Mighty and Powerful God
After collapsing at the pond's edge, Fisch almost made the conscious decision not to wake. It had been days, his uniform stank almost unbearably. He didn't know how he had lost the unit, but it had happened. Now he was hopeless, given up on. At night jaguars and other monsters cried in the forest. His lamp oil could only last so long as a predator deterrent, and food had run out. Dark was falling again. Perhaps doom's hands would be softer if he went willingly.
A shadow passed several times overhead, growing larger as it dropped lower with each pass. By the time it landed, overtaking the unmoving Spanish soldier, the thing stretched close to twenty feet in length.
~~~
His first thought was that heaven was soft. Wherever he rested was down, but solid enough to support his weight. His second thought, eyes fluttering open, was that hell was beautiful. The large, slitted eyes of some demon stared directly into his own. It had a man's face, dark, handsome, and well defined. There was a long crown of black curls from which two gnarled horns jutted at the sky. Great wings in place of arms. A collar of feathers, green with accents of red, a long serpentine body-
He was resting on a feathered coil of this monster. He jumped as the spaded end of its tail brushed his shoulder. He wasn't in hell. He was far too comfortable to be in hell. But judging by this monster and his exhaustion, he would be soon.
The coils tightened slowly and he flailed, weakly, expecting death. He was being lowered from a tree branch. The legless thing came with him, easing down the trunk from what appeared to be a nest.
They were in a clearing where the grasses grew short. Wildflowers and birds filled the trees and bushes all the way to the canopy. Long grasses surrounded the edge of a pond, the same one he had fallen at the edge of last night.
Once on the ground, he scurried to the water's edge, disregarding the creature to take a few great mouthfuls of life giving water. He rinsed his face. It couldn't be real. If it was, it hadn't hurt him yet and he was unarmed. Fisch took several deep breaths. It was too hot and he was far too weak to keep moving in his uniform. He struggled off the cavernous metal chest plate and sweat - stained undershirt, panting softly with effort. The sun had fried his exposed skin into redness and blisters.
The young soldier sighed, looking blearily around for his helmet. It had tumbled off either when being lifted or when he fell. It may be a better focus of his efforts to find food. But in this god forsaken savage jungle he had no idea what was safe to eat or not.
Turning slowly, struggling back to his feet, he looked fully upon the feathered serpent. It was busy examining itself on the silver surface of his helmet, cocking it's head. There were a few clawed fingers on the inside of his wings to grasp with, turning it a few times before resting the thing on its head and smiling a smile of needle teeth. He couldn't help but chuckle. It seemed to have the intelligence of a child while obviously fully grown.
At the noise, it turned back to stare. Any laughter left died in his throat. "Do you," He began an address futilely "have any food?"
It blinked a few times before opening its mouth. "Yes." And went to retrieve something for its guest.
"You speak." The Spaniard's mouth hung slack-jawed.
Coiling up the length of a tree, it stopped to stare again. It spent several seconds examining him before a rain of green feathers began from its arms, scattering the ground below, and it resumed climbing. After several moments it returned with a small bunch of bananas and offered them in a pair of human hands, arms still covered in a fading down of small feathers. "I speak any language spoken to me."
Reluctantly, he took them and sat back down. "What are you?" His eyes never shifted away from the monster's face.
"A nature god, I believe. Born by a human, sired by the great serpent Quetzalcoatl." It took a Banana for himself, demonstrating how to peel it. "And what are you, little human who wears shiny sheets of stone?"
"Metal. What you say is impossible, only one woman has ever given birth to God's child. You must be some demon." He nearly Sneered, but instead lowered his head and ate gratefully. "I am a soldier. Here to convert the savages and teach them right."
The demi god's feathers bristled softly and he pulled his coils more tightly around himself. "You have only succeeded in entering my home."