Hybrids: An Indoraptor Story ✓

Death On The Sands

||𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟓𝐭𝐡, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎||

The air tasted sweet tonight.

Most days it would reek of those golden glassy specks that frolicked underneath the molten star above. But here, where the wind started to settle and the sky dared to fall, I found some sliver of relief.

A chance to breathe that is, instead of suffering through the cracks of an honorary muzzle.

Each pearly scale would flex in the warmth of the ancient night. My snout would bob as freshly cool breezes drifted against my breast. And, as skin rubbed against armor in a subtle mocking purr, my senses slowly began to heighten.

I noticed the strange way the desert moved around me. Tall, golden dunes of might would rise on occasion, stretching a pale claw out to the sky, only to sink back into the depths like magic. Thin bands of dead foliage fluttered against its surface, tumbling away into the dark. And those pearls, if that's their true terminology, shimmered endlessly in the heavens -- perhaps the winks of a million-eyed monster watching from above.

The world was beautiful, no doubt about that.

Calming. Peaceful. Knowing.

I wondered if it found me appealing.

I also wondered if it frowned down upon my existence, like the stars above.

Did it pity me? Did it care for me? Did it love me just the same? Or did it know my faults... 

If I had any that is. 

It's quite hard to question my sake and consider my mortality as... 'good'. Alas, the difference between right and wrong still felt lacking to me. The humans never really explained it that well.

All I did was what was asked of me by the ones who tamed me. No argument, no fuss, no snarls or growls of annoyance. Simple enough.

But the thought was voluntary. It was never expressed to require any form of an answer. Nobody should really pity my sake, it was instinct that brought me into the light, and my self pride that turned me into what I am. I followed my gut, and watched my fears. I became a tool for the humans, a trustworthy asset to their lives.

And that was something I could never take away. 

As I thought to myself, my massive black talons would feel for the soil, restlessly shifting as I twitched and writhed in thought. My tail twisted and turned from behind and a new fidget arose, simply because I was growing... impatient. And the light blue eyes I carried locked on anything and everything that moved on sight, just to tame this bother.

Still, I didn't seem alone in this.

They were waiting, too. The humans. No wonder those human soldiers to my right and left felt uneasy about my stare at them. Then again, that was a good thing, and I didn't mind it. It was right of them to fear me for who I was. To cower in my shadow. To feel true terror being in the presence of a predator. Alas, they were just as equal to those wretched vermins they'd send me out to hunt every night. In truth, they were the same prey.

And the same predator. As was I.

After a brief moment to think to myself my stomach suddenly growled, forcing me to hiss in displeasure.

Still they refuse to feed me flesh, I snorted to myself. Do they even care?

I watched a couple men wander around for a moment, fiddling with strange scented fruit and meat bars that puffed out smoke. Some lit little rolled up papers, while others stared up at the sky, muttering unrecognizable words. I groaned again.