Novel & Cerita Nightscream Beast Machines

"Did you know that dullahans have literal nightmares as steeds? As in the levitating spectral demon horses usually only commanded by the King of Dreams?" I stood up, making a shot for the garbage can with my cup. It bounced off the rim and scared a stray tabby cat. Well if that wasn't a metaphor for this conversation, I don't know what was. "Because I sure as hell didn't when I'd asked him to take me home!" Fun fact: Nightmares are actually very sweet once you get past the teeth. Not so fun fact: They like sudden drops when flying. "Promise. Details," Noelle threatened with a current of magenta magic sparking at her fingers. "Now!"

He was serving punch after punch, even though the man beneath him wasn't responsive at all. The silence was deafening, and the sound of his grunts filled the entire hall with both horror and dread. I stood frozen to my spot, my eyes fixed on the monster of a man I was mated to, as he went again and again at the helpless man. I knew this wasn't what happened with Valerian, judging from how he had looked when he was buried, but hell, I wondered if it was close. If it was this merciless. "Alpha," the instructor said, but Alpha Eros just kept going, like the man wasn't saying anything.

He pressed a glowing button on the control panel. A loud, grinding mechanical hum filled the stagnant air as the second gate inside began to open automatically. I let out a slow breath I hadn’t even realized I was holding in my lungs. We drove forward into the belly of the beast. “You spoke of things that shot at your dragon,” Sam said from the back seat, her eyes scanning the battlements. “Since they’re terrified of them, there are usually automated machines mounted on the high ground. They are programmed to be ready to shoot the moment they notice objects that large like birds but aren't birds. Like sensory lights but with lethal intent.”

Then it devolved into pure, unadulterated chaos. The interior was a cathedral of decay. Rusted machinery cast long shadows in the light filtering through broken roof panels. The monsters were… wrong. They looked like boars, but their skin was scaled and glistening, their tusks dripping with a saliva that smoked where it hit the concrete. Their eyes were milky white, blind but somehow tracking us. Bryan was in his element, launching fireballs and laughing maniacally as he kited three of them around a giant, dead loom. “C’MON, UGLIES! RIGHT HERE!”

Of course Christopher Henry Jameson—also known as Beast- wasn't the average man. He stood 6'5" and weighed three hundred and two pounds. He didn't like the extra three pounds. He rather liked being in the two hundred weight range even if it was by just one or two pounds. Regardless, there wasn't an ounce of fat on his perfect body. Beast was muscles on top of muscles, yet not hulking like some of the others that worked in the Marine Corps division assigned to The Department of Home Land Security, or better known as DHS. Too big made you slow. He'd seen guys bigger than him hospitalized during the CRUCIBLE training.

Iris. Lightning. Blinding lightning cracks across the sky, and that’s when I see it. A monstrosity. A towering werewolf, drenched in rain, muscles taut and rippling with barely restrained rage. Each limb looks sculpted for violence. Its fur is slick, dark, and matted from blood and storm. Its breath steams in the cold air. Plumes spiral around its snout. Its eyes, blazing gold. My heart stops. God… I just fell into another creature’s war. All of them, beasts of the moon. Beasts of the night. Oh no!

How the hell did that happen? Having no time to process these sudden unexpected mind link powers, I ran and jumped as high as I could muster, at the nearest tree. Clinging onto a branch with all my strength I managed to climb up on it before the rogue beneath me attempted to pull me down. Seconds later the rogue was shot dead by someone in the bushes opposite. I screamed in panic but then out jumped Ben and Daniel in their wolf forms along with a few of the warriors. Ben's wolf was beautiful, thick black fur and and he was extremely strong. Taking down the remaining rogues easily in a matter of seconds. We were finally safe but Ben was furious to say the least. They quickly changed back to

I bark. Silas is a blur of frayed iron and sparking steel. He slams into a support beam, using the momentum to swing upward, his heavy blade grinding through the lead drone’s ceramic casing with a screech that vibrates through my teeth. The machine sputters, trailing black pixels as it hits the floor.

"SYSTEM FAILURE IMMINENT." The Machine stumbled towards Aurora, trying to stop the source of the overload. "Just a little more!" Aurora gritted her teeth, nose bleeding from the effort. The Machine raised a fist to crush her. Kael jumped. He jammed his electrified baton into the machine’s exposed neck joint. "Eat this!" Kael yelled. The spark was the final straw. Aurora released a final scream of power. KA-BOOM! The Machine God exploded from the inside out. A shockwave of pure energy blew out every remaining window on the 100th floor. The robot disintegrated into a pile of smoking scrap metal.