Shagnasty
- Immortal
- Shapeshifter
- Immense durability
- prodigious strength
- centuries (millenia?) of experience killing and tormenting
- can deflect magical attacks
Genoskwa/Ursiel
- Two forms: anthropoid and demon-bear
- Anthropoid - Very fast
- Anthropoid - Very strong
- Anthropoid - Durable
- Demon-bear - Very durable
- Demon-bear - Very strong
- Genoskwa age unknown, Ursiel age prehistoric (literally)
The apparition that brought the two vanishes. Both predators eye each other across the field in the light of the dawn. Shagnasty's golden fur ripples in a slight breeze, his wide mouth twisted into a grin of anticipation.
"Little hunter," says Shagnasty, his voice almost a purr, "You are going to die. I would like to make sport of this," the purr became almost sensual here, "But I must return to my business quickly. Yield, and I will end you swiftly."
"Abomination," spat the Genoskwa. His eyes gleamed with rage, "I am not your prey!"
The Genoskwa began sprinting toward Shagnasty. He crossed distance between them in mere seconds, and threw a massive limb straight toward Shagnasty's grinning visage. Or rather, where Shagnasty's grinning visage used to be. The golden-haired Naagloshi side-stepped the charge, and grabbed the Genoskwa's outstretched limb, flipping him into the air and sending him sailing away. The Genoskwa landed on his feet in a crouch, a look of surprise and malice etched onto his features.
"Pitiful," said the Skinwalker, still grinning. He walked leisurely toward the crouching simian. "Try again."
"Shut your mouth!" growled the Genoskwa.
He lunged forward a second time, preparing a large limb in a punch as before. The Skinwalker dodged, grabbing at the Genoskwa's arm, but this time the Genoskwa evaded the grasp. He pulled his gray-furred arm back from the Skinwalker's reaching fingertups, and struck with his other fist right in between Shagnasty's eyes. The Skinwalker grunted in surprise, but the Genoskwa wasn't done. He followed up with two blows to the golden-furred abdomen, and aimed a kick at the Naagloshi's knee. Shagnasty barely dodged the kick, then shoved the gray-furred form away from him into the grass.
The Skinwalker let out an ear-splitting shriek. His form blurred, becoming a large saber-toothed tiger. The tiger pounced on the Genoskwa, who rolled to the side and jumped back, eyeing the new shape of his opponent.
"Your shape matters not - it will only decide how your corpse looks!" he shouted.
The tiger pounced, crossing the thirty feet between them in a single bound. The Genoskwa dodged its leap, grrabbing for one of its hind limbs. The tiger whirled, enormous front teeth bared, golden eyes gleaming with avarice and bloodlust. The teeth found a mark in the Genoskwa's shoulder. He gasped in pain, jerking the tiger away with a twist of his hips. Blood drenched the gray fur with dark red spots.
The tiger rolled away, blurring once again into the golden haired, nine-foot tall gorilla-esque shape. The grin was even wider now. "I have tasted your blood, Little Hunter. It tastes of fear."
The Genoskwa glowered furiously at the Naagloshi. He could be faster, but the thing was a predator with many a century, or possibly even millenium, beyond his own experience. It had killed thousands, maybe tens of thousands of other predators, some stronger than the Genoskwa, and only become stronger for it. It had seen so many battles that it could probably predict his every move. For a moment, he felt a prickle of fear.
Then a voice in his head, but not his own, said in a smooth rumble. "No, do not let it intimidate you. Lead it on, let it stalk you. Appear to become the prey. When it finally tires of the game, and comes for you in earnest, I will show myself."
So the Genoskwa turned and ran for the woods at the edge of the clearing.
The Skinwalker guffawed. "Little Hunter? Little Prey." He turned into a large hawk, and pursued the Genoskwa.
It went on like that for several hours, through the afternoon, as the Skinwalker tracked the Genoskwa, sometimes closing in for a skirmish. Each time, the Genoskwa evaded probing attempts at his life, sustaining a new flesh wound. Somehow, though, the wounds were not taking a toll on it, and it remained unafraid. That puzzled the Skinwalker, for surely the creature must know it was doomed.
At sunset, the Skinwalker caught up with the Genoskwa. The Naagloshi took on its golden haired form at top of a wooded hill. The Genoskwa stood opposite it, just in front of the entrance to a cave.
"Little Prey," said Shagnasty, "You have run well. I have enjoyed our chase. But now it must end. I will extend my offer one final time, and not again. Yield, and I will end you swiftly."
The Genoskwa bared its teeth. "The stench of your corpse will be an improvement."
The Skinwalker blinked. "Truly? So be it."
The Naagloshi's form blurred again, becoming not one, but two large wolves. They moved to circle the Genoskwa, who retreated into the cave. It was narrow in the cave. The two wolves had enough room to walk abreast into its darkness, but not much more. The scent of the Genoskwa remained strong in their noses. Ordinary creatures might have found the darkness an impediment, but the Skinwalker's senses were keen, beyond what should have been feasible. The Genoskwa should have been blind in the darkness, even with its own keen senses, but somehow it moved on undeterred. Shagnasty wondered how that worked, but the wolves shrugged. He wouldn't have to worry about it much longer.
The wolves emerged into a large cavern. Stalagmites and stalagtites covered the floor and ceiling respectively. The scent of the Genoskwa remained strong. He was somewhere in here.
"Little prey," said Shagnasty, reverting to his golden form. "The darkness is not your friend."
Then a new voice thrummed throughout the cavern.
"Messenger," it crooned, sounding smooth as marble and deep as oceans. "Your time has long since been over."
Shagnasty froze. This was unexpected. Though the voice itself was unfamiliar, its quality, and the aura it gave off, was unmistakable to the Naagloshi.
"You continue to walk this earth, making sport of those weaklings who are unlucky enough to cross your path," the voice of Ursiel continued, echoing off the walls. Its source was unknowable. "Yet their unhappy fates are naught compared to the oblivion that awaits you, Naagloshi."
Shagnasty flinched. No one, and he meant no one, ever dared mention that word aloud to him. For the first time since the fight with the medicine man on that prison-island, he felt a small amount of fear.
The Skinwalker heard a small shuffling across the stone in front of him. With his enhanced vision, he could make out the outline of a hindleg of something large. In an instant, he changed his form to the tiger again, and leaped, sinking his long teeth into the leg in the blink of an eye.
Just as he did so, jaws closed around his spine, cracking it. The lower half of his body went limp. Out of the corner of Shagnasty's eye, he could now see the glowing orange eyes, and the second set of green eyes above them, set adjacent to the glowing demonic sigil of Ursiel.
Shagnasty shrieked, and the sound echoed off the cavern walls. His form blurred, becoming something slimy and octopus like, with tentacles out the wazoo and, most importantly, no backbone. But the demon-bear's teeth still blazed agony into the Naagloshi, and not four, but six enormous paws held Shagnasty in place. The jaws chomped away, burning pain into the Skinwalker's being. His form changed and changed, but the demon-bear held every one in place, and soon the damage done to one form bled through to another. Finally, Shagnasty reverted to his golden furred normal self, golden eyes shining with terror. He wasn't used to that feeling. Not in himself.
Ursiel's voice boomed triumphantly. "Your time is done." The jaws snapped shut one final time around the Naagloshi's throat.
SUMMARY
By himself, the Genoskwa would fail. Shagnasty's predatory expertise and divinity would trounce him. Only by concealing his advantage of the coin and planning a trap that exploits the Skinwalker's predictability let him win this set up.
Thoughts? Comments? Disagreement? How do you think it would go?
