Chapter Seven

Jacinth growled as the monster circled her, stalking through the wavy grass. She felt the keen predator's eyes on her, weighing up her strength and body motions, poised to lunge at a moment's notice. Behind her, Loran and Lae timidly nudged their limp and comatose brother where he lay on the slope. All the others had long since vanished into the woods and far away to pursue singular battles. Only Jacinth and the three brothers had remained to finish off the lingering attackers, which had gone just fine until now.

This newcomer was more muscular and heavy-set than its predecessors, and still retained the same hunter's knowing stride. Its confidence was made all the more clear in how it showed no fear in taking on four Emerack at once. Three now, Jacinth mournfully corrected herself. Pacing excitedly, the monster let loose another trademark scream. It hardly registered in the Emerack's heads. They had heard it too much to care anymore. Loran no longer attempted to shake Letham awake, unlike his brother, who continued to shake and whisper urgently to him. Sometimes the monster would stop circling and move suddenly forward, as if to attack, before stopping and picking up the pace again. It was trying to set them on edge. Jacinth didn't flinch.

Glaring hotly at the creature, Jacinth saw for barely an instant the slightest flicker of ended patience in its eye that betrayed what it was about to do. As a result, she was ready when it jumped with its oversized claws outstretched. She had enough time to duck underneath her attacker before punching upwards, jabbing her fingers into the monster's solar plexus. It was brought crashing to the ground abruptly, wheezing and gasping for air. Jacinth and Loran jumped on it both at once and had at it with tooth and tail.

When the twitching died down, Jacinth hopped off the carcass and took stock of the current pack's situation. Loran was adding a few kicks in the teeth for good measure and the Lae was gazing pitifully at his older sibling's unresponsive face. The hill was bare of life, and no sound was forthcoming from the woods. For now at least, she was safe to catch her breath and wait.

Briefly skimming over the treeline a few hundred metres away, Jacinth's eyes couldn't pick out any movement. She didn't let that deceive her. The shadows could hide more than the most recent attackers. Jacinth remembered the stories she'd been told of titanic carnivores, all hair and fangs and scales, passed down by word of mouth to remind the children to keep in their burrows. As if they needed teaching.

Almost by itself, her tail stopped swaying in the breeze and shot into the air; a sure sign of impending intrusion. Jacinth whipped her head around to examine the shade again. Something was definitely shifting around.

"Hey!" she barked at Lae, who jolted out of his shocked stupor. Jacinth tilted her head in the direction of the disturbance, and stared hard at him until he got to his feet. Loran stepped up to attention from her left side. Three pairs of eyes waited for the blurry shape to emerge.

Into the starlight limped a pair of Emerack, one of whom was supporting the other. The defenders relaxed, but only slightly. "Loran, come and help. Lae . . . watch for others," Jacinth said before taking off for the injured pair. Upon nearing them, she saw Puck straining as he hauled a heavily injured pack-mate across the open field. "What happened?" she asked immediately.

"A vicious one . . . wasn't paying attention . . . Kirett . . .just help me carry him," Puck gasped. Loran and Jacinth both took an arm and heaved. He was surprisingly light, but Puck was clearly not without injuries of his own.

"Were you alright?"

"Took one bad swipe, but I'm not allowed to complain," Puck said darkly. "Who else is still back here?"

"Just the two brothers," Jacinth said quietly and meaningfully. Puck seemed to deflate a little.

"We didn't see or hear anyone else on the way back," he said. "I can only assume that most of the fighting's over. I just need to sleep."

Jacinth nodded, and turned back to the hill without a word.

The dawn's first rays of sunshine sliced into the burrow, causing motes of dust to dance and flutter in the new light. Stray leaves rustled around in the cramped tunnels as the morning breeze blew through. Small insects climbed into holes in the soil to hide from bigger insects, and bird calls began to filter inside from above.

Puck groaned aloud as he rolled onto his back and gingerly rubbed the red marks all over his skin. Unbelievably, he still felt winded and pained with every second spent moving. He had no desire beyond that of duty to get up and face the aches all day long. Puck almost hoped that Kirett would sneak in and lob a pine cone at him just to wake him up.

Kirett. That decided it, of course. With an almighty strain Puck lurched to his feet and clenched his jaw. As a member of the pack he was obligated to assist anyone more wounded than himself. And Kirett was most likely not alone.

Puck crawled on his stomach through the surface tunnel and squinted his eyes at the rising sun. Pulling himself out of the tight entrance with his arms, he shook the grit from his fur and headed for the hilltop as quickly as he could on his sore feet. He parted the branches of the Gorae tree and cupped his hands to dig in between a cluster of gnarled roots. Packed together a few inches underneath the dirt was an assortment of relatively fresh Springtime berries, and Puck grabbed a handful, setting aside one for himself. Walking around to the other side of the tree, he spotted the indent in the slope where Kirett's burrow was, and crossed over to it. Looking a few feet down into the hole, Puck could see leaves that should have been brown turned partially green with dried blood. More than a little bit discouraging. Steeling himself for a gory image, Puck slid in.

Kirett was awake with his back to the earth wall, whistling idly to Puck's surprise. He tore his eyes away from Kirett's destroyed leg, and moved closer.

"Morning," Kirett said conversationally. "Feeling refreshed?"

Puck raised an eyebrow. "A little bit," he said. He uncurled his fingers and held the berries out for him. Kirett reached for them, grimacing when he leaned forward slightly. He devoured half of the juiciest ones and left the rest by his side. "How do you feel now?"

"I can stand it so long as I don't look at the leg," Kirett said as he chewed. Puck's eyes inadvertantly strayed back to it, and he flinched. "How are you doing?"

"Can't comment."

"Hm." Kirett finished his mouthful and sighed. "My ears are still ringing," he remarked. "Carnivores can never shut up."

"How is the . . . other leg?" Puck asked hesitantly.

"It doesn't want to do anything. I probably landed on it heavily and numbed it. Stubbed my toe too, when I woke up," he continued. "it took a sizeable hole out of the wall." He pointed vaguely with a finger. "Glad the others are fine, at least."

Puck tilted his head.

"Yes, Jacinth popped in an hour or so ago. Apparently I got hit the worst. Besides Lae."

Puck sensed the upcoming topic. "Can you move your arms and hands easily?"

"Fairly well, I suppose. Not that it'll help me much now," Kirett added suddenly. All the light vanished from his eyes. "I'll never be able to run again. I'd be fortunate if only half of these cuts are already infected. And if they aren't, what difference does it make? Living like this, I'm already dead. Perhaps I could lean on a twig and throw acorns. I hear I'm quite good at that." Kirett laughed bleakly. Puck watched him in quiet sorrow.

"And I feel . . . lucky."

Kirett's words and sudden tone came out of nowhere. After a long pause he went on. "Have you ever thought about the world beyond? A home beside our own, a place of spirits and souls and powers that we've never imagined?" Silence reigned. Kirett laughed again. "Neither did I," he grinned. Then his voice turned cold, and all of his laughter disappeared. "When that monster leapt on me, I was shredded. The pain was hot, excruciating, and I gave in to it. Death would be a release. And then I . . . dreamed." He stopped himself for a minute, as if unsure of how to go on. "I didn't really see things, but I heard them. I felt them. There was nothing else but the darkness."

He looked down at the berry pile, but left them alone. "There were voices talking to me. Or rather, talking through me. The first one was Cyfal." His voice broke for a second. "He wanted help. He was struggling against something else, and he was crying. And the others, too - all of them. The ones that were taken. They were all dying, dying in pain. They were being killed by the second one. And the second one was life."

On its own, Kirett's body shuddered suddenly and violently. "It wasn't even speaking, but I could hear it. It was everything we ever were or ever will be. Not just us, but the entire world. The food we eat, the monsters we fought, the stars that glow above us. And it hurt. It hurt."

Kirett looked for a moment like he was about to break down. "It hated me. It hated us all. It wanted us dead, and it will see us dead. When I heard its voice, I was crying too. I wanted nothing more than to be with the rest of the ones who were taken. And then something else came." He stopped for breath. "Your words came. While the thing was tearing at me, you pulled me back."

He looked Puck straight in the eye. "I haven't escaped. This thing is coming for us all, and it won't stop until everything in this world and beyond is dead. It is pure animosity, and no-one else can see it. And it's coming."

Puck was at a loss for things to say. "You were going through trauma," he tried to explain. "You had some sort of deathbed hallucination. Your pain was manifesting itself." he was amazed at how much he was sounding like the normal Kirett. "I'll see if we can take you down to the river for a drink when you feel up to it." Puck turned and knelt down to go back through the tunnel. He left slightly faster than he intended.

"You haven't seen it yet," he heard Kirett shout after him. "But you will soon. This life doesn't love us, and none of us can run from it anymore!"

. . .

The stomach was starting to growl again. It glanced briefly around the hole It had acquired. The circle of branches and feathers in the centre were hiding another tiny mound of oval-shaped rocks. They would do for now, but the owners would return eventually. They always did. So rather than stay in the hole, It scooped up all of the rocks and pushed them through the top before jumping up after them. It arranged them beside the entrance, grabbed one, and smashed it down into another. The goop poured out onto the grass, and It lapped it up hungrily.

After all of the shells had been broken, It sat down to let Its meal sink down. It was surprised at the absence of the home's former owners. They had to be night animals. It relished the thought. Night animals were always bigger.

. . .

Eyes: The food in Specimen #1's immediate surroundings is diminishing.

Ears: It shouldn't matter. He should be able to survive and make a home for himself in the area he has cleared out.

Eyes: Ah. I see the planet is still being scanned and evaluated.

Ears: Affirmative. The situation remains stable. Project Magog shall soon begin in earnest.

If you look at the story genre again, you'll see I have changed the Adventure category to Spirituality. I thought, given the nature of the past two chapters, it would be more appropriate. But there shall be adventure coming soon, just with heavy spiritual themes attached.

I'm still clueless as to whether or not the fighting and dialogue in this story are flowing like I hope they do when read. If any of you reading this are more experienced with Spore fiction or just fan fiction in general, I urge you to tell me what you think! You don't need to have a proper account, I'd just like to hear your opinions. Thanks very much for reading this!