The Two Sisters: Dire-fury Edition

Ch.42: A Small Hunt

Night woke up as a bird pecked on his nose, earning a hiss from the massive dragon. The tiny bird got spooked and flew away, leaving the Nefarium to wake up to move on. He let out a yawn, blinking his eyes to adjust his vision. It eventually cleared up and he looked around, seeing only a few rain droplets falling and the sun's rays shining through the clouds and branches and leaves.

He hummed, finding it interesting that the rain cleared up so soon. "And Zarsh said it would last for a month, at most." he mumbled, sitting up and shaking the mud and rain water off himself. The male hummed as he watched the area around, which still had some rain water left over. "I can find and catch up with the others if the rain doesn't return." he thought, smiling as he now stood and stretched. Night then looked up and then went off, walking down the soaked path. The ground below him squelched as the mud seeped through his claws with each step, soaking his scales in an earthy brown.

Night hissed at the sound of crackling, which turned out to just be a young adult feral bear. He continued on, sniffing at the ground for any trace of his friends. "Nothing." he thought with a chuff, moving on. The male continued to make his way down the path, hoping to leave the feral territory and go down to the safe path. After a while he started feeling hungry and he stopped by a river, crouching and observing the running water for a fish to swim by. So far nothing had appeared, and so the Nefarium laid down with his snout closer to the water. He then closed his eyes, trusting his instincts to tell him when there was a fish in front of himself.

He thought back to the paths, and how they had gone down the one with the feral territory. Night sighed as he remembered what the map had said, and of course he chose to go down the feral territory thinking it was the safe path. The male blamed himself for the event happening, thinking that if he had just recalled the map better then none of this would be happening. He dipped a paw into the river, letting out a purr as the water running around his paw soothed him. Night decided it would be good to stay there and relax for a bit, seeing as even ferals would think twice before picking a fight with him anyway.

A while had passed, and he still hadn't caught any fish. His paw was dipped in the water still, waiting for something to swim by. It was all still water rushing by, which now annoyed Night rather than soothe him. He was about to lift his paw out of the water when he saw a large fish swimming closer, promoting him to stay absolutely still. His stomach rumbled as he already imagined himself digging into the fish, tearing it apart and devouring the pieces. Eventually the fish unknowingly swam through his claws, which then closed in and stabbed through the sea creature. It flopped and flailed, but eventually was pulled out where its mouth was gaping open as if it was trying to breathe in, even though it couldn't breathe air.

It eventually stopped moving, and Night used his fire to cook it. It released a smell he had dearly missed since he didn't have ovens or stoves in the wild, and of course the said smell caused his mouth to water and stomach to rumble. He deemed the fish good and safe to eat after a while of roasting, even though its fins were fully charcoal burnt. He just cut them off and threw the fish into his mouth, beginning to chew on it. The male let out a content growl as he then swallowed the fish, licking his chops after. "That was so good!" he grumbled, patting his stomach with a smile. "Been eating berries for too long, it's great to have a change of pace."

He huffed as he got up on his paws, sniffing the ground and heading off somewhere. Slowly the male moved away from the river, heading further down the path. Eventually he began to reach another wooded part, although he noticed footprints on the dirt below. Some were small, while the others were much larger. Night then turned to the left, hearing voices which he couldn't recall due to them being far away and muffled. He slowly made his way to the source, pausing as they had now become clearer. His ear nubs perked up as he now recognized them, the excitement running through his body.

Without another thought he broke into a sprint towards them, not realizing that his new look would cause some problems at first.