The Monsters' Eyes

The cheerless twins emerged from the vermilion horizon with a cold, hard determination, crushing the spring grass of the rolling hills above the village of Frieden in their stride. They were pales, and so like the rest of their kind, had been born dead. This racial condition rendered their emotions numbed, which in turn made their jobs as huntsmen that much easier.

 

Leiche, the elder of the two, raised his hand-held telescope to his lightless pupil and marked the beast they planned to kill. Pallarax: a monster that rose from the eastern caverns once every year to make its visit to the village folk. Golden shelled, taller than most houses, and with a body over fifty meters in length; that demon with a thousand scurrying red legs and a dozen emerald eyes had gone unopposed for three long decades, but this day would be its last.

 

'See how it breathes in puffs of blue from it's head?' the senior pointed out to his brother: Geist, handing the telescope over 'There is your weak spot.'

The younger looked and nodded, before releasing his curved longsword from its scabbard.

'Are you sure your arrows can penetrate that hide?'

Leiche unhooked his bow from his back strap and took one of the Farrisian shafts from the quiver.

'They can cut through anything in between the high realm and the pit.'

 

Thus the twins made their way down to the little haven of rural life, where Animalians peaked at the foreboding grey armoured strangers from out of their round windows. How terribly noble and dignified the pair appeared to the canine eared, bushy tailed half breed boys who had been playing dice by the bridge. How unlike anything they'd ever seen before in their cosy little lives. At the edge of the village, the pales stopped walking, the daunting figure of the beast rolling on towards them. Each nodded to one another, and then they were off: Leiche to the left, Geist to the right.

 

From his bow the older twin released three arrows that cracked open the shelling of the monster's side, causing the chasm dweller to lurch to that direction in rage. Using the distraction his brother had provided, Geist ran up on Pallarax's blind spot, and sliced away a row of its frantic legs: making the golden demon wail with horrendous pain. From there the swordsman launched himself onto the creature's lowered frame and ran to the gaping organ where it breathed.

 

How Pallarax rocked and twisted in order to throw the dead man off, the pale thudding to the grass before he'd even got his blade wet with blood. In response to this, Leiche released five more shards into the demon's face, that looked to only anger it further. From the mouth upon its head it spewed out a stream of cobalt venom, that did melt the very ground where it landed. From his assault both the twins fled, until each were at the swiping tail of the monster.

 

'It seems it has more tricks than we first anticipated.' Geist commented as they dodged the sharp end's strikes.

'It will fall, same as all.' his brother replied as she sprinted up a nearby hillock. 
 

The beast chased after the huntsman with all the speed his thousand legs could produce with so large a body to carry, spitting out his poison all the way. For a fair while Leiche led Pallarax on a merry chase, spurring the monster on with arrows every so often. So frenzied was the demon, that it did not realise that as it ran, it was treading upon the lethal fluid it was shooting. So after awhile all of its front legs had been destroyed by the venom, and the wailing creature could no longer move properly.

 

It was then that Geist ran in once more with his long sword, climbed up the shell and plunged his weapon into the fleshy mouth of the beast before it could spit again. The blade sliced through the jaw and cut into the brain of the creature, killing it instantly. 
 

After a hesitant while the villagers came out to see the body, all looking quite upset. 'Why in the pantheons' names did you kill our favoured Pallarax, who blessed us with good luck every spring?' they asked.

To this, it was Leiche who answered. 'His eyes will fetch a hefty sum. The more important question is, why did none of you protect the beast, if you loved it so?' For this they made a hundred excuses of how they had believed the hunters were slaying the beast for some gallant or just cause, for certainly: the twins had looked and acted the part of gentlemen.
 

At this, the Leiche and Geist had shaken their heads in disappointment, and after slicing out the jewel-like eyes from the monster's head, they strode out from the village: no better than when they had arrived.