Sulphur & Lightning Chapter 16: 015 - Strange Creatures

Read chapter 16 of Sulphur & Lightning by anaugustauthor on NovelPedia.

Elijah tripped. That wasn’t right. After all, Lycans were renowned for their balance and adaptability. It was more likely for a carp to drown than a Lycan to trip on their own. Even more curious was the fact that despite some time having passed, the young man had not moved from his position. Despite the harsh conditions he had been subject to, it was sand, not cement. Despite all this, he remained motionless, as though exhausted from his efforts. The truth was much contrary to its appearance, though, as the panicked yellow eyes of the young vulpine told. In his immobility, a string of deep red connected to the sand beneath him. He was bleeding. What happened to me? Roused finally from his stuporous state, the young Lycan looked to inspect the state of his body and discovered, to his great horror, that his internal organs had been damaged. His race boasted of exceptional control and awareness of their bodies, and merely moving his consciousness inward was enough to give him an understanding of his body that would rival any surgeon’s exhaustive examination. Knowing what happened was one thing, but knowing why it happened was another matter entirely. Lycans were durable creatures to say the least, and even in the case of their soft innards, it would have to be quite the trick to cause them to spontaneously explode. He was still bleeding, and the combination of his bad and deteriorating condition and the pain he felt made his vision blur. He was no stranger to pain, but this excruciation was beyond anything he had ever even imagined, not to mention experienced. His mind raced for some solution or explanation. How was it even possible? Silver was the only thing that had such a dramatic effect, and even that felt different. Silver. The thought of the metal drew the boy back and stirred something up like clay from a riverbed. He remembered that silver water his dad showed him. Could that be the cause? The chilling thought crept into his consciousness despite his feeble attempts to fight back against it. Was it possible? He knew without being told that he was a disappointment. He knew that he was a burden. He knew all this and knew it truly. Still, the idea that his own father would poison him was beyond the pale. There's no way. Nature had no intention of leaving him to his ponderings, though. Vibrations reached his body from the blistering sand that surrounded him. Something was approaching him. Something big. Despite his state, he somehow communicated his desire to move to his members, and they responded, just barely avoiding the incoming collision. His feet barely supported his shakily upright stance as he tried to discern his assailant with vision weakened by injury and exhaustion. A mass of horn and hide stood before him, most likely confused by the fact that its charge had been dodged. It wasn't the only one confused, as the boy who stood before it was just as bewildered. He had never seen such a creature before. It seemed to be a giant wildebeest – a common enough creature in the realm, excepting the fact that this was a desert and such a large grazer couldn't ever subsist in such scarcity. That was merely the beginning of the incongruities, though. It was not only much larger than its peers, its shoulder height an alarming two metres at least, but also seemed to have unnatural growth in other aspects. For example, its forehead had been partially breached by a half-open red pupil, threatening to make its way fully to the surface at any point, and its horns and teeth seemed to sprout up distortedly, with a pair of horns emerging just behind one of its ears and a row of jagged carnivorous teeth lining the red carpet of its tongue. What is that thing? No, to say the creature before him was bizarre was to say nothing at all. It wasn't patient either, as it was not content with allowing its intended prey to extensively examine it and instead preferred another attempt at goring the lad. Despite the pain he felt, the young man manage