Trust instinct to the end, even though you can give no reason. - Ralph Waldo Emerson


Ekt opened his eyes to see a pale grey sky. He was being dragged somewhere, but he was too drained to think of anything else. He tried to move his arms, but his body seemed to be inside some sort of sack. Painfully he raised his chin to see what or who was dragging him. It looked like a man at first, but taller and much more slender. Two long ears extended from the top of its head, just as a rabbit's ears would; Ekt had never seen such a being before. The creature stopped and glanced back. Its steel blue eyes stared into Ekt's. With one swift motion, it kicked the flap of the sack back over Ekt's face, and the world went dark once more.


After what felt like days, the dragging finally stopped. The cover opened and bright light flooded Ekt's face. It took a while for him to adjust his eyes, but between blinks he could make out the silhouette of the creature sitting on the edge of a rocky mesa. Ekt wriggled out of the sack, his entire body aching from head to toe. After several unsuccessful attempts to stand, he crawled over to the creature that calmly looked at him.

"Water…please……my throat…" choked Ekt, pointing to his own neck.

It did not occur to Ekt that the creature might not speak his language or speak at all, but he was too desperate for moisture to think of such things.

"I have….meat…..for water….take…" He coughed distressfully. "….it…the meat…please…"

Ekt reached into his pocket and pulled out the salted meat. It was covered in mud and was already beginning to give off a foul smell, but he held it out regardless.

"See…meat…."

The creature stared at him for a while and sighed. It leapt down in front of Ekt and snatched the meat from the quivering hand, and with it, dropped a small canister under Ekt's head.

Ekt unscrewed the canister and downed the liquid inside in a single swill. It tasted alarmingly bitter and sent jitters down his spine, but it did not matter; the cool feeling that flowed down his throat outweighed all else. Ekt turned over onto his back and let every drip fall into his mouth.

"Minn Grusch drui bissd" the creature murmured.

"Wh…what?"

The creature shook its head and walked over to the sack that Ekt had been in. After batting it clean of caked mud, it neatly folded the cloth in his arm and took it to several bags lying in the grass.

Ekt leaned against a large boulder and looked around. The mountains that surrounded the field were gone; replaced with a vast field spreading in all directions with large mesas jutting out of the surface every five miles or so. Baffled that his surroundings had changed so much since the last time he had been awake, Ekt attempted to communicate with the creature once more.

"Where am I?"

The tall being ignored him as it walked toward some stone outcroppings, and began coaxing something from behind them in a strange guttural language. A dark grey chocobo cautiously walked out. The creature patted the bird's beak and removed its reins, praising it warmly.

"I know you can understand me," Ekt said, "at least show me a map. Or something. Anything."

The creature glanced at him for a moment and then returned to grooming the chocobo's feathers. Ekt slumped back down to the ground realizing how futile his efforts were. He should be dead; he knew that well enough. The creature was undoubtedly an Amnenian subordinate who was probably captured him for the sake of interrogation.

The creature turned to face Ekt and motioned him over with his hand. Finally on his feet, the young soldier stumbled forward. The creature proceeded to toss a couple of the bags at Ekt, picked shouldered the rest, and began walking away with the chocobo. Ekt stood there, dumbfounded. It did not take long for him to realize that cooperating with the Amnenian could mean the difference between life and death, and so he picked them up and followed.

They walked for the entire day. Ekt has collapsed several times, unable to take the physical strain. Every time he lay on the ground panting however, the creature waited patiently for him to recover. By evening they had reached the edge of a vast forest, full of conifers and pine needles. The creature dropped his bags. Instinctively, Ekt did the same. The tall being knelt down beside a boulder, took out a batch of white fluff and two black stones from a small pouch at his hip, and began striking them together. Within moments the white fluff ignited, and accompanied by a brief spell, became a crackling fire. Ekt sat as close as he could to it, basking in the warmth.

His stomach growled fiercely.

The creature gave Ekt astonished look and reached down into another pouch. The foul piece of salted meat emerged; the stench was unbelievable.

"For me?" Ekt asked worriedly.

The creature pointed at his tongue and shook his head. Just when Ekt was about to reach for the meat, the creature tossed it into the fire.

"Then….what am I going to eat?"

The creature curled up among some bags and closed its eyes.

Ekt sat cross-legged by the fire, observing the being more closely. Short, pale blond hair covered its scalp, and a cue was tied along the side. Its ears were a dark chestnut brown, much like the rest of the creature's skin, the tips a light grey; faded with age, Ekt presumed. Everything else about the creature was distinctly humanoid, except every limb seemed to be elongated beyond what would be normal for a Hume. It wore little despite the cold; only a pair of baggy cotton pants, a leather undershirt, fur vest, and metal shoulder pieces separated him and the elements.

"Are you an Amnenian?" Ekt asked cautiously.

No response.

"Where are you taking me?"

Again, the creature ignored him.

"I'm an Archadian soldier; you probably figured that out a long time ago. I was at Schull, where we burned down the buildings and killed everyone. I'm one of the people who's responsible for the massacre, doesn't that anger you?"

The creature shifted its weight over to its side.

"I mean, you're letting me live and for what? Even if you DO interrogate me I know nothing. I'm only a soldier, I follow orders."

The creature coughed.

"And you people attack us when we are weakest? With traps? Ambushes? You Amnenians have no honor. Why don't you face us in the open if you value your country so much?

I wave of hopelessness took over Ekt's mind. Ekt did not know why he was saying such things; the consequence was sure to be his death, but he had to be sure if it understood him, even it meant provoking his anger.

"Do all Amnenians look like as strange you anyway? You do not resemble any creature I have seen before…"

The creature sat up abruptly and glared at Ekt through blue eyes that gleamed in the firelight.

"I would watch my tongue if I were you Archadian." The creature growled in a low husky tone.

Shivers ran down Ekt's spine.

The creature lay back down and closed its eyes a second time.

Ekt lay down in the dirt and gazed into the fire. He now knew that the creature spoke Central and could understand what he said, and from the tone it used to caution Ekt, was undoubtedly an Amnenian sympathizer. Sleep soon took over him, and Ekt drifted off, hoping that he would not meet the same fate as the soldiers back at Schull.