Hi guys!
Those who enjoy my fanfic Venatione Venatus may be glad to know that now all my exams are finished, and therefore, have plenty more time to write. Hopefully, the next VV chapter will be up some time in the next few days. In the meantime however, to get myself back in the swing of things, here is a little tale I had the inspiration to write just this morning.
The title may seem familiar, and that's because it is - it's a sharptooth cautionary tale about greed and the Grand Cave Network that Seizon and Pyron briefly summarized for Chomper just before they went into said network. It is the legend that Nott felt he should jealously defend, and therefore keeps his cronies guarding the stash of shiny stones in Headache Cave, where a certain hero met his end...
I do hope you enjoy it...a story within a story is something new to me, so it might be a little amateurish, but try to enjoy anyway! For reference, this story is to VV what the Tales of Beedle the Bard are to Harry Potter.
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Far back in the stretches of time, hundreds of cold times before you or I had hatched, there was a fastbiter who was treated with caution by his fellow kin and repulsion by many others. His mother knew not of it, at least not in his earlier days, when he along with his sisters would gorge on the flesh she brought them, displaying in full focus his healthy appetite.
But all this were to change - whilst his siblings grew fond of each other, and would share generously the equally generous meat their mother brought them, he began to drag his away, to eat it in a secluded corner of the nest, his jealous eyes scanning his siblings with judgemental caution as he ate, and should another nestling approach him, all they would receive would be a furious assault from teeth and claws. This habit would never vanish from him, and in fact, it persisted to a far greater extent as time went on. And so, from that moment on, this little fastbiter was known only as Stingy. All his siblings called him Stingy, his mother called him Stingy, fellow sharpteeth knew him as Stingy...and Stingy didn't care. All he wanted was to have everything for himself.
Soon it came upon the time, as in the life of many young sharpteeth, for Stingy and his siblings to be taken upon their first hunt.
"Make sure you all stay where I can see you," their mother told them sternly, as all youngsters followed curiously in her wake. "And pay close attention to how I hunt, for you will be following my example."
Upon hearing this, Stingy's defiance mounted. He hurried to be in step with his mother and gave a bold declaration:
"I desire this prey for myself! Won't this be the case once we are all hunting alone?"
His mother gave him a look of deepest disappointment.
"It is not in the nature of a fastbiter to hunt alone," she told him firmly. "We work as a group."
But this did not appeal to Stingy, or even register within his stingy brain, and even as he followed in his mother's footsteps to be a successful hunter, he did it with a selfish and jealous relish.
And therefore it was from a distance, where his mother watched him a trifle sadly as he wolfed down pieces of meat, completely alone, and not wishing to be any other way.
She gave a great sigh and tried to tell herself it would only be a phase.
How tragically wrong she was.
As Stingy grew older, his defining nature didn't change. Whilst he was forced to work within a pack to bring down the larger prey it would not be long before he turned on his fellow fastbiters in a fit of rage, nearly annihilating the pack to get the prey to himself...to him, there was nothing more important than this. At least, some thought, this would be the only thing he would ever jealously and violently hog.
How tragically wrong they were.
When he wasn't eating, Stingy would take long wanders into far-flung places, completely on his own naturally, as he always rejected company. And it was upon one day when he was strolling through a small canyon when he noticed a small bellydragger. Normally, such a sight would not interest him in the slightest, but as his eyes swept past the other sharptooth, they caught a glint of something bright the latter was carrying in her mouth.
Upon looking closer, Stingy noticed that this was in fact a shiny stone, something often sought for aesthetic purposes, and something that appealed to Stingy too. His eyes glinted like the stone he desired as a great wave of greed rose up within him and he twitched with the discomfort of the thought of the bellydragger having access to all the stones. But Stingy was cunning. It occurred to him that this bellydragger may have even more than just the one she carried in his mouth. And so, he gave a subtle pursuit.
Stingy's assumption was correct. This bellydragger had gathered a huge pile of shiny stones, and was adding the latest to her collection. Envy had taken ahold of the fastbiter who desired everything that everyone else had. He couldn't think straight as his muscles gave spasms of frustration. All he knew was that he wanted the shiny stones more than anything else. He would have to act upon it.
And so it wasn't long before the bellydragger's blood ran across the ground, which Stingy walked delightedly across with his prize in his arms.
Over the next few days, Stingy continued to gather these stones from other potential owners, many suffering the same fate as the bellydragger, but Stingy cared not for these lives - his concern was for the stones he gathered. The power he felt from their glistening in the light of the Bright Circle, how much importance he felt from possessing them! These were all his. Nobody else had rights to them.
But it was upon one morning as Stingy admired his collection that a sharptoothed flyer watched him from a nearby tree. This flyer had known the bellydragger well, and like many before him had grown to despise the stingy fastbiter. As though wishing to claim back at least some of what his friend had lost, he swooped down upon Stingy with expert precision and after knocking him sideways onto the dusty ground, took off in a flourish, carrying the largest of the stones in his mouth.
The rage that Stingy felt combined with his frustration of being able to do anything burst from him in a piercing scream that rattled the bones of every creature in the nearest five miles. Stingy raged and howled and growled and snarled and stamped and scratched against the earth, every nerve burning with hatred for the animal that had escaped him so easily.
Eventually these loathsome a terrifying screeches reached a minimum, and Stingy stood there, seething, his mind working fast. He gazed back around at his collection of shiny stones, now desiring more than anything else for them all to stay with him.
"They are too exposed here," he told himself. "There must be an area I can find to hide them, keep them safe from any unworthy thieves." He smiled to himself. "And when I find that perfect place, there will not be a force in the world to challenge me or take ANYTHING from me!!"
How tragically wrong he was.
It took only a day of travelling for Stingy to find the place that seem to have come from his dreams. A massive network filled with caves, one he dubbed a Grand Cave Network. He assumed no force could challenge him as he lay his plundered collection within the deep bowels of the cave network.
But he had forgotten the forces of nature.
As he attempted to leave the collection behind him, secure in the knowledge no more would be taken, up rose the water. A great river, lying hidden in wait for him, seized as he attempted his escape. As he thrashed, gurgled and yelped, the water began to rise faster and faster up until it threatened to submerge him. He cried out for help - but who was there to help him? He had never cared for anyone, and so naturally, nobody cared for him.
"This is it!!!" he screamed in a fear he could no longer repress. "I will drown here! This Cave Network will become my watery tomb!"
How tragically correct he was.
And so, I ask all you patient listeners out there, to take care of your desires, and do not have the same greed as this Stingy Fastbiter did. Take note of how we all need each other, and learn to be harmonious with others, not to be selfish for everything in your life. As your greed as selfishness destroys others, so it will destroy you too.
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And so, there it is!
Not much to say...just tell me what you think! And remember, the next VV chapter is coming soon!
