The air was still.
Not the still that meant peace, but the heavy kind of silence before a storm. The wind refused to blow as if it were a child holding its breath
Down the street, a scruffy-looking teenager was strolling by
The boy had his hands full with a plastic bag from the shop in one his phone in the other
His hair was unkept, his eyes light blue, and his skin light brown. He has a type of gaze that always looks like they were searching for something that is just out of his reach
Orion didn't know why the air felt different that day. He felt as if the sky was glaring down at him.
The breeze that always met him at the corner dint come. The birds were silent. The world was waiting
He crossed the road lazily. He could feel something was different today, but it did not concern him
Today was his birthday
And then it happened
The sound ripped through the silence like a scream, fire and metal soared into the sky as a massive shadow descended from the sky, crushing the ground beneath it
Orion froze. The plastic bag slipped from his hands
" What the fuck"
From the flames it rose
It was massive- too large to be natural. smoke clung to its body like a clock, but through the smoke, pieces of the beast revealed themselves. A lion's head growled, jaw wide, flame licking between its jagged teeth. Twisting from its back, a snake hissed- its eyes oozing out yellow venom. Its forked tongue is tasting the scorched air. And from its torso. A gnarled, horned skull bleated an inhuman sound.
Three heads. Three hungers. A chimera
It crept forward on its clawed paws, crushing a car beneath it like it was paper. Its body moved with eerie coordination, as though it was stitched together by some god
Its eyes- all of them -looked on Orion
Orion froze, every cell in his body telling him to run, but his feet felt glued to the cracked pavement beneath him. The Beast snarled and hissed, each voice sounding like a chorus of threats that echoed through the silent street.
He glanced around - no one was here
a tremor of fear twisted in his chest as the creature took another step forward, its claws scraping across the concrete
Then, just as the best lunged, A sudden flash of motion split the air
A man stood between Orion and the nightmare
His hair was wild, his robe scorched and ripped at its edges, but none of it diminished the sheer force of his presence. Lightning hummed in the air, not from the sky, but from him, wrapping his frame in strands of raw electricity that danced from arm to shoulder like veins of light.
The Beast stopped mid-step, his head rearing back not because it was afraid but in recognition. It knew what stood before it.
The man tilted his head slightly, eyes narrowed like thunderclouds gathering before a storm. His voice wasn't loud, but it vibrated through the air like rolling thunder
"He's not for you to kill," The man uttered
And then- he vanished
Orion dint blink
He couldn't blink
In the space of a second, the chimera had already been hit, its middle head jerked sideways as a gust of wind and lightning smashed through the creature's side, sending it hurling through a building, shattering the stone
Orion's bag hit the floor
He didn't even notice
The man turned slightly, meeting Orion's eyes with curiosity- then narrowed
The wind stopped again.
Silence returned, even heavier than before
And the god spoke, voice low
"Why are you glowing?"