Chapter 10
The Chimera
Chimera.
For those of you who need a refresher, Chimeras are creatures mix-mashed together or mutated by users of the magic arts, most of the time for terrible and evil experiments. And sadly, a lot of people end up kidnapped and transformed into these monsters, just like the wolf-like man with super long arms.
He was just a normal little boy when he ran into an evil wizard while on his way home from school. After being snatched off the streets, the evil wizard forced him to drink some rancid-smelling, horrible-tasting drink. And then the next thing the boy knew, he had fur, claws and fangs.
For the next couple of years, the boy had his powers tested in experiments. And part of those experiments was learning how to fight. The evil wizard's goal, the boy would learn, was to perfect a formula to turn himself into an indestructible monster. But for what reason, the boy would never know.
On the boy's sixteenth birthday, another wizard showed up and destroyed the evil one. This wizard was kinder and offered the boy and other survivors of the evil wizard's experiments a home created for people just like them, an apartment complex that he owned. That apartment complex was called by its residents as the Village of the Chimeras.
The kind wizard promised to find a way to turn all the Chimeras back to normal. Sadly, though, it was a promise he failed to keep because years later, he got sick and passed away, leaving the Chimeras to run the village themselves.
Over time, more and more Chimeras joined the village. Some escaped their prisons while others were simply thrown out by their evil masters when they were no longer useful. And many of the Chimeras even married and had children who inherited their parents' monstrous natures.
But although the Chimeras have lived relatively peaceful lives, many didn't stop looking for a way to become normal again and continued the kind wizard's research, becoming masters of the magic arts themselves. The boy himself yearned to be human once more, but not just for himself.
Now a grownup, in the afternoon, the Chimera laid on the rooftop of an abandoned house beneath the shade provided by the doorway. He was lost in thought, staring at a polaroid picture of a little wolf pup carried in the arms of a bigger wolf creature just like him. The bigger wolf is his wife who was also transformed by the same evil wizard he was. And the little wolf pup was their child, a girl.
"I swear to you," the Chimera mumbled aloud to the picture, "I will do whatever it takes so you can have the things me and your mom could not, the things that were taken from us by that evil wizard."
The sky soon became noticeably darker, and then blacked out. With the arrival of night, it was time for the Chimera to begin the hunt.
He lifted himself off the floor and went hopping from building to building, sniffing the air out for anything unusual and powerful. Almost immediately, he picked up a scent he had never smelled before. His instincts told him that it did not belong to this world, yet he doubted it was what he was looking for. For one thing, the scent undoubtedly belonged to something alive. And for another, there was something really, really macho about it.
"That cannot be what the elders were talking about."
So the Chimera turned his attention elsewhere. After a few more minutes of sniffing around, he picked up on another out-of-this-world smell carried by the wind. It was mixed with the smell of humans, two of them. A man and a lady. The man smelled like he had been swimming in garbage a little while ago.
The Chimera took in one more big whiff and then went hopping over more houses until he heard voices and stopped to take a peek down below. There, he saw two youngish-looking people fighting over a glowing, silvery-white ball. As soon as he laid eyes on the ball, a chill ran down his spine.
"There it is," he muttered to himself, eyes squinting at the ball.
He turned away and then climbed down the side of the house to the ground. Slowly, on all fours, he snuck up to the squabbling man and lady. Neither noticed him, even after he got so close.
Now that he had a better look, the Chimera realized that the ball was not a ball, but actually a really big, perfectly round pearl.
"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" screamed the lady.
"No! Mine! Mine! Mine!" screamed the man.
It was pretty funny to watch the two acting like immature children, but the Chimera didn't have all day to amuse himself with this show. So, he made himself known. Once they turned their heads and looked his way, the Chimera gave them one demand.
"Ahem! I'm only going to say this once. Give me the pearl."
The man and lady stared at him, jaws dropped and speechless.
Losing patience, the Chimera growled. Other smells were closing in, including the otherworldly one from earlier. Chances were high they were also after the pearl.
"Give it to me! NOW! Or I'll tear your throats out!"
He wasn't used to threatening others. Honestly, even just pretending gave him a bad feeling. But all that practice paid off, because both the man and the lady held the pearl up to him and said, "Gladly."
The Chimera pinched the pearl between his index finger and thumb, and then pulled. But the man and lady did not let go.
"Hey."
The man frowned. "Huh? That's weird."
He pulled the pearl a few times.
"My hand's stuck! Is this your doing, Hypnotist?"
"What? No!" The lady whose name was apparently "Hypnotist" also pulled the pearl a few times. "What is this? I can't get my fingers off!"
The Chimera bared his fangs and growled.
"Hey, man," said the man. "I swear I'm not kidding around. My hand's really stuck!"
It was the truth. At this point, the Thief had gotten fed up with the trouble the pearl had attracted and wanted nothing to do with it anymore. But no matter how hard he tried, he could not peel his hand off the blasted thing. It was as if his skin had been glued to it.
"Mine too!' said the Hypnotist.
The Chimera, however, didn't believe them and roared, "LET GO OF THE PEARL!"
He lifted the pearl high into the air and tried as hard as he could to shake the Thief and the Hypnotist off. But no matter how much the criminals were flailed around while screaming in terror and pain, they stayed stuck. They were mighty relieved when the monstrous wolf creature finally stopped, but it was still too soon to relax.
"Grrr," he growled. "It looks like you really are stuck."
"Told . . . you . . . so!" the Thief said in between huffs and puffs as he and the Hypnotist dangled in front of the Chimera.
The Chimera put one hand to his hip and sighed. "In that case, I have no choice."
Dread filled the Hypnotist and she asked, "No choice? What do you mean, no choice? What are you going to do to us?"
"If you cannot let go of the pearl, I'm going to have to tear your arms off."
"But I like my arms not teared off," said the Thief.
The way he whined made the Chimera feel a pang of guilt, but he shook it off his head and said, "Sorry, but I need that pearl. And I will do whatever it takes to get it!"
He sucked in air, making a hissing sound with his lips and then breathed out with a beastly rumble. While he grasped the pearl with one hand, he wrapped the fingers of his other hand tightly around both the Thief and the Hypnotist. They both went, "Guh!" as the air was squeezed out of their lungs.
The Chimera raised his elbows a little. His heart going ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump very hard and fast as he prepared to give a good, sharp yank. And then -
Thump!
The Chimera turned and so did the Thief and the Hypnotist.
A shape had jumped over the wall and landed heavily in the courtyard, a really huge shape.
Something in the Hypnotist's head broke. "Is that . . . a GIANT!?"
It was not just any giant, but THE Giant.
The Thief couldn't blame the Hypnotist for being stupefied. He felt the same way when he first met the Giant.
The Chimera, however, was not surprised. His snout twisted into a bare-fang snarl as he thought, So that's what I was smelling earlier.
The Giant glared coldly back at the beastly monster. After running around the narrow alleys of Ghost Quarter twice over looking for the pearl, his magic compass finally picked up traces of it and pointed him to a nearby empty house. He could hear the commotion from down the road, what the Chimera planned to do, and knew he had to act fast.
In a low, stern tone, he commanded, "Let the humans go."
The metal slap attached to his right arm snapped open and unfolded into a round disk. It was a shield with a picture of a tree on it.
The Chimera said nothing, but growled.
That was all the answer the Giant needed, and the metal slab on his other arm snapped into a second shield.
The Hypnotist gasped. Recovering from the shock of the Giant's appearance, she realized that now was a good time to make her escape and cast a spell, the same one she used on the Wealthy Son and the Secretary.
"Lux caecans!"
She shouted the incantation taught to her by her grandma in case she ever needed to make a quick escape and a blinding halo of light flashed from her crystal bracelet.
"Gah!"
Startled, the Chimera let go and both the Hypnotist and the Thief dropped to the ground.
"Ow!"
A rush of adrenaline helped the Hypnotist to push aside the sharp pain to her behind and pick herself up. She gave the pearl a sharp pull and shouted, "Come on!"
The Thief, blinded for the second time by the Hypnotist's spell, got his feet moving before he could even think. Together, with the Hypnotis half-dragging the Thief behind her, they tumbled out the gate and fled down the road.
After blinking bright spots out of his eyes, the Chimera spotted the Thief and the Hypnotist running away and cried, "No! The pearl!"
He chased after them, making it outside just in time to see them turn a corner. But before he could follow, his way was blocked by the Giant who dropped down in front of him after leaping over the wall again. Behind the Giant, the Chimera could see the pair disappear, taking the pearl with them.
Angry that he had lost his people's, his family's, hope for a better future, he roared a very beastly roar that was loud enough to wake the dead. He directed that anger at the Giant, the cause of his failure and glared.
Sensing that a fight was inevitable, the Giant raised his shields and braced for impact.
Seconds passed in tense silence and then -
"RAAAAH!"
The Chimera attacked. He charged forward, leaped and kicked off the wall, launching himself further in the air. As he fell back down, he raised a fist over his head and slammed it down against the Giant who blocked just in time.
With a grunt, the Giant pushed the Chimera away, flinging him back into the air. The Chimera did a somersault and landed gracefully on the ground on all fours before charging at the Giant again. But the Giant stepped aside and the Chimera flew past him.
The Chimera touched down with his hands and, with a twist from his arms, he swung his entire self and threw a double kick that hit the Giant in the torso.
"Oof!"
The Giant hit the ground with his back and bounced back onto his feet before skidding to a stop.
When the Chimera got close for another attack, the Giant swung a left hook and then a right. The Chimera leaned right and then left, his neck barely grazed by the Giant's shields, and then lashed out with his sharp claws. He raked the Giant's shield with his left claws and his right claws swiped at empty air after the Giant ducked and rolled beneath.
Staying low, the Giant kicked out his foot, sweeping the Chimera off-balance.
After falling flat on his back, the Chimera sat up, but froze when the edge of one of the Giant's shield came flying towards his eyes. It stopped just an inch away from his face.
"Enough!" the Giant barked. "Stand. Down."
But to the Giant's dismay, the Chimera refused. "Never!"
The Chimera swatted the shield aside and lunged for the Giant's neck. But the Giant was faster and spun. His foot hit the side of the Chimera's face and sent the wolf-like creature crashing against a wall. But that was not enough to stop the Chimera from attacking again and he threw himself at the Giant, crashing against his shields.
Using those shields, the Giant lifted the Chimera up over his head and flung him away. And then, as his shields folded up, the Giant spun at his heels and turned, punching the left side of the Chimera's face hard, and then the right side. Finally, with a double palm strike, the Giant sent the Chimera sprawling to the ground.
Every hit the Giant dished hurt a lot, but the Chimera would not stay down. He could not. Not when the future of his family depended on him.
While pausing for breath, the Giant said to the Chimera, "I will ask you one more time, will you please stand down?"
But again, the Chimera refused. "No! Never! I must have that pearl!"
"Why do you want the pearl that badly? What do you want to use its power for?"
"You will get nothing out of me, alien!" the Chimera snarled.
The word alien stung the Giant worse than that kick the Chimera hit him with earlier, but he kept his cool and tried one more time to reason with him.
"Fighting is pointless now. The humans have already gotten away and day approaches. Neither of us is getting the pearl tonight."
The Chimera risked a peek at the sky and saw the truth in the Giant's words. Daytime was indeed approaching. And it was approaching fast. Even if the Ghost Quarter was abandoned, there was still a chance that people could show up and start a ruckus that'd only add to the things that make it harder to get the pearl.
But with a final angry bark, he snarled at the Giant, "Rah! I swear, if you get in my way again, I will destroy you!"
And then he fled with the Giant watching his receding back.
Once the Chimera was gone, the Giant turned and trudged back home while wondering how the next time the Girl showed up, he was going to get her to stop visiting these narrow alleys.
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