Installment #5
[i]’So close…’ I whisper inside my mind. ‘Another few
inches, and I’m there…’ The startling moonlight filters through an opening in
the ceiling of the damp cave. A rumbling snore echoes through the stone
chamber, emanating from a behemoth of a brown bear not a foot away from me. I
stretch out my clawed, furred hand and gingerly grab the long, bladelike tooth
glimmering in the moonlight. The marble pedestal it rests upon starkly
contrasts the otherwise dank, gloomy cave. It’s not until I have crept out of
the cave that I take stock of my surroundings. A gigantic river rages silently
in the bottom of the valley, and a massive herd of tiny mammoths, no taller
than six inches are being stalked by a weasel the size of a horse. The moon
illuminates the scene, as bright as a sunny day. Trees the size of bonsais
crowd near the river and grasses the size of redwoods edge the borders of the
valley, dominating my vision. A sparrow the size of a 747 makes its way across
the sky. Everywhere I look there is another oxymoron waiting to be discovered.
My senses go on high alert as I hear something padding up
almost silently behind me. I spin 180 degrees to see a beast unlike any I have
seen before. It stands 5 feet tall, lithe and skinny, with a head bearing a
skinny snout. The face bears both human and vulpine features. Its hands and
feet bear sharp, strongly curved claws, and a short, fluffy tail extends from
its backside. Most startling of all is its snow white coat, purer a colour than
any I have ever seen before. Then, I realize that my hand looked like its own,
but thicker and with less curved claws. ‘What the fuck..?’ I muse to my inner
self, raising my hand to see a hand clawed like the beast’s, but larger and a
dusky-tan colour. A white stripe runs up the inside of my arm to my chest,
which is covered in slightly longer white fur. My anatomy is nearly the same as that creature’s, but thicker and
less leggy! Realizing something else, I bring my short tail around to the front
of my body, and examine it. With fur only slightly shorter than that on my chest,
it is the same dusky-tan as most of my body, with a white stripe running along
the underside, ending in an ivory tip. For clothing I possess nothing but a
small, ragged leather loincloth. I lick my lips, and my long raspy tongue is
visible over the sight of my muzzle. A muzzle!
“Oh-my-fucking-god-what-the-fuck-is-this?!?!” I exclaim
breathlessly, watching my muzzle move with my speech. I smell everything now,
the pungent odour of the giant weasel not too far away, the musky scent of the
bear, and the enticing, distinctly feminine smell of the white creature
standing opposite me. Suddenly, she barks out a clipped sound resembling a
laugh, and stunning blue eyes lock onto my own brown ones, with laughter
shining through. “Every time…” she mumbles, rolling her eyes and shaking her
head. Her light, musical voice carries strongly, and I swear it’s one of the
most beautiful sounds I’ve ever heard. All of a sudden I’m acutely aware of my
sensitive hearing. The breathing of the three foot long mice in the bonsai
pines is almost deafening when I turn my ears toward the noise. I can turn my
ears?! “Do you have it?” She says, with a serious expression gracing the
delicate features of her animalistic face. As she speaks I observe long, thin
canines and large shearing teeth within her snout. Unsure of her meaning, I
tentatively hold up the tooth, and being the paleontologist in training I am, I
instantly recognize the distinctive tooth of a Smilodon. She bares her
formidable teeth in a smile when I offer my trophy. “One more test, and we can
leave this world.”
A thunderous roar rips its way out of the cave, shocking
both of us. We lock eyes for an instant, and take off in the direction of the
tall grass. At first I run bipedally, but when she drops to all fours and lopes
in a manner somewhere between a dog and a chimp, dashing across the grass with
potent speed, I follow suit and soon catch up to her. I can hear the massive
bear charging behind us, its heavy breathing gaining on us as we approach the
colossal grasses. We both leap onto the giant blade of grass, using our curved
claws to grant purchase as we ascend up the grass. Once we are about 35 feet
off the ground, we look down to see the bear trying and failing to climb up
after us. It takes me a few seconds longer to ascend. It seems like I’m faster
in a sprint but she’s the more efficient climber. “That thing must be 20 feet
tall!” I exclaim, with an astonished look at my companion. She nods, and looks
at me sternly. “And you must kill it. Or we will have to repeat this test. Take
these.” She hands me a forked branch about 2 feet long and sinew cord, which
seemingly appeared from nowhere. “With these you make the Mother’s Scythe. Do
not fail me.” She says with a wink, proceeding to throw me off the blade of
grass to the bear. I land behind it with a combat roll, and it doesn’t even
notice at first, it’s so intent on beating the blade of grass down with its
gargantuan paws.
I take the opportunity to try and bind the Smilodon tooth to
the branch with the cord. To my astonishment, as soon as I wrap the sinew
around the tooth and branch which barely holds it in place, the moon turns its
glow in a concentrated beam directly on the tool. Before my eyes, it grows in my hands, the shaft
nearing 8 feet long, and the tooth extends to about 2 feet long. The cord
lengthens and wraps itself around the tooth, binding it to the stave, with the
forked ends wrapping themselves around the top of the tooth, securing it in
place. The ivory saber gleams in the moonlight, almost glowing.
The moonbeam attracts the attention of the
bear. It whips around, instantly charging at me. I adopt a wide stance, ready
to spring out of the way when the bear nears too close for comfort. Within seconds
this time is upon me, and I dodge the bear’s paw swipe only to hurtle directly
into the corresponding paw coming from the opposite direction. I fly through
the air, landing about ten yards away. Groaning, I rise to my feet only to be
greeted with the bear charging once more. This time I roll forward, between its
paws, and I clumsily clamber onto its back, still stunned from my flight. My
claws dig in for purchase, and the bear bellows in rage. I claw my way to its
head as it rears up, trying to shake me. I nearly fall as I draw the scythe
across its throat, that wondrous substance known as lifeblood drenching my
blade. As the bear falls, I leap away so I don’t become trapped beneath it. As
I bend to drink the bear’s blood, I am tackled by the snow white female. She
pushes me away from the carcass of the bear, as the scythe lies upon the blood-soaked
earth beside us. “The blood of the Great Ursus is not for mortal consumption.
You did well. Don’t spoil it by drinking your way to madness.” She says,
entrancing me with the lyrical tones of her voice. We stand and those piercing
blue eyes penetrate my soul.
“Who are you? [b]What[/b] are you?” I ask in wonderment. She
smiles, teeth flashing in the light of the moon. “I am Mahina, the moon. You
would not be able to see me in my true form, so I take the form of your
destiny.” At my confused glance, a benevolent look graces her features as she
transforms. She throws her head back, and drops to her knees. Her eyes roll
back into her head as she lies fully upon the ground, writhing and convulsing.
I see her body shifting, breaking, reforming as the fur disappears and dark
claws shrink into pale fingernails. Suddenly, I feel all the bones in my body
shattering and reforming, expanding and contracting. My eyes roll back as well,
and the world becomes starbursts of painful light behind my eyes. I want to
scream, but my jaw breaks and shortens, expanding outwards. My canines get
smaller, and my incisors grow large. The hair covering my body returns to its
normal state, and my thick mop of shaggy brown hair falls across my unseeing
eyes. Just as quickly as it came, the pain disappears, and my eyes roll
forward. I close them, and stand, feeling my human body returned to me. I open
my eyes to see a girl, no older than myself, standing opposite to me. Baser
urges dominate my thinking as I take in the sight of her. About 5 feet 9 inches
tall and thin, she has blonde hair falling in slightly curled waves to her
waist, flawless ivory skin, and eyes of the same astonishing icy blue as
Mahina. Her only garments are a tattered leather loincloth and black body
paint, twisting swirls and geometric lines traversing her body. Black paint surrounds
her eyes, accentuating the already shocking colour.
I struggle to tear my eyes away, and when I finally manage
to I look down to see myself clothed in a similar manner. The ethereal scene
surrounding me is astonishing. She smiles and steps up to me. She traces her
hand down my cheek, gracing it with a soft caress. My eyes are lost in hers,
and I feel myself being dragged into an abyss within them of which I’ve never
before seen the like. She breaks eye contact, and presses her lithe body
against mine. Lightly touching her lips to my ear, she whispers, “It’s time for
you to leave me. Return to your own world. Your final task is to find your
destiny. You will recall this when you awaken. Remember, I am always watching
over you.” With that, she steps back and the world disappears into blinding
light as I stare into her eyes once more…[/i]
Sunlight filters through the hole in the tent as I stir from
my slumber. ‘Holy shit…’ I think to myself. ‘What was that? It felt so real…’
My internal reverie is interrupted when I feel Emily stirring beside me. Her head
rests in the crook of my neck, and I feel her naked body stretched against me.
Bare skin on bare skin, we lie peacefully as people have for hundreds of
thousands of years before us, probably even in this very spot. I can hear the
bustle of the camp around us as I come to my senses. Adamantus is struggling in
vain to get a handle on the coyote pups he adopted, Wild Dog and Wyvax discuss
the merits of bamboo vs hardwoods, and Black Ice is laughing with Brittany
about something. A light smile flashes across my face as I take in the smell of
cooking meat, probably rabbit. I move around, and Emily’s eyes flutter open,
and she gazes up at me with a grin of adoration. I’ve provided for her, satisfied
both physical and emotional needs for weeks now, and according to Black Ice -
apparent expert on matters of the heart - she is head over heels for me. I’m
not sure if I feel the same, but I certainly like her. I grin back, but pull
away and begin to dress. She follows suit, and within a few moments we are
dressed and exiting the tent.
“Rashido!” Wild Dog yells to me, as he sits on the cane reed
floor of our camp turning a spit on which a crispy brown squirrel is impaled.
“Breakfast!” I exclaim with a wide grin on my face. “I guessed rabbit from the
smell but I wasn’t too far off. How are you?” He and Wyvax smile back at me,
and Wild Dog replies, “Quite well.” Wyvax nods his agreement as Black Ice comes
strutting forward with an arm draped across Brittany’s shoulders. “You lazy
bitches better get off your asses, ‘cause we have work to do!” He announces
this with a chuckle, prompting over-enthusiastic giggles from Brittany. I
respond, “Agreed, we need to get mobilized. We should have breakfast first
though.” Black Ice gets a mischievous look in his eyes, and proudly states,
“Don’t worry, I had fish for breakfast.” with a wink at the guys and a pointed
look at Brittany. She gasps with a raging blush, and slaps his arm, but he just
laughs. He continues, “In all seriousness though, I will have some breakfast.”
Wild Dog just looks appalled, Wyvax and I are laughing our
asses off, and Emily casts a suspicious glance at Brittany. Adamantus approaches
with Theropod and the two coyote pups in tow. Shaking his head, Wild Dog takes
the squirrel from the spit and lays it on a relatively clean rock. Theropod
hands him an obsidian knife and Wild Dog butchers the squirrel, handing pieces
to each of us. Wyvax walks the short distance to the cooking trough, and pulls
up the tarp containing a small amount of cattail and mint soup. Armed with my decent
knowledge of different medicinal and cooking herbs, I’d been able to gather up
some plants for us to eat in conjunction with our meals. I scoop some out with
my hands, and drink it down with my squirrel. With blinding speed,
Superpredator is suddenly upon us, yelling “I SMELL FOOD!!!”
He sprints up from
the stream and drops a black rock by my side. It is porous looking and pitch
black, even blacker than coal, with obvious volcanic origin. “Look what I
found!” he cries in excitement, practically bouncing up and down. “Wow buddy,
this is really cool! Where’d you get it?” I say as I pick up the rock, running
my hands over it and examining it. About a foot long and 7 inches wide, it’s surprisingly
light for its size. “Down by the stream. Do you like it?” He manages to get all
this out with a mouthful of squirrel while drinking soup at the same time. I
think of Mahina’s body paints. “Yes Supes, in fact this thing is pretty
priceless.” Wild Dog looks at me confused. “I think it’s cool, but how is it
that valuable?” I turn to him and explain, mirth and jokingly haughty tones infiltrating
my speech: “This, my young padawan, is the key to our hunt today. We need a way
to break up our image among the trees. Any deer or goat will notice us if we’re
solid shapes and colours. Ever wonder how a tiger got its stripes? He needed
camouflage for hunting and so do we. We can grind this up into powder, mix it
with a bit of clay and water, and make body paint. Stripes and swirls will
break up our image among the trees, and allow us to get closer to the quarry.
Remember, we only have one atlatl. If we miss, we’ll need to charge in with
thrusting spears. In order to have any hope of success using this method, we’ll
need to be close to the prey. That means camo. This is our first big-game hunt,
and we need to get something. Everyone is getting tired of trout and cattails.”
Everyone nods in understanding as we finish our breakfast.
Theropod grabs the stone, and walks off to grind it up. I return to the tent I
share with Emily, and grab the long wooden shaft that I intend on turning into
a basic spear. Cut from an ash sapling nearby, the wood is heavy, hard, and
exceedingly tough. About 9 feet long, I’ve already stripped its bark and
straightened it. The only thing left to do is cut and fire harden the tip. As I
complete this most basic of tasks, I ponder over my dream. Looking to the sky,
I see the ghost of the moon, barely visible in daylight. I smile to myself, and
remember Mahina’s words… [i]” Your final task is to find your destiny.”[/i]
‘What does that mean..?’ I think to myself. ‘She said that the form she took
was that of my destiny. I didn’t see any survivors who looked like that, I sure
as hell would’ve noticed… So I need to find a girl who looks like that? Where?
How? There’s too many open ended questions, and not enough answers…’ As I
finish my task, I walk off to see how Theropod is progressing.
2 hours later…
Black Ice and I swing through the trees as the rest of the
hunting party jog below us. I’m still not as good as he is, but I’m catching up
and soon I’ll have almost as much arboreal agility as him. Theropod carries the
atlatl, as he is the most experienced with them, and Superpredator holds all
our spears. He insisted on tagging along, and since he’s too young to hunt
properly, we declared him our caddy. Wild Dog, Wyvax, DinoFreak, Adamantus, and
SilverFang run along the ground, hot on the trail of goat prints we discovered
earlier and decided to follow. All of our bodies are covered in swirling black
body paint, and we look pretty fucking epic if I do say so myself. All of a
sudden, I spot red-brown fur moving among branches of a thicket from my aerial
position. I let out the warning whistle we agreed on beforehand, mimicking a
bird call, and everyone stops. Black Ice and I drop down, grabbing our spears
from Superpredator. I hear the goats rummaging through the undergrowth, and can
practically feel their heartbeats from 25 feet away. I whisper, “They’re in
that thicket over there. Can’t you guys hear them?” Everyone looks at me like
I’m crazy. Apparently they can’t hear them. Either way, I point Theropod in the
right direction. The rest of us fan out, forming a semi-circle around the
unsuspecting animals.
Theropod slowly creeps forward, and the whole party is on
edge. One of the goats raises its head in Wild Dog’s direction when he steps on
a twig, and seizing the moment Theropod hurls the atlatl dart at the goat with
deadly force and speed. It is struck in the neck and slumps to the ground.
The
rest of the group begins to flee, but I feel an overwhelming stirring within
me. I chase after them, throwing my spear at one not 5 feet in front of me. It
sinks into the animal’s thigh and the goat bleats plaintively, slowing more
with each step. I tackle the goat, and feeling that same urge I felt when I
ripped up the coyote’s throat, wrestle the poor animal to the ground, drag it
into a bush, and bite down on its throat. The goat is much larger than the coyote I killed and, my
teeth don’t do much, but I work my hold and kill it with asphyxiation after
nearly 2 minutes of sitting there clamping on its windpipe. The others had
been calling for me, but I hadn’t even noticed while lost in bloodlust. ‘At
least I know how a lion feels going after a wildebeest…’ I silently muse before
I notice the slowing footsteps and gasps behind me. I turn, my teeth covered in
blood.
Reactions among the party are mixed. Black Ice, Adamantus, and
SilverFang are grinning ear-to-ear, Wild Dog and Wyvax look worried, and
Superpredator has a look somewhere between shock and respect on his face. I
rise to my feet, wipe my mouth, and lick my lips. I look to the noonday sky,
and see the moon shining slightly stronger than it was before we set out. I
pick up the goat, drape it over my shoulder, and proceed to start walking back
to camp. Casting a backward glance, I call out, “Are you guys coming or not?”
Everyone else starts to walk after me, and I feel more confident than I have in
a while.
30 minutes later…
As we near camp, I nearly drop my prize in shock. My
peripheral vision catches a flash of blonde hair and I call out, “Hey! Come
back!” Before I can even guess what direction the hair disappeared to, it’s
gone and the guys are catching up. “What was that?” SilverFang asks, following
the direction of my gaze into the treetops. I reply, “Nothing, don’t worry
about it.” Wild Dog puts a hand on my shoulder, and looks up at me in concern.
I shake my head, and keep walking. ‘Destiny approaches…’ I think to myself,
excited and a bit scared at the same time at the potential consequences of my
sighting.
So, let me know what you think. As always I'm a bit unsure of the pacing. Thanks for reading!
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