Kaden exhaled sharply, his breath ragged as he tightened his grip on both daggers. His hands were slick with sweat and blood—some his own, most belonging to the creatures he'd already cut down. His arms ached, his legs burned, and every inch of his body protested, but he had no time to stop. Not with this thing still hovering above him.
The beast hovered just above him, its four crimson wings beating in slow, deliberate motions, keeping it aloft with unsettling grace. It was massive—easily the size of a lion, but with an elongated body covered in segmented, chitinous armor. Its head was triangular, with bulbous black eyes that reflected the light like polished stone, and its curled, needle-thin proboscis twitched as if tasting the air.
