The feeling of Anna's hand in his was starting to become a familiar and comfortable sensation, Cinead realized, as she had grabbed his hand and began to pull him off, away from the party. He was grateful for her ready acceptance of the idea and the gradual fading of the music. He was ready to court her formally. And the music was starting to give him a slight headache.
Walking at a comfortable speed, taking in lungfuls of The sweet woodsy air, Cinead simply let himself enjoy the moment. He took mental notes on everything around him as he relaxed with the walk. The feeling of Anna's skin against the palm of his hand, The feeling of electricity at the contact, the whisper of leaves rustling in a light breeze, the smell of dirt and growing things, the distant squeal of a boar... This last sound brought him up Short, something elusive tugging at the edge of his thoughts and starting to make him uneasy. But he couldn't quite put his finger on why. If anything, the sound of a wild pig should make him hungry, not nervous. The odd contradicting sensation disturbed his relaxation, making the muscles in his shoulders begin to stiffen. He struggled to shake it off, but to no avail.
It wasn't until Anna had dropped his hand as they reached a meadow and jogged away from him towards the center of the lush grass speckled with wildflowers that Cinead was finally able to pin down the elusive uneasiness, Remembered why the strange double tenored scream of the boar had his senses on high alert. At that instant, the moment where she fell back playfully into the grass, the wind shifted. He smelled Anna, Forest, blood, and ashes. And he knew without a doubt what was stalking The woods this night. An ember boar. As soon as he reached this realize Asian, the creature itself came bursting into the clearing, barreling down on Anna with flames spouting from both nostrils, eyes glowing like embers, it's massive black shape flickering and glowing randomly in shifting patterns that gave the impression of burning coal.
"NO!" Cinead practically roared, fearing the worst. But Anna somehow managed to roll out of the way just in time, scrambling away from the shrieking beast and over to a nearby tree, pressing her back up against it. Her cry for his help sliced through him, igniting a fire within him. As the boar turned it's burning eyes in her direction, pawed at the ground with one of its front hooves and lowered its head to aim gore stained tusks at the small woman, Cin finally did roar. He reached out to one of the trees close at hand, ripping a thick limb from the trunk with an you're splitting crack, Bringing his hand up and over his body and throwing the branch like a spear. Unlike an actual weapon, the wood didn't pierce the boar's hide, Not completely, and instead opened a shallow gash along the beast's side before tumbling to the ground engulfed in fire.. but the projectile had served the purpose he had wanted it to, distracting the ember boar from Anna. The massive pig swung its head around and shrieked at Cinead, flames flickering from its open mouth and nostrils as it began charging in his direction.
Human strength was not going to be enough to take down this monster. Not even in Hanst human strength. Cinead inevitably came to this conclusion as he dug a partially covered Stone from the ground and launched it at the boar, the rock as effective as a pebble against an oncoming bus. He realized it, but he wasn't happy about it. But there was no other way to save Anna... and she could not die.
Before the boar hadd covered more than half the distance between Cinead and Anna, Cin had hurtled forward at surprising speed, leaping into the air as if he were planning on landing onto the monster's head and tackling it to the ground. But halfway through his leap, a shimmer of golden light momentarily flickered around his body before his shape exploded outward, his clothing shredding in the process. One second, it had been a tall, seemingly insignificant human jumping headlong at a furious fire spitting boar, and in the next Instant, a massive sinewy white and red dragon was slamming huge taloned paws into The oncoming beast, throwing it backwards several yards back into the clearing where it fell heavily on to one side with a crash. Cinead put himself between the boar and Anna, arching his long neck and parting his maw in a menacing hiss that showed off two rows of gleaming white fangs.
In comparison with the boar, which was roughly double the size of a horse, Cinead averaged Moore on the size of a small house, with massive Batlike wings that gave the illusion of doubling his size when they were fully extended. As it was now, they were still Half furled against his body, ready to snap out at a moments notice. Even in the darkness, it was evident that the majority of his body was covered with bright white scales, but the colors darkened into a rich Crimson along the edges of those on his face, tail, and paws. Each of his wings looked as if he had dragged them through paint of a similar hue, The color haphazardly bleeding down onto the backs of the leathery appendages. Four clawed paws supported his long lithe frame, Extended by a sinewy neck and tail. On his triangular head, two almost delicate looking white horns extended, a gentle curve to their shape. His golden yellow eyes were focused intently on the boar struggling back to its feet, slitted catlike pupils dilating slightly in the dim light and the rush of adrenaline.
