Hibiki quickly looked right back down, putting his hand over his mouth and quickly working on regulating his heart rate. He didn't want to risk it, possibly being able to hear his heart beating, if it could then this cavern would be his tomb. The creature descended with a surprising gracefulness that seemed unnatural for something over 40ft long. The creature, which he now could one hundred percent recognize as the elder Maius Reptans that the Luminare Reptans called Håßü, who was characterized by the many battle scars across its body and its luscious, white mane. Hibiki knew that this isn't how it sounded one to one but Hibiki attempted to match the sound closest to lettering from human languages but that was unimportant as he should probably focus more on surviving currently.
"Hello? Is anybody there" Håßü calls out, a perfect imitation of the male pilot's voice.
Hibiki stays silent, hoping that the creature will leave after getting no responses.
Håßü begins to pace around, sniffing around. Its giant maw was filled with giant dagger sized teeth and he knew that he couldn't fight an animal of this caliber, even with his trusty katana who he named 正宗(Masamune), which in itself was named after the legendary swordsmith Masamune. Its two giant arms carried its body high and proudly like a medieval king.
Håßü calls out once more. "Hello? Hey!" its voice is still completely accurate to the original.
Hibiki had begun to slowly leave, being careful as to not dare to make a sound. He already made one mistake, a second would make sure that the last thing he heard were the calls from an animal that sounded all too human.
Håßü continues to call out. "Hey! Who's there!" Håßü yells out before doing something unexpected. "Frank! Calm down, we gotta help the others!" It says in a distinctly female voice. "Not right now Lucy! We're not alone-" Håßü says, in the male's voice, who he now knew was named Frank, before breaking out into shrill screams and pleas for help which got increasingly more and more distorted before ending in complete silence.
Hibiki was completely confused by this solo performance before he realized something. Håßü was simply repeating what he heard from these two humans, Frank and Lucy, meaning he had heard their screams. Håßü wasn't saying random words, he was repeating the final words of his last two victims, a realization that caused Hibiki to break out into a cold sweat. This opened a pandora's box in Hibiki's mind, if Håßü was using human voices that means it recognized "whoa" as part of human language. Hibiki had made his second mistake and he wasn't already aware of it. Stressful and repulsive thoughts like thinking about the two humans this animal devoured, tends to cause one's heart to beat a bit too loud.
"Found you" Hibiki's voice calls out to him from right above him.
"SHIT SHIT SHIT! IT'S BEEN OVER A DAY AND A HALF!" Mohan exclaims, standing up from his seat. Everyone quite frankly was freaking out, Hibiki was missing and he still wasn't back. It was completely dark out and Hibiki could be anywhere.
Miku's heart froze. She was goofing off and didn't even bother to go out looking for Hibiki. She racked her mind for where he could be but that was like trying to find a book in the library during a thunderstorm, it was impossible.
"GUYS! Calm down! I think I know where he is!" Luh yells out, causing everyone to go silent.
"Where do you think he is?" Abel asks her.
"Well, he told me about this clearing on the cliff across from us. Maybe we can find some clues about him from there?" Luh suggests nervously.
Miku's eyes widened but not in happiness . . . but out of jealousy and surprise? Miku quickly shakes off these thoughts, Hibiki is the priority right now. "Ya! C'mon let's go now!" Miku says, shooting up from her seat and bolting out of the cottage. The others quickly run right behind her, Miku doesn't bother slowing down, leaving the others completely in the dust. She arrives at the cliff Luh was talking about and to her surprise, there was a hammock there along with a campfire. The others caught up to her quite a bit after.
"Calm down Miku," Mohan says panting, as he leans against a tree, completely out of breath.
"What's wrong unc, can't keep up-" Abel says with a grin before being clobbered by Elena. "Man I thought we stopped that-" Abel says, rubbing the back of his head.
"Did you find anything?" Elena asks Miku.
"I found his little campsite but not much else- " She says before being cut off by Luh.
"Guys! I found footprints! I think he went to the cavern!" She calls frantically.
"C'mon we gotta go before he gets himself killed!" Elena yells as everyone begins running to the cavern entrance, hoping that they weren't too late.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Hibiki looks right up to see Håßü looking down at him with what he could swear was a toothy grin but before he could even move, He feels something vibrate through his body. It felt like his organs were being shaken from the inside and then he heard it, a low and rumbling growl. It reminded him of the sounds Aramato Rege made but on a completely different scale. The rumble stops as it lunges down at him, Hibiki rolls out of the way just barely dodging the crashing giant. Håßü charges at him but Hibiki quickly draw 正宗(Masamune) and lodge it into its mouth which it slows it down for a second before it quickly spits it out and continues to chase after him. Hibiki ran as Håßü chased him by jumping from structure to structure, Håßü then let out another low rumble but of a different frequency this time. Just as it did, Hibiki is cornered by 5 Luminare Reptans. They quickly lunge at him but he slides under and then circles back, picking up 正宗(Masamune) and wielding it front of him. Håßü descends in front of him and then makes a sign with his hand, halting the Luminare Reptans. It sniffs the air, as if it could Hibiki's katana and then licks the roof his mouth where Hibiki had jammed 正宗(Masamune) into. It stops before barking orders at the Luminare Reptans, the 5 of them disperse, presumingly getting back up. Håßü sits in front of him, seemingly thinking before grabbing a large stick and using it to draw in the sand.
This immediately piqued Hibiki's interest, Håßü had done a complete 180. Hibiki's heartbeat slowed down as his fear was completely replaced with curiosity. Håßü draws a picture of 正宗(Masamune) and a stick person holding it. It continued to draw and then drew some more images which Hibki couldn't decipher the meaning of. After a bit of sitting on his own with Håßü, the Luminare Reptans return with the tribe of Perversi Viri he saw earlier following right behind him. One of the Perversi Viri, a large male, who was wearing a pelt of some animal, a necklace of what seemed to be teeth and a crown made of stone and sticks. He recognized that one as the leader that the other Perversi Viri had called Æøxç§. It looked at Håßü and the two communicated, Håßü pointed at 正宗(Masamune) and then at the roof of his mouth where Hibiki had stabbed him. Æøxç§ lets out a wheezing and dry chortle which causes Håßü to growl at him and Æøxç§ stops and they get back to communicating with one another. After a bit, the two of them motion Hibiki to follow them. He nods, grabbing 正宗(Masamune) and following close behind them, being surrounded by at least 30 Perversi Viri on one side and 15 Luminare Reptans on the other. The group traveled through the cave until they reached a giant wall, Håßü let out a rumbling growl which caused the gates to be opened. Hibiki was practically bouncing with excitement, he was going to be the first witness of a non-human civilization.
Meanwhile, Miku bursts out from the same tunnel Hibiki had taken to enter the cavern with the others right behind her. As she enters the expanse of the Smoky Forest, her eyes immediately begin to burn and water from the awful smell of burning and rotting flesh.
"What the hell is that smell?" Luh says before coughing violently, covering her mouth and nose from the vile odor.
"Almost smells as bad as New Delhi-" Abel says with a loud laugh before breaking out into a cough due to breathing in the smell.
Elena and Miku quickly forge ahead, with the others right behind them.
"Well now we know where that terrible smell is coming from" Elena says, looking around the burning corpses of various sized flesh spires.
"You think Hibiki did this?" Luh asks.
"Nah, I don't think so. How would he get in range without getting infected?" Mohan says.
"Well who or what could've done it then-" Abel says before Elena cuts him off.
"I found some footprints. They seem to be from those wrinkly humans that attacked us and the tree crawlers" Elena says, squinting her eyes as the others gather around her.
"Ya looks like that, so did they do it then?" Luh says, her eyebrows furrowing with confusion.
"Well probably?" Elena says with a shrug before Miku yells at them from the top of a structure by the underground lakeshore.
"GUYS! I SEE SOMETHING, IT'S A WALL OR SOMETHING!" Miku yells, pointing north-west. The others nod and quickly follow her as she dashes towards the walls. After roughly 10 minutes the group arrives at the walled settlement and Miku promptly dashes through and destroys the wooden gate. Groups of Perversi Viri of varying age ranges and Luminare Reptans quickly climb back up to their homes in the trees. Luh walks in behind Miku, admiring the small alien village. Miku doesn't bother to look around and quickly struts her way to a large building, the others follow closely behind with Luh and Mohan in the middle while Elena and Abel stay at the back. Abel and Elena whispered to each other, surprised that the Perversi Viri hadn't attacked them yet considering what happened last time.
Miku busts down the door of the main building which she was now dead set on calling The Citadel and her jaw drops as she sees HIBIKI having a cup of some drink and writing on paper to a giant Greater tree crawler and a tall Perversi Viri with animal pelt clothing and some type of crown.
"Uh hey guys" Hibiki says nervously, a shocked expression on his face.
After a bit of explaining, Hibiki explains everything that he saw and everything that happened while he was out.
"So you saw these guys burning down the flesh spires, then you got caught and now they want you to help them make swords like yours" Mohan repeats, his forehead scrunching up as he processes the information.
"Pretty much" Hibiki confirms with a nod.
"How the fuck do we know we can trust these things" Luh says, motioning to the two alien chiefs.
"Well, I think we have a common enemy which is the flesh spires. From what they've told me, some of their kind has been infected which is why they grouped up together." Hibiki elaborates, handing the group the paper that he used to communicate with the two aliens, there were various drawings of aliens, infected aliens, fire and swords. But there was something that Abel caught onto on the paper.
"Hey isn't that fish one of the ones that we took on a sample onto the ship before it took off without us" He says, pointing at a picture of a small fish with an arrow like body shape which then makes an arrow to a flesh spire.
"Wait what" Hibiki says, taking the paper as his eyes widen slightly.
"What's wrong?" Miku asks everyone, confused by the whole situation.
"That fish is the larval form of Odientem Carnem, meaning its now on earth" Hibiki says, his voice low and nervous.