Not So Hollo

The first time I remember the rain touching my skin, it was soft and hesitant, comforting. I was surrounded by the thick orange and reds of autumn, the sky was a gentle gray. Tired feet had crunched upon the leaves in a short staccato as I raced toward my familiar place. Home. I remember now why the town of Benjamin was so familiar. How could I forget it?

Now the rain was a harsh and passionate lover. I welcomed the rain. It washed away the grit that I had accumulated over the past days, but Runt whimpered constantly as the rain pummeled the tarp he was huddled under, along with the remaining supplies and hides I had collected. Our herd beast was indifferent to any weather. His thick legs carrying on steadily in rain, snow or hurricane. This type of herd beast was the most reliable because of its thick layer of both blubber and course fur, and because the mere presence of such a beast would scare off every predator except the most desperate of pack predators. Although they weren't very bright, with enough patience and correct treatment they will become fatally loyal to their owner. There have been occasions where a herd beast has killed packs of Aiza to protect their master ignoring every molecule of fear a normal herd beast would have. I've grown fond of this beast and I can sense he likes me too by the way his waves radiate lightly when I speak to him.

"Oi, lil' Runty Boy? You okay?", I look back at the little scaly ball under the tarp. His only answer was to whimper more loudly. "I guess you're not to fond of this place either." I prodded Beasty to the left where a faint trail started next to a broken stump of a tree. I rubbed absently at the jagged pink scar that marred my right shoulder to my left forearm.

"I know that tree..."

----------------------------------------Five years earlier
My homeland was so close! The thrice forking brook of crystal waters was the last trailhead before the cliff that over looked my village. So close. My feet stumbled, my breath was ragged but my heart soared effortlessly towards home.

The men in black suits had taken me from home when I was only eleven years old now a whole year later I had finally found the trail that could take me home. They had hurt me and changed me, so that I could no longer trust myself around others. I had changed physically and mentally but I never forgot the happiness that my homeland brought me. My bloodlust was a constant hunger then. It was a starving sensation that grew around humans. I continued alone without companions of any species aside from the Bright Lady that woke me every morn and the savage voice that would taunt and torture me constantly. After avoiding every type of person one could encounter on the trail to the White Mountains, I traveled on in the general direction of home off of the trail; however, home, I soon discovered, was not waiting for me.

The voice was silent that day. When the trees that held my peoples smiles and laughter lay splintered in brown rivers that trickled uselessly on toward some secret destination. The rich soil that offered life so readily to new seeds was stained stiff with my peoples blood. That day I cursed many things. The Bright Lady who gave warmth to the earth and was constant in every dawn, the Lady who did nothing to stop the massacre that had befallen my people. I cursed the monstrosity that destroyed my homeland. I cursed myself for not dying with them.

Its tracks were old but I studied them until I could feel them with my mind and see them when I was blinded. The tracks were large, clawed things to be feared by every sane person. I had no fear. Those tracks were engraved into my heart more than anything could have been.

That very day while collecting what little remains of my people were left, I vowed to end the existence of this monster. I will find it and make sure it will wreak havoc no more. It eluded me for two fall cycles and when I was fourteen I finally confronted the VE. I had tracked its wide tracks to the town of Benjamin. And every night I had practiced using the power the voice gave me. I learned that my power worked like creating squares of near invisible power. They could be used to support or to slice and destroy. I used them for destruction. I slayed fire breathers and predator packs easily enough. I thought I was prepared enough to handle the creature that tortured my dreams for years. The monster that was fated to die by my hand.

---------------------------------Becoming a Ghost
It had skirted the outside of the town but eventually it would attack when it noticed the rich herds and population of potential meals. I sent an anonymous letter to the board of the town that a VE was near and that it was MINE. I told them not to interfere! I warned them! Unfortunately there was a Patrol team that didn't get inside the thick walls that surrounded the city in time. I blame bad communication.

A voracious eater was the largest type of predator out of the nine. I had learned as much as I could while traveling and tracking. There were nine types of deadly Aiza numbered by levels of danger: Insect, Game, Domesticated, Minor Predators, Major Predators, Poison, Fire, Armor/Camo, and lastly the most feared Voracious Eaters. Luckily there were only a handful of VE's and those few had trouble seeking each other out and breeding, so there will never be a large population of VE's. VE's were as big as pre-war buildings and did not carry the Feral virus. A Feral will not think about its consequences or actions while an unaffected Aiza will try to win a battle with as little injuries as possible. Taking down an Aiza like this would prove to be very difficult. I was dealing with a truly formidable foe.

The Patroller team was stuck outside of the walls at a hundred feet, but the VE was too close to open the main gates to let the team in. I tried to get there as soon as possible. The team fought bravely with only one survivor by the time I arrived. I should have gotten there faster to prevent their deaths. Even now their deaths lay heavy in my mind when I rest my eyes.

The VE who I had chased for the last two years was devastatingly enormous with the usual adaptations of giant teeth, scaly protected body and the dreaded blood stained claws. Sharp pale horns adorned its body like a cloak. Its heavy scales were as sharp as its teeth and were the color of green wheat. Its claws grew to be as long as my body and as eager to kill me as I was to kill it. It had a thick jaw that stretched past its lizard like snout and I could smell the stomach toiling stench of a thousand corpses emanating out of its very pores. I screamed wildly as I charged at the giant reptilian leveler using my powers to slice a leg shallowly to avoid the death of the last standing Patroller that it was currently eyeing with hunger. Surprisingly the Patroller was a lady. The Tower did not allow many women to become Patrollers, they had to be especially amazing. It roared in annoyance and bounded after me in earth quaking leaps. I had the full attention of the beast now.

"Damn you EATER!", I shouted as I charged again with two heavily poisoned swords. I had collected only the most potent of poisons for this beast over my travels. Its heavy paw fell in an earth rocking bloom of dust distorting my vision. Its jaws opened wide ready to consume. There was no fear in me, for I had nothing to lose. I saw the inside of the beast's mouth before unleashing two power plates hastily to hold the powerful set of jaws open. I could've stored a rusty husk of a horseless-wagon in its mouth.

I slashed widely as my plates wavered and vibrated against the VE's dominating strength. His waves beat at my senses in the turbulent orange of anger. My sword found comfort in the beast's tongue and gums. I smiled wildly as its thick rancid blood burned at my skin. I had even managed to knock out a bone white tooth in my wild swings. Deep gashes tore into its mouth like some obscure painting. Except in this painting there was only one color: red. It would be painful to be as huge as this beast was and to not be able to eat for the pain of my poison working its hardest to end its terrible lustful life. "It is time for you to die!" I gritted my teeth to uphold the plates and stabbed my sword to the hilt into the roof of its mouth. A downpour of blood coated my body in a sick baptism.

The monster howled and growled in a huff and broke my plates and my body recoiled from the force of the broken plates. My ears rung with its cry of pain. The beast let out a whine and gruff growl as its jaws closed quickly upon my small form. I flinched not. I cried not. I accepted my fate be it death or life. Darkness seized me more quickly than I had thought. At least the beast would die a painful death even if I never got to see its mighty body crumble under the pressure of my rage. Now I could tell my people that they had been avenged successfully.