Morning.
Warm light streamed through the cave entrance, illuminating a few more scattered bones within. Bits of pallid pink flesh stuck to the unclean bone. Gruesome reminder of last night.
Stepping out, pale gray skin on my arms was exposed. Patches of dark crimson flaking away like old skin as I tried to rub it off. From the forearms to the hands. Stuck in the creases leading to pointed nails.
Only a few traces of my arrival remained along with departing steps of the wolves in the clearing below the peak. Their feral scent had evaporated throughout the night. Running my hands in the grass, the morning dew helped to get rid of some of the more persistent stains.
Not quite clean.
Although it would wait. The peak still invited me to climb up. To survey the ecosphere from above. Where the rocky outcrop met the ground, the cliff-face was almost vertical, smooth to the touch — angular as if carved deliberately from an originally bigger segment. Yet, some meters higher, smooth rock gave way to a rougher cracked surface, not as vertical.
Only a matter of getting there.
Stooping down — muscles compressing like a spring. One hand resting on the ground as I gazed up to the ledge preparing to jump.
It looked doable.
A deep imprint was left in the soft soil beneath me when my legs exploded into motion. Leaping through the air, the heavy weight I felt as my body left the ground gave way to weightlessness. Hanging in the air as my hands reached for the ledge. Coming to the apex, before starting to fall back down.
Slightly off.
Only one of my hands managed to grip over the ledge into the cracked stone above, claws finding their way into fissures. Below, my talons scratched at the stone, trying to find support on the smooth surface, scarring it with shallow grooves. The stress inflicted on my claws was quickly becoming painful as my entire bodyweight rested upon those five points wedged in rock.
When my hand started to slip, as a few pebbles, knocked loose, tumbled down, I could already see myself falling back along with them.
—CRACK
The scythe talon that I had been overlooking shot forward, embedding itself into the rock-face. Dust particles sprayed into a small cloud as fine hairline cracks ran through the rocks surrounding the impact. The faint vibration running through the upper arm now embedded into the rock, stabilizing my precarious position.
Hiss.
Reaching with the other scythe talon, the extended reach allowed it to probe further up into the rougher stone area while I steadied my other hand. Now, four anchor points made it so that I could hoist myself up, taking advantage of the creature's natural strengths and abnormal body plan. The tail swayed as I looked back down, seeing I had cleared the smooth section of rock entirely.
Now the ascent.
This six-limbed approach seemed to come naturally, as scythe talons created an anchor pulling further up, while powerful legs propelled the heavy mass of the body. Hands were being relegated to stabilizing limbs, not the main driver of the climb as I had attempted to do. Climbing was becoming faster and smoother as the trees started to dip below the edge of my vision.
Before long, I had reached a slightly flatter platform on the edge of the cliff face where I could turn around. A few rocks resting upon it. Inspecting the scenery, I was now well above the forest. Perched on the peak, I could see in the distance the small clearing I had left the day before, and the river running through it.
Following the water, it seemed to meander through the woods as slight gap in the tree-line could be seen from here. Before finally ending up in a large disc of blue, marred in white by the sky's cloudy picture.
Straight above, I could not tell how far the sky box was, or whether these were real clouds. But the haze caused by water vapors in the distance blurred what seemed to be a bigger expanse of blue liying far away, still connected by running water to the lake. To the left of it, high mountains seemed to rise out of the ground, covered in drifting wisps of mist, while a shining gold came from the right as the air seemed to be shimmering.
But there was a limit I could spot to the ecosphere. Where I had entered, a line of rocks seemed to bend around the edge of the forest, before disappearing behind trees. It likely had to keep going around the different environments, enclosing the loop in a great circle.
I remained there, observing the scenery.
If it was as large as I suspected, how long had the League been operating on this world?
At that moment, the odd box-shaped anomaly midway between the peak and the lake caught my attention. Small spikes or struts seemed to extend a bit higher above its top, while its shape and dark gray made it completely foreign from the surrounding vegetation. Human-made.
But another caught my eye. A small glint at the edge of the vision of one of my secondary eyes. Refocused in an instant when the bright flash occurred. One of the small rocks on the platform seemed to have moved. Swiveling — exposing the black eye within. A pin-sized lens that caught sunlight.
Surveillance.
As my hand grasped it and then pulled, faint sparks erupted from ruptured wires extending down into the rock of the peak. A miniature camera, concealed as an ordinary rock. Pulling out the other rocks from the ground, none seemed to show the same abnormalities.
Looking at the forest below, countless hiding spots existed for covert cameras.
Hiss.
…
Jumping back down into the clearing to bypass the smooth area of the cliff, I was only a shimmering blur as the rapid descent from the peak to the ground disrupted my camouflage. As grass settled beside the imprints left by my feet, so did the shimmer on my body gradually settle into nothingness.
Taking the first step towards the man-made structure I had spotted, my teeth gritted against each other as the camouflage was disrupted once again.
A slightly too fast movement.
Approaching the structure at this pace would take a long time. Adding the small strain and focus I could now sense in maintaining the camouflage at all times seemed unrealistic.
Exposure or speed.
The ecosphere had been damaged, as was its monitoring. Support would be dispatched by the League if the communications blackout was maintained. And called even faster if they were restored.
Moving so slow meant giving more time for the ecosphere to be repaired, for the League to re-establish itself on this floor.
This time might be fine, but what if I needed to go further, to those distant mountains, or the shimmering expanse of sand in the other direction?
Clenching my fist as I decided.
Before the camouflage deactivated with a shimmer, rippling across my body as I took the first step, momentum building with each. The air starting to feel like a breeze, accompanied by every lengthening stride.
Into the forest.
The trees passed by in a blur as I made way for the structure, shadows from the canopy providing limited cover. Every tree stump, knot in the bark or scattered rock was a potential hiding place for one of their eyes.
Possibly tracking my every move. My rush — a gamble that repairs were still underway.
But as I moved further, the wolf track seemed to reappear from way off to my left. Along with that slight iron smell in the air I had come to know. Joining their trail, a series of two-toed footprints, larger and separated by more distance at each imprint.
Long smears of blood already running along the forest floor before I saw it. Gradually thinning into small droplets.
The disemboweled carcass of a wolf. Empty of its contents, pale flesh lacking blood. Deep and long scars on its back and side. Messy footsteps beside it breaking off from the trail that continued, before disappearing alone into the brush.
Just a bit further, the blood was becoming thick and I slowed my steps. The remaining wolf track veered off into the bushes, along with its pursuer. Faint rustling came from out of view, beyond the bushes. The barely audible tearing and crunching of flesh.
My skin started to ripple and gradually disappear. I wanted no part of it. The League installation still lay beyond waiting for me.
Yet the rapid steps erupted behind me.
—THUMP
A strong impact on my back staggering me as I tried to turn, covert avoidance foiled.
The hissing breath mixed with a sickly sweet odor of rot in my ear as the weight brought me down to one knee.
The uncomfortable drag I felt on my back as something raked on my carapace.
And then the burning pain in my side came when something tore through in a long swift motion.
Thrashing to all sides before one of my hands grasped at the attacker on my back, throwing and sending it rolling on the ground.
Hand clasping my side as accelerated heartbeats kept pumping out blood with a strong flow. Warm and itching under my hand.
The attacker shaking its head, hissing before focusing again on my form. Standing as tall as a man, slim body packed with dense muscle, ending in a tail accounting for half its total length. Concealed under a coat of feathers, flaring on its neck before gradually giving way to a scaled face. Tapered jaws, covered in dried blood and slightly open, revealed a dense row of sharp fangs.
Black eyes shone intently as they examined me.
Strong legs ending in three toes, one abnormally large ending in a long curved claw. Stained crimson on one side.
It reared up before letting out two sharp barks into the forest air.
The rustling stopped.
Unnatural hunger rising as my eyes were kept fixated on the terrible claw.
The burst of footsteps when two more heads popped over the bushes. Bits and pieces of flesh stuck between their fangs.
Covetous greed when looking at their claw.
Just as it had the dense scales of the armored lizard.
Reciprocating their hisses as they started to pace around.
A deep instinctive urge to consume.
Heartbeats accelerating.