Signum Bestia

Human innards splatter against the floor, as the large claw quickly retracts from its position inside the youngest member’s abdomen. The rest of the monster’s body slowly emerges from the corner, leaving everyone paralyzed in fear. Even the overly kind woman no longer seems as focused on protecting me, as her stance has now taken a defensive position to run for her own life.

The blue flame within Lennon’s hands continues to illuminate the area surrounding us, which in turn forces us to witness the creature’s strange appearance. Unlike the previous creatures we had encountered shortly before, this monster has nothing of value surrounding its vital points. Yet, the fear of what stood in front of us proves stronger, as the monster’s claws are so grand in size that it doubles that of its already massive body. More than enough to serve as a weapon and a shield, in the same way the other monsters had their black diamonds.

That…is one immensely large bird. And those…are some immensely large feet.

However, the strangest feature of this fearsome monster was its human-like face, sporting no protruding beak or beady eyes of a normal bird. Everything across its circular white face belongs to a human, making it easy to understand its current emotions.

Is that thing…smiling?

“Wh-wh-what are we supposed to do now?!” the overly kind woman screams.

The oldest of the group turns sharply to his left, “Chen! What is the meaning of-...what the?! Where is Chen?!” he asks as he frantically looks around.

“Gone. She’s gone! She led us into a trap!” the other member of the group yells out.

“That damned traitor!” the overly kind woman screams as she bites her lip to the point that both blood and saliva spills out.

I look over to Lennon, who stares towards the path we had just taken, assuming Chen had run off in that direction. He lets out a sigh and blows out the flame, before staring at the monster head on and revealing a longsword. The material of the blade did not escape my eyes, regardless of the now darkened atmosphere.

Quartz, huh? So they do know how to skin them alive…

Lennon readies himself, “We have no choice but to fight. This is the only chance we have of getting to the safe zone. If we don’t get some sleep soon, we won’t have any energy whatsoever to keep this up.”

I look back towards the path that Chen had surely run off to.

Considering how swift she was, it was definitely done on purpose. We ended up being the sacrificial pawns in order for her to make her escape…

No. If that were the case, she would have been further behind all of us before the creature’s appearance, even behind me. So she didn’t know it was coming, but was prepared for it…and with that ‘gift’…perhaps…

Before I have the opportunity to finish my thought, my peripheral vision and close quarter senses reveal a bloodied limb flying across the same path, coming from the direction of Lennon and his party.

“Arthur!”

I quickly turn back, only to look around and finally notice that the oldest of the group seems to be missing. With my vision adjusting quickly to the complete darkness, I then look to see human blood and organs splattered all over the floor, with the large foot of the bird on top of the mess it has created.

My stomach churns, and my mind begins to race.

Arthur…Arthur was his name?…a European? How many foreigners are here?!

Lennon slowly breathes in deeply, before letting it all out quickly . “For such big feet, you sure can move them pretty fast!” He flashes a grin, “Maybe you were a professional basketball player in your previous life!”

As he finishes his quip, Lennon swings his longsword across the bird’s ankle, causing minimal damage. I continue to stare at the sword’s edge, and marvel at its depth with each swing he makes trying to fight against the large monster. Every swing seems to keep the bird distracted enough for some openings, helping the remaining party to launch their own simultaneous attacks towards the rest of its body.

“After we get through with this, I’m totally going to kill that b*tch!” the overly kind-…the overly obsessive woman yells out.

“Good luck finding her! She definitely had a plan for all of this!” another member of the party, a male sporting a blonde mullet, speaks out.

Hmm. Not wrong. But not quite right either.

From what I was able to gather before, Chen certainly wasn’t completely convinced of the analysis I made earlier, considering she continued to walk forward just like everyone else even after I stopped. It was only at the moment where everyone else seemed paralyzed in fear that she disappeared, meaning she was also accounting for something like this to happen, and was prepared for it. But not only was she prepared for it…but it seems she had been hoping for the possibility rather than fearing against it. The way she ran off without telling anyone, with not even the sound of her footsteps to indicate her betrayal…along with the lack of sleep that her party members currently face…

Safe zones. Chen’s gift. She practically holds their rest cycle in the palm of her hands.

“But don’t try to win favor with her just because of it. She’s extremely cautious of people. So much so that she tends to avoid us as much as she can.”

A smirk escapes me.

…magnificent.

“Got it!” Lennon yells out, exasperated.

My attention returns to the party and their fight, and it is only then that I notice that another life has already been taken, leaving them down to three. From what my vision gathers, I notice that they have rotated their strikes to allow for Lennon to deal a fatal blow with his longsword, slashing the creepy bird across its chest and along its left side. The attack causes the bird to lose control of its left wing, leaving it dangling across the side of its body. Black liquid spills out from the open cut of the bird’s chest, followed by a few chunks of its flesh. The bird remains upright, but its upper body falls on top of its own large feet.

“Finally!” The mullet man screams as he begins to celebrate in front of the bird.

“As soon as we get some sleep…we go hunting. You got that, Lennon?!” the obsessive woman yells out.

Lennon looks up to her as he tries to catch his breath, “Yeah, yeah.”

chirp!

Even with such a faint sound, silence ensues from Lennon’s party. Confused by what we just heard, we all turn our heads slowly towards the chunks of flesh that had seemingly just created noise. Small movement begins to occur as our vision sets in, revealing something none of us could have expected.

A small…normal bird.

Lennon rubs his nose, “It must have eaten it earlier,”

“Is that what I think it is?” the obsessive woman asks.

“Yeah. It’s a sparrow.” the mullet man answers.

“No, it’s a blackbird.”

“No, it’s not. You just think that because we’re covered in the dark.”

“Wait a minute…” Lennon interrupts.

The bird begins to try and stand amidst the chunks of flesh, although struggling greatly. As it lifts its head slowly, we are then met with a strange presence.

Written across the bird’s eyes were the words SIG NUM, coated in a strange divine light. And written across its small tongue was the word BESTIA, detectable due to the strength of the divine light emanating the words.

I freeze. My eyes begin to twitch.

Signum…Bestia…

“Signum…Bestia?”

The mullet man slowly begins to reach out its hand to grab the bird, enthralled greatly by its existence. My eyes focus squarely on the normal, yet seemingly divine bird. And for a moment…

The divine bird notices me too.

Screeeeech!

As soon as the mullet man’s hand draws near, and as soon as the small bird’s eyes meet with mine, it lets out a deafening screech, as if consumed by a great sense of fear. Without a moment’s notice, the forearm of the other member, along with the divine bird and some of the guts laying on the cold floor, are swallowed whole by the one they thought to have already defeated.

Lennon jumps back together with the obsessive woman, leaving the mullet man alone in front of the monster as it rises up once more. The mullet man slowly turns towards his bloody halved right arm, seemingly unable to fathom what had just transpired. After a brief moment, the member screams out in both pain and realization of his situation, until the noise is then canceled out with a foot stamp once more. Lennon, the obsessive woman, and I are then covered in more blood than we had already been before, leaving the three of us staring towards the extremely creepy smile of the monstrous bird.

Lennon sighs as he starts to panic, “I don’t see how we can beat this thing at this point. Not with the two of us.” He then turns back to me, “Do you think you can fight, too, kid-”

Lennon’s panic stops as he takes a good look at the expression written across my face. It surely doesn’t escape me how determined my mind seems to be, as well as how strange my eyes may appear to be. Almost as if being gouged out forcefully, they remain focused on the monster's bloody mouth. A faint light appears through the cracks of the bird monster’s smile, causing my heart to seemingly stop momentarily.

Ah.

The bird moves forward and lifts its immensely large wings, scraping them against the bloodied walls of the hall we are trapped in…thus trapping us even further.

“It’s trying not to let us through!” the obsessive woman yells out.

“I can see that!” Lennon retorts sharply, “Looks like this one has a bit of intelligence. Once we get to that safe zone, it can no longer get to us for the time being. Or at the very least, it won’t dare to…ah, screw it!”

Lennon rushes backward towards the rest of the empty hall, prompting the obsessive woman to follow suit towards their escape.

“Survival comes first! With that thing’s large feet, it can't keep up with us. Once our retreat is complete, we’ll have to find Chen and force her into finding safe zones again.”

Ahhh.

“We never should have let her join the party in the first place! We’ve lost more pawns than necessary because of her!”

How magnificent it was.

“Well, let’s just get out of here first. We’ve still got a long way to go before we-”

I want it.

Before Lennon realizes what’s happening, he falls to the ground, losing hold of his longsword due to the fall. I slowly walk to his side and grab the hilt of his longsword, and begin to inspect the quartz material that makes up for its blade.

“Did you just…trip me?” Lennon asks, confused.

My eyes glance over towards the raging monster approaching the three of us, baring its fangs while smiling as creepily as possible in the process. Even with my smaller nature, I grip the sword, and lift it up, before darting directly towards the bird.

“What are you thinking?! You’re going to die!!” the obsessive woman screams out.

No…that’s not enough…

My body begins to pick up speed, until it manages to keep the same pace as the large bird. The sword continues to dangle behind my smaller nature, but my arms tighten to the point that my grip remains firm.

I don’t just want it…

The bird launches its right wing towards me, as well as extending its right claw to kick me away. At that moment, my eyes burn with hot blood, but my body feels light as can be. Even with the sword I am carrying, it feels like I can fly alongside the motion that carries me forward.

I need it!

SCREEEECH!!

Without realizing what happens next, I suddenly find myself launched directly behind the large bird. Dark liquid flies across my sword, as if I had given the weapon a quick dance across a bath of the substance.

What a fine blade you are!

Before a moment flies by, I turn around, seeing the bird falling to the ground as its right claw goes flying from its ankle towards the wall. No time to waste.

Left wing, gone.

Right wing, gone.

Back, sliced open.

I then launch myself above the creature and float towards its front side once more, forcing it to look up and stare up towards me. Its creepy smile, although not cut open by me, also seems to be gone. All it has now is an expression of fear.

Hahahahaha. It seems our expressions have switched places.

The creature barely manages, but attempts to launch its left claw towards me before I manage to land. I can’t help but laugh.

But I’m sure mine must be more frightening than yours.

Inches before I land, I spin across the air three times, before landing on the ground safely and seeing the same dark liquid dancing across my longsword yet again.

SCREEECH!

“Shhhh,” I whisper across the bird’s terrified and pained face, before grabbing hold of its immensely large throat. My longsword approaches its chest neatly, caressing it carefully until it manages to find the faint light.

My sinister grin returns.

“Now then…”

I glance up towards the frightened monster.

“I’ll be taking that,”

I proceed to gut deep inside its abdomen area, slicing through its chest carefully until the blackbird sparrow falls out. Dark liquid and guts engulf me from head to toe, until the bird monster finally disappears into thin air. Once the shower finishes, I shake my head to remove the liquid from my eyes, ears and mouth, until looking down to see the smaller bird passed out in my right hand after dropping my longsword. I shake the little bird until it begins to cough out the monster’s dark blood, and slowly reveals its eyes and tongue to me once more.

Scre-!

Before the bird manages to spit out its deafening scream, I swallow it whole. After a long pause, I begin to feel my body taking a more familiar shape. Rather than that of a six year old boy, I now find myself in the body of my prime, as I inspect myself from head to toe.

Surely…this is how I was when I was eighteen. Haha. Hahahahaha…not bad at all.

Plenty of small blue flames have already taken shape as the blood mixed with the rags I wear, but does not proceed to burn my skin. I crack my neck, and try to wipe myself clean from the dark blood covering me. In doing so, the evaporating cycle of the flames quickens the more I wipe it off, but still remains for a short while. I can’t help but think back to the flame that Lennon had used to lead us through the walls earlier, and how he kept it at a position that would allow for the flame to not be harmed.

So the monster’s blood itself has its own durability outside of the monster’s body. The more you strike it, the more it will fade. If you leave it alone, it will remain longer. How convenient.

With the rags now fading away due to the mixing of the blood, I look down to see myself completely naked. I walk over to pick the clothes off from the dead men, and begin to rid the monster blood and human blood off the items I wished to wear. However, even as the monster blood fades, the human blood remains.

Unfortunately, it seems human blood doesn’t follow the same law.

Suddenly, my attention picks up a faint voice in the near distance.

“It hasn’t even been a full night…”

I turn around, finally remembering the remaining two that had survived the long fight.

“...how…did you pull that off?” Lennon asks with a quiet tone.

The obsessive woman shakes frantically, unable to manage a word as she stares at me. But her new image of me became clear as day.

Of course, she thinks of me to be even more dangerous than the creature we just faced.

A monster in human flesh.

Hmm. Seems familiar….

A thought pops across my head.

Right…

After clothing myself, I lift my longsword and place it against my shoulder, before walking towards Lennon and the obsessive woman. The obsessive woman continues to back away from me, seemingly unable to stand her ground to fight or be as friendly as she previously was..

I point the edge of my new sword towards Lennon’s head, and beckon my head towards the hall they were previously trying to escape towards.

“Go.”

Expressions of disbelief spread across Lennon and the obsessive woman’s faces; but after a brief pause, the obsessive woman becomes the first to move, obeying my command diligently. Lennon continues to stare towards me, and then towards the area behind me, until finally his gaze meets with the edge of my sword.

“I would think of you to return that,” Lennon says carefully.

“...why would I return that which is mine?” I ask in confusion.

Lennon grits his teeth in frustration, before finally turning around and following orders. Before he completely disappears into the darkness ahead, he turns around and asks,

“What will you do now?”

I drop the edge of the longsword onto the floor, and confidently place my hands on top of the sword’s hilt.

“...hunt…”