A Brace of Beasts

[Avin]

Swift. Brazen. Decisive.

As I saw Erik 'Goodman' (he did call me one, so he would get the title also, surely) release a brilliant mighty dart that was the arrow from his bow, I grinned. My eyes lit up with a glory that was beyond anything that I remembered and I smelt the sweet first notes of death. Death that I knew was coming, death that they, the fighting behemoths were not expecting. Hissing wth the beauty that was violence and blood, I watched the javelin-sized arrow shrieked through the air. Then, as it scored to its destination I let myself fire like a second arrow from the depths of the trees, my naginata descended as a guillotine.

Stabbing the air towards the boar's flank. Destiny I called my enemy, his destiny being to die by my blade. Bursting out from the darkness, blind to him as his first fight was his primary focus. I was simply bringing the second round.

Down I stabbed, a ghastly scream bursting from my beak. I didn't watch to see the trajectory of Erik's arrow. Instead my attention was on Destiny. My naginata blade jabbed down, deep into the flesh of his flank. Suddenly his head reared back and he literally screamed - far worse than he had with the treant at any point Avin had seen.

Swiftly, the boar Destiny turned around, his sharp hooves grinding in the snow and making long, dark scars in the earth. I saw, when he came to face me, that he had several long and bloody cuts on his shoulder, as well as one of his eyes was nearly closed with heavy bruising - his impact from the treant. This was good, I surmised as I dragged out my blade and stabbed towards him again, this time aiming for the throat. If I was a human, a savage grin would be over my face. Instead I simply opened my beak ...

And cawed a mighty challenge as I thrust again.

Forwards came the raging boar. Forwards went my blade. We met in the centre with a horrible clash, tusk against damascus steel, then we separated. We took a breath, Destiny and I, then struck again. I received a slash on my shoulder - fine golden sand began to pour out, merging with the snow. He dribbled crimson onto the earth.

Again and again we met, our battle now separate from the others. We were raging, we were one. We would kill each other or die trying.