The Necrine Node

Technical Pen and ink, .13 mm

“Lily!” I cried out as she fell, unconscious from the wound. Emerald picked her up and pushed through the trees. They were looking just as dead. That’s when the beast charged us everyone except emerald’s guardian was thrown to their back. Aimy was back on her feet as I crawled desperately backward, staring the monster in it’s ten blank eyes. It drew a bold foot forward as I despirately scurried backward. The blunt limb barely missed me. I rolled to my chest and tried to get to my feet until a tendril from the second head scraped sharply past my thigh. It felt numb, and used the last of my energy to crawl forward. The creature was right on top of me, slowly following. The swarm of clapping creatures followed, marking me and applauding this beast. I crawled five more steps until I collapsed. I rolled to my side, watching the two heads of this deformed animal get ready to do something horrible. I felt myself passing out, half in dis-belief of what was happening. Yet I felt a strange relief. Before my vision faded with the rest of my senses, I saw the trees as lively and the wind just felt ambient. The tripods began to tear apart in the air, and a sense of fear struck the beast above me. I could see it in its motion.
Suddenly, a stream of hope wraiths cut at its foreleg and left head, striping most of its flesh. From the left side out of view, a fleshy tail wrapped around the other head, severing it. I could have sworn it was the tail of a faceless emotion. Just as my vision faded, I felt myself gently lift as the mutilated beast limped out of the ambient woods. I was afraid, whether I was being saved or not. I had encountered two things I could not have prepared myself for. The source had many allies I knew nothing of. I didn't know what was in my blood, or Lily’s. I didn't know if I could trust what was lifting me away. Fear had now taken hold.
-The Terra Nubelesus 1st draft, Andrew Schlageter