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Glendil, from what she could tell by his chest moving, was alive but paralysed, as if he’d been envenomed. He bled from the puncture wounds in his shoulder.

D-Duskwalkers are considered intelligent... right?One could even bargain for a bride by offering a protection ward.T-that means they can talk, and not kill humans if they choose it.

She winced and then recoiled at the sound of skin tearing and bones cracking, but shuddered in another breath. She let it out, and calmed her heart rate along with it, utilising a skill she hated to suppress her fear. She peeked open a singular eye.

It’s not attacking me?She warily watched it, refusing to move or make a single noise in case she caught its attention. Cringing, she watched Randy’s bag slip from his limbless body and crash against the ground when the Duskwalker split open its maw to swallow that too.

Once more, she thought,It’s not attacking me.Her fear ebbed as hope bled into her veins.Did it hear me scream? Did it... protect me?She wanted to believe that was true. It was better than the alternative: that Linh had accidentally led a four-course meal to it, with her being the dessert.

Glendil, still alive but unmoving, was disposed of quickly.

For a long while, it moved its blunt snout towards the three pools of blood, its clawed hands opening and closing. With its tail coiled up underneath it, and its back to her, it just sat there,searching.

Then it quaked while crossing its arms over its torso. It dug its own claws into its shoulder blades, and sunk into itself, coiling its meaty tail over its torso. The Duskwalker continued to shiver and shudder as it wrapped itself into a ball.

Purple blood glistened against its scales, pouring from it in rivulets, and it hissed at nothing, only to whimper moments later.

When nothing seemed to give it what it wanted, it leapt out of its coil and slithered to the water’s edge. With orbs white, it dipped a hand into the pond’s surface, only to yelp and back up.

Something is wrong with it.

Either it didn’t know she was there, or her existence had been forgotten amidst all the blood. Maybe it didn’t care, like she was too small to be good prey. Less than a foot away, it was so close to her that she could have kicked her leg out and bashed at the base of its tail.

Should she move? She darted her foot away when the tip of its serpent tail brushed over the top of her ankle.

Snapping in her direction, the Duskwalker’s skull loomed over her. One moment white, the next red, its orbs flickered between the two as it took her in. It towered ever closer, dauntingly blocking out the last of the sun.

Oh gods!She sprung to her feet when it looked like it was about to lunge and barely made it a step before she was tackled.

Her scream was instantly muffled by a writhing limb curling around her. Linh expected to be eaten. Instead, soft scales brushed over her as she was swallowed up by its body.

The quaking from earlier was far more intense now that she was in the middle of it. She felt it in the way muscles contracted,pulling and releasing in pulses. The Duskwalker tightened around her, but she never felt its head near her – not the puff of breath or the hardness of bone. Just a dense body trying its absolute hardest to envelop her.

Unable to help it, the constriction sent her heart racing. She struggled to breathe, unsure if that was due to her terror or her air being blocked.

A growl reverberated from the Duskwalker, seeming to travel down each of its protruding vertebrae to vibrate her. It squashed her until the pressure was constricting and painful.

“I can’t breathe,”she choked out, unsure if it would care.

The tighter the pressure surrounding her from everywhere became, the less afraid she was. Gulping uselessly for air, her heart began to slow. It was squeezing her to death, and each decompress of her chest as she gasped for life only worsened it.

I’m going to die.

Cold,Nathair whimpered, tightening around the only heat source available.So cold.

His warmth continued to bleed from his many wounds, hindering his ability to think clearly. Despite the rage that still simmered beneath the surface, lingering in the back of his consciousness, his pain and the shivers that invaded underneath his scales were too prevalent.

He didn’t even move or uncoil himself from the living heat source he’d tucked within the folds of his tail. Even when night fell and Demons came to inspect the area, he continued to shiver around it.

The fear scent from within him had long ago subsided. He gave his prey just enough room to breathe after forcing her into unconsciousness, refusing to let her die simply for his own benefit.

With orbs white, hating how the air felt colder than usual rushing over his scales, he opened a coil just enough to check on a Demon with one orb. They ignored his presence as they licked the ground for human blood and entrails.

Nathair’s own scent hid the woman within him, so they left him be. He was thankful for that, as his wounds were already rather debilitating. He didn’t wish for another battle.

As much as he would have preferred to sink within his deep pond, shifting from breathing upon land to underwater came with many changes.

There would be a few seconds where his body had to adjust to the morph of breathing water, requiring a transformation into what most Mavka would consider their monstrous form. A physical change occurred, one that allowed him to adjust to the temperature of the water in some way. However, that first dive... if the liquid was too cold, it’d feel like blades against his flesh.