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MeQuot had only wanted to help.
He’d been going about his day like usual, when he overheard a sudden commotion coming from deep within the woods. Normally, MeQuot would avoid this kind of thing, but he had a particular gut feeling about this instance that he simply couldn’t ignore. And it was a good thing he didn’t: Upon going to investigate, he came across what could best be described as an ongoing stand-off between a group of civilians and a large beast.
MeQuot stayed hidden behind a tree at first, unsure if he really should get involved or not. This kind of encounter was awfully common around these parts, after all. Not only that, the civilians looked to be handling the situation fine for a while, since they greatly outnumbered the beast. There had to be around ten or so of them, so he considered just leaving them to deal with it themselves…
That is, until he watched as one of them took an especially grave hit: a swift slash straight across their chest from the creature’s sword. It shook MeQuot to his very core. No... he couldn’t be a bystander to this. Not after what he’d just witnessed. He knew he needed to do something.
Before things could escalate any further, MeQuot came out from his hiding spot and ran into the chaos. He stopped right in between the two opposing sides, his back towards the civilians as he faced the threat head-on.
“G-Go! Run!” he told the group behind him. “I’ll… I’ll take care of this!”
The civilians, although shocked by his sudden appearance, heeded his words and quickly fled. Now, it was only him and the apex predator known as Pursuer. He half-expected it to just ignore him and go after the group again, but it surprisingly stayed put, entirely fixated on MeQuot with insatiable hunger in its eyes.
MeQuot had heard many rumors about Pursuer and its aggressive behavior before, but this was the first time he’d actually seen it up-close like this. And judging by the looks of it, it seemed to live up to those rumors alright. The fact it was wielding a sword honestly felt like overkill given it was already armed with both sharp teeth and claws. It was definitely prepared for a fight, that’s for sure.
Carefully, he drew his sword out of his chest with shaky hands. The beast’s grin widened as he did so, finding the sight of him trying and failing to act tough to be amusing. But still, MeQuot did his best to stand strong. He usually hated having to resort to violence like this, but if it was for the sake of ensuring those civilians’ safety, then he’d do whatever he had to.
He waited with bated breath, bracing for whatever was about to happen…
And then… it lunged at him.
In the blink of an eye, it swung its sword at him, but MeQuot reacted quick enough to deflect the blow with his own weapon. That was the strategy he was planning to go with: prioritizing defense over offense. Focusing more on blocking Pursuer's attacks rather than directly striking it himself.
Even if this creature was extremely dangerous, MeQuot still didn’t want to seriously hurt it, more so try to keep it busy for as long as he could. And the few hits he did manage to land didn’t have much of an effect on it. Aside from the occasional low grunt or huff, Pursuer had almost no reaction to any of them.
It was very quickly becoming clear just how much more combat experience Pursuer had over him. The speed of its swings were only increasing by the second. MeQuot could barely keep up with it, and he was already starting to fall behind as the beast would slash and stab at him, almost predicting his moves. And after yet another failed attempt to block, Pursuer took the opportunity to knock his sword right out of his hands.
MeQuot’s heart dropped when he heard it hit the ground. This was bad. That sword was his only reasonable method of defense. He needed to retrieve it as fast as possible. Cautiously, he began to back away, only briefly taking his eyes off Pursuer to glance behind him and see where exactly the sword had landed.
Unfortunately, he should’ve known better than to let his guard down like that, even if for only a split second. In that short moment of vulnerability, Pursuer suddenly grabbed him and threw him to the ground. It clawed at him, again and again and again, without letting up for even a second. All the while, it increasingly bared its teeth, growling ferociously.
God, MeQuot was such an idiot. What was he thinking getting himself into this situation!? You’d think he’d know how to properly wield that sword of his since it was practically a part of his very being, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. He’d hardly ever used it for its intended purpose.
All he could do now was helplessly try to shove Pursuer off of him, but that didn’t deter it in the slightest. Pursuer pushed him over onto his side, and before MeQuot fully realized what was about to happen, it attempted to bite down onto the side of his torso: hard.
Miraculously, it didn’t fully break through the skin at first, likely due to the multiple thick layers of clothing MeQuot happened to wear, but Pursuer didn’t give up so easily. It firmly held him down as it continued to tug at and tear through the fabric with its teeth. First his jacket, then his sweater, before finally biting into the flesh underneath.
MeQuot immediately cried out in response to the sharp pain, trying his hardest to bear it for as long as he could. He’d completely given up on fighting back. It honestly felt futile by this point. Pursuer had him exactly where it wanted him, and all of his previous attempts to defend himself had ended in failure, so he was going to just let it continue to rip into him-
But then Pursuer stopped.
It completely froze mid-bite, for no discernible reason.
For a second, MeQuot thought that maybe his scream had actually spooked it.
Everything remained still for another moment or two, before Pursuer abruptly released its bite and recoiled in disgust. “EUGH…! Not… fresh!” the creature gagged while backing away.
It glared down at him with a mix of confusion and repulsion, curiously nudging him with its sword a few times. MeQuot only let out a pitiful grunt, not saying a word. He couldn’t muster up anything even if he had wanted to. He just stared back, utterly mortified and dreading whatever it was going to do next. It remained like this for what felt like an eternity…
…until Pursuer seemed to lose any interest in him at all, and swiftly scampered back off into the depths of the woods.
Now, MeQuot was left alone as he lay profusely bleeding. He stayed there for quite a while, hoping to let the pain subside at least a little before attempting to stand up. His head was spinning, his breaths came out shallow and shaky, and he felt like he was going to be sick.
The slashes and claw marks all over his body, while numerous, likely didn’t go too deep. The large bite mark on his side definitely was, but even that wouldn’t take more than a few hours to heal at the most. As conflicted as MeQuot felt about his immortal state, the rapid regeneration that mysteriously came with it was kind of nice.
After enough time had passed, he managed to gather enough strength to pick himself up again. It was a slow, strenuous process, trying to irritate the wounds as little as possible, but he eventually made it back onto his feet. Looking down at himself, he saw that his jacket and sweater were undoubtedly ruined beyond reasonable repair, now tattered and soaked a deep red. Quite a shame… He really liked that outfit.
But even so, the most important thing on his mind by now wasn’t that, nor was it any of the injuries he’d sustained from such a brutal attack. It hurt like hell, but they’d be gone before he knew it. He couldn't care less about that.
All he cared about was finding those civilians, and making sure they were okay.
MeQuot then slowly limped off in the direction that the civilians had gone in, leaving behind a significant amount of blood in his path. His sword remained in his hand, the edge dragging along the ground as he walked. It didn’t feel necessary to return it to its usual spot given how much he was bleeding already.
Despite the dizziness from the blood loss, he still tried to stay alert, making sure to occasionally look over his shoulder to check if he was being followed. While Pursuer had run off in a different direction from the civilians, there was still every chance that it could come back to search for them again, especially since he was leaving behind a very obvious trail behind him. He knew he couldn’t get too comfortable quite yet.
But thankfully, he would soon spot the group again not too far up ahead without any more surprise encounters. They’d seemingly decided to make a quick stop to catch their breath and recollect themselves. Good, that meant he’d succeeded in distracting the creature for long enough. He felt a bit better knowing that now.
A couple Caretakers were completely focused on treating any of their injured allies, to no surprise. They always worked so tirelessly to look after their fellow civilians. Perhaps MeQuot could offer to assist them if they needed it. Not like he had that much medical expertise or anything, but surely he could lend a hand in one way or another.
The last thing he wanted was to startle them, so he made sure to approach them as carefully as he could. “Hey, you there! Are you alright-?”
He could barely get his words out before a couple of the civilians lifted their heads up. But, instead of looking relieved to see him, their eyes almost instantly widened in horror.
“Another one found us!” one of them shouted, alerting the rest of the group of his presence. Some immediately got up and began to run, while others scrambled to gather up any supplies before escaping themselves.
“Wait, wait…!” MeQuot dropped his sword and put his hands up, hoping they’d realize he wasn’t a threat, but that didn’t help at all. As if them panicking wasn’t already bad enough, a Revolver suddenly drew out their gun and began to fire at him. While most of their shots missed, one hit him right in the shoulder, the knockback sending him stumbling backward as he fell.
It all had happened so fast. He could only watch in sheer shock as the remaining civilians ran off, leaving behind not a single trace that they had ever been there. One moment, it was a mix of frantic screams, footsteps and gunshots. The next moment… silence. Chilling, empty silence.
Once again, MeQuot was all alone, and in an even worse state than he was before. Not only did he now have an additional bullet wound in his shoulder, he was also left with the notion that he was as much of a monster as Pursuer was. He’d literally let that creature maul him just to keep those civilians safe, yet they still ran in fear when they saw him again. Somehow, that hurt the most out of everything.
He didn’t even bother trying to get back up this time. He hardly had the energy to even move anymore. He just stayed on the ground, contemplating everything that had occurred. MeQuot always tried to be polite. ‘Treat people the way you want to be treated,’ as the saying goes, but very rarely it felt like the kindness he gave was ever returned to him. He didn’t understand. What was he doing wrong?
Did they not recognize him as the one who’d stepped in to protect them? Were they too shaken up to think before reacting? The fact that he was absolutely drenched in blood definitely hadn’t done him any favors, not to mention the giant sword usually in his chest stuck out like a sore thumb, but there wasn’t anything that could be done about that. Was he simply doomed from the start then? Was it even worth all the effort?
A ‘thank you’ at the very least would’ve been nice, but… maybe he was just being selfish to expect something like that. Maybe he didn’t deserve that at all. Maybe he really was no better than that ravenous beast, no matter how much of a good person he tried to be.
…MeQuot had only wanted to help.