K'akko snuffled the cool cave breeze with his nostrils. He growled and snapped his head, the arrow wound from the hunter still not healed. He was a Bugbear with respectable healing abilities, but the arrow had cleanly pierced his chest and caused great bleeding. He wouldn't fully heal for a few more weeks. The wound ached and itched below the tiny cloth that covered it.

It was a long walk from the lair to the entrance. Half an hour long, and nothing else to do in between. The cavity went deep into the mountain. He held his sword lazily, cursing the Vathýs Gérontas for assigning him to be a lookout. He also began to curse his conscious. At first, being something other than primal instincts was refreshing, new, and empowering. It granted him privileges for reproduction and he was allowed to hunt with a bow and sword; a scarce rarety in the clan's stockpile. But the novelty soon washed off, and the dreariness of it swept in. Responsibilities, life-threatening jobs, and tedious tasks that required a brain to function, but the lack of to enjoy. It became more of a chore than anything, his days being spent to construct some type of human-like buildings. K'akko did not see the wisdom in imitating his food.

A slight splashing of water caught K'akko’s tall, elf-like ears. More fish. I want human. The human flesh. It was my prey, mine! But Vathiá had to tell. They had. Not only was I punished, but my food! Taken! Hunting humans without permission were strictly forbidden. It was to preserve the safety of the lair or something, but K'akko knew it was nothing more than the old ramblings of the aging Vathiá. That's all he was, a Vathiá, the lowest of the Deep dwellers that resided within the underground and mountains, that happened to survive long enough to evolve into higher intelligence. By his orders, they were only allowed to hunt a few humans every so often, and never from the same village, as to not bring any attention to their settlement. Such things were quite beyond K'akko’s mind, thus his insubordination in excessively hunting humans. Even this tiring exercise was of his cowardice. For weeks they must waste their time walking down this cave, preparing for humans that will never come.

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Something sounded to the left of K'akko, in the far edges of darkness. K'akko instantly jumped back a half-step, placing his back to the edge of the river as he strained his eyes for any movement. His eyes pierced the darkness, but were lacking for the last few meters. He could not see the far side of the cave, but as his eyes were becoming more accustomed to seeing into the dark his vision increased.

Retreat if you see human? From punny human? K'akko snorted, tightening his hold on the rusting blade.

As his vision cleared, and the far edges of the cave wall were revealed, K'akko realized that there was nothing save for the bats above. He snarled, twitching his nose in annoyance. His shoulders slumped, and the sword fell back limply to his side.

Now ears play tricks. Make sounds to frighten me. To--

Something hooked and dug into his ankle below him. It hurled him back, dropping K'akko straight down, his yelp muffled by the rough stone ground. The fall flattened K'akko’s wide nose a couple degrees more, dazing him for the slight half-second it took for him to be pulled into the water.

He attempted to scream, but all his mouth found was fresh water. He opened his eyes and thrashed in panic, trying to reach out for something.

Something sharp pierced his right eye. He opened his mouth to scream, yet only more water forced its way down his throat. The long and pointy object jabbed his last remaining eye, blinding him. He flopped his limbs and threw his body all around, but his effort was wasted; the thing sticking to his back was immovable. All he could think of then, as he began to lose consciousness, was the stash of dried fish he had saved for a future date, a quirk that came with his most recent evolution.

I should ate it then, he bitterly thought to himself as his life faded.