by Juan-Pablo Pina
The sounds of the night created a haunting yet oddly peaceful ambiance. The chirping and droning of insects and the grumbling calls of distant animals could be heard along with the gentle rustling of vegetation disturbed by the wind. It was a pretty pleasant place, perfect for setting up a hammock to sleep in. But there was no time for that now. He had a job to do.
Ahab watched the cattle on the pasture, monitoring their movements and vocalizations for sudden signs of high alert. At the same time, however, he also glanced at the tree line around him, making sure that he wouldn’t miss the moment a creature appeared.
No.
Not a creature. The creature. The one he had chased for so long yet always missed: the Titan Wraith.
There was plenty of speculation as to what the creature was, though the most widely accepted explanation was that it was some kind of large theropod. But some said that the Titan Wraith may have been a dragon or some other kind of large theropod like a Yutyrannus. Some people even said that it was an Ifrit, a kind of dragon-like spirit often compared to a Jinn. Weirdly enough, not even Ahab knew what it actually was, though his main theory was that it was a large carcharodontosaurid like a Meraxes or Tyrannotitan.
He had been chasing the beast for years now, every encounter bringing him closer to finally bringing it down. And yet, for every bullet fired or harpoon thrown, it always managed to escape by the skin of its teeth. Not only that, but it always left some kind of devastation, usually in the form of a few people killed or herds of livestock cut in half by its voracious appetite. Ahab had seen people, good people, have their lives torn apart or taken by that monster. But the thing that pissed Ahab off the most was that it just wouldn’t go down. It was a massive bruise to his ego, and it even gave him the idea to change his name to Ahab after the vengeful captain from that whaling storybook.
He was obsessed with it. To Ahab, the Titan Wraith was the ultimate enemy in his own little hero story. Hunting his colossal snowflake, its white hide being the reason for the nickname, gave him a sense of thrill and fear that no other hunt could substitute. But he just couldn’t kill the damn thing! Every time he arrived at a corpse or site of attack, he was just too late. It was just too far away, it was just too quick, it was just too resilient. Ahab was always latching onto the edge of greatness, unable to get a sure footing.
But no more. Tonight would be the night. Ahab could sense it. Tonight, under the light of this very moon, this war would finally come to an end.
Suddenly the vegetation around Ahab started to move. How had he not heard it!? It was a 15-ton megatheropod for God’s sake! Surely it would’ve made more noise!
Ahab quickly scurried his way out of the hide, stood up, readied his rifle to be fired, and waited for his colossal snowflake to explode out of the brush. But out of the shrubbery came a…human? Not just any human, it was Arthur!
Ahab lowered his gun and sighed, wiping the sweat off his forehead with his handkerchief.
“Goddamit, Arthur. Why you scarin’ me like this, man? I thought you were a dinosaur for a second,” groaned Ahab, a mix of frustration and relief in his voice.
“Oh, goodness! I’m so sorry! I swear I didn’t mean to!” said Arthur, hastily apologizing.
“<Sigh>, you’re alright. So what brings you out here?” responded Ahab, trying to calm down the apparently panicked rancher.
“I just wanted to check on you, Sir, to make sure you were alright,” explained Arthur. He knew full well that walking out in the woods by the ranch at night straddled the line of a death sentence, but there was some part of him, some incessant voice in his head that told him to make sure his fellow human was safe from the horrors that were out there. Like all humans, it was his instinct, the social and simian part of his brain overriding the self-preserving and logical reptilian side.
“You shouldn’t be out here, man, it’s dangerous. And if the Titan Wraith has a harpoon in its leg, then it’ll be tired and wantin’ some easy food,” said Ahab.
“I suppose you’re right. Well, I’ll be on my way now, it’s a rather long walk back to the house. Are you sure you wouldn’t like to join me or leave? It’s very late and I didn’t even pay you to do this!” said Arthur. He genuinely offered Ahab a way out, although he would appreciate an armed escort through the woods. He hadn’t even told the guards that he had left the house!
“We talked about this last night, dude. Unless you’re pulling my leg, this hunt, the chance to finally take down the Titan Wraith, is more than enough pay,” groaned Ahab. Deep down he just wanted this skinny chattering baboon to leave him to his hunting.
“Very well, then. I hope to see you in the morning, Mr. Ahab,” said Arthur before turning around and leaving, stretching out his arm so the lamp could illuminate the dark woodland around him. Ahab just responded with a grunt before returning to his hide.
It wasn’t much to look at, just a patchwork structure made of sticks and camo-patterned cloth that came together in a teepee-like thing that leaned against a thin tree. He had a light with him, though it was very dim and was more red than warm amber. And to Ahab, those things, along with his dagger and gun, were all he needed. Practically speaking, this was because it would attract far less attention. On a more personal level (which some might call superstitious), though, it allowed the dragonslayer to be in tune with nature, both sharp as a razor and relaxed and at ease. But there was little to be relaxed about tonight. And in time, it showed itself.
Suddenly there was a low, bass-like rumble as if from a crocodile. A cold shiver went up Ahab’s spine while the hair on the back of his neck stood up. It was almost like a cello mixed with the sound of an elephant. What’s worse, though, is that it made the dragonslayer…dizzy? He felt something close to nausea while his head spun and throbbed, making his stomach sick. He knew what was happening, he just couldn’t get a grip on himself to do anything about it. The damned 15-ton snowflake had sprung its trap.
Ahab scrambled about like a temperamental child in an attempt to try and grab something to either use on the beast or himself so he could have some sense knocked back into him. At the same time, however, an intense feeling of dread wrapped around Ahab’s heart like a python, giving him an extreme sinking feeling. He may have been experienced, but he knew this was it. Soon, while he was in this hazy state, a pair of massive jaws would clamp down on him and finally bring him down.
“Come…on…,” strained Ahab as he tried to grab onto something, anything at this point. Finally, he grabbed a rock and threw it in a random direction. Even if he didn’t hit the creature, maybe the sudden snapping rustles of vegetation could startle the animal into stopping its horrific siren song of death, even if it was for a moment.
There was the brief snapping of branches and low-lying plants being hit by the rock before the rumbling finally stopped. Ahab’s ears rang for a moment before he finally regained control of his senses which seemed to zap him like lightning. He quickly readied his gun and fired it at a random tree, a few small splinters flying from the bullethole. There was a low squealing bark followed by the crashing sounds of vegetation and trees being thrashed and felled by the fleeing colossus.
But then there was an immense crashing sound as Ahab’s hide was ripped from its spot and torn apart before finally collapsing to the ground. The old hunter hurried away from the spot to avoid getting crushed by the now-shredded hide, accidentally leaving the lamp inside.
“Jesus Christ!” he shouted, standing up and readying his gun to fire another round at that blasted creature. Did it just wheel around and ambush him? It must’ve because when Ahab went back into his hide there was no sign of the thing. There was now, though, all 13 meters of it. The dragonslayer looked up, and to his horror, saw the Titan Wraith looking right at him.
“Oh…my…God,” shuddered Ahab, pulling away from the scope on his gun to finally get a good look at the monster he had been chasing for so long. His suspicions of what it was were proven right at that moment as he looked into the terrifying red eyes of a colossal Giganotosaurus, far larger than any other he had ever seen. Not only that, but it seemed to be covered in scars from stem to stern, more than any dinosaur Ahab had ever seen!
Huge patches of scales had been torn off all around its face and the base of its tail, leaving giant scabs that looked like red smears. And there were dozens, if not hundreds of slash and scrape marks all over the animal’s torso, arms, jaws, and tail. The giant carnivore’s lips seemed to have been shredded many times before as huge, gnarled scabs covered the area around the mouth. Not only that but there were dozens of arrows and harpoons lodged in its back and neck. And though it was hard to see due to it being more in the shadows, Ahab could spot a huge harpoon lodged in its thigh. But what the dragonslayer noticed the most was the giant’s color.
Just as Arthur and the rest of the stories said, it was white. To be specific, however, it had a bone-white body and underbelly while its back and facial crests were dark, almost black. The Titan Wraith certainly earned its name with its haunting appearance, looking like a pale phantom covered in scars and wounds. It was a nearly poetic sight, a mighty and regal being who the world had hurt and now bore a withered soul and a tattered form.
Ahab had no time for this poetry and admiring! This was his chance to kill the damn thing! He had chased the Titan Wraith through perdition’s flames themselves and he wasn’t going to let his hunt end now because he was caught up gawking at it.
The dragonslayer raised his gun and began to fire right at the dinosaur’s face. But like a parent fed up with a child, the animal merely let out a loud groan before swaying its head left and right quickly. Every shot Ahab fired only hit the thick, stone-like keratin crests of the Giganotosaurus and bounced off. After a brief moment of this game of blocking, the carcharodontosaurid swatted the dragonslayer with its tail, causing him to let go of his gun and be sent flying through the undergrowth until his back finally collided with a tree, stopping him. It felt like being hit by a train.
Ahab groaned, fighting through the pain and trying to stand back up. His back hurt like hell, but he had no time for that. The dragonslayer looked up and, to his horror, the Titan Wraith was walking towards him. But what made it terrifying wasn’t the fact that it was a giant carnivore, it was the fact that it was walking. Not limping from a wound, not sprinting out of rage, it was just walking. It was confident, seemingly having everything under control.
Almost as if to contradict itself, the giant theropod suddenly bolted at Ahab and rammed into him. It was like Ahab just got hit by a train, the air being catapulted out of him in a short cough. The tree the dragonslayer was up against snapped like a twig when the carcharodontosaurid slammed into it, meaning that Ahab was sent back even further, this time rolling on the floor for a few seconds before finally stopping.
The old hunter gasped for breath, desperately trying to regain control of his senses quickly. But the pain was just so excruciating and it even seemed to paralyze him. It was like he had just been hit by a meteor. But then he began to hear something else, barely audible over the sound of his ragged gasps: low, rhythmic thumps. The Giganotosaurus was getting closer.
Eventually, Ahab felt a rough, warm surface nudge him and put him on his back. Before a huge foot slammed down on his chest, pinning him to the ground. The dragonslayer desperately gasped for air again, his heart filled with horror at the thing that filled his sight: the face of the Titan Wraith. Its hot breath attacked Ahab’s senses while saliva slowly dripped from its lips. But the dragonslayer noticed something else. There was a look in its red eyes unlike any Ahab had seen before.
It was a look of rage, of pure and uncaged vengeance. It looked like the fire of Hell itself was trapped in this animal’s heart and had scorched it black. Yet, there was another emotion in those eyes. There was a look of exhaustion, of weariness from so much fighting. It looked, for all the world, as if the Titan Wraith had reached its breaking point and no longer had any mercy left to give. Could that be it?
Maybe Ahab was just delirious in his final moments, but he would’ve sworn he saw something other than primordial rage in the 15-ton snowflake’s eyes. Maybe it had been merciful this whole time, giving the dragonslayer chance after chance to give up the chase so the two could go their separate ways. Besides, judging by the number of wounds the Titan Wraith bore, it seemed the only reason it decided to start hunting livestock and people was that it was too weak to hunt its usual prey like giant herbivores.
And even though all it was doing was trying to survive, it kept being hurt and hunted, chased out of territory after territory and gaining scar after scar. So maybe this wasn’t just an attack, maybe this was its attempt to end a pesky game finally.
So Ahab just watched as it opened its mouth wide, the walls of flesh and teeth enveloping his vision before it finally-...
Comments