---Terror---

---Victor's perspective---

I sit on the floor of my room, idly running my hands through Fluffy's midnight blue-charcoal black striped fur.

Her enormous amber eyes open and swivel towards me.

She places a two fingered mittenpaw on my right leg and begins extending two velociraptor claws.

"Nooo…" I warn with wry sternness.

The claws retract for about 3 seconds… then start extending again, slower, like she thinks I won't see it if she moves slow enough.

"No, Fluffy…" I say, rolling my eyes.

The claws stop for a moment then extend fully to prick me in the thigh.

"Ahh!" I laugh, catching her wrist to lift the murderpaw off my leg before she breaks the skin.

She yowls in an amused judder, baring her many sharp teeth at me.

"Glad you think it's so funny, you sadistic little gremlin!" I smirk.

At that moment my door opens.

From behind me, I feel two arms slide underneath mine and another two over my shoulders.

"You ready to go, Victor?" asks my fiancée, kissing my right cheek and tickling my neck with her left ear.

"Sure, baby…" I answer, dolefully.

"You're still thinking about that birth ceremony we saw the other day?" she deduces.

"…Yeah… I am." I admit.

"It affected you a lot, didn't it." she observes.

"It did… I… I just… I hate the idea that in their whole history, not a single one of 'em ever knew their mum… 'cept by, like, reputation!" I mope.

"Yeah… It's not great." she answers, obviously thinking of her birthparents.

"And, like… how many more half-orphans are gonna be made between now and when we decide to bring up the fact that 'Hey, it don't have to be like this if you don't want it to'? How many more are gonna be made after that because, obviously, there's gonna be some portion of 'em who think that this new-fangled medical tech is some kind of foreign devilry!"

"That's their decision to make…" she responds with a tone that tells me she doesn't like it any more than I do.

"It is… and I know if we go at this half cocked, we're liable to do more harm than good… Don't mean I like it though!"

"Well, hopefully, Twigg duty will take your mind off things…" she says, a smile in her voice.

I puff "Yeah, thanks for switchin' with me… Oh, and if these Northerners invite you to any birthin' ceremonies while you're there…"

"I'll politely but firmly refuse, Victor(!)" she laughs.

---Nroluq's perspective---

I breathe deeply of the warm Summer air.

There has been fair weather this year but I know the snows will come South all too soon…

Food stores must be acquired, firewood must be stockpiled and we must locate a site to encamp for the Winter, far enough away from any Ravager towns!

Last year, I was too young to be trusted with solo scouting for the tribe.

Hopefully, this year, I can prove worth by finding something of value!

This particular bit of taiga isn't looking at all promising though; little in the way of food, little in the way of fuel and I haven't seen anywhere that looks remotely viable as a hibernation spot.

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I'm just about to move on, when I catch sight of something.

Turning to it, I see a creature unlike anything I've ever seen before!

I dart into a hiding spot to observe.

At the hip hangs a sheaved knife almost as long as the two legs it walks on!

Hung on the far side of it is an object I don't recognise.

The legs, arms and torso are covered in what looks like tight, deep blue skin with patches of shiny metal in it.

The metal feet are long and flat and it seems to only have one joint in each leg.

It has no tail that I can see.

The skin of the hands and face is a pale beige colour and the medium length hair on the scalp is curly and red.

The hands are clawless and the face is Folklike but… wrong!

As it draws closer I'm better able to appreciate just how bulky it is… and how tall!

Easily more than twice the height I am, it's taller than a male Ravager and closer to the height of a female!

The upper arms are thicker than I am!

It moves with eery silence, given that it's got to weigh more than ×10 what I do!

At a distance of around [30m] it turns directly to where I hide.

I freeze and desperately try not to breathe as a pair of hungry, bright green, forward facing eyes search around the bushes I'm watching it from.

"Ello?… Iz samwan ver?" asks the creature in a voice that's almost as deep as Ravagerspeak but almost as mellifluous as Folkspeak.

I recognise the voice as having some indefinable quality of maleness to it.

I can infer that he's asking me to show myself, even without understanding a single word he said.

Not a chance I'm coming out for this Giant!

If he comes over, I'll need to decide whether to stay put or make a break for it!

Mercifully, after around [20 seconds] of no response, the shoulders shrug and he turns to move on.

He's out of sight by the time I let myself sigh with relief.

I have to get back to the tribe!

I have to tell them what I just saw!

That man wasn't a hunter, he was a warrior!

A warrior searching for something.

We've got to prepare and that means that, right now, making it back to the others alive, to warn them, is of paramount importance!

As silently as I can, I pick myself out of the bushes and begin sprinting back to where the tribe are encamped, eyes and ears swivelling all around me to check for pursuers.

So focused am I on checking behind and around me that I neglect to check ahead of me, a mistake I only become aware of when I skid round a bend and find myself facing a [terror dragonbird]!

I freeze in place… but it's already too late.

The beast swivels a thick beak toward me, on the end of a long neck.

It flares the membrane of two flightless wings and shrieks.

Terrified, I point the spear I hold at it.

It stalks toward me, clawed talons thudding as they impact the ground.

I shout at it to try and scare it away… to no effect.

Paralysed with fear, I'm unable to summon the will to do anything as death draws up to just outside the range of the spear.

It lunges.

I wince.

Death does not come…

I open eyes to see a thick, blue, muscular pillar ending in pale beige fingers, clamped around the neck of the predator, just below the horns.

The animal, easily more than twice as heavy as I am, is lifted from the ground by the same red haired Giant I saw earlier.

The clawed legs swing forward to attempt to gut him but skip harmlessly off of the tough blue skin the Giant has.

With a contemptuous flick of the arm, the man tosses the [dragonbird] (several times the height it is) away from us.

It scrambles upright and wheels on him, squawking and hissing.

The Giant raises two powerful arms overhead, bares a set of square, fangless teeth and lets out a bellowing roar!

The animal cowers away, then turns to flee.

"Yeuh… vats rait! Geh aw uvir, yuh ovugroun terki!… Kam bak wenyuh hawfaz fretnin azuh Kanadaguus(!)" snarls the man, contemptuously.

Then, remembering that I exist, the green eyed, round pupiled Giant turns to look down at me.

The expression he wears is far softer than it was when he spoke to the [dragonbird] but, all the same, I'm petrified!

"Hei ver, keed." he smiles.

I point the spear at him, not thinking I'm anything like a match for this Giant, even armed, but unsure what else to do!

"Woh, woh!" he laughs, holding up two empty, clawless hands "Iizii ver, keed!… Aimuh frend!"

Hands still held up, he backs away a few steps and folds those two long, strangely jointed legs to sit on the ground, facing me, in a clearly nonthreatening posture.

I back away and avert the spearpoint but do not match the seated position he has, studying him leerily.

The Giant is pretty much the same height as me, now that he's seated.

He splays five of those clawless fingers and touches them to the front side of himself.

"Vikta." he smiles.

"What?" I frown.

Tapping the chest with both hands now, he repeats "Vikta… Mai neimz Vikta. Yor neim?"

The Vikta points at me.

"I'm… a Folk…?"

He laughs and, wobbling that red haired head from side to side, says "Noh yor spiishiis, keed! Yor neim!"

I frown to convey lack of understanding.

The Vikta thinks before pointing at himself and, using an unfamiliar word, says "Hyumun." Then, he points to me and says "Folk." in Folkspeak. Then, he points back to himself and says "Vikta." then back to me, expectantly.

OK, so he's a 'Hyumun', not a 'Vikta'.

Understanding, I point at myself and say "Nroluq."

"Norluk?" he asks, butchering the pronunciation.

"No… Nroluq…" I correct.

"Nuhroluk?" he tries again, slightly better.

"Sure… close enough." I frown.

"Itsnais tu miichyu, Nuhroluk!" he smiles "Aim jus gunna riichfuh mai holou nau… naaaisan slou!"

He reaches for a pouch in what I now realise is the deep blue clothing he wears.

He pulls out a flat square.

Thumb moving against it, it lights up.

He holds the glowing thing up to an ear and speaks, not looking at me "Hei, Samus, Tiimanja… Aiv faundah loukal Folk kauld Nuhroluk… Sentyu mai loukeishon. Kam kwik and bringvuh uvuh Folk wivyu."