Outside the palace walls, among the tall grasses that swayed in the night breeze, the sound of faint footsteps rang out.
…Khash…
…Khash…
It stopped suddenly, then came back again, as if something was making its way between the plants in the dark.
The sound did not go unnoticed.
One of the palace guards turned to his source, his eyebrows furrowed.
“Hmm…”
He gripped his spear tightly, then began to advance cautiously towards the grass, while his eyes remained fixed on where the sound came from.
He stopped a few steps away, and removed some weeds with the tip of his spear.
“What is this?”
Suddenly, a little rabbit rushed through the grass, making several jumps in a row before stopping in front of the guard, moving his little ears and looking at him innocently.
The guard sighed in relief, and a slight smile appeared on his face
“Huh…
Just a rabbit.”
He bent down and carried him gently in his arms, then turned around smiling towards his companions
“Look what I found…”
But his smile disappeared at the same moment.
He froze in place, his eyes wandering around him in astonishment.
Just moments ago, the guards were standing at the palace gate exchanging conversations and performing their shift as usual, but now there is no one left.
The rabbit guard escaped from his arms, and the little boy jumped away and disappeared among the weeds in moments.
As for him, he tightened his grip on his spear until the veins in his hand protruded, and he began to turn his head slowly, examining the place around him with eyes filled with caution.
His breathing quickened, and he whispered in a trembling voice:
“What’s going on…?”
Nobody answered him.
All he heard was the rustle of weeds moving with the wind.
Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a black shadow crossing between the trees at lightning speed, so much so that he could not distinguish its shape. This story is hosted at novelping dot com.
The guard’s breathing intensified, and he began to turn around with eyes filled with panic, directing his spear towards every corner of the darkness, while his fist was trembling despite his attempt to hold himself together.
“Who’s there?!”
He received no response.
Just the rustle of weeds that seemed to be getting closer and closer.
Suddenly, a rapid movement sound rang out from the right side.
Without thinking, the guard turned with all his might and stabbed the source of the sound directly with his spear.
Everything stopped.
He looked ahead and saw the little rabbit hanging from the tip of his spear, the blade piercing his entire body.
The guard’s eyes widened, and he felt a tingling sensation in his heart.
“…Rabbit?”
The guard extended his trembling hand towards the spear embedded in the rabbit’s body, trying to snatch it.
But in the blink of an eye, something passed to his right at a lightning speed that his eyes could not perceive.
He felt a cold breeze pass by him, followed by a sharp pain that swept through his arm.
He stopped in his place, staring ahead incomprehensibly.
A few seconds passed before his eyes fell on his right arm lying on the ground, still holding the spear.
His pupils widened, and blood exploded from the cutting site, causing him to let out a loud scream that tore apart the stillness of the night.
“Aaaah!!”
He grabbed his amputated shoulder with his other hand, then turned around and ran with all his remaining strength towards the palace gate, while the blood left a clear mark behind him on the grass.
Help!
Help me!
Help me!!”
He was only thinking about reaching the guards at the entrance, but before he could cover the last meters, his feet suddenly stopped, as if his body refused to take another step forward.
There was a being standing in his way.
He stood upright on two long feet, with a slender body resembling a corpse with nothing left but skin and bones.
His black-gray skin was covered in faint cracks, while his ribs and shoulders appeared clearly prominent, giving him a terrifying, inhuman appearance.
His head was slightly tilted, his red eyes staring at the guard with a rigid look devoid of any feeling.
As for his hands, they resembled human hands in structure, but each hand had four long fingers ending in sharp black claws, and blood completely covered their edges. Find the original chapter at novelping . com.
And in his mouth…
He was slowly chewing a piece of rabbit meat, while threads of blood flowed from between his long, sharp teeth, before falling drop by drop onto the grass.
The guard raised his trembling spear in front of him, trying to prevent his fear from appearing, then shouted at the top of his voice: “Don’t come another step closer!”
The creature did not stop, but continued walking towards him with slow and steady steps, while his red eyes remained fixed on the guard without blinking.
The guard took a step back, then another, and his hands trembled more until the spear almost fell from him.
His voice rose, mixed with panic: “A…
I’m telling you to stay away from me!”
The creature continued to advance, as if the guard’s words had never reached him at all.
The guard’s breathing quickened, his eyes widened in horror, and then he shouted with all his might: “No…
Don’t come near!
Get away from meeee!”
The next moment, the creature disappeared from his sight at a speed his eyes could not follow.
The guard felt something pass by him like a cold breeze, and then everything suddenly stopped.
He stood there for a few seconds, looking ahead incomprehensibly, before his body split in half and he fell to the ground, dying at the same moment.
About a minute later, a number of guards rushed from inside the palace towards the gate after hearing screams.
“What’s going on here?”
But as soon as they arrived, they froze in place.
The scene in front of them was enough to rob them of their ability to move.
The creature sat on top of the guard’s body, devouring it quietly and brutally, as if it had not noticed their arrival.
As soon as he finished chewing what was in his mouth, he slowly raised his head, and his red eyes settled on the guards standing in front of him.
None of them said a word.
Even the most experienced in combat, he felt for the first time that the only instinct that remained within him was…
Escape.
The bravest guards took a step forward, even though fear was evident on his face, and he raised his sword high as he shouted with all his might: “Kill him before he enters the palace!
Haya!”
The guards gathered their courage, and their shouts rose as they rushed towards him from every direction, but what they saw the next moment shattered what remained of their resolve.