System Hunt: Regalia

Sam’s world narrowed to the road ahead and the fleeting few moments of his life, but mostly the road—and he intended to keep it that way. He couldn’t believe what was happening. His bike roared at full throttle, but the creature chasing him—an enormous two-tailed jaguar wreathed in flames—was relentless. Its fiery paws slammed into the asphalt with a thunderous rhythm, closing in the distance effortlessly as if it were toying with him, biding its time before pouncing.

He always thought a modern vehicle would be all anyone needed to escape the jaws of death at a wild animal but— a raging fireball scathed past his right side, missing Sam by a fraction of an inch and scalding his skin as it blew up a trash collector.

This is not any wild animal.

Sam’s mind was racing. Over the week he’s thought so much about the Regalia message that found his phone, the Doom Towers landing at the same time and his spontaneous development of powers and now there was a giant two-tailed flaming jaguar racing after his meagre courier bike, jaws drooling to swallow him whole.

What has my life become?!

Another fireball screamed past him as he leaned sharply into a corner, his knee nearly scraping the asphalt. The fireball slammed into an abandoned clinic, reducing it to rubble in an instant. Glass, concrete, and debris erupted into the air, setting off a chain reaction of explosions as parked vehicles detonated.

Sam took the opportunity of the turn to glance at his mirror, the beast was out of view for but a second before it stumbled into the fiery remains of the clinic like a drunkard, its own excess momentum working against it. Nevertheless, it lurched right after, keeping up the hungry chase. His eyes flickered to his fuel tank, after a productive week of deliveries he’s nearly below the red line, surviving with a millimetre above empty.

He gulped at the thought of his bike sputtering to a stop now but shook the terror away as he revved the engine, demanding more speed, more distance, more safety. The jaguar let out a deafening roar that reverberated through the empty streets, a sound so primal it shook Sam to his core.

It was only a matter of time before one caught him and he went up in flames like the solider that fired the rocket launcher, yet, there was a sliver of hope as he ate up space with each missed shot.

If I can just keep this up then…then…

Sam searched, having a closer, less panicked look at the street he was speeding through. As has been the case for nearly a month it was abandoned, devoid of humans as they quarantined against the very thing that chased him now though they didn’t know it. There was no one to help, nowhere to run to that wouldn’t turn him into a sitting duck and worse— this was sixth avenue, his home neighbourhood where Nyx waited for his return.

I’m luring it passed the quarantined area…I’m endangering everyone, Nyx. He couldn’t stomach the thought of his cat exploding from one of the two-tailed jaguar’s stray fireballs, even less the thought that he’d be the one to bring such a creature to the unsuspecting residents of his neighbourhood.

Fuck…I’ve got to turn back…or…no, I’ve got to.

Every instinct screamed at him to just keep going, to hell with everything else! Nyx was just a cat, and his neighbours were faceless strangers he’d never bothered to know in all his years living there. It wasn’t his responsibility to save them—he was as much a victim as anyone. So why? Why should he turn back?

Because…because, “I might have something to do with this and Nyx doesn’t deserve to die!” She might just be a cat but she’d stuck by him more so than most people had in his life.

Roaring at the top of his lungs, Sam yanked his bike around, skidding in a sharp circle as he turned to face the insane beast of nightmares in time to watch a small ice-cream bus get launched through the air. The bus soared far beyond his head and crashed onto the street where Sam would have likely been a minute ago if he hadn’t turned.

Eyes as large as saucers, heart lumped in his throat and a death grip on his bike, Sam pushed himself forward. Startled by his own forward momentum bringing him closer to the two-tailed jaguar leering at him down the street, he gulped and let the adrenaline fuel his rather foolish last moments.

Though he didn’t feel the familiar headache, Sam sensed it—the presence of thousands of shards of broken glass scattered around him. The bus the beast had hurled was just one source, and with a desperate resolve to fight for Nyx’s life, Sam reached out to them.

“To me glass! To me!” He felt utterly ridiculous calling out to an inanimate object but the sliver of faith he had proved his reality to be just as fucked as his eyes observed.

A plethora of glass shards zoomed besides him, manifest from every bit of broken windows, mirrors, botched traffic lights, trash cans and more. Seeing them float beside him and keep up with his deathly charge towards the jaguar filled him with hope. He gave the next order, “Kill it!”

Glass shards of all sizes flew ahead of Sam, launching themselves into the jaguar’s skin with frightening efficiency. Several shattered against its thick hide but many more buried themselves deep enough to cause it to drop the black sedan it had lifted.

Sam’s heart pounded as he dared to close the distance. The jaguar roared, a guttural sound of fury as the shards of glass pierced its thick hide. Blue blood oozed from its wounds, hissing and sizzling as it scorched the asphalt. Yet, it was merely irritated and shook off the barrage like a mild annoyance. It lowered its head, eyes ablaze as it bared its fangs, each as long as a dagger, before swiping at Sam with claws that had shredded steel. Sam barely escaped as he sped under its massive, flame-wreathed body, travelling back into fifth avenue.

It yowled after Sam who watched his glass shower continue to lose its effectiveness. He cursed under his breath and sped up, watching his fuel tank tip precariously under the red line— he was running on fumes now.

Still, he pushed forward, revving his bike to its limit as the jaguar was closer than ever now, he could feel the heat from its acidic blood and flaming tails, or was that just him? Whatever the case he leaned forward, sensing more glass shards around the corner but innately knowing they were beyond his range to command, he needed to get closer and intensify his atta—!

Sam felt himself soaring through the air all of a sudden, the sky tumbled up on itself, melding with the ground as he glimpsed the jaguar lurch past his disfigured bike and after his descending self. Intent on fighting tooth and nail Sam called on the nearest shards, giving them a singular thought and target.

Blind it!

The ground compressed his bones to breakage as he bounced, bleeding momentum with every rolling impact. His helmet and visors the only thing keeping his head intact and safe from splitting open. Yet his back felt like it’d been used as a jumping board by an elephant. He couldn’t feel his right leg and prayed that was just the adrenaline coursing through his blood. He refused to look at it, not that he could even lift his neck.

Of all his senses only one worked like he knew it should— his glass sense. Sam could feel broken shards near him, well within his range to command but he couldn’t muster a single one to rise. He groaned, trying to lift himself up despite the numbness ringing through his body, he knew that the adrenaline would wear off soon and the agony would be unbearable but worse was that if he let the jaguar get to him, no amount of adrenaline would keep him from feeling its flames or its toothy maw.

He pulled off his helmet so he could breathe easy, it didn’t change much but it was a weight off his neck. Sam dragged himself across the asphalt, peeking a glance at the jaguar, it stalked toward him with a menacing gait. The creature’s left eye was a punctured flesh cushion of glass, leaking streams of molten blue blood that steamed as it hit the ground. Yet, the jaguar seemed undeterred, its remaining eye fixed on Sam with lethal intent, muscles rippling under its fiery coat as it prepared to strike.

The jaguar was bleeding from more than just its left eye, Sam had gotten his glass shards buried into its ankles, neck, torso and several parts that had the beast leaking acidic blood onto the asphalt. That didn’t stop it from placing a single paw on Sam’s useless foot. He screamed but that merely seemed to delight the creature. It licked its lips and leaned down to devour Sam from the bottom up when it jerked away, sniffing the air and leering at an object beyond Sam’s view.

It wasn’t long before Sam heard it though. The rotary chop of a helicopter’s blades slicing through the air. The military…thank god.

A second hadn’t passed before four rockets shot outwards, soaring at the Jaguar without a concern for Sam. He cursed his luck, of course the military wouldn’t let a wild, nightmarish beast hold them hostage with one pretty much dead human.

The Jaguar responded in kind, firing a bolts of fire at the rockets but failing to stop one that connected with enough concussive force to knock Sam and the Jaguar apart. Sam felt his ears bleed, his eyes felt like they’d fallen out as yet again he found himself in a different position than before. His arm scratched up underneath his clothes and an orchestra of drums beat constantly in his head.

He wanted to throw up but could only cough and watch as a squad of black garbed personnel rappelled from the helicopter, shooting all the way down. These bullets disturbed the two-tailed jaguar so much it screeched in agony and tried to flee. Two rockets sent from the helicopter blew its hind legs apart before it could leap away.

The squad immediately cornered the creature, mercilessly injecting bullets that sparked blue and red when fired into its body and most especially its head. Bleary eyed, he was grateful to see the beast put down at last yet, he wondered why the black garbs were glaring at him like that.