Latori sprang backwards on his feet in a flash, performing a backflip in anticipation of an attack. The arms of the cryptid crashed together, and a gust of wind rushed in the air outwards disturbing leaves even fifty feet out. Had Latori moved a second later, he would have been red paint across the creature’s lanky figure. The creature turned its head up to face its prey. An amused smile creeped over its entire face. Latori steadied his breath and waited for his adversary’s next move.

Before he could even light up Excaliburn, the creature got on all fours and crawled his way; its walking pattern was like that of a four-legged insect with the legs of a tarantula. As its appendages thrashed around in the air, it tilted its head back and forth like an empty swing. The cadence was ever-so slightly changing.

Latori was taken aback by its uncanny movements. His breathing exhilarated, he had to dodge the creature’s attack once more. He wasn’t able to light Excaliburn. The creature charged forward and took chomps in the space in front of it. Latori leapt to the left and parried with a swing to the cryptid’s side.

Black blood seeped out of the creature’s side, and the creature faced Latori; it tilted its head once more. Drool oozed from the tips of its mouth. Not a single whimper or groan of anger or discomfort came from it. Latori looked at Hundan, whose legs and face were petrified and pale, and bit his lip. He widened his eyes for a bit and gestured with his hand for Hundan to hide. Hudan took the cue and dove into some bushes while Latori took a step forward and let out a battle cry. As if aware of the subtle communication for the silent plan, the creature ignored Latori and turned in Hundan’s direction.

Latori’s heart dropped at the thought of Hundan being harmed, but he knew he had to take advantage of the moment. He took a deep breath and ignited Excaliburn with red and pink flames. His irises burned hot pink with vigor. The boy lobbed Excaliburn towards the cryptid’s body with precision. The sword benignly poked the cryptid and bounced off. The cryptid crawled back around on its root-like extensions at the end of its appendages and took an aggressive bite in the air where it expected the boy to be if he had poked the creature up close. This was all Latori needed to keep Hundan safe for now.

Recall, Ex. The sword flew back to Latori’s hands.

“The divine flames didn’t hurt it, Latori. It's not an undead.”

Latori nodded and extinguished the pink flames, leaving only the fiery red. He focused on intensifying the heat and length of the remaining fire and prepared to battle the creature in wolf stance. The fencing style would help him keep distance while figuring how the creature will attack next.

The cryptid got up on its hind legs once more. Out of nowhere, its face became sunken in, and its mouth turned into an O-shape. Black sludge erupted from its mouth onto the ground. Latori knew this wasn’t a fight he should be taking, but he was still tempted to take a jab.

“Run, boy.”

After a moment of hesitation, the boy heeded his partner’s words and ran into the forest. He slid behind a tree; his arm skid against rocks and thorns on the forest floor. Bile oozed across the floor as the creature vomited aimlessly in front of itself. The emission of the bile from its mouth blared a sound that resembled thousands of men screaming at the sight of an otherworldly horror.

The creature finished its act of discharging and hung its head low, unmoving. Latori took this chance to concoct a plan for the next minute. He examined his surroundings to see what they had to offer. There wasn’t much. It was mostly trees, and there were also familiar red berry bushes a few feet in front of him. Fallere bushes. He thought.

“Good idea, Latori. Make your way over there.”

Latori darted towards the fallere bushes. The creature got back onto all fours and gave pursuit. With careful footwork, Latori swung at the fallere bushes while passing by four of them. The carnivorous plants screeched and lashed out with their tentacles, grazing Latori’s skin. Once aware of the bushes’ presence, the cryptid halted its barreling approach and inaudibly cackled. Latori looked back, expecting the cryptid to have stepped on the bushes and be the new target of their ire. He almost vomited at the bleak sight before him.

He locked eyes with the cryptid and got caught in a surreal trance. He imagined himself being torn apart by the fallere bushes’ lamprey jaws as he bellowed and bled. He could picture how the cryptid would then slaughter the bushes before allowing him to bleed out on the ground, all the while smiling at him. Could it even be called “imagination”? It felt like a vivid, waking dream that elapsed in a matter of seconds in the real world, but it felt like hours for Latori.

“Snap out of it, boy.”

“I-AHHH, fuck. My head…” Latori clutched his hair and dodged a blow from a tentacle.

“Listen to me, boy. That thing can get a hold of your mind, it seems. Do not look at its eyes. I want you to circle around the fallere bushes and charge head onto the enemy. Dive beneath its legs and let more of its blood run loose. That should get the attention of the bushes.”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Latori slapped himself and groaned. He needed to drive his mind to anything but the macabre vision of his dismemberment.

He quickly located a path around the trees that gave him some space away from the fallere bushes and led to the cryptid. The line of trees and rocks should be just enough to keep him safe. He dashed to the side and ran to the path. Once he got to the cryptid, he juked back as the creature slammed its hands directly in front of it and at the place where Latori was previously standing. Had Latori gone for either of those attack angles, he would have been caught within its claws. Latori then slashed at its appendage, taking off some of the root-like extensions.

Afterwards, he slid underneath the beast and dug his sword within its belly. The boy dragged the blade across, and black blood splashed on top of his face and chest. The pungent odor of iron and rotting flesh coated his airways. He could hear the fallere bushes squealing at the scent of the blood. The creature staggered and almost collapsed on top of the boy as the bushes pounced on the cryptid. Latori drew Ex from the cryptid’s underside and crawled on his back the rest of the way out.

The cryptid slashed open two of the fallere bushes with its claws and dug into another with its teeth. Red flesh mixed in with the black blood and bile. The easily dispatched fallere bushes fell to the ground and became still. They had done their job. Latori stabbed the preoccupied cryptid in its back. It flew forward, surprised. The creature’s mouth agape, it let out a high pitch moan. Panting from its injuries, it staggered around to face its opponent. Latori brandished his blade and did a batter’s swing deep into the creature’s arm. The cryptid posed its head to the sky and moaned again before dropping it suddenly and smiling at the boy.

Excaliburn was stuck in the creature’s arm. The thick tissue underneath the flesh prevented a clean slice. Instead of attempting to yank the blade out, Latori ran for cover. He needed a good angle to safely call the sword to his hand. The mental strain was exhausting him, though.

In an attempt to evaluate the creature’s state, Latori accidentally gazed into the cryptid’s eyes. He was caught in a trance once more. This time, the creature had caught him and he was being chewed on from the legs up. His limbs had all been broken, and part of his lung was punctured by a claw. The cryptid giggled as it closed the gap between it and the trance-struck boy.

“Wake up, boy!”

Excaliburn reached out to Latori’s mind, but to no avail.

In an effort to stall for time, Hundan emerged from the brush and chucked rocks at the cryptid. The cryptid turned its attention to Hundan and started ambling over to him.

From within the brush, a girl could be heard chanting, “Gaean, lend me the power of the earth, muddy waters.”

The ground beneath the cryptid sloshed and splashed as it transmuted into mud. The creature’s right frontal limb twisted and bent as it sank lower than the rest of the appendages. The monster struggled to move any further.

A figure came from the bushes and clasped Latori’s arm with their gray hands.

“... Diyuwan, lend me the power to heal.”

Malidy recited the abbreviated incantation and slapped Latori’s face, breaking him from the dream state.

With a single glance at her and a nod of thanks, Latori called back Ex to his hand and stabbed the creature one last time into its gut. He twisted and contorted the blade like a tab on a can of soup. The contents of the cryptid’s guts sprayed out. For the first time, the creature howled. It was an unearthly scream. A discordant mess. It was as if the gates of hell made up the monster’s vocal chords, and the residents were restless grasping at a glint of light.

Finally, the monster collapsed. It laid there, unmoving–its husk decorated with circular bite marks, sword cuts, mud, red innards, and black blood and bile. Its face conveyed the same emotion: elation. Malidy and Hundan held Latori in their arms as he fell to the floor. They helped him back to the shelter and assisted him in washing off the remnants of the battle, but they weren't able to cleanse his tainted soul.

For the first time since he arrived on the island, Latori did not get a wink of sleep.

***

“... It’s gone,” Malidy murmured as she stared off at the ocean.

“Wait, what? What’s gone?” Latori dropped the shell that he was examining and stood up. His worried eyes hovered over her body.

“The thing in the forest. It’s gone. I passed by where we left it earlier.”

“A-are you sure it wasn’t eaten by wolves? It should have been dead…” Hundan went from lying back under the somnolent afternoon sun to huddled up into a ball of anxiety and dread.

“No, I’m telling you two: it’s gone. There was no corpse. At least bones and some flesh would be left behind if something came and ate it, even a trail of insects harvesting bits of the flesh. It was completely gone.”

All three of them gazed at the ground. All were at a loss for words for a moment.

“Did you see anything at all?” Latori gulped and ventured a question that he knew he would regret asking.

Malidy closed her eyes and sighed heavily; she wish he hadn't asked that question.

“A shadow. I saw one in the corner of my eye while I was leaving. And I swear I could have heard someone laughing.”