Soul Stasis - "Creepy Crawlies" - By: Owlusion

Akhmin and Seff walk alongside Alexander as they scour for a good ambush site. Alexander looks left and right, seeing nothing but those beautiful flora he saw before, glowing softly as light gently touches the grass once again on the horizon. He stops to look at all the spores floating about the smooth shadows while Akhmin and Seff track scents of their prey. 

Akhmin looks at Alex as he’s surveying the land, scanning remnants of data scattered as information across fields of yellow and pink. Alexander’s eyes flicker as if taking frames from their surroundings, but only one of his eyes is operable. Akhmin roams over to Alexander and moves his hair out of his face then pointing to the feces left behind by a creature, pointing back to his own eye to signify him to look at it. Alex looks back at him and nods, staring at the mound. Small artifacts scatter beyond, prints of skin owned by a fauna not yet known. Alex is intrigued by this information and starts scouting ahead without being told. Akhmin motions Seff to walk with them toward the destination as more bugs swarm peacefully around them. One of the bugs lands on Alex and flies away, seeing no indication of food. “Interesting” Akhmin says, looking at the bugs. “They don’t feed on you. I suppose that flesh of yours is inedible”. Alex looks at him but then back at the trail. 

Akhmin holds Alex back and they both stand still staring at a lumpy silhouette in the distance. He tries to put Alex’s hair back down telling him they can’t be seen. Alex complies, instilling his body with a wave of calm and lowers his eyes’ glow. It trails down his body as a fluorescent dither and his markings almost completely disappear leaving a faint pulsating emission beneath the surface. Seff takes his feathered bow and plucks one of his longer feathers, drawing it back and aiming at the creature. In a flash of light and one sharp pierce, the fauna thumps to the ground, breathing heavily. Seff spots no other signs of that creature type and sprints over to the defeated fowl, petting its fluffy light blue feathers and staring into its large compound eyes. He takes a sharpened tusk-like knife and swiftly punctures the bird creature’s chest, holding it firmly and closing his eyes. “It’s ok, friend. Your life is precious and you will move on as a new being”

Akhmin and Alex walk up to Seff as he’s tying up the beast. Their feathers glisten in the rising sunlight like metal. Their beak is jagged and narrow, a great tool for picking roots. A bug is also spotted in its mouth, silvery and large wingspan, blueish tint to the dusty appendages and large soft abdomen. Part of its legs were missing. Alex scanned each creature separately in under 5 seconds, the names of each coming up in his system UI. Quallix, a large dangerous bird only 12 inches taller than the average human being at regular stature, a toothy beak, and shining feathers. A relative of this bird from ancient times is known as the Cassowary, once a dinosaur, one of the earliest forms of life on Earth until some species were lost to a catastrophic event from which two entities created. Aether and Nyx. Alex squinted his eyes at those names. Something deep within his soul emerged, a feeling and emotion hotter than the sun and colder than the moon. Most importantly, a rushing of spacial pressure causing dilation within Alexander’s space. Feeling claustrophobic, Alexander rushes back to the group, breathing heavily without expression and widened eyes staring at nothing. 

As they walk off toward more prey, Achiin is back at home, staring back at the village as they eat a jerky made of dried berries, crystallized, sweet and tart. The townsfolk are quarreling and spot a creature they’ve never seen before. The vendor from before spots an opportunity to catch it due to its wrecking of personal space. Achiin sees this and spreads their wings to float over to the commotion, rain now ceased. The creature has two pincers, a hard body, 8 legs attached to the thorax, and a tail with a pronged tip. Its carapace is brass with a tint of textured cubic lattice. The creature also has green eyes, glowing. “A robot!” Achiin spat as he exclaimed its presence and kneeled down at it while chewing his jerky. The robot jittered and rotated, staring at the boy. The vendor quivered in its presence and jumped from it. “Stay back Achii! It looks dangerous. We haven’t encountered this thing before!” Achiin stares back at the vendor and replies “Well why wasn’t Alex scary?” The vendor scowls angrily and retorts “Because he was human-like! How is a human supposed to be scary?? They existed for eons and still destroy themselves to this day. Also, I dislike bugs… The crunchy ones” The vendor holds his cart close like an infant while Achiin stares, humored and shrugging, staring back at the bug bot. “This thing doesn’t seem dangerous, it would’ve attacked already.” He takes another piece of his candied jerky and pokes at the bot. “Where is your engineer?” The robot stares at Achiin, a noise coming from its body, muffled and high pitched. Achiin looks at it and picks it up, spotting a broken panel. “Hm. I’m gonna take this.” The vendor stares back at him saying, “Sure kid, do what you want I’m just trying to sell my goods here. Now please get it away from me, eugh!” Achiin giggles and puts the bug bot under his arm, walking back to the farmhouse. A shadowy figure is lurking in the distance watching them as the sun is setting slowly...