The smoothskins know not that they pervert the natural into the unnatural. And are so arrogant that they think that they are the only ones doing this.
-From Canticles: 3:7-8
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I wanted to help her. I really did. But I’m stuck, as ever, and I had to deal with a… let’s call Him another person sitting at the table.
She will overcome. Or she will die.
I hate how He talks.
"You know, this is why I don’t like you Maruc. Especially when the Scaled worship you."
Silence, Thief. Watch from your cell. She must prove to ME that she is worth MY notice.
Good luck, Kiddo. Maruc pinned me in my prison, so you’re on your own for this fight.
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Should’ve known it was too good to be true! Why would anything in my life be easy?
All the free things, Ropemaker dead, not being caught by anyone like Biter, Slash, or Fisher. The bait to lead her into the snare the world set for her.
Distraction! Run!
Something scraped behind her, tiny splashes in the water. Clicking. The splashes were getting closer, the unnatural terror catching up!
What the fuck is it even? She was panting, sprinting forward away from the thing. Damn my Instinct for not-
Sparks from the invisible aberration scattered towards her, burning against her skin. Keen grains of pain that made her yelp as she rolled out of the way of the invisible slash from the beast.
RUN!
She was going all out, the wind at her back. She kept having to turn her head though. She didn’t expect to see it, but she needed to smell it. She had never needed to use her smell so precisely before though.
Look up idiot! Her Instinct boiled with scorn. She dodged left, claws scraping.
Something sharp as death sliced through the scales of her left arm.
Fuck! Too late!
The pain took a second to register, but when it did, blood followed. It spattered onto the scarred walkway, black in the ethereal blue light as she staggered back. She snarled, pressing a hand over the wound as she turned to sprint away.
The thing smelled like hot earthbone. Like rotting eggs. Like danger.
The neonate almost dropped the knife before she forced her fingers to clench with a snarl, her wound stinging as muscles went taut.
The center! Need to get to the center! There would be room to maneuver there.
Her tongue flickered out, and she sensed it swiping at her again. She dodged right this time, and it missed her. She had spotted the tip of the enemy weapon. It was stained with her blood.
Ax! Now!
Snarling the neonate lifted the stone weapon. She swung it laterally. Guessing where the center of mass was.
Crack!
A solid hit! It jarred her hand painfully. Ignoring that she followed up with the matte black blade. No blood or ichor, no resistance.
Missed, dammit.
Despite that, she thought that she had made the invisible thing move backward, making an educated guess based on where her blood floated in the air. It was almost black in the bright blue light.
That’s it!
She ran again, heading at an angle now. She stayed on the right side of the pathway.
Stay out of reach… Don’t flee though. She didn’t want this thing to sneak up on her in her nest in the night. Invisible and deadly. Need to kill it.
She could smell the thing following on the cross breeze that had guided her out. It was catching up.
I can almost hear it.
The neonate thought it was something like a dry scraping sound, but as she ran the water flowing down only got louder. It could just be her adrenaline talking. She skidded to a halt, keeping her back to it as she was lit brightly from below.
Come on, you freak. Tasty meal right here. She swallowed convulsively.
Live! Her Instinct screamed, irate with fear.
She waited, listening. Sniffing and tasting the air as well.
Not yet…
Not yet…
Reeking death!
Now!
She spun, scooping low with the flat of the ax. Mushrooms, brilliant azure in the dark, sailed through the air. Arcane sparks, spiraling trails, and random shapes trailed from nearly two dozen of them in a wide arc.
Several splattered into and bounced off of something she couldn’t see. Like an earthblood gem, the light of the stain reflected and refracted through the creature’s body. It was hideous, insectine, and unnatural.
Eyeless, it had huge now luminescent mandibles. They opened wide, revealing armored fingerlike mouthparts that wriggled wetly. She could see one of its powerful shoulders, plated with spiked exoskeleton.
Its head twitched as the mushrooms landed behind it.
Listening… She moved slowly, placing her foot down.
It turned to face her, mouthparts wiggling faster, making her jump.
It lunged, arms spread wide!
She ducked under it now, swinging upwards with the ax.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Crack!
It connected! Chipping carapace with a fiery spark in the gloom. Fractal light reflected into her eye as she was nearly knocked off the platform by something that was still invisible.
What?
The abomination writhed. Its arms were long and thin, like a mantis. It spread them, wiping at itself, only spreading the mushroom glow more. It didn’t have grabbing pincers. It had hands. Long, knobbly, with sharp talons.
And Thumbs. Her eyes bulged in horror.
It had the gift of Baha’an! That could only mean-
Sentience! She stepped back a step in horror. That thing could think?!
Then the similarities became obvious to her.
A torso, but stretched far out of proportion, stretched like a hide. Skin instead of chitin there, tight over bony ribs where she could see them with the glowing pigment. The hint of scales.
Someone cursed!
The light exposed what looked like the digestive tract, the organs. Coiled ropes of sickly yellow intestine. The heart pumped within the chest arrhythmically.
But the similarities only served to make the differences more horrible to behold. The chitin, the eyeless head, the proportions wrong, shell and bones at once. And the thing didn’t have legs. Instead, the elongated torso burst out of the body of a colossal centipede. Skittering feet. Thick chitin armor.
An amalgam that should not be.
The glow didn’t spread far enough to expose the whole thing, but it was huge. Almost seven feet tall. So much larger than her. Something prickled in the back of her mind about that.
In pure silence it turned, not facing her, as if it was searching.
A stone fell from up above and splashed into the water flooding the temple, barely audible over the roaring water and echoes. The monster still twitched towards the noise, dripping mouthparts wiggling, before refocusing on her. Skittering silently forward to continue its attack.
She could see it now though. The neonate dodged easily away from it. She sidestepped one slash. She leaped over another.
Need time to think. The flow of blood from her arm had slowed, but it hadn’t stopped yet.
She chose heft over nimbleness. Her ax came down.
Bang!
It connected solidly, chipping the exoskeleton again, but not breaking through. And the abomination’s head rolled, as if it had hurt. Fingerish mouthparts wiggling, not slowed by the strike at all, mandibles snapping in rage.
No! She snapped her jaw in frustration. Its shell is too thick. Even if it had hurt the thing it wasn’t injured. It wasn’t dead.
The neonate stabbed at the monster’s chest with her knife, but it was too quick for her, retracting away like it was an angry spirit, only its clattering feet made it clear that it was physically there.
The other taloned hand swept upward, its fingers splayed. She leaped back in surprise.
Pain!
Her leg this time.
Ignore, thin cut. Focus.
It brought the clawed hand to its face, mouthparts opening and wriggling as it tasted her blood. Wrapping around the claw grossly.
Not like this.
Live! Fight! Kill!
I need a different plan.
Find the weakness! Her Instinct hissed.
Blue tinted light shone in her eyes for a moment. The torso coiled backwards, the centipede body still moving closer.
“What?” She didn’t hear her own question in the roar of the descending rainwater. What is it doing?
She didn’t understand, backing away, left arm and right leg both throbbing painfully. The chitinous legs skittered faster. Coiling the beast.
Like a serpent! It was going to lunge forward.
Defense is attack! Ears! Her Instinct gnashed. She understood. Sound. Fight back with sound!
She scraped the ax against the ground just before leaping behind a pillar, lifting her toes so she landed silently on the stone.
Come on, strike the pillar! It was blind, surely this would work.
To her dismay, it didn’t. The abomination paused for just a moment, mouthparts wriggling wetly. It skittered around the side of the pillar, moving so much faster than she had believed possible.
She leaped over it, having to spin to avoid the talons. They gouged into the floor, sparking like earthbone.
It’d slice my legs off at the knees!
She struck out again with the ax as she did so.
Bang! She chipped the carapace! She could see a nick in it, shimmering strangely through the ugly clear body.
How did it know? She had leaped and landed in the echo of the ax.
Did it sense the pillars somehow? Or did it have a map in its head? Or was it something else?
Distraction! Fo-
She ducked under another strike, one of the claws slicing along her thigh. She hissed in pain and slammed her will against her Instinct.
How does it sense me?! She knew that her best chance would be ambush, but how did you ambush a thing that knew where you were at all times?
Adapt. Her Instinct whispered with satisfaction and the tiniest smidgen of apology. It hovered around the stampeding rhythm of her heart. It was glad she had figured out the problem on her own.
She snarled at it, regretting the noise instantly and ran, her three toed feet pounding, claws clacking on the stone.
It lashed forward, long arms extended to either side, fingers spread wide. Only her experience with snakes and their lightning speed saved her. She leaped up onto the pillar, clawing her way up with her first two fingers and thumbs. Gripping her ax and knife with the last two of each hand.
Crash!
The whole structure shook with the force of the thing crashing into the pillar, arms squeezing, claws digging in horribly, tips screeching against the stone. The limbs were so long that even wrapped around the pillar the fingertips clattered against the armor on the monster’s back.
She scrambled higher, her own claws scraping. It looked up. Its articulated legs scraped on the stone floor, piling into itself. The talons and mandibles squealed shrilly against the pillar. Nails on a slate. Both sparked bright orange in the surreal gloom of the mushroom glow, shaking the pillar even more. It seemed dazed, staggering to one side, one horrible hand clutching to the pillar to not fall in the water.
Now!
She leaped from the pillar, landing in a roll. Her legs screamed as blood flowed from her wounds. Fore and hindbrain mixed into a confusing inelegant jumble as she fell to her hands and knees.
Survive! Ignore everything but staying alive! I have to! Must! I must live! FIGHT!
The little predator forced herself to her feet and ran. She could see the statues clearly, and she put her knife in her mouth to free her left hand. She wanted the ax in her right, it had more reach, so it needed to be wielded by her uninjured arm.
She was near the edge, almost at the top of the steps down.
The neonate focused her mind towards where she thought the Gods were. Help or get out of my way! She prayed, too stressed for something less antagonistic. Why would the gods pay attention to such backhanded prayers? No matter, it was done.
She gave a little hop to set her feet and tail, landing on the lip of the stairs down.
Like the trees!
Biting down on the flat of the blade, she leapt with everything she had and more. A burst of energy that lanced through her legs and tail as she used all three in her mighty leap.
She soared through the air.
Silent as time.
Landing on the idol of Haan-Kezk al’Shezd.
She clambered up to the top of it, facing the abomination as it followed close behind. Left hand gripping the idol, the neonate’s right hand lifted the stone ax high.
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I leaned forward, on the edge of my seat, pressing against Maruc who also watched with an intensity that the kiddo could sense. Still holding me back. Frustrating me to no end. I still couldn’t help my favorite neonate of the era, and I knew Maruc would just watch how it played out.
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More eyes! Instinct gnashed.
She ignored them. Bats or gods, it didn’t matter. She had to kill this thing.
The brighter light of the idols painted with the mushroom residue made the abomination easier to see.
It traveled low to the floor. Taloned hands making it look like it was dragging itself along. It was clearly following her scent, mouth-fingers finding each drop of blood as it went.
It reached the point where she had jumped from the stairs onto the idol. It reared like a mantis, head turning this way and that. The mandibles snapped, opening wide enough to encircle her before snapping again in frustration.
It has the same mannerisms.
The mouthparts wiggled, and she could hear them sliding and clattering together. Saliva of some kind splattered onto the stairs from them, gross in how much there was.
She took her blade out of her mouth, standing on the shoulder of the idol. She spat something bitter from her mouth. Something that was on the blade? The neonate glanced at it, seeing it shone wetly with something dark green. It looked like bog water.
This is important. Why? She glared at the beast, not looking away for long.
Same as Tok. Same as the path. Something obvious that her frazzled nerves wouldn’t let her comprehend. The Greenscale thought furiously. Crouched low, waiting, knowing that something would happen presently.
Its arms shot out! Extra joints she hadn’t known about surprising even her with their speed. She staggered back, but couldn’t get far. She was at a lethal height.
The talons skewered her sides and she snarled in pain as she felt something on the left puncture inside her. Hot, searing, acidic.
Infection! Her Instinct bellowed, full of fear.
The beast yanked her off of the idol, its hands were painfully cold, like something long dead, draining the warmth from her. She hacked at it with ax and blade as blood poured down her sides. Pain racked her as something within burned. She kicked at its second pair of wrists with her toeclaws.
“Damn you!” She screeched, voice echoing in the dark, not caring it was high pitched like prey. It didn’t twitch, though it did with every strike.
That. Focus. Why?
The mandibles snapped, then spread wide and locked. Level with her neck.
No!