Chef in the Apocalypse

The sound of rustling leaves and moving branches echoed within the forest, sometimes drowned out by the whistling of the swift summer breeze. Despite it being in the middle of summer, the night air held a slight chill, evidence that it was far from the equator.

Even though it was midnight, the luminous moon shone down its light unimpeded by any clouds or obstructions. With the extinguishing of technology, tonight was probably the brightest night the world had experienced.

With the granted vision, one could faintly see something that looked similar to a flying jet within the sky. The great distance away made it seem as if it was flying in slow motion, however it was most certainly not moving slowly.

Atop one of the taller trees in the forest, a figure emerged looking at the thing in the sky with great interest. One it’s body touched the moonlight, the dark leathery skin seemed to absorb the luminescence, making its outline hard to see.

It’s head was large and ended in a sharp beak that was almost a meter long. Wrapped around its body was large leathery wings which ended with a claw, giving it an eerie appearance.

It tracked the figure within the sky, as if waiting for it to come into its territory. The moment it crossed an invisible barrier, it unfurled its wings and took off from its perch atop the tree, quickly gaining speed.

Its wingspan was easily 6 or 7 meters long, every flap of its wings sent a gust of wind towards the trees below it, causing them to whip around in response. Now that it had fully revealed itself in the moonlight, one could get a better look.

It looked as if it were something out of the prehistoric era, a long forgotten Pterodactyl, one of the worlds oldest birds of prey.

The Pterodactyl-like monster continued its ascent, making a beeline towards the figure flying in the distance. It snapped its beak in anticipation of the unsuspecting prey which had made the mistake of coming into its territory.

As it got closer to the figure, it let out a shriek, as if to draw attention to itself. The monster enjoyed the thrill of the chase almost as much as it loved eating, making this its preferred method of hunting prey.

However, the figure in the air continued on its path, disregarding its presence altogether. The Pterodactyl-like monster was startled for a moment, before letting out another shriek, just in case it had not been heard.

Usually the prey would panic and try to turn in the opposite direction, at least that’s how all of its hunts had gone so far. Seeing its prey once again disregard its existence caused it to howl out in anger.

It charged towards the prey with reckless abandon, choosing to teach it a lesson instead of going through the usual motions of its hunt.

"Tch so loud."

However, in the next moment it suddenly felt as if something was wrong. The world suddenly started to shift, as if something had sent it spinning. Out of instinct it tried to stabilize its flight path with its wings, however nothing seemed to work.

It began to fall down towards the ground despite its desperate attempts to stay in the air. A few moments later its eyes suddenly widened in shock as its body came into view above it, or what was left of it.

The Pterodactyl-like monster body was in hundreds of pieces, almost as if it had been put in a blender. The attack had happened so fast that the poor beast had no inclination of how it had died.

The figure which had just dispatched the arrogant monster continued as if nothing had happened, making use of the bright night to scan the land below. A smile crept onto his face as he finally seemed to find what he was looking for.

Adjusting his posture, he pointed his head towards the ground and picked up speed, heading to the forest which the monster had just come from. From his vantage point he could see the vast land stretch out like an open plain, with this forest being the only cover.

Not long after, he slowed his approach, landing on the ground with ease. Taking a quick look around, he nodded in satisfaction.

"This place will do." He said matter-of-factly.

Now that he had landed, he made an action in the air and pulled out a white cap from his inventory, fastening it tightly upon his head with practiced ease. He brushed away some of the wayward hair which was sticking out, letting out a contented sigh afterwards.

"Let’s get to work."

With that, he cleared the rotted leaves on the forest floor with his shoes until he had revealed the soil beneath. Soon enough he began inscribing an array in the soil, injecting it with a yellow substance from the tip of his finger.

The yellow substance glowed faintly as it followed the trail left by his finger. The drawing took a few minutes, glowing much brighter once it was completed.

The man then began to take out some stones, carefully placing them in particular locations. With how deftly he was completing the task, it was clear that it was not the first time that this man had prepared such a thing.

A few minutes later he got back to his feet and clapped his hands together, removing the dirt which had accumulated on his hands. He stood back and admired his work, a small grin forming on the corner of his lips.

"Perfectly done. Now time to activate the array."

Not wasting anymore time, the man pressed some of the stones in a certain order. Only after 10 stones were pressed systematically did changes begin to occur.

Above the stones and array, a blue glow appeared looking something like a hovering door made entirely of light. It seemed similar to those wormholes in the Stargate movies.

The moment it appeared, he took a step back. Not long later, a large man stepped out of the door, donned in sleeveless armor, allowing his huge arm muscles to be shown off.