ORIGIN

Trading ordinary eyesight for the gift of thermal vision had its downsides as well as its ups. For Karambit, that drawback naturally applied to how uncolorful its worldview had become: despite the heat splotches that crossed its path on the regular, no more could it distinguish between pretty and bland beyond making judgements based off of silhouettes. Its all-time favorite sights of freshly gushing scarlet, coagulated deep crimson, and dried rusty red blood had been reduced to uninspired shades ranging from bright to dim. Finding the prettiest companions to share joyous moments with, as a result, had undergone complications; furthermore its gorgeous artworks of bone and entrails were now time limited, the patterns created faded into obscurity once their temperature cooled to match the environment.

But where there’s a will, a way can be discovered, and the monster was nothing if not persistent. If a new form of art had to be established, its foundation one focused on other senses instead of visuals to feast upon, it would do so. This avenue was bolstered by the fact some things remained a mainstay in its life: even without the ability to choose the reddest of koorus, their distinctive call drew it in like a deadly moth to flame. Such familiar friends would be welcome in its new designs.

Deep within the woods, a specimen that Karambit would’ve ordinarily overlooked, a muted green male whose camouflage had ensured his survival for many cycles thus far, was ensuring his kind endured long beyond his insignificant lifespan. Freshly fed and primed to mingle with a willing partner, he bellowed into the distance and awaited a response back, whether an echoed call or the sound of approaching hooves on grass. Fortunately for him, an interested party’s attention had been caught as soon as his request rang out.

"Krrrrm?" a buzzing voice murmured a mile away.

Unfortunately, he’d signed himself up for a menu and not the dating service which he’d intended.

His grave error would be realized by the shudder of distant treetops and a rapidly approaching whir that cut through them. Between grouped together trunks, a giant gray mass could be glimpsed plowing through the forest, snapping its ancient residents apart as they were little more than tinder for a bonfire. Before fight or flight could fully overtake the kooru’s mind, time was already up; it arrived in a glorious explosion of leaves and wood splinters, the stench of rotting kindred Lessers clinging to its moist and meaty back.

Choosing to at the very least make a weak stand before fleeing, the kooru gathered stones off the ground using his remarkable tail and lobbed the ammunition at the intruder’s two main sets of ruby button eyes. Though his aim was true and the mark exactly hit, the reward for his effort proved to be nothing more than laughter from Karambit akin to a creature’s dying squeals. He bleated, turned around, and bolted while it seemingly continued to mock his feeble attack attempt.

"That ticklezzzz," it giggled, utterly oblivious to the abject terror its presence and apparent resilience had caused. "Wait, frrrriend. Now it’zzz my turrrn!"

It lunged into the undergrowth. Sickle claws sliced about in a frenzy, the monster a living blender on the verge of making kooru purée.

It would indeed be difficult to grab Karambit’s attention. Not only did the fairy’s polite, inquisitive tone have to compete with the constant background noise provided by its flittering leathery wings, but also six inches of height compared to a whopping twelve feet meant his voice had quite a distance to travel, even with the addressed monstrosity’s spindly legs bent to lower itself closer to the forest floor. Humming a merry, awfully discordant tune of its own manufacture, it continued to reckless hack away at greenery. Meanwhile the kooru weaved between the flailing claws, screaming bloody murder that might as well have been a pleasant backing track to the horrid little game it played.

The Lesser, experienced in dodging danger, was proving a delightful challenge. Quick and nimble, minor cuts were the most injury he’d incurred in this fight for his life. But good luck always came to an end; he met his once a chance slice discovered his fragile neck.

Brute strength cleaved through the muscles holding it together. The kooru’s dark, frightened eyes lost their spark as soon as his head became fully untethered, red misting the air in an arc as it flew into a clump of ferns. The body, lacking the brain to operate it, collapsed in a twitching, unceremonious heap. Blood spurted out from the exposed stump left behind and painted the ground in that pretty hue Karambit could no longer admire. Hopefully Samael had not been hovering within this splash zone, otherwise he risked a drenching unlike any else.

The belief it had won its cherished pastime of hide, seek, and slash led to the monster unleashing a tremendous victory cry from its toothy maws in concert. Its screech sounded like a thousand window panes shattering in a fated instant. Not wanting to waste a second before lost body heat vanished a choice piece of anatomy, it pounced to retrieve the decapitated head. The excitement over with, finally its audience possessed its full intrigue when it returned to reunite its cargo with the rest of the corpse lying in the grass. After all, no explanation existed for the bright speck amongst the carnage whose intensity rivaled its tuckered out friend.

"Helloooo? Who’rrrre you?"

Magic tingled in button eyes as it sought to better understand the tiny creature witnessed. It warbled and poked a curious claw in Samael’s general vicinity.

Karambit had never been an excellent orator. A mere step above its ravenous progenitor, capable of appreciating more than the filling of its almost bottomless stomach, it was frankly astounding how well it strung together the simple sentences it did using its rather paltry vocabulary. It learned, but at a glacial pace; information required constant hammering in order for its mind to retain the knowledge. Thankfully, it possessed enough processing power and attention span to handle Samael’s brief introduction.

"Zzzzaaa… meal." The name appealed to its appetite even though mandibles struggled to quite wrap around the syllables composing it. This was said as much, a murmur of "prrreeetty" following afterward.

The very mention of Terror elicited a delighted shriek as the thought of its beloved sibling brought the images, smells, and tastes of the distant past zooming forth, most of which had taken place in the humid jungles and warm sands of Leo. Oh, how precious were those memories: its aquatic counterpart menacing the sea as befitted its cheerful moniker, the landbound Creo galloping along the beach and begging to play with either of them, and itself beautifying the cave by leaving blood-spattered presents wherever they could be stumbled across. Such a tragedy worse events supplanted those, including the friendly bout against the less beautiful version of Karambit’s eternally yearned for Draconua Jr. which had left the troubled Creosote giving it the cold shoulder for its supportive encouragement. Coincidentally it had fallen out of touch with its more eloquent family member around the same time. Why, it couldn’t understand.

"Terrrorrr! You know? Wherrre and how izzz it?"

Wings beat even faster at the prospect it was encountering someone who’d met the clever predator, threatening to whip up a mighty gust to blow through the trees. Its body vibrated, and unable to contain the surge in energy, leapt into the full-blown wiggle of an overstimulated puppy complete with a tentacle-tipped tail whipping about behind.

It had so much to catch Terror up on. So many affectionate scratches and nip to bestow upon it to make up for lost time.

Antennae resembling spinal columns clacked their vertebrae against each other as Karambit tipped its head sideways and put in earnest effort to follow Samael’s words. The news that its sibling had not been on some sort of extended hunting trip and might still be living at least part time in their native cave turned out to be a boggling revelation. If it was, the monster questioned, why had it neglected to even once reach out for family bonding time?

Had Creo’s loss at the Deathmatches shamed it? Had Karambit done something wrong enough that it preferred total solitude under ocean waves over friendly company?

A worried rumble quaked its flesh, but like most emotions it had, passed as soon as another thought evicted the first from the limited brain capacity available. The mood swung then from perplexion to an all-consuming elation that infused every limb with energy demanding to be used. Tremors ran through the ground as it rocketed up from its play bow, bouncing on six sickle-clawed feet. The tail host to a mishmash of tentacles and mouths gained purpose beyond wagging, its squirming mass of vying appendages seizing the kooru corpse and positioning the mess directly beneath its thorax where a third set of eyes resided. Not wasting any time sizing the body up, it got to work sawing away at connective tissue to free the mossy pelt from tantalizing meat.

"Terrrrorr made tiny Terrrorr. Tiny Terrro-meal?" it buzzed, mostly to itself but also confirming it understood the important event conveyed. "How big izzz tiny Terrrorr’zz birth rrrock? Might need morrree frrriends for cuddlezzz to keep it warrrmm."

What a wonderful connection it almost would have never had the chance to strengthen had Samael not brought this to its attention. A scolding, too, was in order for Terror due to never mentioning the new family addition; without knowledge how could it ever prepare for a proper welcome gift?

Chomping on legs was always free, as its parent had demonstrated on its hatching date, but Karambit enjoyed giving love a little more extra effort than that.