Sky Beast

Part 1

"Its close."

A man clinched the side of a snow spotted mountain dressed in a long black coat and orange garments underneath. In his right hand he gripped a small device with a sharp edge that protrude from the back of it. He dug it into the rock and readjusted himself.

He glanced below him.

Hundreds of feet below were densely packed timber covered in a blanket of white. The only distinct feature was the outline of a frozen river which led to a lake further away.

He looked up again, took a deep breath and began to climb once more.

As he moved up the side of the mountain, he finally reached a cliff edge which led into a cave.

He was on alert now as deep long breaths of something could be heard from within. From under his coat he revealed a finely sharpened dagger which paralleled about the length of his forearm.

As he approached the face of the cave the stench of something foul filled his nostrils.

'This might be easier than expected.'

He thought.

The stench was not of the beast sleeping but of something it killed. If it was resting after eating, it would be a while before it awoke.

But this wasn't the case.

Hakt was his name. A stern looking man with years of experience, but he was in shock. He only took one step into the cave and the sound of deep breathing ceased and what replaced it was the cold yellow glare of eyes peering right at him.

One, two... six eyes were fully alert and gazing at him.

Now he pulled out the small device.

*click*!

A white glow filled the innards of the cave and at the source was the outline of a sword made of light.

Out of pure instinct Hakt dodged and swung right above him.

*shiing*

The beast groaned as blood splattered across the ground.

It was quicker than he thought. In the time it took for Hakt to activate his device the beast had moved from its location to right above him.

As he looked up a large gash could be seen running down the length of one of its front legs.

That wasn't enough.

The beast growled and from its back spread two massive wings which reached from end to end of the caves entrance.

He was trapped.

Hakt scanned the ground for what he smelled earlier.

There it was.

A couple feet towards the back of the cave were the remains of a large fish-like creature. It must have been weeks since it died as most of its flesh was deteriorating.

Hakt looked back towards the beast which was slowly approaching him.

"Star."

He said and from just above him appeared a glowing orb of light similar to the energy projecting from his device.

"Burst."

Immediately the orb shot forward hitting the beast's face. At the same time Hakt retreated back to the corpse. With his device he struck the liquid that seeped from the shredded flesh and it burst into flames.

'Just like I thought.'

This was a species of aquatic that released a secretion with terrible odor when encountering a predator. It just so happened to be highly flammable as well.

The beast recovered but was greeted by bright flames which hid its target out of its view.

The beast eyes darted back and forth across the cave walls but could not find Hakt.

And then it looked up.

Its wounded leg slowed its reaction. With its wings it guarded its head but Hakt drove his dagger straight through gashing out three of its eyes.

The beast cried out and swung its body around knocking Hakt off.

"Star!"

He said but this time three orbs of light appeared.

"Condense!"

The orbs shrunk in size but glowed even brighter now.

"Burst!"

The orbs burst forward piercing the beast flesh wounding it even further.

The beast quickly receded outside the cave and flew away.

***

(Three weeks later)

"Kieran!"

"Kieran, get up!"

A boy with a light caramel complexion and burgundy hair peered out a tent in the midst of the darkness. His name was Gili.

Just a couple yards ahead was a shack they stored food, and right on top of it were 3 glowing eyes.

The figure smelled the shack before finally breaking the structure.

The boy laying down finally responded.

"*yawn* What are you doing"

Gili turned around and motioned for Kieran to be silent, and then pointed to the opening of the tent.

"Look."

Kieran got up and took a look.

His expression turned into anger as he witnessed the three eyed beast rummaging through their food.

"Go kill it! What are you waiting for! It took weeks to get that food."

As he said this the sound of heavy wing beats could be heard, and then another.

"I think there's two more."

Gili pulled Kieran back and motioned towards their bags.

"Let's just leave"

Kieran smiled!

"Finally! I told you waiting for Hakt was pointless, he'll be fine."

"How can you say that, he's your teacher"

Kieran scoffed and said

"Some teacher, he barely even taught me anything, just the basics."

Gili ignored him while grabbing his bag and his sword. As he pulled the sword out of its hilt, he looked at a shattered blade.

"I'm sorry! I needed it for upgrading your new one."

Kieran said as he diverted his gaze from Gili.

"Fine, where is the new one then."

"Uh it's in the workshop."

Gili peered out the opening once more, the other two beasts were smaller than the three eyed beast, but something was off. The three eyed one looked like it lost some eyes as well as it had scars and tears in its wings. The two smaller ones refused to wait and tried biting the injured beast.

"Okay we might have a chance."

He said as he looked at Kieran. Kieran was shorter than him. He had long tangled curly hair, was a darker complexion than Gili and had hazel eyes.

"You should cut your hair; a true swordsman needs to present themselves in an orderly fashion."

Gili's hair was straight and short, stopping at his ears.

"I'm not a swordsman though, I'm a smith, something much better."

Kieran grinned.

"Plus i'm sure those beasts don't care about how my hair looks."

Both of them were wearing orange jumpsuits the only difference was that Kierans was raised up to his waist with the arms of the top tied around it. While Gili wore his entirely.

Gili stood near the entrance then looked back.

"Sure... you ready yet?"

Kieran nodded.

Outside the beast were now fighting each other. Both smaller beasts had two eyes. While the larger one had three along the left side of its face and a large gash on the right side.

Kieran spoke.

"It's injured, what could have done that?"

"Whatever it was, it helped us out. Now it's too weak to even fight off those two."

The large beast was on the defensive as the smaller two dashed around attacking it at each opportunity, especially on the right side, its blind spot.

Gili said.

"Okay the plan is simple, go to the workshop, grab the sword and let's leave."

"Hold on, I have to bring that too, I just finished it yesterday."

"Fine, let's go now."

Gili opened the flap and darted towards the workshop at the same time one of the smaller beasts flung in the same direction and tumbled into the dirt.

The cry of the smaller one now alone could be heard.

Gili made it to the workshop and found the new sword.

"Not bad."

He said and smiled.

The sword was a lot lighter and sharper than the previous one.

Kieran dashed to the workshop but was frozen by the stare of the small beast trying to get back up.

*Raaawwwwrrr*

The larger one had dealt a fatal blow to the other small beast and proceeded to eat it.

When it saw this, it bared its teeth and cried out.

Gili came out of the tent and motioned for Kieran to hurry up.

Kieran quickly ran past the still recovering small beast.

Inside he found what he was looking for. For the past three weeks he had been working on this hover bike. The materials were made from the bones of animals and metals.

"I call it the Gazelle M0".

Kieran pressed the button to start it.

"I thought you were a smith not a mechanic."

Kieran laughed.

"It's one and the same, I'm an astra-smith, soon to be the greatest in the world, even above Carinae."

Carinae is the title given to the most esteemed inventors of astra weapons and mechanics. Which can be referred to respectively as astra-lite and astra-mechs. Under the category of astra-tech.

Gili said.

"Yes you keep saying that. It can't be better than a true warrior one of the 5 Treasures."

The small beast had finally gotten up but instead of attacking the workshop, charged at the three eyed.

It wasn't able to do much in its state and received a claw head on. But it had bitten into the arm of the three eyed and stood its ground.

The three eyed was furious and shook violently trying to remove it. Until finally shoving its arms into the ground along with the small beast killing it. The three eyed now had two injured front legs and gave up eating the small one.

*Vroooom!!*

Gili could see the larger beast raise its head in their direction.

"What are you doing! Hurry up!"

"Uh i forgot, it takes a while to start without the proper fuel"

*Gggrrrrrrrr*

"Move!"

The three eyed slammed into the workshop breaking off the top.

Gili had helped move the Gazelle outside before the structure collapsed.

"Come on Kieran, tell me it's working!"

"Almost!"

Three eyed leaped down in front of them and spread its wings while growling.

Gili raised his sword in his right hand.

"Disk"

From his left hand appeared a bright energy in the shape of a sword.

The three eyed stopped for a moment. It had encountered something similar which wounded it to this extent. It grew even fiercer and it charged at Gili disregarding its wounded legs.

Gili blocked the claws of the beast but was thrown back.

Three eyed ignored Kieran and continued its pursuit.

Gili dodged the second attack that just grazed his leg. He plunged the disk into the bite mark left by the small beasts, and it disappeared as it left his hand.

Three eyed ignored the wound and whipped its tail around slamming Gili into the ground.

He got up quickly.

"Disk, Expand!"

The sword of light grew two times larger now but was dimmer.

"Burst!"

The energy became more intense like a high electric current ripping through the air.

This time the three eyed flew high above and began to dive toward Gili.

Gili swung the disk but missed getting slashed across his back.

*Vvvrrreooooommm!*

"It's done! We can go!"

Kieran yelled and looked around.

Gili nor the three eyed were on the ground. He looked up and could see the three eyed carrying Gili in the air in its hind legs.

The three eyed dug its claws into Gili's shoulders

"Aaaaaahhhhhhh!"

Gili stabbed the three eyed' s foot piercing through to his left shoulder.

The beast released his left shoulder.

With his freed left arm, he swung the Disk cutting straight through the three eyed' s right hind leg.

Gili gasped as he fell through the air. The three eyed cried out as well. It began to dive once more towards Gili.

Down below Kieran raised his arm in the beasts direction.

"Star, Expand, Burst"

A large orb of astra collided with the three eyed sending it to the ground first. Kieran maneuvered the Gazelle, which was hovering on the ground, then it shot forward into the air where Gili was falling.

"Got you!"

***