Chapter 11: Xin-ta

With a hard thump, the rock hit the ground just behind Elaine. She froze, her hands slowly lowering to her sides as she took in the sight before her.

An animal? Was it an animal? It didn’t look like any primate she’d ever seen… but wow.

Her thoughts raced as she scanned the ground for a stick, something to prod the strange, bipedal creature. But as she considered it, she hesitated. Those edges looked sharp. Maybe poking wasn’t the best idea.

With quick, precise movements of her clawed nails, she stripped away the outer layer of bark. A slight tension tugged at the tips of her fingers, but she ignored it, focusing on the task. She worked diligently, smoothing a good four inches of the wood, clearing it of its razor-sharp bark.

Satisfied with her work, she examined the smoothed stick, admiring how much she had accomplished in such a short time. Stick in hand, she moved back to the creature, the one that had tried to lift itself from the ground when she had rounded the rock earlier. A smile crept across her face as she approached.

She paused, watching the rise and fall of its shoulders, faint signs of breathing breaking the stillness. This was her first live inspection, and she wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to learn something new from a creature that was still alive.

There was a difference between dissection and observation, she reminded herself. Dissection would reveal its adaptations and biological phenomena, but observation would uncover its behavior and habits. Both were important. Still, a nagging thought lingered in the back of her mind: if there was one, there could be more.

A chill ran up her spine as she slowly turned back to the blackened, charred body of the creature that had attacked her hours ago.

“I really don’t want to think there are more of those…” she whispered, her voice barely audible. Turning her attention back to the creature on the ground, she quickly regretted taking her eyes off it.

Its hand moved, a clawed, slightly trembling hand, and its sharp features twisted as it spoke clearly concentrating on something.

"Sha'ku xir-anri!"

The voice was feminine but alien, and Elaine’s heart skipped a beat. The creature’s left hand rotated, palm forward, making a counterclockwise motion before sweeping toward the center.

Elaine barely had time to react. The creature’s veins lit up, glowing brightly for a brief moment before a powerful force struck her. It was as if a gale-force wind had slammed into her chest, sending her flying backward.

She hit the ground hard, rolling slightly before coming to a stop about ten paces away.

Fucking hell. I wanted to see its behavior, not experience them! Elaine cursed inwardly as she pulled herself up onto her hands and knees, her gaze snapping back to the creature, who was also struggling to rise, albeit with some difficulty.

“That’s what you get for not making sure it was dead…” Sera’s groggy voice echoed inside her head.

Well, I don’t want to kill everything that moves! Elaine protested, flustered that she had been so easily caught off guard. Huffing, she reached for the stick she had prepared, though her mind was already drifting to a more pressing issue. Hells! Where… oh, I left those—God, I forgot my kicks!

“And…” Sera strained, clearly still recovering. “That’s what you’re worried about right now?”

Elaine pouted. You’re right… of course.

Before she could dwell on it further, the strange female-like creature spoke.

"Zra’xir to?" It slowly reached behind its back, its posture tense. "Zra’xir f’loran-to?" it asked again, impatience creeping into its tone.

Elaine hesitated, unsure of how to respond. Moving cautiously, she set the stick down in front of her, trying to appear non-threatening. Her eyes studied the other female of its species more closely.

Its skin was tough-looking, a deep tan that faded into blackened, hardened patches. Fur started at its thick eyebrows and led into a messy mane of brown hair. Where Elaine would expect human ears, she instead saw sharp, thinner ones tapering to a point. The fur along its face was symmetrical, running down its high cheekbones in a pattern that made it look almost regal.

As Elaine’s gaze traveled downward, she took in the creature’s neck, blackened, ridged, and covered in bony protrusions. Tufts of hair sprouted between the segments, giving the appearance of an external ribcage. Does it go all the way around? she wondered. Unfortunately, the leather and fur clothing concealed most of its body, leaving only its face, neck, and a small portion of its…

“Yeah… hers are bigger.” Sera snickered. “It is a her, right?” She paused. “I mean, I am no expert. I was born, what, a few days ago? I could be wrong.”

Elaine’s face burned. You didn’t have to point it out! And yes… I believe it is female. She grumbled, sighing aloud.

The creature flinched at the sudden noise, its grip tightening around something. Elaine’s stomach dropped as she watched it draw a sharp flint dagger from its back.

Fuck… umm, Sera? I don’t know what to do!

The creature spoke again, its voice sharper now.

"Zra’xir f’loran-to?" It rose to its feet slowly, never breaking eye contact. "Xir-no sha’tor-ha, N’haak? Xir tha’lor ami." It paused for a moment, then repeated itself, louder this time, enunciating every syllable.

"KHEER-no SHA-tor-ha, N'HAHK? KHEER THAH-lohr AH-mee."

Elaine could see it trying to communicate, but the words meant nothing to her. Shit, shit, shit… okay, calm down. Basic field training when handling animals that are aggressive… yet… shes intelligent so this might work. She thought quickly

Taking a deep breath, she pointed at herself. "I… umm… Elaine," she said, tapping her chest. Then, carefully, she pointed at the bipedal creature before her with her clawed blackened hand with its claw tip pointing. "You?"

The creature tilted its head slightly. Almost ready to lunge forward.

Elaine repeated herself. "Elaine." She pointed at the woman again, keeping her movements slow and deliberate.

Inside, her mind was screaming. Holy shit! First contact, nerds! She could practically see the scholars and conspiracy theorists back home killing each other for this opportunity.

Still, her training kept her grounded. She made no sudden moves, no outward signs of aggression. Whatever this thing was, it wasn’t just an animal. It had intelligence.

“Yeah… but this alien has a knife,” Sera muttered darkly.

Elaine swallowed. Noted.

Meanwhile, Sera, despite her exhaustion, finally noticed Zeraphine lying unconscious within the soul space. What… did you do? she asked, but got no response. Frowning, she moved the unconscious archangel to rest within the immaterial fluff before turning her attention back to the increasingly awkward first contact unfolding before them.

The bipedal creature seemed to take a moment to process what Elaine was doing. Then, with a slight nod, it tapped its own chest.

"Ami’za Xin-Ta Krol’ten, sha’fren," it stated proudly. Then, raising its arm, it repeated: “Xin-Ta.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

It turned its sharp gaze back to Elaine, pointing a clawed finger at her.

“E-la’in.”

Then, slowly, it sheathed its dagger into a hide scabbard on its back.

A sign of trust.

Elaine felt a wave of excitement surge through her. She grinned and attempted to repeat the name.

"Zah… she… ta?" she said, stumbling over the pronunciation. To her, it sounded close enough. “Zah’sh’ta… no that’s not right…” she pondered as she thought about how the creatures lips moved when it said it. Her training at college helped when coming to notice the small things that animals did. It was really just another part of her job, and yet. This creature didn’t have jowls, but lips… so this shouldn’t be too hard. “Xenta.” She said at last.

The creature known as Xin-ta, smiled too. It seemed that this monster wasn’t that stupid after all. That’s when she pointed at the charred corpse, "Xir-lok sha’Nhaak Tor’Zri?" she asked gesturing at the creature then started to move towards it slowly keeping the one known as E’lain in her sight. She was still warry of the winged monsters and made sure to keep a eye out for them too, but this one seemed to have the same features, but was flightless.

Elaine followed keeping the same distance between the two. She didn’t know what she said, but got the meaning when Xin-ta pointed at it. She followed suit through the moon lit forest towards the charred remains of the nightmare like creature. In her mind it got what it deserved… though she really didn’t want to get that close to it, and yet the other bipedal creature had no qualms with it. Was she some sort of apex hunter? But with that weapon how would it even cut?

That’s when she remembered the movements of its hand and the effect that it had against her body. That creature had summoned something and hit her like a battering ram… her chest still hurt. Hell most of her body still was nothing but aches and pains. Her shoulder hurt, her left side was still cut up… her back still in shreds and now she had bruises everywhere. Not to mention her clothing was in tatters from all the constant running through the woods that she had just done not too long ago.

She watched the curious creature before her pull out its knife again and then started to cut into the abdomen of the nightmare like creature. Her thoughts going back to the phenomenon that the nightmare had used and that Xin-ta used. Where they the same? She thought as she watched Xin-ta reach her arm inside the incision and push upwards, making small sickly sounds as ichor and burnt flesh seeped through the cut that she had made.

“You know… if you could keep it talking, I might be able to figure out what it is saying. There are words and phrases it keeps repeating from time to time. For instance, Xir… I believe that means you.” sera said watching what the creature was doing to its kill. She better not be taking any trophy… that kill is mine. She fumed irritation in her thoughts to the point that even Elaine could feel that she was mad about something.

Elaine ignored that… know that Sera wasn’t mad about what she was saying but probably some sort of internal monolog. She knew now that the angels in her head could communicate without her knowing, and that their thoughts were private where hers was not. Can you really do that? And were they using some sort of magic? I remember that god had mentioned something about that… but didn’t answer it either. If I remember all he said was… “Indeed”… so does magic actually exist?

Her thoughts were interrupted with a sucking plop sound. She watched as the female creature pulled its arm out with a grunt of effort. The smell of ichor almost made Elaine gag… but she kept it down turning her head away slightly coughing. What the hell did this thing eat to smell that bad! She coughed a bit more, until she realized that Xin-ta moved quickly away from the Nightmare. She did the same and then she heard Xin-ta exhale a long held breath. She made a movement with her hand infront of her nose as if saying it was smelly, then made a face that looked like a frat girl hugging a toilet.

Elaine couldn’t help herself. She actually laughed, and so did the other female, which surprised her. She hadn’t realized that when they had moved away from the psychologically damaging creature, that still made her shiver with the thought of it, that they had come within feet of each other.

It became awkward fast.

“Umm… I’m going to speak a lot of words and hopefully you make a whole bunch of words too. The angels in my head want to try to decipher your language… ummm Xir Xenta.” She said trying to mimic the accent and the word that Seraphion had said before. Elaine had once tried to learn a second language, it usually helped when in the field with others and from other backgrounds… but she really had no talent for it. A second language was beyond her.

Though to her surprise Xin-ta smiled again then whipped the blade on some nearby large vegetation before putting it back in its sheath. She held out her hand to Elaine. "Sha'tek f'loran xir'ta, E'lain." Then she waited. Making urging hands with her open palm.

“I think she wants you to hold out your hand… there is that xir again.. but this time with tah… maybe… your? Could be something else…” she murmured… “Oh and yes both that creature and this one gathered mana from the surrounding area and used it to create different effects. I do not know how they do it though.” She said as she went back to her murmurings.

Elaine did just that holding her hand out. MAGIC IS REAL!!! Wow what person on Earth never once thought how cool it would be to use magic?! I wonder if I can do it I mea---…

“Yup… That is a heart.” Sera pointed out.

Elaine looked down at the heart, it was a bit larger than what she had thought that the nightmare creature would have had. She wondered briefly at why Xin-ta had gave it to her in the first place, but that was second thought as she roatated the damaged heart in her hands looking at closely. She noted that it had … wait it had five chambers? That’s not right. Ther e is the right and left atria and then right and left ventricles… what the hell was this other one at its center?

She took her clawed index finger on her right hand holding the heart in her left and started to make an incision at right atrium, her claw did the work easily. She sat on the ground forgetting that she was sitting here in the middle of the night with the moonlight pouring from the forested rooftop surrounded by god knows what in front of a creature that probably had meant to kill her at some point, but at this moment she fell into the rhythm of dissecting the heart. Her love for the unknown drawing all her attention.

“So the right atrium is correct… I see its attached to the right ventricle and even the tricuspid valve is correctly placed.” She had almost cut the whole heart in half at this point leaving the center mass alone, “Could this be some sort of tumor? I see that its heart is quite the same as any many other species…. Superior vena cava… inferior vena cava… pulmonary artery… pulmonary vein… aorta…. So this must be a tumor… everything else is correct.” She spewed thinking aloud as her hands were covered in drying blood and bits of the heart under her already super dirty nails. Elaine really hadn’t mattered much to others what she looked like, as long as she was presentable.

Xin-ta… could only watch this strange monster cut and open up the heart that she had dug out of the magic demon. She had wanted to give it to her as a gift to show a sign of respect at the kill, but instead it seemed like it was lost in thought. She reached behind her back touching the bone handle of her knife she had made…

Shora… xa’to-lor. Vek’xir no-tha sha’fren’tor… it thought. Smiling briefly. It instead letting its fingers glide along the handle before she knelt down bouncing on her heels of her leather covered feat. Zra’xa sha’lor? She thought once more as she scratched her head at the thoughts of this creature doing weird things. She half expected it to drop it, or eat it… either she could accept.

"Zra’xir sha’lor?" She asked curiously.

Elaine paused for a moment startled at the sudden sound from Xin-ta. She had almost forgotten that she had even existed. Her lizard brain only focusing on one thing at a time. Everyone says that woman can multitask, but she had guessed that that gene had skipped over her.

“Umm this.” She said pointing at the mass in the middle of the heart.

"Ozh... xa’to Zri’fex." She said pointing at it. “Zri’fex.” She repeated again giving the word for the mass in the center. That’s when Elaine got the bright idea finally.

She pointed to the aorta.

"Tor’fex." She responded

Elaine pointed at the left ventricle.

"Tor’fex." She responded again.

Elaine frowned. “Left Ventricle.” She said…

"Tor’fex!” Xin-ta exclaimed then pointed at each part of the heart saying the same word over and over. And elaine identified each part in a different word. The only time that the word had changed was when she pointed at the center mass. “Zri’fex!” she exclaimed becoming irritated at the E’lain.

“Maybe… that’s just it… they have not identified all the parts of the heart, so its just tor’fex to them.” Sera stated. “And the Zri’fex is the only special thing about the tor’fex.”

Elaine sighed as she shrugged… she heard the word enough and motioned over all the heart… “Tor’fex…” then pointed to the middle “Zri’fex…” she sighed… knowing full well that each part had another name. Maybe I can teach it real words…

“It is using real words…” Sera stated sitting next to Zee on the fluff that was nothing and something at the same time. Sera had no idea how Zee had made it, but it was comfortable.

“Just not your words.” She couldn’t help but smile at the interaction between Xin-ta and Elaine, this was the best comedy she had ever seen. Well maybe not the only one… there was the one time when Kenediel had grabbed the other arch angel against her will spiriting her away.

“Ugh… fine.” She used her claw and dug the mass out of the heart… fed up with the situation that she had encountered… Xenta you uncultured lout… she thought as her claw hit something solid. A small cracking sound could be heard.

Xin-ta’s eyes grew wide and she flung herself backwards away from the E’lain. Covering her head.

Sera saw this and grew worried quickly. “THROW IT ELAINE!” she commanded.

And she obeyed not questioning the actions of Xin-ta or the command of Seraphion. She threw the bisected chunk of meat towards the largish rock that she had dug underneath. Her eyes grew wide as Xin-ta saw what Elaine had done, quickly rushing over and pushing her to the ground as well.

There was a rush of sound as the meat hit the top of the rock before sliding down to the backside of the rock. It felt as if all the air was being sucked towards it. The sound of wind whipped past them and then rushed back outwards, though this time it came with a thundering explosion and fire that nearly curved around the rock, thankfully Elaine in her desperate throw had managed to clear the rock that was a few dozen feet away. Else that could have been bad. Like really bad.

That’s when she felt Xin-ta pop her on the back of her head.

“ZIR’FEX!” she said angerly at the E’lain. And then pushed herself off the top of her. She sighed and started to laugh. Never once had she met such a strange creature here that was this stupid…