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« on: September 07, 2015, 10:30:24 AM »
Act I: A New World
Chapter 1: Arrival
"People think dreams aren't real just because they aren't made of matter, of particles. Dreams are real. But they are made of viewpoints, of images, of memories and puns and lost hopes." - Neil Gaiman
Darkness. Same, but different. This time, the kind of darkness he could not perceive with his mere eyes. Only with his heart, his soul. The absence of everything. No light. No sound. No life. No hope.
Nothing.
For someone who had always felt safe in the dark, this truly was a horrifying experience. He was deeply lost in what seemed to be his mind, and his body would not obey him. He didn't even know if he still actually had a body, unable to see, hear or feel anything. It was frighteningly alike to how he imagined the final moments before dying. His non-existing body not reacting to his commands anymore and his mind slowly drifting into nothingness where the Grim Reaper would calmly wait to claim another soul for eternity.
How could it have come to this? What had he done wrong? Only two of far too many question he would have liked to ask.
Then, suddenly, out of this pitch black realm, he could see a single beam of light. He could feel it. A feeling which originated from deep inside. Close and familiar, yet far away and foreign. But it was steadily drifting away from him. As if to mock him further still, a voice could be heard from the vast distance this world of darkness represented.
At first it was almost inaudible, but it grew louder with each repetition. Until it became a series of screams, violently accusing him and also answering why he found himself here now.
"I want to be someone... change the world to a better place... and leave a legacy behind nobody will ever forget!"
That was his own voice. His own words. His last and perhaps only wish, the fateful wish he hadn't exactly chosen to make upon this strange, blue glowing stone.
Each time the voice repeated itself it felt like a needle stabbing his brain, his entire consciousness. Not the physical kind of pain that mended after a while but the psychological pain of realization that would scar one's mind forever. Like for a reputable human to ponder a serious wrongdoing, a heinous crime. Thoughts like these raced back and forth, cluttering this dark realm, forming no words, emotions or meanings at all.
This had to stop. This had to stop now.
With great trepidation, he finally worked up the courage to fight back against his own mind, to gain back control.
"Stop this already! STOP IT! SHUT UP! Get... OUT... of my head!"
Distant laughter could be heard in response. But it was not an evil laugh or a laugh at the expense of his current state, rather an understanding laugh. A soothing, discipling laugh.
"Is that really what you desire? You appear to be lost, young one."
"Who...?! Who are you...? And where... Where am I?" He asked into the blackness, shocked that he had actually gotten a response, on top of that from someone who did not belong here.
"At the end, it would seem." Came the calm reply.
And it was at this point that he was sure he was dead, now only tricked by his mind for a few seconds as his brain shut down, leaving him hopeless and delusional, clinging to but his last few pitiful moments of what resembled life. What else could that voice have possibly meant?
Still, despite the situation, he had to make sure of even something this obvious.
"Does that mean... I'm... I'm...?"
"No. No, it does not." The voice answered, as if aware of his every question, as if still trying to calm him, as if delaying for the right moment to explain. "Endings are always beginnings, too. It is your decision, your choice now. To become what you want to be."
The thoughts stopped racing immediately as this, possibly, female voice echoed inside his mind. He did not recognize that voice at all, nor did he even recognize the language it spoke or grasp why he assumed it to be female. But he could still understand it. And it felt warm, as if it was hope itself.
But who was it? Where did it come from? And why was it here? Why was all of this even happening?
"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked, annoyance at the voice's cryptic way of speaking carried by his query. "How am I supposed to decide anything when I don't even know where I am?! What is all this?!"
The distant laughter could be heard again, again carrying a tone that could calm one's nerves.
"You will, soon enough. Because there are some things you see with your eyes, but others you see with your heart."
Right away, he wanted to just dismiss that sentence and press on for an answer to his questions. But he had no time to do that, as the voice continued and quickly vanished into the distance, taking all the soothing light with it.
"For now, you will just have to wake up. Wake up... Specter."
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He suddenly gasped for air, widely opened his eyes but instantly commanded his body to close them again as a massive headache set in. Then it was dark once more, silent once more, safe once more.
No use in looking around just yet, anyway. It seemed like he had hit his head with enough force to give him a serious concussion, so much so that it literally hurt to think, at the moment. Quite badly, too. And yet, he felt somewhat relieved. Everything would be alright, now that he was awake and out of this messed up dream. The pain was his confirmation. After all, he actually was still alive, air steadily filling and escaping his lungs...
Wet, almost tropically warm air. Extremely strange, given that it was quite cold at night by now. Or supposed to be, at any rate. Though, he didn't notice much of that yet in his dizziness.
Ugh... Ow... What happened? How long... did I pass out?
The realization that he was back in control of his body and mind again made him feel a lot less stressed, and he was almost ready to work the situation out...
However, that feeling very quickly turned into utter horror, once the few breaths of air he had just inhaled were processed by his senses. Thousands upon thousands, millions even, of scents reached his olfactory center at once, afterwards his brain.
Scents of plants, scents of trees, scents of soil, scents of water, scents of dozens of unknown creatures, and...
What... is this?! Myself?! I can... I can smell myself this clearly?! I can smell... what I am?!
Bombarded by all these neural stimuli, his brain was overloaded by the sheer onslaught of information it had not been prepared for, it could not handle just yet. His heart started pumping in a much higher frequency again, his muscles cramping over his entire body, causing even more pain. His initial attempt to calm down was now entirely futile.
At this point he could not take it anymore, lying prone on the ground, twitching heavily, having seemingly avoided almost certain death. And after a few more seconds, he felt nothing but absolute exhaustion and passed back out.
Before his actual eyelids closed, however, the bright moonlight revealed a set of piercing yellow orbs beneath the protective nictitating membranes that had covered his vision until now.
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It wasn't until the moon had noticeably shifted in the sky that he finally started to come back to his senses again. Though he couldn't see that change in time, still keeping his eyes shut for now, unwilling to provoke a reaction from his body such as the one from earlier in the slightest. He didn't even dare to move a muscle. Too afraid was he to face such an immediate and painful backlash again.
Please... tell me it's over now...? He carefully thought, testing his mind first.
Nothing happened. He was in control once more. At least the pain in his head had disappeared.
Good... Argh! But everything else hurts! What in the name of sanity happened?! Why can I smell all these things now? Why is it so warm? And why...? No! No, calm down. Everything's alright. I just hit my head, that's all. Probably gave me a quite a bump, too... Alright... Take it easy... Just relax for a bit...
He took a deep breath, a surprisingly long one at that, and then let out a deep sigh to recompose himself.
Grrrwl...
However, instead of a sigh he knew, a deep growl filled his highly sensitive ears. His very own.
Uh, what? What?! Did I just... What the...?!
He couldn't finish his thoughts as his eyes sprang open in shock.
And what he now could do was see absolutely everything clearly and sharply, his vision tinted in a greenish-white tone, even though it was darker than before, the moon covered by thick clouds. But most noticeable to him was that he did not wear his glasses anymore, unable to feel any kind of pressure on his face or have blurry peripheral vision.
He had naturally perfect eyesight, in addition to the ability to see at night.
Oh, no... No. No. No. This is not how it works! Argh... I must be hallucinating... But even then... where are all the trees?! Just... where am I?!
He had been lying on his side up until now, so he didn't get a glance at his own body just yet, which didn't really intrigue him thus far.
Why would it, anyway? He could still feel his two arms and two legs, fingers and toes still attached to his hands and feet. So what could have possibly changed? Although, now that he had questioned this, quite a few things with his limbs felt a little bit odd all of a sudden, he was sure to be just imagining that. Of course he was just imagining all of this. How would it be possible for a human to see in the night, smell so many different things and only have control over three fingers and three toes each? Not to mention waking up having 'magically' lost all clothes, the warm air gently stroking his naked body. He deemed the idea alone so highly preposterous, he could not even have laughed at his own inanity.
At least until, with deliberately slow movement, he extended his arms and tried to use his hands to push himself up from the ground...
Thud!
"Ow! What the hell?!"
Only to find out that his hands were not usable for such tasks anymore, both his forelimbs entirely giving in under his weight, making him lose his grip in the mud below and fall right back down again.
Argh... Damn... No, something's really, really wrong... I feel so... heavy... And... my arms... Did I break my...? No... But, I... I can't pronate them anymore! But what about my...
And it was only now that he flexed his neck around to get a look at his legs that he first laid eyes on what he had missed out on. Slowly, piece by piece, he tried to make sense of what he saw.
Woah! Feathers...?! Claws...?! A... A fricking tail?!
At the moment it was too dark for him to actually make out the colors and all the 'utilities' his body had, but it was already enough to hint at what he now was. Had he paid more attention to what had reached his ears after hitting the ground, not actual words but instead a series of angry growls and snarls, he would've come to the same conclusion nonetheless.
Violently, he raised his arms and stared at his three-fingered hands, then back at his lower body only to stare at his hands once more. In this shocked pose he remained, second after second, until he fully realized...
Feathers... long tail... three fingers... sickle claws... I... am... a raptor?! A dinosaur?!
Heavy pounding in his chest. Numbness in his head. The feeling of immense heat everywhere. Panic was starting to set in. So he tried to organize his mind as best as he could and calm down at least a little bit.
Ok...Ok...Ok. Let's be reasonable. Stuff like that doesn't happen. It just doesn't... I shouldn't be... I mean... Hell, these dinosaurs are dead for at least 65 million years! And even if they weren't, you don't just turn into... Wait. No, no, wait a second...
His head was wrapped in silence at the dawning realization. There was only one possible way how this could have happened.
Blue... Blue... light...
The memory had finally come back to him. It made him shudder, convulse, breathe heavily...
"THAT BLOODY STONE!" He screamed in rage, slamming his clawed forelimb into the mud. But as a few splats of wet soil flew past his head, reminding him very well of the new environment he must've been in now, he immediately shut his mouth tight after that infuriated outburst.
Too little, too late, however. He only just noticed what he had done, but his angry, piercing shriek already echoed through the air and deep into the night.
Oh damn... Ah, shit! Shouldn't have done that...
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Screech!
The adult male fastbiter, brown feathers covering his body, a blood-red crest on his head, neck and tail, stopped his motion in surprise and looked in the general direction of the faint, distant shout. He couldn't make out the meaning it carried, but it was immediately clear to him that this had been a sharptooth scream, most likely from another fastbiter, containing as much anger as despair. Instinctively, he continued to listen closely into the night, trying to make out any following utterances.
None came. Only the rustling of leaves and bushes could be heard behind him, but that seemed to elude his senses at the time.
"Seeker!"
Having been completely distracted by the screech, he momentarily jumped into a stance of aggression before quickly relaxing again, realizing that this voice now had come from a much closer fastbiter. A fastbiter he knew all too well, one who had accompanied him for many seasons and also on this small routine tonight.
"Damn it, Taunt!" He growled, somewhat angry with himself to have dropped his guard that easily. "Cut it out and come over here already."
"What? Oh, don't tell me... Did I scare our great leader?"
Upon saying this, a smaller, orange-colored fastbiter, lacking any feathering, with tell-tale black stripes over his whole body strutted into the open.
"Yup, I sure did." Taunt continued, a wide smirk visible on his face and through his raised tail. He dropped that stance, though, as he moved next to his leader and presented his hand to him. More precisely, what he was holding in it. A whole bunch of plants, glowing in a prominent orange tone. "Alright, alright. No more of that... For tonight. Here, I found these..."
"Later." The brown fastbiter cut in, letting nothing but equanimity surface, looking only in the distance. "Did you notice that, too?"
"Besides you jumping like a one-legged swimmer after they notice Path is after them...? Uh, no." Taunt replied plainly, flashing his teeth once again.
Ignoring his packmate's try to make a fool out of him, the brown fastbiter didn't even give Taunt the satisfaction of the stern look he seemed to so much desire. Instead, he spoke with a grave voice.
"Taunt? Head back to the pack. There is something I will have to check out. Just... let me take one with me, will you?"
"Seeker..." The orange fastbiter hesitantly started with a now honestly concerned undertone in his voice, knowing that something was wrong. His leader must've indeed picked up something vitally important that he didn't notice while moving through the bushes. And that he desired to take even a single one of those sinister plants with him foreboded serious trouble. They may have looked like ordinary flowers, uninteresting and harmless, beautiful to look at even, but the name given to them by the few individuals who knew of their capabilities already told everything one needed to know.
"Trust me on this." The brown fastbiter explained himself, making eye contact. "I want to have a quick look around the faraway watering hole. That's just inside our territory; I highly doubt anyone is going to be audacious enough to disrespect this, but... you can never be too careful with such things."
"But..." Taunt then spoke, overwhelmed and confused by the whole situation. "Shouldn't I... come with you, then? What is even going on?"
"No. You know that any kind of sharptooth will easily be able to smell us out carrying this amount of the Orange Death, and I don't want it lying around here either. Both would be highly irresponsible and, frankly, quite foolish." The leader stated quickly, but calmly. He knew that he had ignored Taunt's second question, but he didn't want to give an answer on something he didn't know himself just yet. "No, you head back to the others and stash it away. I will handle this myself until I've made sure... It's probably nothing of importance, but I'd like to investigate personally this time before risking another... incident. We've had enough of those in the past..."
He offered the orange fastbiter a slight, but friendly and confident smile, to which he could only nod. As Taunt then slowly handed his leader one good sample of the many orange flowers he held in his claws, he was about to express his concerns for this whole situation once more, now in his usual fashion again, but the brown fastbiter spoke first.
"This will do. Thanks. And don't inform the others about this yet, should they still be awake. If they are, well, it would not be a lie if you told them that I am going for a drink and will be back shortly." He paused, thinking about if he wanted to leave it at that or go one step further. He decided to do so, for the sake of full disclosure. "But, still, stay alert. If you hear my call, or I'm not back within reasonable time, don't hesitate to alarm everyone. Even split, Path counting. Assume big trouble. Got it?"
Taunt was taken aback by the seriousness in his leader's tone and thus decided not to disobey him in any way possible. He knew him long enough to trust in his almost every decision, and it sounded like he had a solid enough plan. Though he was still highly discomforted.
But, on the surface, not even this did stop Taunt from being who he simply was, of course.
"Understood. Well, see you in a bit then, Littlefoot! In a bit, not bits. As in, don't let yourself get eaten, flathead."
Taunt made sure he put special weight on his leader's old leaf-eater name and the insult for Littlefoot's former species, a flat-headed longneck, allowing himself one last smirk before he disappeared in the bushes again.
Littlefoot smiled for a while too before his face took on a contemplative expression.
That's a lot of taunts, even for him. Bad ones, too... Bit and bits...? Huh, he really didn't like this... And neither do I, honestly...
But he would have none of it if some outsiders just wandered into his pack's territory. They would have to leave or die, whichever way they preferred. Given his pack's reputation, most likely the non-violent way. However, he also understood that he could very well be dealing with a lone fastbiter. That certainly was no seldom occurrence in the first few cycles of the Night Circle after a warm time and, consecutively, mating season.
And a lone fastbiter often was a dangerous fastbiter, often driven by desperation, frustration, or generally dangerous and reckless intentions.
But perhaps that lone fastbiter never actually intended to violate the territory. Perhaps they only wanted to have a quick, sneaky drink and then leave again even quicker. Not exactly a smart or decent thing to do, very provocative indeed, but not unforgivable or worthy of a violent approach either.
At least if they don't try that again. There are enough watering holes in unclaimed land... But why the screech then? Why make so much noise? No, it can't be that simple... Something's off...
Or was it a trap? Was he about to be successfully lured into a cowardly ambush? Pretty much everyone in the vast lands around knew this was his pack's territory, thus giving the entire area a wide berth out of sheer respect, but this amount of renown went both ways among sharpteeth. He was sure there were some few who would've liked to claim his head just to appear fearsome.
But I could think of far better ways to do so... Making noise like that... This is just... stupid... Hmm, still, I should've asked him to rally the others right away... Then again, a single fastbiter is a hidden fastbiter... And if Ponder or Stern Claw got wind of this so soon... Yeah, I'll have to figure this out alone, first... This doesn't feel like the problems we usually have to deal with... So I will not deal with it how we usually do... Gee, thinking of Ponder, huh...
His calculating mind, the mind of an experienced predator, broke Littlefoot out of his pondering. It really was pointless thinking out a big plan now, or mobilizing the pack, when he didn't know exactly what was going on. Far too risky, and there never was an easy way to solve problems with trespassers in a territory as large as this. Cover one flank, open up another. The pack would never be completely safe from such sudden dangers.
He was still determined to get to the bottom of this, as quickly as possible. Regardless of their intentions, good or neutral or bad, he would find out who that intruder in the distance was and would see them to leave, should they have decided to further disrespect the territory. Preferably in peace, without any confrontation at all.
But, one could never be too careful, he thought again, looking at the single orange flower he held tightly in his claws.
It was actually quite amusing, in some way. In his long past leaf-eater days he could have certainly seen himself offering the dinosaur in the distance a place among his friends. At least they happened to be another leaf-eater, a bothtooth at most. Though, honestly, perhaps even a sharptooth, depending on what kind of sharptooth. It wasn't remotely unusual for him to forge unusual friendships, after all.
But such a thing was unheard of for a sharptooth to do, especially for a fastbiter and pack leader such as himself, since the whole concept of a pack was based on trust.
It didn't work that easily. He couldn't just offer anyone who crossed his path to join. And not only because his pack already was large in numbers, too large in fact, but rather because a pack consisted of more than just friends. A pack was a family. A family which someone joined for life and left in death, or only with the very best of reasons. Not that it mattered much in this case, but he always liked to remind himself of that, of what capable and loyal friends he was surrounded by every day.
For now, though, he was alone. And he simply had to act.
Now then... Let's find out who you are and what you want... I just hope this doesn't end in another confrontation...
With all the speed he could muster he sprinted off, into the night and towards the source of the shout. He only left the wind in his wake.
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Ok... One weird theropod foot after the other... Man, this is just... Argh! Come on, I know how dinosaurs walked! Kinda... There we go... Steady... Steady... Tail straight, even steps... Stay on track...
The tall raptor was relatively quickly getting accustomed to his new body. Even though a challenge like this was far beyond anything he could have ever imagined, and he was rather staggering as if moderately intoxicated than actually walking in a straight line, he was doing pretty well, he deduced.
In his eyes, at least. To an actual dinosaur, predator or prey, he must've looked like a bad joke, however.
His head bobbing around in a weird fashion as he tried to adapt to the stabilization natural to even the ancestors of birds, his long tail frequently hitting the ground as he tried to adapt to having control over an entirely new body part, his sickle claws sometimes raised and sometimes lowered as he tried to adapt to having these two toes constantly retracted off the ground...
And these were only the things he noticed himself. Surely, there were many more to another observer. Regardless, he tried to be positive about this and feel relief that he had actually managed to even stand up and move around.
Hm... Well, that's no wonder, really. I walked on two feet before. Just... not on my toes like that, with my head like this and my back like so, and... I guess I just need to use that tail more...
He didn't yet have the precise control over his tail he needed to use it as a counterweight and rudder, which would have greatly improved his movement capabilities, but he was getting there. Ever so slowly, only daring to test moving it around when standing still for a few seconds, but steadily.
Whatever, I can practice later... Right now, I really need to get away from there... No telling what I might've attracted... Last thing I need is ending this damn night as dinner...
After around ten minutes of movement, technically 'fleeing' from the place were he had awoken, he promptly decided that it was time to get something to drink. His throat felt dry, and something from deep inside told him that it would not be a good idea to continue exploring with a dry throat.
Despite his species, being one of the most cunning and fearsome carnivores ever now, he would not be as intimidating if he couldn't let out a dangerous roar or a frightening shriek.
Uh... Wait... Where did that come from? Why... did I think of this so specifically?
The thoughts inside his mind started racing again as he abruptly stopped walking, but with a quick shake of his head they were gone as quickly as they had come.
Doesn't matter. I'm just really thirsty. And, come to think of it... a bit hungry, too... Figures... Would've been too much to ask for that goddamn stone to at least leave me with some food and water in my body, right? Urgh... Well, let's see if that new nose of mine can lead me to some water...
Sniff. Sniff. Sniff.
Hmm... Is that... what water really smells like? Seems like it. I guess I'll see... Doesn't 'smell' far away...
With that, he started moving again through this prehistoric land, and despite his horrendously slow pace for a dromaeosaur it didn't take him long to find the source of the scent he followed. The scent of clean water was something deeply refreshing, something that made him cool down inside even thinking about it.
Coming to a halt before his destination, he relaxed noticeably. His incredible sense of smell had led him to a sizeable pond, which was connected to a tiny waterfall by a short torrent that disappeared under a small rock formation some distance away. A beautiful little place, all in all. He didn't care much about the beauty of it, though, as he ran as fast as he could with his new body and immersed himself in the fresh, reasonably cool water. However, as much as he would have liked to clean himself first, quenching his thirst had a much bigger priority.
And that's right where the next problems started coming up, when he simply tried to drink. Awkwardly having almost all the water escape from his oral cavity he quickly came to realize that he was not able to drink anymore like he had been able to as a human.
Ah, yeah... right... I have a snout now... or beak... No actual lips... Can't even move my jaw left or right...
So he carefully imitated how he had seen dinosaurs drink in documentaries or movies, or even the casual bird. Lowering his muzzle into the water, using his long tongue to guide it into his mouth, and then tilting his head backwards to swallow it down. A lengthy process that cost him a lot of nerves, but ultimately satisfying nonetheless. It felt like a soothing eternity to him, just taking sip after sip of this life essence and feeling the cool sensation wash off the dirt most of his feathers had been covered with after lying in the mud for so long.
There... Much better. That's the easy part done...
It was only when he was finished drinking and swiftly washing himself that another thought crossed his mind.
Ok, now... How exactly do I look like? What... I suppose, genus, exactly, am I now?
Carefully, he left the water, gave his soaked feathers a few clumsy shakes and waited for the mostly clear liquid to settle down again so that he could get a good look at himself. He now realized that the moon hung noticeably lower in the sky, giving the light a near perfect path to create the desired reflection on the water surface, despite some mud tainting it. It also made him finally see a few glimpses of his new colors. Or rather the color, as his feathers only had one real color.
And, as shocking as it was to see his new self for the first time, he definitely had to admit that even for the standards of 'raptors' he knew from movies, books and cartoons, he looked pretty imposing.
Black protofeathers covered almost the entirety of his body except of his snout and lower legs, black scutes protecting his feet, and he had a very distinctive golden crest running down from his head, neck and back to about half of his tail, ending in a horizontally spread-out feathering at his tail's tip. His forelimbs were plumed too, long black feathers with golden outlines cresting his 'wings'.
Though, he took the biggest interest in his new size.
He was positively massive, for all he knew. Around four heads taller than the already 194cm tall human he used to be, giving him a new height of what appeared to be between two and a half and three meters, 275cm to his back to be exact, with a length of just over ten meters when fully stretching out his neck, overall making him probably almost twenty times as heavy now, too, he estimated.
So... Taking into consideration this shouldn't even be sodding possible in the first place... Looks like I'm a... I'm a Utahraptor now. A pretty damn big one, I guess... Huh... I suppose I can live with that, but... God, there's nothing left! How in the world did this happen? I don't... I... Well... Looks like I kind of maintained my 'hair' color... That's something...
He tried to smile a little bit as he eyed his crest feathers. His smile immediately fell, however. And not only because all of his momentarily exposed teeth had communicated anything but a happy smile, but also as something at the back of his mind forced him to assess the situation in more detail. The very 'something' that had reminded him of his dire need for some water earlier, only now it was even clearer.
Imposing? Yeah right... I can't even walk straight, don't know what is going on and I'm alone out here. What the hell am I supposed to do now? Claim a territory? Hunt...? Raptors are pack animals. I don't stand a chance alone... Not me... Oh, but, sure, anyone will take me in! And anyone else will tremble before my feathery arse! Argh! It's no use... I'll have to get used to this body as quickly as possible... And then I'll have to find something to eat, soon... But... what? I guess, maybe after a night's sleep I could search for...
But his somewhat sarcastic self-reflection stopped in a heartbeat as his nose suddenly picked up a faint, but very pungent scent. A scent that was completely unfamiliar to him, unfamiliar to his old human and new raptor self. He couldn't even remotely come up with anything to compare it to, like he had been able to with 'basic' smells of trees and water which appeared to just come natural to him. Only, perhaps, he deduced that it could be another plant of some sort.
A plant whose scent burned in his nostrils, almost painfully so, despite it appearing to only be present in a very small amount.
Hm? What's this now...? What is...?
He sniffed the air another few times, aimlessly turning on the spot, trying to find out where exactly the scent originated from. It didn't work. He couldn't narrow it down. The harder he tried to find the source, the more confusing it got. It appeared to be coming from every direction now. No matter how sophisticated his new sense of smell, he was too unused to such precise tasks. And it did not help at all that he was still on the verge of a mental breakdown, after all these events within the last few hours.
One thing he was certain about, however.
That... almost smells... toxic. But... where is it coming from? And why the hell can I smell a...?
That was when, for a fraction of a second, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something in the many bushes all around. Two lights, glowing reflections of the moonlight. And just as he had processed that, these two glowing marbles disappeared again.
Instantly, he froze in his perplexed stance.
Was that... a pair of...?
"H-Hello...? Is... Is someone there...?" He sputtered, shivering in discomfort and, frankly, immense fear.
The situation had indeed gotten from just being utterly surreal to a proper life and death scenario so fast, he did not remotely know how to react to any of this. There he stood, frozen like a big, dumb feathery statue, the stinging scent of 'something' nearby, together with what was surely another predatory creature from this time. Whatever happened now, it would be completely out of his hands. And so, numbed by fear, exhaustion and lack of any kind of understanding...
He waited.
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