In The Beginning, one may find a question.md 7.2 KB
To be or not, sunbeams cross-fade through the Felaryan forest. Light pierces the canopy charging angelic ambiance while meant to paint the landscape with luminous blotches. Harpies cast memes notice-able from a plethora of distant angles. A burning breeze rustles skyward branches. Miraging air caresses the unclothed skin to what being slithers over damp earth: the planet had recently rained here. The scene meant to turn, at every first glance, serene — deceptively so. Anyone could appreciate the majesty; absorb ancient yet living designs of such a place scaled from minutia to giants, if not awed by the towering immensity of dark clustered trees…
…plus if naught would eat you as you sensate.
Who now moves by wrapping around Felaryan forest structures; palm touching the damp; shaking rain-droplets from yellow hair, gives mixed impressions such as mesmerizingly expressive, yearningly naive, plus very, very deadly? Key numbered among what beings cause a muddle of ambivalence within encountering humans. With size: an imposing face needing one sixty-rung ladder to reach, able to cause spirits to fill with foreboding, yet remain throbbing with tender feelings. This creature possesses a culturally rich body, glowing beryl eyes, a narrow mouth-breathing smile, plus nipples marking the sensitive spot on a bosom ob pillows finessed in ways few melancholy spirits could remain indifferent to. Key behaviour would impress kindness, intrinsic empathy: one among the many deceptions of this world. If mustering the will to tear gaze away from eyes, face, and finesse, one might feel unnerved to notice: below the waist, key no longer resembles any specie mammal. Like the lethal seductive beasts of ancient myth, this other part forms a serpent's tail, bearing cerulean scales patterned to hint the nature of this creature's distinctly inhuman story.
Key name went Crisis; specie .. naga; emotion .. hungry.
An eighth of the day passed since eating a few nekomimi for breakfast, slowly generating empty-stomach consciousness. With appetite forming an urge but not yet an insistent pang: this naga let keyself a relaxed rove, senses alert for walking meals. Someone had begun to observe.
Moving toward a thin yet ancient tree, however, naga senses found something alive, something small, hiding and peering out. The naga froze from making a grab when it decided to show itself, of its own accord. Stepping into view, it turned out a beggared human – a mature body, goat-skinned, with uncut hairs. The human observed stoically from a branch, intriguing Crisis. Appetite soon overwhelmed curiosity. Behaving in an unexpected manner matters not much; snack-size food matters much.
“Hello.”
“Hello.”
“You go by Crisis, no?”
“You got me.” Announced with a discrete laugh then jarring key head a nod. The human still stoic, mentioned:
“I sought you.”
Anna will later find this human will have dropped a diary. From therein Anna will read about this human's quest. Anna will note by obeying literally anyone this human lacked agency. Key preached about helping and saving everyone.
Crisis began to lose interest in what the human had to say. A wind and leaf released a light ray to activate sparkling humidity thereby to radiate the beggared human, key conscious body on cue growling naga stomach in reaction. The human observed key tummy with flamboyance, as though reacting to a comely sound. Crisis put that thought aside, then reached over to grab. Key clasped the human in one hand, then drew the human closer to key body. The human refused to resist, displaying emotions far removed from panic.
The belly of Crisis released yet louder noises. Key felt saliva secreting, in anticipation for food, tempted to bolt this snack now then move on to search for more. Key lifted the human near key face.
“Why have you sought me?” key questioned, with a friendly tone: one of polite curiosity. Again, the human reacted with emotive zeal no being trapped in key hand had ever emanated prior to now. “For you to eat me.” The human answered, sounding pleased.
Crisis jarred key lovely head a direction opposite the last, sunlit hair cascading over shoulder; then considered that for a moment. The human shared an odd message, but, within a few blinks, Crisis anome-ized those words. Key tongue shifted imagining experiencing the human's taste and tickle for the duration of a trance. With a shrug, then; a toss, key prey flew through open mouth landing in key gullet. Once secured inside by a gulp; soaked in saliva; skipping any figurative nudge off the plank, key stomach rumbled to welcome the human with digestion.
Senses in the area quiet: visual sensory becomes whitewashed plus desaturated, audio sensory becomes muffled plus lofi, tactile sensory becomes dull plus numb, except vividly perceiving whose presence causes this effect. Enter another naga, albeit taller, with a hypnotizing face requiring closer to an eighty-rung ladder to reach. After focusing on key friend, by smiling cheerfully, Crisis’s senses awoke to this naga with mauve skin plus mischievously commanding amethyst eyes.
“Hi Vivian!”
“Hello Crisis.” Vivian mirrored a smile. “How have you fared?”
“Comfortable. A bit sleepy. A bit hungry.” Said yawning, one hand lazily covering key mouth, emphasizing the middle point.
“Have you ate lunch yet?” Vivian spoke with a tone of suggestion which instantly intrigued Crisis.
“I only found a human out alone.”
“Tell where!”
Crisis gestured vaguely. “Stood over me on a tree branch, telling me who waited for me.”
“Crisis… Humans don’t wait for predators.”
“This one did.” When Vivian looked skeptical, Crisis nodded. “The human literally asked to be eaten.” Key added, loudly.
Vivian blinked, then ran fingertips along ke Alice blue hair: a cryptic semiotic. “What else did the human say?”
“Naught.” Crisis said happily. “Eaten.”
A passing neera goes: "why bind escaping qualia's agency?"
Key friend cackled at leyline visualizations superimposed over space. “Suits you! What a shame: fun notions spread from questioning more, to reveal what all that would have turned out about.”
Crisis shrugged, “Well, too late to ask now.” then patted key gay tummy, zealously.
Vivian grinned during eye-contact, laying the matter aside. These naga’es had other subjects more important to them. “Well, if you find yourself hungry still, then know: I dedicated a while agone trailing a group of about a dozen adventurers found heading for the waterfalls – silly fools. Shall we share them, then hunt for more?”
“ooOOoo!” Crisis clapped, moistening wide-open eyes at the prospect of following wandering food. “Let us!”
The two beautiful naga'es exchanged interpretive dance moves, then slithered off in-between trees toward twelve foolhardy adventurers soon destined as fully-nutritional provisions. Senses alert for walking meals, Crisis anticipated zeal from what interaction lay ahead. Already key imagined no more about the unusual human whose life a voracious giant could still feel, but also who adventurers later meet then witness die zealously sharing digestion ob experience then thus, via empathy, know what hunters aren't meant to know: how not to be…
THE END