Outside the candy cottage, the air was thick with the acrid scent of burning oil and the metallic tang of blood. The massive brown bear circled Mary, its deep growls reverberating through the clearing. Mary stood hunched, her gray skin slick with her own black blood. Her eyes burned with desperation and rage as she clutched her side, her crimson cloak in tatters.
“You think you’ve won, beast?” Mary spat, her voice a venomous snarl. “You’re nothing. I’ve outlived creatures more terrifying than you.”
The bear responded with a deafening roar, its hackles raised. It pawed the ground, readying itself for the final strike.
Mary raised her clawed hands, summoning her last reserves of power. Shadows coiled around her like writhing serpents, twisting and growing until they formed a towering wall of darkness. From the shadows emerged spiked tendrils, lashing out at the bear with sharp, snapping motions.
The bear didn’t flinch. It charged headlong into the wall of shadows, its massive body tearing through the barrier as though it were smoke. Mary’s eyes widened in panic, and she stumbled backward, her claws slashing wildly at the air.
The bear’s paw struck her with a bone-crushing force, sending her sprawling across the clearing. She hit the ground hard, her breath escaping in a ragged wheeze. Before she could recover, the bear was upon her.
“No!” Mary shrieked, raising her hands in a futile attempt to defend herself. Sparks of hellfire erupted from her fingertips, but they fizzled and dissipated against the bear’s bulk. The animal’s jaws closed around her forearm, snapping it like a dry branch.
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
Mary screamed, her voice raw and guttural, as the bear shook her violently. Her body twisted unnaturally, and her eyes flickered as though her very essence was faltering. Blood spattered the snow, staining it like ink spreading across a page.
Mary writhed in the bear’s grasp, her free hand clawing desperately at its face. She raked her sharp nails across its muzzle, drawing thin lines of blood, but the bear didn’t relent. Its glowing eyes burned with primal fury, and its jaws tightened around her arm.
With a final, desperate scream, Mary summoned a burst of hellfire from her palm. The flames roared to life, engulfing the bear’s face and neck. It roared in pain, releasing Mary as it stumbled back, its thick fur singed but not consumed.
Mary staggered to her feet, clutching her ruined arm. Her body trembled, her once-commanding presence now reduced to a broken, battered shadow. Her eyes burned dimly as she glared at the bear.
“You think you can kill me?” she hissed, her voice trembling with fury and pain. “I am eternal. I am—”
The bear lunged, cutting off her words with a ferocious swipe of its paw. The force of the blow sent Mary sprawling once more, her body crumpling against the base of a tree. She tried to rise, but her limbs failed her.
The bear loomed over her, its breath steaming in the cold air. It bared its teeth, its massive jaws glinting in the moonlight.
“No,” Mary whispered, her voice barely audible. Her eyes flickered weakly as she tried to summon one last burst of power. Shadows curled around her, but they were thin and faint, like smoke dissipating in the wind.
The bear’s jaws closed around her throat with a sickening crunch. Mary’s body convulsed as the bear shook her violently, snapping bone and tearing flesh. Her eyes dimmed, their fiery glow extinguished as her lifeblood spilled onto the forest floor.
When the bear released her, Mary’s body fell limp, her once-predatory form reduced to a lifeless husk. The clearing fell silent, save for the bear’s heavy breathing and the faint crackle of the smoldering flames around them.
The bear stood over her remains for a moment, its glowing eyes fixed on the fallen goblin. Then it turned and lumbered back into the shadows, its massive form disappearing into the forest as if it had never been there.