Citizen 825 Terror

The thunder above Deimos roared with its lightning-shaped teeth, trying to convince the barely adult rexal to forfeit his mission and to return home to safety. However, the ocim rexal did not yield.

He held strong against the thousands of cold, tear-shaped needles of the rain as he walked deeper into the forest, his eyes following a hidden path left by a stag. Its weight had crushed the tall grass as it walked, and its hoof trampled over flowers and branches with no care to them, leaving noticeable hoof prints behind to make tracking all the easier.

Deimos was after this particular beast from defiance. Now that his throat armour had hardened, he needed to prove that it was not only his body but his mind as well that matured with time - and a hunt was a worthy way to prove this. His father, however, believed him to be too weak and inexperienced to tackle the stag of terrors that had been rampaging through the land. He thought it to be too dangerous for his son, telling him explicitly not to go after him. It was an unspoken challenge - one that Deimos was eager to beat.

In all truth, his hunt started several days ago. It was not his first time stalking this deer beast, for he had been going after it for days now. Lurking from a distance, he followed its footprints wherever they led, and once he had found the stag, he laid low as he observed its daily routine. All animals, just like rexals themselves, lived by them. At dawn, they would retreat back to amongst the trees to find sleep in a place that was hidden from the few apex predators that were around, and with dusk, they would leave them, beginning their grazing in open fields and meadows before the cycle would begin again.

This stag, however, worked differently. Deimos observed it break its species's unspoken laws of laying low during the day and instead opted to be out and and about during it. And it had the weight to support this odd behaviour. Deimos studied the beast with keen eyes from the bushes, holding his breath often as he watched the deer battle against its kin with ruthlessness, crushing all opposition with ease. It struck not fear but respect into the rexal's heart as he witnessed the events, but thanks to his keen eyes, he also noticed something else - a weakness that he wanted to weaponize for when the time came.

The stag was old, and its eyes were slowly but surely failing him. Perhaps this was the reason why it would charge at everything that it perceived as a threat - it could not discern anymore what it should run from and what it should destroy.

After noticing this, Deimos began carefully placing traps all around the forest along the path that he had observed the stag take. They were quite big, hastily made, and a deer with keen eyes would have probably noticed them - but Deimos was willing to bet some sum of money on the fact that his target would not. He would check these traps day after day, hoping that the deer would walk into them, but faith brought no such easy luck to the young rexal. And so the only other option remained - to chase the stag into one of them, which takes us back to the present day, as Deimos struggled against the weather.

One would wonder why he chose this time of day to try and see this hunt through - with the storm brewing above him, it surely made it more difficult than it needed to be, but it was just another tool for the young rexal. The darkness of the storm hid his bright coat well in the environment, as well as the traps - another important detail that he planned to use. However, it hid the deer just as well.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are..." Deimos said to himself as he persistently followed the muddy hoof prints, carefully stepping between them so as not to destroy them. If he were to get lost or lose sight of it, he would still have somewhere to pick up from, after all.

He followed the track for hours, having to turn back many times as he was misled into the weeds and brushes with no actual results. While his patience was running thin now, his persistence had only gotten stronger. He would slay the beats just for wasting his time for this long, that was for sure.

And then he heard it - the loud, deep and then high-pitched call of the stag piercing through the night and thunder.

"I have you now..." Deimos chuckled to himself as he quickened his steps towards the source of the sound, unwilling to stop now.

Soon enough, he spotted the stag as it called loudly, shaking his head and beautiful crown towards the sky, almost as if it was cursing the Elders for daring to allow for such weather in its presence. Its bloodshot eyes spoke of panic and anger, and Deimos knew that if he was to show himself, he would earn the creature's ire - a perfect plan for him.

As he laid low in the bushes and watched the stag, he quickly recalled from the depths of his mind the twists and turns of the forest and his current position. If he was not careful, he would fall victim to his own traps, or his prey could potentially cause a great deal of pain to him. Neither was an option. After carefully considering where he was, he came up with a simple plan of showing himself and then running. If his memory serves right - which he was sure it did - one of his traps was just near. He would only need to outrun the deer for a minute, at most, and then avoid the trap himself. It sounded easy in theory, but it was to be seen if it worked in technicality.

"Oi! Old man!" he barked towards the stag after bracing himself, barring his teeth at the beats with malicious intent. "You don't like strangers in your territory, aye? Chase me out then!" he added, stomping his feet on the soft, tall grass, mimicking the behaviour of other challenger deers of the region to get the stag to chase after him even more forcefully. He was not sure if his acting or his voice was the one that tilted the stag, but after a roar of anger, it charged at him with ill intent, which Deimos used to his advantage. He began to run towards his trap; behind him, the stag pursued with heavy hooves, stomping behind him.

Deimos cursed under his breath as he underestimated his prey's speed. The deer had almost caught up to him before; thanks to lighting, he caught a glimpse of the iron trap reflection in the distance. With a few jumps, he avoided it, but his pursuer didn't. He heard as a rope snapped and as rusted iron suddenly bit into the bones of the herbivore, capturing its leg with bloodlust.

The stag cursed in his own tongue as it suddenly stumbled, a loud crack of bones breaking, echoing through the night as it flopped to the ground. Despite the pain and blood, it did not give up and continued to struggle. It was as if it was some kind of demon haunting Deimos, wanting to rip into him for his trickery, but the rex did not hesitate.

He quickly turned around to then jump onto the stag, holding it down with all his might as he sank his teeth into its neck with primal hunger and need for survival. He could feel the blood filling his mouth as his teeth sank into the flesh of the stag, and he held onto it like his life was dependent on it until the beast below him ceased all movement. He only released his tension then, gasping for air as he looked down upon his hunt's reward, a beast that would surely please even the Elders themselves.

ForgottenCerberus