Fangs of Evil

The Beast

Despair... anguish... sorrow... these very words echoed in the room as Arkayna looked on, all hope leaving her eyes. All she could do was stare at the horrific sight before her. There her parents were, only not in one piece. They were five, maybe six pieces. The girls were too late... the deed had been done.

With her mouth agape, her saddened eyes seemingly staring into space, Arkayna slowly made her way to the center of the room. Her knees seemingly collapsed upon reaching the pieces. She then picked up the severed head of her petrified mother, with that same expression the moment she got turned to bone.

"Mom..." Arkayna whimpered. As if on cue, a waterfall of tears flowed down her face. "Mooooooooooommmm!" She yelled, facing the ceiling. From there, the distraught princess wailed uncontrollably, pressing her forehead against her mother's.

Piper had tears of her own shedding, the event hitting very close to home. Yet another pair of innocent parents lost to that monster. She held onto Em, who also had tears to shed. Ever since working at the palace, the Queen had been good to the young Dwarf, almost treating her like a second daughter, to say nothing that she would never have met Arkayna, if the Queen didn't offer her to work at the Royal Palace, little more than a year ago.

And then there was Zarya. She still wore that shocked expression, hardly moving a muscle. Flashbacks began to rear their ugly head of that terrible raid on her village, leading to the murder of her adoptive parents. At that moment, her birth mother seemed to have shared a similar fate, before Zarya even had a chance to know her nonetheless. It was like losing her adoptive parents all over again. The young rebel then tightened her fists with rage.

"Why?!" Zarya snarled, her eyes narrowed and teeth bared. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!" Suddenly, a lurking shadow was moving about.

"Is it not obvious?" Creed's voice could be heard, catching the girls off guard. "Fear, wealth, power. In truth, is that not what the ability to rule with divine right is really about?" There Creed stood, just outside the room as he continued. "That was my endgame, all these years of toiling under the radar of the Royal Family, so that one day, I alone would become king. Now that the King and Queen are out of the way, it's now a matter of tying up the loose ends."

Just like that, Zarya went straight for Creed, only for a gate to drop right in front of her, just before she could even lay a hand on the vile serpent. "Get in here and fight, you two faced coward!" She roared.

"Ha! As much as I'd love to teach you a lesson, Zarya," Creed then pulled out what appeared to be a remote control. "It's feeding time for my little pet."

Without further adieu, he pressed the button and a massive gate, just behind the girls, began to slowly open. The girls assumed their battle positions. All, except the still grieving Arkayna, oblivious to the world around her.

Once the gate fully opened, a loud roar could be heard, the breath which followed smelled like rotting corpses. Then, right out of the shadows, a fifty foot long basilisk slithered out, hissing and snarling.

"Y-yeah, that's not a little pet." Em sqeaked

"Dinner time, Dorog" Creed said. "Bon appetit!"

Assuming a striking position, the basilisk, apparently named Dorog, struck down with all fury. Piper and Zarya quickly jumped out of harm's way. Arkayna, however, still did not budge.

"Oh my goblin!" Em yelled. She had to literally tackle Arkayna out of the way just so she wouldn't get eaten. Miraculously, the hungry basilisk missed the remains of the King and Queen.

Before the beast could strike again, Zarya shot a rope around its' jaws. She then ran up its back and stood atop its head, ready to deliver a fatal arrow. Dorog's thrashing, however, made it difficult to retain footing, and Zarya fell off. Piper then distracted him with a few of her hoop, to which the beast started to chase her down.