A Soldier's Life - 367 - Chimera (pic attachment) (edited 3-28-25 +150 words)

Chapter 367: Chimera

Waking instantly, I was on my feet. I must have woken at the first sign of danger. Benito was yelling over the thundering roar, “Stampede!”

Blaze was yelling to gain control of the horses so they wouldn’t bolt. Lesna raised her hand, and a bolt of light shot into the air, illuminating the savannah. It was not a bad idea since she wouldn't be able to give everyone night vision quickly, but it also served as a beacon. My mind quickly processed that there had to be something causing the stampede—a predator hunting the herd at night.

The herd of wildebeest was passing just outside our campsite. They were larger than the ones that roamed the plains of Africa on Earth, comparable in size to American buffalo. Our camp seemed safe enough for the moment. I turned to Castile, who was already scouting with her magic. I moved to stand beside her in case danger approached while she was unaware of her surroundings.

I leaned in and spoke close to her ear so she could hear me over the thundering hooves. “Is it a bulette?” She held up her hand to indicate she was still searching the darkness.

Moments later, she gasped. “I found it…it has wings…a chimera!” she said, shocked. 

“Outside a dungeon?” I replied, stunned as well. The only chimera I knew was in one of the dungeons in the Telhian Empire. It was a dangerous three-headed monstrosity, but its blood was highly magical and used in advanced alchemy. 

“I have only seen pictures, but the likeness matches,” Castile said breathlessly, clearly mesmerized by what she was seeing. “It caught one of the herd, and two of the three heads are gorging about three miles away.”

The thundering noise had mellowed as the herd had mostly passed us, and I heard Blaze’s bow twang, scaring a straggler away from our camp. I turned and barked, “Lesna, put out the night light!”

The halfling voice sounded from somewhere, “I…I can’t. I put enough aether into it to last an hour.”

I looked up at the beacon marking our location, “Abandon the tents! Get the horses saddled. We are leaving!” I turned to Castile, “Castile…”

Castile blinked, and her hand extended toward the light. She focused and shock her head, “The weave is extremely tight. If it was closer, I could.” 

I growled in frustration. Lesna’s voice sounded nearby, “No one told me it would have to be put out.”

I was going to retort that no one asked her for the light in the first place, but Castile placed a hand on my arm to calm me. “I will keep watching until my horse is ready.” I noticed that Benito was saddling Castile’s horse first, so I nodded. 

I jogged over to Ginger and said, “It will be alright, girl. Time for another midnight ride.” She gave me a very irate look after last night’s confusing déjà vu, but offered no objection to leaving. My saddle appeared in my hands, and a minute later, all her cinches were secured. I placed an apple in her mouth to placate her while we waited for the others.

Blaze had to help Lesna, who had lost her grip on her invisibility while struggling to saddle Honeysuckle. We were nearly ready to ride when Castile said, “It stopped feeding. It just ate the organs and is looking this way.”

“What is?” Benito asked nervously. The stampede had been too loud for anyone to listen to my conversation with Castile.

“A chimera,” I spat. “A massive lion with dragon wings and two extra heads.”

“Like Cerberus?” Sylph asked from atop her horse.

Mage Selene swung up into her saddle, “No, Cerberus has three dog heads. A chimera has a lion, dragon, and goat head.”

Benito groaned, “If we have to fight it, I will take the goat head.”

“You got your wish,” Castile said bitterly. “It just took flight and is coming this way.”

All eyes turned to me. The truth was I didn’t know much about the creature. Since it was only found in dungeons, there was little need to research the creature unless I planned to go into that particular dungeon. I made a quick and possibly terrible decision. “We will stay under the light. Everyone group around the horses and protect them.” I thought if we ran, the creature could pick one of us off from above—at least with the light, we could work together in defense. Maybe it would ignore us and go after the wildebeest herd.

The horses were skittish as we grouped them together, and I handed my reins to Sylph. If I had to fight, I needed no encumbrance. Heartseeker appeared in my hand, and I took a few steps away from the group, watching the sky. I heard astonished whisperings behind me about the spear, but I was focused on finding the threat. 

I switched to my aether sight as Lesna’s bright sphere made it difficult to see. My night sight had limited range, but I had a workaround as I held the artificed Hound spyglass to my eye. I quickly spotted the shadow of flapping wings in the direction the herd had come from. My steady hand captured a clear image of the beast. It seemed intent on exploring the light hanging in the sky and lazily flew high above it. It would be a good night if it just kept going and left us alone. 

“It’s circling high over the light,” I announced to the group. Infrequent claps from its wings could be heard in the air, but it was about half a mile above us. Lesna’s bright aetheric light globe was about fifty feet above the camp. I didn’t want to admit my lack of knowledge about the creature, but I asked anyway. “Does anyone know anything about how they fight?” Silence, besides a neigh from one of the horses. 

“If it descends, I will move away from the group. Castile can restrain it while it focuses on me,” I decided.

“You are going to lure it away from us?” Lesna’s disbelieving voice came from amid the horses.

Benito replied to her immediately, and if you ever wanted to keep a secret, Benito was the last person you should tell. “Eryk doesn’t fight fair. The chimera will be dead before it knows what happened.” Well, at least he was vague this time.

“It’s descending!” Castile barked, dropping her all-seeing-eye and summoning her shadow chains. I shoved the spyglass into my belt and focused above, stepping away from the group. Predators should focus on the group’s outlier—at least, I hoped.

The shadow looked much too large—that was one problem with the spyglass and no reference points. I had assumed it was just the size of a normal lion with a few monster parts glued on—nope. The wing span was over forty feet, attached to a massive body. All the heads matched the overgrown dimensions. The jaws of the dragon’s head still dripped with blood from the wildebeest, and the lion’s mane was streaked red. The goat had heated eyes and bleated excitedly at us—I could only imagine what it was trying to say.

Blaze’s bow sang, and an arrow stuck in the leathery wing. By the placement, I could tell he was aiming for a joint, but he was not getting enough penetration. The serpentine neck of the dragon arched back, and a glowing ember appeared in its throat—really? Fire?

I spun my spear above my head, creating a thrumming noise, and started yelling, “Snack time is over here! Heat me up!” If it breathed on our tightly packed group, Selene and Castile wouldn’t be able to shield everyone. The lion head roared at the group, but the dragon head lashed out, expelling a stream of fire that quickly expanded into a cone toward me. 

Before the fire engulfed me, I could see the threads of shadow reaching toward the descending aberration. Ice shards were peppering it, but I didn’t think they were doing much more damage than Blaze’s arrows.

The fire buffeted my layered air shields and quickly shattered, forcing my aether shield amulet to activate. The air around me superheated, and I was being cooked alive. This was no ordinary fire. The blindness pellets I held in my hand shattered, releasing their contents, and compelling me to close my eyes. My only respite was that it was a short blast. I heard Benito yelling, “No!” Maybe it was more than one person. The roar of flames made it hard to discern.

The creature had descended below Lesna’s globe, and all hell was breaking loose. I swung Heartseeker in an arc above me blindly as I rolled away. It was just in time as I felt the ground rumble as the chimera landed. Coming to my feet, I opened one eye to see the goat head bleat at me, annoyed. I guessed the spores had been consumed in the fire, so I opened my other eye. 

This chimera was monstrous, standing taller than me at its shoulder. Blaze was still firing his arrows to little effect. Castile’s shadow chains were wrapped around the wings and legs, only hampering and slowing its movement as they were shredded as fast as she made them. I lunged forward, catching the goat’s head in the throat, instantly quieting its annoying bleating.

I began to circle, aiming for a piercing strike on its ribcage, but as the goat head sagged from blood loss, the lion’s head turned toward me. It roared, and I felt a wave of fear wash over me. My mental fortress shielded me from the effect, but my bones still vibrated from its intensity, and my hearing faded to a flat tone. I think it ruptured my eardrums, as I felt blood trickling down my ears. I pushed aether through my healing spell form and quickly danced back as the creature lunged, its massive claw slicing through where I had been.

The lion’s head looked confused that his attack didn’t connect. He was probably used to creatures being stunned in fear after his roar and getting an easy kill. I didn’t think I was going to be able to bring Heartseeker in for the kill, so I used my most reliable trick. I moved a large section of the chimera’s chest to my dimensional space—at least, that had been the plan.

The surprising backlash caused me to stumble a step back from backlash as the creature resisted being killed. One of my new aether restorative potions was already at my lips. Its syrupy consistency was welcome as it spread aether back into my body and to my core. The dragon’s head snaked around the lion’s head to glare at the troublesome prey. Blaze had managed to shoot one arrow into its nostril, but other than that, it appeared unwounded. My hearing gradually returned as my aether healed my ears. I was engaged in a standoff with a dragon and a lion. The shadow chains restrained it just enough that it couldn’t pounce on me.

“Castile? Can you hear me?” I yelled as I didn’t know if the others had been affected by the lion’s roar.

Castile’s voice echoed on the other side of the chimera. “Yes, Benito is injured. He tried to attack the rear and got kicked! The others cannot get close enough!” Benito had a runic blade, so he probably thought he could injure the creature where Blaze’s arrows failed.

“Hold it as long as you can! I cannot use my trick on it!” I yelled back. 

“Go now, then!” Castile returned urgently. She was going all out as I saw the shadow chains thicken.

The chimera’s body was massive, covered in a thick hide, but I was certain Heartseeker could inflict some damage. I stepped in close, moving away from the draconic head. The black spear lashed out, slicing the lip off the lion, revealing exposed fangs. It recoiled in pain and shock at my effective attack, giving me the opportunity to reach its flank. I could see it turning, the shadow chains tearing. I pressed the black leaf tip into its shoulder and dragged the spear as I ran toward the creature’s rear. The thick hide parted like a hot knife through butter.

I planned to circle and join my companions on the other side, but I was not expecting the leathery wing to unfold off its back and attempt to buffet me. I switched to a one-handed grip on the spear, and magebane appeared in my other hand with a thought. I hacked at the wing as it struck me like a club—magebane had taken its token of aether to activate. I was thrown back and sent tumbling, focusing on maintaining my grip on my weapons and not skewering myself.

The lion’s head roared in pain and confusion. I guessed the lion controlled the body, and the dragon and goat were just along for the ride. I spat some blood and started to send some healing to my body. My dislocated kneecap popped back into place, and my concussion faded quickly as I stood.

The chimera had a large flap of hide hanging down, ribs exposed, and the leathery wing did not look functional. A pool of blood was quickly forming underneath it as well. The lion and dragon both focused on me with an evil hatred. Castile’s shadow restraints had thickened, and I guessed the aether poison had weakened the creature.

Once I was healed, I circled to the wounded side of the creature. It could do nothing, as the Castile had finally overpowered the creature and mostly immobilized it. I guessed it needed aether to sustain itself somehow. I lined up an attack and darted in, sending Heartseeker between the exposed ribs and to where the heart should be. I had to leverage my body weight to overcome the resistance, and the spear sunk half its length before I retreated.

The lion’s head snapped around, trying to bite the shaft, but it was doomed. It still took a long minute of anxiety before the lion and the dragon breathed their last. I ensured it was dead by successfully removing a claw before announcing, “It’s dead!” 

I worked Heartseeker out of the body and walked around the body to find companions to make sure everyone was well before using the collector. I found them all gawking at me. Lesna was helping Benito sit up to drink a potion. “How is Benito?” I asked innocently.

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