For anybody else, even for those with exceptional hearing, his call would have gone unheard. Not for Grusha, it was as loud as a drum in her mind. It was not clear to her if it was because she had a special bond to him, or her senses were that supreme, but heard his call nonetheless she did.

Springing across the open field, she crossed miles in a blink of an eye. It was a mystery to her how she had not noticed Agatha’s escape earlier, she seemed to distort her existence somehow. Grusha was able to readjust the synapses in her mind and unveiled the distortions, revealing where Agatha stood.

There you are, you mischievous girl. Grusha thought.

Time slowed down and her mind began to go blank, a mental war was taking place inside of her. The world darkened and disappeared, desert earth transmogrified into an eternal black plane. Speckles of white dots floated around, congregating into one mass and creating a hideous three limbed beast. Her counterpart, Wildebeest. It was not able to form a complete body, only coalescing a part of her existence in this realm.

“Leave them.” Wildebeest demanded.

Grusha’s bared sharp teeth, angered over Wildebeest’s interference. Swiping an arm at the glowing apparition, it was not able to make contact with anything substantial. Specks of white dots spread far apart, but reunited into a form again.

“Why don’t you leave me?” Grusha growled.

“You think of me as the stubborn one? You’ve grown soft with no reason, all because of one man’s feeble attempts to demonstrate a so-called humanity. Who kept you warm in the harshest winters? Who gave you the strength to rise to the top? WHO MADE YOU INTO EVERYTHING YOU ARE?!” Wildebeest's voice roared louder between each word. “IT WAS I!”

The form loomed itself over Grusha, asserting its dominance over her. Grusha did not shy away in intimidation, and stood face to face at eye level with Wildebeest. They both snarled angrily at each other, fighting an entirely different form of war that divided them between each other.

Wildebeest continued. “I brought pain to those who brought you pain. You cannot trust all of humanity based on the act of one human, for every one like him, there are hundreds of thousands that wish you death. Earth is plagued.”

Grusha snarled. “I agree with you that earth is plagued. The natural order of the world is undermined by the parasitic humans, who fester from the filth of their own creation.” Pressing her forehead gently against Wildebeest's. “Demis are the natural alphas of the beast in the animal kingdom, yet humans placed themselves atop a flimsy pedestal that will crush under its own weight.”

“If you recognize the flaw in the system, you have the duty of rectifying it, as the apex of beasts that the world has birthed.”

“Bah!” Grusha whipped around, turning her back towards Wildebeest.

“You dare turn on me?” Wildebeest growled. “Listen, or die.”

Grusha walked on four limbs, sniffing the realm that she was in. Recognizing all the experiences she had in her lifetime, she could remember kicking in her mothers womb and the warmth of her voice. The day she was born was like yesterday, a bright light blinded her baby eyes. It would not be until nine years later that her rebirth would occur, her symptom from that rebirth was a self-induced coma that put her to sleep for two years. She could remember the daily tears of her mother by her bedside, praying for the return of her daughter. Grusha wanted more than anything to tell her she could hear her, but her body would not respond to her efforts.

Years went by and she was pronounced as dead when they could not detect a heartbeat, it was a traumatizing experience being dressed and prepared for burial. Then to be buried alive was the worst sensation.

“You hate me, you hate demis. We are not natural, but we are the natural apex.” Wildebeest said. “Our existence was not to coexist with humanity, we were placed here to eradicate humanity like a disease. And when that is accomplished, demis are to be eradicated to allow life to flourish once again.”

Grusha stayed silent, reminiscing the worst of memories she had. Years had gone before she finally gained control over her body, and when she did, she felt like drowning in an ocean of senses. Senses heightened ten times over; mold stang her nostrils, touch felt like needles prickling, and the blackest of nights were as clear as day.

“Yes. Remember. Recall that moment.” Wildebeest chuckled cruelly. “What was the first thing you saw upon your revival from the grave? Remember, that was why you hate being a demi.”

Exiting the grave, leaving a hole that caved the dirt in on itself, the first thing she saw was a graveyard. Next to her tiny grave was the dearest person she had, her mothers modest grave. The year engraving was the same as her own, it was later she learned that her mother had suicided not long after she was buried. The thought of living in a world without her precious daughter was unbearable, but fate had a twisted sense of humor, bringing back the lost child. Her mother was without her child in the realm of the living and of the dead.

Grusha shook her head side to side, trying to cast away these long buried memories. There was pain that stung deep, a hatred of demis, of herself.

That was the first time she went on a rampage, killing hundreds before she was captured and detained. But the misery did not end there, for years to come, humans have attempted inhumane manner of ending her life, only to fail every time. Grusha’s body adapted every time something new and deadly was tossed at her way, all the while, her instincts, Wildebeest, kept her safe and sound, helping her grow stronger each time.

Snapping back to the present, she pummeled her forehead onto the ground. A trickle of blood dripped from her crown, tainting the ground. The black plane absorbed the color and glistened a dark red, rippling from Grusha’s impact.

“Humans.” Grusha mumbled. “What makes demis any better than humans? I don’t know anymore. If it were because of our strength, then the strongest would always devour the weakest. The humans were here first, so they have the claim that it was their right first. Who of the two are in the wrong? Aren’t both sides of the argument the same side of the coin?”

Wildebeest grumbled. “If it were the same side of the coin, then we have to fight for the position of our side being victorious. Then the world could be reworked from the foundation on up, bringing way for new life.”

Raising her bleeding head from the ground, she twisted her head around. “What if there was a second we never considered?”

Wildebeest growled angrily. “A second coin? You speak of nonsense, there’s no such thing. We can only ever expect us versus them, the same dance, the same battle. No such thing as a second coin.”

“Yet, Aput showed us something different. He showed us compassion. Not tearing our pedestal down, or clawing himself up, but bringing us to the same level.”

“And how long would that compassion last? Are we just to show each other happy feelings and hope for the best? There will always be someone stronger and better, it is our job to bring about entropy, and reset the awry cycle that has been birthed. Death is inevitable, war cannot be halted, the world is a train going over the edge.”

“Precisely.” Grusha lowered her chin, narrowing beastly white eyes at Wildebeest. “War will always happen, the mighty will overthrow the mighty, and its wake a void is left behind. Perhaps our role is not the entropy of humanity and demis alike, perhaps it is something grander than we both had thought.”

Wildebeest stayed silently momentarily. “Go on.” She said tentatively.

“We are not fighting for the coexistence of humanity and demi, but rather, for the conservation of them.”

Wildebeest scoffed. “Bah! Skorto. Are the two not the same? Both would plague the earth.”

“Or protect it.”

A long pause.

“From what? Are we not the worst the world has produced? Or you mean to protect it from something otherworldly?”

Grusha shook her head. “I dare not venture in speculating something out of my realms of knowledge, but we always thought of us and humans as plague. What if we were brought here together for something grander? That suggests our existence is not unnatural, a cycle gone wrong, but rather a part of the natural order of the world.”

Wildebeest purred deeply, mumbling to herself out loud. Jaws opened wide as if to dispute the notion, but clamped shut. She lowered her chin, deep in thought. Lowering down to her four limbs, matching eye levels with Grusha.

“I am not convinced.” Wildebeest paused, tilting her head. “Strange, I never doubted before.”

“Have we reached a higher ground? A common idea we can share again?”

“Like I said. I am not convinced, but for the time being I am willing to venture further into this thought. You have my curiosity.”

The dark realm transformed, earth was replacing the sleep rippling red surfaces. Light was being restored, and the world Grusha had left behind was given back to her.

“Show me this vision of yours.” Wildebeest's voice ebbed in the background. “A world of a beast atop and revered.”