A voice might be strong, whether due to what convictions lay behind it or its dark timbre, but against a chorus of many there was the possibility it could be drowned out. This was the test that this pleasant reverberation now faced as the rapid clip-clop of hooves on stone announced their presence—not close by the river, no, but distant and advancing upon the spot. They came from one of the tunnels, the echoes bouncing off the more confined space, and once they reached the open expanse of Polaris, those responsible for the sound burst onto the scene: tunnel runners, three.

There was not much differentiation between them if one cared to tell them apart. All were dull in color, and their bodies all possessed the same slim proportions. Deep scratches marred their skin. Two possessed the tell-tale signs of masculinity, antlers jutting from their skulls. The single female could be identified by her tusks. More sinew than flesh, every twitch of their muscles could be seen as they fled into the cavern.

Not far behind them followed a buzz. Though no one else was yet to be seen, what light might've been glimpsed of from that tunnel suddenly was blotted from view.

Gathered in a herd formed out of fearful circumstance, their destination seemed to be a tunnel on the other side of the cave. They were ignorant to observers, to Lucien and his accomplishment. Perhaps they would have continued to be if not for their pursuer that would interfere before they had the chance to entirely pass by.

The tunnel they'd come from was not entirely lacking in light now. Two pairs of magenta eyes, large as boulders, peered out from the blackness. The buzz worsened, a high-pitched whine that defied understanding. Something was vibrating off the walls there.

Flanked by the males, the female runner stumbled. A nasty gash ran down her neck and cleaved through her shoulder, a greater injury than those of the other two. As blood spilled from the wound, dirtying the glowing mosses around her, she lagged. Only one of her fellows slowed down to match her speed. The less caring runner sailed past, whisking himself away to safety.

"Krrrrrmmmmmm." One set of spindly legs, tipped by curved claws, slipped past the tunnel entrance and into Polaris proper.

Wheezing the female tunnel runner leaned on the male for a momentary respite. Though he stood for this, his body did not remain still, shaking at the proximity of their hunter.

"Krrrrrrmmmmm." Another set of spindly legs. Half of it could be seen now, a towering, grotesque insect composed of a mishmash of charcoal gray meat and keratin. Another pair of magenta eyes resided on its thorax, even more gigantic than those on its toothy face. Shaking its head, antennae that resembled spinal columns clattered against each other. Mandibles parted to release a piercing shriek that made its victims shiver in place.

It had leathery wings that hovered it over the ground, their constant flitter the likely culprit for the buzzing besides the inarticulate noises it'd thus far uttered. They carried it forward, revealing its full bulk to be three sets of legs in total, a tail of mouths and tentacles, and many more eyes that lined its abdomen beneath protective bone plates. The monster peered down at the tunnel runners, them so tiny in comparison to it, and screeched what only it and its siblings might know was the equivalent of laughter.

"Therrrre you arrrrrrrre." Finally speech. The sound was no better than what it'd previously made, just as much a nuisance as its shrieks. "Nooowww you'rrrreeee iiiit."

What happened next was chaos. In an astonishing display of speed, the monster zipped from the tunnel entrance to the deer. It crouched and lashed a single claw-tipped foot at them. The male runner dodged, simultaneously shoving the female out of harm's way. Then he charged, antlers lowered to thrust at his foe. They pierced true in the monster's thorax, proven by the clear blood that welled up from the inflicted wound. However this only elicited another joyous screech from it, the pain an encouragement and not a deterrent.

Claws at the end of another leg swung at the tunnel runner, directed so that they hit like a backhand. He flew away from it with a crack. When the male deer landed, his body tumbled once, twice, thrice over the stone floor. After that, he moved no longer. It took no genius to comprehend why; the awkward angle his neck bent explained everything.

Karambit's head tilted at the absence of a second attack. Its ever-present buzz lessened slightly. "Frrrriend?"

The female runner had been forgotten. She limped away on legs that threatened to fail her, the tunnel abandoned in favor of heading for the river and away from the danger. Prey consumed by fear of a predator that could squish her merely by rolling over her, one that treated her as a plaything even more than a meal, smaller threats were out of her simple mind. Threats such as big cats like the one she finally collapsed near while the monster was busy poking at the corpse of her former protector.