Kekona's Story - Deadly Predator in The Village

The tavern lies in ruin and silence. Blood darkens the floorboards, and above it all, the hooded figure clings to a rafters beam with trembling arms, unable to climb or strike cleanly.

Kekona turns beneath them, tall and still, her orange eyes fixed upward. The last breaths in the room belong to the wounded figure, ragged and thin.

Their blade wavers in a shaking hand. A ribbon of blood drips from their side onto the broken tables below.

Kekona springs, claws catching the beam edge as her long body rises toward the rafters. The wounded figure scrambles back, but the wood groans under their weight.

The tavern's final resistance has narrowed to one desperate prey above her, and one hungry manticore below.

Kekona rips down with both foreclaws and the beam splits with a sharp crack. The hooded figure drops from the rafters, their blade spinning away into the wreckage below.

Wood bursts outward and dust rains through the tavern light. The figure slams onto the floorboards hard enough to jolt the overturned benches.

Kekona lands over them, one claw planted on splintered timber, her tail arched for the finish. A jagged shard bites into her palm, drawing fresh blood as the broken beam settles.

Kekona drops her weight onto the fallen figure, jaws closing fast. The hooded shape jolts once beneath her and then goes slack, their blade forgotten in the wreckage.

Her teeth tear through cloth and flesh in one savage pull. Dust and blood smear the floorboards as the struggle drains out of the body under her.

Kekona lifts her head a moment later, swallowing hard. The hooded figure lies broken and still at her feet, no longer reaching, no longer pleading.

Above, the snapped rafters groan in the settling tavern silence. Somewhere beyond the ruined floor, muffled movement and frightened voices still stir, but none answer the room now.

Kekona stands alone amid splinters and dust, the last resistance in the common room gone. The tavern belongs to her.