Joroboros
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[KoJ] Chapter 53: Repeat
🕑 Added 2024-11-10 13:13:19 +0000 UTCThe trio of young are completely oblivious to their surroundings. As I slither up beside them, not one even glances my way. Of course, the fallen nests and broken stones are the perfect environment to remain obscured, but they are unbelievably unwary of their surroundings. Do they believe nothing can threaten them?
Is this the foolishness of younglings? Those who have not yet grown into the fears of their instincts. Or do their kind truly not have anything to worry about around here?
The three collect stones from the ground beneath their tentacled limbs. Each piece a broken remnant of the former nests that remain nothing but a pile of rocks this close to the fissure. Flexing their flowing limbs, they fling the stones across the chasm, where they clatter against the opposite wall.
One of the trio lingers many of its body length’s further from the ledge, and tries to throw from there. Its stones consistently fall short of where its two kin’s throws impact.
“Come on Kael”, one of the pair standing on the ledge says in a soft, high-pitched tone. “You're never going to win if you can't step forward.”
The other one says nothing, but its eyes swirl to the back of its head to smirk at the only one of them that actually seems somewhat wary. Kael? Is that what its species are called?
“Nixie, Asmis, you really shouldn’t get so close. What if the cliff breaks?”
I guess not. Nixie? Asmis? Are they individual names? With how many sapients there are, there couldn’t possibly be enough names for each one. How could they come up with them all? Are these three special? Even though they are obviously so weak? Their throws across the fissure don’t reveal much strength, after all.
“Oh, it’s not going to break,” the high-pitched one, Nixie, says. The young slaps a couple tentacles against the earth, as if to prove the point. Though, completely misses the small section that breaks away and tumbles into the chasm with its next words. “See? It hasn’t fallen away in months. What are the chances it will do so today?”
I scoot around the three, who seem completely unbolted by how much noise they make, and slither up to the ledge. Peering down, I find it isn't as deep as I'd expected. Only about a far to the bottom as my full size is long. Nothing like the Titan's tear or the voided column I took to reach this surface.
For most of the way down, the cliff-walls are vertical. Only near the bottom does it narrow into an unmoving stream. I gaze up to where the stones clank against the fractured wall opposite. The front two tentacle creatures come rather close to hitting an oddly-perfect circular tunnel protruding from the wall. Above the cliff, the image is much the same as around me; an abandoned section of the hive with countless broken nests.
“Fine, you two can fall all you want, but I'd rather keep my life. I’m staying back here.”
The two near the ledge watch the tentacled young for a moment, before they burst into snickers. The one that has yet to speak talks in a hushed tone that I’d imagine was intended not to be overheard… if not for the fact it was loud enough to echo across the fissure. “Oh well, leave him be. He will lose, and then he'll have to face the punishment.” Abandoning the fake subtlety, the being’s voice calls to the more nervous of the three. “You do know you will be facing the punishment, right, Kael? You’re hardly going to win from back there.”
The wary young, rather than responding, picks up another rock and grunts as it heaves it across the fissure. The stone still falls short. I don't really understand what the point is, but the failure seems to annoy Kael, as its eyes narrow in frustration.
The other two quickly return to throwing stones, intent on whatever victory they believe throwing rocks will achieve. As far as I can tell, there is nothing over there. What reason is there to fling stones like this? Is there a point at all?
Not a single one of them has any strength in their throw, and even if they are young, it makes it difficult to believe they are from the same species as those I first fought upon arriving here. If they had one of those fake-claws, neither of these three could even scratch the scales of my smallest form.
It’s incredibly underwhelming; the rocks — not even ranked stone — don’t so much as break when they impact. They simply bounce off, rarely leaving any damage at all.
I understand they are the young of their species, but this strength is the equivalent of being prey of prey to those I first encountered. It is rare for mature creatures to be this disproportionate from their young unless they have lived for a vast time. Did I misjudge? Are those I fought actually far older than I expected? For their young to be this weak, I must be; they are the exception amongst their species, rather than the norm.
Which means that this swarm is even weaker than I’d thought. Assuming the three other races have much the same basic strength, this extensive swarm has pitiful individual strength barely greater than a bilby’s. A single apikull or diosgris might be enough to clean out this hive. How have they survived so long? There’s not a chance I’m the first creature to rise from the depths. It would be impossible, considering the sheer scale of the warped tunnels.
Sure, there are those exceptions in the ones I fought as I exited the column, but the opposition I faced would be insufficient to hold back many of the greater residents of my former territory. And yet… these young continue to be completely unwary to their surroundings. They truly do not believe anything could threaten them here.
I continue to watch as the trio bicker while throwing their stones across the chasm. Soon enough, it becomes obvious they are aiming for that tunnel that protrudes from the opposite wall like a hollow root. Their aim isn’t great, but now and then, they get closer.
I’d originally thought — what with the challenging tone the front two took for Kael — that they weren’t on good terms. The way they spoke suggested a sort of aggression that I might expect from beasts fighting over territory… but the front two show their back to the one they snarl at far too easily. This Kael has all the opportunity he needs to shove them into the fissure and come out victorious from whatever internal dispute they have between each other… but doesn’t take it. They simply throw stones with a strange trust in one another.
The sight reminds me of Scia. At first, we didn’t get along perfectly, and yet I still found myself protecting her. As did she. Scia was intelligent — more-so than most creatures of my former home — would it have been possible, assuming she’d lived long enough, that she too could have grown into sapience? The memories of our wordless interactions are irreplaceable; but what might it have been like to speak with her? What did she think of me?
“Yes!” One cheers. Nixie, if I followed their chatter correctly. Across the fissure, one of the stones has clattered within the extruding tunnel and slides deep within. The reverberating echo is louder than any of the other stone impacts.
She laughs, her eyes spinning in her head back to the more cowardly young. “Take that!”
Not a moment later, another stone lands within the tunnel, and the other standing at the cliff-edge makes a strange clicking noise, but obviously annoyed at not succeeding first.
“Damn it, Nixie,” Kael groans, being the only one not to have succeeded.
“You know what this means, right Kael?” her tone inclines with a lilt. Amusement, maybe? Or closer to smugness?
Kael simply sighs, dropping the last few stones held in a curl of one of his tentacles.
“But…” Nixie continues, stretching the word far longer than is necessary. “I’ll give you one chance to avoid the punishment.”
“It’s already dark, Nixie. Mum’ll skin me alive if I’m not home when she gets off work.”
“Oh, don’t worry. This will take only a minute.” She crouches to dig up one of the countless rectangular stones that cover the earth between fallen nests. “All you need to do, is throw a brick further than Asmis and I. Easy, right?”
Asmis, by her side, smirks with his eyes before following her lead and picking up another of those identical stones. “Right. I like the sound of that.”
“But that's unfair,” Kael moans, but neither of the other two pay his complaints any mind.
As one, Asmis and Nixie take a step towards the cliff. One more and they’d both fall. With great effort, they lug the stones out ahead of them. Despite not being all that much larger than the other stones they’d been throwing, these fall out of their tentacles more than they fly. Asmis’s stone crashes into the opposite embankment before rebounding into the water. Nixie’s simply hits the water.
I slither away from the edge and pick up one of the same stones along the patterned ground to inspect its weight, but find it lighter than expected. It isn’t so much heavier than the stones they were throwing, so why’d they have such a problem with these?
Both having already completed their throws, turn to the third, who picks up one of his own and reluctantly takes a few steps towards the ledge. He stops a few of his body lengths short, refusing to go farther. With two tentacles, he pulls back the stone, before heaving it forward.
To his credit, he seems to put more strength into the throw than the other two… but it still falls short. So short, that it doesn’t even clear the ledge.
The stone crashes into the ground, and immediately the lip of the cliff breaks away. Nixie and Asmis can only stare for a moment before the ledge breaks away beneath their tentacles, neither having the chance to leap away from the collapsing earth.
They scream as they fall, Kael’s voice joining as he stretches a limb forward, far too slow to help either. The creatures flail as they descend, terrified eyes glancing up, almost like they’re pleading at me. But even poking my head over the ledge, they haven’t noticed me. They might have, if they weren’t so panicked.
Really, it is the trio’s own foolishness that this happened. They had a permanent communication set in place warning of this exact thing, and yet they discarded such knowledge. Young as they are, they should know better. It is none but their own fault if they die from this.
I’ve not seen foolishness like this since…
A bend appears and I’ve shot through it before I even realise what I’m doing. The two falling sapients scramble against the stone as they slide down the cliff, only to find they have no grip, and pull away from the wall along with the earth they previously stood on. They fall, unable to save themselves.
I snap forward, growing as quickly as my body will allow. The fissure isn’t all that deep, so the fall won’t be long. That might have been thankful in any other scenario, but these creatures are so weak such a fall will surely kill them. All it does is limit the time I have to react, and prevents me gaining any sufficient size, leaving me to halt their fall with only my smallest of forms.
Another bend appears, and immediately upon exiting, my tail whips around the middle of one. The soft flesh squishes under my strength, and I have to put in effort not to squeeze the young dead in an instant.
With most of my body already occupied with the one called Asmis, my distortions become useless. Not only that, I have no more room to curl around the other while also halting their fall. An idea pops into mind, and while I’m sure the sapient won’t like it, it will keep them alive.
At the same time I spike my tail into the wall, I snap my head forward. My teeth sink deep into the tentacle, facing no resistance. Again, I have to hold myself back from snapping my jaw shut and bursting the boneless flesh as I’d done with the first of these creatures I’d seen.
My tail, hooked within the wall, grinds away the weak standard stone until the three of us jerk to a stop, slamming into the cliff-face as the loose earth continues to shatter along the slope until it hits the water.
Well, they’re alive… but I really wish the one called Nixie would stop screaming.
Comments
There is a second type of mantis shrimp that spears prey instead.
The group tracking them is going to have quite a shock if they hear this story
J
who seem completely -unbolted- +unbothered+ by; be this weak, I must -be-+have+
Trasen56
I wonder how long it will take them to realize he isn't trying to eat them? Cus from their perspective the monster their parents always warn them about at bedtime or when they don't do chores just came lol
Summer Coff
Alright, snakey, work that core! Let's see how long you can plank!
