Strength is good because it is our purpose to oppose all of the Falsescaled. Even after their extinction they seek to destroy and desecrate everything. Exterminate them all.

-From Vocationals: 1:6-8

“Ah, the runt…” One-eye growled.

Runt? Runt?! She snarled at him. No, it.

Not a person. Not an animal. A monster!

Rage boiled inside the neonate, and she almost lost control and lashed out with no plan. Her knuckles popped as she gripped her new knife tight.

One-eye’s pattern filled with a smug orange as it lifted something to its mouth, taking a bloody bite, and it was only then she noticed what it was. It was the bloody tatters of a hatchling’s arm. Well-muscled. Most likely from an apex competitor. One of the others.

The monster drooled foamy spittle onto the ground as it snarled at her, chewing, chunks falling out of its mouth.

Wasteful.

She stared in horror at the once broodmate’s meal, then she snarled again, hissing even louder. They were not supposed to directly kill. That was part of the trial.

The monster threw the arm at her.

It smacked her in the face, spattering blood over her shoulder and tail as the elbow bent.

Danger!

She dove to the side, rolling.

The male sailed over her once more with snapping jaws. Growling with frustration it twisted wildly when it saw she was out of reach. Trying to grab her. She tossed the meat away from her as lightning flashed and thunder snarled. Her nose wrinkling.

One eye reeked of decay and death. Of infection. And something else, something musky, almost barbed in its stench. Like it stuck into her nostrils and would tear flesh if forced out. The same stench that drove her mad from before. Confirming he was the monster, as if she needed it.

Lightning lanced across the sky, painting One-eye’s grotesque form in saturated detail for a moment, crimson with blood that could not be its own.

The illumination showed that One-eye was malformed, mutated into something more bestial, more primal. It was an insult to what a Greenscale should be.

It looked horrible. Wriggling maggoty pus spattered into the mud almost constantly from its empty socket, memento of their last dispute. Its jaw was distended, its chipped teeth and claws elongated and serrated. Cuts, both old and new, oozed all over its body.

Now that she saw it, it didn’t really look like One-eye to her. Not even just a monster.

A demon.

Falsescale corruption. One-eye is gone. Her Instinct growled quietly from her narrowing eyes. It looked like the monster was almost twice her weight in muscle and bone.

It can kill you easily.

The bag behind her flared and sparked with azure light from where it rested on the tattered clothes. It gave momentary glimpses of the full horror of its visage.

One-eye was suddenly next to her, as if it hadn’t needed to bother with the space between them.

Too fast! No time to react.

Its fist slammed into her stomach with enough force to make her vomit up the dried meat she had taken from Tok. She fell to her knees, the bile burning the back of her throat.

“Time to repay you for my eye…” Its voice was low, full of menace.

She tried to get up. Had to use the knife! Cull it! Fight!

Live!

“Do you know what this wound did to me?” It gnashed.

The neonate lifted her arms to protect herself as it punctuated the question with a swift kick that made her squeal in pain and slide through the mud along the ground. Trading cuts on her forearms to protect her core.

Bouncing twice she felt the knife slip out of her hand, sailing off into the dark.

Damnit!

U-use its anger… It is distracted. Her Instinct’s tone was frantic, but clear. Determined.

The neonate scrambled away from the still flickering magic bag. She needed to get away from the light, to blend into the dark and catch her breath. To try and find her blade.

“Oh no you don’t!” One-eye screeched.

It rushed forward, snarling, but it was a moment too late. Its claws slashed through thin air as she melded into the darkness. Only missing by inches. It seemed it wasn’t done its tirade.

“My head aches constantly!” It snarled, spinning in place, and swiping again, but she had slunk away in the dark. “You put the voices in there… all the terrible voices… the ravenous voices!” It snarled going down onto all fours, its tongue flicking out as it searched for her. “They gave me the power to cull you from the brood though…”

Got to get away! Get to Tok! This wouldn’t be interference.

The neonate wanted to scream for him, to tell him she had found the monster. But if she did, One-eye would hear and find her and kill her. If only she still had that black blade. She would have to manage without.

Kill.

Yes.

She got to the edge of the nesting area, where she had hidden from One-eye as a hatchling, so very long ago. It looked up from where it was smelling.

Lightning flashed, and its head snapped towards the neonate, staring eye glaring right at her.

Shit!

It rushed her, spittle and wriggling pus spattering the ground.

Fear overtook her anger.

She bared her teeth.

No! I won’t let it control me!

Fight!

Her forebrain smashed the fear down under the determination to Live! To Survive!

The neonate just barely sidestepped the snapping jaws. Rolling away from its grasping claws. She slashed with her own, her technique far more polished than its from watching Slash. She scored a fine set of cuts on its shoulder, though none were deep enough to stop it.

“You made me into this! This is all your fault!” It shrieked, slashing again, its arm a blur.

Lightning flashed in the night letting her see it clearly.

Ferns and saplings falling as they were neatly sliced by its razor-sharp claws.

She ducked under its assault. Stepping into its reach to confuse it and get behind it, she traded a faster escape for a more agile one.

She wouldn’t be able to outrun it anyway, and she needed to see the attacks as they came. She tried to slash at it with her claws again, but it easily pulled back out of her reach.

One-eye spun!

Thwack!

Its powerful tail knocked her aside, and she only barely managed to keep on her feet as her vision flickered.

Use its anger! Her Instinct insisted, helping her not lose consciousness.

It wants to talk, fine. She would tear it apart in any way she could. Even with words if that’s all she could manage. Maybe if she bought enough time Tok would arrive, cull the defective thing from the brood.

Don’t rely on that!

She wouldn’t, but she could hope.

“Your actions are your own!” She shouted, her voice sounding childish compared to its. A fly’s wing beats against a gale. She didn’t care. “You have gone mad. Mutation!” She avoided a piercing thrust of its claws, “Cannibal!” She jumped back from a kick, “Defective-offspring!”

“You cursed me with your blight!” it snarled, and she had to clumsily jump over a sweep of its tail or be knocked down. Its pattern flickered through several spiraling colors. Vibrant, bright, wrong.

“Curse of magic or damnation from the gods I don’t care. You’ve failed.” She filled her words with prefixes of scorn, disgust, and worst of all, pity. Her Instinct helped her choose.

It worked like a charm.

It roared. Corded muscles bunching as it lashed out like a beast.

She was expecting it now though.

At the last possible moment she dove to the side, scrambling around the trunk of a tree. Climbing as fast as she could.

Higher! Come on!

She snarled through the pain as her blisters popped, not letting herself stop until she was up in the true canopy. As high as she could go.

She ran along a branch as the male raged behind her, spouting gibberish and denials in turns. She spotted a perpendicular branch up ahead, lower than her current one, and readied herself to jump to it.

Move in an unexpected direction to try and lose it. She panted as she forced herself to run even faster, not paying attention to the drop, just the destination. She leaped.

Now to hide and plan my next mo-

Lightning flashed again and thunder cracked, and she was lit up mid jump.

Fuck!

She landed on the branch and she could feel it gaining on her, the new branch bouncing with its weight mere seconds after she landed.

Keep going!

She took an easier jump right after to yet another tree, still running as thunder rolled across the swamp, drowning out all but its hate filled words.

Don’t look back. Eyes forward! Her Instinct berated her as she was about to check again.

She climbed higher, and winced as she felt its claws nick the tip of her tail. She could feel the blood dripping, but she kept going, leaping out to catch a parallel branch to her left. She hoped that it would be too slender a branch to hold One-eye’s weight.

It cracked as she grabbed hold, dropping an inch or two lower. She hauled herself atop it and ran towards the trunk of the tree.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Crackle!

It sunk farther.

Not again! Go!

She pumped her legs, gasping, running as fast as she could. It groaned like a wounded animal, the droop growing as it did.

Faster!

She leaped!

Pop!

The branch fell away beneath her, but she grabbed hold of the trunk.

She looked behind her and saw One-eye raging there at the jagged break of the tree limb.

It snarled, looking for a way to get to her, having to drop down even lower to try and cross over. Her mind raced as she tried to get space between her and her assailant, scrambling up the trunk and back into the branches.

She finally managed to break line of sight, leaping again and grabbing a vine to swing around a different tree. Landing firmly.

Lightning split the sky right after, as if to emphasize how close it had been.

She slowed her movements, listening for the monster.

Should I double back to confuse it?

Maybe ambush. Her Instinct snarled.

Thunder rumbled.

She crawled back the way she had come, melding her pattern to the bark, laying flat and crawling hand over hand on her belly like a serpent.

She didn’t want her silhouette to stand out, but it was miserable exposing so much of herself to the chilling rain.

Tough shit. Bask when you’re dead.

One-eye’s tirade of profanity and gibberish suddenly cut off.

She couldn’t figure out its location now.

Stay unpredictable.

What would be unpredictable?

The ground.

She moved as quickly as she could while still maintaining absolute silence, and she could feel her heart pounding against her ribs. It was agonizing to take so long, but this was what felt right.

Ambush.

Slow.

Methodical.

With the promise of a sudden burst of energy at the end. She placed her feet on muddy soil once more. Lightning flared in the heavens, but the leaves and dense foliage made weird shadows and patches of darkness.

Disorienting.

Shit! Where am I?

She cursed her luck and started to try and orient herself. She backed into a dense patch of bushes and vines, blending in with them. Using the tight grouping of foliage to hide her outline, knowing she didn’t have long.

Her foot got snagged by a vine in the dark and she fell with enough noise to wake a stone as twigs snapped and dead leaves crunched.

Cursing, she scrambled deeper into the grove of bushes, uncaring of the racket.

Snap crackle crack crunch!

She could hear the monster closing in. Smashing its way through.

The stiff branches and leaves of the shrubbery scratched her scales, and she had to contort herself to get even deeper, squeezing through a tiny gap. It was just in time.

One-eye burst out of the undergrowth in a shower of vegitation, snarling.

It spotted her and rushed forward, trying to squeeze behind her, getting stuck.

With a hiss she kicked the monster in the face, making it squeal, disgusted by the wriggling grubs that spattered onto her foot. Kicking them away as the beast pulled back.

“That’s right prey, hide! Make my hunt entertaining.” Its prefixes were grotesquely amused.

It couldn’t get in though. She sighed in relief and moved back deeper. There was no way the Provider hadn’t heard this conflict. And she was out of reach.

Safe finall-

Crash!

Its claw burst through the dead vines above her.

She yelped, hot pain zipping along her muzzle, blood welling up immediately as the serrated claw scraped her skull, marking it forever.

Run! Her Instinct filled her legs and scrambled with them.

Its arm pulled out of the hole, and a lingering flicker of lightning lit up its one working eye as it looked in while she backpedaled wildly.

She was trapped in this constricting mess. One-eye’s claws making it feel like the vines were closing in!

Have to get out! Space! Freedom!

Another claw burst through, then another, and another! Each time she managed to keep moving, though she was collecting more and more bleeding wounds.

She snapped at them once, scraping along its palm and knuckles with her teeth only to have to yank her neck out of a choking grip.

“Good! Good! This is helping me work up an appetite.” One-eye snarled with sickening glee. “The voices tell me the headaches will go away when I eat your eyes.”

Have to run! Have to flee!

Thorns added to her growing list of injuries, and she snarled in terror, still defiant, but at her breaking point.

Her back pressed against the trunk of a long dead tree. She looked around, and saw that there was a way out, but she would have to squeeze. It would slow her down.

She didn’t have time.

Adapt! Survive! Fight!

Its hand burst through again, its claws raking her chest painfully. “I smell your blood! If I drink it the voices will go away!” It pressed against the thorns, uncaring as they tore into its shoulder.

She slashed with her claws but it almost got a hold of her wrist when she did. She curled away from it, almost out of reach.

Almost.

It redoubled its efforts, hissing at her. It tried another angle, and then another. It was going to get her unless she did something!

There is a pattern to the strikes! Focus! Find a way to Adapt!

She could see that, but she needed a weapon! Eyes roving with the mania of panic, she spotted a jagged stone.

She grabbed it and dodged the next attack, ramming it into the gap as hard as she could at the same time.

Like the egg!

She put her whole body into the jab, planting her hind legs and tail. Shoving like she was trying to lift the stone and the thorns over her head.

One-eye squealed in pain and rage.

Hot blood that wasn’t hers coated her.

The stone wedged, but she kicked it deeper for good measure. Blood rained down as One-eye screeched into the night.

Not waiting, she dove for the tiny exit, her top half slipping out before she got stuck. The neonate squeezed, strained, and couldn’t budge.

“Runt! Bitch! I’ll make you watch as I eat your liver!” She could hear the thicket shaking with the monster’s rage.

Come on! She wiggled, sliding through one tight spot only to get stuck in another.

Live!

She wrenched her own body, and finally slipped out! Her scales were scraped almost raw. There was a flickering light, not in the sky, but on the ground. Blue.

The bag!

Somehow, they had gone in a complete circle.

Now knowing where she was, she started to sprint back towards Tok’s shelter.

“Help! Murder! Monster! Provi-”

Thwack!

Something hard hit her shoulder, and she squealed in agony.

The pain of the injury she had done to herself spying on Ropemaker flaring up. She splashed as she fell into the mud, panting. She saw the stone she had used in the flickering blue light. It was drenched in blood. One-eye had thrown it at her.

My back isn’t bleeding…

Get up! It’s coming!

She rolled over, so full of pain, feeling helpless, seeing One-eye getting slowly closer.

Why slowly?

Live!

Lightning flashed.

Its one arm terminated in a bloody stump now. Why-?

It chewed off its own hand!

Sacrifice.

“Now you die…” it hissed, panting. Pain and insanity twisted its face into a mask from her nightmares. She tried to get up and fell back down. Her shoulder screamed with pain, her mind dizzy with it.

No, not like this.

It was the worst outcome.

No more…

Part of her wanted to just give up, to just stop trying and give in.

I’m so tired.

She was the runt, she should just be culled out of the bloodline for the good of the brood.

SURVIVE!

The voice was loud, painfully so, dripping with scorn. She kept backing away, finding the stone again and throwing it, aiming for One-eye’s drooling mouth.

It bounced harmlessly off of One-eye’s chest, and it snarled at her, picking up its pace, cradling its stump.

She forced herself to move, crawling, fighting for the next moment again, and again, and again. Clinging to life, to hope, even though she thought there wasn’t any left to hold on to. She clung anyway.

I won’t die here!

Her hand came down on something smooth.

Wrapped in leather.

Reassuring.

The dagger.

The dagger!

Murder! Her Instinct snarled with glee.

She roared in defiance, gripping the matte black blade tightly in one hand. Whipping around she slashed at One-eye as it came up behind her. There was only an instant of resistance telling her she had scored a hit. The male hissed and backed away from her. Its remaining hand went to its stomach, the blood black in the blue flickering light of the bag, spattering into the mud.

Thunder echoed in the distance.

She staggered to her feet, holding the blade out in front of her. She glared at it.

“My turn.” She hissed.

It is blind on one side. Her Instinct coached and she circled towards that side, forcing One-eye to turn.

It lunged and she slashed again, making it dodge back. She could see that their reach was almost equal now.

She flicked her new blade back and forth. Getting a feel for it. Something about it was intuitive to her. Like her claws, almost.

It can slash, it can stab, and it can bludgeon. Her Instinct hissed, pulling her eyes to the pommel.

The blade leveled the playing field, a cold death that was light in her hand. Thunder rumbled constantly in the distance, the lightning too far away to see. She glanced at the ground then shifted again, backing away from it, needing to rile it up.

“You hunt like a runt… I will cull you from the brood.” She hissed.

She kept moving, and had to dodge back and to the side as it slashed then tried to sweep her feet out from under her with its tail, snarling and ranting again.

“I will eat your marrow! Your liver! I will rip out that tongue and savor the seasoning that is your lies!”

This conversation, all the talking, felt unnatural. Pointless. She wanted to stay silent. But she needed to keep it distracted, angry, for her plan to work.

“Look at you, hanging on by a thread, against the smallest of us.” She hissed in pain as it scored another cut on her, a shallow one along her injured shoulder.

It received a stab in its forearm in return, and she marveled at the ease with which the blade plunged in and slid back out again. Hot blood spattered against her, and her Instinct thrilled in the combat.

Yes! Compete!

She slammed the distracting sounds into the silence of her subconscious, and kept talking.

“This makes me happy, monster, you saved me the trouble of competing against others that were clearly less than I am.” She stopped circling and hopped back a couple times, standing next to the bag. Completely lit up.

She stood up straight.

Time to goad it.

Yes! Show it!

She shifted her scales, this time not blending, but purposely becoming even more visible. Reds, scornful and confident, a challenge to it, along with black, sure, unyielding, and dominant. She made a point to beckon it with both hands visible. Not just distracting, but enthralling.

With a snarl, One-eye rushed forward, jaw wide, claws spread. Its speed was incredible. She wouldn’t be able to dodge it.

And she didn’t have to.

Its foot sank into the unearthed grave that was still open to the sky with a splash and an angry crunch. She pounced as it crashed to the ground, landing on its good arm. Pinning it down with her weight as she lifted the matte black blade high.

She rammed her blade deep into the monster’s remaining eye. The frantic need of survival filling her alongside the righteous anger of the wronged. It shrieked with surprise and rage. Blood sprayed out onto her face, into her snarling mouth. That sweet taste once more coating her tongue.

Make sure! Her Instinct was exultant.

She swept the blade back and forth as much as she could. Hearing the skull crunch as she twisted. Savoring the kill in a way that couldn’t be put into words as her broodmate jerked and twitched beneath her, the neonate scrambled its brain.

Dying because of her actions. Because she was the better competitor.

So… satisfying…

She hissed, languid in her victory. She had exercised the ultimate display of power. Taking a life of another. Taking on Ravo’s divine calling for just a moment to bring death to one unworthy. It made the neonate shiver in guilty ecstasy.

You can survive, and should. Her Instinct purred, the words dripping with malevolence and greed.

It wanted more. She wanted more. And it was horrifying. She knew that such things were not

It was just as she started to get confused and scared of these thoughts and feelings that Tok burst through the trees, snarling before coming to a stop as it saw the tableau before him.