Ripper: An Indoraptor Story ✓

The Enemy

A few cycles had passed. Or days. I tend to call them cycles.

In the scheme of time, they felt longer than usual. The nights flashed by before me, quicker than the blink of an eye. Never had I found the time to stare into the stars or listen to the ravishing howls of a distant breeze, nor could I bask in the morning rays of an imperfect star.

Alas, who had time for such nonsense? 

The idiotic idea of staring blankly into the void of nothingness...what purpose does it serve besides delaying the inevitable? Why must it exist?

I knew I was being hunted, dear reader, and I had no doubt in my mind that I would be hunted again. The humans were after me, salivating over my flesh and bones as a cat would to the most precious of mice. It was in their nature, to drool over the things they called property - they designed themselves to this way. Even still, as I trekked across the vastness of this desert, I found their hideous presence in places where they shouldn't exist: in the crackling whispers of a blazing fire, the soft rumbles of a dying storm, or through the trickling warm blood that spills upon frozen dirt. Sometimes I'd see them above me, laughing menacingly from the clouds, or through the sinister silhouette of the cacti that watched me.

I was losing my mind, both sides of it. Unless I could find the strength to move from the past I'd continue to suffer this revolting burden within.

Endlessly...

Somehow...

And that made wonder. Not just about a solution to this annoying thought, but in general me being here, alive and well. 

Was it for good reason?

Perhaps death intended on keeping me alive until I fulfilled a purpose. He was longing for something that I failed to see. Something I desperately needed. But I couldn't tell what it was, or why I was forced to seek it. Maybe I needed to mend a wound. Maybe I needed to solve the odds between me and my maker. Or perhaps seek redemption against the humans that wronged me. Or prove otherwise to the world. 

But why here? Why now? And why so soon? 

For one I didn't think I belonged here. And in truth I didn't, everyone knew that. The world in my eyes was just a chaotic sphere of death, regret, shame, destruction, and worthless meaning-

Maybe you should stop thinking so much and simply walk, My mind had suddenly spoken, dispersing my thoughts and ideas with his own futile words. And despite its help to clear me of confusion, his word brought a sense of annoyance in me.

Why? I snorted back, I need to know some things. I need to know why Wu wants me. Why the humans want me. Why I'm even alive and-

You're making it all the more confusing dear friend. Rest your mind before you break it. 

A forced growl came next, I am not breaking. 

The way you thinking makes me believe you are. Why ponder over the humans still? They have no care for us, and neither should we.

I just feel conflicted that's all.

Don't then. Think of yourself, think of your strengths. Think of your dreams. Don't let those pestering wealthy baboons corrupt you outside of their scale-less touch. 

If you insist...

On this particular afternoon, the summer sky burned the dried topsoil beneath my claws, causing waves of transparent oceans to ripple the horizon ahead. Winds of fury brushed into my bloody flank and coated the sand with red supplement. Even up above the huge, golden sun rose over the edge of the barren world, and its rays fell on my lonely soul, baking it silently without fuss. And while I walked, a small trail of blood slithered behind me, haunting me by its presence before fading into the dust, and into nothingness.