Trust you //\\ W.I.P ArtiHunter story

\\ 3. Savior //

[ ARTIFICER'S POV ]

[This one's MUCH longer y'all, don't worry- ]

    I awoke with dried tears on my face.

How long I was crying the night before, I don't know. I miss my pups. I miss my eye. My back won't stop stinging.

I just wish I had someone to talk to.

    Shakily, I get to my feet, wiping away the tears that had started to build in my eyes again. No. I'm not going to dwell on this. I'm going to find that scavenger toll. I'm going to give them what they deserve. 

    But first, I need to recover. I close my eyes a moment to calm myself. As I push away my feelings and grief, I turn to exit my shelter. I step out the pipe and immediately can feel the sun's rays on my face. I take a deep breath.

'Don't let anything get to you,' I remind myself silently.

I look around. The Pole Plant is still here, so I had to be careful not to mistake it for an actual pole. The Pink Lizard isn't here, so I don't have to worry about being attacked, unless one decides to pop in out of nowhere, like they tend to do sometimes. Some Batflies flew around not so much as a leap's length above my head.

    I figure that even if they won't do me much good, I might as well catch a few. I leap straight up and grab two out of the air. It only fills half a food pip. This is going to take a while. But I have an idea. I look around me, but it only takes a moment to find one- A spear. It's good they can be found almost anywhere. I pull it out of the ground, which takes only a slight amount of effort.

    I then wait for a group of Batflies to stop and rest. There is a ledge over their nest- A black and white mass of eggs. They seem to like to roost on that ledge. Good for me. Not so good for them. I take aim with my spear, in focus.

    I pull it back, and I release it. It flew upwards at the rock- I was almost afraid it was going to miss. But it arcs down just in time, and spears five Batflies, like a kebab. Proud of my idea, I walk over to pick it up. I sit down to eat. It fills up a total of two food pips. 'This is going to be fun...' I thought sarcastically.

    I start to stand again, but as soon as I get to my paws, I hear a low growl. I whip around to locate the source of the sound. I find it. It was a Red Lizard, carrying something. What it was, I couldn't tell from this distance, but it looked about the size of me, if not a little bigger.

    I need food, and a Red Lizard could help a lot, even if it's a risky move to hunt one. But I decide that if I'm going to take on more groups of Scavengers, I'm going to need to learn how to kill one Lizard. I grip my spear tighter, and start to run.

[ HUNTER'S POV ]

    Everything hurts. I feel the lizard's teeth dig into my skin, piercing it. I can see perfectly fine, but pain made my vison blurry. I could hear the voices slowly start to creep into my mind.

'It's okay.'

'Don't worry.'

'You'll be more powerful soon.'

'More powerful than this Lizard.'

'You could eat this Lizard.'

'You could eat everything.'

'Eat everything.'

    The Rot. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it so much. Wherever I go, it's always in the way. The growths on my skin. The voices in my mind. The constant dread of death. If I die, I would become...

...That thing.

    In my teary, blurred vision, I spot something. An unusually colored figure. The color of crimson. I could barely make out flecks of darker red on the figure. I guess the Lizard saw it too, because it growled loudly. The figure moved around a moment, then turned around.

    I saw a single, white eye on it's face. I barely had time to make out what had happened to the second one, before I saw it running straight in my direction. It threw something at the Lizards tail, and I heard an earsplittingly loud roar.

And then I was released. From the Lizard's jaws, and in turn, the thoughts.

    I scramble to my feet, but still being disoriented, I fell right back down. As my vision adjusted, I realized My crimson colored savior was a SlugCat.

A SlugCat.

    I watched as it retrieved the spear from the Red Lizard's tail, and stabbed it into the Lizard's side. I heard it roar again. The mystery slug repetitively stabbed the Lizard- Over and over- Until it finally went limp.

    I was silent.

"Tch. Easier than I thought." The crimson SlugCat said. As I listened to it's voice, I could tell it was female. I see what those darker spots on her body were now. Scars. All over her. And it seems her eye has been taken right out of it's socket, if not at least brutally damaged. She has a quite recent-looking injury on her back, something I could only assume was form some sort of explosion.

    "Wow." I say, impressed. "Even I struggle to take down a Red Lizard alone, and I've been hunting them for years. The other SlugCat shrugs, before promptly ripping a leg off of the now dead Lizard, chomping down on it. "No serious injuries?" She asks. Strange, this was the first SlugCat that hasn't questioned the many strange marks and growths along my back and tail.

    I shake my head. "Cool." The other SlugCat responds, before grabbing a second leg off of the Lizard and turning to walk away. I quickly jump to my feet. "Wait! Sorry for bothering you, but- Thank you." I say. She turns to face me again. "You're welcome. My name's Artificer." She took a bite of the Lizard leg. "You said you hunt Lizards? You can eat them, right?" In response to this, I nod. Artificer stares a me a second. 

    "You've been through it, huh?" I realize she was analyzing my scars. "Eh, more or less. I could say the same for you." I reply. Artificer nods. "Hey," I continue, "I don't see other SlugCats often. Mind staying and talking awhile?" 

She nods.

And I smile.

[ OH MY GOD, 1091 WORDS!?!?!?!?!? Probably because it's starting to get late at night for me, I always have my motivation then, lol- I hope you're enjoying, and have a great day/night! <3 ]