//------------------------------// // Scripture // Story: A world with no giants // by TheSexyMenhir //------------------------------// In a world with no giants Ch.13 “Scripture” Angelo sighed as he watched Preha and IehIeh disappear into the thicket. Angelo couldn’t be sure, but it seemed that Preha gladly would have shared a camplace with him, but upon IehIeh’s concerned words, they had spent several hours trying to convey that they would be here again tomorrow. Preha turned around one last time before he lost sight of her. He counted to ten. 1… 2… 3… 4… 5… 6… 7… 8… 9… 10… *Thud* His body hit the mossy ground beneath him, a curse escaping his lips as he was unpleasantly reminded of his dislocated shoulder. Albeit the pain was only a momentary distraction from what really had send him to his knees in the first place. His breath came quick and infrequent, and for a short moment he feared that he might pass out. He could feel the warmth of empress body pressed up against his, but not even her reassuring presence was enough to fight down the panic that had gripped his body tightly. His mind and heart beat in a frantic fashion while his vision threatened to disappear. He robbed onto his belly, and picked up the inkwell and feather that the pair had left him. With trembling hands he unrolled the scroll, dipped the feather into the black liquid, and with the unsteady hand of someone who was used to writing with a ballpen he wrote only one word. “Aliens…” There! He had written the it down, and somehow this made it ‘official’. He wasn’t just some madman in a forest, he had met honest to god aliens! Although, part of his mind corrected him, technically speaking, he was the alien… probably. He once again dipped the feather, a blue one, into the ink, the simple act helping him to cope with all the strange new experiences which had threatened to drown him, moments ago. For a moment the feather became his way to put the world back into focus. He wrote down what had happened to him so far… --- Eventually the sun passing over the horizon and Empress insistence, had forced him to return to the Burrow. He had only stopped long enough to pass Empress some berries, and to get a fire going, before he had turned towards the rough sheet of paper again. He took it between two fingers and felt the texture for a moment; it was rougher than the printer paper that he was used to but far less so than he had expected. Before he could follow this thought however, the flow of words drew him back: I met Aliens… After some thinking he struck the words through and began again: Today I made contact with two intelligent beings. They captured me when I caught them observing me, but upon revealing that I was sapient, they released me and tried to establish contact. As far as I could discern the two beings are named Preha, and IehIeh (simplified, their language has a few different sounds compared to mine ours). They both are about waist high, when compared to me. They seem similar to a few earth species, but unlike the other animals which I have encountered so far they don’t seem to have a direct counterpart in an earth species. They are quadrupeds, with cloven hooves, with a stronger pair of hind legs, a slightly curved back, and a pointed head which sits on a neck, slightly above the rest of the body. Their heads are particularly puzzling, since they are far rounder and bigger than anything seen in earth species. Maybe that’s to accommodate for a bigger brain, similar to the changes in human skulls. They have pointy ears, which sit almost atop of the head and are highly mobile, often responding to the owners emotional state. I’m not yet sure whether this is subconscious or intentional. They also sport blunt muzzles, similar to those of cows, or some dog breeds. Their eyes are fairly big, and cover almost forty percent of their faces, which gives them quite a bizarre appearance. Their fur is brightly coloured (Preha bright blue, IehIeh bright brown), but I’m not sure whether this is natural, since they also have tattoos where their hind legs meet their bodies. Aside from those shared characteristics, Preha sports a spun horn in the middle of her forehead, which IehIeh is missing. This horn seems to enable her of magic telekinetic manipulation of her surroundings (symbiote? might explain the blue ‘cloud’ which covers objects she manipulates. Would also explain why IehIeh hasn’t got a horn.). During my exchange with the two creatures, we were able to establish some basic vocabulary, even though it seems that their vocal chords are fundamentally different from mine. Whenever Angelo had left a bit of space on the sides of the scroll he had written down the few words which they had been able to translate so far. RR = rolling R sound (sigh an R over a floppy lip) PP = rolling P sound (unable to produce, double p instead) Brrehet - Leaf (possibly plant or food) Brrehette - Tree (possibly plant, or plural of Brrehet) Vaheera - Ground/earth/mud/dirt NOT grass Trrava - bunny/hare/animal (possibly a curse word, have to keep Empress away from Preha) PPrroh - Foreleg/forehoove or maybe hand/manipulator since it also seems to apply to my arms (sign of contact with other species?) PPrrah - Hindleg/hoove/feet (see above) Mit - Bag Gort - grain/ food might be a specific sort of grain Buturrtu - Ear Fialan - Teeth?Mouth? Their language is fast flowing more like the japanese or italian language, and so far I couldn’t get a grasp of syntax or grammar. Their bags and other equipment seem to indicate a pretty high form of civilizations, but so far I haven’t seen any plastics or other synthetic materials (may just be because there don’t exist any on this world, I have to remember that most of my chemical knowledge is probably useless). I hope I can convince them to take me along to their home sometimes during our next meetings… He lowered the feather, this time for good. With a smile he noticed the sleeping form of Empress rolled up against his thigh. It was hard to believe that the innocent face of the hare lying next to him was the same mischievous creature he spent his days with. With a groan he uprighted himself, careful not to disturb the sleeper, as his spine told him what it thought of spending a good part of the day hunched over a scroll. He grimaced as he was once again reminded of the state his body was in. Though he had adjusted relatively well, the harsh fight against nature had nonetheless been taxing. For a short moment he allowed himself to dream of all the necessities civilization would have to offer. Oh god, he could kill for a bath right now… “One thing after the other,” he said silently to himself. First he would have to earn Preha’s and IehIeh’s trust. And even if he could convince them to take him along, just a pair of bags and a bit of paper wasn’t enough to judge just what he could expect from their civilization. For all he knew the paper could be some kind of natural material; he hadn’t inspected the paper closer yet, and he felt hesitant about destroying part of what could be the only writing material he’d get anytime soon only to sate his curiosity. No, he just would have to wait and see… after all what could be worse that could happen?