Balder would attempt to charge and pounce! Wings would flap, giving Balder some air until-- swoop! AH--

A sharp pain sprung through Balder's paw, nearly making him drop his murderous catch. What--? What had happened to-- WAS THAT BLOOD? HOW--

A lot of realizations were happening at once.

Balder's grip over the snake faltered -- he had it pinned at the neck and another spot along its back, and wow was it writhing with some intensity. But! He managed to keep on somehow! Nothing beats the KING of DETERMINATION, after all!

That thought seemed to be the perfect cue for the snake breaking free. Oh no.

Balder would act FAST, not wanting to put up with the recalcitrance. Of course the snake wouldn't understand this, no one fully did, but -- Balder owned its life now. It had always been at the mercy of the king. Even if- Even if Balder's buddy- NO! IT WAS ALMOST A PERSON, A KILLER, A FIGHTER!!! And Balder would HAVE this fight.

Springing back onto the snake, Balder would take advantage of the fact that it had reared its ugly head upwards by slamming that head back into the ground. It was a flimsy hit, but they were both losing energy -- the snake had just hunted TWO rodents and a friend lizard, Balder knew that was a difficult set of challenges. And it was still holding onto its kill, even after having its head slammed into the floor.

Struggle and flail as it might, Balder was (of course) correct -- it was weakening. Yet again it nearly made it out, but just this once, just this moment, it would not provide enough conviction for the task. The next step would be ending it.

Were Balder in a better position to be cocky, he might've asked for last words -- a private joke between him and the opponent beneath his claws. But alas, the excellent one-liner would have to drift into a distant space in Balder's mind for later usage...

Surprisingly, the snake still had its mouth in its maw. Perhaps the gemstone made it hard for the snake to let go...? Or maybe that was just its personality. Personality? Person??? Balder hadn't the time to wonder about the personhood of this killer. They were both running out of time here. While Balder basked in the fight of this beast, in its churning and mettle, it was only a matter of time before it escaped into the fog or released itself and came flying at Balder. The king was desperate determined to have his power known. Let all who could see through this haze EXACTLY what the price of GREED was.

Balder bit into its neck and held.

And he held for a long, long time.

It felt like forever as both of them weakened together, Balder from the heat and the battle, the snake from Balder's unyielding grasp... It was sort of poetic, waiting to see which of them would give in first, which of them had a greater fire...

In the end, in the absolute end, it would be Balder. As he always knew it would be.

But even as he released, the snake was still writhing somewhat. The mouse was released, they had done their own little dance around the floor. Balder was exhausted. The snake was almost dead for good. It wouldn't be long.

Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:

[blood]

violence

death

gore

animal dismemberment, general nastiness


For a moment, Balder considered a dramatic, sentimental way of ending the snake's life before it was fully gone... He put his claws up in the air like a guillotine, aiming to land on the neck -- a beheading -- or perhaps right in the middle of the spine -- not an amputation, but a vicious gash to leave, a permanent mark. The paw would come down, at first with great force, but rapidly slowing as it went until at last the claws reached the flesh... bestowing a gentle tap.

There was something about this snake, about that lizard, about being here. It was on the tip of Balder's tongue, peeking through the edges of Balder's often non-sentimental mind... but he couldn't quite reach it. The meaning eluded him. He hated it, the whole scene; the rats, the red mice being gorged upon, the lizard, the snake, one battle after another, a saga of epic scenes and Balder to bear witness. Everything seemed to remind him of people, the concept of people that spoke. He was... tired of being around these Lesser Gembound. He wanted to be more than a lord of flies.

And yet there was some intrinsic value to these dimmer creatures. They were below Balder, yes, but did he not share something in common with them? He was a greater crystalwing bat, but 'greater' was only one half of that identity. He had some deep, untouchable question within... what made him this way? What gave him the ambition, the spirit of a person, of a KING! A king who could not live on food and water alone...

Balder hated it. Absolutely loathed it. He didn't want to look.

He did look though. He looked at the snake, feeling sort of defeated in his own way. Not that he could ever lose, especially not to a lesser Gembound, but. But...

Balder would start picking through the corpse with his claws.

When Balder was done, he would find himself nibbling on some weird snake meat with a chipped skeleton between his paws. He had tried hard not to break any part of it, and to clean it as best he could. Turns out the gemstone, beautiful and bold, had been attached to the bone of the snake. Balder... was keeping it. Of course. As a trophy.

Leaving the dead rat for the next unlucky gust, Balder would finish up and grip the part with the gemstone carefully. This was the most valuable part; this could not be lost.

Balder would continue on walking down the tunnel, attempting once again to navigate away from the heat. How annoying. He was never coming back here.

He would no longer try to pay attention to any lesser activity in this tunnel.

- exit -