Mrythdom: Game of Time by Jasper T. Scott

needn’t have said anything. Aurelius was frozen with terror. A massive shadow was lumbering toward them, its every step was shaking the ground like an earthquake. Here and there Aurelius saw icicles falling with a crack and subsequent glass-like shattering upon the frozen ground.
    “He hasn’t seen us yet,” Gabrian said, the words echoing in a way that told him the old man hadn’t spoken aloud.
    “Why is he coming this way, then?” Aurelius thought back. His heart was hammering in his chest, and his palms were slick with sweat beneath his flight gloves.
    “He’s tracking something.”
    “Us!?”
    “I don’t believe so. . . .”
    “I’m going to run for it.”
    “Don’t you dare! If you move, he will see you.”
    “He’ll smell us either way!”
    “Yes, but a leviathan’s instincts are triggered by movement, not smell.”
    With a great force of will, Aurelius stayed still. The shuddering in the ground grew more and more intense as the monster’s booming footsteps drew near. In the bloody red light the creature looked even more terrifying than it had before. And this time, Aurelius was beginning to get a sense of scale. The monster’s head was the size of an airocar; its breath came out in giant clouds of condensing moisture that sounded like someone breathing heavily in his ear; and a deadly glint of razor-sharp teeth told Aurelius all he needed to know about the monster’s diet—those jagged rows of ivory were made for ripping and tearing, not for mulching plants.
    Aurelius watched the monster’s giant, three-toed feet plodding steadily toward them, mesmerized. It didn’t seem real. As the creature drew nearer, a fetid stench like rotting meat began wafting through the pine-scented air. He felt an overwhelming urge to throw up, to run, to hide . . .
    To wake up.
    Boom. The ground shook under Aurelius’s feet. He tried not to look up lest he see the leviathan’s jaws swooping down on him. The giant foot slowly rose for another step; he followed it with his eyes until it was straight above his head. Aurelius realized with a start that he was about to be crushed. He jerked into motion, diving to one side.
    Boom!
    One of the monster’s claws dug a searing furrow in his calf, and Aurelius screamed. He quickly clamped down on it, but it was too late. He heard a mighty snort of air and a shudder as it was slowly released. He tried to scramble to his feet, but collapsed with a sharp cry. His leg was useless to support his weight. Aurelius began crawling away as fast as he could.
    Something nudged his foot. Feeling his flesh crawling with terror, he turned to look over his shoulder—
    Only to find himself gazing straight into a giant red eye the size of his head. He carefully reached for the pistol at his hip and drew the weapon as slowly as he could. The eye flicked down to watch his hand, as though the monster understood the significance of a gun. Suddenly that horrid head turned to face him and its massive jaws opened in a furious roar.
    “Gabrian! Gabriaaan!” Aurelius was screaming, but he couldn’t even hear his own voice. The monster reared. Aurelius took aim and fired. His shot glanced along the creature’s cheek, digging a pathetic gouge in its tough hide. It didn’t even seem to notice. Suddenly its jaws rushed toward him. Aurelius scrambled away, but with his injured leg he couldn’t move fast enough.
    Then, a split second before those glistening teeth could reach him, he felt himself being lifted bodily from the ground and flying through the air. Then came the thump of an impact and he lost his grip on his pistol. “Wait!” he cried. The flying sensation was replaced by that of riding a horse.
    A frustrated roar sounded out behind him as the leviathan’s jaws closed on empty air. Aurelius twisted around to see who or what was carrying him, and then he saw that he was dangling by his coat from a very different set of jaws. The wolf’s lustrous coat of black fur and clear green