Fan Fiction ❯ Oistin the Beast-Slayer ❯ Prologue ( Prologue )

(Author's Notes: This story has been bugging me for a while, and while I know I should work on my other stories, I couldn't help but write the prologue for this. This is based off a theory of one of my friends about monsters walking among us beyond our comprehension and also one of Newton's Laws (I think the Third?) that states, "Every action has an equal but opposite reaction." I hope you all enjoy it.

Disclaimers: All of these characters are mine, and I will get pissed if someone tries to steal them. *pets all her assorted characters fondly* Newton's Law belongs to Isaac Newton, and the theory that inspired this story belongs to Ramoth. Thanks!

Warnings: This story is shounen ai, slash, whatever you want to call it. Male/male relationships. Various ones, which include mentions or preludes of abuse and rape. There is also insanity abound in this story. After all, without insanity there wouldn't be a plot.

I hope you enjoy the prologue of Oistin the Beast-Slayer!

~Cinaed)

Oistin the Beast-Slayer

By Cinaed

Prologue

The security guard sighed and absently beamed his flashlight down the hall, watching as the faint shaft of light assured him no one was sneaking about the factory. He really didn't see why he was forced to travel the hallways when cameras watched everything with eyes that never blinked, but the pay was good, and he had a family to support.

Running a hand through his slightly balding mane, the middle-aged man continued down the corridor, his shoes making sharp, decisive sounds as the tap-tap-tap echoed through the empty factory. The security guard smiled, a fleeting look of amusement as the professional sound of his boots let him entertain the thought that he was a real police officer, patrolling an abandoned factory that was believed to be the hideout of several infamous drug dealers. Yes, being a real police officer would be grand, and the security guard knew of no other occupation nobler.

He neared the corner and paused in step as his flashlight's beam flickered for a moment before returning to full strength. A puzzled look flitted across his face before he shook his head. He had put brand new batteries in the flashlight, but perhaps he had jostled the flashlight and caused it to flicker. Yes, that must have been the reason. Reassured, the security guard ventured onward, and listened to his footfalls echo in the empty hall. He had taken only three steps with each foot when another sound met his ears. The man froze, his expression shifting from amusement to wariness. Someone was there; he could hear each harsh, gasping breath as the person breathed loudly just beyond the beam of his flashlight.

"Stay where you are!" The guard's voice was authoritative and rang through the corridor, not betraying his nervousness. He took another step forward and shone his flashlight upon the person who was breathing so heavily-

-And proceeded to scream. His flashlight fell from his nerveless fingers to clatter loudly on the floor and sputter briefly before dimming, never to flicker back on no matter how many new batteries might be placed within it.

The light was gone, but that had been long enough for the security guard to see the horror that had been waiting in the corridor for him. His scrambled brain could only show him bits and pieces of the terror that his eyes had seen even as he continued to scream, the cries filled with terror beyond a human's comprehension.

Ebony, wicked talons that dripped with dark red liquid that could only be fresh blood. The talons, which glinted razor-sharp in the reflection of the flashlight's beam, reached out for him in a mockingly longing gesture as if the beast wanted to cradle him before it consumed him.

A cruel smile that showed off a thousand jagged teeth, teeth that were all too ready to rip his throat and devour his flesh. The smile was eons old in its brutality. The creature had seen every vindictive thing Man had done since the death of Abel, and relished it.

Silvery steel fused with darkest sable was the color of the flesh that seemed to urge darkness to it, wrapping the hideous frame in a cloak of infinite blackness. The metallic steel seemed robotic, but no mortal's eyes could comprehend the way that steel and pitch-black fur fused to form the beast that the guard had seen.

Six glowing red eyes that seemed to be like burning embers, ready to spark and engulf the guard's frame in flames that would lick and burn his exposed skin. Those eyes were the worst of what the man had seen. The eyes were soulless, delighting in the screams that ripped themselves from the mortal's throat, basking in every scream that anyone had ever uttered upon gazing at it. The eyes were ageless in their cruelty, seeping into the guard's soul and tainting him forever.

The security guard was still screaming when his shift ended. He was found, curled in a fetal ball in the corridor where he had seen the beast, occasionally able to speak in riddles that made no sense to the stunned man who rushed to call for the police, an ambulance, anything. When the younger security guard ventured back to where he had left the screaming man, he found that the middle-aged guard had been reduced to low, despairing murmurs of random words and sporadic shouts of primal fear.

"The beast…. It sees me…. Don't! Please…. Leave me…. Get away! God…. God, god, god, god…. It…. The beast! Stop! Please! Don't look! DON'T! I'm sorry, I'm sorry…. Oh God, oh hell, oh please! Stop…."

The security guard was still pleading with an unknown horror that only he could see when the police escorted him to the insane asylum in the nearby town. The younger security guard went to file a report at the police station and then inform the institutionalized man's family that the father of three was now in a sanctuary for the eccentric.

It was the fifth incident of random loss of sanity in the last eight months.

(To be continued)