Dahlia Bravery Training: Black Smoke

The night was calm, but Dahlia had no intention of stopping to appreciate it. She trekked carefully onwards, stopping only at the slightest sight or sound of movement. She had been tasked to track down and eliminate a strange monster that was reportedly causing chaos in the surrounding area she found herself in, but so far she’d found nothing more than rumors from townsfolk.

Suddenly, a shadow was cast over the ground beneath her, originating from above. She jerked her head upwards to peer out at the stars through the gap in the tree cover of the forest, only to be met with the sight of a familiar silhouette, one that left glowing teal trails in her vision.

 

“He’ll never find it from up there.” Dahlia muttered to herself. Krypton had been assigned this task alongside her, but he was a little less than helpful. He had taken to a search from the air, but it wasn’t the monster he was really looking for. Dahlia knew where his heart truly lied, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on it. She had a hunt to fulfill.

 

The search continued, leading Dahlia to eventually stumble across a spattering of footprints, a toppled tree, and a large carcass all in one clearing.

 

“What the hell happened here?” She wondered out loud, approaching the now horizontal tree. Its bark was shredded in places, almost like something had torn through the area and slashed it up. Wispy black smoke seemed to emanate from the carcass’ sliced belly, its head missing and insides splayed out on the grass. It didn’t even seem to have been eaten. Strange, normally a creature would eat its kill after the fact, even if by a bit. But this thing, aside from a missing head, seemed pretty untouched. Lastly, Dahlia inspected the footprints closely, coming to the conclusion that the creature was capable of some kind of flight, since they just seemed to stop halfway away from the scene.

Since the corpse was so fresh, still bleeding even, the culprit had to be nearby. Dahlia cautiously crept towards the rock pile at the center of the clearing, beginning to hear a strange hissing sound from within. She got ever closer, just until she was able to flap up onto the top of the largest rock and peer into the cracks between each piled-up boulder. The black mist from the carcass was billowing from between the rocks in the pile, but not overbearingly, just enough to be present. But it was no less concerning to Dahlia, who intended to investigate further. As she stepped down onto a lower rock, wanting to find the source of the black mist, she felt it faintly vibrate beneath her talons. A low rumble began resounding in her ears, unsure of the exact source, but fairly certain it had something to do with the oddities happening in this area.

Before Dahlia could move further, something leapt out of the cracks in the boulder pile and reared its indiscernible head, letting out a bellow that forced Dahlia to cover her head.

 

“This must be it, the monster that’s been ravaging cities, infecting people with illness, and poisoning others. I have to stop it, here and now.” Dahlia thought to herself determinedly.

The monster looked down upon her, the moon not able to cast any light on the smoke-like creature, making it a pure black void for the eyes. It was almost taller than the treetops, and probably would be if it stood back fully.

Dahlia could already feel her strength weakening in its presence, the black smoke taking effect so soon. She had to act fast.

 

“Dahlia!” A voice called out to her from above. It was Krypton, hovering above the clearing with a look of pure terror in his eyes. Dahlia looked up at him, momentarily leaving herself vulnerable. That’s when the monster struck, whipping its long tail across Dahlia’s chest and tossing her off the rock pile. She tumbled to the ground with a thud, trying to catch her breath. The monster wasted no time in slithering over to her, the many limbs on its sides making it look akin to a centipede in shape. It enveloped Dahlia’s body with its own, coiling around and constricting her tightly. All air left Dahlia’s lungs as she struggled in the monster’s grip, clawing at the wispy substance, but finding only a burning sensation on her talons. Her vision became tunneled, and her body started going numb. But just as she was about to succumb to her fate, the monster wailed and released its hold on her body, dropping her to the ground and stumbling backwards. Dahlia began to regain feeling throughout her limbs, enough to push herself up and look at what was happening.

Krypton had hurled a small rock at the beast, striking it in the one part it was vulnerable in; one of its eyes. The monster flailed its head in an attempt to ease the pain, giving Dahlia enough time to regroup with Krypton.

 

“What the hell is that thing?” Krypton hissed, readying another rock to be thrown. Dahlia shook her head, unsure of the answer herself. The monster recovered quickly, screeching at the two harpias in anger. Dahlia growled back, readying a blast of ice breath from her beak.

 

At the crackle of ice brewing in Dahlia’s throat the monster wailed again, trying to get out of her way. Dahlia unleashed her breath, shards of ice pelting the monster’s left side as it scurried atop the rock pile in an attempt to escape.

 

“Don’t let it get away!” Dahlia shouted, rushing to block the monster’s path. Her four wings aided her in her speed and maneuverability, able to cut off the beast’s retreat and hurl another ice blast at its body. It let out a loud cry, using some of its limbs to try and scrape at the spot it had been hit. This gave Dahlia enough time to observe her breath’s effects on the monster. The ice seemed to crystalize within the spot it was hit, making it a corporeal substance. That meant it was now able to be damaged…

 

An idea popped into Dahlia’s head. She reared back, maw agape, readying a massive breath strike. The monster sensed this, attempting to lunge for the four-winged harpia, but was distracted by a second rock being thrown at its head.

 

“Take that, asshole!” Krypton shouted, hurling more and more rocks he’d collected. This distraction was enough for Dahlia to charge her breath and aim, launching a barrage of freezing mist and ice shards right at the monster’s upper half.

It was a direct hit, the sound of crackling air resonating through the area alongside the monster’s screams. It became partially immobile as its upper half began to freeze and become heavy, but most of all, it became vulnerable.

 

“Krypton, now!” Dahlia shouted to the other harpia, who had flown to her side and was working on pushing the large standing boulder that made up the rock pile’s tallest spot right over onto the beast.

With one final shove from Dahlia, the rock came tumbling down, crushing the beast’s now-tangible frozen upper body. It shattered like glass under the impact, making a horrible whistling sound as the black smoke dissipated from the area. The monster’s body disappeared with it, leaving behind the carnage it had caused.

 

“Are you alright?” Krypton asked, concerned for Dahlia’s health after all that had happened.

 

“I’m alright, thanks for your help.” Dahlia felt weak, but was ultimately alive, so she couldn’t complain much. Krypton still seemed concerned.

 

“We should get you back to base for a medical screening, who knows what exposure to that thing for this long could lead to.” Krypton had a point. Even the mist left behind from the monster had been poisoning and sickening members of the nearby cities and towns, so Dahlia might have some serious trouble on her hands.

 

“Let’s take that broken ice shard as proof that we killed it, look, it’s even got some of that black stuff trapped inside.” Dahlia pointed to the shattered remains of the monster’s torso. One of the bigger pieces of ice did indeed have swirls of black inside of it. Dahlia gripped the ice in her talons, carefully so it wouldn’t melt too fast or break into smaller pieces, and took off in the direction of their home, Krypton in tow. What a story they’d have to tell when they got back.