The alien sun was high in the sky as me and my team were exploring a clearing in the exotic forest among the mountain range a short flight away from the outpost and the portal back home.Birdlike calls could be heard coming from the forest, and every once in a while something would fly from one tree to another. The flora was green, presumably using something similar to chlorofil, and it's many types were easily recognisable as trees, shrubbery, grass, flowers and many others.

Anyways, I didn't know the details, as exobiology, or any sort of biology, wasn't my speciality. I'm an engineer, though for this mission that would be more like a technician, just there in case some equipment broke.

As the two biologists and the mission commander were setting up apparatus for field analysis, I was gathering samples. Find some plant, make a photo, dig it up or cut a piece off, then put it in a little plastic bag. And then do it again, … and again, … and again. One would think it would be fascinating to see alien species of plants, and some of the flowers were indeed quite unique and beautiful, but a lot of it I couldn't really tell apart from stuff back home.

My quest for unique specimens brought me closer to the glade's edge, where it transitioned into a lush forest, with dense shrubbery taller than I was. Casting a wary look into the shadowed woodland, and touching my hip-holstered pistol for reassurance, I approached to resume getting samples, this time with more cutting, rather than digging.

My satchel was almost full, and my mind inattentive, when I heard rustling from the forest. The sight made me freeze. There was a creature, 10 meters away, it's body as big as a draft horse, it's back on my eye level, yet it's posture was feline, that of a predator. It had two wings, currently folded against it's back, and was covered in scales, with a long slender neck, it's reptilian head raised and with three pairs of fin-like frills, longer than wider, extending from the back of the head in a star shape. It's body had a dark violet colour, with contrasting dark orange patterns and accents, while it's slitted eyes were light blue. And looking right at me.

The creature was emerging from between the foliage, making slow steps towards me. I felt a sting of primal fear, and started slowly stepping backwards, then activated the mic beneath my half-face rebreather mask. "Guys, huge predator, right next to me, help."

I gently unlocked my holster and reached for the gun, then slowly raised it towards the creature with two hands, while simultaneously backing away towards the clearing and backup, then heard the commander respond. "What!? Oh fuck."

She must have seen the creature as it entered the clearing, with the sun gleaming off it's scales, the beast looked magnificent.

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It's eyes looked behind me at the others, probably about 50 meters away, then back to me. It made a noise, a sort of growl-warble, and then it abandoned any sort of stealth and stopped holding back it's mana. I felt it's power, and it was more stronger than the four of us combined, with quite a margin.

"Fuck, Lucian, move to the side, we need a clear shot!" With rapid breaths and my heart beating as if I run a sprint I begun stepping to the side, faster than before but still not running, and the creature matched me, also increasing it's pace.

"FIRE!" Three deafening gunshots rang to my left, the first one sounding slightly different coming from the commander's rifle, rather than another pistol like mine. I only saw one bullet wound the creature, entering it's right leg where it joined the body, center mass from where the others were standing. I didn't have time to wonder whether the other two missed or bounced off as the creature shrieked in pain. I only fired once before a loud and sudden wave of force flung me away from the creature, and sent me rolling along the ground.

Through a world of pain I heard another bang, as a presumably more concentrated force-wave rushed past me and crashed into my colleagues. I heard their shouts both through the comms.

Moving my head and looking at the creature I saw it was laying on the ground, about 20 meters away from me, heavily breathing and with closed eyes, yet it's head was still held high. Both of it's wounds were heavily bloodied, one in the arm and another on it's chest.

I could feel there was now a mana barrier in front of it, and that it was casting something on itself. What it was doing soon became evident, as blood briefly gushed out of it's chest, and what was most likely a bullet dropped out of the wound, which stopped bleeding soon after.

As it was healing it's other wound more gunshots cracked through the air, yet they bounced off the mana shield and flew fuck knows where.

"Barrier! Co-cast, now!" I felt the power gather in a spell boundary next to the commander, and how she siphoned mana from the other two. It took her only a few of my rapid breaths to gather the power and create a path of least resistance between her spell and the creature's barrier, behind which the second bullet hit the dirt with a spurt of alien blood.

I closed my eyes and tried to cover my ears, yet I still saw the flash through my eyelids and both felt and heard the deafening crack of thunder, like a whip of god.

The barrier shattered, and it's mana was diffusing back into the air, but the creature was faster than the others, and hit them with another force-wave before they could fire again. And then, limping a bit, it run right at me.

Shit shit shit fuck, where is my gun!? I couldn't see the pistol, I tried to stand up through the pain, and managed to get on my knees, but before I could start running the creature was upon me. It grabbed me with telekinetics as it run, and hit me against it's chest, covered in alien blood. I felt it's claws pushing in on my back.

The creature's wings snapped open, it created a sudden and powerful updraft with it's magic, then lurched into the air, with me squeezed between it's chest and claws. I screamed as I looked to the side and below one of it's beating wings, and saw the grass rushing far below, suddenly replaced with the forest's canopy...