This one was fun to write.
Hope it's fun to read.
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As if summoned by some ancient and arcane machinations, the creature slowly pulled itself from the familiar waters of the Azure Lake. As the mid-morning light of the Crystal hit its back and the water dry from its body, it began to writhe as if in pain, curling into a motionless ball.
The beast was the color of pure white and seemed to be made entirely of tight, ropey muscles. It had no hair on its reptilian-like head, nor any on its body. And upon close inspection, it possessed no eyes either. Just a long snout, its maw filled with several rows of small, serrated teeth. Its taut arms ended in long thin hands, with each finger tipped in a wicked looking nail. Its legs and feet had a similar style to them. All and all, the entire package was quite terrifying to look at.
Smoke soon began to rise from the creature and it began to tremble and whine with pain. It's pure white skin slowly browned in the Crystal's life-giving light. Its complexion continued to darken as the creature quaked with fear until the body of the beast was a hard, charred black.
When the pain had subsided and the smoke was gone, it cautiously extended one clawed limb from its fetal position, testing its new waters carefully. When it did not hurt as before, the beast sat up and "examined" itself on the lake's shore. Satisfied with its new skin tone and texture, it decided to take stock of its new environment. Something had drawn it from the lake and the beast could still feel its draw on it now.
Scuttling away from the Azure Lake on all fours, it soon noticed a lone taigen feeding on the ground nearby. Suddenly the creature realized that it too was hungry, but ground vegetation would not satisfy it. With a wicked grin, the creature shambled through the tall grass toward its prey with a stealth its form could never had betrayed.
Once confident of the distance, the foreign beast lunged forward, claws flailing menacingly. The taigen made to rush away, but the beast had it in mid-air. And in a merciful instant, the taigen was no more. After the flurry of claws and teeth, all that was left were some bloodied tufts of fur and a few discarded bones. Satisfied in its self once more, the black-hide creature from the lake sat back on its haunches and licked its arms and hands clean of the taigen.
Then something else caught its attention. Just over a nearby rise were the distinct sounds of something living. With less than a thought given to what it could be--aside from edible--the creature bounded, dog-like, up and over the hill. And as it crested the rise its excitement grew ten hold, for at the base of the hill stood five elves: slender, clothed, armed, and bleeding! The creature could not contain its joy and leapt at them, just as it had the taigen before.
The beast hit one of them square in the chest, immediately reaching in between the elf's ribs and retrieving its heart. For that first bite, the creature was certain it was still beating. Ripping and tearing in a frenzy of claws and teeth, the creature was completely oblivious to its remaining prey until the elves began to make odd structured noises. Then suddenly sharp objects bouncing off of the backs its shoulders and head. Snapping its head around, the creature found the remaining elves had distanced themselves from it and their dead companion.
During that moment of consideration, the elves let loose a second volley of arrows. They bounced off of its body without a scratch as well. The creature was, however, becoming annoyed that its prey was not running. Throwing back its head, it let loose its first real sound: a blood curdling screech that the beast was instantly proud of. In an instant, it had closed the distance between it and the nearest elf, but just as quickly the elf had dropped its bow and had drawn a short sword in each hand. Hard as the creature from the lake tried, it was unable to break the elf's defenses.
That was when the creature experienced a whole new sensation: raw cold pain. With an equally piercing screech--this time tainted with rage--its left arm fell to the blood-spattered ground. Unlike the burning of before, this pain was over quickly, replaced with a numbing sensation that was just as unwelcome. In a fit a panic and rage, the beast wheeled on its attacker, swiping the nails of its remaining hand across the elf's cheek and eye. Then, with a second, muffled howl, it was brought down, the hilt of a short sword protruding from the creature's lower back.
It lay motionless for a moment, as if its legs had gone out from under it and were now gone all together. Still feeling the sting of the blade's bite in its spine, it tried, without success, to remove the weapon from its body with its right arm. As it squirmed in the tall grass, the surviving elves closed in around it, examining it. They began to make more of their strange nonsensical sounds.
"This one is just like the one that we found earlier this morning."
"The second one was pale and much softer; these black ones are nearly impossible to kill. They seem to have only a few soft spots on their bodies and even then the force required to cut their skin is incredible. If these creatures begin to group, we will have a serious problem facing Yliakum."
The creature could take no more. Startling the elves, it took a deadly swipe at the nearest set of ankles, accompanying it with a hollow growl. Unfortunately, the elf leapt from harm's way effortlessly. It then circled around close on the other side of the beast, brazenly leaning in before speaking.
"Nonsense. And it is not the soft spots that need to be targeted, and certainly not with a sword. These black
reavers come down best with a swift strike to their crown using something blunt."
As the backside of the elf's ax connected with the reaver's skull, the creature knew that the summons, which had drawn him from the Azure Lake, had betrayed him to these demons.
