Echoes of lost civilisations [sequel]

5

(tw: physical abuse, gore, blood)

"a child??" I ask in pure shock.

Hunter doesn't respond to me and I simply see him sitting down hugging the child. I can't get a good view of the kid as Hunter's back is facing me.

"Hunter???" I ask as I walk up to Hunter and look over his shoulder. He hugs the child tightly and the view is absolutely horrid. The green Slugpup Hunter is holding is missing it's tail and every finger except her index finger on her left hand. There are scars everywhere on its body. This couldn't have been a mistake.

The child looks up at me as Hunter loosens his arms from around the kid. It appears to be a female. Her expression is horrified and she's shaking.

I sit next to Hunter and put my hand on her shoulder, caressing it to calm her down.

"It's ok..." I say softly. She stops shaking and looks at us.

"What's your name?" Hunter asks in a gentle tone.
Hunter Waits patiently for the child's answer.
After a few moments the Slugpup makes a little noise as in struggling to get a single word from her mouth as she's still in fear.

"Maggie." She responds quietly.

"Maggie..." Hunter begins as he strokes her head.

"...did someone hurt you?"

I listen quietly for Maggie's answer. If I have to be honest, hearing Hunter with a calm voice is definitely something I don't hear often and It's nice.

Maggie nods her head hesitantly.

Hunter hugs her again.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. It's okay." He adds in.

I'm not sure if I should say anything so I just stay silent.

The child falls asleep in Hunter's arms peacefully. She looks like she's been through a lot.

"What do we do now?" I ask Hunter as I look back to the other side of the room to where Nightcat is sleeping.

Hunter looks sad, an expression of empathy on his face.

"Find the jackass." He responds as his expression immediately escalates to one of frustration and anger.

"...Jackass?"

There's a moment of silence between us. He looks at the Slugpup and back at me.

I forgot that he holds grudges.

______

Snow starts storming aggressively outside as my mother kicks me in the stomach aggressively. I cough up blood onto the floor. I can't get up. She's already scratched my legs up so badly that I can't move them. It stings, it hurts...

"You little brat!" She yells and presses her foot down on my head, pinning it on the floor. "M-mom I'm sorry- p-please-" I plead as she pushes her foot harder against my head. I claw at her foot, whimpering in pain while my weak body squirms.

"That blood was MINE. And you just effortlessly let it run away. I thought you were better than this!" She snaps and kicks me away.

"You're paying now, you pathetic traitor!"

"-m-mom stop, please!" I tell as she storms toward me.

I attempt to lift myself up with my arms but she pushes me back down and onto my back as she begins to claw at my stomach.

I scream in pain and try to claw her in the face to get her off me but instead she grabs the arm I reached out and snaps it backward, breaking my arm.

(Twisted all my limbs for you 😻 ok nvm that joke was foul)

I yell in pain once again, blood pouring out from my stomach as I lay there in pain.
"Quit your pathetic whimpering or I'll shut you up myself!" She yells. I can't help it. The pain is so intense that I can't help but cry loudly. She stomps on my tail and it makes me whimper even more.

I'm entirely defenseless. All I can do is cry in pain, hoping that it'll all end soon.

She begins to gouge out chunks of flesh from my tail, slowly ripping it off.

I'm now entirely silent as the vocal cords in my tail are entirely destroyed now.

She grabs a spear that was stuck in the wall and right as she lifts it, aiming for my heart she begins to cough and collapse to the floor.

____

As Margaret (the name of Urban's mother) collapses on to the ground she begins to shake uncontrollably as her skin turns a dark blue.

Urban watches her weakly as Margaret has a seizure and she eventually stops moving.

A feeling of rage flows through urban. She slowly lifts her self up despite her mangled legs and broken arm as she picks up the spear and stabs Margaret repeatedly. Weak gasps escape Margaret's mouth as she soon stops breathing.

Urban continues to stab her over and over again as she begins to feast upon her mother with the remaining bit of her tail that's left on her.

She was so focused on her rage that she didn't pay attention to her mother's blue skin.

She mauls half of her torso and falls to the ground too, now experiencing the same fate as her mother.

Her skin turns a dark pink as she shakes. Rot tentacles emerge from her mangled tail and stomach as she's now dead and taken over by the rot.

Back when Maggie was held captive, her blood and body parts would be eaten for special events only.

However since urban refused to eat or drink any part of Maggie, Margaret was the only one consuming Maggie little by little.

However the "special" blood type Maggie possessed is deadly. It spreads the rot through your veins, killing you.

____

When Maggie was born

I hold Maggie up by her armpits.

I'm no longer able to create slugcats... This will be my last, however. The current state I am in wouldn't be healthy for any future slugcats, which I won't be creating...

Hopefully her blood is healthy and didn't take in any of my rot.

I pop the mark of communication in her head and stare at her.

"Your name is Maggie, little one."

Maggie simply stares at the iterator with a blank stare.

"And I'm Five Pebbles... Can you remember that?"