After a few minutes of
watching Animal pace back and forth while occasionally glancing his
way, the elder spoke up and began a conversation with him, one in
which Animal had recalled with quite a bit of detail.
“I hope you're thinking of how to get us out of
here, you better be anyway. And don't think I haven't seen you
looking over at me from time to time either. I don't like the way you
look at me.”
“OH! I'm sorry, I
just keep trying to think of how you might be able to help get us out
of here... I thought about you throwing me out of this pit, but them
I realized you don't have any arms, so that wasn't going to work,
also you'd be stuck in here still... Hey, why don't you have arms
anyway? I thought primerans could heal back from any wound.”
Animal noticed that
the elder shrank into himself a bit and turned his gaze downward.
Perhaps it was Animal's extended time among humans that made him so
sympathetic to the plights of others, a trait that primerans don't
usually possess. Either way, he took note of the elder's change in
mood and felt a remorse for his inquiry due to the elder's body
language. Feeling remorseful, Animal continued their discourse.
“I'm sorry, I
shouldn't have asked. I'll find us way out.”
“You should know that your sympathy makes you weak.
This world is a cruel one and others will not hesitate to take
advantage of you if it benefits themselves. However, I'm starting to
believe that you are not quite from around here, are you?”
Animal admitted to the
elder's assumption and explained that he was a lost one, a primeran
born in Ferus Mundus but lived on Earth through a means that he
himself did not understand. Though Animal was honest with the elder,
he left out a great deal of his story so as to not place himself or
his friends in a dire situation. The elder had seemed pleased with
Animal's degree of honesty and began to address him in a far
different tone than the one he first used to address him.
“Hmm, It seems that I now owe you an apology for my
rude assertion of your character, young one. For that, I apologize.
Though beasts and monsters we may be, honor and civility are not
beyond us. But to answer your question, I lost my arms long ago in an
attempt to protect someone. I was weak then, and I blamed my own arms
for being unable keep safe what I cherished most. So, rather than
constantly be reminded of my failure, I simply did away with it. I
have no arms, young one, because I rid myself of them and refuse to
grow them back.”
There was a lump of
terror that welled up inside of Animal's throat, his mind raced with
questions and the inability to comprehend the willpower and the grief
that this creature must have felt to maim his own body and carry with
him such scars for the duration of what must have been a very long
life. I too was shaken to my core when Animal told me this. It was
almost unbelievable in fact. As a species, our sense of self
preservation is very high, and to brutally main one's self out of
grief for the loss of another is a level of devotion that escapes me.
And yet, I see a great beauty in such an act. To primerans and even
most humans, I can see how this elder's actions could be perceived as
an act of insanity, but for myself, I see a devotion that commands
respect. I can attest to the overwhelming feelings of dread and
disgust I experience at the very thought of failing those close to
me. I believe this elder is to be respected and even feared. For to
survive for as long as he has without his own primary limbs, he must
have attained a powerful means of defending himself. One that I'm
sure many would be desperate to learn.
Animal regained
composure when he was able to convince himself that the elder meant
him no harm, but soon began to panic when he realized just how close
the miasma had come towards them and how much was accumulating.
“I'm sorry, I know
you wanted me to get us out, but if we're make it then we have to
work together! There's no way I can get us both out-”
Animal was silenced
when the elder raised a single large paw towards him, extended a
clawed toe level to Animal's chest, and then spoke in a foreboding
tone, one that filled Animal with an almost strange sense of
familiarity.
“You're hiding something from me... You know how to
get us out but you choose not to show me out of fear... You're sense
of smell might be weakened due to the miasma, but mine is not. You
have the smell of the Black Heart on you... You have a power that
could easily remedy this situation and you choose not to use it? What
possesses you to hide such a gift? Especially when it is our
solution!”
Animal confessed to me
that he was shocked to learn that his unnatural gift could be
detected by something as simple as his scent. During our talk about
what happened, he asked if I could tell when we first met. I admitted
that I could not smell anything foul about him. Animal's attempts to
conceal his identity as an inheritor of a Black Heart's power was
being questioned. It seemed that unless he physically showed his
power to younger primerans, they would be non-the-wiser, but if this
elder he was trapped with could smell this power like some foul
stence, could Baal have known as well, or was this an ability that
only this one strange elder had possessed. Either way, he would try
to hide it no longer and confessed to the elder his concerns.
“I was told that this
power was feared and hated in this world, I didn't want anyone to
find out and make trouble for myself or any of my friends. Besides, I
was told that it is cursed... I've seen what it can do to others. I
can't let that happen.”
“I can see now that our meeting was not by
coincidence, young one. It would seem that you and I were destined to
meet. I abandoned my name long ago with my own arms and created a new
identity as someone who would help others with words rather than
actions. You, young one, are indeed in need of my help. Strange is it
not? I demand your assistance when in fact you require mine. Fate
conspires in magnificent ways. I will help you to understand and
embrace your gifts and you will in turn release us from this prison,
how does that sound?”
Despite the increasing
pain of the miasma's approach, Animal could sense that something was
not quite right. It felt as though they had been conversing for quite
some time, and yet despite its advancement, the miasma seemed to slow
itself to an almost unnoticeable pace, as if some force prevented it
from coming too close too quickly. The elder's promise was also
suspicious and Animal had become cautious around those he did not
know in Ferus Mundus after we had been tricked by Trill and Durga.
But there seemed to be no way out of this situation, his strength was
failing him and he was growing lethargic and exhausted, his senses
waning. So it was in either desperation or unsound mind that Animal
reached out to the claw that the elder extended and took hold of it
in agreement.
Truthfully, I wish
there was more to say on the matter. But Animal himself recalls very
little after that moment. He referred to what little he could
remember as dream-like and euphoric, like an immense weight had been
taken from off his shoulders and he was lighter. At the time of this
writing I can say that Animal has attained something miraculous, if
not terrifying during this gap in his memory. Recently, I have
received word of what many claim to have seem that day in the forest.
Various primerans who had a view of the forest at a distance all say
that the ever looming moon burned brighter than they had ever seen,
and with it, a blue light that exploded from the forest followed by
the appearance of four massive azure glowing arms that reached out
and crushed the forest with gargantuan fingers and claws as if
desperately trying to free whatever was attached to those horrifying
limbs from beneath the bowls of the land. I know in my heart that
this event is part of what happened to Animal, and despite that this
power he wields would aid us, I still fear for him, as such a thing
can only bring misery and despair.
