Primordial Sage: Plight of Immortality

The village which at that moment was bathed in crimson light was getting more and more loud. The past silence was replaced by a wailing livestock that felt the danger and villagers who went to sleep woke up and were bewildered by what was going on.

Meanwhile, Little Stone who was far from his house ran as fast as he could. He didn't know what kind of being was howling like this. It was horrifying. It definitively wasn't just some wolf. Those howls sounded as if they were from the deepest hell. At least that was what Little Stone felt.

The howls and wailing got louder and louder as the boy ran through the village until he heard another sound.

*Baaam*

A horrible rumble rang out as he saw the house on the right side of him explode. The splinters flew apart from it and everything in the vicinity was demolished. The livestock next to it suffered the most as they died a horrible death. Only a few barely survived and wailed in agony. The visual and auditory impact was so great on the little boy that he fell on his bottom. Stiffened he looked at the place where the house was. There should still be people in that 'house'... His pupils trembled. But his trance soon ended when he saw the movement behind the rumbles.

After a few very long seconds he finally saw...

A huge shadow. It moved so quickly that he didn't catch the details. It went after the sound of the dying cows lying helplessly there. The shadow came over them. Then their wail sounded once more, this time much louder until no sound came out afterward.

As the shadow stopped moving Little Stone saw it much more clearly. It really was a wolf. Somewhat. It was much bigger. Even twice as big as the village cottages, its fur so dark that it would not be visible during normal nights and only its harrowing red eyes would be seen. What made it truly apart from normal wolves though were its long and sharp vertebrae protrusions on its mutilated back which looked as if the bony spikes grew up through its flesh and front 'arms' which were similar to those of humans. They were covered in fur and had claws as long as daggers. It looked grotesque as the shadow sat down on its rear while taking the corpse of the cow into its hand. It looked at it with its eyes full of hunger. Then its hand got closer to its maw full of rows of sharp teeth.

Immediately after it chewed the head of the cow with crunch and swallowed it.

While the monster ate the livestock Little Stone started to crawl away. He didn't run. He didn't have the courage for that. Nausea which the boy felt was unmeasurable as the vomit came to his mouth which he then swallowed albeit unwillingly back. The fear that 'it' would notice him was too big for that.

'NO NO NO What is that THING? Why is it here? I need to run.. I don't want...' Little Stone felt fear as never before. He felt like crying but at the same time, the shock made him forget it. 'I need to get home... But... If this thing wants it can easily destroy our cottage same as Old Salem's cottage... What should I do...'

The village was in total chaos. The screams, wails, and howling came out of every direction. It was obvious that the creature before him wasn't the only one and that there were more of them that invaded the village. Little Stone felt disoriented as he hid in the bush and looked around himself unsure what to do. He was so scared that he couldn't even cry from the shock he felt.

'Why is this happening ?' thought the boy who was trying to sneak to his house as he felt that with his brothers this situation would be manageable. But then he heard the shrill noise. The noise was in the direction where the Old Meddie lived.

Little Stone's eyes dilated. He knew that the granny couldn't be on her feet without the cane and that she couldn't run if needed. 'I need to warn her. No, I need to help her hide or they will find her.' thought in determination little boy as he sneaked towards her house.

It took him some time until he got there. Fortunately, it seemed that the house was intact. When he sighed in relief he went to her door and violently knocked.

"Granny, It's me! I will go in!" then he went to open the door. What he didn't expect though was that the smell of herbs that always welcomed him in was replaced by a wave of terrible stench of rot and iron. When he fully opened the door he didn't see the granny but the same creatures as the one he had seen before. The only difference where that these are only as big as dogs. The rotten smell seemed to come out of them. Some parts of their body were opened and festered. It was a horrendous sight.

But what was even worse was that when they turned to look at him he saw them holding something down as they chewed on it. Little Stone didn't want to believe it. He couldn't.

As they chewed on old Meddie their jaws were full of raw meat and blood that poured on the ground. And the smile... They looked as if they were creepily smiling as they were eating her.

The boy stiffened as he looked at it. He wanted to run but he couldn't. As the monsters took notice of him they were prepared to pounce on him. But then he heard the hoarse yell.

"Run! Please just run..." It was old Meddie who lay on the floor in her blood. They didn't kill her. It seemed they wanted to eat her alive.

When the boy came to his senses the creatures seemed to be irritated by her yelling. It seemed to spoil their mood. So one of them stomped on her head.

*Crunch*

The head imploded as if it were just fruit. The bits of the skull and brain matter scattered across the ground. It took just a split second.

Little Stone horrified yelped as his eyes watered and he turned around to run. But that was a mistake as one of the creatures took the opportunity and plunged on him. The boy didn't have even a chance to retaliate until it bit him in the shoulder. It could've bitten into the neck as a normal animal to end the life of its prey but it seemed that it didn't want to.

The boy was knocked on the ground and felt pain, so much pain that he never felt before. He didn't even have the breath to yell at that moment. He didn't know what to do and just instinctively tried to pry off the beast as he started to resist. Then he heard the weird howling similar to cackling from the back. The other creatures thought that he was more attractive prey for them since the other one wasn't 'moving' anymore so it put its eyes on him.

He started panicking. If the other one gets to him he won't get any chance to escape. So he chose to take out the iron dagger he always had by himself. It is not sharp enough to cut the tough fur and flesh but if he attacks the eyes... It would be possible.

Normally that wouldn't be plausible but as the beast was chewing on him its face was close enough to pull it off.

He slowly took out the dagger and turned his head with difficulty at the beast while he trembled in pain and fear.

There was no time for thinking about what he was gonna do. There was just a will to live. To survive.

"Hah" yelled the boy as plunged the danger at it. Unfortunately, he couldn't leverage his body well in the position so it was weak. Moreover, he didn't hit the eye. He missed by little but it was enough to provoke the beast. It growled at him and then lifted one of its 'hands' and grabbed at his head. "Haa" Before it could reach his head he plunged the dagger again. This time deep into its eye.

The monster squealed but started to spasm but then after a while, it slumped down on the boy. The boy was spent but he knew that he needed to run as the others were behind him. He mustered all his power to roll the beast off him and then quickly crawled towards the door.

The other beasts were outraged by their companion's death so they howled at him as they pounced. But Little Stone managed to get to the doors, getting out and closing them before they caught up. As the doors needed to be pulled from the inside to be opened the beasts seemed to didn't know how to open them. They didn't have the intellect for that.

But that would just hinder them for mere seconds. Little Stone didn't wait for them and started to limp his way to his cottage. His shoulder was completely ripped and it felt as if his entire ribcage cracked from the weight of the beast. It would be a miracle for an adult to survive something like that. And impossible for a child of his age. Boy didn't think about it as he didn't have the time or capacity for that. His mind was in total chaos but he knew he couldn't stay here. So he quickly went to his destination while trying to be as stealthy as he could.

What he didn't take into consideration was that his blood would reveal his position under normal circumstances.

Fortunately or unfortunately there was so much carnage everywhere around that his smell just merged with his surroundings.

But... While his blood didn't smell different from normal blood to normal beings it was still special. Full of vitality. Something irresistible for most creatures...