I observe the large, open clearing, perched higher up on top of a steep grassy incline, my feet dangling over the edge. Avelihn sits on a nearby tree log. “So, this is the place? You’re sure?”
I nod. “I saw the pack here, after I killed a weird worm-ferret thing.”
“Ah, the Felarha.” She says, smiling. “A delicacy, in the capital.”
“Wait, how do you know what worms are? Or ferrets?” I ask.
“I assume Aidan didn’t tell you that your world and ours are linked. You may even call them alternates of each other. Some creatures are the same. Worms just happen to be one of them, and ferrets, well you aren’t the first incarnate I’ve spoken to. I’ve learnt much about your ‘Earth’.”
“Did humans ever exist?”
“There are buildings that we cannot place. But there are no other traces of your race. We aren’t entirely sure why, and if they are even human buildings. They could very well be something else entirely. The guns, however, may leave a different trail.”
Nysali walks up. She still eyes me suspiciously, but her outright hostility has calmed down somewhat since she say me enter the ‘wet tent’. She hasn’t told me why, and I don’t want to ask. “We see no sign of it. A large pack of ravenous ‘hyena-dogs’ as you call them should be visible. Plenty of other life, though.”
I stand. “Then I’ll kill something in this area. Last time I did, it appeared as though from nowhere.” Avelihn chuckles. “Look at you, boy, figuring out the system. Yes, it’s entirely possible the creature is somehow hidden, waiting for you, and killing something my your own hands disturbs it.”
Fuck it. I jump from the incline, grabbing one of the nearly vertical trees to slow my descent, then landing on another and slipping off intentionally. I rack my claws into the side of the incline, and surf the rest of the way, my weight forcing the mud underneath to let me slide.
My feet hit the bottom, and I sniff the air. I smell a Felarha… and the elephants again. Something lands behind me, barely noticeable even to my ears. Nysali walks past me, and whilst she looks ahead, the Spectre keeps itself locked onto me.
“Can you see through that thing?” I ask. She doesn’t respond, but the Spectre lifts the crossbow and points it at me. “Yes, then. Listen, I’m sorry for what happened, and I know that isn’t enough to fix it. Where I came from, a man forced himself on a women every damn day, in my own house. I’m not happy about this either.”
“Avelihn’s explained.” She says, looking backwards, watching me out of her peripheral vision. “Doesn’t make it better, but… I don’t know. I feel being around you is the best thing for me now, even if everything in my body is telling me to watch you closely, and never let you out my sights.”
I nod. “That’s all I can ask for. Truly, I’m sorry.” I walk forward, out into the clearing, then I take off, running quickly towards the scent of Felarha. Once, in science class, they told me that if I want to repeat an experiment, I should keep all values the same, to make sure I got the result I wanted. Well, I figure it applies here.
I soon catch sight of it, and it startles and runs. Before, it was a tough time trying to catch it. Now, after freshly eating and being much stronger than in the past, I catch it easily, dodging the lightning-quick spines it shoots out. I pounce, my teeth sinking into one of it’s legs. It rolls, and spasms to try and escape, but my claws dig into it the next second, and I pull the back half apart. It tries to pull itself along with it’s front two legs, but it is futile. It crawls along, and it’s intestines slowly uncurl until it dies.
It might seem cruel, but I want the smell to range as far as possible, so I rake my claws across a tree, then move around the other side and push it down. It topples and lands on top of the felarha’s corpse, splattering blood and viscera across the area. This felarha was larger, and the tree was heavier, so soon the area stinks of death.
Nysali walks up to me, taking in the scene. “What the fuck.” Is all she utters before I turn suddenly. I hear them. The pack is coming.
ALERT: THE PACK HAS FOUND YOU. BOSS FIGHT STARTED. FIGHT OR FLEE.
Two black shapes come out of nowhere and latch onto the Felarha’s flesh. They scrape and tear at it, like land-borne piranhas. Oh my god that’s exactly what they are. I kick one, and it flies into a tree and explodes. They don’t seem to have much holding them together, but it re-joins it’s limbs and muscles and continues trying to eat.
I work myself up, knowing what I’m going to have to do. I pick one up and start eating it like I’m chowing down on a pulled pork sandwich, and it screams and tries to bite my claw before I cut it’s head off and it goes limp.
ALERT: POISONOUS FLESH INGESTED. WOLFHEART RESISTANCE TO POISON NOW ACTIVE.
“Urgh.” Groans Nysali. “That’s damn disgusting."
“Gotta do what you gotta do.” I reply through the psi-chip.
Though, I drop it now. “You should leave, Nysali. Something else is coming.”
The swarm of Pakarri have grown to ten or twelve as I look up, and now they stop eating and look at me. Through the clearing, nestled in a swarm of trees, shading it from the light, lays a much, much larger Pakarri, perhaps twice the size of me. I push Nysali out of the way as one of the black creatures leaps at her, trying to take out a chunk of her throat.
I smash another one away, but another gets past my defence, only to be impaled on the tree by a long steel-tipped wooden bolt. I stomp another, and a bolt flies between my leg and pins it to the ground, this bolt ethereal, untouchable, yet it keeps the Pakarri down.
She’s pinning them down one by one. I maintain the defensive line, and soon we have five or so stabbed into trees or the ground, and whilst they are fast and functionally immortal, they seem incapable of freeing themselves.
Instead, they cry out. When a sixth one is impaled through both legs, stuck to a tree, the large black shape moves, and as it does, the rest of the Pakarri move with it, coming together onto the creature to form a defensive layer. There must be forty of them, not including the ones we’ve captured, but with each Pakarri we see, the rest get smaller. Before, they were the size of a medium dog, but now, they’re more like… Frenchie's or pugs. Yet their teeth are still sharp, and plentiful.
A retreating Pakarri breaks one of it’s pack members from the bolt, and the escapee charges me. I don’t catch it, and neither does Nysali. It rends into the flesh of my leg, exposing the bone in a quick second. I swat at it, my anger giving me extra force in the blow. It careens off into the forest, then darts back out to Mother Pakarri. I feel my flesh slowly, ever so slowly, knit back together.
“You dare hurt my children? You eat my children as they live?” The voice is loud and dark, and emitted through forty different-pitched barks so that it’s barely understandable, but distinctly female. To me, at least. Nysali shows no expression of recognition, not even a drop. I guess it’s because of my understanding of beast languages. The creature has strong, but stubby legs and two thick, short horns on the front of her face. Despite the voice, she doesn’t seem to have a mouth.
It charges at me, faster than it’s size suggests. I duck to the side, hoping Nysali has done the same, but instead she’s scrambled up a tree with a speed I could never hope to match. Two bolts ring out in unison into the back of Mother Pakarri.
The Mother Pakarri bucks wildly, kicking out with clawed legs, and slashing at the tree that Nysali climbed. Two Pakarri try to scramble upwards, but their claws can’t grip the bark. The ghost and the cat reload in unison, but I’m already clawing away at the behind of Mother Pakarri. I put my foot against her, pinning her against the tree for a hot second before she pushes back, knocking me over. I scramble backwards, dodging a swipe of her claws.
She charges me like a bull, and she catches me standing up. My claws find purchase on two thick horns, and I push against her. She’s stronger than me, but I gain the upper hand when two bolts dig into her back. I push against her, and her legs give way, crashing to the ground. I dig my hand into the swarm, and clutch around until I feel an eyeball, and I stab into the hole. She screams, and I wrench my hand out before she she slams me into a tree. I grab above my head, and pull my legs up when she comes in for a second headbutt. Two Pakarri jump at me, snapping at my ass, but they can’t reach.
I throw myself down, my hands first into the writhing mass of Pakarri that protect her head. I come down with all my bodyweight, and pull my claws down with all my strength, cutting through the protective layers and raking a massive gouge across her neck and skull. I see pink, and I jam my face into the mass, clamping down my jaws onto the brain of the Mother.
She drops like a bag of rocks, and I kick myself away before jaws rip me apart. Two catch my left arm, and I smash them against the tree as my momentum takes me back. I feel the bones in my arm snap, and I land howling in pain. Two more bolts crash into two Pakarri following me, pinning them to the ground, and no more chase.
I get to my feet, but I’m deathly tired. Yet still, no more chase. Nysali reloads, but she doesn’t fire, she’s watching the same thing I am. The Pakarri swarm around their mother, whimpering and sniffing, howling in despair, and it’s for the first time I can hear them.
“Wake up mother.” “Please mother.” “Protect us.” “I don’t want to die.” “Why are you sleeping?” “What did they do?”
Every Pakarri speaks now, and I think I realize why. They are now unbound Pakarri, like the one I fought earlier. They must have been bound to the Mother Pakarri.
ALERT: BOSS DEFEATED. CHOICE OF CLASS [WOLFHEART RACIAL CLASSES] GIVEN. CHOICE OF BONUS GIVEN.
I walk forward, and the Pakarri growl in unison towards me, but they do not attack. They are full of sorrow and grief. I roar, and a wall of text takes over my vision until I wave it away. Intimidation Attempt successful.
ALERT: INTIMIDATION AFFECT SUCCEEDED. DOMINATED CREATURES TURNING INTO CHOICE OF BONUS. (13 BONUSES PENDING)
I see. It seems chance based, whether or not I get a ‘bonus’ from dominating or killing creatures.
CLASS SELECTION AVAILABLE:
PICK TWO:
UNTAMED (?)
BEASTMASTER (?)
HUNTER (?)
DEVOURER (?)
HOWLER (?)
ENRAGER (?)
FOREST SHAMAN (?)
Too many choices. Decisions, my worst enemy.
