people looked their food in the eyes before killing, skinning, and cooking it. Anxiety ran through me a bit, worried that I would actually be able to do it. I wasn’t sure why I wanted to, but I wanted to impress Dracon and his people; I wanted to prove to them that I wasn’t like the other humans, and wanted to show appreciation of their culture. I didn’t know how other than to help where I could, and this seemed like a good way to do just that.
His large red hands guided my hands towards the top of the staff. Just below the holes where the lasers would come from, was a very small and unnoticeable switch. “Be careful with your hand positions, you don’t want to get burned by the lasers,” he whispered to me as he guided my thumb to pressed up on the switch before pushing my hands down the staff. With a flicker, two bows of blue light came from the top of the staff, the staff had a slight vibration while the lasers were on. “Can you hear it?” he whispered into my ear, his face lowered to where his lips brushed against the skin of my ear.
“Hear what?” I asked in a hushed tone. But just as the words left my mouth, just a few yards in the distance there was a rustling noise followed by a loud, whiny grunt. It sounded so strange, unlike any animal I had ever heard. “What is that?” I asked, looking up to him.
Dracon reached a hand down and turned my cheek back towards where the sound came from. “Don’t look at me, look at where the prey will be. It’s called a kawrun. It’s like a big…” he paused, trying to think of a word, “pig, I think you guys call it. But kawruns can be very aggressive when scared. That’s why you have to be quiet and surprise it. We’re going to sneak over there, and when we approach it, you swing the ax down and chop its neck.”
I swallowed the lump which had grown in my throat and gave a nod. So a wild, aggressive, alien pig was just a few yards away from me and my clumsy ass was meant to gracefully strike and kill it in one blow so that it didn’t attack me. That couldn’t end badly at all. Dracon nudged me from behind to walk forward. Taking a deep breath, I lightly began to trek forward. Each step was deliberate, placing my foot down as lightly as possible. The kawrun was behind a bush, sounding like it was eating something. I could feel my heart racing as we neared, my inner-self chanting ‘it’s going to be okay, it’s going to be okay, it’s going to be okay’. All I could think of though was how much I could mess up; I could just picture it. Freak out when I see it, close my eyes when I swung it and miss—possibly chopping one of mine of Dracon’s limbs off, and the kawrun charging at us and attacking us. I tried to soothe my woes by saying Dracon was there, and I was fairly certain he wouldn’t let anything like that happen; he would simply take over if it became that way.
We finally approached the bush and I peered over it with wide eyes. The kawrun was bigger than a pig, more like a boar. It had lavender skin with large black spots covering it. It had the body of a boar, but the face of… well, nothing like the livestock humans were used to. It had a protruding jaw with large pointed teeth, no nose but just large nostrils just above its upper lip, and small beady eyes. It also had small, rounded horns clustering on the top of its head and trailing down the spine of its back. The beast wasn’t paying any attention to them, its horrid mouth dug into the tall grass as it tried to eat at something. I stood there in marvel for a long few moments before I felt Dracon’s hand squeezing my hip—I suppose that was his signal to hurry up and strike.
I tried not to think about it, and tried to push the thought it was a living animal out of my mind. It was just a task that had to be complete, and his people did it all the time in order to survive. Slowly and silently, I stepped to the side towards where the kawrun was and began to pick the ax up to lift
His large red hands guided my hands towards the top of the staff. Just below the holes where the lasers would come from, was a very small and unnoticeable switch. “Be careful with your hand positions, you don’t want to get burned by the lasers,” he whispered to me as he guided my thumb to pressed up on the switch before pushing my hands down the staff. With a flicker, two bows of blue light came from the top of the staff, the staff had a slight vibration while the lasers were on. “Can you hear it?” he whispered into my ear, his face lowered to where his lips brushed against the skin of my ear.
“Hear what?” I asked in a hushed tone. But just as the words left my mouth, just a few yards in the distance there was a rustling noise followed by a loud, whiny grunt. It sounded so strange, unlike any animal I had ever heard. “What is that?” I asked, looking up to him.
Dracon reached a hand down and turned my cheek back towards where the sound came from. “Don’t look at me, look at where the prey will be. It’s called a kawrun. It’s like a big…” he paused, trying to think of a word, “pig, I think you guys call it. But kawruns can be very aggressive when scared. That’s why you have to be quiet and surprise it. We’re going to sneak over there, and when we approach it, you swing the ax down and chop its neck.”
I swallowed the lump which had grown in my throat and gave a nod. So a wild, aggressive, alien pig was just a few yards away from me and my clumsy ass was meant to gracefully strike and kill it in one blow so that it didn’t attack me. That couldn’t end badly at all. Dracon nudged me from behind to walk forward. Taking a deep breath, I lightly began to trek forward. Each step was deliberate, placing my foot down as lightly as possible. The kawrun was behind a bush, sounding like it was eating something. I could feel my heart racing as we neared, my inner-self chanting ‘it’s going to be okay, it’s going to be okay, it’s going to be okay’. All I could think of though was how much I could mess up; I could just picture it. Freak out when I see it, close my eyes when I swung it and miss—possibly chopping one of mine of Dracon’s limbs off, and the kawrun charging at us and attacking us. I tried to soothe my woes by saying Dracon was there, and I was fairly certain he wouldn’t let anything like that happen; he would simply take over if it became that way.
We finally approached the bush and I peered over it with wide eyes. The kawrun was bigger than a pig, more like a boar. It had lavender skin with large black spots covering it. It had the body of a boar, but the face of… well, nothing like the livestock humans were used to. It had a protruding jaw with large pointed teeth, no nose but just large nostrils just above its upper lip, and small beady eyes. It also had small, rounded horns clustering on the top of its head and trailing down the spine of its back. The beast wasn’t paying any attention to them, its horrid mouth dug into the tall grass as it tried to eat at something. I stood there in marvel for a long few moments before I felt Dracon’s hand squeezing my hip—I suppose that was his signal to hurry up and strike.
I tried not to think about it, and tried to push the thought it was a living animal out of my mind. It was just a task that had to be complete, and his people did it all the time in order to survive. Slowly and silently, I stepped to the side towards where the kawrun was and began to pick the ax up to lift
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