Sacred Beast

Night fell over the city of Los Angeles. It was a city like no other. A place of endless opportunity. People came to Los Angeles and made it. There were success stories about men and women who went from rags to riches. Jerry Springer and Oprah Winfrey made it in Tinseltown. So did Larry Flynt and Clint Eastwood. Los Angeles was always full of hope and despair and attracted dreamers. It also attracted all kinds of dangers. All manner of strangeness.

Tonight was a very different night. Something rose out of the earth. Something that had been buried for a long time. It rose out of the earth and once more stood. It looked at the star-filled skies and the countless lights of the city of Los Angeles. The sensory data was overwhelming for this creature that was not used to such things. It looked at this strange world, and was shocked. The creature had the appearance of a man. Yet, it was not a man. Not a man at all.

It walked out of the earthen grave where it had spent countless eons. It found the world changed. The creature walked out of the Park which its grave had become. It felt a ravenous hunger. It heard sounds nearby and investigated. The creature stalked its first prey in eons. A young couple on a park bench in the throes of passion. The creature found them fascinating. It sniffed the air and went toward them. It was hungry and in its hunger, it forgot to maintain its human guise. It slipped up and became something better left in the realm of nightmares than in the real world. The passionate young couple saw it coming. They shrieked and bolted. They ran as fast as their young legs could carry them. The creature was surprised to find out that it could catch them. It was gaining on them when the young man turned around and stopped. His female mate stopped as well when she realized he was not following. The young man produced a revolver and fired twice at the creature.

It knew not what happened. The bullets struck it and it fell, howling in pain. It only knew that it was hungry. It was in pain. Its prey got away. It remained in the darkness and rested until the sun rose. When it did, the creature vanished and a man was in its place. A strange and naked man who had pale white skin, black hair and blue eyes. The naked man was found by the police and was sent to a hospital. He had sustained gunshot wounds.

The man woke up slowly and painfully. He did not know where he was. He woke up in a panic. He wondered where he was. He started screaming and was reassured by the arrival of a young nurse into the room. The nurse asked him of his name.

"Sharl." the man said automatically.

The name sounded familiar in his mouth. The nurse said that he would be kept at the hospital for sometime. She inquired about how he acquired the gunshot wounds and he was at a loss to explain. He inquired about the nurse's name and she said that her name was Rosetta. Sharl, if indeed that was his name looked at Rosetta. She was a tall, slender young woman with light bronze skin, pale green eyes and short black hair. Sharl did not remember much about his past. He only knew that for some reason, he kept seeing something strange in his mind.

On his third night at the hospital, he dreamed of something truly strange. A strange humanoid beast. A colossal being, towering and ape-like, standing easily nine feet tall. The creature looked powerful, with a muscular body covered with thick gray fur. Its eyes were a blazing yellow. Sharl dreamed of the humanoid beast. He saw it in many situations. The strange beast running across a barren landscape, running from a horde of men dressed in furs and armed with spears...Sharl saw the beast face those men and fight them. The beast was strong but the numbers were against it. The men speared it and slaughtered it with blades. They dug a large grave and buried it inside. Somehow, the beast was still not defeated even though it had been killed....in the dream Sharl knew that this was not the first time that the beast had been slain.

Sharl woke up screaming from the dream. He looked around, helpless in the dark. Nurse Rosetta sat on a nearby chair. The young lady seemed to have taken a particular interest in the roguish young man. She came to him and did her best to reassure him. He told her of his nightmare. She did not know what to think. She just held his hand. Sharl eventually went back to sleep. His injuries were healing quite rapidly. The doctors had never seen anything like it. He was ready to leave the hospital fifteen days after coming it, sustaining gunshot injuries that would have killed any human being.

The day came for Sharl to leave the hospital. The young man was apprehensive about that. At the hospital, he had been fed, clothed and taken care of. Now, he was gonna be all alone in the world. He had no place to go. No family. No friends. No identity. No social security number. No passport. No money. No apartment. No house. No job. Nothing. Nada. When the day came, he walked out of the hospital rather sadly. He was surprised to see that someone was waiting for him.

Rosetta was there. Clad in a blue turtleneck shirt, black jeans and boots. Her short black hair was tucked under a baseball cap. She was smiling. He looked at her questioningly. Rosetta looked at him. She saw not just a roguish, handsome young man but the person she had gotten to know for some time. The one her heart ached for. She looked at him with a beaming smile. She hoped he would take her up on her offer.

"I've come to take you home." she said.

Sharl looked at Rosetta. The young woman looked radiant. He didn't know what to say. She was gonna help him? Why? He did not know it but Rosetta was smiling at him so strangely. She had the smile that women get when they were in love. He walked up to her and thanked her. She suddenly put her arms around him and embraced him. He just held her. Why was she doing this? A light went on in his mind. She cared for him. Well, he cared for her too. She was the closest thing to a friend he had in this strange new world. He would treasure that, for now. He kissed her on the lips and then held her face in his hands. She smiled and, with firmly clasping hands, they walked out of the hospital together.

Rosetta sat behind the wheel of the BMW. She drove on the road. Sharl sat on the passenger seat, sleeping. For the thousandth time, she asked herself why she was doing this. Was she really taking home a strange young man whom she met at a hospital? She didn't know much about him. His name was Sharl. So he says. He could speak a variety of languages. He was very, very healthy. He looked good enough to eat....hmm. He also seemed kind. She was strongly attracted to him. But what did she know about him? He could be a criminal or something. He might be dangerous. She only knew that there was no way in hell that she was going to leave him in the streets alone. Until he figured things out, he would stay with her. She grasped his hand and kissed it.

* * *

The building was silent. In the basement, something was happening. A small group of people were gathered at a meeting. They wore hooded black robes. They were the Cult of Entropy. They have been around for thousands of years. Always seeking power. Now, something they feared and respected had returned to the land of the living. Something they called the Beast, in hushed tones.

The Cult of Entropy knew of the Beast. The Beast was only one of many ancient powers that still walked the Earth. The Beast was very powerful and long-lived. The Beast was immortal. The Beast could take human form and walk among humans unnoticed. The Beast could also revert to its true form and stalk the land, killing as it pleased. The Beast was immortal. Many had fought the Beast over the eons. Brave men and sometimes women who fought against a power the likes of which the world had never seen. The Beast was strong and fast. The Beast was not invincible. It had been defeated in the past. But how could an immortal ever be truly defeated? The Beast was immortal and always came back to life. Once, it ruled the world and the primitive humans worshiped it. Never again.

The Cult of Entropy had psychics in its employ. One of those psychics had sensed the resurrection of the Beast. This was only the beginning. The Beast would bring more of its kind forth from the abyss. There was a time when many Beasts walked the Earth and nothing could stop them. The only thing that worked against them was that these rampaging immortals fought their own kind endlessly. The humans outnumbered them and eventually hunted them down and eradicated them. Always one of them came back. Always. The Beasts had a legendary ruler. The Dark One. He was the most dangerous of them all. Legend had it that the immortal Beasts were once human. They gave themselves to a dark and ancient thing that transformed them into nearly invincible monsters hellbent on conquering or destroying humanity. The Dark One was more dangerous than all the others because it was different. The Dark One was not a human being transformed into an immortal Beast by dark forces and set loose upon the world. The Dark One was an immortal Beast that transformed itself from a Beast to a human in order to walk among mankind.

Humanity had never had a more dangerous foe. The Cult would stop. They knew the Beast could be stopped. It would take quite a toll, but it could be done. The Cult knew that the immortal Beasts, once freshly resurrected were temporarily dazed. These awesome beings would be in what human science would call an almost vegetative state. They would not have access to all of their powers. The Dark One was beyond the rest, such was the scope of its power but it too would suffer at some level the effects of being freshly resurrected.

They would bring the Dark One to its knees once and for all. Such was the decree. The men and women of the Cult of Entropy closed the meeting. They returned to their homes. They had a lot of work to do. The Cult had operatives and members all over the world. They had been waiting for the return of the Dark One for countless centuries. The last time the Dark One walked the Earth, it had gathered the other Beasts of its ilk and waged war against Mankind. A war the immortal Beasts ultimately lost. Still, how long would an immortal enemy stay down? The Cult leader had informed his acolytes that the Dark One would rise in bestial form but would assume the form of a man in order to go about unnoticed before it could regain its god-like power and knowledge and once more resurrect its immortal brethren for another apocalyptic battle for control of the planet Earth.

* * *

Sharl lay on the bed that Rosetta had given him. They were in her house. She was in the other room. He listened to the sounds of the night. Something was coming but he did not know what. Part of him found the thrill of the unknown to be exciting. That part was something strange. His mind was troubled. He kept seeing images of the strange Beast in his mind. Something bestial and powerful. The Beast was highly intelligent and a sentient monster. It had a deep hatred for humanity. It had the strength of a hundred men. It could take any damage and still live. Sharl's mind provided him with chilling images of the Beast being burned to ashes, decapitated, drowned, hacked to pieces and yet somehow defying death and returning to the land of the living. The Beast was truly immortal. Something inside it defied matter, energy and the laws of nature itself by refusing to die.

Sharl saw images of many anthropomorphic beings much like the Beast. They were dozens in number, facing an attacking force of thousands of humans. The Beasts fought the humans in a nameless valley during a dark night. When dawn came, only a few Beasts had perished while the valley floor was littered with the corpses of slain men and women. As for the slain Beasts, they lay dead on the valley floor but did not remain that way. Somehow, their remains regenerated and soon the dead Beasts were whole and healthy and alive. Good as new.

Sharl looked at Rosetta. Before him stood the wonderful woman who had offered him shelter when he needed it. She faced him in all naked glory. He pulled her into a tight embrace. He looked into her eyes. Their lips met. It was a deep, passionate kiss. Their bodies pressed against one another. She drew him to the bed. She was aching with the need of him. He planted feverish kisses on her lips, her neck and on her chest. He suckled on her breasts. She looked at him. The man of her dreams. Handsome and roguish yet....delicious. He kissed a path down to her belly and then parted her legs. He breathed in the aroma of her pussy and then started to eagerly lick it. He ate her out and his agile tongue and slick fingers drove her wild. She was wet with pleasure. He soon brought her to a shuddering orgasm and her cries of pleasure filled the house. When she recovered, she was safe in his arms. He just held her. She wanted him to take her, she wanted to be his.

Sharl could not bring himself to do it. He knew that if he made love to her all the way, something would happen. The act of mating always triggered a change in him. He knew this now. As he was about to take her, something flashed in his mind. What would happen if they were to make love. He might change into something else. Something ancient and powerful and immortal. Something that nothing since the beginning of history has been able to destroy. The man he was cared for Rosetta. The undying Beast within him saw her as prey. Nothing could stop the Beast once it was unleashed. The immortal, superhuman and forthrightly misanthropic monster would kill until there was nothing in sight, starting with her. The Beast within told him to beware of all humans, especially the female humans. The females of every species were often more dangerous than the males and humans were no exception.

Sharl looked at the woman in his arms. Once more they embraced. He could not resist her. She welcomed him. He took her. His cock entered her. Her body arched on the bed and she flung herself against him, embracing him savagely as they made love. He thrust into her. She gasped. He rammed into her. She screamed. She climbed on top of him and rode him like a bucking bronco. He thrust into her. She screamed. He rolled on top of her and she lay beneath him, submissive as they fucked. He came, and his seed went into her. She gasped. Fell into his arms. Lay still. They looked at each other. He was surprised at his own brutality. She was surprised by the fact that she liked it. She wanted it. Not a word was exchanged. There was no need. They slept.

Sharl's mind still raced. He looked at Rosetta's lovely body lying against him. Part of him remembered what that felt like. The pleasures that a woman's body could bring to a man. The part of him that was bestial was empowered with a special magnetism that rendered ordinary mortal females almost helpless in his presence. Basically, it caused them to feel lust.....heightening their sex drives a thousandfold. He knew that over the eons, he had enjoyed countless females. Sometimes, offspring resulted from these unions. He knew what the offspring of the immortal Beasts were like. When unions between the immortal Beasts and ordinary human beings were fruitful, creatures resulted. They often had the look of ordinary mortals but were bloodthirsty and savage, more so than ordinary humans could ever. Many creatures of myth, such as the vampires and werewolves were actually the half-breed offspring of humans and immortal Beasts.

Something tugged at Sharl's mind. The Beast knew that it had ancient enemies. Many mortals had created secret societies dedicated to hunting down the immortal Beasts. Sharl was sure that some such societies might still exist. His mind had gradually accepted that the last time he walked the Earth was close to three thousand years ago and that he had been hunted down and killed by a band of ruthless humans. Although death was never permanent for his kind, he found the experience unsettling and unpleasant. It had taken his essence thousands of years to reconstitute itself. Now, he was reborn. Resurrected. The more time passed, the stronger he would get. He knew that there were many things he had forgotten. He knew that hundreds of his kind were hidden across the globe, patiently awaiting resurrection. He knew that something deep inside him was what resurrected his brethren when they fell. That same essence was what resurrected him in the first place. A cosmic gift. The gift of the cosmos to the first of his kind.

Sharl would wait. He could feel himself being stripped of his humanity as time went by. He knew that a transformation would occur. He was not a man that became a Beast. He was a Beast that pretended to be a man. Soon enough, his feelings for the human female who rescued him would fade. A creature of awesome might, wisdom and fury would emerge upon the world and as it had done before, the world would worship it.