Chapter 88: The Call of Tayun (9)
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ Trial of the Ancient °❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
A tense silence filled the air, thickening, the heat and moisture that clinging to Yoa’s hair. A few strands stuck to his forehead, and a bead of sweat trickled down the back of his nape. His heart grew louder in his ears as his eyes scanned his surroundings, paying attention to every single detail.
Yoa moved like smoke through the trees, each footfall calculated, each breath measured. The blade Atia had forged for Aiyana, Firstmark, rested at his hip. It gleamed softly in the dappled light that pierced the canopy, its weight a reminder of what he must do. His jaguar instincts had taken hold of him since stepping away from the guides and venturing deep through the dense forest.
He paused, his gaze tracking the earth where it had been torn beneath the weight of a mighty beast. It had lumbered through, the soil splitting, roots upturning or crushed, and claw marks raked across stone and trees. A creature that was rarely seen yet left such destruction in its wake.
He was close now. He could sense it from the slight shudder of the ground from giant paws and the serpentine creature stalking the jungle. Scorch marks burned deep in the land, as if the beast’s breath had seared the jungle. Shrubs had been flattened and vines snapped, and the air stank of sulfur, the steam rising from the ground causing Yoa to cover his nose with his arm, blade raised and ready.
The Vohraki stirred in the trees just beyond the earth’s rise, their laughter faint, their young playing freely in the safety of their territory. They didn’t know the beast that had laid claim to their lands before had crossed the border. They didn’t feel the shift in the air, not yet.
Yoa did. He’d been tracking it since first light. A beast not of these lands, not meant to be among them for all the destruction it can cause.
The Teju Jagua.
Born of fire and shadow, older than many whispered myths, its skin of thick scales, body of a giant lizard, bore claws like a jaguar, seven serpentine necks with dog heads, and eyes that glowed like twin suns. From the details of the stories Yoa had translated, the creature is saif to blind you just by locking eyes with it. Others described it as spitting poision and breathing fire.
The hairs on the back of Yoa’s head rose, alerting him to the creature a moment before the sound of a twig snapping behind him, jumped him into action. He rolled across the ground, narrowly missing the spray of venom spewing from the gaping maw of one of the creature’s heads.
It burned the bark of a nearby tree, sizzling through to its core. The creature’s tail whipped toward him and he leapt, swiping out with Firstmark. He struck the beast, but the tip of the blade snapped. Its hide was thick like volcanic stone, and the dagger Atia had spent so long creating was broken.
The Teju Jagua roared, its screech rattling the earth and silencing their surroundings, flame curling at the edge of its teeth from all seven heads. Birds fled to the skies, and the trees seemed to breathe in sharply, followed by a deadly silence.