Two hideous creatures stood motionless, staring intensely at each other with a majority of their eyes.
One creature was much larger than the other, but the other was much smarter. Each hovered a limb over their weapon waiting for the other to flinch.
A circle of repulsive beings formed around them and cheered a horrendous sound.
Garq, the small one, scanned one long hanging eye behind him to be sure no one in the crowd was up to something fishy.
Kug, the dumb one, also tried to keep an eye on the crowd, but the small creature he set it on tossed it back at him.
Now let me tell you, these slimy, hangy, eye limbs are very ticklish. So, as his eyeball soared through the air and collided with the rest of his body, Kug twitched with unwanted giggles. All six of his eye limbs danced in the air.
Garq saw this as his cue. He quickly pulled out his acid gun and aimed at Kug.
Kug tensed and tightened his limbs to overcome the tickle. Then he reached for his gun, but it was too late. Acid splattered on the front of his head.
Garq had won the duel.
The crowd's cheer became painfully unnerving as Kug fell--or rolled really--to the ground.
He let out a pleasant death hum and all of his eyes closed at once. His heart stopped and he drifted off to sleep.
The crowd would celebrate that night, for it was the summer solstice. They would eat and drink and breathe--these creatures only breathe twice a year. It was the second best day of the year.
They lit massive bonfires to sit in and mated in their unspeakably revolting method.
As for Kug, he would be fine once his backup heart finished repairing his main heart. This would take until the winter solstice and it was the only way these creatures got any sleep.
So, don't worry. It was really a blessing for him since he needed the sleep.
Sure, he was missing out on the festivities of the second best day of the year, but he would wake in time for the very best day of the year. Still, little did he know that his best friend, Garq, would strike up a conversation with his crush.
Ferdge was a monstrous female, so ugly it would make anyone's bowels release. And that's exactly what Kug found so appealing about her.
No, Garq would not firesit or mate with her. As a matter of fact, he was doing just what a best friend should do, talking up Kug. Unfortunately Ferdge had no interest in the current soltice duel loser.
"Maybe next year," she said.
Now, females don't sleep, but they also don't live as long as males. They have to be very particular about who they mate with.
The problem was Thute.
Thute was a handsome but jealous type. He liked Ferdge too, but he knew he never had a chance with her, being handsome and all.
He saw Garq and Ferdge chatting that night and took note with his memory eye--that's the one in the front.
"Ew," exclaimed Ferdge. "Is that guy staring at me?"
Garq turned and looked, and the sight of Thute made him clench, shiver. That big red eye pierced through him like an arrow, so sharp and painful.
Actually, it wasn't Thute's recording eye that pierced him, nor was it any of his five other eyes. It was a dagger.
Ferdge gasped in sudden harmony with a melodious tune of death hums in every direction.
Even Thute tumbled to the ground and hummed. The entire tribe was humming and dead. That is, all the males.
The last sound any of the males would hear was the horrendous screech of all the females of the tribe as they were captured as prisoners.
As the sun set on the tribe, they lay silent. All of their hearts had stopped--their main hearts. And their backup hearts got to work as they slept.
