Snallygaster

Her eyes shot wide open to a candle-lit room. She panted, gripping her chest. A faint commotion downstairs perked her ears. She gazed at the wooden ceiling for a time, finding slight imperfections under the illuminated portion of the small room. She gasped for air and slowly sat up against the creaky bed frame. Cold sweat covered her glistening body beneath the thin bedsheets. When she could focus, she saw Silesta sitting on a chair. The young woman clutched her knees, watching from afar. Enne straightened her back, moaning faintly from a dull pain.

“You should be resting,” Silesta suggested.

“Silesta?” Enne answered tiredly. “Where are we?”

Silesta shrugged, a simple enough response for Enne. She sat at the bed’s edge, revealing the tattered state of her dress. Raquel must’ve thrown her onto the bed and slapped a blanket on her. There were two windows on each side of the room. The moonlight struck the creaky wooden floors. Enne staggered to her feet, wobbling with each step. How much time had passed? She saw smaller buildings from the first window. The single stretch of the road had shops and small homes that led to the forest north of them. She went to the other window, getting a closer detail of the local militia armed with archaic weaponry and equally ill-equipped combat gear. Torches lit the perimeter of the small town.

The electronic disturbance wasn’t present.

“Where’s Raquel?” Enne asked. She looked over at the quiet girl.

“Downstairs,” she replied. “They said we need to stay here.”

Taking a closer look at the girl’s well-hidden elf ear, Enne understood. They were to be feared, thus kept in a room until something arose. Enne paced, feeling the air through the large holes in her dress. The window’s dirty reflection revealed its withered state. However, she couldn’t help but admire her tousled wavy hair when she smiled back. She sat at the bed and summoned a tiny green orb. It fluttered without her holding it. Silesta raised her head slightly, prompting Enne’s attention.

“What—are you doing?” she asked. Enne smiled while placing her hand over the first hole.

“Using a little mana to fix this?” she replied.

The slit gradually sealed. Enne lowered her hands to reveal its seamless stitching. Silesta’s curiosity had piqued for the first time, giving the impression of a child who discovered magic for the first time. Enne didn’t want to tease her like she usually would with any other. Enne looked back up with pursed lips.

“Pretty cool, huh?” she said.

Silesta shook her head and asked: “How did you do that?”

“Do you know anything about the applications of mana? No—That’s not the right question. Let me explain. Mana is like… Water. It’s necessary for life, yet it can quite easily destroy. All sentient beings have this to different degrees. But how one wields it… Oh, that’s an entirely different set of principles. Access is to understand, but to use it is based on knowledge and a bit of imagination. Imagination is key, of course.”

Throughout the entire lecture, Silesta couldn’t help but notice Enne’s passion. It was clear she held knowledge to a high degree and was willing to impart that wisdom. A nostalgic expression crept on Enne’s face.

“Anyway…” Enne continued. “It comes in handy when you can’t get a change of clothes.”

A knock interrupted them. Raquel poked her head through the door before entering. She wore the same scowl as she always did. Raquel looked through the windows before turning her attention to Enne.

“How long have I been out for?” Enne asked.

“Over 12 hours, Sleeping Beauty,” she replied. The candlelight accentuated her mischievous smirk.

“Finally! You say something nice to me.”

“Get over yourself. They’re just taking precautions with you two.”

“Precautions? We aren’t going to do any—”

“We’re in No-man's-land. We have the Ethoxians to contend with. The bigger question on everyone’s mind is where you two came from?”

“It’s… A long story.”

“It’s been a long day, too.”

Raquel sighed as she sat against the windowpane. Her horrid expression sowed within it the long night she endured, having lost so many of her comrades. She lowered the curtains on each window, ignoring the light down the road. Enne felt a disturbance in the air again. It slowly intensified with each passing second. She began putting things together as she walked toward the window. Brushing against Raquel, Enne looked beyond the perimeters. Hover bikes glided across the ruined path, guiding a small transport.

“Ethoxians?” Raquel winced. Enne shook her head.

“Janus’s boys,” she replied.

The hover bikes stopped at the checkpoint, ignoring the flagging guards. Outmanned and outgunned, they complied after seeing a flow of armed bandits exit. Raquel shuttered, taking a few steps back. Enne lowered the curtain before turning to the wanderer.

“You have something to do with that?” she growled. “They’re in full combat gear. Did you kick his damned dog or something?”

“I destroyed his base,” Enne shrugged. “With the help of a little bird.”

“Why the fuck are you shrugging? We can’t get out!”

“Where are the others?”

“They already went ahead of us. I stayed behind….”

“How considerate of you.”

Enne observed from the curtain slit, hearing the heavy armor sway to their quick movement. Their guns were unlike the ones she saw on the base. They were more compact, with higher capacity magazines. The armor they donned seemed better suited for explosive impacts. The bandits spread out to cover the ground, quickly busting down each door. Raquel readied her pistol while Enne listened to their footsteps. The commotion downstairs confirmed who they were after. Enne turned to Silesta, signaling her to the other end of the room.

Once the door swung open, Enne threw the shooters into a chokehold. Raquel quickly disarmed him as Enne dragged him onto the bed to keep him from kicking against the wood floor. He passed out within seconds. Raquel overheard the conversation downstairs. It seemed they only sent one person upstairs. She led the way to the room across the narrow hall. The darkness hid them as they saw a few bandits by the stairs. Enne quietly shut the door as Raquel opened the window. Her eyes darted to the patrolling bandits.

“Where’s my bike?” Enne asked. The wanderer looked over.

“It’s at the edge of town,” she replied. “They were checking it—”

“It was running fine. We need to get to it.”

“What? This place is crawling with these bastards!”

“You two can get out if we can get it. I can find you if shit hits the fan.”

Raquel noticed Silesta’s reluctance, but it was better than going on foot. The wanderer helped Silesta onto the porch’s roof, pointing her where she needed to go. One-by-one, they crept on the aged tile before reaching the edge. A bandit exited the backdoor while the others began looking for the other. Enne stuffed him under the bed. She locked the bathroom door to buy them a little more time before they realized what had happened. With her heart pounding, she leaped onto the heavily armed man, pinning him against his assault rifle. She swiftly silenced him as she muffled his cries with her hand.

Shut up, shut up! Enne repeated.

She slipped her forearm against his throat before he could yelp. His gasps for breath unsettled him as he tried to toss her off. Her ears perked to a heavy set of footsteps. She slung the gun into the nearby brush with her free hand, and with a quick clutch, she knocked him unconscious. The porch floorboards creaked when they exited. Enne had rolled herself and the unconscious bandit into the bushes by then. All the while, Raquel was bewildered by Enne’s quick thinking. Enne’s breath was shallow. Her eyes were fixated on their boots that passed her view. She listened to what they said before they reentered the house.

“Where the hell did they go?”

“Fucking rookies. The other one is probably taking a dump.”

“The disturbance is around here, too. They gotta be close by.”

The door shut, and someone had jumped down from the roof. Enne let go and rolled over to see Raquel, who was waiting to catch Silesta. They immediately ran into the yard and hopped the fences to keep a distance. Silesta struggled to keep up, though Enne’s hem kept getting snagged, resulting in an occasional, careless tumble. A pair of gunships flew into view and cast their wide-reaching spotlights. Raquel watched the house, seeing movement in the rooms. A brief shouting turned to abrupt gunshots.

“They shot them?” Enne gasped.

“The hell did you think they would do when they realized they lied?” Raquel asked. “You were better off killing those two. We gotta get out before those gunships find us.”

“They were rookies, no?”

“In what sense? They’re with them, which makes them the enemy.”

A light suddenly cast on them. A bandit trembled where he stood. Enne winced, adjusting her vision under the bright contrast of the dark. She could glimpse the horror in his eyes. He wasn’t even armed. Enne didn’t notice the clinking assault rifle Raquel raised. The man stammered before finally yelling.

“ALARM!”

A single shot rang out. The bandit fell silent as his body slumped to the ground. Blood and bone splattered onto the slick grass. The dropped flashlight shone against the head wound. Blood trickled out along with brain matter. Enne didn’t have time to react as Raquel dashed ahead. The half-elf took Silesta by the hand and followed the wanderer as the bandits converged onto the scene. Again, they cut through the sides of old homes before dashing through an empty street. It bought them a little time to catch their breaths.

“Was that necessary?” Enne asked. Raquel didn’t respond. “H—how far are we?”

“Not too far, but we gotta split up.”

“Right… Silesta?”

Enne turned to her, placing her hands on her shoulders. Silesta held her hand, feeling reassured that she would be okay. Enne nuzzled her head against her forehead before hugging her.

“I’ll be right behind you two. You’ll be in good hands with Raquel.”

When she looked at the wanderer, Raquel feigned indifference as she checked her gun.

“We’ll be seeing you,” she muttered. Enne watched as they slipped away into the darkness.

It was just her and a small force of heavily-equipped bandits. Enne pressed against the wall, blending into the shadows. The bit of light reflected her lilac eye. She scrutinized their every step, listening to their cues. Several converged on the street, slowly entering a sweep formation. A nearby tree covered the light cast against the rotted wooden fence. The cracked door led the bandit on as he cautiously approached. Enne waited, even while her pursuer crept onto the grassy patch ahead.

She delivered an elbow strike to the nape. The bandit let out a gasp instead of yelling. Enne slammed them onto the ground after grabbing his arm. She checked his pulse, discovering the erratic pulse. Her strike was just enough to render them unconscious. The others proceeded yard-by-yard, casting their flashlight through the dreary environment. Unbeknownst to them was the stalking half-elph, who observed from the rooftops. With one of them close enough, Enne launched herself at them and delivered a dropkick that sent them crashing into the chain-link fence.

This put them on alert as their flashlights crisscrossed the vicinity. Enne remained on ground level, tracking the source of the nearest light. The other bandit walked toward the fence at the same time she did. She noticed the board’s flimsiness. When the bandit tried to listen to the other side, Enne punched the top of the board into his head. The impact knocked him out instantly.

“John?” the other called. “The damned interference!”

Enne sprung onto a shed, hiding behind its slanted incline. Her landing was as gentle as a cat, and her movements were equally graceful. She saw the bandit’s unnerved movement as he pointed his gun around. When his back turned, she leaped at him and slammed her knee into his back. She’d land on top of him and begin to choke him out. After he slipped into unconsciousness, she staggered to her feet.

Her ears jerked to the sound of her motorcycle’s engine. The remaining ground forces scrambled back to their vehicles. Enne followed them, listening to them as they barked orders at one another. The gunships lingered. It was clear they knew one of them remained behind. Enne hid under a batch of trees, observing the spotlight shoot past her. She grabbed a branch, fusing it with mana. It emitted a low light as it transformed into her bow. While it focused on other areas, Enne pulled the invisible string, creating a weak charge that was hard to detect.

Enne let go.

The dim-glowing projectile spiraled into the airship. Enne watched it slowly control its spiraling descent. Her intent to halt them was all that mattered, but she feared the consequences the townsfolk would face. She had to fight them whether she wanted to or not. The bow’s energy maintained itself, oozing its gaseous, vibrant green aura. The other gunship kept at a distance, searching her out while those in the incapacitated one exited. There were over a dozen, likely armed with the same bullets used at Janus’s facility. Something churned within when she readied her bow. Her eyes glimpsed the forest’s direction after hearing a mighty flap of wings.

A metallic whistle suddenly filled the air.

“Everyone take cover,” the pilot shouted through the microphone. They tried to maneuver themselves to no avail as something dove into it.

Its turrets went off despite the cockpit being smashed in. The bullets shot into the ground forces, killing several of them before crashing into the nearby house. Enne observed, her bow now lowered as the winged creature tore into the airship’s side. The beast let out another screech against the spreading blaze. Its mighty webbed wings spread, impervious to the frantic gunfire. Enne strained her eyes to the appendages sprouting from its mouth before it pecked into the ship. The gunfire ceased when it scrambled everyone within. The remaining bandits kept shooting while maintaining a distance, but the creature became annoyed.

It swung around, revealing its facial profile. Its single beak separated into three, revealing the strange tentacles shooting into the shooters. It ripped someone in half with each seamless yet subsequent whip. Enne knew to hang back. For what it was worth, the creature was but a distraction, but to what end? It had done its deed within minutes. It glared at her with its single red eye before flying off into the forest. Enne processed what she had seen as she stepped out of the darkness. After people finally exited their homes to find the horrific sight, some looked away, while others vomited. However, Enne couldn’t look away from the death. An elderly woman shuffled toward Enne, seemingly indifferent about the grueling death before them.

“I never thought I’d see it in my lifetime,” she spoke. Enne glanced over.

“See what?” Enne asked with the answer in mind.

“The Snallygaster.”

A homage to cryptid from my home state with a twist. There were a bit of MGS influences here and there, but I kinda enjoyed writing this chapter a bit. Hopefully, you enjoyed the read! Leave a like and a comment/feedback! Every little thing is appreciated. :3