ERTH CHRONICLES EXCLUSIVE - BOOK II PREVIEW

ONE

For all the beast knew, it had travelled around Erth a thousand times.

It never slept and never stopped to contemplate. This spawn of the inferno merely hunted and devoured any living thing that stumbled onto its unfortunate path. Its instinct was simple - savage, channelled energy that continued to shape its physical and mental state. Its bile and waste expelled from its already decaying body, only added to the desecrated Erth; the creature's stench alone was enough to infect the living.

This beast, this abomination was beyond life and death - a personification of pure evil. It had started life as a chemical reaction, triggered by an unseen energy seven years previously. Evolving rapidly from a single cell, the beast was born from a protronium rich gyre, deep underground. Having fused with Erth and putrid, rotting flesh; it had continued to absorb the rich bacteria that surrounded it.

After the first day, it had become the size of a mosquito larvae; amber rich fry becoming its main source of prey.

One month passed and the glowing, twisted larvae had transformed itself into something far more efficient for its aquatic surroundings. Now a ferocious fish, the creature had already begun to prey on the unfortunate lizards that would drink at the edge of the gyre.

With pure, distilled protronium coursing through its veins, a year in the gyre had developed its ability to hunt all manner of animals, both below and above the surface of the water. Having beached itself time and time again during its second year, it had absorbed the reptiles’ ability to crawl on land.

As its mass increased, the beast’s framework continued to evolve at a rapid rate and after three years it was already the size of a wildcat.

Four years - a further increase in fat to aid in the winter months, along with a heavy fur coat. Dislocating jaws took up most the size of its head, enabling it to devour larger prey, while six eyes enabled it to see from all points of view.

Five years - it’s first Newtonian kill providing further aggression and increased strength - all the while, an amber light reshaping it from within.

Six years - an unrivalled instinct, closer to intelligence. By now the beast’s reputation had taken hold, having been seen by both the Newtonian Guild and Rojin Missionaries. Injecting further fear throughout the land, the abomination was Gana’s complete antithesis. Relentlessly, the creature continued to destroy everything in its wake, all the while its body beyond transformation and now closer to death and decay - an amber light caged within a hideous exoskeleton.

After seven years its recognition had brought an identity, already bordering on myth. Having been named ‘Gana’s Brother’ by the Rojin, this chimera had now recognised its purpose; the reason it had been born on this Gana forsaken Erth. It wasn’t just the pleasure to kill, but to hunt down and destroy the one known as Horncastle.