"Fucking chimera"
Gregor whispered to himself, but even that noise immediately drew the attention of all 3 heads. He could swear he saw them all grin, before the lion roared and a purple light began to gather between the goats horns.
Gregor immediately scrambled to run, tripping over his own legs. The only thought in his mind to escape, he needed to escape. He went to stand up, but as he tried to put his fee under himself he nothing but a bloody stump of what was once his leg as he fell flat on his face. He rolled over and saw what was left of his legs, crushed into a bloody paste beneath the knees. And standing on top of him was Zeke in his stone form. His eyes were made of stone, but somehow radiated madness, a desperate smile across his face.
"It can have you, it can have you, it can hav..."
All sound faded around Gregor. Shock was setting in. The world turned gray as Evan yanked on Zeke, still mouthing the same words over and over again.
Gregor closed his eyes as he waited to die, cursing Zeke for doing this to him. Cursing everyone and everything that wronged him. But death never came. In fact, Gregor felt a gentle heat in his legs, gradually controlling himself as he remembered his power. He had not lost a limb since the rifts had first appeared, but even his hand back then had taken over 2 hours to regrow. With both of his legs missing below the knees it might take half a day.
That meant the major problem now was the chimera. It had chosen not to chase the team, instead feasting on its earlier kill. Gregor did not have the strength, or honestly the guts to look, but could hear it eating nearby. Gregor continued to play dead as the chimera feasted, the sound of tearing flesh and breaking bone echoing among the spires. As his surroundings returned to silence he thought he might be in the clear, until he heard a sizzling next to his head.
He smelt the stench of decay, struggling not to vomit and keep up his playing opossum. He felt something cool and hard pushing his body, but managed not to react. The lion growled and the goat bleated, the snake hissing in response, nudging Gregor on last time rolling him over before the stench wafted away, followed by heavy footsteps slowly growing softer
Gregor held his breath as long as possible before he had to inhale, quickly looking around and seeing nothing but a bloody carcass among the broken spires. He looked down and was surprised to see his ankles already starting to reform. He could not understand why his ability was working so much better now. It wouldn't make sense if it was the environment, he had only been in the rift a few hours and he was human, not a monster. He continued to try and understand the cause while the rest of his feet regrew but failed to come up with anything.
Standing up was a bit of a struggle, the new feet and legs apparently need some getting used to, but once he was up Gregor started making his way back to the portal. He moved slowly, cautiously at first, but as he got closer to home he grew more and more excited, eventually breaking out into a full sprint. He saw the clearing ahead of him, pausing briefly as he entered. An ominous red energy anomaly had never looked so inviting. But as he tried to step through the portal turned solid, bouncing him back.
Incredulous at this result, Gregor tried again. He tried again, and again, and again. He broke his nose and nocked out his teeth running face first into the portal, crying and screaming, begging to go home. His fingers ands toes bent back, some dangling loosely as he kicked and punched, anything to escape this place. He crumbled to his knees, covered in his own snot, blood and tears. The reality of what had happened dawning on him. He was alone. He cried for hours, his injuries slowly recovering, he cried until there was nothing left, and then he lay there. Eventually he touched the portal with his hand, only to be rejected again.
Gregor slowly sat up. Once he had no more tears, the sadness turned quickly into anger. What had he done to deserve this! Why him! What had he done wrong! Why must everyone take from him!
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of metal scrapping together. Gregor looked back and sure enough, 4 dog sized fat green humanoids with tiny wings and dangerously sharp nails roughly 6 inches long, imps. They were incapable of suppressing their glee at the thought of killing, making them absolutely terrible at the sneak attacks they loved to try and pull off. Gregor stood to face the imps, something he would normally never do, but at this point had nothing to lose. The imps were angered by the fact they couldn't pull off a sneak attack, lunging at Gregor recklessly.
Two of them slashed their long nails at Gregor's torso, the third at his legs, while the last one tried to stab his face with its nails. Gregor ignored the first three and focused on catching the one aiming for his head. Once it was close enough Gregor reached out and grabbed the imps arm, pulling it in front of his torso. The other imps could not stop in time, hurting the 4th imp in Gregor's hands, while the third still managed to give him a few good sized cuts on his left leg. They hurt, but he could still stand and move, and he would live with his power helping him heal.
The 4th imp screeched in its grating voice, while the other imps paused, surprised at what had transpired. Gregor quickly swung the imp in his hands like a club, knocking down two of the imps before quickly closing on the one that had cut his leg. He raised his club high and stuck down with all his strength with both hands, causing green blood to splatter across his face and clothes. Gregor let the two dead imps fall before walking over to the others still on the ground. Their fat bodies made it almost impossible for the imps to get of their backs, a classic strategy against large groups in other rifts. Gregor thought about leaving them, they were no more threat, but then his rage came back to the surface. Those imps struggling to get up became Evan and Zeke, the two that had been tormenting him for the last month as they explored rifts. Before he knew what he was doing Gregor had stomped the imps to death, their brain matter and viscera all over the ground and himself.
Perhaps it was almost dying, or being left to die in this rift, or maybe he was finally just getting used to it, but the sight of this massacre did not bother Gregor. In fact, in filled him with a certain satisfaction. His ability wasn't useless, and neither was he. He had just won a 1 vs 4, granted against shitty imps but still, he wouldn't have been able to do that previously. He would have just ran and hid or been attacked until someone killed the creatures for him. But he had just proven to himself that wasn't the case anymore.
Gregor knew that he couldn't stay here. The blood would attract stronger predators, and he needed to find water and shelter before he was to exhausted to move. He could feel the stress of the day dragging on his consciousness, telling him to rest. He picked a direction and started walking, unaware of the small grin on his face.