The Chase!

Another calm afternoon came unnoticed to the airy savannah realm of Sarutabaruta. All would have been silent, if not for the ambient rustle of the footloose breeze sweeping through the fields of green and hazel. A few discernable animals wandered about the hills and rises, doing little to disturb the untroubled atmosphere of the land. A single dirt path wound its way throughout the savannah, exposing itself as the only mark of man's impact on the ancient region. The faint scent of the oddly shaped palm trees carried around on the wind, invigorating any who caught it.

A youthful young man, dressed in worn and tattered clothes, trudged longingly to the summit of a tall cliff, overlooking the savannah for as far as he could see. He seated himself atop a sunken boulder, gazing nostalgically over the plains. Something uniquely familiar about the place probed at his memory. Maybe it'll come to me another time, he thought, for now, there's quite the hike ahead of me…

This man's name was Baeron.

He carried with him a curved sword, and a large pack filled with stolen items and trinkets from several of his past victims. Every man had to get along in life somehow, and if thievery was his only tactic, then Baeron was willing to embrace it completely. He shouldered the pack and stood, sighing with the burden of the task before him; to brave the entire length of the savannah, and to reach the lands beyond.

The thief made to set off down the cliff, but a sudden rumbling sound met his ears, and stopped him. Baeron stood tall and keened to hear the sound. It was faint at first…but he noticed that it was slowly growing louder. The source was somewhere off to his left, far to the west.

What is tha-A different noise, one much louder and closer, interrupted his thoughts.

"Run for your life! It's coming! Run for your life!" The shrill, desperate scream of a grown man running several yards away broke the stillness of the savannah's silence. Baeron could just barely see the figure running vehemently (with a series of painful stumbles and falls along the way) across the plains, parallel with the cliff's east to west face.

Baeron watched the unusual sight for a few moments, judging whether to laugh at the oddity of the man, or to run out to help him. His thoughts, however, were interrupted soon when he realized that the low rumbling had begun to shake the very earth beneath his feet. He squinted and looked out westward to see a spectacle that he questioned whether or not to believe.

A massive yellow caterpillar, wider and longer even than a house, was scurrying with mind-blowing speed through the plains, chasing after the pitiful man. The creature had two great antennae, larger than Baeron himself, that flitted excitedly as it gained ground on its quarry. The fat body of the caterpillar was painted with disorganized spots and stripes the shade of black, and it's dozens of legs rolled like waves in rapid succession, propelling its huge mass with an incredible gait.

Baeron was unsure how to react to such a massive behemoth advancing on its prey. He had enough sense to avoid the situation altogether, until a bone-racking sound emitted from the opposite direction of which he was walking. Baeron turned, half-expecting what he saw. The monstrosity had its head held over the mangled body of the victim; a slow gurgling sound filled the air, bringing gruesome thoughts of how the man was being devoured.

Baeron turned back around, thinking it wise to leave…fast. He saw for himself how quickly the monster moved, and wasn't in the mood to be a tasty snack. There was one final 'CRUNCH!' that came from the Caterpillar, and in that very second Baeron took off toward a towering cliff in the distance, thoroughly convinced that his life would be spared in one of the canyons there. He felt a rumble…he didn't look back. The earth shook beneath Baeron; he was vibrating up to his knees with every footstep. He kept running; it had spotted him.

He threw his bag of stolen goods to the ground, his life was more important now. Baeron felt a tinge of regret as he parted with the valuables he took so much time in procuring, but just ran faster once reality hit him. The caterpillar was catching up, and he was still a long ways from the cliff's face. He spotted a small crevice in the side of the cliff, just wide enough for him to squeeze into. It was as if the earth itself had split perfectly down the center, like the sky had cleaved the gigantic face only to prove its power. Baeron thanked the heavens for the escape route that seemed to have been made by happenstance. The monster was close now, and the air was filled with a queasy acidic smell. The opening in the cliff was reachable. Baeron looked in horror over his shoulder as he dived into the opening. The beast had its mouth opened, ready to devour its prey in one foul gulp.

The caterpillar's size prevented it from reaching Baeron; it collided headfirst with the side of the cliff. A smirk played its way across Baeron's face; he took an unusual pleasure in seeing the monster fall for his cleverness. He smiled confidently at the behemoth, but just then it did something that the thief hadn't expected. The earth shook and pebbles began bouncing down the cliff's face. The crawler was rearing its head back, and crushing the side of the cliff…with its face.

Baeron had never seen anything so horrifying in all of his life. He immediately panicked, and ran deeper and deeper into the cleft until he found himself in a maze of wide canyons. He had heard of the Maze of Tahrongi before, but he thought it only a legend. The cliffs seemed to tower miles high on each side of him, giving him only one direction to run, straight ahead. No invitation was needed, he sprung forward, and in that exact moment the walls behind him collapsed under the weight of the caterpillar's body. A bright yellow blob moved like a flash through the opening that was formed, gaining more ground on its prey as each second passed.

It'll be easy to lose this beast in a maze, it can't chase me forever. Baeron's cleverness amazed even himself, at times. Sometimes I think my luck couldn't get better.

With that, the bandit rounded a corner in the maze, accessing a new stretch of passages, encased by the alpine canyon walls. As he took off down the straightaway, he chanced a look back to his pursuer. There was not a creature in sight…

Hah! Now that was a piece of ca-Baeron's thoughts were cut short as he took a sprinting step, only to find that the ground beneath him had disappeared. With half a moment's yelp, he fell face first into a deep ditch impressed perfectly across the path of the maze. His head collided with a mound of soft dust, dampening the fall, although the breath was stolen from his lungs upon impact.

Cursing his luck, the thief scrambled to his feet in the bottom of the gully, brushing dirt from his face and his hair. It wasn't until several minutes later, it occurred to him the fate of his insect hunter. Baeron stood perfectly still and listened carefully. At first all he heard was the quiet whisper of the savannah winds tossing far above him, but in one lightning moment, the chase was on once again.

Suddenly the intersection where Baeron had turned was completely filled with one large, yellow and black spotted mass. The perfect corners of the maze were crushed and literally disintegrated as the monolithic caterpillar rammed into them. It seemed as if the entire maze shook as the boulders crashed to the ground.

The monster's hundreds of legs went to work as it fit itself into the straight passage and took off towards Baeron once again. The man was frozen in disbelief. He could feel the blood sink from his face, and in one fluent wave, steal his heart deep into his stomach. The sheer spectacle was one to make the thief doubt his own sanity, but it pierced him with horror, nonetheless.

As the insect cleared the distance between them with mind-blowing speed, Baeron fumbled desperately for the curved sword at his side. It took only seconds before the caterpillar had reached the ditch, and instead of clambering down in and consuming Baeron with it's very mass, as it had with its previous victim, it stopped a few yards from the edge of the depression. Though his entire body was shaking, and his strength had begun to fail him, Baeron raised his weapon in front of him, ready to combat the impossible creature.

The vile scent of the insect was overwhelming, and Baeron felt as if he could pass out at its awful power. He looked up at the monster, his low whimpering breaking the silence. The creature seemed to glare monotonously back at him for several still moments, as if evaluating his pathetic quarry. Soon after, it shifted slightly, as if it had come to a conclusion.

The caterpillar lifted its head to expose a huge, wide mouth under its eyes. With extreme precision, the creature spit a thin stream of sticky green fluid towards the quivering thief. The slime, instead of hitting Baeron, contacted with the blade of his sword, clinging like thick syrup. Baeron, his volatile ego suddenly regenerated, laughed hardily at the attack. What a terrifying creature, he thought, it spits sticky goo!

It did not take the man long to realize the purpose of the caterpillar's spit. A sizzling sound met his ears, and the blade of his sword began to smoke. He watched on in terror as the acidic fluid on his weapon burned away the blade like fire burns paper. He dropped the smoking hilt of the weapon; it made a resounding clank when it hit the rocky ground. The caterpillar looked directly at Baeron, and it didn't even take him a second to dash off toward the nearest fork in the maze. Panting for breath, he took a sharp left, right, left, left. The caterpillar was still on his trail. It's dozens of black legs moved rhythmically under its massive body. It tore down loose rocks from the cliff faces as it brushed past them, moving unusually fast for its size.

Baeron looked back over his shoulder at the monster, who was always gaining ground on him. He looked back ahead, afraid to gaze at the beast, but what Baeron saw in front of him was one of the most frightening things he would ever behold in his life.

A dead end.

He turned around and looked at his attacker while backing up against the wall. Fear overcame Baeron; he fell down to his knees, and couldn't take his eyes off the caterpillar. It opened its wide mouth, crawling toward Baeron with a hungry assurance of death. The smell was nearly lethal, he felt almost unable to cling on to consciousness.

The massive teeth were so close now that Baeron could reach out a hand and touch them. The moment seemed almost suspended in time, giving fear more time to feed on Baeron.

"Oh no…"