It didn't belong.

This was a newly confirmed proving ground. First access being my prize for winning the Grand Nexus' annual melee, but the native inhabitants had been thoroughly vetted. Migrated humans were registered as the apex of this planet.

But this pale one was an anomaly. I scanned all spectrums and compared the creature's anatomy multiple times against the others in the town.

Not a mutation. It was an entirely different species.

The unknown being was tall and slender with pure white opaque skin, not translucent pink like an albino. Its eyes were milky white without pupils and it had long iridescent hair draped down its back, swaying like a mass of prismatic spider silk.

However, its ears were the most striking.

The long flat extremities jutted out, moving independently with a full range of expressive gestures, and despite being significantly more nimble, their overall shape resembled the ears of a hairless white rabbit.

The organism oozed finesse. From its taut hairless skin to its sleek form-fitted black and white speckled sealskin jacket, trousers, and matching boots.

It took every ounce of my discipline not to attack it on sight. The code demanded that I make my kill honorably. I suspected it was female, and it had yet to reveal a weapon.

Suddenly, a dark rumble charged in from the east. It was an enraged brown bear three times the size of the tall hairless rabbit.

Then, before I had time to blink, the bear was dead. I had to replay the recording caught by my helm at half speed to recount exactly what had happened.

A small scythe dropped from beneath the rabbit's black and white spotted seal skin jacket, then unhinged and clamped around the animal's neck.

The tall rabbit sidestepped, dodged, and spun its wicked weapon up and around, decapitating the animal with a seamless graceful motion.

"Greetings," the hairless white rabbit turned and stared directly at me. "My name is Mourning Crow. Traveling bard and Slayer of Graven. I hope you're enjoying the show."

I double-checked the light sensors built into my armor. My body was fully concealed within the shadows.

The being looked me in the eye and made a deep formal bow as it spoke flawlessly in the Zhaguai tongue. It even applied the unique dialect clicks of someone native to my homeworld of Sahei.

How the hell?! Screw it... Stealth is only permitted for reconnaissance and circumventing noncombatants.

I snarled and crawled out from the branches. Once seen by our intended adversary, we couldn't hide until the kill was consummated.

"There's more to come, but beware," the rabbit conversed with me as though I were friendly. "Should you choose to join the fray, my prey is highly contagious. Even the smallest drop of its blood inside you will break everything that you are and steal all that you love."

I threw my head back and let this lanky, self-proclaimed slayer see and hear me roar.

Love. I fear nothing and possess no such weakness. How can something be stolen if it never existed?

"If you say so," Mourning Crow shrugged and picked up the bear's severed head then began peeling off the skin and flesh.

Does it collect evidence of its kills like we do?

"You're welcome to any of this," Mourning Crow waved its hand over the dead bear's carcass. "But I call dibs on the skull and the long bones."

The being carved out the femurs and slid them free, then licked off and spat out all the leftover flesh.

CRUNCH

Those teeth! They snapped into the bone as though the marrow was crispy paper.

It was so bizarre.

I was desperate to challenge it, but I needed more information.

What species was this Mourning Crow? Where did it come from? Why was it here? Were there more like it hidden on this planet? What manner of prey were these Graven? It understood my language and displayed no upset at my presence. Clearly, they or it possessed extensive knowledge of the Zhaguai.

And how did this Mourning Crow see me from so far away?!?

This would not stand!

I was obligated to my clan and the supremacy of my people to gather as much intelligence as possible before making my challenge.

I kept to the trees, traveling alongside the strange white rabbit as it continued on its journey. The sun had long since set, but the darkness made little difference to Mourning Crow's ability to navigate. I required a better view of its eyes, but those massive ears kept flapping in the way and interrupting my long-range scans.

Fuck! You fool!

It heard me. I've trained since I was a tail-wagging pup on the best methods for staying silent, but those long pointy ears were more sensitive than anything the Zhaguai had encountered. It probably heard my heartbeat no matter how much I slowed it.

I'll need to remove those insidious appendages first to have any chance of killing it.

I raised my gauntlet and typed into my notes, MUST UPGRADE SOUND DAMPENING.

Mourning Crow paused in a small clearing of trees. "I'm going to rest. Things are going to get lively... and really weird in the morning."

It nestled in the nook of a tree trunk and curled up with its arms crossed around its chest and its legs tucked in tight. Not because it was cold, that was obvious from the infrared. The contortion was simply the position it found most comfortable.

I was beginning to understand that this creature was pathologically peculiar.

How is this rabbit so confident that I won't attack while it's sleeping? Does it follow ethical laws for combat as well? Or maybe it simply doesn't fear me.

My longest quills thwipped against my chest.

Was this rabbit even tracking anything?

I'd already passed up at least a dozen viable kills participating in this unusual side quest. Nothing smelled out of the ordinary and the terrain was unremarkable. If Mourning Crow intended to guide me into a trap, it would be painfully mistaken.

"You know, I can hear you plotting," the rabbit grinned, not bothering to open its eyes. "Your breathing changes."

I flared my fangs and thrummed my chest, filling the night air with a long reverberating hiss.

"Relax," Mourning Crow continued smirking. "I can't hear your thoughts. My ears aren't that impressive."

Impressive enough to be a nuisance.

Change of tactics, I would need to leave at least one ear intact to perform a comprehensive anatomical scan of its inner ear before stripping and mounting that rabbit's skull to my wall. Perhaps there existed an antiresonance frequency that could be employed as a weapon?

The rabbit slept until moments before dawn. It stretched and yawned as it woke then began tuning on a long corded instrument it had previously carried on its back.

I sighed with impatience.

"Shhh... This part's important," Mourning Crow plucked and twisted the instrument's strings into the proper tune as it munched on shards of leftover bear skull. "The Graven always birth swarms of mindless minions. This will be a marathon, not a sprint. I like to get my rhythm before stepping out on the dance floor."

Normally, I preferred fasting during my annual Dread Trial but something about the rabbit's confidence compelled me to heed its warnings. I left it to sing its frivolous song while pursuing a quick breakfast.

Later, I returned to find Mourning Crow up and humming while it unlatched a wide, sheathed, straight blade tucked discreetly within the backside of its guitar. Then it wrapped the instrument neatly into a swatch of leather.

With its back no longer encumbered, the blade latched vertically on the rabbit's back by some unseen mechanism. Then it sprang up into a nearby pine tree with the grace of a U'la'ke feline to secure the handcrafted guitar to a sturdy branch.

"Rest now," the rabbit nuzzled its forehead to the expendable object. "I'll be back shortly. Try not to get lonely."

I shook my head, making sure the rabbit heard my long quills sway.

"Don't act like you're not bedazzled head to toe in silver jewelry," Mourning Crow sniped back playfully. "My detainment in Thorngate reinforced the necessity for joy and self-gratification. There's no point in existing if we can't celebrate the experience."

It was peculiar hearing such a statement spoken in my people's language.

We fought for honor, for ourselves, and for our clan. Each time, presenting evidence of our kill and chronicling the story.

We underwent strict training and refined our daily routines to only the essential necessities. Joy was not a word Zhaguai wielded frequently. But it was accurate. And self-gratification was precisely what I would experience while carving its bones out with my claws and daggers.

The woods grew darker despite the sun shining high above the canopy. Mourning Crow's ears were perched back and up on high alert, limiting their movements to tight quick twitches. And the air became wetter and rancid.

The white rabbit paused on the trail, scooping its diaphanous hair into a thick loose ponytail. Then it pounced and rejoined me in the trees.

Had I been born with ears like Mourning Crow, I would have noticed sooner that the birds were no longer singing.

Suddenly, the creature was off, bounding through the branches with breathtaking speed. Not once did it bother to look back in my direction.

I was confident Mourning Crow was female.

While giving chase, I was a bit surprised by the altered texture of the trees. The bark was spongy under my feet. I performed a quick scan of the flora. All the vegetation was blotched in black bubbling fungus.

The rabbit was still charging forward but well within eyesight. Then I noticed a pinecone break loose from the force of one of my landings. It dropped to the black-coated ground and began sizzling and then melted into a mass of white foaming pustules.

Five seconds. Organic material could survive no longer.

I made each successive vault with greater care, making sure to only land on uninfected clear patches.

Without warning, the surrounding shadows began to squirm and then lift up in the form of emaciated black arms. I dodged the grasping hands and saw Mourning Crow ahead, evading the same obstacles.

What were these things and how were they even possible? Was this the mindless swarm she had warned of?

No matter. The hands were composed of the same noxious fungus, and I could not allow them to touch me. I made a fist and released a rip-claw dagger hidden within the undersides of my left gauntlet to slash them away, but the cut did nothing.

I zoomed the optics built into my helm on Mourning Crow's little silver scythe and watched her pierce dead center at the base of the forearm, deflating the false appendage with a single stroke.

I flipped the blade hilt in my hand and copied the rabbit's strike. The serrated dagger sank in and struck a hidden elastic tube.

Well, hidden to anyone lacking gigantic ears.

The black limb drooped and melted.

No longer impeded by incessant hindrances, I caught up to the little rabbit then arrived at a small uninfected stone outcropping on the edge of a clearing.

"What is it with these things and churches?" Mourning Crow snarled.

The clearing overlooked an abandoned town with a pulsing, black, fuzzy church at the center.

I glanced down to confirm that the skinny black arms could not climb the stone. However, the clearing separating us from the dilapidated buildings was mired in frothy black, save for a few pristine grey boulders and broken building remnants scattering the glade.

"Did you notice the oddities in the other town?" Mourning Crow spoke but did not bother to face me. "It's a sign that the Graven is near and growing."

I had no response.

"The missing fingernails on the adults, the excessive sigil graffiti scattered in the alleyways and behind the church, and all the children with heterochromia," Mourning Crow continued. "This is what will happen to those townsfolk if I do nothing and walk away. I couldn't give a shit about humans, but the Graven don't discriminate. They just get nastier and spread, decimating one planet after another."

"What is this Graven?" I asked the white rabbit.

"Death," Mourning Crow intoned. "No, worse than that. They're old and crazy and they devour everything, including themselves, all while carving their legacy into others' ideology and leaving breadcrumbs on how to bring them back to life after they've long dried out."

Her answer offered nothing.

"I'd explain more," she shook out her arms while releasing her chain. "But each one is different. No two die in exactly the same way. The core can be anywhere."

She opened and closed the hinge at the base of her slender blade, testing the reliability of the locking mechanism on the well-seasoned weapon.

Closed, the armament was a narrow oval with a gap between the blade and the handle, similar to an open human eye. She popped the smooth crescent blade open once and spun it about like a weapon I once heard referred to as kusarigama.

The simplicity suited her lithe fingers, perfectly streamlined for dismemberment and decapitation.

"Don't hold back," Mourning Crow paddled her ears back and forth as she turned to look me in the eye with the top of her porcelain head level with my chin. "Killing this thing is going to take everything you've got. If you're packing explosives, use them. Speed will give us an advantage."

"Oh, and try to keep your gear intact," the rabbit tapped one of her little claws against my chestplate. "I put the materials to good use after you're dead."

Then she scampered off across the wretched black glade.

I let out a guttural roar, upholstered the Stone-maker glove from my utility belt, and begrudgingly clamped the metal cuff around my left wrist.

First this Graven monstrosity, and then you and I will duel to the death, little rabbit!

I had no choice but to tighten the palm strap and toggled the pulse charge to maximum.

.

.

.

...

Terms & Translations:

U'la'ke = alien cat species that are mortal enemies of the Zhaguai that have stinger tails with paralytic venom. Known as "The Felija" to humans. They live in large Prides. Lieges are the biggest, both sexes, have large manes, and thirteen tails

The Dread - An annual solo combat rite - first Dread involves a zhaguai cutting off its tail after presenting their kill. Marks adulthood and clan marking is permanently inlaid in metal onto their face.

Touch-quills = Zhaguai short quills on sides of face. Three on each side. (6 total)

Long quills = Zhaguai basic head quills, can be long or short, thin or thick

Short quill = Zhaguai nubby body quills

Stone-maker Glove - non-lethal weapon that petrifies organic matter

Zhaguai = Reptilian warrior species with horns and long wriggling quills instead of hair

Razkur = A pale, formally subterranean species with long ears, and pale pupiless eyes.

...

Author's Note:

Thank you for reading.

If you're enjoying please remember to click the ⭐star⭐to vote and help others discover this book. Wattpad counts votes for each chapter among other thing. And as always, comments are most appreciated.

~A. E. Shelly (a.k.a. Oloo)