One Live Sample

Two Levii arrived at the southwest canyon, one notably more exhausted than the other. He was covered head to toe in safety equipment, and acted like a nervous prey animal. It wasn’t very wrong of him to act like that- they were entering dangerous territory of the Buzinya- and Jarlath was NOT planning for a hostile takeover of his body anytime soon. Lezzaro seemed careless, to the point of causing Jarlath immense worry for his safety.

“Are you sure you don’t want any of the safety gear?”, he inquired, getting a low unnerving chuckle as an answer. “I mean it, Lezzaro. This stuff isn’t a joke.” He continued.

“Ease it, Djiminni. You’re with me, you’ll be fine.” Lezzaro assured him, gesturing with wide- but precise motions. “I’m more of a predator than prey to those little worthless blobs.” He confidently spoke, another toothy chuckle escaping his beak.

Or well. “Beak”. As much as it surely had the shape of one, at times it felt like it contorted a bit too much for one. It looked more like the maw of a beast- A beast that knew its position in the food chain. Lezzaro pressed onwards into the stone canyon, spreading his wings outward for a moment and eyeing above himself into the hot sun.

“I’m going to take a look from the sky. Don’t screw up. I need you alive and not infected.” He said. Before Jarlath could even say a single thing, he had already taken off into the sky.

Too quick, too fast. He remembered Lezzaro being an awful flier. But, there he was. Alone in the canyon now while Lezzaro went off somewhere.

He sighed, investigating the equipment he had. It was a strange form of catch-pole. Moreso reminiscent of those opaque half-sphere garbage collection sticks. The ones that you just have to click twice to hear the little “clap clap” noise. But, with these it’d manage to wrap around the Buzinya if you were fast enough and seal itself shut for safe transport. He had two of these in his two sets of arms- It was a good thing he learned how to be ambidextrous. He only had two chances to catch one of them, he had to be careful.

It had been minutes since Lezzaro left him alone in here, and it started to be a bit unnerving how quiet everything was. Too quiet. He saw movements from the corners of his eyes- as best as he could see at least. The helmet he wore obscured his vision quite strongly. But, with enough effort he managed to catch a glimpse of where something went to hide. Holding the catch poles at the ready, he began to approach with severe caution. The creature, on the other hand, decided to speed up the process as it leapt up onto the rock, staring him down. He quickly dashed forward, trying to capture the damn thing before it moved.

Click.

SNAP!

Fssh.

For a brief second, he thought he had gotten it as some blue goop seeped from the edges. But, to the right of the now-closed pole was the Buzinya. It looked like it understood what this thing worked like, and the fact that Jarlath had wasted one already.

There was regret that he even agreed to come here in his eyes.

It lunged for his head, but with a swift twirl and sidestep he managed to dodge out of the way. He threw the used pole to the ground- worthless to him now. Sure they could unlock it back at the lab, but he could also just lie and say he broke it. Much easier that way.

The Buzinya prepared for another move, and Jarlath was doing his best to predict where it would go. Unfortunately, this thing was small and agile for what it was. It leapt onto a rock once more, but then it went onto another. And another- until it was above him.

This was easy, he thought, it’s going to leap from the top directly onto me.

He prepared to snap it out of the air, confident in his ability, when the creature did something unexpected. Somehow, through some unholy means, this thing dashed to the side mid-air just as the catch pole snapped in place.

Busted.

Useless.

He was left without tools and without wings to fly- the damn safety gear did not account for him needing to fly and the added weight made it impossible to take off with his little insect wings.

He gripped the pole intensely- it wasn’t going to catch them anymore but at least he still had a weapon. The Buzinya landed onto the earth, and without a second’s hesitation Jarlath swung at it with the pole, knocking it square in the nucleus and away a good couple of feet. But he knew it wouldn’t do much, that thing was out for his body now. He gave it a good reason to go after him- He proved he was healthy, intelligent, and had a very useful toolkit with all those extra arms.

He sighed and looked at the target in front of him.

There were two.

There were three.

Oh good lord they all realised he was a snack.

He braced himself, knowing that running wouldn’t do much. He saw those movements from the corners of his eyes- he was surrounded. As the horde ahead of him lunged towards him- he heard a screech that no Levii could ever produce.

But it was a Levii. And it was Lezzaro, diving in from above as if he had just spotted a tasty morsel on the ground. Lezzaro, diving in like some horrific angel sent from the heavens. His talons slammed onto the rock and his wings swept up a cloud of dust.

“Where the hell were you?!” Jarlath cried out to him- but he noticed a look in his friend’s eyes that suggested that he was a lot more interested in the things that were trying to kill him than his life.

The Buzinya scattered, it felt wrong to see them scatter that quickly because of an unarmored, defenceless Lyth landing in front of them. They should have lunged at him- devoured him whole. But even he felt the terribly wrong energy emanating off of Lezzaro. A predator found its prey. And it used him as bait. That bastard. He took the opportunity to escape the situation, at least to a position where he could still watch but not get targeted.

Lezzaro felt his talons sink into the ground as the little pathetic creatures called the Buzinya scattered like rats. He let out a screeching howl again, painful on his throat as he lunged at the nearest one. One that had no idea what it was facing up against. Grabbing the small thing with his bare claw, he squeezed it tightly to ensure it would not be able to make a single move. The acidity of its goo sizzled his hand, but he simply shoved it into a jar on his belt and sealed it. Damage to the vessel could be repaired easily, was a statement that rang through his hand. Of course the Buzinya feared him. They could tell there was something deeply wrong with his body. And he adored it.

In his moment of respite, one foolish Buzinya thought it could get him. It latched onto his head, attempting to engulf it. Lezzaro grabbed for its nucleus to pull it off- blinded by the goo in his eye. It was, as one might say, not a pleasant experience even IF the vessel could be repaired easily. After a moment, he gave up. It felt like too much effort- and the Buzinya foolishly presumed that this was its moment- it could be a saviour to its kind. Probably. Lezzaro didn’t really know what went on in the minds of these creatures. All he knew is that some part of him felt deeply superior to them.

Jarlath watched as Lezzaro seemed to do nothing about the parasite on his head. It was horrifying, and all he could really do was watch. He wasn’t going to go down there- He’d get eaten alive for sure. Unlike Lezzaro, they certainly weren’t afraid of him.

He watched his friend’s body deteriorate beneath the acidic goo- until…

It simply fell off. The nucleus dropping onto the ground with a sad, wet, splat.

Lezzaro turned his head towards the noise. He was blind, for now. It was fine. The vessel could be repaired. That was promised to him. In the moment of stupor that the ambushing Buzinya experienced seeing their fellow friend just drop dead like that, he managed to blindly scoop one-and-a-half of a Buzinya into another jar. They scattered away from him immediately, choosing to forfeit the battle. It was not worthwhile, whatever he was. There was something beneath the surface that they did not want to be around.

“JARLATH!”, he shouted for his friend with a hoarse voice. Jarlath quickly came running from his hiding spot, heaving.

“Are you okay?! Oh- holy-” Before he could swear anything, Lezzaro shoved the two jars of Buzinya into his hands.

“I’m going home. Take these to the contractor.” Lezzaro said, spreading his wings and taking off again. Jarlath watched his friend nearly break a wing against the canyon wall flying off blindly like that. It was not pleasant to watch.

A few seconds of unnerved confusion passed before Jarlath remembered he was smack-dab in the middle of Buzinya territory with no defensive tools. He decided that the best option would be to get out of dodge, return these things to the Galibyte, and try to find Lezzaro. If he even could. That man had a way of vanishing into thin air that could likely impress even the finest escape artists.