Chapter Text
The howler suddenly stopped, arching its head at all angles to examine its surroundings with that same piercing gaze that bore through everything under its scrutiny. It set me down on a rock, but the rock was wet and covered in slimy organisms and so I immediately slipped backwards. The overhead canopies careened across my vision and for a moment I was terrified that the sudden movement would trigger some sort of mauling instinct, but instead my back collided with an immovable object.
I hardly had time to realize it'd caught me before it pushed me forward back onto my feet. I tried to avoid stumbling the other way, and the thing was already walking off as if nothing strange had happened. I stared, and then saw the carcass it was still dragging behind it and turned away.
I rubbed at my back. I don't know what about this spot made it different from all the other spots it had passed up. I couldn't begin to fathom what kind of feral calculus went on behind those piercing eyes (or at least that's where I thought its brain was.) Maybe it was a better clearing. Maybe it was just farther away. Or perhaps there was just no reason at all.
I sat down on the rock and tried to ignore the revolting sliminess of it, because as bad as it was it seemed better than the dirt. Even though I'd been carried all this way, I was exhausted.
I was thoroughly lost as well. Even if I could get away, I don't think I'd ever be able to find my way back. There was one thing I did know, and that's that someone would probably show up to try and kill this thing, and as long as I was around when that happened, that would be my way out of this place. I just had to endure...
As much as I tried to avoid it, I found myself watching it. The howler was like a gravity well of grotesque fascination. It was simply impossible to ignore, but that was probably because my survival depended upon its intentions. Right now it was playing with the carcass.
First it tugged on the ginru's limbs. Then it seemed to devour it with its eyes alone, leaving no expanse of scales left unscrutinised. After a while it put one of the legs in its mouth and bit down. I looked away, but slowly turned my head back when nothing else happened. It didn't seem to be capable of eating it and it just sat there dumbly with the leg between its teeth.
The howler started babbling to itself and when it looked at me I felt a surge of panic, that maybe it would go for the easier meal. Thankfully that didn't happen and it started rooting around in the grass and dirt. I leaned in, confused. At this point it started picking out rocks of various shapes and sizes.
It picked up one and smashed the carcass with it. I winced at the impact, but it didn't manage to break the ginru's scales. The howler started rubbing its face and making noise again before going back for the rocks. It started smashing rocks against each other one-by-one.
Was it angry...?
I shifted back behind my perch and peered at it. Hopefully staying out of its direct line of sight would keep it from deciding to do the same to me. After it finished, it surveyed the carnage and stepped out of it with another series of shifting noises. Then it just walked off.
I straightened.
It really was just walking off. Thanks to its long legs, it was already out of sight before I'd even had the chance to react.
...Should I chase after it...?
I looked around, suddenly terribly unsure of what to do. Just as I was about to panic, the howler came back, this time carrying even more rocks. Each one was probably heavier than I could ever lift, but it must've had at least fourteen in its arms. It drops them all in a heap and got back to bashing.
I couldn't even begin to fathom what it was doing. The thing was an enigma, but whatever it was doing couldn't be good. It broke those rocks too, and after sifting through the chunks, disappeared into the jungle once more.
Without anything bizarre to focus on I became aware of things like the heat, the humidity, the spores in the air, and the pain in my arm. Not to mention the fact that I was currently stranded in the place that any respectable Fyrix feared more than anything.
I pulled out my interface despite myself. Obviously there was no way to communicate with it. The whole place had a jamming field over it to keep the two worlds completely separate. Instead, I started to record some of my experiences. If the howler ate me, maybe it would help them find it, but I allowed myself to dream. If I lived, I'd be at least a little famous...!
The howler was gone for a long time, but it came back with even more rocks. Maybe I was just reading too much into it, but they were all different. It wasn't just several different sizes of the same river rock, each one was unique in size, shape, texture, and pattern.
And then it was back to smashing them...
I turned my attention back to my interface with a casualness that would've been unthinkable yesterday, but if it was trying to lure me into a false sense of security, it was succeeding. I heard crack after crack, and then suddenly it shouted. I almost fell backwards.
It was looking at me.
I did fall backwards. After picking myself up I ventured a nervous glance. It was definitely looking at me. There no ambiguity with those eyes. As soon as I was paying attention , the howler smashed the rock again, but not before using some horrendous series of gestures and growls at my vague direction in an attempt to command my attention---the type of things lesser races had to do because they didn't evolve proper communication.
It babbled as it struck the rock until another chip flaked off. Was it trying to intimidate me into compliance by demonstrating how good it was at smashing rocks together...? I was already plenty scared of it.
The howler held up the chip as if displaying it and then pulled the ginru carcass closer. It pushed the chip against the scales and then suddenly ripped it across, scoring a glistening chasm of blood and muscle and sinew and flesh and I turned around and screamed while covering my eyes.
No, no, no!
It was still a hideous and horrific beast! Even as I looked away, I heard the wet -snnnk- of another incision. I gripped my antennae and tucked them by my shoulders to deaden the sound. It still came through, every ghastly squelch of blood and muscle. I heard something crack and caught a glimpse: a joint extended far beyond its natural range to expose connective the tissues. The tendon was slit, the leg neatly separated from its body. The smell...!
I let out a reedy whine as a paralyzing terror once again filled my veins. I curled into myself as I imagined myself there, trapped beneath its meticulous dissection. It took my arms first, and then my legs, baring its teeth in that same feral snarl as it took me apart. I saw my own head the wrong way around and screamed, scrambling into the jungle.
I didn't care if it was safer here, I didn't care if ginrus could smell the terror of a Fyrix, I just had to get out of this nightmare.
It was all a blur, and it ended with me clinging to a tree and the howler behind. It touched me, trying to pry me free.
"Leave me alone!" I cried out despite the futility.
I felt the blood on its hands. I've never felt blood on my chitin before. It was thin, almost like paint as it left a trail. It growled stutteringly into my antennae. My fingers were pried from the bark one-by-one and with an eerily soft push in the back, I was led back to the clearing.
The dissected corpse was laid out on some broad leaves, its organs in a heap. I shivered, but eventually surrendered to the nightmarish thing. It was only a ginru... I'm sure the ancient Fyrix had seen worse, and if they could endure to make the greatest civilization in the galaxy, then so could I.
I sat far away and as soon as I was settled it returned to its ghastly work. There was nothing more revolting than flesh-eaters, but this thing took it a step further. It was one thing to savagely tear into something, that at least could be excused as the lamentable mindlessness of lesser beasts, but watching this cold and careful dissection was chilling.
I was beginning to think that the howler was a lot smarter than they'd been letting on. It had made a deadly blade from nothing but a rock after all. Not to mention that it had managed to evade the enforcers for several days all on its own. It was quite possible that it knew exactly how pitiless it was being and yet chose to do it anyway.
It was a ginru for now, but just a few days ago it had been an innocent djeni. The howler must've done the very same. I tried to push it out of my mind and focus on my interface. The stench of blood and bile was thick in the air. The only thing keeping me sane at the moment was this sort of manic excitement I'd been nurturing.
Sure, this was destroying my soul, but on the bright side, I now knew what it felt like to have your soul destroyed, and that would be invaluable for my affectives. I let out some [Uus] and I think I was going insane.
The howler was rummaging through the grass again. It grabbed some sticks, and just when I'd thought the thing had started making sense, it clasped the stick between its hands and started rubbing them rapidly. I was so bewildered that for a moment I'd forgotten how miserable I was.
It just kept spinning that piece of wood against a flat piece clasped between its feet. It just kept going, and going, and going. I couldn't stop staring. It stopped, wiped some moisture off its massive head and then went back to it. What in the world was it hoping to accomplish...?
I wasn't sure it even knew, because it seemed to get frustrated. I couldn't really tell, it could be constipated for all I knew, but the longer it went on, the more its muscles seemed to tense. Even the ones in its face which shouldn't have been involved in the process.
It got up, walked in big stomping, growling circles, then sat back down heavily. It grabbed the stick and rolled it between its hands with such violence that it made me start to lean away unconsciously. Its tongue was between its teeth, its skin a redder hue than I'd ever seen, and its eyes practically bulging from its skull. Its shoulders heaved and it just kept going and going until it stopped, lifted the stick, and howled.
It pointed at me and I leapt backwards. It yawped some savage nonsense as its eyes flew even wider (somehow). All its teeth were on display. It was clearly angry, but I didn't know what I had to do with it. Then it dropped some grass into the little divot it had made in the wood, which started to... smoke...?
It was smoking. That piece of wood was definitely smoking. The howler brought the smoking lump to its face and expelled a controlled stream of air from its mouth and then all of the sudden the heap burst into flames! I stood up and the howler hollered.
I...
What...?
I mean, it made sense from a physical standpoint; it had simply spun that thing so hard that it made enough heat to burn the wood, but to just do that...?
The howler fed the fire until it was large enough for me to feel the heat, but it was utterly baffling. Was it planning to burn the jungle down...? It was apparently some kind of saboteur, but I'd never imagined that it could create such devastation from a rock and twig. I was beginning to understand why the thing had gotten as far as Central Command.
That being said, it simply sat around the fire it'd made and stared into it for a while. The flames danced in its eyes and for a moment it seemed utterly empty, before snapping back and grabbing some of the... flesh...
It stabbed a stick through it and held it over the fire. The flesh hissed and squealed and once again I was gripping my antennae and facing the other way. The sickly smell of burning flesh was unbearable, but when I peered at the beast I saw a stream of liquid leaking from the corner of its mouth.
The smoke was too much. It made my spiracles seize. I moved further away, but just as I sat down something was suddenly thrust into my face. My eyes focused on it, and then everything white.
I wasn't sure how long I was out. It couldn't have been long because I awoke to the horrible sound of the howler masticating. The wet sound of muscle and flesh tearing between its slavering teeth...
There was a lot of competition, but I think this was the worst thing I'd ever heard. I'm not sure why the howler burned it before eating it, but I didn't really want to know either. The howler looked at me, and then returned to its meal. The blood that ran down its chin... stars above...!
I tried to gather my thoughts and suddenly the sickening realization hit me. It wasn't trying to torment me. It had been... offering it to me. It was trying to share its food with me. You'd occasionally see a djeni leave a leaf at your feet thinking that it was doing you a favor, but this...
At least it seemed to confirm that the howler wasn't going to try and devour me. You wouldn't give food to something you intended to eat, right...?
All of this should've put me off of the idea forever, but I realized it'd probably been a full day since I'd eaten anything. I looked around and didn't take long to spy a silverleaf strand. Even in the primordial jungles, they were everywhere.
I knew the howler was watching me as I walked, but I chose to ignore it. It felt so uncivilized, but these were desperate times. I hooked my fingers and tarsi into the bark and started to climb. Before long I was inching along a branch and dangling down with the long cluster of flowers in my hand.
It hit me then, that I was really out here, about to eat from wild flowers just as the threll did. I let my antennae droop and plucked a flower.
I put the end to my palps and tried to suck, but... nothing came out. I plucked it from my palps and stared in confusion. It smelled like hisk, but it wasn't coming out. I peered into the petals. The scent was really strong inside. I made sure no one was watching, and then stuck my face inside. I stuck my tongue into the petals, but got nothing.
I let out some [irt] and stared into its fronds. I stuck my teasing finger all the way inside and felt the familiar sticky nectar. I pulled it out and licked my finger clean. It was definitely hisk. The familiar, fortifying flavor slid down my throat and warmed my stomach, but it wasn't nearly enough. I stuck my finger back inside and licked it clean once more, repeating the process until the flower was empty.
Is this how the ancient Fyrix had to eat hisk...? How horrible. I know the jungles were supposed to be as they were tens of thousands of years ago, but would it have really hurt to plant modern silverleaf?
I worked slowly through the strand flower by flower as the petals piled up beside me. The howler stood up and stepped beside me. To my credit, I suppressed my desire to run away. It crouched down, and I *really* wanted to run away, but it only plucked a flower from my strand.
It brought it to its face, inhaled, and then ripped it open. I felt a strange pang of jealousy. The howler peered at it and then licked up the nectar. An odd second passed, and then the beast's face suddenly twisted into a wretched thing. It bent over. This horrible, noxious liquid exploded from its mouth and onto the ground. It grunted and groaned and I realized with utter revulsion that the source of that fluid was the contents of its stomach.
I moved away while it was still heaving. It seemed to be in pain... I didn't understand what had happened, but I hid behind my rock anyway. I thought before it had been growling before, but the deep throaty noise it made while it straightened forced me to reconsider. It shot some more fluid out of its mouth almost like it was efflugating and then stared at me.
I ducked behind my rock, sure it was going to blame me for whatever had happened and tear my head off my body, but thankfully it simply went back to its terrible meal and burning heap of wood. I sagged in relief.
After I was certain it was safe I went to go gather more silverleaf. The howler ate its meal while I ate mine. I hated having even something as ubiquitous in common, but with a bellyful of wild hisk things felt a whole lot more tolerable. The howler had eaten its fill and the organs had been out long enough that other organisms were beginning to feast.
It just stared into the fire, its mouth moving between shapes beneath the sound of crackling wood. The longest day of my life began to fade as the orange glow of the blazing wood threw shadows against the jungle walls. The howler finally stood, approached, and reached out.
Oh no. I knew where this was going.
I stepped back to evade it. It looked at me, and stars above why did its eyes need to be the color of blood...!? The thing smelled so bad, not to mention all the other noxious fluids coating it. It was going to grab me again, I knew it
But if I had to spend one more night pressed up against that stench I think I'd rather die!
It tried to grab me again but I pushed myself free, holding my arms out in preparation for another attempt. Instead of seizing me by force, it simply... walked away. It sat back down by the controlled conflagration with its massive arms folded.
I... wasn't sure how to interpret that.
It's not like I could stop it from doing whatever it wanted. I sat on the rock, watching as I'd done the entire day. It kept babbling to itself. What was that anyway...? I'd heard that that was how it'd gotten its name, but it was still an utter enigma.
I'd been tuning them out, but the noises were strangely structured... Come to think of it, if it was smart... I preened an antennae, suddenly curious. I listened closely. It was really low, far too low for me to possibly emulate, but I picked out a random series of noises.
I twisted my body and strained my speech organ around the savage noises to test their shape. It was a good thing there weren't any Fyrix around to see me being so ridiculous. It probably wasn't even possible, but...
"$@&%#$!"
It hurt my throat. Just as I'd resolved to never do that again, the howler launched itself away from the fire. It bounded after me on all fours. It grabbed me and hauled me into the air, its foul breath washing over my face as it burned its gaze into mine.
I was going to die.