Eliath felt the fog like a thick cloak around him, the moisture clinging to his cheeks, making him feel lethargic. But he couldn't afford to slow down. He hid behind a brick wall. The streets were pitch black with gloomy night air. He tried to catch up with his racing breaths.

Red pinpricks in the shadows. Eliath ceased to breathe and only the sound of his pounding heart belied his presence. A hissing noise made him nearly jump. It was trying to find him by means of his scent. He was grateful for the cloud of fog helping to mask his scent despite the cumbersome nature of it.

He began to inch to the side ever so slowly. His hazel eyes glanced around. His brown trench coat had become damp from the fog, but that was the least of his concerns.

The beast was onto him. He could sense it's winding cogs and coils sliding over the cobblestone ground, somehow silent in spite of the metal design. The weight of the crown jewels that now rested in his pockets reminded him why his death was so desirable. He just wished it didn't have to be such a gruesome end.

His friend Demitri had already perished by the fangs of this foul serpentine machine. Some people said they could hear him screaming even after the beast had slaughtered him. He shuddered. He was determined not to meet the same end. He found a hand hold in the brick wall and began to shimmy his way up the building above the drowning fog. He gasped a lungful of honey-sweet air before gazing down at the perilous streets and the methodically wandering crimson eyes of the creature hunting him.

Perhaps he could go down fighting? No, he had no weapon. There was no way. He would look like a fool to attempt to kill it with his bare hands. He lifted himself up onto the roof of the building and fingered the gems in his pocket. Were they really worth all this trouble?

It was then that he sliced his finger on the knife-like edge of a ruby and pulled it out of his pocket. Looking at the crimson stone with his own rouge-toned blood sliding over its smooth surface, he quickly armed himself with the teardrop cut ruby and took a bracing breath. If he was to go down he would go down swinging. He cried out and leapt off the building landing on the head of the metal serpent, stabbing the ruby through its iron skull. With an intense screech the snake collapsed onto the cobblestone street.

People began to come out onto the streets looking at him in shock.

"To the revolution!" He hollered.

"Yes, to the revolution." Demetri stepped out of the fog with haunted eyes and Eliath's heart sunk. He turned and found the ruby had not in fact penetrated the serpent's skull and his body lay on the ground having been gored by the beast.