\|/ Turn 14, late dark
It's dead.
The living shadow is dead.
I'll describe what happened.
After writing at turn 12, I started working on my trap.
I climbed one of the trees and managed to cut down some of the hanging fungus. I tested its strength by trying to pull it apart. I didn't manage to. Its tensile strength was massive, while being easily cut. Perfect.
I stashed them in a nearby bush, the thin lines making a kind of rope.
At about midlight I ate some berries and continued to collect things needed for my trap. I got some more glue leaves.
Then, I started making the trap itself. The trap would begin at the hole I mentioned, where the eye had visited me.
I took large branches I could reach and ones that had fallen onto the ground. I connected the tree and the surrounding trees in a semicircle of fence. I used a lot of the leaves to glue everything together, and by dark, the "wall" was complete. It was highly improvised, being more like a grid than an actual wall, but it would work. It would dissuade.
My trap would now be reachable from only one side.
The living shadow didn't fly the time it tried to kill me, so I concluded that it's mostly land based, despite the wings.
When dark fell, the shadow visited. I acted terrified, whimpering and covering. I spoke to it, speaking to the bane of my existence.
"Please leave me alone!" I pleaded.
"Mik!!!" I yelled.
It seemed to like this, and approached closer, breathing harder. My mouth and throat started to itch. That cursed raspy breath that I would make sure stopped forever.
The night passed like this. I was actually cold and shivering, and that added to the illusion of my vulnerability. I didn't sleep because it would attack too soon if I fell asleep, but it was much bolder much quicker this time. When light came, it left, as it always did.
On turn 13 I continued setting my trap.
After making sure it left, I took the fungus vines I had hidden and started wrapping them into a mesh around the trees, at the only entrance to my hiding place. The thin vines were visible in the light but would be barely noticeable in dark. At the ends, near the trees, I scraped some of the mold onto the vines.
The night will not hide it.
I continued adding the vines until about midlight, when I was mostly finished. What stood before me was a wall of vines that I could fit through, but anything larger would get tangled in. After making sure they were taut, I went and ate some berries and waited.
I waited until dark, sharpening my spear with a rock as best I could. Mik made sure it was pointy, and I would make sure it was used.
I started having hallucinations from lack of sleep.
"Are you sure this is a good idea, Maya? You don't really have the... brawn, for this." SILT worried.
"I have a plan, SILT."
"What about Mik?"
I didn't answer.
"Maya, don't ignore me. I'm just worried for you."
By now I realized I was talking to myself and stayed quiet.
"Maya?"
...
After that it was painfully quiet again.
Darkness crept in, the dwarf had set, the eye appeared.
It was beyond my barrier, watching from a few lengths away.
I started the ploy.
First, I was staring at it in terror, hissing more.
Then, I started falling asleep. I "drowsed off" a few times, and each time, it got just slightly closer. I felt its breath now, brushing my face, stinging my lungs. Still far enough away to not be visible from the bioluminescent mold, but closer.
Then, the grand finale.
I took my spear and placed it on the ground next to me, facing me. I intentionally impaled my left arm, dragging the spear across the surface of the scales. The spear tore through the scales, hopping between each one, destroying some thorns in the process. Blood started coming out, staining my arm and cloak, releasing a horrible taste along with the scraping noise. I grit my teeth and stared the living shadow down in rage.
The living shadow couldn't handle it anymore. The blood must've been too much.
It struck.
I saw the sharp chitinous snout charge towards me. The breathing growing louder, bloodthirsty, filling the air with mist. Four legs thumped against the ground.
And then it got ensnared.
The vines wrapped around it, uncurling from the trees and wrapping around the beast. It fell to the ground.
I attacked.
I drove my spear into its side while it was struggling on the ground. I hissed with all my might.
Black ichor pooled where my spear struck.
It can bleed.
It can die.
After a few more hits it managed to thrash away the vines from its four legs and started running.
The dark did not hide it.
I ran after the green light from its still ensnared wings, managing to keep pace due to it stumbling without its wings for balance.
It tried to turn right. I didn't allow it, spearing it on the side again, sending a splatter of ichor onto the trees. Even as it was speared, it made no noise.
It kept running and running, occasionally getting a spear to the back or to the side. Sometimes I would only graze it in the hurry, but it was bleeding.
The air tasted like fear.
Then, it got to the second part of the trap.
It had run directly towards the electric field.
I stopped at the edge as I saw it running in. The four-legged beast was heavier than I and sunk deeper into the mesh.
I saw electrical arcs hit it on the sides, illuminating the night. It started staggering.
I ran around the valley, seeing arcs and the bioluminescent mold to keep track of where it went. It was far slower, actively getting zapped in the field.
When it got to the other side, I was waiting for it.
It almost ran into me when I plowed the spear into its cloaked chest.
But it wasn't dead yet.
It tried to attack me. I dodged to the side, but it got my cloak stuck around its snout, having pierced it. I pulled out my spear and struck again. It threw the cloak off and ran back into the field, arcs forming again.
I grabbed my cloak so I wouldn't get frozen alive, but pure adrenaline was keeping me going no matter what. The living shadow would die before I did, and I would make sure.
It ran through the field, staggering and falling more. It swerved left to exit the field as soon as possible.
By the time it got out of the field, it had collapsed.
I quickly ran over as it started to try and get up. A pool of its own black blood forming around it.
The moment it got up I speared it in the chest again. It staggered and fell.
It tried getting up again, I stabbed it again.
I kept stabbing it until it stopped moving.
I stood over it, panting, a pool of black blood surrounding the being. It took one last look at me, one last look with that cursed eye. I stared back.
For the first time ever, it made a noise.
A deep rumble that reverberated in my scales. It's first and final noise.
Then the head fell down, and it went limp.
The living shadow is no more.
I grabbed its thick neck and started dragging it towards the lake. It didn't release any more painful air.
After a few marks of dragging the heavy monster by its neck, I set it down and finally sat down.
I was freezing and exhausted, and my arm was torn and extremely painful.
But the beast was dead.
And I can sleep again.