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Well, I had to say, if someone had told me that me my trip to Hell would have included getting stuck in the middle of a battle between spider pod people and men that could have been the new spokespeople for Greenpeace...before being trapped in an ice cage while being saved by three warriors from an angry spider Queen, who was obviously not having a good day... or just hated men in general... to find myself being captured by a gigantic winged beast...then naturally I would have given Lucius my hand, let him pull me through the barrier, then patted him on the back and said, ‘good luck honey’ before booking myself a flight to Bora Bora until all this demonic genocide stuff blew over!
However, when finding yourself held in the deadly grasp of some winged beast that looked only a forgetful moment away from either dropping you or crushing you to death, then it was of little wonder that I dreamed of being on a beach somewhere. What I didn’t want to be doing was flying over the vast barren lands of Hell, held by a creature that I had no idea if it wanted to feed me to its offspring, use me as bait for a bigger meal or just plain old eat me itself. Of course, there was always the other more unlikely scenario of this that might play out.
Like the magpie theory, only instead of collecting shiny objects for its nest, this one collected small helpless animals. Or maybe they believed I would make a good pet to keep them entertained. Or there was even the idea that I could be some kind of offering to a female they intended to mate with? There were also crazier ideas that included a colossal giant, his pet bird-like creature and me, the rodent they brought back for their master like a cat does when leaving ‘gifts’ outside the front door for you to find.
But this was what happened with your time when you had nothing other to do than just lie like a sausage in between wicked looking claws, staring down at those massive talons like a deadly blanket was wrapped around you...well, then let’s just say you start to go a little crazy questioning the possibilities of your fate.
But then I had already spent the first ten minutes analysing the beast that had me in its clutches. It was incredible and naturally unlike anything I had ever seen, or even come across in my research. Because, thanks to the Afterlife library, I knew of most things, even if the tree people and creepy spider Queen and her offspring had been missed off the Demon A to Z’s.
However, it soon became obvious that the three headed beast was a combination of creatures, now which of those creatures they were, was only ever going to be at best a guess at this point. Its body, one I could only make out from below due to obvious reasons, wasn’t like I would have expected from a dragon type creature. No, instead it looked more like that of a giant lion, but it had yellowish, orange scales at the sides of its body instead of fur. Its underbelly had a mass of feathers that started off as the white downy kind, that were tipped with ice blue and looked incredibly soft.
They then started to change further down the body into larger feathers the colour of rust, that split off into three different tails. One was dark blue and covered in scales that split into two points at the end. The other was black with hints of red at the spikes that ran down its length and ended in an arrowhead. The last tail was unmistakably that of a lion and this time was one that was covered in fur with a bushy end.
As for its legs, there were six of them and each pair was different. There was the one that looked as if they belonged to a large bird, like an oversized eagle that reminded me of my father’s pet demonic bird named Ava. She usually only liked my father and my mother and didn’t really like children. So naturally she had given me a wide berth whenever she felt the need to land on my father’s balcony. But as for this creature, well it was the size of a damn building!
As for the other legs, one pair looked more like large elongated paws covered with rust coloured fur with lion’s claws big enough to shred a tree to splinters. As for the last pair, they didn’t look like they belonged to a dragon either but were definitely the biggest. They were also the ones I was currently hitching a ride on, as the black talons were curled around my body, making it not exactly the most comfortable ride of my life. Saying this, I was at least thankful that my ass cheeks fit in the curved groove. But then the other edges dug into my skin, behind my knees and at my back, making me wish I was wearing a blanket, not just jeans and a shirt!
Well, at least the pointed ends of those claws were far from my fleshy bits, as I wasn’t sure I would have survived much of the ride if they hadn’t been. As for the top part of the beast, it was only glimpses I would get and it looked like three different sets of legs and tails weren’t the only things on this beast that came in threes. Because I had seen earlier, before being picked up, that it had three sets of wings, the details of which had been too hard to see during flight. And well, I already knew about the three heads.
What I didn’t know was how long we had been flying for, but the second we rose higher over a mountain range of black rock, I started to shiver, unable to help shaking in the cage of large claws. It was at this point that one of the heads looked back down at me and it clucked its huge beak. This made me cower back as I thought at first it was trying to bite me. It had dark red eyes, a scaled head unlike a bird, two small slits that I assumed were the nostrils and two tightly coiled horns that framed either side of its head.
However, the second I looked scared of the thing, shaking now from cold and fear, it cocked its head to the side as if in a questioning way. Then it made a loud bird like screech as if communicating with the other two, because soon I was moving.
“WHOA!” I shouted as I found myself being lifted in the claws. Then, as they started to open up, I began to panic!
“NO, DON’T DROP ME!” I screamed but soon found there was no need, as I was being pushed up against the underbelly of the beast into the blue and white downy feathers closer to the neck than the tail. The claws held me in place so I wouldn’t fall but could still get close to the belly, but more importantly...the warmth.
Oh, by the Gods, it was wonderful, and I couldn’t stop myself from rubbing my fingers through the feathers, telling it,
“THANK YOU!” I had no idea if it heard me as when it rumbled a purred response, one I felt vibrating against me, I didn’t know if it was from my thanks or my stroking its feathers. Either way, I took the fact it wanted to care for me as a very good sign. Unless of course...
It didn’t like frozen ready meals.
But then just as I found myself getting warm and even a little more comfortable, I noticed we had started to descend. I looked around seeing that we had made it over the mountains and were flying over what looked like a field of brown grass with a large hill at its centre.
“Okay, I guess we are coming into land then, rather you than...whoa, okay that’s a little...FAST!” This ended on a scream as we suddenly dipped to one side as if the beast was now hurt or something, as now it looked barely able to keep itself in the sky, let alone me as well. Suddenly I found myself tight in its grasp again and being lowered from its belly as it got closer and closer to the ground. Naturally, I screamed as the sight of the field started to come at me quicker and the second the claws released their hold, I fell, hoping it was closer than it looked.
I fell with a thud and tumbled in the grass, thankful that it only knocked the air from my chest and nothing more. I quickly lifted my head in time to see the beast now in all its entirety.
“Holy shit,” I muttered in awe as even falling the creature looked majestic and incredible. I had been right about the wings, as they were three different types, that all now tried in vain to work together to make the landing a little easier.
There was a black pair that looked scaly along the finger bones brushed with the hint of red whilst the ends gleamed crimson at the large taloned tips. The other two both had feathers but were different in size and colour. There was a dark navy blue pair that were slimmer and looked sleeker, and I wondered if perhaps this was for greater speed. They also looked as if they had been dipped in ink as they appeared wet and almost shimmery under what was now a red hue soaked sky. The last and biggest pair were at the centre and they looked more like those of an eagle, with burnt red feathers that were long and wide, with white running down the centres.
As for the other two heads, I could barely believe what I was seeing, as one was a dragon! Although it had webbed fins at the sides of its head along with down its neck. It also had I don’t know how many rows of teeth, as the details of what I could make out were only what I could see in the seconds of its rapid descent. But it looked like it also had a single horn surrounded by spikes at the centre of its head and glowing red slits for eyes.
The last one had a mane of long floating bright red fur around its neck with the head of an eagle and a set of huge horns that rose up and curled over its head like a helmet.
But as it glided over the field, all six legs started running through the air, ready and waiting for when it landed. However, it didn’t help as suddenly the wings just vanished! After this the whole creature crashed over the top of the hill before it tumbled out of sight and down the other side.
“NO!” I shouted as I quickly got to my feet and started running. I don’t know what had come over me, but I felt struck with panic that the creature could be hurt or worse...dead. Of course, trying to run up a hill didn’t exactly last long, and I found myself having to stop to catch my breath before I did something silly like pass out. But then finally I reached the part of the hill that it had first started to land on. Once there I could now see the deep gouges in the ground that had been taken out where it had tried to use its claws to stop itself.
“Oh please, oh please, oh please be alright,” I repeated to myself as I gave it one last push and ran over the top of the hill to see for myself if it had survived.
“What the Hell?” I muttered ignoring my own pun in place of something else.
“Where did it go?” I asked as there was nothing but the three long skid marks that all went off in separate directions. But what was missing from this picture was the giant winged beast lay amongst the torn up strips of land.
However, what was at the ends of these makeshift landing strips were what looked like three black slumped figures that only when they started moving, did I gasp in realisation...
They were the three riders!