Nindial's Stories

Hunger: hunger had gripped itself steadily to Nindial’s belly for what seemed to be days now as it wandered quietly around the Quiet-Fog Forest. The hunger made it’s scales itch as it passed by the swiveling birch trees, their twisting branches circling away reluctantly as it got close to them. Nindial snapped it’s jaws at any branches that brushed it’s back feathers as they left, sometimes crunching down on the splintering wood and ripping it away with a crunch from the rest of the tree, purely out of spite towards the annoying plant. Even the roses tried to sway out of the way of its curling claws and shaky black feet, fearful of being squished by the seething beast. As Nindial stalked beneath the naked trees and recoiling plants, its snout whisked carefully around as it sniffed the cold air, trying to find something suitable to hunt in the dense fog.

Gradual pains tugged at its stomach and Nindial hissed at the constant groaning that sounded from its soft belly scales, hoping that it wouldn’t alert or scare away anything it was approaching. So far the forest remained empty, as it usually was. The emptiness made Nindial’s stomach growl louder and it dropped down to the grassy floor to soothe its scales against the cool surface. It didn’t do much as the pain only subsided momentarily before it returned and begged Nindial to keep moving in search of food. Agreeing with its complaining stomach, Nindial dragged itself up and continued slouching along the forest, nose twitching at every scent that crossed it.

Eventually, as it was drawing closer to a tall birch tree that shook wearily at the beast, Nindial’s feathers perked up as it heard a faint squeak coming from the dark bushes ahead. Instinctively, Nindial crept down into a low crouch and slunk closer to the sounds like a cat, its scales tickling as it brushed the grass beneath it. Nindial didn’t recognize the sounds at first, it didn’t remember anything so chirpy living in the Silent Realm and figured that any chirping demon would heavily annoy Abysiimal to the point he’d chase them out, but as it got closer it noticed the small white ears of a sticky creature sat upon the base of a tree. It was grooming itself, its tiny, pawed hands smoothing down the white sludge that made up its body as it chirped and chittered happily to itself in the fog.

Nindial’s mouth pried open as its forked, white tongue snaked hungrily in its saliva bath, some of its drool dripping down its thin jaw and pattering against the grass below. The small creature continued to happily groom itself as Nindial edged closer, placing each foot carefully as it stalked up to the edge of a tree and hid behind it. It was terrible camouflage as Nindial’s dark body stood out against the white ringed tree, but the fog and the creatures lack of awareness allowed Nindial to get away with it. Being moments away from its prey made Nindial excited as the thought of finally getting a meal flooded its mind, and its tail flicked delightedly.

As the small creature raised its head and peered around with beady black eyes, Nindial launched itself around the tree and clamped its gaping jaws around the goopy creature, tearing away a chunk of bark with it. The white body of the small creature popped in its mouth as the small thing squealed in anguish. It thrashed around in Nindial’s jaws then quickly subsided and flopped its head over as it began to bubble and sizzle in between the long, pink fangs that had pierced it. Nindial’s sudden glee quickly diminished as it spat the dripping creature out when its soft gums and inner flesh began to burn. It could feel its own mouth sizzling where the small creature had been culled, and bits of its own acidic blood began spilling out of its fizzing mouth. Nindial let out a mild growl and shook its head when the burning didn’t leave, but quickly leapt on ahead towards the sound of running water and dipped its open mouth into the dark substance, washing the remnants of the white thing away. Its tail lashed angrily as the freezing water numbed the burning, but its stomach still ached greatly and reminded Nindial that it needed to move on and try again.

The forest was no louder than it was before as Nindial walked carefully through the bushes again, pausing briefly to sniff the roses and lift up small rocks to check for other small critters or hidden footprints, but still proved unlucky. Its failure hung in the back of its head and made its feathers twitch as it entered a flat clearing that was far more bare in foliage compared to where Nindial had just emerged from. A small pond circled a cluster of tall birches and Nindial walked right through it to the other side, the icy water lapping at its dark scales.

As Nindial sniffed at the thin bases of the birch trees on the other side, it caught the faint whiff of a monzoa clinging to a patch of scraped bark that had been obviously raked by large antlers and sharp hooves. The scent made Nindial’s mouth water again as it knew taking down a monzoa was something that it could easily do as it had done so in the past. Tail flicking excitedly, Nindial deeply breathed in as much of the alluring scent as it could and began following the faint tracks the monzoa had left behind, disappearing into the thick of the forest once again. The fog remained heavy as Nindial walked, the dim light making its black scales shimmer when glimpses of the sun high above seeped through spaces in the thick blanket. Usually, Nindial enjoyed walking through the forest on particularly foggy days like these, but its constant ringing hunger made this one increasingly aggravating.

The scent trail of the monzoa led Nindial to a secluded area of the forest that was a popular resting and fighting ground for various creatures as the surrounding brambles made it hard to attack the clearing from the sides. There was only one easily accessible entrance, and luckily for Nindial, its chosen prey was stuck in the middle of the clearing with the starving beast blocking its exit. Seeing the monzoa’s tall and striking structure did nothing to intimidate Nindial; it was at least twice as large and its scales provided some hefty protection from any old claw or fang. However, the long antlers made Nindial far more careful while stalking into the denser part of some leafy bushes, its long tail winding through the grey leaves to help conceal itself. This monzoa had patchy grey fur, that blended it in with the surrounding fog, with white blotches acting as fuzzy eyes on its bony hips and dipping neck. Nindial noted the lack of rotting entrails swathed across its front limbs and back; this was a young and inexperienced monzoa that had not had the pleasure of fighting another monzoa yet, making it an easier meal if Nindial could avoid being slashed with those frightening antlers.

Zeroing in on the grassy mound where the monzoa stood, pawing at the ground, Nindial flattened itself completely against the grass and watched the monzoa a moment longer, trying to scope out a good path to get within killing range of it. Nindial no longer had the patience for stealth and was not too keen on waiting for it to lumber over to where it lay in wait. So, with one last exasperated sniff, Nindial gathered itself and lunged out from the bushes with its claws spread and teeth poised to strike the monzoa square on the back.

The monzoa bleated in surprise, staggering to the side before it bellowed angrily and kicked towards Nindial’s face with its sharp hooves. Nindial ignored the stabbing hooves against the side of its neck and chest, its thick brown scales deflecting the blows, and bit down hard on the monzoa’s shoulders, a gush of thick blood oozing from where its long fangs sunk deep into the panicking deer’s flesh. The taste made Nindial shiver as it firmly held on and dug its curving claws into the monzoa’s sides, giving it a jagged hug as it used its weight to crush the creature to the blood-splattered ground. With the wailing monzoa against the grass, Nindial withdrew its grip on the deer’s shoulders and snapped down on its furred throat, swishing its tail intently as it twisted its neck around until a loud snap erupted in the fog.

The monzoa’s legs still twitched and kicked at Nindial as its disfigured neck slumped against the ground, a pool of crimson blood starting to pour from the gaping line of teeth marks littered along its soaked throat. Nindial wasted no time and dug greedily into the twitching body beneath it, ripping fur and skin away as it burrowed into the bleeding flesh with both claws and teeth. The air filled with the heavy scent of blood and the shrill sounds of tearing meat as Nindial fed, desperately swallowing chunks of glistening flesh and the vile, pale organs that hid behind the thin layers of red. Nindial only settled down onto the floor beside the monzoa once half of the limp creature had been stripped to the bone, the hollow sockets of its skull and gaps in its ribs barely red with fresh blood anymore as Nindial had licked it all clean off. Nindial’s white tongue scraped any remaining stains of dark red off of its muzzle as it kicked its feet out behind it and examined the corpse beside it. The sight was grizzly with the mangled body of the monzoa flopped and twisted around like a jumbled toy, but Nindial relished in the overpowering stench of blood that its kill gave off, feeling heavily overjoyed as it rolled around against the grass.