scream reached his ears just as the wolf collapsed on top of him. The weight was too much to bear, yet fueled by the last surge of adrenaline pumping through his veins, he managed to drag himself out from beneath it. As he did so, the creature shrunk, its fur receding, and gradually Zephyr watched, through hazed vision, amidst the pounding in his head, pain pulsating from one side of his body, and exhaustion trying to claim him into slumber, the wolf morphed into a man.
"How could you! How could you!" A woman screeched from the side. "Demons!"
Zephyr turned his head, breathing ragged as he saw a woman kneeling, her attire somewhat more tribal than what he'd become used to in this world. He stared at her, watched as she sobbed and raged on about how disgusting demons were. That thing attacked him, yet he was the one being insulted.
Zephyr's gaze moved back to the man who was once a wolf and tried to kill him. Why though? It wasn't some thoughtless animal trying to eat him; he wanted to actually kill him. Survival of the fittest? Nonsense. He must have known what a Slinktail was.
Or was it fuelled by pure hatred of demons, similar to how this woman was reacting—just like how he had seen people react to him.
"You're dead." The woman announced through a growl.
Zephyr's head whipped to the side, wincing at the pain, and finally raising his hand to the puncture wounds on his neck. His gaze flicked down to his gory, now disfigured shoulder. There was too much blood. He was losing too much blood.
The sound of ripping clothes and flesh returned his attention to the woman who lunged towards him naked and shifted mid-flight into another wolf.
Fuck. He really was going to die.
You take over my body, and this is how you treat it. Pathetic…
Huh? Zephyr didn't have time to think about the voice that popped up in his head as a fricken magical beast was keen on ripping him to pieces. The dagger was embedded in the other wolf; his body was weak, and his blood was already seeping into the ground. This was it.
Zephyr expected his life to flash before his eyes as he gazed at the sharp jaw growing bigger as the wolf lunged towards his face, but nothing happened. His mind was blank and full of regrets. He wasted his second chance at life.
A sudden yelp escaped the wolf before it collapsed on the ground, crushing his legs in the process. Zephyr stared wide-eyed at the dagger embedded into the wolf's head- the head that returned back into a naked woman. Head face down, black hair tickling Zephyr's legs. She died instantly.
"You know I've lost count of how many times I've saved your life." Fig's voice echoed from above in the trees.