Chapter 3: Unexpected encounter with a beauty.
Focused on the scent, he missed a treacherous little snow edge and tumbled off, landing hard on his face, fortunately, the snow broke his fall.
" Arrgh... That definitely stings like hell... My face feels frozen." He muttered.
Shaking the snow off his head, he slowly looked up and instantly froze. Before him was a stunning, terrifying Gorgon girl.
Her skin was extremely pale, and her hair was a cluster of small, writhing pale blue snakes. Her lower body was serpentine, covered in beautiful icy blue scales, while her eyes were a wide, distressed serpentine blue.
Her hands were soaked with dark blood as she frantically pressed down on a gruesome wound on her abdomen.
The moment Adrian's eyes registered the full, terrifying reality of the creature before him, the Gorgon girl reacted.
Her head snapped up, the writhing mass of pale blue snakes that formed her hair were trembling and hissing like steam escaping a pressurized pipe.
The sound was nerve wrecking and chilling, just from that demonstration alone, Adrian realized that this wasn't your average girl but a creature closer in similarities to a bloodthirsty beast.
Her beautiful, scaled body coiled tighter in the snow, and her wide, pain-filled eyes narrowed into vertical, reptilian slits. If one hadn't seen her in pain earlier, they would've really thought that she was completely fine.
She let out a spine chilling snarl that vibrated through the air, stunning Adrian even more.
He didn't need a translator to understand that she was warning him not to get close. Her entire self was currently radiating a fearsome amount of hostility that would've shaken most in his place.
Adrian felt it clearly, a cold shock that settled deep in his stomach.
This wasn't the pain of a wounded animal anymore , but the pure, unadulterated, killing intent of a deadly creature.
It was so overwhelming and intense that it triggered a primal, fight-or-flight alarm that he couldn't ignore.
His body betrayed his new resolve, taking over as he desperately tried to protect himself.
He scrambled backward first, stumbling over his own feet, before turning and pushing himself into a blind, desperate flee.
The deep, thick layer of snow instantly became his enemy, dragging at his freezing trousers and filling his shoes with icy slush, but he didn't stop.
He pushed through the pine trees, his lungs seemed to have ignited, refusing to succumb to the frigid air, the memory of those deadly serpentine eyes urging him onward.
He ran until the sound of his own ragged breathing was deafening, until his legs felt like they were moving through cement.
Just when he finally thought he should check if he was being followed, his already exhausted foot caught on a submerged branch.
" Arck!"
He went down hard, skidding to a jarring stop a few feet from where he landed due to his overwhelming momentum.
" She's not coming after me... Thank God I managed to escape."
" For a second there, I thought I might've met my end again, and just after being given a second chance to."
Lying face down in the snow, he finally gasped in a long, cold breath, and the panic began to recede, replaced by a sudden, sharp clarity.
' Now that I think about it, there's just no way she could've chased after me with that severe injury of hers...' he thought, the image of the bleeding, gruesome wound on her abdomen flashing into his mind.
' It's severe... With a wound like that, she might not be able to live long out in this frosty snow... Also, I'm not sure what type of person she is but that tail of hers tells me she's definitely not a human, if she's Cold blooded, her chances of surviving out in this snow is even lower...'
' What am I even thinking? Going back?'
' I'll definitely die if I go back...' Adrian gritted his teeth and began walking back towards the direction of the village.
After taking a few steps, he stopped again, his hands clenched, trembling at his sides, his brows furrowed.
He knew going back was dangerous, no it wasn't a guess, it was a sure fact and he knew it. The way she reacted, told him she was most definitely beast like and might even result to attacking him if he helped her...but
She was bleeding out... and at this rate, it wouldn't be long before she died.
The memory of the sheer agony in her face as she desperately tried to stop the bleeding was what finally slammed the brakes on his terror.
' I can't just leave her.'
****
The sudden shift in Adrian's resolve was instantly linked to a certain distant memory of his.
A small boy was huddled, shivering and tearful, within the cramped, dark space of a closet.
He was trying to silence his sobs, but the grief was too big. Before he knew it, The sound of a gentle knock on the door of the room outside pulled him from his misery.
" You've been in there for quite some time now Adrian."
"Can I come in, dear?" The voice was soft and layered with age, clearly belonging to an old woman. The boy managed a watery sniffle, using his hands to wipe at his face as if too ashamed to be seen like this, but he eventually whispered.
"Yes."
He heard some footsteps that soon stopped, The closet door the. eased open, revealing the kind face of the would be intruder, her uniform was that of a nun, starched white contrasting with black.
She didn't scold him or ask him why he was hiding. Instead, she simply reached in, lifted the small boy, and carried him gently to the room's single bed. She sat, pulling him onto her lap and holding him close, her touch felt warm and reassuring. Calming the boy down a notch.
"Tell me what's wrong, my little one." she asked, her voice was calm and patient at the same time.