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Spring - The last Snow - 1 (Going rogue)
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The injured Creature slid through the dense underbrush, as silent as a midnight's sigh, while the fading twilight of the evening provided added cover.
Each of its movements was one of absolute necessity, and every motion was weighted with pain - the grievous wound in its side oozing black blood. Never before had the Creature been hunted. It possessed the inherent ability to fade from sight if it chose to do so, and thus, it had never been hurt - and least of all as grave as this. When the Creature realized that its two antagonists were intent on its capture regardless of the cost, it had fought for its life, yet resistance had been futile. A strange and disabling tangle of emotion conflicted the Creature during this confrontation, feelings that tried to freeze it in its tracks and to make it cower down. Without knowing it, the Creature experienced true terror for the first time in its existence. It was a situation so utterly unfamiliar to the Creature that it saw no other solution than to utilize the first opportune moment and escape with a mad and frantic dash. After a while though, its strength drained during the harrowing flight, the Creature had to reign its panic in, and preserve what little stamina it had left to reach its intended refuge. Its two pursuers were still behind, still relentless on its trail without making any sounds, not even so much as a rustle of leaves, yet their presence was undeniable to its senses. They wanted something from it, the Creature knew, though it could not fathom their true intentions but for a sense of calculated determination.
The sparse evening sounds of early spring were drowned out by the sleet still raining down, yet the Creature was glad for the background noise that hid the infinitesimal disturbances its own movements made. It had nearly reached its destination, a place so saturated in ambient magic, that it was the reason it had been drawn to this plane and area in the first place. On the way here, the Creature had encountered these two utmost alien opponents, beings so unnatural to its strained senses, it was still shaken to its very core. The Creature, born from shadows and magic, had never felt fear before, but tonight it had tasted the cold horror of facing mortal peril. On and on it moved, driven by its need for survival, until it passed a threshold, at last, and arrived where it had wanted to go all along. To the Creature’s surprise, it found itself on the grounds of an old house, the windows lit and exuding warmth, welcome, and safety, something it had not anticipated but instinctively recognized. The air here was thick, soothing, and delicious with the flavour of magic, easing the ache in the Creature's essence and making the wound in its side tingle as though promising to mend.
The soft murmur of moving water greeted the Creature as it flowed still pained through the trees and bushes circling the grounds. Yet, as it drew closer, it paused, sensing something other lingering in the immediate sanctuary of the garden. Rustles and the faintest of whispers caught its attention, and through the foliage, it saw eyes at various places - dimly glowing, watching, assessing, silent. Other beings hid here, too, it realized, entities of magic and mystery, like itself. They appeared to have also been drawn to the power that emanated from the area and, even more so, from the house itself - something the Creature had not been able to distinguish before arriving. For the time being, the others were neither hostile nor inviting; they were simply there, as indifferent to him as he was to them. They acknowledged each other by presence only, a truce of shared disinterest rather than trust.
A gust of wind swept through the forest and sent the sleet pouring down on an almost horizontal path for a moment. As the Creature traced the moving current with its piercing gaze, it saw foreboding patterns in the weave which set its nerves alight; the tides in the magic announcing the immediate arrival of the two entities the Creature had fled from. The hunters were near, and coldness spread anew through its limbs. Before the dread could tighten its grip and weigh it down out in the open, the Creature’s eyes darted back to the house and got caught on the porch. Jerking movements replaced the Creature's otherwise almost elegant gliding as it hastened to get to safety, its instincts telling it to just reach the boundaries of the house. At last, it dragged itself under the wooden boards, and retreated into the shadows as far as possible while still being able to look out into the open. Tucked into the dark recesses, it crouched and pressed itself low to the ground, stifling its essence flows, hoping that all these measures might cloak it from discovery. The ground was damp, the air musty and filled with the faint odour of decaying leaves, and most important, the shadows were nigh impenetrable for most eyes. The crawl space was as perfect a hiding spot as one could find.
Then, from one second to another, all sound in the garden ceased, the only things that could still be heard were the icy rain and the soft babbling brook crossing the perimeter. It felt as if any and all beings held their collective breath - and the world itself did so with them.
Two figures clad in black human attire appeared between the trees, their steps as well as any other of their actions were carried out in perfect synchronicity, yet their execution was anything other but well-rounded. To the Creature’s eyes, they moved like some of these strange mechanical contraptions humans built. Every motion was somewhat jarring, as if their bodies were too angular and boxy for the two beings to handle, as if they were new to using them. Now able to take their appearance in, the Creature gained an even greater desire to keep as far away from those two as possible and in its aversion, it tried to retract its own body even further into itself. The two black clads searched around between the trees, clearly following the Creature’s path, and they noticed every minuscule whirl in the pattern it had left behind. In their hunt for clues and the Creature’s whereabouts, they came closer and closer to the house. Only a few meters of actual forest remained for them to cross through before they would stand in the garden proper. They were so near to the hidden space now, that the Creature was able to overhear their clipped and terse conversation, and was surprised that they would resort to the human language and form of communication. Same as with humans, it could not decipher the meaning of the words spoken, and yet it knew that the discerning element of human speech - the emotional inflection colouring the words, was missing. It had not thought it possible, but the two figures possessed something giving off an even greater impression of lifelessness than the mere sight of them, and this was their voices. The Creature would have just sunken straight into the earth if it could have done so - because try as they might to emulate two male humans, those two were anything but.
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“Target was close.”
“Pattern strands are cut off here.”
“Tracks cease at this point.”
“Further pursuit impossible.”
The two looked around, their postures shifting in concurrence and their heads aligning in perfect tandem. They took a few more simultaneous steps forward, each a perfect copy of the other, and the Creature jerked back in fear.
“Target apprehension failed.”
“Irrelevant, current Target non-critical to mission goal.”
“Target is an outlier, interloping on this plane.”
“Achieving mission progress takes precedence.”
“Intruder capture and elimination are mission subgoals.”
“Deprioritize. Erratic pattern activities obstruct clear action plans.”
The Creature shuddered in fear as it realized that the two still moved on a direct path towards its hiding spot while they conversed - but then they came to an abrupt halt, just before their feet touched the ground of the clearing that made up the house’s garden.
“Return to point of origin.”
“Strands faded, positive outcome unlikely.”
“Reanalyse for possible cause, then reevaluate.”
“Contact the Superior for Updates and Briefing?”
“Still negative, current analysis inadequate, insufficient confirmation.”
“Progressing with unsanctioned initiative might become unavoidable.”
“Affirmative. Updates should have arrived.”
“Carry on autonomously?”
“Searching files for phrasing of plane’s predominant race…”
The two black clad figures looked at each other, their bodies jerking slightly as if seeing each other for the first time. They angled their heads while still facing, and were a perfect mirror to one another.
“Going rogue.” they said in perfect unison, and an unholy imitation of smiling spread over their bland, indistinguishable features.
The Creature’s core froze at the sight, its dread increased to the immeasurable. It almost melted away with relief as the two black clads turned on their heels and vanished from sight back into the woods. After another moment, the quiet susurrus of nature’s background noises filtered in again, and all was as it should be. Pain pulsed through its side, an unerring reminder of the taxing experience and the long road to healing ahead. Yet here, under this strange house in this strange and potent area, the Creature sensed a glimpse of solace. Gradually, the tension in its essence began to ease, the ambient magic settling into its bones. The warmth from the house seemed to radiate through the ground floor, reaching its skin like the gentle touch of a distant memory. It closed its eyes, allowing that warmth to wash over it, letting it ease the pain just enough. Was this how sunlight felt on one’s skin?
In its exhaustion, the Creature drifted into a light doze, the sounds of the garden lulling it into a cautious rest. It sensed the others stirring in their various hiding places, all still vigilant, all still quiet. Registering no imminent danger, the Creature shifted slightly and opened its eyes as it heard movement behind, the gentle patter of soft paws touching down on the moist, earthen ground. Reflecting, slitted eyes came into view in the shadows beneath the porch, and a small carnivorous animal stepped slowly forward, its brightly coloured fur soaking wet. With apprehensive, yet deliberate steps, the little, furred being came closer to the Creature, obviously intent on just moving past to exit through the opening the Creature had used to enter the crawl space before. It wondered briefly that it had not been able to sense the other back there in the darkness, but seeing as it posed no danger, it discarded the thoughts. For a second, the animal halted in its tracks, gazing deeply into the Creatures eyes, and communicated a single human word the Creature could not understand. The moment passed, and the animal left the crawl space, but the Creature felt compelled to follow behind, as the other’s actions had sparked its curiosity. Gliding out into the open, it moved into the shadows provided by the large tree in the garden, and watched with interest while the small animal used wooden lattice work affixed to the house wall to climb all the way up to the roof. When it arrived at the top, it swiftly ran over to one of the softly lit windows, pacing up and down in front of it, emitting strange, low growls and grunts. Droplets sparkled in the light filtering out through the window as the small animal shook itself to get rid of the water in its fur.
The Creature couldn’t see the inhabitants, who were undoubtedly unaware of the various guests hiding on their grounds, but a presence, an aura of one who lived here, exuded a feeling of reassurance. It moved back under the porch, nestling down in an especially dark nook and closed its eyes again, allowing itself to rest in the sheltered feel and the house’s protective ambiance, preparing for whatever awaited beyond the night.
It had not understood what the animal had communicated, but the feeling that was conveyed alongside, the Creature recognized.
“Home,” it remembered the word, closing its eyes in content.
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