Chapter Eight

"Okay. You go ahead now. Please hurry, though. That Beowulve has been describing what he's going to make my spine look like for the last half hour." The EXTREMELY talkative, bored, and uncaring Uniscen guard blocking Yen-jur's way forward raised his hand to the glass on the desk, covering his beak as if he was trying to guard his words from the glass between them.

Even though that, just like the man himself, it made no sense. The only people that were in the building were him, the exponentially-growing-stressed Yen-jur and the Beowulve about to break free, after all. "And between you and me, junari... I don't think he knows what a spine ACTUALLY is." He nodded as he leaned back in his rickety chair, completely satisfied and confident with himself and his hypothesis. "I should know what I'm talking about here."

Yen-jur only nodded politely in return, though her face was the complete opposite. Not that this THING would notice! Her eyes flapped in disbelief, and her scowl was that of confused anger at his ego. By the Protectun, it's NO WONDER that he's the only one here to make sure the gate remains closed: I might as well let Buuth break out. How could somebody's ego be this BIG?!

That wasn't an understatement, though Yen-jur sincerely wished that was the case. The chains sounded like they were reaching their breaking point for the last five minutes; all the while, the blissfully unaware guard kept the fidgeting Yen-jur captive with his mindless blabbering. Doesn't he know who he's guarding?!

She managed to keep her voice calm and polite, but her slow drawl spoke volumes. Her right eye was twitching like a madman's, something she was sure just moments ago was completely impossible with her Uniscen biology. "THANK YOU."

Yen-jur's tone must've finally clued the oblivious guard, however, as his back straightened slightly, almost like he was offended by the fact that HIS conversation came to an end. With a huff, he slumped in his chair as he finally finished up the sequence to open up the bulkhead protecting him from the stairway leading to Buuth's cell. Through years of practice and 'training,' Yen-jur was able to resist her emotions which told her to throw her head and cheer that she could finally escape such an egotistical conversation.

So instead, her body shook out a loud, relieved sigh, much to the dismay of the grumbling guard that dared to think she was ACTUALLY listening to him talk about his boring life here. "Here you go then, junari..." Normally, a small part of Yen-jur would bristle hearing that last word. But Yen-jur didn't hear the slur being spoken against her as she sped past the disgruntled guard towards the foreboding and cold stairs. "H-hey! Stop, I didn't tell you about-..!"

The fact that she rudely ignored a Uniscen above her on the social ladder didn't even set in until she found herself halfway down the large, wooden staircase that creaked in distress even under her very own minuscule weight. As she focused on the greater problem looming over the entire camp, she literally had no time at all to be paralyzed by the fear that would normally appear in one such as her. In fact, while that would've paralyzed ĥer and any other servant into becoming like a silent statue normally...

Whenever Buuth was involved, she actually felt invigorated by it. That petrifying act became nothing more but a way for her body to heat up in a way she simply could not explain. Why is that? What in the name of the Protectun gets into me when I'm in here?! Oooooh, I really should go back and apologize to him! And yet, I... I... Yen-jur could only look down at her legs standing still, for before she could've made the decision to turn back, she already was where she was truly needed. Her ears flapped about as her eyes turned back upwards, her nerves which were once all over the place, finally condensing back into one nervous mass.

The moment of rebellious exhilaration had passed. Now, Yen-jur only stared down the hallway, which seemed to quake with every distance grunt and tug of the chain. O-oh, r-right... The moment she was once in felt more like a floating dream than reality. But as her confident posture faded away, being replaced by her meagre self once more, Yen-jur felt the dreadful anchor of reality pull her back down once more. I-I guess I should get this over with...

"Grrrraahh! BRIM TAKI ET STALE!"

She flinched as Buuth boomed his unknown language once more. But what made her ears perk up in fear the most was Buuth's victorious grumble when, with the loudest scream of metal yet, she heard a chain come undone. "Oh, no!" She barely heard her own whisper over Buuth mumbling something to himself before rekindling the efforts to break free with more vigour than before. A-at this pace-! She wasn't even able to finish this thought before she covered her sensitive ears from yet another shriek coming from another busted chain.

There was no longer anytime to stand still. The only action, something Yen-jur was sure there was going to be a lot of if she diddled around any longer, was to fight.

In her case, it was mostly a symbolic fight, though she would be lying to herself and her Protectun if she didn't admit it took all she had to fight the urge to run away like so many others before had. Because in a one-on-one fight, Buuth hasn't lost ONCE...

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It didn't take long for Yen-jur's fate to arrive. In other words, she was about to enter the lair of the beast responsible for so much discomfort, fear... even death. It's the only way to describe HIM anyways. I mean, just because he hasn't killed me yet doesn't mean that today's not the day! Gulping down, she knew exactly where she stood: the last boundary before she entered a place between life and death. Her heart was racing, and her ears were all but plastered against her head, the fear she managed to be get rid of coming back tenfold. I've got a good feeling which of those it is today, t-too...

The booming deep accent of the nearby Beowulve continued, his grunts of effort becoming just slightly weaker as the toll of escape was just beginning to weigh on him.

Just beginning being the keyword. It was obvious when Yen-jur felt his large mass moving upwards about to break free that if there was ANY time to act, it HAD to be now. He's slightly tired! Everybody listens when they're tired, right? Right?! Though the logic wasn't sound or, in fact, logical, in the slightest, it was enough for her to step around the corner silently like someone trying to sneak past a hungry lion. Here goes NOTHING!

"B-Buuth Ge..?" She felt a buzzing in her neck, reminded of the metal, plate-like translator in her neck that was expertly put in not so long ago when the Minister realized what a boon they had in their possession.

The alien was just about to give the last tug needed to break from when suddenly, his grumbling ceased, the chains finally being given a break after what felt like hours of being ripped from their hinges. As Yen-jur turned the corner, she soon found enough courage to look up from intertwined, trembling hands.

From there, she saw two things, both making her feel in ways she never wanted to feel again. First was the room she had entered. While the stairway was a low budget with its wooden ledges creaked from the lack of repairs, it was still serviceable. But from the stone walls that leak... something down its cracked walls, she somehow felt colder down here than she did out in the wind.

Testament to the food and water shortage the entire camp was suffering from while the delayed supplies made their way from the capital, even the pests running back out from the darkness were bare bones. Seems like even the vermin around here know that it's better to starve than eat whatever SLOP they give the slaves... It seemed Buuth did as well, considering the faint outlines of frozen food splatters here and there.

She had to grimace when she felt a sharp breeze stab her cheek. Shivering slightly, she found out just why it was so unbearably cold down there and gasped in horrified shock. They left a window open? Well, if you could even call it THAT. She looked down in pity as her fists slightly clenched in a fury. Even the other slaves don't have conditions like this. She looked towards the only light in the room, which was simply a rectangular cut in the roof with two rebars blocking large hands from reaching out. It shone down in a few cold rays that only served to make the cold medieval cell seem just that much colder despite being from the bright morning sun. It's no wonder he wants out so badly.

It was because she followed the rays down to the cold stone, barren of the bare minimum of cushioning which even the other slaves had, that she finally saw the other visage waiting to be seen. It nearly took her heart out then and there.

From the darkness, four growing slits, sky-blue in colour and not that far apart from one another, seemed to hover in the dark silence. They belonged to a behemoth that stood nearly a full small torso over Yen-jur, reminding her that this wasn't even his full height due to the hundred smaller chains holding down his four legs. And from how they titled downwards, a sense of growing petrification grew in Yen-jur as she knew full well that could only mean one thing: IMMENSE displeasure. Oh, Protectun: give me strength..!

Her curved shins trembled against each other, but as if simply being in the presence of such a proud being, she found more strength to keep her going. "B-B-Buuth Ge, it-it's me, Y-Y-Yen-jur! Y-y-your f--f-f-friend? Remember?" Buuth Ge only scoffed bitterly at that, though when she spoke, she nearly fainted from the relief washing over her as the titled eyes flattened back out. Instead of being in the style of a typical frown, one row sat above each other as the two sections ran parallel to one another. Okay, we're getting there...

She was shocked back to reality when her legs trembled at the bass when his deep, accented tone quietly reverberating out from the dark. "Yen. Hmm..."

Yen-jur's ears flapped alongside her enthusiastic nod, being desperate to appeal as much as she could to the disgruntled Beowulve. "Y-yes! Yen! W-we can go with that!" And to be honest, it is quite nice to not be called 'jur' for once... Her ears went sharp as her nerves were starting to get the best of her the longer she attempted to stave off the necessity of bringing up why she was actually there.

But when she heard chains going from slack to tighten once more, she knew that she couldn't hide from him any longer. "W-wait, don't!" She took a few steps forward, her hand outstretched in alarm. But that wasn't what made all the blood rush from her head and down to her now-heavy stomach. I... shouldn't have said thaaaaaaat, oh my..!

It was Buuth's growl that did the trick of sucking all the breath out of her chest. Halting immediately to not take even a single chance of angering him any further, she simply became a statue. His dark, from-the-chest rumble shook her very bones and not even a second later, she heard the multitude of chains around where his four legs would be snap at once. As if his eyes weren't already towering over her, he gained a full extra foot as he broke free from more of his restraints.

If it weren't for the fact that she may have just invited the angry alien to smush her flat like all the others after they gave such similar requests, she would've stared at him in total awe like she had done with the Hidrig. But while that levithan stared at her-- from a safe distance no less-- here was not the case. "'Don't?' Don't... what, hmm..? Don't do this?" The tension in her body was growing exponentially as he tugged sharply on the chain that he was about to break free from before.

Yen saw a simplistic, thick black, chitinous fist holding the dented steel chain in the air from the hole in the roof. Sharp, thick ridges, blacker than the dark he was trapped in, absorbed all the light that revealed his main means of destruction. Yen's breath got caught in her mouth as memories of his previous escape flashed violently in her head. It took an entire security force to capture him again, and that was AFTER their ambushes slowed him down! He nearly got Gref-fin, too...

Even as traumatic memories took over her brain, she could only marvel that even after a solid few months in conditions like this, it seemed the rugged, armoured exterior of the Beowulve hadn't lost a single bit of its gleam. Whatever the case, it wasn't nearly as impressive as how bulky the malnourished Beowulve managed to stay. The way he looked that morning: standing covered in our blood, all there for the world to see the results of his furious prime. I don't think I would ever be able to forget it... But another thing he didn't lose was his sense of animosity as he simply tossed the chain right at her feet in ominous silence.

Yen's beak cracked open slightly as her breath quickened, as from her previous experiences, all that was holding him back from the slaughter that would come with his freedom was a single Uniscen-brand steel bracelet.

Oh. No, no, no! This isn't good, not one bit! Her mouth felt extremely dry, and it was nothing short of a miracle that she even managed to open it back up. "I-I-I-I-I-I d-didn't mean it-it like that, B-Buuth Ge! I couldn't care what you do! But I need to tell you that i-if you don't stop, then the others will have to-!" Her expression was one of confusion as she heard a faint thumping deep in the dark.

She desperately wished the void in front of her would reveal the predator lurking within; that alone would've made this situation so much more bearable for her. But so far, the only thing I've seen is the thing he could KILL me with! "Buuth Ge? W-what are you doing..?"

As she squeaked out that, the faint thumping decreased in volume until the damnable silence returned. Yen nearly fell back onto her knees when she noticed that the slits had narrowed down to mere cracks in the dark that warned her only one thing: 'watch your next words.'

Yen heard him shuffle in his spot before the slits lowered themselves down to her level for the first time. Everything he does is with such... fluidity! Like he's the one in control... Looking down at the chain once more before meeting his gaze again, afraid of offending him again, she gulped. Maybe not that wrong either. "They'll have to defeat me again, yes?" He made some guttural thumping sound again before his very own metal plate translator said the one thing she was scared of him saying the most. "Hmm mm... So be it."

Yen scrambled to her feet, stammering, feeling safe enough to move again when she noticed Buuth's eyes peeled away from petrifying her and towards what was most definitely the remaining chains holding him down. No, no, no! What has gotten into him today?! Crap, crap, crap, crap! "No! I-it's not like that now, Buuth Ge! B-Buuth Ge?!"

She noticed that while he was at least not staring daggers at her anymore, he wasn't paying attention to her... AT ALL. He's ignoring me like I'm some sort of dung fly! That sort of ignorance was something she was used to, and as a servant, it was practically expected for everything and everyone to ignore them. Her dull talons curled into each other as she tried stealing her hidden pride back from wherever it had gone. But I'm not just a servant now; I'm a messenger! And I can't let this message be unheard!

While that previous guard up the stairs may have been the most painful soul to talk to, through the insane ramblings of a bored narcissist, he did hold dreadful news for the both of them... in a way. Not so long ago, right after his last one-man crusade, our engineers were apparently instructed in making sure that carnage NEVER happened again. On to that, they didn't have to work very hard, but they had to work FAST.

Yen's recollections sped up when she saw that Buuth and his slitted blue eyes were straining again, his gaze directed at where she was sure his arm was hidden in the dark. He was unconscious while they did it, so he didn't feel them put something in his translator. But there's no way they actually put a kill-switch in, right?

Just then, that 'something' caught her distressed eyes in the dark: a single red dot flashing silently a few inches away from the eyes of the unaware Buuth. By the Protectun, they did! Are they even sure about this; it might just annoy him! We know he's a mollusk of sorts, so shocking him would LOGICALLY do the most damage, but-! "Ah?!"

Yen's thoughts were intruded by the abrasive sound of a tough chain shattering into little pieces once again. She saw bits of the chainlink fall at her boots. Unable to contain her awe and surprise, she gasped in wonder. H-he's beyond logic! Whatever his alien expression of his eyes going into the shape of an arrow meant, it did not matter as his quiet grumbles of satisfaction sounded universal.

Though to Yen, it may have been the complete opposite. For not only was she stuck in the same room as the freed abnormality, but this may have been his last day alive as well. If he decides to spare me again for some reason, he won't even make it down the path before it activates! And when he's gone, that means I'll have to go back to what I was before: nothing more than a fancily dressed slave!

For the first time, Yen then felt something she had not once experienced before. A resolve to defy not only her fate but her fears as well. For some odd reason, she considered that someone else far, far away might've felt the same way...

That was not to say she felt brave, though. In fact, there was still a large cowardly part of herself that wanted nothing more than curl up and hope Buuth didn't step on her on his way out. Thankfully, as she took a step forward despite all the odds against her, she would not listen to that pathetic voice today. "Buuth Ge, please, you have to stop! You act and fight like an animal any more! Ever since you broke out, yo-you've been scaring-GARGH?!"

Whatever bravado she had was not only melted but SCORCHED away when she felt the flames of pain wrap around her neck. Almost like the void itself came to life to claim her soul, a single hand from Buuth erupted forth. S-so fast! Her breath got caught in his ever-tightening, painful grip as Buuth lifted her up effortlessly to his natural eyesight. "Scaring you? Heh. What doesn't?"

Her mind was taken as badly off guard as her body was. Because of both the shock and the pain, her life FLEW by her very eyes. Her birth in the low-end corner of the capital, her brief innocent childhood, and the subsequent kidnapping took that away. It was then that she became a whole person... by becoming less than a person: a servant, and nothing more. Gah, that word! It... GODS, it makes me SICK! A decade-and-a-half flew by without warning, the years going by so fast, TOO fast, for all she practically did was the same thing, over and over again: serve, serve, serve. But it was never for me, but for others! I never served myself... I never served myself! Oh, Gods, I never served MYSELF!

Buuth's eyes were never as thin as they were now, not even when he was fighting off ten guards at once, which made Yen feel her anxiety grow tenfold, threatening to empty her bowels. "And... animal? I am BEOWULVE: not animal, but Vri'mal's WARRIOR!" Yen's eyes bulged enough that there was even a little white revealed at the edge of the black orbs. By the-! D-damn it! No, no, no, no! This... Not yet; not like this! It can't be ending like THIS, can it?! But but but, there's still so much I-I-I-I-I- NO! Stop!

Yen wheezed, though she was bringing back to reality as her legs started instinctually kicking on their own. Her heart was pumping as she pathetically tried peeling his four bulky, armoured fingers away from crushing her windpipe. She failed every time her fragile, dull fingers finally managed to get a hold around the sharp edges leading up. "P-p-please STAHP, Buuth!"

He would not.

His arm simply remained still where it was. Yen's breath was strained, but not to the point where she could not get the occasional shallow breath in. "Y--you don't underSTAND! You are scaring THEM! Yo-GACK!"

When she said that, his thumb finally pushed enough that her struggling legs remained still. Thankfully, it seemed the guard back there was wrong, for her windpipe was just a weak squeeze from the point of no return; her spine remained unharmed, though Yen knew that if Buuth wanted, it could easily be turned into dust. "Understand this: I could not care! Being captured, rotting here... To accept dying here..."

For a brief second, his grip loosened, giving Yen time to get in a much-needed breath. And what she saw and heard was enough to steal it back away. Buuth... Buuth's voice was almost like a weak drum in a hurricane of despair, oddly calming Yen down enough for her breath to even out again. "Would be COWARDICE! I must, no, I CAN'T die... HERE."

Though most of the Uniscen body language was made with their ears, Yen found herself, from time to time, engrossed in the beautiful, sorrowful expressions of the alien slaves around her. And though they all had a different expression for relief and happiness-- some snarl while others open their mouths wide-- their grief seemed to all look the same to her.

And that was exactly what she saw in the scared Beowulve's eyes. As he broke eye contact to look at the floor for once, they were equal measures wide as they were small. It gave his eyes the appearance of not a strong warrior... but a fragile, scared child who didn't know why his world was flipped upside down. In Yen's eyes, that split second of vulnerability soothed most of her nerves, as it both reminded her of her face as well as the first time she saw Buuth's. When I first saw you struggling against the full battalion dragging your limp body to where you are now. Buuth? I... didn't know you actually-!

But as quickly as it came, his vulnerability was replaced by a look of pure, unadulterated resolve sparking into a furious inferno in his eyes, warning her that the deadliest warrior ever captured in Uniscen history had replaced the kindred, scared soul. "To battle is all Vri'mal asks! This too, is what I desire. And so..!"

The weak thumping in his heart exploded with such intensity that Yen felt it travel into her very own body through his own armour. She gasped one last time as his second bulky, four-fingered hand came up to wrap around her head. At the same time, though the terror she felt seeing death in Buuth's made it hard to concentrate on anything but trying to futilely wriggle herself free, she felt two extremely small, skeletal and flexible hands wrap around her legs.

If his main arms were tree trunks, then the extremely dexterous, chitinous fingers will like bendy twigs.

Escape had just become impossible. Yen knew that deep, deep down. So there really was to do what she came here to do. And it was only because of him letting slip a small, even TINY piece of his culture and soul that she now knew calming him down here on in would be virtually impossible now. And it was only because he did that did she know that she still had a smidgen of hope making it to see the next day. Think, Yen! No... SPEAK! SPEAK!

Yen's twitching fingers wrapped around Buuth's fingers, and her voice tranquillized his desire, both of those with a tenderness that seemed to surprise even the seasoned warrior about to turn her to paste. "B-Buuth... I-if you leave here, you'll-you'll... you'll DIE."

She was just beginning to wince in pain as Buuth started to squeeze when she managed to slip that last part out. His eyes never switched back to that frightened children she saw not so long ago, but she did see that she did have an effect on him. His confusion caused him to bring her closer, nearly face to face with his disgruntled expression. "That is fine..."

Yen, with her one eye, which was still uncovered from a mighty thumb about to press in, stared deep into his eyes with fear for not only herself but for him as well. Thankfully, his grip around her neck loosened enough that, while still unable to comfortably breathe, she was able to focus. "No, Buuth, you'll die here. Right now..."

From the void, much to her shock, it was not her breath that quickened... but Buuth's. She heard his armour shift and turn in the dark before she heard his breath leave his body, a characteristic she found EXTREMELY interesting in the Beowulve race. "What?!" He brought Yen closer now, his diagonal column-like eyes starting to become sharper than any household Uniscen knife she had seen in her life. "Tricks and lies; your people are fiends." She felt the grip on the two skeletal arms holding her legs still tighten painfully, though he refrained from crushing her.

That did not mean she could not feel his overwhelming strength, barely being held back from ending her miserable life as he seemed to be awaiting an answer.

If Uniscens could sweat, her clothing would be completely drenched. But as she dangled there, for the first time in her life... she knew exactly what to do.

That didn't change the fact that her eyes were starting to roll back into her head, heart ready to burst. "I'm n-not! That plate in your neck, have you NOT noticed that red light yet?!"

Snarling in a way only a tricked warrior could, one set of the two slits peeled off towards the plate while another glared at her. And lo and behold, there it still was, blinking onto the wall that was close by. She actually felt Buuth jump slightly when he saw that, making her crumpled ears wriggle in confusion underneath his wide hand. Wait... Did he actually not notice?! H-how is that, no, how did he not..? Whaaat..? But he outsmarted our tacticians numerous times! No, there's no way. "Hrmmm... What about it?"

Yen panted heavily as she swallowed the bile coming up her throat. "I-in there, when we finally captured you again, is a device: ready to pump you full of electricity! W-we know that you seem to be a mollusk of sorts underneath that ar-Gerk!"

His grip suddenly silenced her as he brought her forward. "Your people's words... They make no sense! Long but USELESS! Speak CLEAR! Unigrag, freculni tenebra! Frotomu!" Hearing the bizarre, untranslatable language from across the camp was one thing, but being close enough to feel not only her bones but her soul as well being rattled by the words was an experience she didn't know was possible. It's odd. His speech normally sounds like fleshy drums beating one another inside his body, but when he speaks like that... It's like my EARS aren't hearing it but rather my SOUL!

But while the words held no meaning that she could understand, his tone was easy to hear: he was PISSED. Her hands came up to her throat and, much to her surprise, was able to peel the main finger holding her windpipe hostage off. Shit, simple terms, simple terms! I completely forgot they took him from a rural world. His people probably haven't scientifically classified themselves yet, let alone develop major advancements in technology! And from him talking about this... Vri'mal, he most likely believes in a pantheon of heretical gods. If Vri'mal sounds like a god of murder... then there HAS to be one for each of the elements! And that means... "L-lightning! We trapped lightning in your body! And if you break out from this cell after killing me, your insides... You'll be cooked from the inside-out! Is that a death this Vri'mal would like to see-EEH?!"

He didn't even wait for her to stop talking before he growled under his breath, muttering to himself in that mysterious, oddly horrifying language of his. The way his eyes darted to her, to the plate, then back to himself made her apprehension worse by the second. He seemed to be debating the validity of her claim, and considering how quiet he was again, it appeared that her words struck deep. How it makes my scales CRAWL! Doesn't help that he's also about to kill me too! Unless... did it work; did I convince him? She waited for an answer before Buuth, after trying to understand what she meant, pulled her back. "Lies... Only Kigstad can do that! Not even Vri'mal has that power, let alone you Unigrags! You are less than Beowulve BABIES! You all talk only lies!" He pulled her in so close that if it weren't for the black wall between her and his blue eyes, they would've been touching each other. "Your corpses should feed these pests."

Yen's eyes went wide with fear as his resolve was beginning to return from the brief moment of hesitation she planted in him. But there has to be even a little bit of it still left in him, right?! As Yen looked deep, her hopes were confirmed; even as Buuth's grip was tightening, his eyes darted back and forth between her and the plate at speeds only her heightened senses could notice. The adrenaline in her heart reached an all-time high as she attempted to gulp down the last of her willpower. That's-That's all I need! If this doesn't work..!

Her eyes glazed over for a moment as the dreadful realization she was about to play heads-or-tails with her life hit her like a freight train. Then at least I died something more than a plain servant... Her eyes sparkled with an energy, a cold one, that she couldn't even comprehend at that moment. It passed by before she could even be aware of its existence. But it was all she needed to find it within herself to squeeze out one last thing before Buuth, deciding her time was to come, finally choked her into silence.

"Do you REALLY want to take that chance..?"

She closed her teary eyes after that, her body already convulsing uncountably as the ability to breathe was robbed the further her throat was pushed in on itself. Buuth held her there for a moment as her hands unconsciously started slapping his arms in a pathetic attempt to make him drop her. I-it hurts! S-s-shit, shit, no no no! Please work, please work! Buuth..! P-please..! Her thoughts were simply too concentrated on the agony she was suffering both mentally and physically to notice that Buuth was staring intensely at her.

Her beak, acting on its own now as her thoughts were fading into the surprisingly warm embrace of unconsciousness, opened up in a faint rasp that sounded more like a dying gust of wind than anything else. "Please..." Yen wasn't even aware her body had said that as she was slowly but surely becoming a limp ragdoll, her legs and hands already at her side. It... didn't work... So this really is it, then..? It all led... to this..? I... I...

"I... can't...here."

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Buuth Ge's eyes were already in an attentive state when she first spoke, surprised by the confidence in her usually timid tone. And though Buuth Ge did hold sympathy for her, as he understood what it was like to wish for something that simply could not happen, he did not care as he was Beowulve: they do not change their minds. But with that final statement, he was glad her eyes were still shut closed as they leaked out the tears garnered through a lifetime of sorrow. His eyes exploded wide, the set of parallel columns growing so wide that they nearly become one entity. Even now, YOU deny death?

Buuth Ge chuckled his alien chuckle, a singular strike of the organs inside him that allowed him to do so. Like Beowulve... You ARE changed! How is it so, Unigrag..? Though he was impressed immensely by her, he could not let her know that. You Unigrags are odd beings: many are weaker than babies, and you are no different. And yet you still..? "Bah!"

Without an ounce of grace or kindness, he dropped her down. He watched as her eyes were already beginning to flutter open again. He huffed as he back up into the shadows once more, carefully appraising her and what she was going to happen next. Will you stay Beowulve? Does the Will of Vri'mal live in even Unigrags? Buuth Ge's eyes observed her body as it swayed. The whole world was slowing down.

Though Buuth Ge himself did not feel it, and Yen couldn't even perceive it, the tension in the room was so thick that not even a Beowulve could punch through it. It was clear what happened next held the world's fate. And considering what Buuth Ge had in mind for it before Yen's intervention, maybe it actually did. Or were you simply another trick of Chen'mal?

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Thankfully, her legs were rigid enough from the shock that she suffered. Her body was upright for a moment, wobbling slightly like a noodle in the wind. But soon, that would be all the unconscious Yen would feel as she fell face forward: wind. The wind invading her limp beak flooded her lungs instantly, and due to it, a headache of such magnitude immediately ripped her from the relief of nothingness. Her gasp was of shock, confusion, pain, and most importantly, relief. "AAAAAH!"

Her eyes spurted open, but she had to immediately shut them again because the light from above seemed ten times brighter than what she remembered it being. In fact, she was so blinded that she almost didn't react fast enough to the fast approaching ground. "Gah!" Catching herself just in time, her one free hand started to massage her neck as her wheezes and gasps racked her body. What?! Where am I-!

I...

I'm alive?!

Instead of waking up in the Paradise promised to her race by the Almighty Protectun, she could only look around the dank, cold cell in pain as her head and throat were ravaged by the aftershock of getting nearly choked to death. "I-im-impossible!" Her words were nearly as dry as her mouth was, but even so, she managed to get it out. This can't be real. I-I was... dead, wasn't I?! But I...

Yen had to choke down a sense of dread as the more she returned to the reality she was the most familiar with, the more Yen remembered how much she didn't remember. I didn't see... ANYTHING! I remember feeling... relieved and yet... I see nothing. She brought her hand, once tenderly rubbing her choked throat to her eyesight, the edges of her vision starting to blur with sadness. And instead, I'm back... on this planet, in this cell. Wait... I'm still in this cell!

"Tch!" With a fluid motion that seemed oddly familiar, both she and Buuth Ge were taken off guard for a moment as she pushed away from where she used both her arms and legs to push away in an odd defensive retreat. The boost lasted only a moment, but it was all she needed to end up on the other side of the room, far away from the grasp of Buuth Ge. "Wha-what... was that?" Her feet, after pushing away as hard as they did right after her reawakening, collapsed underneath of her as the momentary power surge disappeared in the cloud of her own confusion. "Woah!"

Despite being on her knees now, she couldn't help but feel both baffled and amazed by the power she just unleashed. How... did I do that? Where did that come from? She couldn't think for long as Buuth's alien drumming made her look up equal measures, afraid as she was angry. He nearly... killed me! That... That..!

She KNEW she had every right to be furious with him. He is the man that nearly killed me, after all! So why is it that... The most disturbing thing about all of this was that while Yen was scowling, rightfully so, at the Beowulve slowly and methodically crouching down to her level in the dark, Yen noticed she wasn't REALLY feeling something she knew she should be. I can't really stay angry at you?

"You have changed, Yen. Just now, you did not look the coward I know you as." He spoke slowly, almost like he couldn't understand the emotions and thoughts he was having himself. "Still very weak in body, yes. Beowulve babies are stronger than many you Unigrags together. Many cold moons and painful days passed, and you were so very weak in mind, too."

He seemed to wriggle in place, scaring Yen right out of where she sat as a puff of dust exploded underneath him sitting down. He went quiet for a moment, almost like he was contemplating something. Yen's breath hitched when Buuth leaned forward out of the darkness. It was there she saw not just the eyes being illuminated but his face as well.

The top of his head, just like the rest of his body, was as black as the void he hid in. It was circular with a wide circumference, though it was not bulging out: it served its purpose as a guardian of his precious head and nothing more. That meant that other than the impressive glamour of the alien sun reflecting off of it, it had not an ounce of extravagance to it.

To warriors like the Beowulve, anything that might get caught in the heat of battle was a privilege their race could not afford evolving on their harsh world. That wasn't to say that Yen could not appreciate the sight of the heavily armoured feature of the Beowulve. It... fits, oddly enough. Perfectly strange, just like its owner. It was almost like he was wearing a wide-brimmed, straw hat to hide his actual face, and maybe that was the best way to describe it.

Speaking of his face, Yen had all but forgotten how bizarre she found it compared to the rest of the Beowulve's body. Like a stem belonging to a flat top mushroom, it was a deep contrast to both his wide, circular head and rough, sharp, and extremely bulky arms, for it was relatively small compared to the rest of his immeasurable bulk. Buuth had little neck between his face and shoulders, meaning that he was still very well protected like a tank. His face was extremely concave, oval-shaped and notably gaunt.

It was narrow in appearance, though that was not to say it was fragile. Where Yen typically thought mouths would be, all there was on his face was thick plating that wound over each other like a fleshy plate mail. I still remember the time that sledgehammer broke off his face. He didn't even flinch!

His cheeks, or at least what she thought were the mollusks cheeks, were sunken in underneath the face mask of his, giving his face the grim appearance of an ancient knight who had seen many a battle. The deeper she looked at his outer shell and the deep scaring it suffered even after healing itself like a nail comes back, the more obvious that became.

But there was nothing more breathtaking and ominous than when she finally looked back into his eyes. She found it amazing that the equivalent of a mask, an emotionless shell meant for sole protection, could still intrigue her this much. But she knew for sure that not even a single story behind each dent and scratches held against the stories his eyes kept secure. Not for even a moment.

His eyes seemed to be sunken in holes, but upon closer inspection, Yen, for the first time since meeting him, realized just why his eyes glowed so well in the darkness. His real body, his real face... It's all behind this cover! He really is like a mollusk: hiding behind something... impenetrable!

And that is what she saw. Buuth's sky-blue eyes just barely revealed a grey mass fluctuating around them, the fleshy and slimy substance of his true body. Yen felt a sense of peculiar honour, knowing that she may have been one of the few people alive who got to see beyond the terrifying image of the alien responsible for so much fear and at the alien who they simply do not know a thing of. What are those... spindles? Is that how he moves around in this armour?!

There was no way to know for sure, and there was certainly was no time to think of asking him for as he leaned forward, Yen was taken aback by what he spoke. "Do you know why you still live beyond THAT day, Yen? That day of my capture?" His eyes, sometimes emotional warrior and sometimes unfeeling animal, combined the two as he stared at her. Yen went silent as soon as her breathing recovered; she was silenced once more by her nerves. The question has passed through my mind from time to time. Why is he bringing this up now?

On the one hand, Yen really didn't like how Buuth was staring coldly at her now, still like the judging statues outside of the Protectun's Chapel in the capital. It's almost like he's preparing to kill me using the next words that came out of his mouth. Yet... even now, even after you nearly killed me, Buuth..!

She slowly crawled over to his face, something that seemed to surprise Buuth as his eyes opened in his head ever so slightly. But his cold gaze never left her... and neither did hers on him. I need to know! Was it because you saw something I don't even see in myself? Or was it because of your customs I can't even begin to imagine? It doesn't matter anyway! Her voice was barely a whisper on the wind, but her eyes were screaming for the reveal. "Tell me..."

Buuth straightened himself slightly, almost like he couldn't help but give her the respect she was due. She would certainly need it. "Because you were the... WEAKEST thing I saw."

O-oh...

Yen's ears drooped like a sad puppy's, the truth she moments ago desperately wanted to hear destroying almost all the growth she went through surviving this ordeal. Buuth tore through slave and guard alike then. He was about to tear through me, too... But he stopped as soon as I asked him to. She looked up as she caught her depressed breath, her beak beginning to tremble. That was really the reason why? You kept me alive... because you were surprised?

She didn't even know that her entire body was shaking with grief until she heard a soft plop of water hit the floor. It made her look away from Buuth's gaze and at her own hand due to the tears leaving her making a small pool. What am I doing?! Am I really crying because of this thing's opinion? She tried to stop, and for a moment, her facade of a tough Uniscen did return. But seeing how Buuth's unknowable eyes didn't even budge after dropping that on her saw right through the obvious lie. Damn... Stop it, you foolish girl! Who cares what HE thinks? Didn't you hear what he thinks of you?! You're nothing to him, yeah? Oh, this is what I get for believing he cared! For believing I was anything more to anyone!

Her beak opened up as she kneeled, one of her hands attempting to hold her beak closed shut just like she saw many of the aliens doing. It wasn't natural to her Uniscen biology, but in a way, it felt... right. But instead of stifling the loud wail she wanted, all that came out was a soundless, self-pitying sob. Probably nothing to everyone, you fucking slave!

"You WERE the weakest thing." Yen barely heard the soft words of Buuth, but simply hearing that made her look up while still heaving quietly. "H-huh..?" There was a moment of brief fear as she saw Buuth had clenched one of his fists in the dark and that it was coming straight for her. Flinching as she would've not so long ago, Yen thought for a second that this was just a cruel trick by a cruel monster and that this was the rotten cherry on top of a miserable cake.

But much to her surprise, the fist coming towards her was not swift to kill her in the same explosive manner her kin suffered but instead, Yen opened her eyes when he gently bumped on her chest. She cringed as two fingers circled her sensitive chest, but it was not like when a Foreman wanted to remind her of her place and when Buuth was in his blind rage. This time around, Yen felt no malice in this touch. It was thoughtful, considerate... kind; emotions she didn't even consider Buuth being able to feel.

The two thick fingers went up Yen's neck before he flicked her chin, something that caused the flow of years rolling down her cheeks to land on his arm. Yen couldn't help but feel slightly startled, but it wasn't long before she felt relaxed again, savouring the touch even if she didn't understand what was going on.

Too baffled to argue or question the odd custom the Beowulve seemed so intent on performing, she only looked into his serious, reflecting eyes with awe. "But you seem stronger now. Not your body, of course: Beowulve children are stronger than most Unigrag and stronger than you. Here was no different, hmm. I could've killed you anytime I wanted. But to stand to me like so; to struggle even though you are... were a coward..."

His fist slid across his chest in a slow, methodical manner, his thick armoured arm dragging across something that sounded like titanium plate mail before flicking it back into sight with a dramatic flourish. It was simplistic, but Yen, she found herself once again mystified by the honorary alien custom, at least that's what she hoped it was. "I give respect. However, looking down now, you seem the same as you were."

Yen wasn't able to keep up with his sudden compliments, but her body was able to react fast enough by putting her own, trembling hand on top of his when he reached back, planting them on her shoulder. His eyes, for the first time, rounded out. No longer were they two harsh, rigid sets of cold sky-blue rectangles on top of each other, running parallel to the other set.

Now, Yen was face to face to soft with four circular, warm-blue mirrors to the kinder side of the Beowulve's soul. "I wish to see that again." But after the faint glow illuminating her face scanned up and down her teary face, he noticed that instead of her meeting his gaze once more, she only cringed away from his gaze. Buuth stared for a moment but abruptly leaving her alone with a gruff sigh. "Hrmm. It will not be today, it seems. Then I want nothing more."

Yen breathed in fear again as she quickly scrambled onto her feet and away from Buuth as his full nine-foot height towered above her five feet. When she did that, Buuth's circular eyes only shrunk in visible disappointment before the harsh rectangles returned with a quiet flurry of his unknown language. "Tell those Unigrag that I will not fight. Not here today."

Buuth didn't even bother turning around to see the skittish Yen wordlessly but vigorously nodding her head. But just as she was running back up the stairs, she stopped in her tracks when Buuth caused the walls to shake with a single punch. "Yen."

She simply turned around, meeting eyes with the enigmatic Buuth Ge one more time. "Y-yes, B-Buuth?"

She heard Buuth do his outlandish booming chuckle before he went scarily quiet. "Tell them the chains are staying off."

Oh. Yen turned away to stare at her feet, her ears standing at attention. "I-I will."

And with that, she went back up the stairs, not so much the same person that came down them. She felt discouraged by the harsh truth behind her survival during Buuth's first rampage. But though it had broken her, she felt... different. Every step past the stairs and the oblivious, egotistical guard talking to her as she walked opened something within her. The truth, without her even realizing, had set some small, small part of her... free.

And though she stood outside the guardhouse still very much a servant to the Unisance Guild, she felt the bitter morning wind sweep up the very last of her doubt of who she really was. I came here to do my job... and I did it.

I calmed Buuth down... again. Me, Yen-Jur-Wait! No...

She looked up at the peaceful clouds bobbing along in the morning sky and ever so felt her ears straighten up in confidence. Just Yen...

And as she went back down that trail towards the unforgiving slaughterhouse of tired, battered slaves... She took in the first deep breath she had in a long time.