Beast Soul

"I can't believe I failed yet again," He said to himself as he tried to push away the branches that were lying above him and then stood up from the ground, right after which he patted his whole body down, removing the dust and the dirt that was on him. He then stretched his body backwards, and let out a long and heavy sigh. "Oh well, I didn't expect it to be an easy task, especially after the beating I took last time."

His gaze then shifted over to the ground, which he started scanning with his eyes. All of a sudden, his gaze fixated on something shiny on the ground, and a cold smile appeared on his face as he walked towards it. He then knelt in front of the shiny material and picked it up, bringing it close to his face as he said, "But I guess I won't be going home empty handed today…"

Richard held the shiny material up into the air, which revealed that it was a scale from the dragon's body. 

"A dragon scale," he whispered under his breath as he inspected the material that was in his hands with careful precision and intrigue. 

"Fascinating…" He said as he flipped the scale to the other side, and found droplets of blood on the back of it. "Well, well, well, would you look at that…" Special Agent Edgerton said as a sinister smile bloomed across his face.

"So you aren't, in fact, invincible…" He had initially figured that the scale had fallen down from the dragon's body, similar to how a snake would shed it's skin. But now, he was sure that the scale had been forcefully ripped off by his attack, which had in fact, found its target.

He then turned his gaze towards the sky, his eyebrows now raised and astonishment evident in his eyes. "Does that mean that you're injured and vulnerable right now?" He was curious. Perhaps, if he is indeed fortunate, he might even be able to take the dragon's life today. 

Agent Edgerton shifted his gaze towards his own body, which was covered in bruises and wounds. He then moved his eyes towards his broken rifle, which was lying on the ground, completely decimated and ripped into pieces, and he shook his head with a dejected expression. "Consider yourself lucky, dragon..." He mumbled under his breath, although a light smile could be seen on the tip of his lips. He certainly was excited about wounding the mythical creature. "We'll have a rematch soon… very soon.." He said as he turned around and began walking away from the destroyed sequoia tree. 

Ring! Ring!

All of a sudden, his phone began ringing, and Agent Edgerton grabbed it from his pocket and held it up to his face before picking up the call. "Yeah, what's the problem?" He said in a calm tone.

"What's the problem?! You're asking me what's the problem? What's the problem with you?!" Special Agent Alan Fischer, who was on the other line, sounded extremely furious about the whole situation. His voice was so loud that it almost sounded like Agent Edgerton had turned on the speaker mode in his phone, even though he had not done that.

"Calm down, Agent Fischer.." Agent Edgerton continued talking with a calm voice, although to the enraged Alan Fischer, it sounded as though Edgerton was making fun of him. "Don't tell me to calm down!" He yelled into the phone, which made Detectives Harry and Lewis as well as the group of kids, Harold, Alphonso, Gerald and Max, who were standing a few feet away from him, turn their heads and look at him with confusion in their eyes. Special Agent Alan waved his heads dismissively, signaling not to mind him and continue, although with the extremely loud voice with which he was speaking, it didn't seem like a viable option.

"You know how much trouble you've put me in right now?" He spoke with a frustrated voice, albeit a bit lower in volume than before. He continued, "I've got enough sh*t to deal with on my end today, and now I have to take care of your a** as well?" 

"Oh, don't be such a crybaby, Alan.." Agent Edgerton said with a soft chuckle as he walked towards the green sedan that he rented, which was parked near the highway, next to the small football field that was covered in tall grass. "If you really want to feel relieved, then don't worry, I didn't mess up anything," He spoke in a hushed tone as he opened the door of the car and got in the driver's seat. "You're not going to have any major paperwork to deal with. Are you happy now?"

"No. But I am relieved, so that's something, I guess.." Special Agent Alan spoke with a frustrated expression on his face. "Did you happen to find anything useful in your outing?"

"As a matter of fact…" Agent Edgerton paused for a second, and then took out the large dragon scale from his pocket and held it up in front of his face once again, and continued, "... I did. I think you'll find this fascinating, Alan." 

"We'll see," Alan responded. His face then turned extremely serious. "We're losing our control on the situation, Richard." He spoke with a grave expression. "Today's event was witnessed by many people. We're going to have a hard time concealing this one."

"No one's going to believe them, Alan." Agent Edgerton said with confidence. He was sure of his words. Although Alan didn't share his confidence. "Some will. And from there, it'll spread like wildfire." Alan said while scratching his cheeks. He certainly wasn't enjoying being in this situation.

"But no one who's influential will. And that's what matters the most," Agent Edgerton continued speaking. "These days, nobody cares if an average person says something shocking. Sure, there'll be a few eyes on him. Maybe there'll even be a small post on social media. But soon, everyone will forget and move on to the next weird thing in line. That's just how it is these days."

"Well, I sure hope that you're right, Richard.." Agent Fischer said as he rubbed his chin. "Because if this goes south, then we're going to be in a sh*tload of trouble."

"Don't worry about it, Alan. Just continue what you're doing," Agent Edgerton said as he turned the keys of the car, and the engine roared loudly. "I'm heading towards the precinct for now. You can meet me there after you're done with your part of the job. We'll discuss more then."

"Alright then," Alan was in agreement with Agent Edgerton's plan.

"Kids, are you all fine?" As Special Agent Alan Fischer was on the phone, the two detectives were busy with handling the four boys who were caught up in this dangerous situation.

"Yeah, no, we're alright detectives.." Gerald waved his hands dismissively as he spoke with a smile on his face. The detectives then looked at Max, who was standing next to him, for confirmation. 

"I'm fine as well. Thank you." Max said with a nervous smile plastered across his face, and the two detectives nodded their heads. 

Their gaze then shifted to the large monster corpse that was a few meters away from them, and the two immediately gulped down their saliva, their faces now incredibly pale. The corpse had its head ripped away, and the ground was covered in some sort of a sticky substance, which the detectives assumed to be the blood of the creature.

'What a grotesque scene..' Detective Lewis said in his mind as he stared at the horrendous state that the monster corpse was in, and then turned his head to look at Detective Harry, who had a similar facial expression as him. 

"And you're sure that it was another monster that killed this… whatever this thing is?" Detective Harry asked with an astonished expression, and both Max and Gerald nodded their heads in unison.

"You two didn't see this creature that they're talking about?" Detective Lewis turned to look at Harold and Alphonso, who were standing to the sides, and the two boys shook their heads. 

"Yeah, no. We were looking after the injured lady," Harold spoke up, and Alphonso only nervously nodded his head in response.

Snap! Snap!

Special Agent Alan Fischer snapped his fingers, and a few men stepped out of one of the cop cars. "Take the body of the dead creature. Be careful with it." He said, and the men immediately headed over to the spot where the dead body of the monster was lying. 

"What do you think?" Detective Harry walked up to Special Agent Alan Fischer, and whispered softly. "Do you think this is related to the person I talked about?"

"What? The one on the back of the dragon?" Alan didn't turn to look at Harry as he spoke, his gaze still stuck on the monster corpse. "I don't know, but we'll figure it out sooner or later."

"Sir!" All of a sudden, one of the men raised their hand, and the detectives and the special agent turned their attention to him. The man said, "This one has it's heart missing!"