Rune #17

I dunno why I'm posting these so often, I guess I'm bored.

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Rune’s ears pricked upright as he heard a sound in the darkness, coming from the direction of the forest. He glanced over, seeing nothing. Rune stood and peered into the woods. Then, he saw it.

Two, glowing, massive canine eyes. Then four, then six, eight, ten. The owners of the eyes emerged and Rune nearly fell over in surprise. They were like wolves from earth, but super-sized. Probably standing at twenty feet at the shoulder, they were bigger than anything Rune had ever seen before.

They were Anarii, beasts of great size, and they weren’t friendly. The five beasts crept from the woods, growling deep in their black and blue furred chests. As they approached, Rune could see massive, slightly transparent spines along their backs and crowning their heads.

They crouched down, bowing their heads. Rune watched in curiosity, wondering what they were doing. But, quickly catching on, he dove to the ground as the massive spines impaled the ground where he was just standing. His suspicions were correct, they were not friendly.

Studying them, Rune clenched his jaw, thinking. He could morph to the anarii, but it would drain a lot of his energy. Morphing into something that large would exhaust him, but at least he could stand a chance against the angry beasts.

In seconds, Rune’s silhouette stretched and grew, roaring in discomfort as he morphed fully. Now as big as the anarii before him, Rune leaned down as he had seen them do.

When morphed into an animal, it was like he had two brains. The animal and the sarsh, he could think as both, controlling his body, but still have intelligent thoughts.

Five blue spines shot from Rune’s thickly furred back, only one struck its target. The anarii roared in anger and lunged for Rune, who bounded out of the way on powerful legs. Already, he was getting tired.

The one injured anarii crept away, the others even angrier. Within seconds, Rune was fighting four snarling beasts at once, the fire blazed behind them, casting shadows of the struggling titans on the ground.

Watching through a camera placed near Rune on the other planet, Artemis and Colden cried out in shock as the massive beasts clashed. “Can we get him now? He won’t survive long out there!” Artemis was already rushing away, calling to several men. Moments later, the same ship rocketed away, going as fast as possible.

When Colden had dropped Rune off, he asked one of his men place a camera nearby, this is how he and Artemis watched Rune from afar. Now Artemis held a small screen, watching Rune’s struggle.

He clenched his jaw nervously.

If Rune lost the fight, Artemis would have no way to free humans from their oppression. The fate of humans rested on his shoulders.

Back on the planet, Rune inwardly cursed Artemis as his movement became clumsy. It was the rebel’s fault he was in this situation.

His morphing would probably fail soon. If it did, he would be dead. Dinned into his soldier mind, Rune thought the best thing to do was fight, but as a claw racked his side, he realized running would be more tactile.

So the sarsh turned and ran.

Artemis had said Rune might find peace here, alone on the frosted planet. He was so, so wrong. Rune morphed back to himself, unable to hold the form of the anarii and longer. He stumbled, cursing as he acutely felt pain in his side where the anarii had clawed him. It wasn’t an open wound, though. The anarii had thick scales beneath their equally thick fur, so the claws left only five raw scrapes that stung.

Rune realized the anarii surrounded him. He cursed heartily. He had gotten side-tracked and now he was going to die. He couldn’t morph anymore, panic befuddled his mind. The four beasts were snarling, morphing had drained Rune’s energy, leaving him unsteady and weak.

Before he could react, the largest of the anarii lunged, pinning Rune beneath its massive paw. The sarsh wheezed, feeling his ribs creak in protest at the immense weight on top of him. The anarii’s slavering muzzle was only a foot above Rune’s face, massive teeth gleaming red in the firelight. It didn’t move, though. It was playing with him.

Suddenly, the weight released, Air rushed back into Rune’s deprived lungs. The black edges disappearing from his vision.

Trying to rise, Rune suddenly felt a powerful blow to his back as the anarii struck him with its paw, sending him tumbling to the next anarii in the circle. Great, Rune thought. They were playing ball with him now.