Okay so, this thing was tough.

It was fast, it was agile, it was breathing fire and I was basically powerless. Yeah, I had a knife but that wasn’t going to work.

It reminded me about that one time I got lost in an arcade with about a hundred bucks. Yeah, I had money yeah, I knew how to get home and I probably could have gotten out of the arcade if I’d just asked an employee nicely. But with all the sounds and colors… could you really blame me for splurging all my money trying to beat that monkey?

Okay, terrible comparison… and wait, was I always terrible with money? Hmm…

‘But it’s intelligent, right?’

“Hey!” I yelled. “I’m telling you, my mother would kill you!” I ran around, avoiding the thing’s fiery breath.

It hadn’t yet attacked me seriously yet. As though it was having fun toying with me, like a cat playing with a mouse before eventually… eating it.

Yeah, this certainly wasn’t good. But I didn’t have any way to resist. Running around in circles was all I could manage.

Threats are no good.

“Argh-” I grabbed my right arm which burned. Did I accidentally get scorched? No. there was no such sign. It’s just that… my right arm was so damn warm and even burning. It reminded me of that time it was chewed by a tiger. ‘This is not the time to be panicking!’

“Kek ke ke~!” The thing laughed, stayed put for a second as I was ready to piss myself any minute now.

Oh god, I wished it’d never come to this. I wished I didn’t come with mother; I wish…. ‘Who the fuck am I even wishing to?’

Shaking my head violently, I gripped my knife firm and charged in a blind swing. The thing dodged immediately and yet, didn’t burn me to a crisp first thing. Yeah, it really was enjoying the fight and prolonging it for some reason?

‘So, you like a prey when it struggles…’

Clicking my tongue, I jumped back and panted. My mind kept up with the thing, but my body could not. I was at my limit.

And yet, my arm just burned? Wait- was this thing… a spirit? I didn’t feel the same feeling I got from the goat or even James but… it was similar? Maybe. ‘Worth a shot?’

“You want food and prey right? I’ll get you them! Let’s get out of here and find lots of foo- WOAH!” I jumped sideways, haphazardly dodging the incoming fire.

I ran, and it came running with about the same speed, almost licking me with those flames, but never quite burning me. “Ke ke ke~!” Laughing the entire time.

“Lots of food and lots of prey!” I yelled.

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But it was not listening.

My brain churned, trying desperately to find something that would help. But what? What could I possibly offer a monster? What could I possibly- “Meat!” I screamed. “We have a lot of meat! Tiger, boar, cow, whatever! Meat!”

It stopped.

Stared.

“Mea-” It spoke or attempted to? Definitely intelligent. “Huek eke k eke!” Its face retorted as the mouth stretched into a crescent, as though it was smiling, the eyes a bit too crescent as well; creepy. “You- Mea-” And then it jumped, on top of me, pinning me down on the ground.

A familiar, very familiar sensation. I was about to be eaten… again. “Tch!” I dug the knife deep into its leg but- it kicked the knife away, and licked its wounds, while keeping me pinned with the other legs. The wound healed and the damn thing smiled even wider.

That’s right, if it had good meat before its eyes. Why would it bet on getting meat later (which it might not get) instead of eating me right now?

Sigh… the ceiling was so far away… yet-

“I give you my word, I’ll get you the best meat I can find,” I said. “They’re delicious. Far more than me.”

“Ke k eke!” It bit… just near my ear, almost biting the ear off but not quite; a mild sting ran down my ear…. I saw the teeth. Allegator.

Still teasing.

‘No, no, no, don’t panic.’

I was definitely dying at this rate. “If you don’t believe, fine, eat me. But if you eat me, where will you get more meat? Eat me now, you’re good for a day. Don’t eat me, and I’ll bring you food every week!” I kept my poker face on.

Yet, the thing only smiled and snickered.

However, it let me go. ‘The fuck?’

Wait was it… was it actually falling for that? Huh?

“Prov- loyal-” It smiled, showing all those sharp yellow teeth. The voice, oddly juvenile. Almost like a child’s.

“How?”

“Hand, give. Hue ki ki ke!”

I instinctively grabbed and hid my hand behind my back but now it was slowly coming towards me. And I slowly took steps back.

However- ‘It’s going to kill me either way. But if there’s a chance…’ I could stop the bleeding with the glowing water. I could survive this without a hand. But I could also die.

Wheezing like I had pneumonia, I stopped, pulled my left hand forward but it ignored the arm and stared at the right. You got to be fucking kidding me. I literally just got it back!

Argh.

There was a chance the water could regrow the limb but I wasn’t betting on that. It hadn’t fixed my scars and the skin was still pretty dead. But it had somehow regrown the meat inside… at least some of it.

Oh, fuck it! I almost shoved my shivering hand at its mouth. It opened wide, showing all those jagged teeth and then closed the mouth, with my hand still inside.

Cold… and then searing-

“ARGHHH!!!” I screamed but didn’t flinch. I stood there. Panting, wheezing, crying. But- “You protect me, make sure I don’t die. I give you meat,” I said. “You don’t betray me, I don’t betray you!”

Even with my hand inside its mouth, the damn thing smiled and opened the mouth. I got my hand back with multiple half inch holes. I was missing my index finger too. Burning and stinging like hell, I desperately drank and sprayed some water on the wounds. They sizzled and closed up; scars. But the finger didn’t grow back. Just scars.

Yeah, bones didn’t grow back. Still panting I stared at the thing and it still had that weird smile.

My hand burned anew. Wait, didn’t I just seal the wounds? Poison? I screamed, and was about to scream- ‘You tricked me!’ But then I noticed something white on my hand. A lizard insignia. Just the head, like the thing before me. My missing finger tickled and itched and started wiggling like a maggot… I grew a finger, a white finger with scales. But a finger regardless. And the scars? They loosened.

Body wobbling, I was losing consciousness. Something warm coursed through my pants… oh wait, it was just my golden stream.

‘Pathetic.’

And while I did agree with that sentiment, it wasn’t my thought. Rather, the voice was directly injected into my mind.

Along with that sentiment, something else popped up in my mind before I went under.

Rexen; its name. And ‘Every week. Be late, I eat your family.’