Eric yawned in front of the fire, surrounded by the pitch blackness of the night.
"Good thing he was supposed to relieve me in the middle of the night..."
Eric turned to look inside the hollow tree.
"See how peacefully he's sleeping. He doesn't know that if he doesn't get up soon, I'll come and forcefully dig him out."
He stopped looking at his companion and began scanning his surroundings, until he turned to his left and saw a human face on the body of an animal staring at him, inches from his own.
"Holy shit! Where the fuck did you come from?!"
Frightened, Eric instinctively jumped to his feet, grabbing his scythe. Then, disgusted, he looked closer at the creature.
"How ugly can you be?!"
Eric studied it more carefully.
It only has a human face, but the rest was a mixture of animals: the body of a lion and the tail of a scorpion covered in spines.
"Sergei, wake up! We're in danger!" Sergei didn't respond to Eric's screams.
Seriously...
The creature slowly approached Eric.
"You're peaceful, aren't you?"
In response, the creature bared its arsenal of teeth and roared.
"I don't suppose so..."
The creature quickly attacked head-on, but Eric narrowly dodged.
It's fast!
"Sergei, this is no time for a nap! Wake up!"
Sergei still didn't react.
I'll leave him here to die!
The creature suddenly fired several stingers from its tail while Eric was distracted.
"Shit!"
Eric managed to dodge all the stingers.
"Human head, lion body, and scorpion tail... I don't know you, but you have serious identity issues!"
They studied each other.
I can't stay on the defensive forever
"Come on, attack me!"
The opponent leaped high toward Eric, but he rolled just in time to land behind him. He then tried to strike, but the creature's tail blocked the blow.
It's too tough, I can't cut it!
Eric waited for another attack, but the creature did the same.
It doesn't attack anymore. It's smart, it knows I can counter its attacks...
The creature slowly approached.
What do I do!?
Eric was about to be attacked again when a pebble hit the creature's head, distracting it.
"Hey! You know you're really ugly, right?"
The creature turned to Sergei, who had emerged from the tree.
"Oh, sorry, I had the wrong person, I thought you were Eric!"
"Not the time, asshole!"
The creature immediately attacked Sergei.
"Now, Eric!"
Eric flashed behind the creature, ready to strike, but was about to be struck by its tail. He dodged the blow to the creature's right side, where he was exposed.
"You're mine!"
In an instant, Eric was clawed on his left arm, but he didn't lose his focus. He threw his scythe, passing it under the creature. From the other side, Sergei caught it in mid-air.
"Nice move!"
Sergei struck the creature below the stomach, causing a deep gash. The creature collapsed, dying of blood loss.
Sergei handed the scythe back to Eric, who looked at him with an incredulous smile.
"By the way, I didn't understand... could you repeat that line you said earlier?"
"What line?"
"Come on, the one you said when you grabbed the scythe." Eric said jokingly.
"Oh, I said 'Nice move...'"
"Hmm... so you can say nice things—"
"Nice move for someone like you!"
"Huh!? What do you mean!?"
The two come face to face.
"I meant it was too clever for someone like you!"
"Maybe you meant 'Thanks for saving my ass from that monster!'" Eric said, trying to imitate Sergei's voice.
"How dare you! Don't talk like that to one of your own kind!"
"Excuse me, what did you say!?"
"Yes, you're a monster just like him!"
Sergei pointed to the creature, which, while they were arguing, was preparing for an attack: a fireball was forming in its mouth.
"Oh shit!" Eric exclaimed, surprised.
The creature spat out the fireball, but the two dodged it. Moments later, the creature died. However, the fireball hit the tree, setting it ablaze.
Eric and Sergei stared at the burning tree in disbelief.
"Shit!" they exclaimed in unison.