Sighing from boredom, I find myself wishing upon an insidious shine in the sky. We're just moving and stopping. Moving and stopping... If it weren't for my juperse, I feel like I would have already fallen asleep by now. The joys of animal riding are not as persistent as I hoped. It's already grown thin.
"Over here!" a man in the woods calls out. With those two words, everyone else dismounts, weapons in hand. Blinking at the speed of their reaction, I get down to follow. They're already deep into the trees... And now out of sight completely. You'd think it was them with the magic bodies, not me.
A frown comes to my face and I shrug. My legs need a good stretch. Get some limberness back into my body and all. Turning back towards the jittering creatures I have been left with, I watch them. Jumping up and down like hyperactive children, they all are.
"Not very welcoming to the definition of elderly, are you?" I jab at the one I've been riding. It's going up and down, much like the rest. Though, compared to the others, its posture is very lax. Its long snouted expression one of satisfaction. Its fellows might as well be high with barrel loads of energy supplements.
Idly glancing at my hand, the juperses all make a break for it and I react as slow as before. My wide eyes go away and I turn towards the twig-snapping in the woods. A shadow too big to be a man rushes through the spires of ash and beech. I gulp as a new sound becomes clear to me. Chitters.
Locking my jaw tight, I confirm that it is, in fact, not me...
Making my way slowly to the treeline, I clench a fist tight, some magic about my curled claws. I spot it, the osibindah prowling around under the shade of the canopy. Dropping to the floor at a moment's notice, my ears open as wide as they can be. Hopefully, I can avoid the creature while I am on my own. The riders need to get back... If they can get back.
My panicked breathing is making the whole 'staying quiet' bit hard to do. Digging my claws into my leg, I try to keep my mind occupied with something other than the monster. Though, I am only making my situation worse. I can feel it, I can feel-
Crack.
Blood spurts onto my palms, and the grass out of sight rustles abruptly. The chittering is very close and around the curve of the trunk. Sneering at the blood, my fists tighten. I'm struggling to keep anything close to a rational thought process here.
A bang.
The bug drops dead with a thwip, a yellow hole in the side of its head. Barely holding myself down on the ground, I get up and shake my head to the sound of heavy pants. Looking around, I spot a valley-rider coming closer, a smoking barrel grazing the tip of grass. My claws flex.
"Ha! Ha! Got him." the man cheers.
"Undwote protect you..." I curse at him when he gets close enough. Turning towards the dead bug, my sneer grows and grows. I can already feel the boiling blood hissing out of the hole in my leg. Hiding the wound, I use the moment to cover up my true nature. I raise my foot, malicious strength tensing up in my muscles.
The bug's head explodes viciously and the ground craters. Stomping again and again, I find myself with nothing to stomp. Hoisting its body up, I throw it into the nearest tree and watch its spine bend. Everything splatters, shell, bug gore and tree!
Mindful of my company and, in turn, my chitters, I growl instead as my body shivers.
"Woah! Calm down, it's already dead!" the shooter blinks as he reorients himself out of the impacts I let reverberate into the land. My focus snaps towards him and he backs away with his hands raised. His attention shifts around me and he takes his gun again. Following his eyes...
The harshest glare I can manage forms.
A group of osibindah are sprinting over on a distant ledge. The crack of firearms echoing after all of us. Growling again, I walk to the clearest looking path in the woods. Minding my footing, I sprint.
Explosive footfalls tear up the earth, and the bugs grow as the distance shortens. Going up the slope to them, I overshoot and fly towards a mountain. Crashing into it, I leap back out through the still raining shards. The resounding boom struggles to keep up with me, even as another erupts around me as I land.
Spotting the bugs, I pull my way out of the fragile ground. Galloping back upright, I follow after the ones most isolated. I overshoot again and throw myself into the ground. Snapping my way back up, I come face to face with the uncaring-
Blinking myself to a stop, I watch the osibindah carry on without a care. I am right before them, ready to kill them, and they're staring at me as if nothing's wrong? Even with bullets still sounding off!? Wh-Wha-
"What the...?" I let out, my thought unable to complete itself. One of the bugs offers me its palm like a normal person might after you fall over. Taking its claws into my own, I squeeze it with a satisfying pop. Lashing out at the other docile monsters, I tear them into a bloody mess. My halt is abrupt, and it's still showering with sickly yellow guts.
Stumbling around with no injury, I collapse the ground. My claws cover my mask, adding to its bloody filth and subtracting from it all the same. I flick my arms clean of some of the muck. My eyes... My eyes?
"You've got to be kidding me... Come on... I'm not a gods-damned..." I weep, striking the ground. I think back to my time within the mountain. Even back then, when I was trying to escape. The one I came across saw me as a friend, not a threat. The only time they've ever attacked me since my arm- Was when the earth shaman called for it!
These bugs think of me as a friend, or whatever it is they think of me!
"HEY! YOU GET 'EM!?" one of the valley-riders hollers from the top of the hilly incline. Looking up their way, I do my best to clearly nod for them. It's all I can say on the matter. Getting up slower than some of the leaves I knocked off their branches, I let the men catch up.
Are... Are we done or do I...? No, there's no question about it. I must fight more.