Cheep!?

Cheep!?

Chapter 109

Niko kept his head low and beneath much of the foliage, concealing himself while following behind Sasha. Much as any other forest that he’d run across in this life, the mountainous pines and sparse deciduous trees remained cloistered tightly enough that their reaching branches blocked out a good deal of sunlight. Even so, Niko’s eyes were more than up to the task of peering through the dimness, and with excitement building at the prospect of a good hunt, he couldn’t keep himself from utilizing his Aether Sight in search of clues.

“We’re just about at the hunting grounds,” Sasha chuffed quietly, her ears swiveling occasionally to keep tabs on their surroundings. “Did you want to hunt together, or separately?” 

Niko didn’t even need to consider the question, “Separately. I need to stretch my legs.” 

Nodding and unbothered, Sasha responded with, “It’s unlikely, but if a member of my clan comes to you, just tell them that I brought you here. That should resolve any potential misunderstanding.”

“Sounds good. Then, I’ll see you soon,” Niko cheerily responded, but took the matter seriously. He was well aware that these lands were claimed, but he’d been prepared for that for a long time. Considering that the Evergreen was, arguably, all claimed by the Kingdom, he’d been ready for eventual contact and territorial disputes of one variety or another since he’d known there were people around. 

With a pulse of essence in Niko’s body, his Wyldstrider pattern activated, and Niko felt the moment his essence became less distinct in the environment. His physical body interacted with the world differently when he used Wyldstrider, and Niko still knew that he’d tapped into something much deeper when he made that pattern. Even his newest dual-natured Call pattern wasn’t quite as deft in purpose, and when he took his first steps off the path set by Sasha, he could feel the plants beneath his feet somehow spring back up in his wake, as though he’d never been there to begin with.

A few paces passed before Niko decided to try to focus on himself as much as he could, turning his Aether Sight upon himself while craning his neck. His essence was obscured, but not with any particular sensation. Yet, he could instinctively tell that the essence was still there, only masked beneath something that he couldn’t manage to see. It wasn’t perfect, though, and he couldn’t help but think back to seeing Sasha prowling around with her own stealth pattern in effect.

‘It’s limited compared to that, but my pattern does a lot more,’ Niko pondered to himself, ‘Is there a way I can push that further? Change what I want it to do in any given situation?’ The thought held merit, and Niko had had much success in the past for changing what the pattern expressed on call. With a push of will, Niko shrank away the incognito portion of his pattern, the sound of his feet on the earth ringing clearly in his ears. Before experimenting further, he began moving more intelligently, putting more effort into how his feet landed on the earth, and where. Days of practice at moving stealthily came back to him swiftly over the course of several minutes, before Niko allowed the pattern its full range of capacity once more. 

Whereas before Niko had to strain incredibly hard to even hear his own movements, they were now entirely mute to his own ears, with only the dull thud and tactile sensation of his legs grounding his movements. Even that was lighter, though, and Niko amused himself with a brief imagining of virtually floating across a landscape whilst barely touching the earth. ‘Maybe Thokk’s people would still feel that, but it’s probably much pecking harder.’ 

Niko slowed his speed, focusing now on the way his pattern seemed to interact with both his essence and the essence around him. After a few seconds of observation, he felt a stroke of epiphany cross his mind. Carefully, Niko began to control the essence in his body, using the skills that Camille had honed in him to try to trap his essence more tightly against his skin and feathers. Then, with more difficulty, he began the process of trying to control how his Wyldstrider pattern was masking his own essence.

That proved to be a lot harder, and Niko was frowning while trying to drag the essence over his hide. He pulled at it, tried to contribute more essence to it, and even tried to forcibly change how it looked based on what he could see with his Aether Sight. Yet, for every minute shift, it was quickly washed away in a moment's inattention. 

‘Hmm… I’m missing something.” Niko spoke aloud to himself, before thinking over what the pattern was actually doing. Unfortunately, moving through the trees and idly keeping tabs on his environment was hardly conducive to diving more deeply into the mechanisms behind what was happening. Regretfully, he put further experimentation on hold. Finding a good meal or two would be more important in the short term, and more importantly, he could experiment in much more relative safety with the others around.

Slowly, Niko’s pace settled into a much more sedate trot, his eyes and nose taking in the world around him for clues on any common game trails. In his last life, he’d never quite understood why the concept of a game trail existed, but after so long in the overgrowth, he knew quite well how that might happen. Dense vegetation, paths to commonly needed resources such as water, and whatever the habitual needs of any given beast contributed to the appearance of such game trails. He himself had made paths that he could, begrudgingly, describe as a game trail for any would-be hunter looking to find and track a Phorus through the Evergreen. 

While he and his companions hadn’t relied heavily on game trails for their own travel through the woods, they still tended towards areas that were slightly easier to traverse through. Straight lines were abysmally rare in any terrain, perhaps one of the few things that he missed about pre-constructed walking paths back on Earth. 

Niko stopped several times, immersing himself in assessing the environment around him. Low, broken branches, twigs, disheveled bushes, and more could mark the passing of creatures that Niko might be interested in. Regrettably, what he found were cold trails, the only indication of a passing creature were the visual markers that utterly lacked fresh footprints or scents. Of course, Niko assumed that at least some beasts could utilize patterns similar to his, or Sasha’s, concealing patterns, but they weren’t necessarily what he was looking for. Rather than grow impatient, Niko simply doubled down, concentrating more on the task at hand. Whether he found something or not became secondary to the task of searching, immersing himself and relishing in the simple endeavor.

Until, finally, he found something. Niko’s scanning eyes stopped on a small tuft of fur, trapped along rough bark from a passing beast. He tempered his excitement and approached the fur before breathing deep the scent he could glean from the silver-gray fluff.

‘There we are,’ Niko gave a small smile, confirming that the fur was a recent enough clue. With the scent in question in his nostrils, Niko swept his head back and forth slowly, trying to track where the trail might be while keeping his head low to the ground. 

It took a minute of wandering in the area before he picked up a little bit more of the scent, down what might be generously called a trail. Maintaining his patience, Niko began to follow down the path, confirming it occasionally with other signs that whatever he was following hadn’t changed trail. The scent was a familiar one, strong, musky, and with much deeper earthy undertones, not dissimilar to the profile he’d built mentally of the Ironback Badgers. There was a difference though, a kind of metallic tang that only vaguely reminded him of blood. 

The tracking itself only took the better part of half an hour, and Niko knew he was close when he heard a loud ‘Thwack!’ Of something hitting a tree branch with a grunt of effort.

Lowering himself further to the ground, Niko’s feathers seemed to dim even further as his Wyldstrider pattern worked to its fullest. Niko moved between larger bushes and avoided especially loud patches of the ground with precision, not taking for granted that his pattern would mute whatever he strode upon.

When he peered through the bushes at his quarry, he was only a few meters away from the creature. It was large, half as much as he was, but was also familiar in a sense. A squat body that ordinarily would be closer to the ground was leveraging itself up a tree. It had four limbs, and for the most part resembled an Ironback Badger. Only, it was much larger, especially with a humpback of rough, bristly fur that reminded Niko of a bodybuilder. One of its paws, ending in scoop-like, sharp claws, was stubbornly hitting a tree branch that, Niko noticed, held several fruits upon it. 

At that, Niko examined the tree it was attempting to claim fruits from, one with paler wood than the surrounding trees. Full, plump fruits of shades of red and orange that reminded Niko of peaches grew in bountiful clusters, between three and six fruits in any given patch. Now that he was less focused on other scents, Niko could very plainly tell the sweet, deep scent that came from the fruits. 

For a half-second, Niko almost decided he wanted the fruits more than he wanted to eat meat, but there was something delicious smelling about the Ridgeback Badger that made him unwilling to give up the hunt. 

‘Lets see what I can find out here…’ Carefully, Niko continued to stalk the Ironback badger’s steroided up cousin. Its head was clearly more muscled–frankly the thing was more muscle than something of its size had any right to be–and as Niko watched it grunt in growing frustration, he felt the tang of untrained essence color the air. With his Aether Sight, Niko watched an essence pattern in the badger's arms flare to life in tandem with a mighty swing as it slapped the tree limb again. Contrary to breaking like Niko expected, the limb shook violently, and a single fruit fell from the branches. 

The badger took one look at that fruit and then back to the branch, a low rumble coming from its throat, seemingly annoyed at the lack of progress. Niko could see the low burn of another essence pattern being stoked within the Ridgeback Badger’s body, just on the cusp of activation. He waited still, wondering what else the badger might have in store, and also further scanning the creature for any signs that it might be a sapient member of Riizen.

That consideration vanished as the large, torso-spanning pattern blinked to life like a wildfire in Niko’s vision. Its arm patterns roared to life with even greater ferocity, and this time when the badger hit the thigh-thick branch, it exploded and fell to the ground with a crash. Niko just barely didn’t move with the surprise at the violent outburst, narrowly maintaining an incognito stance. Even so, the branch was large, and Niko was scarcely a meter from the edge of one of the fallen, reaching limbs. 

The badger’s essence settled with difficulty, but the sneer on its face as it regarded the branch was almost funny. Throughout it all, Niko hadn’t seen any indication that it was a Riizen resident, lacking any markings whatsoever. While he couldn’t be sure that the thing wasn’t sapient, Niko also wasn’t sure he cared much anymore.

‘Tier two, like me, and by Alterra, it smells delicious,’ Niko thought to himself, feeling his heart pump harder in anticipation as adrenaline began to flood his veins. Training and control kept him from launching his attack right then, and with his growing mastery of essence control he pushed his Wyldstrider and Sharp Strike patterns to their fullest. He wasn’t about to underestimate the Ridgeback Badger, combining the patterns to devastating effect.

Just as the badger’s essence quelled fully and the creature dropped back to all fours awkwardly, Niko dug his talons into the earth. Like a cannon blast, Niko shot out of the bush in a blur of color and motion. The badger, not noticing Niko’s approach, had no chance to react as an essence empowered, high speed Phorus’ beak sliced into its neck, aiming to sever the spine.

The slice cracked bone, but alarmingly Niko didn’t make it all the way through in one hit. Even so, he put money on the strike being fatal, having cut more than halfway through a meaty neck. On reflex, Niko darted backwards, remembering the golems that refused to die until the very last moment. The wisdom of that choice was proven as the badger’s torso pattern burned to life, almost like a furnace roaring to Niko’s Aether Sight. He winced, before forcibly turning the sight off, and watched as the badger somehow turned to face him.

‘Holy pecking what!? Your spine is severed, how are you–’ Niko’s thoughts fled for the hills as he reacted to the danger before he even recognized it was there. The Ridgeback Badger snarled, blasting forward like a runaway truck with wild, raking claws and snapping jaws. Niko dodged backwards, and then to the side, feeling the absolute flood of essence pouring through the badger. The pair of patterns on its body worked in tandem, and Niko realized that its arm pattern was glowing more brightly. ‘Oh, no you don’t, I know how this goes.’ 

No sooner than he’d mentally registered what was happening, did he push his own Wyldstrider pattern to full activation, abandoning stealth in favor of more power. With a powerful leap, Niko launched himself out of the way as the badger's now glowing claws raked the air in front of it once more. Only, instead of the ineffectual swiping, brightly glowing lines projected through the air like solid force, carving through low hanging tree branches and gouging bark for three meters in front of it. Furrows carved through the earth at the hit, and Niko knew that if he’d tanked that straight on, he wouldn’t be in much better condition than the badger.

In need of more information, Niko flicked on his Aether Sight once more, seeing that its essence and body were desperately attempting to stabilize the wound, somehow. Niko marveled for a split second at the sheer illumination provided by the essence in the badger, almost like he was seeing a rendering of what the badger was through pure energy. 

‘But how are you still moving?’ Niko couldn’t help but ask the question to himself, ‘Is your essence somehow bridging the gap?’ 

Whatever the reason, Niko put his curiosity aside and charged forward. While he thought it might still perish on its own, he wasn’t positive any longer. For all he knew the pattern in its body could sustain it long enough to heal, if it wasn’t partly a regenerative pattern to start with. The badger turned to meet him with its claws, but this time Niko dodged forwards, tracking its desperate motion and predicting where it would release another wave of its attacks. The swipe went wide, and the badger's eyes opened wide in realization as Niko’s own attack drove in from the side of its head.

This time, the strike outright beheaded the badger, and all at once any attempt by its essence form to mend its injuries halted. Without wasting any time, Niko breathed the essence of his kill in deeply, using his gifts from Alterra and Venris to harvest as much as possible.

And then felt the brand that covered his soul suddenly howl to life.

Alongside the essence, something else ripped from the now-corpse of the badger, red, like blood, and shockingly similar to what Niko had seen on the Bant empowered Dawr Goblins. Yet, he could intrinsically feel that, first, it wasn’t blood, and second, was somehow purer than what the goblins had been wreathed with. It was immaterial, a red haze of rage, anger, and an unwillingness to surrender that Niko found himself almost overtaken by. He held tight, doing his best to absorb the essence into his body more fully, and trying to force this new energy away from him.

Yet, he could feel the brand on his soul vibrating, a resonance that Niko was exceedingly wary of. That wariness only grew more complicated as he felt the red-energy flex and shiver in tune with it.

‘What the peck do I do!?’ Niko felt his resistance rapidly slipping as the brand on his soul worked against his will from the inside. In a few more seconds, Niko realized that he wouldn’t have any choice in the matter; the violent emotions would find their way in one way or another.

So, he reversed course with a grit beak, ‘I really hope this doesn’t end up clucking me over.’ 

The energy, visible even to the naked eye, suddenly stabbed into Niko’s body. It invaded through his skin, permeating through his physical and essence body and leaving a hot, almost energetic sensation in its wake. Pulling down, deep into Niko’s being, the brand guided it through his channels, and Niko did his best to follow along and keep the energy contained. 

Yet, even as he did so, he felt the rush of heady pleasure it left behind, similar yet so very different from the exhilaration from absorbing essence. Niko had to force himself not to let it stray, even just a little, as he committed himself to being as cautious as he could be. When it finally hit his soul’s shell where the brand lay, it dove into the fabric of what had once been intended as a curse and saturated it. Contrary to being uncomfortable, the violent, angry energy almost felt like a warm blanket wrapped around his soul, a shelter to hide behind and within.

Niko stood still before his beheaded kill, shell shocked and still trying to figure out what had just happened to him. It was only after he smelled the scent of fresh blood that Niko shook himself from his stupor. With an annoyed scoff, Niko took a few steps away and sat down, withdrawing into himself and meditating. The process was smooth, and his mind’s eye gradually drew into focus his soulscape. As he’d feared, he could see the pulsing of maroon energy, darkening occasionally and sinking into the brand on the shell of his soul. Consternation mounted as Niko glared at the brand and its energy, but after it did nothing more that he could see, he simply sighed and withdrew his vision.

Niko shook off a bit of dirt as he rose to his feet, taking a moment to inspect both himself and his surroundings once more. Nothing untowards seemed to be taking place, and indeed the only thing that was different from any other part of the forest was the fact that a branch with several fruits on it and the corpse of a Ridgeback Badger were on the ground.

Still left feeling complex emotions regarding what had just happened, Niko sighed and began to move over towards the fruits and the badger. “Welp… may as well not waste the fruit. Pecking brand… Spoiled my hunt,” complaining, Niko began to pluck fruits from the fallen branch before stowing them in his pack as well as he could. 

Niko fit only eight of them on his person before he regarded the rest, another eight fruits. Letting loose a little trill of contemplation, Niko trotted over to a bundle before biting into one. Sweetness burst in his mouth as the soft, tangy fruit saturated his taste buds. It was somewhere between a peach and watermelon in flavor, only deeper, and utterly steeped in essence. Before Niko realized it, he’d engorged himself on the fruit, save for the rock-hard pit at the center.

‘Mmm… That’s really good.’ Niko paused, before regarding the rest of them hungrily. 

Several minutes later, Niko stretched his limbs, feeling his body practically vibrating with the combination of sugary goodness and essence. Whatever the fruits were, they were now firmly in Niko’s top five favorite flavors of all time. 

Niko then dragged the badger over near a tree and awkwardly maneuvered it to be able to fit on his back. He took the head, also, though he was forced to hold it in his beak. ‘Hunt successful!’ Niko forced some cheer into his voice, ‘I wonder what Sasha will bring back?’