Weeks ago, giant monsters started appearing in the world and people like Vel have been forced to abandon the frontier countryside and flee to the nearest fortified city. With no signs of help coming, the people can only wonder if this is happening everywhere. But, as things seem desperate, something else soon appears.

This is the start of what looks like it might be an actual novel length story. It will hopefully be releasing a chapter at a time every second Monday of the month until it is done. My subscription services will also be staying a month ahead. If you do want to stay ahead, you can subscribe at either Subscribestar ( https://subscribestar.adult/neopuc-s-fables ) or Patreon ( https://www.patreon.com/Neopuc )

A larger version of the picture in the thumbnail can be found in the PDF download and I will be uploading a bigger one whenever I get to my next art flood.

Thumbnail artwork by  sixsydes
Illustration by  negribu / GlewesRK on Twitter

Look at that, the chapter is short enough to fit in the description for once, enjoy that people that have been wanting it.

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Foundations of Creation

By Neopuc

Chapter 1

It was a cool spring evening in the town of Adrianople. Under normal circumstances, it would have been a pleasant day and the streets would have been filled with smiling people as they finished up work for the day. However, even a quick glance at the town would have told anyone that things were not normal. There were tents set up to house people from other smaller towns that had fled here. Almost half of the dwellings in this town were now made up of these refugee tents, and that was even with many natives of the town opening up their own homes to even more of these unfortunate souls.

Surrounding the town was what looked like a hastily constructed wall that was still under construction. There were still missing sections and other sections looked heavily damaged and were already under repair. They were not the prettiest walls to have ever been built, but they did look like they had been built sturdy. It was more than a town of this size would have normally had. Barely 1,000 people normally resided there, but with the refugees, they had exploded in population to well over 3,000.

Such a huge influx of people would have normally been very unwelcome by the locals. This was not the case now. Every able-bodied person was needed and the activity around town showed that. There was construction going on everywhere, not just along the walls. Various parts of the town looked like they had been damaged. The storehouses were of especial concern when it came to restoration. They already had limited resources and they needed to make sure that every last scrap of food would last as long as it could. Then, of course, they were also trying to finish up the walls as quickly as possible.

Not everyone was involved in the construction. One such person was a young brown skinned man. He had been a farmer just weeks ago, but he had been driven off his land by the current threat they were all facing. Years of working on the farm had resulted in him gaining a solid muscular body. Being of above average height also helped to make him a bit of an intimidating figure. And that was why he had been drafted into the town’s impromptu militia. On this day, he found himself helping to patrol the walls with his fellow militiamen.

“Hey Vel, you think we'll be seeing any action today,” one of his fellows asked, a new man who had just recently been drafted from among the refugees.

Vel did not even have to think before making a response, “More than likely. Those things have been attacking with greater frequency. I don’t know if their numbers are increasing or if all the other towns in the area have just been abandoned, so they’re more than likely headed here. It’s the biggest meal around now.”

“And what about the legions,” the other man asked.

“What about them, Opiter?”

“Do you think they’ll be sent in time to help?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Vel said with a shrug, “We haven’t been able to communicate with the provincial capital in a while. For all we know, what’s happening here could be happening all over the Empire.”

Opiter shivered at that comment and made a protective ward with his hand, “By the gods, I hope that isn’t the case.”

“Speaking of the gods, we just may need them to descend from the heavens to deliver us from this crisis,” Vel spoke, trying to keep the melancholy out of his voice, “And hopefully this isn’t all some punishment sent from the gods.” Vel spoke that last part quietly, out of fear that even voicing that possibility might make it true. It was a real worry for everyone. To many, it really did feel like the end times.

Still, everyone was trying their best just to make it through to the next day. As the sun set, that did not bring any relief. This was the time when some of the beasts were most likely to attack. Before, the sun had completely set, while the sky was still red, an alarm bell started to ring out. Vel did not really need it, but the number of chimes indicated the direction the threat was coming from and it alerted the other militiamen that they needed to reinforce the part of the wall Vel was patrolling.

Those reinforcements were certainly needed too. Vel could see the threat approaching the city. What he saw was no army. It was a pack of beasts, 15 strong. That was bad. Not even a month ago, a town of this size would have never been threatened by a simple pack of beasts. Vel might have, while back on the farm. But, being caught on a farm by himself was different than an entire town that did have some armed guards. These beasts were different though.

“Gods deliver us,” Opiter said before saying a silent prayer to himself. Vel looked around at the other guards. Everyone was scared. Some looked like they were controlling the urge to flee. This was going to be a bad attack. Vel had never seen more than ten of the beasts attack at once. The walls were better than when that attack had happened and they were better armed, but such numbers were hard to ignore.

These were strange beasts, like none Vel had ever seen in his life. They did bear a passing resemblance to horses, but if they were carnivorous reptiles instead. These creatures walked on three-toed paws instead of hooves and the head definitely was that of some great reptile. If only they were the size of horses though. No, these things were far larger. Each one of them stood over eight times the height of a man.

They, and other similar sized beasts, had suddenly appeared a few weeks ago. At first, they had only appeared one or two at a time. Still, that had been more than enough to devastate the countryside and small towns. Things of such size were very difficult to deal with using what weapons the average person would have had available. Trying to fight back had usually resulted in very little damage being done to the great beasts while the fool that had tried to fight ended up as a meal for the beast. These things were able to eat their fill and leave for the first few days, but fortunately they were not targeting just humanity.

They would go after whatever they could, whether that be people, livestock, or herds of wild animals. That gave people some time to organize, as had happened at Adrianople. The walls had started to go up fast, but it was not so much to keep the creature out as it was to help elevate people high enough where they could strike at actual vital points on the creatures. Just about any of the giant beasts could have probably just jumped over the wall if they had the sense to do it. But, with little meals standing on the walls, they just did not do it.

Weapons had also been modified to help deal with the beasts. Just about everyone was carrying extra-long and heavy spears to try and inflict maximum damage while hopefully not having to get too close to the jaws of the beasts. It was a partial success. They were managing to do some damage to the creatures, even killing the occasional one. But, they were still suffering multiple more casualties for every beast they managed to take down. With the beasts appearing in ever greater numbers, it felt like their defenses would get worn down eventually.

That was a problem for the future. For now, Vel and the others had to deal with the giant creatures that were already approaching the town. The pack of giant monsters made their way toward the city at a good pace. Other members of the militia kept flooding in to help, even though a few did abandon their posts and flee in terror before the numbers of those beasts. Vel could only condemn those that fled but so much in his own mind. It took a lot of courage to confront creatures of such size and he would have been lying to himself if he said his legs were not aching to run too.

Running just was not much of an option though. If the walls fell, these beasts would have free run of the town. While they probably would not eat everyone that night, they would certainly put a dent in the population. There really was not any place to flee to either. Everyone had been forced to flee to this town for a reason. The countryside had these things wandering all over the place now. Running into them outside of the safety of the walls was a good way to wind up as a snack. No, they had to hold the walls or end up as prey for these monsters.

Vel readied his spear as the titanic monsters drew ever closer. There was a hungry look in the eyes of those monsters and there was not a hint of fear, not for creatures that were so much smaller than themselves. When they were in snapping distance of the walls they seemed delighted that their meals had not fled. One reached out to gobble up one of the militiamen and was more than a little surprised when it received a spear to the snout instead of its dinner. Rather than be discouraged by this, the creature just tried again, snapping at the militiaman a few more times and getting jabbed a couple more times for its troubles.

If there were less of these monsters to contend with, there would have been other militiamen supporting him in stabbing at the monster. There were simply too many of them on this occasion and many of those that would have supported him were busy fighting their own battles. It was only a matter of time before the beast managed to grab his spear between its teeth and wrenched it out of his hands. From there, it was child’s play for the beast to snap up the tiny man and swallow him alive. Then it turned its attention to other militiamen.

All along the wall, similar battles were taking place. Vel himself was working with Opiter and a couple other militiamen to take down one of the beasts. Fortunately, it was the only beast concentrating on them, so they were able to bring some numbers to bear. It had numerous wounds on its muzzle after a few moments of fighting and they had even managed to stab it in the chest a few times. None of them lost their heads to panic and they were able to steadily chip away at the monster. Eventually, the beast made the mistake of moving in too close to them and Vel was able to finally drive his spear in far enough to pierce the creature’s heart. A small cheer went up amongst their little group as the creature let out an ear-piercing wail and fell to the ground, spasming in its death throes.

That moment of triumph did not last long as another beast soon moved in to fill its place. Things did not go nearly as well for their group this time. Almost immediately, this one managed to get a hold of Opiter’s spear. He did manage to keep a hold of it, but that only backfired on him. The man was lifted into the air by the spear and the monster shook him about. After about three or four shakes, Opiter was thrown from the spear and ended up falling to the ground below in front of the wall. Vel was surprised to see Opiter still moving around on the ground after a fall like that, but that situation did not last for much longer. The beast was still shaking the spear around, not noticing that the person that had been holding it was no longer there. It did not notice that the target of its ire was right at its paws, nor did it notice when it shifted the position of said paws and one of them came crashing down on poor Opiter, crushing him like a bug in an instant.

This was not the first time Vel had witnessed such a sight, nor did he suspect it would be his last, if he managed to survive much longer himself. And that was very much in question. One other beast was down, but there were also ten less militiamen. The beasts were also beating away at the wall and it was taking quite a bit of damage. They could collapse at any moment. It was not good, but if they could take down two or three more of the beasts, they might flee. As large as they were, they were still just animals after all. Then again, the militiamen were not that much different themselves. These were not professional soldiers and many of them had not seen a day of battle before the giant monsters appeared. If they absorbed too many more casualties themselves, they very well might panic and break too.

As the minutes dragged on Vel noticed at least half a dozen other men disappear from the walls. Not a single other beast had fallen. The militiamen were on the verge of collapsing. Vel found himself alone on the walls. The men he had been fighting with were either off fighting other monsters or resting in the belly of one of those monsters. Then things took a turn for the absolute worst when a well-placed kick from one of the monsters finally shattered a section of the wall. A couple dozen people were caught in the collapse and a couple of the beasts strode in through the hole, not caring about the survivors that were trampled under their paws as they did so.

One of the monsters kept on attacking the militiamen on the walls, now making them have to deal with attacks on both sides. The other monster just ignored the walls and started walking into town, causing screams of terror among the populace as they began to flee from the monster. This was too much for many of the militiamen. They were throwing down their weapons and running like frightened rabbits. Vel was struggling not to join them himself. Seeing what happened to them after dropping their weapons did help him steel his will somewhat. Without their spears to fend off the monsters, they could not fend off the beasts any longer. They were practically snapped up in an instant. More militiamen were devoured in the following few seconds than in the nearly half an hour the battle had lasted thus far.

Vel was feeling exhausted. Soon, it would not matter if he managed to hold onto his spear or not. There simply were not enough militiamen left to hold the wall from the beasts and more of them were getting on the other side of the wall. As tired as Vel was, he knew it was only a matter of time before he made a mistake. And when he did make that mistake, he would end up in the belly of one of those monsters. It was all over, but he was going to fight on for as long as he could. Right at that moment, all he could do was pray to the gods for a miracle.

Suddenly, as if in response to his prayer, all of the beasts ceased their attack. They all raised their heads in the air and looked in the same direction. Vel thought it strange, but these beasts all looked frightened for some reason. With the beasts still, Vel noticed that there was something off. The ground was rumbling even though they were not moving. Such larger creatures moving about in such numbers had been causing the ground to shake, or at least he had thought they were the cause. But it appeared he had been mistaken about that.

While he had been fighting the beasts he had not taken his eyes off them. Doing otherwise would have likely led to his demise. But now he looked off in the direction that the beasts were looking. What Vel saw made him believe that he had gone mad. Striding towards the town off in the distance was a feminine figure clad in brigandine armor. Despite that, she was also muscular enough that she had the look of an actual warrior about her. That would have made her a welcome presence, had she actually been human.

What was visible of the woman was covered in brown fur with black spots. Her hands were tipped with vicious looking black claws. She had not bothered with footwear, instead opting to just partially wrap them in cloth, putting four toed paws with leathery black pads on full display. The large round ears on her head and the shape of her muzzle reminded him more of a hyena. There were some small differences though. This creature had black sclera with a blue iris for one eye, but the other eye seemed to be missing, with an eye patch and a scar along where the eye should be. Vel thought he also saw spikes poking out of a black spinal mane going down her back.

Then there was the matter of her size. She was so immense that she surely had to be the one causing the ground to shake. And that was with her walking on her toes instead of her heels, which should have helped to muffle her steps. Her size was simply hard to believe even with Vel looking right at her. Vel probably was not as tall as any of her toes. The creatures that he had been fighting, ones that were so large as to be considered monsters by any human, were probably not even the size of large rabbits compared to her.

For a moment, Vel had to wonder if he was gazing upon a goddess, but he had never heard of such a goddess before. That did not matter all that much at the moment. What did matter was that she had the attention of the beasts. They were moving about hesitantly, braying halfhearted challenges at the titanic hyena woman as she closed in on the town. The monsters were so close to having a good meal, they did not want to concede it so easily to the newcomer. She could not be ignored, though, so their food was forgotten and would remain that way until this was all sorted out.

The pack gathered up and prepared for an attack, looking like rats trying to fend off a cat from a hard-earned meal. As much of a threat as they were to humans, the hyena seemed to be paying them little mind. Instead, her eye seemed to be scanning the town. Then the eye seemed to settle on Vel and it appeared to widen in acknowledgment, like she had found something that she was searching for. Vel thought it had to be a coincidence. He was a bug compared to her. She could not possibly have noticed him. There had to be something else she was looking at. But, her path altered so that she was specifically walking in his direction.

The beasts would not be ignored though. Eventually, they did charge her rather than give up their meal. In response, the hyena unslung an axe hanging at her hip almost absentmindedly. When a couple of them jumped at her, she cleaved them cleanly in two in a single well-timed swipe. Four more met a similar fate in so many seconds. The pack of beasts finally fled in terror after that. For the first time, the hyena actually seemed to pay attention to the beasts after that, or at least to the corpses that remained. Those she bent down and gathered in a sack, as if she were saving them for later.

Then she continued walking in Vel’s direction. Some people were already fleeing in terror from her approach. There were others that were bending down and offering prayers to her, thinking that a goddess had descended from the heavens to act as their savior. Many more people simply did not know what to make of all this. Despite having the look of a hyena, it was clear she was an intelligent being. It was not long before she was standing in front of the town wall, towering high above it, making those on the wall crane their necks to look up at her. Even on top of the wall, they were still well below her ankles.

The hyena stared down at them appraisingly. Her eye did look over the two beasts the guards had brought down before bending down to gather them up in her sac as well. She also looked over at some of the people that had gathered near the walls to pray to her. The hyena cocked her head in mild curiosity at the sight before coming to a decision. A massive hand, one nearly the size of the beasts the guards had been fighting, reached out over the wall and started gathering them up just like she had done with the beasts and placed them all in the same sack. This did cause a few to panic and flee, but the hyena was very efficient in capturing them. All in all, she probably captured a few dozen people before turning her attention back to Vel.

It was very clear to Vel that she was looking at him now. From so close up it was hard to make a mistake about where she was looking, especially since there was no one else around him at that moment. Vel wondered just what he should do. Running seemed pointless after what he had just seen. With her attention focused solely on him, he had to admit he was feeling very intimidated as well. His legs felt like they were glued in place and he could do nothing as she reached down to him.

The hyena did not pluck him off the wall though. Instead, she presented her hand to him, palm up and even with the wall. She suddenly spoke up, startling Vel with the deep guttural utterances that came from her mouth. Vel did not understand a single thing she said. It all sounded like a series of growls, yips, and barks to him, but there was a pattern to it that made him think it was a language. The utterances were followed up by gestures with her head and other hand that made Vel think she wanted him to get in her hand, a hand big enough to hold a house.

Vel was still frozen in place though. This was all happening so fast that his mind was struggling to keep up with current events. Unfortunately, this hesitation only served to upset the hyena. Her other hand balled into a fist and she brought it down right on a section of the wall that still held some other gawking militiamen. Fortunately, she stopped just short of crushing them like bugs, but the threat was made very clear.

Vel was terrified by the casual display of power he had just seen. He almost stumbled away from the hyena’s open hand in horror. Then she raised her fist above the group of people once more before giving Vel another commanding bark. This time he scrambled into her palm as quickly as possible. She nodded in approval and then stood up to her full height, raising Vel into the air along with her so quickly that he was pressed into the padded palm of her hand, eventually bringing her hand to rest in front of her stomach.

She gave him one more look to make sure he was secure and then she set off, right through the town. The hyena did not exactly look like she was targeting any buildings, but she showed all the care of someone stepping on anthills as she passed through the town. Crushing a few buildings as people scrambled to get out of her way. It looked more like she viewed it as the responsibility of the tiny groups of humanity to get out of her way as she walked.

“Please stop, I did what you wanted,” Vel pleaded with the hyena. But she just ignored him. He had done what she wanted and now she was ignoring him. Both he and the rest of humanity were now beneath her notice. Vel tried beating at her hand or her stomach to get her attention, but none of that worked. The only time she ever showed any reaction was when he strayed too close to the edge of her hand. When that happened, she would tilt her hand to bring him back to a safer position, but that was the only acknowledgment he ever received from her. Vel had never felt so helpless, not even when fighting the giant beasts, as he did at that moment, wondering if this truly was some goddess. He wondered if everyone’s prayers for salvation had been answered and if this was the price they had to pay for it.