Smoke lingered above the treetops, mingling with the rising heat of plasma discharge and scorched foliage. Rael crouched behind a gnarled root, his rifle still smoking. Around him, the forest groaned — trees shattered by gunfire, the earth torn from plasma strikes, and alien corpses slowly cooling in their own ichor.
"Targets neutralized," Nyra confirmed. "But I'm picking up seismic tremors… something big is approaching."
Rael stood slowly, his massive form blending into the charred underbrush. His armor's camouflage had already faded — no longer necessary. The last of the creatures had fallen to a combination of close-quarter brutality and surgical fire. Between the hum of his energy blade and the hiss of his silenced plasma rifle, he moved like a ghost of war.
"Define 'big,'" Rael muttered.
"Bigger than anything we've seen. Altitude shift. Incoming… from above."
He turned just as the trees shuddered violently. Then the sky broke open.
Something vast and scaled plummeted from the canopy like a living meteor. Wings outstretched — black, leathery, and wide enough to cast a shadow the size of a shuttle — the beast slammed into the forest floor with a deafening impact. Trees cracked. Wind exploded outward. Even the soil buckled beneath its arrival.
Rael didn't move. His visor auto-dimmed to adjust for debris and sudden light change. A red warning flashed:
[UNIDENTIFIED LIFEFORM DETECTED][THREAT LEVEL: UNKNOWN]
It snarled — no, roared — a low, guttural vibration that shook dust from the leaves. Its head was all jagged horns and molten eyes, fanged maw dripping with venomous saliva. The tail coiled and uncoiled like a whip, barbed and twitching. It flared its wings, towering over thirty feet.
"What the hell is that?" Rael asked, shifting his stance, blade extending from his wrist with a snap-hiss.
"No record match. Not a reptile, not a bird. Too big to be native avian… I'm going with 'flying lizard monster thing.' That's my official assessment," Nyra said flatly.
"Helpful."
The beast moved faster than expected — launching into a glide and diving at Rael. He dodged with a back-roll, the impact behind him sending bark and branches flying. It twisted, coiling mid-air, then snapped its jaws toward him.
CLANG — its teeth met his shoulder.
[SHIELD IMPACT: -17%]
The shield flared white and held. Rael twisted his body, grabbed the beast's jaw with one hand, and shoved his energy blade deep into the flesh beneath its eye. It screeched — a furious, gurgling sound — and thrashed backward, wings slamming against trees.
"You pissed it off," Nyra offered, her tone dry. "Just saying."
Rael dashed after it, plasma rifle drawn. He unloaded a tight burst into its wing joint — the searing rounds punched through scale and tendon, leaving blackened holes. The beast screamed and flailed, crashing through another tree as it tried to take flight.
He was on it before it could lift off. He sprinted up a fallen log, vaulted into the air, and landed squarely on the creature's back. His boots magnetized automatically. Holding tight to a ridge of bone along its spine, Rael activated his wrist blade and drove it down again — piercing deep into the joint between scales.
Blood — thick, green, acidic — sprayed upward, splattering his chestplate.
The beast twisted, spasming. Its wings flailed. It let out one final scream before it toppled, spine severed, tail thrashing weakly as its massive body finally went still.
Rael stood atop the corpse, visor reflecting the carnage around him. His red eye glowed in the fading light.
"Analysis?"
"…Still don't know what that was," Nyra admitted. "But if there's one of those… there might be more. That was a scout, maybe. Or a juvenile."
Rael climbed off the body, panting slightly. His armor's cooling systems kicked in with a subtle hiss.
"Unknown planet. Unknown threats. No maps. No reinforcements."
Nyra responded with a chuckle. "Well… welcome to hell, Commander."
He checked his HUD. Ammo low. Rations fine. Shield charging. He tapped a control near his wrist — the crystal storage system still glowed faintly. Whatever it was, it had stirred to life in the previous encounter.
Rael turned his gaze skyward, scanning the treetops for movement.
Because if this world had flying monsters… then the real predators were still out there.
Support my writing: https://ko-fi.com/authorxile