Gerald dove for the ground as the paw, bigger than his entire torso, hurtled over his head to smash into the truck of a tree. The tree, a decent-sized oak of some kind, groaned as it began to list to one side. The creature snarled as it recovered, only to find its prey darting away again. Gerald didn’t give it a second glance which was the height of foolishness but he didn’t have time to waste in a battle he couldn’t win in the first place.

The creature, a high-level D-Rank he hadn’t taken the time to identify, let out a roar that tapered off into a high-pitched warble. It sounded eerily like the creature was laughing at him, reminiscent of the hyenas of the plains to the south but this was no hyena. For one, it was massive standing almost eight feet at the shoulders with said shoulders being wide and bulky. There was an ape-like bent to its front and back paws which ended in wickedly sharp claws. Its hyena-like jaws connected to a stocky neck, culminating in a hump toward the shoulder blades.

Basically, it was terrifying and Gerald had to use every trick in his book to get away from it only for it to find him again with unerring accuracy. “I bet it’s called something stupid like a Hyerilla,” he muttered under his breath before saving the rest for running. He heard it crashing after him and groaned while once again activating his stealth ability [One With Nature]. He heard the beast stop and sighed in momentary relief as he had the last few times.

Usually, a perfect means of breezing through a forest without detection it didn’t take long for him to hear the sound of pursuit starting up again and he groaned. [Second Wind] activated as soon as he could spare the Aether for it and he felt his lungs ease as the ability took the strain. He took off through the undergrowth but could sense his time was running out. He had been gassed before the beast had shown up and it was only by skill and a good amount of luck that he had managed to keep a couple of steps ahead of excruciating death via hyena-gorilla hybrid.

He juked between trees, hoping that they would slow down the massive beast behind him and he managed to succeed for a good distance but ultimately he hit an open stretch and the game was up. He put on a last burst of speed, trying to get clear before the beast caught up but it wasn’t to be. There was a snarl and then his body was moving, reacting at the speed of subconscious thought. [Predator’s Instincts] had him darting under another striking paw but numerous previous activations had slowed the ability and the meaty appendage clipped him.

Flight. Short, temporary, and, ultimately, painful. Gerald felt something crunch as he struck a tree and bounced off. He rolled with the impact and popped up to his feet but the motion was slower than he would’ve liked. His back ached and that wasn’t good but he could feel his tempered Constitution begin to go to work. The ranger let out a snarl of his own as the beast turned to face him, that laughing roar already bubbling from its throat.

Gerald grimaced as he unsheathed his duel daggers. With his back being messed up there was no way he would be able to draw his bow with any power. As the creature began to charge Gerald went through his options before settling on one that might give him a shot at survival. To be honest he should have attempted this a while ago but he had thought he could evade and continue his mission without having to resort to combat.

He darted forward, his tempered dexterity giving his feet wings. Ducking under a wild haymaker of a swipe his daggers darted for the beast’s back left leg digging in before being ripped out by the speed of his passage. The creature roared and spun, moving with a speed that belied its heavy frame. Gerald attempted a dodging motion but his back twinched painfully and he only managed a deflection rather than a complete miss.

The deflection sent him careening across the short clearing, bruised and battered. He found his feet even as the beast snarled and charged in its weird shuffling gait. That didn’t mean it wasn’t fast, however. Gerald swayed to the side as it tried to spear his torso with the claws of one paw. He had to duck under a bite as its jaws snapped forward and he stifled a scream as his back clenched and spasmed. His constitution wasn’t keeping up which meant that something was seriously messed up.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

The young ranger clenched his teeth against the pain and let out his own roar of defiance slamming one of his daggers up into the bottom of the creature’s jaw. Tearing it free as the creature attempted to retaliate, he launched himself to the side calling on his Aether. One of his daggers glowed with blood-red light even as he stabbed down and to the side, rending the beast’s back leg. It roared and spun, backhanding him across the clearing. Gerald’s eyes blinked in confusion as his body pinballed off the ground and into the trunk of a tree.

As darkness closed in on the periphery of his vision he saw the beast limping toward him with red energy rippling off its fur. “Huh,” he mumbled, “shoulda known it had some kinda… rage… ability.” As he faded from consciousness, he could've sworn he heard another person chuckle nearby.

Sometime later…

Death was strangely pleasant. It had been cold at first which made a certain kind of sense but then there had been a brilliant flash of heat that reminded him of the Sun Engine for some reason. Perhaps his soul had risen to take its place as fuel for its charge across the sky. The warmth was soothing, liberating almost.

He let the heat wash over him, content in the fact that he had made it to the place where only Archons were allowed. He breathed deeply of the hot air and smoke…smoke…breathing. Gerald snapped upright, eyes blinking rapidly against the glare of green light. His ears rang and his muscles ached all over, especially his back but he was surprised to find that it no longer pained him as much.

As his eyes adjusted he found himself staring into the greenest eyes he had ever seen set in the face of the ugliest creature he had ever seen. He wasn’t proud of the way he practically screamed and flinched away from the visage before him. His mortification was only made worse at the way the creature began cackling madly, falling back and rolling around on the ground in his evident glee.

Gerald watched the creature do so in fascinated disgust, a fact the creature seemed to register as it hopped up and once more got in his face. The ranger had to hold his breath as the ugly thing let out a snort of air that would have made Bert Stonejaw’s morning breath a thing of beauty.

“Whatta you do ‘ere den tall-folk?”

Gerald blinked and then blinked again at the heavily accented words. It wasn’t an accent he had ever heard before and though he understood them he was flummoxed by the context. It was as if he had stumbled onto an old man’s front lawn and was being confronted by a crotchety elder. As he took in the creature before him he realized that it might not have been far from the truth.

The figure was short, perhaps three feet tall at the most, and had a thick bushy beard with all manner of things sprouting from it. Pointed jagged ears jutted out behind it and large hands and feet were prominent. Then there were those eyes, piercing green and flickering as if alive with inner fire. Gerald had to turn away but when he did so he was confronted by the roaring green inferno that had been the giant hyena ape thing that had attacked him.

A snort sounded and Gerald turned to behold the little green man glaring at him with utter disdain. There was a snap from two long slender fingers and suddenly the eerily green fire winked out, leaving a steaming, sizzling corpse. The creature turned, ignoring Gerald’s incredulous stare, and went to a nearby boulder where a staff leaned against it.

That was the moment that Gerald subconsciously activated [Sun’s Weaving Threads] and the world exploded into threads of glowing yellows, oranges, and burnished reds. The young man gasped at the sudden confluence of threads as he hadn’t before seen such a blazing array. Then his heart nearly stopped as he took in the short green figure who had now picked up his staff, one that blazed with inner fire. The threads didn’t just connect to the little figure, they practically draped themselves over him like the cloak of a king.

When the figure’s eyes met Gerald’s they held the knowing look that he had seen in the eyes of his teachers when they suspected he had finally grasped what they had been speaking on. Its eyes flashed green and the threads shuddered, wrapping around the creature even tighter. Threads were everywhere and Gerald had to turn off the skill in order to keep his sight and he still had to blink rapidly to banish the spots that had formed.

When he finally recovered he found the creature staring him in the eyes again, too close for comfort. Now though, Gerald was unable to look away. The little green man hummed to himself before returning to a more respectable distance.

“So. Yousa come at last den. Isa been waitin.”

“Who are you?” Gerald gasped, shuddering again in remembrance of what he saw. A pearly white smile that was almost scarily juxtaposed with the ugliness of its bearer appeared through the beard.

“My name beez Dug. Dug Shardaal, Sporemeistah of dah Git Bog.”