ORIGIN

The cave lights were at their brightest, and Leo was at its most humid. Those who bothered to travel in this climate waded through air water-soaked enough to drown in. Even amongst the dense vegetation, far from the soft and scorching sand of the beaches, sweltering heat left its touch upon palm leaves' expansive shade. Many Lessers took refuge in this darkness nevertheless. It was the best option for relief, the only other to fling themselves into the bay. During these times, Greaters also might be inclined to follow suit, preferring rest over boisterous activity.

"Frrrrreennnnn."

This, of course, was not one of those Greaters.

"Frrrrieennd? Where are you?"

Where there'd been quiet, a buzz ripped through the trees. Their trunks, once seemingly sturdy, swayed. A gargantuan body parted the canopy, and light struck soil that'd never once been acquainted with it. Dangling legs, long and gangly, cut down greenery with lackadaisical swipes as they hovered past. A tentacled tail swept about, multicolored eyes blinking as they searched. What had been a refuge was no longer such, invaded by a clueless monster unfamiliar with concepts like safety and comfort.

Karambit screeched again. Its antennae shook and clattered together, vertebrae bouncing off vertebrae. Where were its friends? Hide-seek-and-slash was a fun game, but sometimes just slashing was fun enough for it.

A creature of ceaseless noise, the commotion around it aroused no suspicion. Every beat of Lesser fear was a soft string of notes on the backing track of its life. The hurried flap of wings—the rustling brush—the trumpeting bleats of panic—though they evoked confusion, wonder at why the little friends-to-be fled and did not greet it with tossed rocks or frantic scratches of greeting, Karambit only bothered to address them with the usual shriek of friendly concern.

"Frrrrreennnns?" Wings fluttered to maintain its hover, still drifting along in an ever oblivious state. The vicinity drained of all life but plant, its body vibrated harder to compensate for the settling silence. "Why go? Not fun if always seekerrrr."

At first, the steady thump of an approach lurked in the background as most other sounds did, whining squeals of disappointment more deserving of attention. Then it grew, nearing as the insect monster reaped a clump of ferns with a swing of claws and found little satisfaction in unbloody harm. The recurring pops that accompanied the thumps became audible, enough to cause its abdomen to twist. Eyes scanned but saw nothing. Not yet.

"Krmmmmmmm?" Karambit’s head tilted, antennae flopping as it did so. The surrounding buzz lessened to a low thrum. Unbelievably enough, it hesitated before wailing again. "Is that friennnnnd?"

The trees shuddered, they bent, and finally burst open with a resounding crash. What toppled from them, claiming this bold entrance, was a moving work of art.

Where it and its siblings were delightfully shaped meat monstrosities, this was sharp bones and sleek sinew twisted to malformed perfection. Claws bent in ways that could not have been seen outside of distorted dreams. Points swept up and away, promises of not flight but carnage dripping from their tips. Despite so many mouths, it could scarcely breathe. The masterpiece’s head was best of all, a delicious red and so pleasantly crowned. It could imagine its claws sinking inward, cracking the hard exterior open to spread that color with savage strokes down the dull hide.

Limbs touched ground, aquiver from the temptation. A hiss slipped from mandibles, and the buzz of activity began anew. "You’rrrreee frrrriennd," it declared. After all, why wouldn’t this be? Hops bridged the gap between them, excited to make an acquaintance of such radiant beauty. "Verrrrry prreeeetttt—"

"—eeeeeee—" Fangs penetrated the prothorax. "—eeeeeee—" The top of a magenta eye pulverized beneath their grip. "—eeeeeee—" Moist flesh squelched as it tore apart. "—eeeeeee—" Forelegs crunched under weight. Pain ripped through Karambit, burning and exquisite. "—eeeeeeeeeee!"

It stumbled backwards. Eyes squished and stung as its backside impacted the dirt. A pair of legs down, the remaining two sets arced up, ready to reap precious blood from a lovely challenger.

How wonderful this experience was!

Maybe an outside observer, if there had been any left in this torn landscape, would have noted the alarming pace of this relationship. First from snarls and screeches to bites and claws, and then from those to ripping each other apart. The violent connection an intense rush, it could almost be too much. Karambit cared little for such opinions though, the oil that spattered and left remaining limbs streaked black and tan exuding a welcome warmth that threatened to exceed its sunny disposition.

To the monster's wail, it longed to respond with in kind, body vibrating even now from combined excitement and agony. Meat mushed further under the adjusted bite. The new angle crushed both thoracic eyes. Red pigmentation released from them mingled with the clear blood gushing from wounds. The mixture flooded open spiracles embedded in moist flesh and keratin. A screech could not burst from the main mouth, choking on its own fluids, so those trapped in its tail took up the deed.

"Kkkkrrreeeeee!" Although not overly apparent due to Karambit's usual propensity for ear-bleeding noises over words, these were far less articulate. "Fuuhrrrrrreeeeee!

With how much the insect creature depended upon shrieking, one might wonder if its sole purpose in life was to be an auditory nuisance.

Still crying out, it leaned back, prepared to collapse onto its wings and the ground. There, provided its breathtaking passenger did not weigh it down too much, positions might shift due to writhes and a roll in the dust, claws stabbing out after their last swipe to keep the other monster snug and close to it.

Karambit had fallen back as planned, short-term as its string of thought was. Dirt filled multitude of chattering, screaming, and whining mouths, but they did not complain, satisfied by the mere presence of even heated soil between gleaming, saliva-polished teeth. Drool pooled beneath its tail to create mud, and squirming, the bug creature bathed in it, forced into what ought to have been a submissive position by its own folly and the one that it admired so much. To others, terror or dread might have risen at their disadvantage; for it, the situation grew no grimmer. Back slathered in filth, a regular pastime on relaxing days, mandibles clattered at being able to share this enjoyment with another.

Oblivious to the displeasure evident in the rumbling agitation of its flesh, the reply came in the usual simplistic manner though muffled by muck. "Frrrrrrrrr—iiiiieeeeeeennnn."

Trying to convince it otherwise was impossible. Injury was heartfelt affection. Death—a term outside its vocabulary—was known only as when those it cherished ceased to respond to eager mauling and the practicality of hunger overtook playfulness.

The tug-of-war to wrest meat free jerked its head back and forth. All the while shrill noises, monstrous giggles, erupted. Blood spurted from torn tissue, and upon a hefty chunk detaching, spray misted the humid air. Pressure lifted by the prizewinner's momentary retreat, Karambit stumbled upright. Its two pairs of legs did not fully touch the earth, flittering wings compensating for the one which dangled uselessly like snapped branches. Magenta eyes faced downward, removed flesh having taken away support for its head.

"Mmmmeeee.... nnnnnaaaaa." A veritable fountain burbling from the thorax, perhaps the intention as it charged at full speed was to bleed all over Draconua Junior. But open mouths from its face to tentacled tail told a different story: ever gracious, it sought adherence to the tenets of friendship. The joy of a meal and game shared, now reciprocation was expected.