The cow wandered almost aimlessly in its gait. For many days now, it had seen little of the outside world, and so when the gates to its container were suddenly pulled open, it didn't hesitate to steadily yet warily make its way outside.
Although the cow was a simple beast, it was by no means stupid. It knew of the dangers of the outside world.
Even if it had yet to face the jaws of a mighty predator, the instincts to run at the sight of one of was still deeply imprinted within its bones.
And yet as the cow stepped outside, it found itself in a deeply unfamiliar environment.
A dark forest, one decorated with huge trees and a vapory fog that seem to wash over the horizon. The air was cold and damp, and a jolt of fear hazed over the beast's mind as it resisted every urge to hole itself up back in its container.
No, it wouldn't be able to feed if it did that.
The cow had already smelled that bewitching scent even before the container had been opened. It was intoxicating to its bovine senses, a lure that was utterly impossible to ignore.
It was said that in the animal kingdom, all creatures are primarily motived by two things, food and reproduction.
And currently, there would be no possibility of both if it chose to stay and cower.
The cow bravely made its way deeper into the misty woods, taking note of the green pastures as it glanced up towards the sky.
But there was no sky to see.
Instead, the sky had been replaced with the ceiling of a hollowed-out cavern adorned with the shine of artificial lights, no doubt the work of humans.
Still, that didn't quite disturb the cow more than this eerie forest already did. It had long got used to living without being under the sun for months now, so a few more days in this cavern wouldn't suddenly make it keel over.
It lowered its head and gave a good sniff to the ground. The dirt was course and rough, but the smell of grass was a comfort to its senses.
—RUSTLE~!
The cow's neck straightened as it heard the sound of rustling from the nearby vegetation. Was it a human or...?
It found nothing as it gazed into the forest, narrowing its eyes at the slinking shadows.
...It seems to have just been the wind.
Significantly more reluctant now, the cow continued moving, hopeful for the promise of bountiful food as it trailed after the alluring scent.
A few minutes passed without incident, and it soon found itself in a huge clearing with a lake on the side.
The cow peered over the water's surface, but there was nothing to see. It was simply much too murky and deep for any bovine to make out whatever was underneath. The lake resembled a dark abyss from all the way up here.
How eerie.
Since its throat was parched, the cow slowly lowered its neck and drank a few mouthfuls of the water.
It had closed it eyes when doing so, taking the time to enjoy the cool water as the stream poured down its throat, somewhat easing its initial worries.
However, after a few seconds of peaceful drinking, the cow paused in a lapse of confusion.
There was a weird taste in the water. It was coppery and thick, a bit salty too.
Such a thing was not uncommon for murky water. After all, although lakes were not fully stagnant bodies water, their flow was much slower and more passive, and thus often mixed with weird elements.
However, it wasn't just the taste that caught the cow's attention this time. There was also an unusual scent in the air, one that would make anyone pause.
The cow had smelled a similar scent long before. This was the smell that would emanate whenever a member of its old herd gave birth to a newborn calf.
It was the thick aroma of blood, raw and deep.
There was no mistaking it.
The cow's eyes widened as its heart palpitated within the boundary of its ribs. Its eyes darted across the surface of the water.
Although it couldn't clearly discern the colour, as cows were neither able to perceive green or red, the liquid itself was clearly distinguishable from the rest of the water. It was far from diluted, and was the source of that same scent that had made its skin crawl.
The lake was stained with blood.
Sweat started to drip from between its brows as it took a step back, urged by every instinct in its body to run.
And those instincts were correct, for after the water's surface started to ripple, the origin of all this blood became evident.
The cow found another pair of eyes staring right back at it.
These were the eyes another cow, and perhaps with another context, that would have been comforting.
But it could not be any further from that.
The pair of eyes that stared back were bloodshot and hollow, a vacant gaze that saw past the cow as if it were not there.
Its mouth were agape, and its head was perpetually frozen in a haunting expression. It looked as though it had released one last agonizing scream before meeting its end, and never had the chance to stop even after its demise.
When the cow's eyes wandered down, it almost shrieked in panic as the majority of the corpse's body from the neck down was nowhere to be seen. What could be immediately determined however, was the cause of death, as it was clearly not a victim of a clean beheading.
No, it's body had been bitten off.
The wound was grave and gruesome, with chunks of meat floating beside the severed head, and copious amounts of blood leaking everywhere that it could reasonably reach.
That was more than enough to twist the cow's stomach in horror as it immediately bolted in the opposite direction.
Whatever that enticing scent was, how delicious that food could possibly be, it was not worth sacrificing its own life for.
As an animal, it understood this principle well. There was no greed in the face of certain death.
As the cow made its way back in the direction that it came from, it couldn't help but notice that the forest around it seemed to get... darker, as if swallowed by the vapory mist itself.
It didn't help that there were no other sounds beside its own footsteps. Back at the farm when it was born and raised in, there were always noises from other animals, other cows, goats, and even the birds and insects outside.
But there was only a stony silence in these misty woods.
Yet the cow, desperate to see another day where it could live, did not care about these factors, or at least, tried to ignore them. It sprinted and utilized every muscle in its body, it could feel them burning as it galloped across the hillside.
Such an animal was not used to running, having been reared for its milk and meat. It was fat and cumbersome, a favourable trait in the eyes of the human ranchers, but completely undesirable for its continued survival.
The gallop of its hooves against the dirt echoed through the expanse as it saw a small hill up ahead with unusual landmarks situated above it.
These... structures? Plants? Giant fungi? They were large bony protrutions that erected from the small hill. The cow had never seen what the bottom of the ocean looked like, but if it had, then perhaps it would think that these bony protrutions somewhat resembled coral.
They were erected in three rows, each uniformly corresponding with their parallel protrutions. Those at the upper parts of the hill were bigger, while those lower were smaller until they seemed no different than sharp rocks.
The cow wanted to keep running, it couldn't afford to care about this unusual hill, but its untrained body betrayed it. It was already out of breath, and that was more dangerous than anything else.
Taking shelter beneath the shade of the hill, it felt safe for a brief moment as it breathed.
Keyword on brief.
Because there were words that could describe the sheer terror that shocked through its bones when the shadow of the hill behind it began moving.
It arose from the earth, taking on the shape of a massive creature.
The hill was no hill at all.
The cow slowly turned its head upward.
It immediately smelled it, that scent once more.
Blood, gore. But now it was more intense, it was coming straight from the butcher's teeth itself.
A pair of eyes gazed back at its fearful ones. These eyes could not be mistaken for that of a cow's. They were huge, overwhelming. The sclera was golden like amber, and it felt as though the gaze that it casted could even reduce a mountain to soot and ash. The pupils on the other hand were slitted, like that of a predatory, ancient serpent.
The cow's instincts instantly told it of what came next. Whether to fight or flee seemed entirely irrelevant now.
It froze.
There was nothing it could do in the face of a monster.
"MOOOW—"
Chomp.
The valley of jagged blades silenced the cow's last scream as he chomped down onto his second meal of the day.
The cow's body couldn't withstand the pressure of the extreme bite force. Like a balloon filled with water and jelly, it immediately exploded into a burst of blood and gore.
The monster, the devil that had been misunderstood as the land itself in his brief nap, lifted his neck to the air as he tore apart and swallowed the large chunks of beef, wolfing them down inside his throat.
He possessed a reptilian snout, one shaped like a ferocious dragon. His teeth were jagged and deadly, just one prick would be enough to make most creatures in the animal kingdom bleed.
Supporting his massive maws was a short and thick neck, and further supporting that was a muscled torso, one adorned with rows of dorsal spikes at its back.
Indeed, these dorsal spikes were the boney protrutions that his meal had taken notice of earlier.
The giant stood up in his hind legs as it continued chewing, the blood dripping down his chin. His strong legs were directly inherited from the carnivorous theropods of the cretaceous, taking their likeness. What was different however, were his developed arms and fingers. Furthermore, there was a unique trait that made him stand out amidst other reptiles.
Opposable thumbs.
The unique trait of monkeys and apes. For it to be seen in a giant reptile was beyond strange.
His tail swooshed behind him, almost uprooting a small tree. It resembled the tail of a crocodilian, and indeed, his entire body somewhat resembled a crocodile. A vast, gravely misshapen crocodile.
The greatest contributor to that statement were the scales that covered most of his body. They were dark brown in some areas and chargoal grey in others, serving as the perfect camouflage for an ambush predator beneath the murky waters.
However, he was no crocodile. There was no crocodile in the world that possessed gills. There on his neck, barely noticeable, were gills that you would usually only find on a shark.
And most glaring of all were his golden eyes, sharp and humanly intelligent. The recipe for the perfect aquatic predator.
Its just rather ironic how he had caught prey on land this time.
The giant walked as his every step made the ground around him shake. He was huge, the largest predator ever documented by humanity.
15 meters from the top of his head to the bottom of his toes. That was his height alone, not factoring his mass, or the length from his nose to the tip of his tail.
It was strange to think that nature could possibly create such a perfect predator, especially in this now diminished era.
One wouldn't be wrong for thinking like so.
Because this monster was no natural animal at all, but the result of human meddling.
A Dragon.
***
First chapter's done. What are your thoughts, guys?
If you have some goodwill, please do spare us a vote and your power stones. We will greatly appreciate it.