Callisto

Jespar Alone (pt. 3)

The tunnel grew colder as the waters shifted around Jespar's skidding form. He staggered round another corner and heard the bestial roar of his adversary again – this time coming directly in front of him.

"You gotta be fucking kidding me!"

Without waiting, he turned tail and proceeded back the way he came. Still, he saw no light streaming from above. No cracks in the ceiling revealed an escape to the surface world, which, for once, he was missing.

There was nothing but him, the water, and the echo of the thing coming ever closer.

His paws carried him through water and caved in skulls, ribcages, and other limbs that he began to see emerge all around him like macabre conjurations of the creature coming after him. He couldn't stand to look at them anymore, and when he thought he'd put some distance between him and his pursuer, he slowed to a halt to catch his breath.

"This isn't good for my old heart."

He coughed up spittle and wiped his mouth on dry brickwork before he heard scraping claws on concrete nearby.

He spat out tainted sewage water he'd swallowed on his run and looked for a place to hide. It was better than running – this place was a damned labyrinth.

He turned around to inspect a nearby crevice and discovered that he'd ended up in the same spot he'd entered the place from. Venchenzo's wail rang out from above.

"Great," he said to no one. "Well, at least it can't get any worse."

Almost as expected, when he turned around again, he was face to face with his interloper – the colossal form of the lizard-man filled the entire chamber, his shoulders rising and falling with his rapid, animalistic breaths. He walked forwards on legs that seemed engineered to spring on prey on immediate command. Its wrinkled scales shone in the dark.

But it did not attack. Instead, its amber eyes studied Jespar while its mouth moved as though attempting speech.

One claw unclenched and reached toward him.

"You know," Jespar stuttered as he began to back up. "You wouldn't like dog meat. It's all squishy and tender and full of attitude."

This didn't seem to help matters at all. The beast's claw slowly reached towards him as it made to grab the base of his nose. He rose on his haunches and growled the low, menacing pitch afforded to him by the genetics of his race. There was only one thing to try.

His instincts kicked in, and as the claw drew closer, he sank his teeth into the open palm and bit down, feeling his fangs penetrate small slivers of the beast's scales before he pulled away and spit a few out. The thing gave a shrill yelp and stepped back, holding its nicked hand and stroking it furiously while its tail coiled around its body as though forming a protective shield.

Jespar paused and double-blinked. The thing seemed almost scared of him.

"Y-Yeah! That's right!" he yelped, jumping from side to side like he'd seen professional kickboxers do on the TV as a pup. "Can't take the heat? Then get outta the kitchen, boy! You wanna dance? Let's go, you and me. Right here. Come on. Let's go."

He looked into the face of the being and saw its slitted lips begin to quiver.

Some kind of emerald liquid began to ooze from its eyes. A defense mechanism, maybe?

He wasn't waiting to find out. Something in that look sent his mind racing through images of the untold horrors about to be inflicted on him if he stayed. Whatever had just happened, at least he'd momentarily disabled the beast. So, he took his chance: he shot through its shaking legs and just managed to jump over its tail, which he was sure had shifted to swipe him out of the way. He bolted down the same narrow passage he'd first entered the sewers through and panted with fury at being made to traverse this labyrinth again.