The female's gibberish back to the others resulted in a number of spears being drawn. Why were they so short and thin compared to her master's spears? They smelled strange as well, nothing like the cold black fire he used for his points.
Bessie met her master's gaze, his eyes conveying more than the words he had spoken to the strange female could. They had been doing this for many years now, nearly all her life. The only thing that was new was they now hunted with others, rather than just for themselves, and as such would need to actively drive off the rest of the herd, rather than merely let them flee.
Disappearing through the underbrush of the trees, Bessie swiftly and silently made her way around, her summer coat blending in well and the wind masking her smell. She knew her master would strike only after she had, and as she approached the beasts, she spied one in particular that was just a stride or two closer to the treeline. Those silly trunks of theirs made for an excellent piece to chew on, but she waited until the beast had turned away from her, just enough that he had presented his entire side to her waiting form.
In a burst of speed and power she rushed into the clearing, dirt kicking up from every step, jaws agape as she clamped down on the surprised creature's head and twisted. With a muffled crunch she could feel in her jaws, the neck of the beast snapped, braying grunt falling silent as it fell limp. In another instant, she twisted and pulled, ripping the head clean from the shoulders in a shower of gore.
She suppressed the instinct to feed, or to grab for another such creature, as the herd all turned to her in panic. She opened her maw to them, threatening them with the same treatment, inciting panic in the nearest beasts. Just as they did so, her master rushed out from the opposite treeline, crossing the sand and silt dunes in as many strides as she had, his spear flying from his hand. The cold black fire at the end pierced through the eye of one of the beasts and erupted from the other side of the skull, the other eye dangling from it as the beast stumbled for a moment, lightning coursing across its tusks. Then, without so much as a grunt or groan, it too fell to the ground.
The herd looked between them, rumbling and snorting in surprise and alarm at two such powerful predators. Some had already turned to run to the nearby river when the strangers emerged from the treeline, gliding across the ground like smoke as they too raised their spears and screamed that gibberish of theirs. In an instant, the herd charged towards the river, shoving one another aside as they sought the safety of the waters. Those that reached the water first slammed down and disappeared beneath the surface, the roiling waves caused by their entry and their bellows of fright immediately scattering the smaller beasts of the area.
Bessie watched the strangers single out a lightning beast, much like the strange furred four-legs she had seen in the deeper interior during winter. Their spears stuck into its thick hide all around, the beast thrashing and bellowing in pain and anger. They continued to stab at it, backing away when it tried to turn and gore them, blood spurting in arcs across the sand and plants around it. One spear from the second female impaled one of the rear legs of the creature, crippling it's movement and halting it's momentum.
Sensing weakness, the strangers encircled it.
Immediately, the beast's behavior changed, and Bessie looked to her master, his eyes conveying a weary anger she'd rarely seen him use. There were times for planning, and there were times for action, and she knew what to do.
She rushed to him as he began to bend down.
The creature turned and suddenly charged back towards those that had been pursuing it, the crippled leg no longer a hindrance. Lightning crackled along its tusks as one of the strangers didn't dodge in time and was skewered through the thigh, screaming in agony as arcs of lightning coursed across his body, the strange hides he wore being set ablaze alongside his hair. The enraged beast flung the stranger away, selecting a new target for its wrath. A torrent of lightning erupted from the tusks, arcs of light carving sand into hot glass, narrowly missing three strangers.
It turned and charged again. Impressively, the female whose arm had regrown dodged the beast's subsequent charge, just as Bessie stepped onto her master's cupped hands. Without a single grunt of effort from him, she felt herself launched into the air like a great stone. Wind whistling past her as she reached the apex of her flight, level with the very tops of the trees, she then directed herself down towards the beast, who had turned and was making to charge the same female once more, lightning coursing across its tusks in even greater arcs, scorching nearby plants and melting sand around it. It ignored the additional spears thrust into its leathery hide, now intent on killing every last one of the strangers.
Like a summer hailstone Bessie fell, slamming both of her feet atop of the creature's skull mid-charge. To her, the sensation of the impact barely traveled up her legs, her powerful bones and muscles holding her together as her claws dug deep. As for the beast below her, his head exploded in a shower of gore and bone from the impact of her weight and the piercing of her talons, the momentum of the charge enough to slide the carcass forward with her still riding it, lightning snuffed out in an instant. Stepping off the beast, only a stride away from the healed female, Bessie scraped the bloody gore from her feet in the grass before looking back to her master, who was marching towards their group with a displeased look.
Heading back to the floating nest was not as quick of a jaunt as their initial departure, but the success of their hunt was plain to see, what with how excited the other strangers were upon their return with prey in hand. They immediately began to cut apart the lightning beasts, moving organs, muscles and bones into different piles, as well as odd bits like eyeballs, the tails, and even the testicles. This constant work and chatter between the strangers proved too boring to pay attention to, so Bessie, content with the short trunk of one of the beasts to chew on, lay by her master's side as he cleaned his spear.
"So, what did we learn this morning?"
Her master's tone was the one he reserved for the most foolish of creatures living in his territory. She had heard it in her youth many times, usually directed at some of the hooved beasts that thought they were beyond her master's capabilities. These fools were always proven soundly wrong.
The suitably cowed female by his side glanced back at the other strangers, most of whom were tending to their own spears after having dragged or carried back the lightning beasts to the flying nest. The rest were helping the impaled and singed stranger, who had somehow survived the encounter, but wouldn't be going out on a hunt again anytime soon. Bessie thought he looked quite silly, missing all his hair.
The other female whose arm had regrown was also by the first's side, glancing at her master every so often. Bessie didn't know what her master's kind meant by with the strange things they did with their faces, but she could smell the second female well enough. Clearly, this one wished for her master to take her as a mate, especially now after having saved her from certain death.
Bessie thought he could do better. Both of these females were so thin, how could they bear the master any suitable number of hatchlings? Actually, did the master's kind lay eggs like her own, or did they come out wriggling and slimy like some of the beasts in the fields? If the master did take one as a mate, or both, Bessie would be sure to guard the hatchlings with her life. It was what her mother had done for her.
She grumbled. No, she had not thought of that in years. She was with master now, the terrible storm of that night was long gone, as were those that had taken her mother from her. She looked back to her master, his eyes glancing at the other strangers before returning to the two females.
"We were not to surround the lightning beast, nor draw too close to it," the first female said. "We did not anticipate it could turn or move that quickly given its short legs and rotund appearance."
"It's a good thing that Bessie was here, or your friend here might have been injured, or worse," her master said, scratching the top of Bessie's head. "She's a good girl."
Bessie preened at the praise.
"Ah, the Bess Si is a female."
Her master nodded. "While we wait for your friends to butcher those Astrapotheres, I think it's time I learned a bit more about you all. Where exactly are you from? You mentioned being a part of the Sun clan, a clan within 'the' Empire. What does that mean, exactly?"
"Ours is a mighty nation, ruled by the line of the Emperors of the Xia clan, the first of such clans to have been founded by the first Emperor after the shattering of the sects thousands of years ago. We, the Sun clan, are one of many clans within the Empire, vassals of the ruling family, with vassals of our own to serve us." The female paused for a moment. "We are many leagues to the east of this land, across a vast expanse of sea."
Bessie didn't know what any of this meant, other than they lived across the salty water, so she focused more on chewing the trunk she had.
"I see," her master replied. "Is your fortress the only one nearby?"
"This far inland, yes, but none of the fortresses are linked, as each is own by a different clan, as their own to operate. Our is simply the first to, so far, successfully be stationed on the mainland itself, and not built upon isolated islands, shoals and the like offshore."
"Yeah, I can see why they'd try for that, rather than building inland. I suppose you know all too well how dangerous it can be around here, by now anyway," master said. "Why build the fortresses so far from home? Besides the sheer danger you face, I can't imagine it's cheap to do so."
"Such fortresses are needed to protect those who come to these lands, as few and far between they are, to harvest what resources we can find that are unique to these lands. Foreign and exotic materials always fetch high prices, simply because they are so unknown, and a great many uses for cultivation have been discovered in the few resources brought back by the other clan fortresses. Such discoveries and those that bring back such unique riches more than pay for the fortress themselves, once they are up and running."
"I see. There's that word again, cultivation. So, these fortresses, how many are there?"
"Perhaps a dozen still in use, though the number to have been destroyed or abandoned is perhaps triple that. Too many were founded improperly, with little thought to sustainability, but the Sun clan chose to accomplish this differently. It is indeed a great investment for any of the greater clans to attempt such a construction, but we planned this for an entire generation, stockpiling supplies, charting routes, and endeavoring to train only those whose cultivation would be of benefit to the construction and maintenance of the fortress, all so that we would not fail as others had. Thus far, despite our setbacks, we have been doing well in our plans. Or we were, before the… incident at sea, that led us to seek you out, Tarzan."
"Well, I'm happy to have helped, but I can't imagine, in your culture, that someone would do everything I'm doing for free? Every hour I'm out here hunting for you is an hour I'm letting my own tasks at my home slip away from me."
The female bowed her head slightly. "You are correct in that what you have been doing for us is beyond the scope of generosity for the Empire. Given we are strangers in your strange land, we do not seek to impose ourselves upon you any longer than you would have us, and if there is indeed anything we might exchange for a more equal partnership, I will notify the elders of your wishes."
"I'm all for trading, if that's what you mean. I've got a long list of things I'd like to have at some point, but it's especially been a hell of a time finding any sort of ores I can work with to make tools that aren't explicitly made out of bones, wood and obsidian, as unnaturally strong as these all seem to be." Master paused for a moment, looking at his spear, then to the others, and then back to his own. "Then again, if your spears can't pierce hides as well as mine can, best we leave the hunting of the larger game to me for now."
"I doubt there will be any arguing against that," the female said. "My cousin is most pleased she was able to pierce that beast's leg with her spear, despite how tough the hide is."
"Now, before you said something about cultivation. What exactly is that?"
The female blinked several times, as if she hadn't heard what master had said. "You… you do not know what cultivation is? How can you possibly not know? You are a cultivator yourself!"
The female sounded both surprised and in denial. Or was she too slow to understand master's words? Perhaps it would be best if master did not mate with this one, she would most certainly pass on her bad traits to whatever hatchlings she had. The words she began to rattle off at master made even less sense to her than the earlier ones, and Bessie, having finished with her trunk, lay down to rest. Master would let her know when they were moving out to hunt again, the day was yet young and perhaps they might try for a different part of the great flooded plains, to avoid attracting others to their kill pile.
Hopefully when they went hunting again, they would not come across the spike tails. Why her master called their spikes 'thagomizers' was beyond her, and even though he'd told her before, she still didn't know who this 'Thag Simmons' was. Master was the only one of his kind she had known until recently.
A/N: hopefully I've written Bessie well enough. She's a fun character so far, especially for what i have planned, but we will get deeper backstories for everyone important at some point. Just didn't feel like her going into a flashback in this specific chapter fit with the tone and pacing is all. Like ReplyReport Reactions:Kirikllz909, Kingdonut, Dante and 266 othersAbramus5250Jun 30, 2026NewAdd bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks Chapter 16 New View contentAbramus5250Not too sore, are you?Friday at 6:41 PMNewAdd bookmark#261Chapter 16
Sun Shui
Sun Shui sat upon the flat expanse of a boulder jutting from the hillside, her eyes wandering the distant horizon. Here, safe within the homestead of the one called Tarzan once more, she had time to think, time to ponder the events of the day, and time to cultivate once again. Inhaling deeply, the fresh scent of the grasses, flowers and orchard trees filling her nose and then passing to her lungs, she felt the Qi of the land flow into her as well, the concentration within the air itself a thing to marvel. She could feel herself progress more with each breath than she had in an entire day back within the Empire. At this rate, she would ascend to establishing her foundation within a matter of days.
The two by her side, however, seemed less amazed by it. She was yet young, had not advanced near as far as them, and perhaps her elders had witnessed such miraculous growth before.
"He truly knew nothing of cultivation?" Sun Jin asked, her uncle holding a small cup of steaming drink. Said drink was, according to Tarzan, from his stores of apples, brewed and stored in a manner to enhance its flavor while allowing for the alcohol within to kill off any bacteria. Sun Shui didn't know what bacteria were, but her uncle had grown to enjoy a hot cup of it in a very short amount of time.
"Indeed," she exhaled, slowly, controlled, to best allow her center to remain as it was. "I gave him an explanation that even a newly inducted cultivator would know, and he recognized none of it at all. He knew nothing of Qi, nothing of meridians, and when asked about his own cultivation didn't have anything fruitful to say. After my explanations, perhaps the most shocking part was that he showed no interest in learning further."
"Yet somehow, from what we have seen, he has achieved parity with certain stages of cultivation that would have taken perhaps centuries to achieve, whilst somehow lacking in others," Sun Lian said. "While it is not unheard of for cultivators to achieve success in complete ignorance, to have come so far without any apparent instruction is… intriguing. We shall have to determine if we shall even bother to compare his level of cultivation to our own at all, or if we have found someone who has found another path to Mount Tai through means we do not yet understand."
"It is very possible, as there are branching paths of cultivation known in the fringes of the Empire, where other cultures brush up against our own," Sun Jin said. "Yet even they still subscribe to many of the same tenets. That his can be so different, so unlike our own yet still so powerful, is an avenue of thought I had not yet considered exploring. I will have to meditate on this, and come the resumption of communication with the mainland, seek answers with the other elders in our vast halls of records."
"Honorable niece, you shall have to enquire how and when he began to grow stronger, for if he did so as a mortal first, then we may have the chance to gleam methods by which our own paths might be improved," Sun Lian said, sipping her own tea. "I will most definitely need to create more of the Immortal Sage Speaking pill to be able to… converse with him myself, now that we have begun to build something of a rapport. The more we discover about our mysterious barbarian host, the more intrigued I become."
She gestured below their raised rock where the strange man tended to his herds of beasts. Whether collecting piles of old eggshells from the more reptilian creatures, shoveling loads of manure into a bag that must contain a hidden realm given the sheer amount stuffed in there, or checking over a number of the creatures for illness or injury, he did so methodically, without wasted movement, and with a swiftness to put any laborer to shame. How such a brutal and powerful hunter could then also be so tender as to splint the broken leg of a fawn or guide or even carry errant hatchlings back to their mothers was truly a bizarre sight to see.
Sun Shui glanced back to their ship, in which the last successes of their morning hunts for the day had been loaded. Several of their guards and a number of their cultivators were already boarding the vessel, ready to return to their fortress before nightfall and unload their supplies to ensure the continued survival and cultivation of those still there. Their successes that morning had been most wondrous, going far beyond what they had initially hoped for, thanks to Tarzan and the Bess Si's efforts. By midday they had hunted and butchered enough creatures to fill the ship's hold, but no more than that. This was partly due to Tarzan's express methods in hunting, but also because any more supplies would reduce the ship's handling and make a return journey more perilous than necessary, especially with the number of cultivators on board.
There would be more days to hunt. Greed at this stage would be disastrous for their entire purpose in this land.
"Honorable elder Sun Bao is to go with them?" she asked, nodding to their ship.
"Indeed, as a senior member of the clan, he will ensure everything goes smoothly with the unloading and dispersing of our new supplies," her uncle replied. "With the efficiency at which this Tarzan hunts, as well as our successes from the morning, we need not so many cultivators, nor do we need to so strain our host's generosity or time with as many mouths to feed. I have also instructed them to return tomorrow with whatever supplies we may spare, to possibly exchange with our host for materials he would be willing to part with."
Sun Shui nodded. Trade was the lifeblood of many of the Empire's regions, as many regions grew or raised distinct plants or beasts that were of use elsewhere. Be it the foods to eat, materials to build with, or the countless resources necessary for cultivation, the first Emperor had ensured that the isolationist era of the sects would never come again, where one region starved whilst the other overflowed with goods. It was by his ultimate victory that the united people would never again be so cut off from aiding one another by the greedy hands of sect leaders, whose bureaucratic forbears had supposedly seen to the end of the Administration of Heaven untold generations before.
That was, of course, how the legend went. None truly knew what had happened in those most ancient of days, not since the devastation of the Heavenly City and its Hall of Heavenly Records, whose location was now long lost to time.
"We shall have to see what he has to trade," Sun Lian said, breaking Sun Shui from her historical recollection. "The hind claws from those ferocious beasts that attacked you during the initial scouting might be worth something back in the Empire, either as a trinket or perhaps as a means of strengthening the cutting edge of weapons."
"The tusks from the beasts slain this morning will certainly be of use to those whose cultivation is centered around lightning," Sun Jin added. "To think there are spirit beasts here that can call upon such power, in such huge numbers, and we hunted them as if they were mere common animals."
Whatever Tarzan had to trade would likely be something they'd never seen before. The ironwood alone that he used to cook for them, or 'grill' as he put it, would be invaluable for places where the tools to make cooking implements were rarer and thus more expensive. It might even prove useful as the basis for tools used by cultivators whose path centered around fire. To think, there was wood here that seemed unable to burn, acting more like iron when placed above flames!
"Speaking of our host, here he comes," Sun Lian said. Indeed, the tasks in the field seemingly done for now, Tarzan vaulted over the fence keeping his beasts contained and moved past the remaining cultivators, many of whom had separated into smaller cliques after the return from the morning hunt. Some she observed went off to meditate on their cultivation, whilst others seemed content to lie beneath trees and relax or discuss matters quietly amongst themselves.
The Bess Si, her eyes ever keen, seemed to ensure all were within sight at all times, none straying beyond the loose collection of the group.
Taking a seat by Sun Shui and draining one of his water flasks, Tarzan didn't immediately look at her, eyes tracing over his domain with a satisfied sigh. "All in a good day's work," he muttered. "Got enough manure to last the fields the rest of the season already, no sicknesses in the herds, and the crops are coming along nicely. Pretty soon the first fruit harvests of the season will be ready."
"What such fruits do you have?" Sun Shui asked, earning his attention. "I recalled the porridge you made for me contained 'black' berries, but I saw no such fruits in your gardens."
"Oh, those won't be ready until late summer or early fall, depending on rainfall and if we get some hotter weeks," he replied. "I've been meaning to dig a few more wells to irrigate whenever it gets a bit drier, but I haven't had the time. Blueberries and serviceberries are plenty ripe now, though, so we could probably go forage for those tomorrow after a morning hunt."
"Perhaps we might assist you in digging these wells, as an additional show of thanks for this morning's success?"
"I'd appreciate that," Tarzan replied with a smile. "Any of this familiar to home for you?"
Sun Shui felt an odd pang of nostalgia in her chest. "A bit, but not so varied as this," she replied. "We had our fields of millet and paddies of rice, in a small plot of land along one of the smaller rivers near our village. Our few pens were the home of pigs, and the chickens tended to roost in the rafters of our small barn before our henhouse was built. Mother kept a small herb garden alongside the back of the house and tended to the animals when father worked the fields, and at night we would sleep in the same small room."
"Sounds like a good, simple life," Tarzan replied.
"It was," Sun Shui said, memories returning to her for the first time in years; the grunts of pigs when fed their slop, the smell of the herbs on a soft summer breeze, and the light of an evening sky softly dancing on the rice paddy waters. "It was my home for years, up until a great flood swept through the area. Heavy rainfall far upriver, most said, or perhaps a duel between two great water cultivators, according to some rumors. Whatever it was, the sudden flooding collapsed our home before we could make to flee, and I was found there, all alone. My uncle, my father's eldest brother, found me and took me in before I could be sent to an orphanage, and I have been in his care ever since."
"I'm sorry for your loss," Tarzan said after a few moments of silence.
"What of your family?" Sun Shui asked.
"… from what I still care to remember, it was a nice life. Quiet, almost leisurely, with more expectations from myself than from them," the strange man replied. "My mother was a merchant, and my father was a craftsman. Their parents had both been farmers, though I think one of my grandfathers had also been a soldier, and the other I think was the operator of a quarry. Tell me, does this 'cultivation' of yours affect how someone ages?"
Such strange people, who could so widely move up in society from mere farmers to merchants and craftsmen, but barbarians tended to be less hierarchical than the Empire in her texts. "Indeed, the more powerful a cultivator becomes sooner, the less time has an effect on their appearance unless they wish it so. Some may even alter their appearance as they wish, allowing them to age in appearance whilst retaining the vitality of youth."
"Well, if what I'm doing is cultivating, then it's been either slowing my aging to near nothing, or has just stopped it completely," Tarzan replied. "I've been here nigh on fifteen years as far as I can tell, and I don't think I've aged at all from then."
"That is a high likelihood, for someone with your cultivation," Sun Shui said. Glancing to her uncle, she added "by when did you begin to notice you were no longer yourself? When your blows were stronger, your body more durable, and your endurance seemingly limitless?"
"Probably within the first few months after I found myself here," he replied. "Nothing to it more than just going through absolute hell trying to survive, and then one day, after a particularly bad night, I just… got up and kept going. Seems like every day is just a little bit better than the last in those regards, with some bigger jumps than others. Is that normal?"
"It… can be, for exceptional cultivators," Sun Shui replied carefully. "Most tend to need a much greater amount of time to reach the level you have, so I have been told."
"Hmm, wonder why that is," Tarzan muttered, before taking another swig of a water flask and rising to his feet. "Supper'll be ready in a few hours, gotta make sure I have enough hickory for the smoker before I get to some other things."
Ah, yes, he had mentioned something about cooking certain foods at a lower temperature for a long time. "I am sure it will be delicious," she replied. "We look forward to it."
He nodded and moved off, passing by the Bess Si for but a brief moment, their eyes locking before he continued on. The Bess Si resumed her watch, never letting her gaze linger for too long on just one guest. Were it not for the fact that the Bess Si had helped save her cousin from the lightning beast, Sun Shui would have thought the sight incredibly unnerving.
Now, she only found it slightly unnerving.
"Cousin?" a voice said, removing her from her thoughts. Turning, she found herself alone, her elders having gone off somewhere, with only Sun Ling now before her. Her cousin, confidence restored after the regrowth of her arm, appeared shaken, a look of worry on her face.
"Yes?" she asked, a sinking feeling her stomach.
"We may have a problem."
From atop the highest hill of the homestead, Sun Shui looked to the west, towards a vast plain that stretched unto the horizon. Tarzan stood beside her, his keen eyes surveying the land, a look on his face giving her a sense of unease. Smoke billowed into the sky like a vast swath of fog, the light breeze carrying it far from the dull glow upon the horizon from whence it came.
"It's too late in the year for a prairie fire," he muttered, rubbing his chin. "The rains have been falling steadily enough that nothing should be drying out, even with the winds. Something isn't right."
"Is this where you planned on taking us hunting tomorrow?" Sun Shui asked, glancing over to Sun Ling and Sun Lian, the two whispering to one another as they kept their distance.
"Yeah, but now there'll be nothing there to hunt. Fire drives everything away it doesn't kill when it torches the landscape, and it takes time for it to come back to green, even if it recovers faster than I think it should. Normally this helps the fertility of the landscape when it burns out the built-up dead and dried stuff, but this… this is different."
"What will we do now?"
Tarzan paused long enough that she began to worry. "We will hunt some nearby forests and meadows," he muttered, motioning over to the east. "We will, however, need to be careful. Something killed one of the greater boars of the area, and it might still be around."
Ah, so this land did have spiritual beasts like that on the mainland. That was good to know. "If this killer is not in the area anymore? What then?" she asked.
"Then we'll also spend some time foraging. I hope you have baskets or shoulder bags for holding fruits, there'll be plenty in the area and that might help tide you over if most of the prey have moved on," he said.
"We will have our means, come tomorrow," Sun Shui said, glancing over at Sun Lian and Sun Ling, their whispers too indistinct even for her sharp ears.
"Very well, supper will be ready in a few hours," Tarzan replied. "What are those two talking about, by the way?"
Sun Shui relayed this question to the pair, earning a soft pair of giggles, far too girlish for someone of Sun Lian's age, but youthful all the same.
"Nothing to concern yourself with, honorable niece," Sun Lian replied, her silver hair shimmering in the afternoon sun as both her gaze and Sun Ling's stayed upon Tarzan. "Merely continuing a private conversation we had after Ling's arm regrew is all."
Sun Shui narrowed her eyes. Once more, just like when she had seen Tarzan fishing, she was being excluded from something meaningful by the other cultivators in her clan. One day they would be more forthright with her, perhaps when she had moved past her final stages of Qi Awakening, which could happen any day now, and moved into the establishment of her foundation. Perhaps then, when she was more equal with Sun Ling and others around her, might she be afforded greater respect and inclusion in whatever it was all these women talked about around Tarzan.
After a moment of silence, Tarzan's response to her translation was to simply shrug and look back to the distant burning plains, worry evident on his face even as he scratched at his short beard. Had he cut it after they'd returned from the hunt?
A/N: updates are gonna be a bit slower, due to both needing to better plan out upcoming chapters and due to losing part of my left hand's typing ability due to a minor surgery. I can still type, just not as fast for now. I also promise to showcase more actual Xianxia stuff rather than just talking about it. especially with more upcoming fight scenes. I think part of my problem seems to be I spend too much time setting things up rather than writing actual payoff or suitably advancing the story. Like ReplyReport Reactions:Kirikllz909, Kingdonut, Dante and 218 othersAbramus5250Friday at 6:41 PMNewAdd bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks Chapter 17 New View contentAbramus5250Not too sore, are you?Yesterday at 1:12 AMNewAdd bookmark#278Chapter 17
The Matriarch
The smell reached her before she opened her eyes, the low light of the dying day casting a gloom into the jungle around her. A scent of blood and smoke, the mixture one of proximity and not of correlation, wafted through the air on a light breeze. Fire, as she recalled, did not leave much blood behind, only scorched flesh and charred bones. Why could she smell both?
Opening her eyes, she looked up to see a large shape float over the treetops, silhouetted in the evening sky by the last light of the setting sun. The floating nest? No, no, it was a boat, they were called boats, she recalled, and she watched from the deep shadows as it moved towards what was now a great clearing in the jungle. Rising to her feet, she followed silently, innumerable small creatures scattering before her. At the edge of the clearing, where the creatures called humans had built a great stone fortress, she spotted the flying boat come to a rest atop the great structure.
Curious. Why had it returned, and why did it smell so strongly of fresh blood? Had the humans been hunting out beyond her sight? That would explain the smell of the blood, but why the smell of smoke? Had they burned the area after departing?
Hidden by shadows deeper than their eyes could pierce, she watched the small cluster of robed humans remove meat from the boat. Meat, fresh meat, still bloody but without skin or scale, feather or fur, in great piles they separated onto platters and distributed amongst their kind. From what she could see, there was immense joy and relief in the humans who received it, the meat smelling of the lightning beasts from the great floodplains far to the north.
An old scar across her chin itched at the thought before she banished such irritation. She had long outgrown the need to fear the strength of such creatures, their lightning pitiable compared to that which other prey wielded.
The humans took the meat into the fortress, followed by the boat unloading yet more. Bones, hides and tusks were brought out, examined by those who had already received their meat, and distributed to another part of the fortress. Were they to eat these as well? She hadn't thought their jaws capable of crushing through to the marrow inside.
Yet the ship did not depart for parts unknown, as she had expected it to. Lying down once more, still hidden in the darkness of the clearing's edge, she watched and waited. Evening passed into night as the ship stayed high on the fortress, the walls patrolled by humans with long sticks, spears she believed they were called. The small buzzing creatures of the night, those that stuck to animals to suck their blood or flew around on leathery wings, devouring these same small creatures, flitted about the clearing, yet she lay still, pondering the actions of the humans. If this ship had been the source of the blood she smelled, then why could she yet smell smoke? It was not the time of year for the great grasslands on the periphery of her territory to start burning.
It was a question that she would investigate later as another smell infiltrated her senses, subtler than the other scents. An oddly familiar smell, one she hadn't detected in a long time, so long she hadn't a name for it anymore. Whatever these humans had done to acquire this meat for themselves, they had not done so alone. There was something else with them, this something being familiar, almost like their own scent, but not the same.
Whatever this unnamed smell was, they had used it to their advantage. Already she could sense the returning strength of those in the fortress, clearly having consumed some of the meat and likely stashed the rest for the next day. The energy, the Qi within them that had been slowly dwindling over the course of the day, had been renewed in full. By the time the sun began to rise, she could sense the improved vitality of those within the fortress, their bodies humming with a vigor they had lacked before.
Tireless, she watched some of the humans return to the ship, carrying a number of things with them. Retreating further into the jungle, her presence masked by the plants around her and her very wish to not be seen, she watched the ship rise from the fortress and fly back from whence it had come the night before. Interest piqued, she turned and followed it at a brisk pace, the scent upon the wind growing fainter as she left the jungle and entered the humid forests. Leaping over a ravine, she looked ahead, the ship just visible as it disappeared over the horizon, far past the trees under whose shade her domain stretched, and out into the more open clearings, where her size would be unable to be hidden so readily.
Strange, this was the direction they had gone earlier, towards the lands in which her younger kind supposedly never ventured and returned from. Was there another fortress further inland, well past the great river whose predators she was content to keep at a distance?
Losing interest, she moved instead around the edges of her territory, the smell of the strange thing forgotten. The ship always flew too high for her to reach without detection, and it would not do for her to give away her position too soon. Let more of the humans come, let more of their cultivators come to her lands, and slowly, methodically, she would pick them off. Never enough at a time to startle them, as she had so shortsightedly done in her youth, but with the intent of masking their disappearances with the natural dangers that existed in these lands. They might never know of her responsibility and thus might never learn to fear her, and thus never search for her with vengeance in their hearts and with the numbers too great for even her to overcome.
Not far from the larger ravines, she stood atop a great swell of rock, the land clear for many strides before her. This edge of her territory was the most difficult to track in, as the rocks meant footprints were nonexistent, and the few scents left behind by passerby were swiftly wiped away by wind and water. Yet patrolled it she did, even if the smell of smoke was stronger here. In the distance, her sharp eyes could still see trails of it rising high into the sky, coloring the air near the sun with a reddish haze.
Her mother had always told her a red sun meant coming bloodshed. It was a good omen, then, though its source eluded her. Perhaps the longclaws had come across the remains of the human hunting camp, and scattered their fire carelessly when rooting through it? Such could explain why fires now burned so far along the horizon.
Or had they been the ones to spread the fire? She had seen the longclaws use fire before, taking burning branches from lightning strikes into their jaws and tossing them into long grass and dry shrubs, all to flush out whatever prey might be hiding in there. Had they so foolishly done so, instead setting a wide swath of the land ablaze, or was there a purpose behind it?
She rumbled softly, small stones shaking by her feet as she did so. Had one of the longclaws grown as she had, in both power and wisdom, and directed the others to use the fire this way? She knew others before her had come to be as she was, though never in her lifetime or near her territory, but it wouldn't be impossible for another to have ascended as she had. If a longclaw had done so, it would not have grown larger but certainly would have grown far more cunning. She would not leave her territory to find out, but should they come to her land, they would swiftly find that she had no tolerance for their flames. If her lands burned, it was because the heavens bade it so, with lightning and fire raining from the sky, not from the pitiful hands of lesser creatures attempting feats worthy of greater ones like her.
Turning away, she departed for the deeper forests again, passing through glades and thickets, these openings the greatest evidence of large herds of prey passing through whenever she was asleep, somewhere in her vast domain, or not hungry. Only then would some nearly strip the land, devouring all the green in their path, changing the landscape with every bite. Stepping over countless small streams, their muddy banks barely coating the sides of her talons, she moved on, a strange inkling in her mind drawing her towards another large portion of her territory. Here, amidst the ravines and gargantuan trees, was where she had originally staked her claim, expanding it over the cycles as she grew and her competitors fell to her teeth and claws. Whilst she rarely slept here anymore, a small part of her did recall it fondly, as it was here that she had hatched her first clutches of eggs.
Her young were long gone now, the survivors scattering to the winds and finding territories of their own, far away, assuming they survived to do so. It mattered not to her. Only the strong would continue on, every passing cycle bringing forth those that were stronger, cleverer, more adept at honing their talents than what came before. In time, their prey would also do the same, driving predators like her kind to continue to adapt and grow stronger once more if they wished to survive.
It was the way of the world.
She stopped. On the breeze, the scent of smoke had all but disappeared, but the smell of blood had returned. Boars, the black boars that dwelt in nearly every forest; something had killed them. The blood was fresh, fresh enough that she could determine it came from within her domain. Anger bloomed in her chest as her throat rumbled. Something had dared to enter her territory and so decimate a portion of her prey? The black boars, even the large ones, tended to be insufficient to sate her hunger unless she were to slaughter an entire herd of them, and losing one or two to the smaller predators rarely evoked more than annoyance in her chest. What else would need to slaughter so many of them so as to feed themselves?
Had she a new rival to battle? Had something finally arrived to challenge her for this territory she had spent cycles establishing? Had-?
She paused. The humans? Surely the humans didn't need to kill so many boars, not when they had brought back the meat from so many lightning beasts. Or did they simply slaughter as they pleased, content to take what they wished? Anger growing, she moved swiftly through the gigantic trees, mist and heavy air moving around her as she ventured forth. There! Ahead, atop one particularly large tree, the others around it shaded out and driven to grow away from it for the need of sunlight, stood the human ship. Resting upon mighty branches, it was not entirely out of her reach, but it could swiftly escape should she attack without a plan. The blood she could smell came most strongly from the ship and the area beneath it, infesting the entire clearing with a heady scent. Moving between trees and boulders, silent as shadows and as swiftly as death, she came to a stop, hidden from their sight once more at the very edge by a thick cluster of small trunks.
She surveyed the scene. A pile of black boars lay at the base of the mighty tree, their bodies broken or skewered by spears made of cold black fire, surrounded by the humans. The humans, the cultivators from the fortress, were chopping the boars apart, separating organs from meat, bones from hide, and taking great care to remove the tusks. So it was them that had slaughtered these beasts. Why now? Why so suddenly take an interest in the prey of her territory?
She weighed her options for but a moment before a new smell entered her nostrils. No, not a new scent, but an old scent, one familiar, one whose traces she had detected before at the fortress, drifting from the flying ship. Now… now she could discern what it was, and where it was, for among the humans stood another of their kind, but not the same. Too broad, too hairy, taller, the coloration completely different and the movements nowhere near as stifled as theirs.
Her eyes widened.
The scavenger.
The memories came back to her with the rush of a raging river, stifling the thoughts of devouring these humans and replacing them with a clarity that bordered on impossible.
She remembered now. Near fifteen cycles before, when she had been less inclined to stick to strictly her territory, she had remembered something scavenging from the corpses of her prey. Scavengers were common, as the smallest often followed the largest of her kind to kills for an easy meal. Most of these she ignored, but this, this had been different. Always lurking, never taking near enough for itself, yet always there, keeping a distance until it thought her asleep or moved on. It had been like the humans she had devoured cycles before but dirtier, wilder, perhaps some kind of distant kin that had not learned of their ways of Qi and cultivation. She had chased it off many a time, sometimes even lying in wait for it to approach and cut meat from the remains of her prey, but time and time again it had escaped her clutches. Slinking into rocks she could not yet break, climbing trees she could not tear down, or disappearing into muddy wallows where its scent would vanish.
Such an insult to her, of continuing to escape her despite her attempts, had been an insult to her pride she had long thought buried and gone. She had slaughtered greater creatures for lesser slights, devouring their hearts and innards in bloody displays, and yet this creature, this fuzzy pest on two legs, had been the one to escape her time and time again. It had driven her mad many times, trying to find this creature, eventually giving up after it had stopped scavenging, and she had thought it was simply dead or moved on. Now it stood amongst the humans, dragging along with it one of the larger boars, holding in another hand one of the spears tipped with cold black fire. It seemed at ease amongst them, no longer the naked, dirty thing she had chased so long ago, before she had fully claimed her territory. How had it survived for so long? Why had it returned now? Why was it amongst the humans?
Her other senses told her the truth, and fury erupted from within her. She could sense the strength within it, strength the likes of which made the others around it seem frail and starved, strength the reminded her of herself. Was this strength it had stolen from her by scavenging her kills, strength that should have rightly been hers? Was this creature, this human-yet-not-human, somehow able to grow as she had? This was to be her long-awaited challenger, something so small and unassuming, something so far beneath her that it didn't even have scales or claws with which to do battle?
This thieving, filthy, runtish pest! How dare it continue to live, to grow strong as she had, and to just come into her territory without care? She would have her revenge for the slight of its continued survival, the taking of her prey, and after she had crushed it betwixt her jaws, she would take back the strength it had stolen from her!
With a roar that shook the land and cracked the stone beneath her feet, she burst into the clearing, charging directly towards her target, rage in her heart and death in her eyes.
A/N: finally, we're about to see some action, but I also left it on a cliffhanger, sorry. Suggestions, questions and critiques are truly welcome, as I need them to improve the story. As for greater details, I'm writing them down and will eventually put them out into informational posts. I'm also still trying to find suitable artwork for characters that isn't AI generated, so if anyone finds anything they think might work, let me know. Like ReplyReport Reactions:Kirikllz909, shinkijin, AtreusGodOfWar and 196 othersAbramus5250Yesterday at 1:12 AMNewAdd bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks Chapter 18 New View contentAbramus5250Not too sore, are you?Today at 6:15 AMNewAdd bookmark#297Chapter 18
Tarzan
The roar knocked Sun Shui and the others to the ground with it's sheer volume, dust and debris whipping past us as if caught in a hurricane. I staggered back, dropping the boar I'd been dragging, death rushing towards me with a maw that had opened wider than I was tall. Memories of a fearsome beast whose shadow I had followed, stripping what little I could from its kills to keep myself fed, were swiftly shoved aside by instinct. My pack was unceremoniously dropped by the boars as I dove away from the pile and the stunned people, the beast followed, lunging the moment my feet touched the ground.
I only needed that moment.
With a spring I launched into the air, soaring past the beast's jaws and landing again further away, spear still clutched tightly in my grasp. The beast, mid-lunge, corrected itself without so much as a stumble and redirected itself in my direction, turning on a dime sharp enough to kick clouds of dust and debris into the air. The boar I had dropped was crushed to paste beneath its feet, spraying blood and viscera everywhere.
"Everyone, get to the ship and get in the air!" I roared, swiftly ducking under another lunge. Thrusting my spear against the underside of its jaw earned me a small spurt of blood, only for the beast to wrench its head back, tossing my spear and I across the clearing. Immediately I caught myself mid-fall and dashed off of an exposed expanse of rock, just in time to avoid the claws that tore through the stone like it was wet paper, the impact sending jagged chunks of debris in every direction.
I heard Sun Shui cry something, and from the corner of my eye, saw the people abandon our boar pile and immediately take to the air, floating or running up the tree to return to the ship. An impressive sight, given how little they'd impressed me thus far, but that moment of distraction nearly cost me, as the beast's jaws nearly closed on my head, only a swift sidestep and ducking maneuver saving me from decapitation.
I had to stay focused. This Allosaur wanted me, not them, and if they stayed out of the way, they should be fine. Quickly stripping my plant cloak and tossing it near the boars, I launched myself forward to duck beneath another swing of claws, I kicked off the knee of my Allosaur attacker. The joint snapped from the impact of my jump, yet the beast remained upright somehow and swiped at me with claws, snarling in rage and pain as I landed further away.
The joint popped back into place with a loud, sickening squelch as the beast eyed me up. There was hatred in those eyes, but also recognition, the same recognition that allowed me to know this was the same Allosaur whose shadow I had haunted during my earliest days in this strange world. A time when normalcy remained for my own body and mind, when the world was terrifying beyond imagination, and the struggle to survive was a near minute-to-minute ordeal. The time before I had completely broken down and been rebuilt, brick by metaphorical brick, into the survivor I was now.
That the Allosaur remembered me after all this time was… an uncomfortable thought. The strange habits of the creatures of this land meant that it likely had a grudge, either from my scavenging or evading it all those years ago. Whether my continued existence was a slight, or we'd intruded into its territory, I didn't know, but I wasn't about to let it take me down.
I'd come too far to just lay down and die.
It charged again, tirelessly, kicking up rock shards as mighty clawed feet impacted the ground. I made to leap again to the side, but this thing learned quickly, as the claws of an arm swiped me mid-jump, sending me flying past a gigantic tree. That I wasn't ripped to shreds was thanks entirely to the shaft of my spear, which I threw up at the last moment to tank the claws of the swipe itself. That said spear hadn't shattered instantly was a testament to the strength of the materials I crafted with, and I rolled in time to avoid a sudden stomp, the impact shaking the forest around me.
Yet without my pack, without my cloak, the hidden places I could pull more spears from was lost to me. With this as my only spear, I could not just throw it into the creature again and again, riddling it with obsidian bladed points until it collapsed.
Lashing out, my lone spear struck true, the obsidian head lancing right into the calf muscle of the Allosaur as it bore down on me, earning a shriek as it stepped away with a sudden limp. Rolling back onto my feet, I thrust again, ducking an arm swipe and gouging another hole into the beast's leg, the glimpse of white beneath red telling me I'd struck all the way to bone. Hot blood sprayed across the ground, but even as I prepared another strike, the wounds sealed in a flash of steam, leaving little more than a fading scar.
Damn, this thing was tough. Behind the Allosaur the ship rose into the air, just as the beast roared again and leaped towards me, bulk soaring through the air with the grace of a bird. I dashed beneath its soaring form, a swing from my spear carving a line across the underside of its entire torso. Yet as it landed and spun on its scaly heels, the source of blood splattering the ground suddenly sealed, and where organs should have been spilling out, there remained barely a scar.
Frustration was building in me, especially now that it seemed to know what my spear was capable of, and that I might have more back by the boar pile. It charged again, this time ducking low, still keeping itself between me and my pack. I leaped high, backwards towards a tree, whereupon planting myself against the trunk, I leaped down towards the beast. Obsidian met skull as I drove it directly into the Allosaur's head, the impact knocking it flat to the ground in a rush of wind, but the whiplash from the dinosaur's sudden rearing knocked me from atop of it, skipping me across the ground like a stone upon water.
I rose, watching as the roaring creature reached up with a dexterity such an animal should not possess and wrenched my spear from it's skull, the blood pouring down it's head framing it like a mane of hair. It tossed the spear up into the air, and with a flick of its tail, knocked into the butt of the spear at just the right angle to send it flying straight and true up into the flying ship.
I watched the ship lurch from the sheer force of the impact, but it somehow stayed afloat, vibrating spear stuck in its underside. Then, with a grunt that almost sounded like a laugh, the Allosaur ran straight for me once again, though now I was without a weapon, and had no means of reaching my pack.
I did what I could. I leaped to the trunk of one of the mighty trees, the foggy air thicker than soup as it pursued me. My fingers dug into the bark as easily as clay before I launched myself up, pulling higher and higher to gain some distance. Yet the beast followed me, ripping deep furrows into the trunk even as it scaled up after me, climbing faster and easier than anything its size should have been possible.
This truly was an impossible world, where humans made flying boats and the mystical energy of the world created monsters and miracles in equal measure.
I threw aside such philosophy and leaped straight to another tree. The Allosaur did the same. All I could do was continue my journey between the trees, pausing just long enough for my feet to make enough contact to push off towards the next tree. It did the same, smaller trees falling over from the force of its leaps. Yet the mightier trees held firm as it chased me, slashing, biting and clawing whenever it drew near, woody debris falling far to the foggy forest floor beneath us.
Mid leap, a dark blur struck into the side of the Allosaur, sending it careening to the ground below. Said blur landed atop it with a crushing blow that shook the earth and sent a wave of air blasting leaves from lower branches.
"Bessie!"
I hadn't the time to think as I leaped towards my faithful mount, her roar rattling the trees as she stomped on the prone Allosaur's head again and again with all her might. Yet the beast would not give up, pushing with its forearms hard enough to spin itself like a top on the ground. Bessie jumped up and out of the way of the thrashing jaws but caught the kick from the legs right to her chest, sending her flying across the forest and smashing through a large cluster of arm-thick bamboo.
She recovered and leaped back towards the Allosaur as it rose to its feet. Jaws and claws clamped on the larger dinosaur's head, holding on tightly as it roared and tried to rip her away. Long cuts appeared all over the Yutyrannus, yet still she held on, doggedly ignoring her wounds and her blood sprayed across the forest floor and her talons and jaws dug deeper into our mutual foe's hide. I landed beneath the titanic beast's legs and began striking it wherever I could, scales rippling from blows and blood spurting from quickly-recovering bruises and punctures made with bare fists.
It suddenly kicked me away with enough force that I felt my back hit the ground before I felt the gaping puncture in my stomach seal shut. Cursing, I rose as quickly as I could, only to watch as the Allosaur then leaped into the air and slammed its head to the ground, Bessie taking nearly the entire force of the blow. The ground around her cratered, debris flying as she finally let go, blood erupting from her mouth in a sickening spray.
"Bessie!" I cried. The Allosaur gripped her by the throat with its mighty jaws and dragged her for a few paces before flipping end over end, landing squarely back on its feet. Bessie spun with the beast before she was let go, my stunned mount sailing headlong into a titanic tree trunk in the distance with a sickening crunch.
I saw red.
Bessie lay there, unmoving, as the monster turned back to me, just in time to see my flying shoulder ram into it's body. The force of my blow sent us both flying through several trees, their trunks exploding from the impact before one titanic tree arrested our flight. I punched, I kicked, I stomped, I let blows rain down upon the creature with enough force that the mighty tree I had pinned it against was shaking. I then raised my hands together in a fist, to bash the creature's head in since mere punctures weren't working, but in an instant, I was snatched up in both its taloned hands as it stumbled away from the mighty tree.
Claws that tore through rock with ease punctured my body as my hands stopped its incoming jaws, the bloody spittle from the beast slick beneath my grip but doing nothing to stop my hold. It roared at me in pain and frustration, thrashing in my grip and trying to either pull me away or rip me apart, but I held firm, willing myself to remain in one piece even as my leaking blood scattered across the forest floor. Then, with one hand, I gripped hard enough to feel bone in the upper skull crack beneath my fingers, and the other reared back as far as it would go.
My punch echoed through the area as the beast's head reared back, the lower jaw terribly dislocated, teeth falling like leaves in an autumn storm. I immediately pried the Allosaur's talons from my body as it squealed in agony, where I then leaped as far away as I could, fresh blood spilling as my wounds tried to seal as I fell to the forest floor. Landing and skidding on unsteady feet, I watched the swaying beast retreat slightly, only for the flopping lower jaw to rearrange itself back into place with a series of horrible crunching noises. Teeth popped back into place where they had been lost, fresh and just as sharp as those lost, and the wounds on its face left by my blows were already beginning to disappear.
This couldn't go on forever. Sun Shui and the others were up in their ship, and I was certain they could do nothing to a beast like this, even after all I'd done to it. For all that I had become, I could feel I was starting to run on empty, for this beast would just not go down no matter what I had thrown at it.
Worst of all, Bessie, my most faithful and diligent mount, was injured to an extent I had no inkling of. She could be dying for all I knew, a thought that opened a pit in my stomach I had long thought gone for good. I had lost so much in my time here, from original herds and crops to time, memories, and even my sense of self at times. I wasn't going to lose her, not without giving it my all.
Yet my all wasn't cutting it this time.
I needed help.
My feet shifted, my stance entrenching me into solid stone as I braced myself. The forest around me went silent as I drew in a deep breath, debris pulling towards me for a moment before I let out a bellow that shook the earth. Stone cracked, trees splintered, and smaller plants were simply shredded into slivers as my roar boomed out across the landscape, radiating out from me as an explosion of noise. Even the Allosaur stumbled backwards slightly from the power of my bellow, but recovered quickly, looking upon me with curiosity tinging the hatred and rage.
The fog around us scattered as the sky suddenly darkened, the sunshine disappearing behind heavy and dark clouds. The great Allosaur, readying for another charge, stopped, confused, as the wind suddenly picked up, kicking up debris and bringing with it the scent of rain and ozone. I saw the flying ship high above suddenly struggle against a wind that had not been there before, and in the distance I heard another bellow, one that boomed even greater than mine.
I had been heard.
The sky, so clear before, suddenly erupted with light against their dark forms as a number of arcs of lightning, large enough to turn night into day if but for a moment, scorched their undersides. From amongst these bolts emerged one in particular, snaking across the clouds like a serpent, before it immediately bolted towards the ground. In a move so swift even my eyes struggled to register it, the bolt struck the ground between us, a bubble of electrical arcs coursing along every surface, plants and rock on impact. The blast alone could have blinded anything for miles, but my eyes even now did not need shielding. The Allosaur, eyes hidden behind claw, lowered them to look between us once more.
For the first time since this battle began, I saw more than aggression in its stance and hate in its eyes.
I saw hesitation.
I saw curiosity.
I saw fear.
Standing between us was Thor, lightning arcing along his body like rivulets of gravity-defying rain, his muscular form rippling with power and restrained animalistic rage. The ground beneath him us was scorched and slightly cratered along the entire length and width of his form, and as he raised his head, staring straight towards the Allosaur, he let out a rumble that shook the very air around us. Light flickered in his eyes, miniscule arcs of static lightning erupting along lines in his face and folds in his scales, wafting over him like strings of bright smoke.
Heavy raindrops began to fall, striking the ground in a low rumble that grew and grew until the torrent that fell from the sky drowned out the thunder above us. Lightning continued to flash overhead, so often and so constantly that the darkness was pushed aside by the ferocity of the storm itself. I rushed to Thor's side, readying my stance as the Allosaur, shock now forgotten, refused to flee. Despite the bleeding, despite the wounds that were not healing as they once had, it stood firm, jaws open, claws flared, and murder in its eyes. It would not flee, it would not cower, and I knew it would continue this battle against all common sense.
Yet with Thor by my side, I now knew I had a chance. There was a reason, after all, I'd named this big lug Thor of all things. It was the perfect name for a Brontosaurus.
It was a perfect name… for a thunder lizard.
A/N: first part of our first boss fight, second part due soon. Hope everyone's been enjoying the ride so far, and I had a lot of fun just unleashing the most cracked out battle I could think of so far. Let me know what you think! Like ReplyReport Reactions:XxxXDank_Pizza_DragonXxxX, Kirikllz909, shinkijin and 105 othersAbramus5250Today at 6:15 AMNewAdd bookmarkView discuss