"How in the Hunt Father's name is this fair! It is not! This is a cruel joke!" Azhul huffed and oinked angrily as she stomped her feet.

Close by her sat Michael trying to stifle a giggle and a smug smile as he had a small pit with water dug close to him with 7 fish like creatures floating in it.

Azhul looked annoyed at him as she stared at her own halberd with 3 fish stabbed on the metal pike at the tip of it, Gharna with her wooden spear having 2 hanging from her belt.

"Well... as ridiculous as his tool looks, it clearly has proven efficient and since he doesn't need to see them easily he can pick them right from the shade of the water plants... it does feel like cheating, but..." Gharna said laughing awkwardly.

"For someone who says their kin is the top creature in their world, you sure don't show it!" Azhul said frustrated.

Woh was quietly munching on another Vurm that Michael gave her, looking wide eyed at the exchange.

The human chuckled not taking the words personally as he looked calmly towards the water. "Do you want to know how we managed to dominate the world, back home?" He asked simply with a serene tone.

Gharna looked wide eyed at Azhul, her den sister staring back and the two quietly nodding to one another, before looking at him. 'This will be good to know for Urla.' Gharna thought to herself.

"Now I am curious, how? Did you have some sort of ancient weapon?"

"Yes, yes we did. We had an unfair strong weapon from the ancient times of our existence." Michael said nodding lightly.

Gharna and Azhul gulped drily as they listened intently. As they stared at the human he silently paused as he took in a deep breath and then sighed relaxed.

"Do not get me wrong, we humans are not the most durable creatures back home, in fact there are plenty there who we can't and won't ever match in strength, but when you are as weak and as fast as we are, by comparison to them... we had a weapon they didn't. Ingenuity. Where we lacked a strength, and we lacked plenty, we thought, imagined and came up with one for ourselves." Michael then looked back at the two still smiling. "From ancient times we invented. My ancestors, back when we were just as many in number as all other animals, we hunted unlike any other. While other predators chased their prey until they caught it and killed it, we didn't have the luxury of their speed, but we had a bit of endurance. So. What did we do? Anything we couldn't catch easily, we chased. And chased. And chased. It kept running from us and we slowly followed it, until it couldn't run anymore." His fishing line began tugging and Michael stood up as he lifted up his fishing rod, pulling up another fish and after unhooking it, he would drop it in the water pit.

Azhul had a shiver crawling down her spine at the thought of a group of creatures being able to just simply track and follow her, no matter where or how fast she ran. She held her breath with a mix of thrill and anxiety at the thought, it was horrific, yet such a simple and elegant a solution. 'So it is a beast of the hunt after all, Hunt Father, this feels exhilarating. Hahaha!' She thought with glee.

Gharna snorted as she gulped her dry throat, as she sat on a fallen log her knees slightly trembled at the image Michael put in her mind. 'How can a kin like the hooman think of something like this... why didn't we think of this?' She wondered over and over and she then looked up back to Michael as she bit her lower lip itching with curiosity. "H-how?" she asked simply and trailing.

The human looked back at her with a slightly confused expression. "How what?" He asked shaking his head.

"How did you, hoomans, come up with such things. The fishing rod, chasing something until it couldn't run... how? Why? Why did you have this gift? What god blessed you with it?" She simply said as her eyes just seemed to lock into his.

"Depending on what humans you ask, each will give you the name of a different God depending on their tribe, there are those that denounced gods and believe in something else, their answer is different, too. My opinion, though... when your existence is exceptionally average. Average speed, strength, resistance to sickness, average lenght of life, at least way longer ago, average everything... you tend to make yourself what makes you exceptional. So we did and we thrived. But... like I said... I wish my people would have been more considerate of the other creatures that share our world, but just like we were given this gift, it also had its costs. Our ability to come up with so many wondrous things, made our egos our downfall and now with all this strength... we live in a world that... depending on how we go onwards, might die because of our ingenuity and we struggle to repair the damage our predecessors did." Michael said as he, took his remaining Vurms and gave them to Woh, standing up and stretching. "Smarter people than me were starting to do predictions on how long our life can be sustainable on our home. The heat is rising due to our own machinations and in the far future places where we could live comfortably will become rarer and rarer. So, here you have it. The kin that conquered all other and then proceeded to destroy itself, the cowards of a world, turned conquerors and eventually... we won't have anything to show for it." He stated simply with a laugh at the irony of it all.

Although Woh was happy at the worms she received, she kept quiet listening, her appetite went down a bit as she listened, but another bite from a fresh Vurm quickly brough it back. "Uhm... I-i don't mean it in a bad way, but... your people's story... it sounds sad..." The amphoran stated with a low tone croak after.

"Not at all." Michael said with a weak chuckle as he began gathering together his belongings. "Ever since I came here, I find it all the more beautiful. It is a lesson." The human said as the expression of serenity came back to his face.

"A lesson? In what? How to end your own existence?" Azhul asked with a snort, genuinely confused at what could be beautiful about what Michael told them.

"It is a cautionary tale. One that now has meaning. One that I will want to tell, now that I know there is someone other than us to listen to it, because many of us are deaf to it now." He said directly and seriously. "From what I saw, by comparison to our world, yours is still young. You still have a chance. A chance to not make a mockery of yours. We tried to live outside of our world's way of existing, we tried to make our own way, but we grew beyond the scope of our natural existence and since we are refusing to admit some of our limitations, our world pays for our hubris. As I said, we made many beautiful and great things, but this path is not without mistakes and we made just as many mistakes, plenty of which our home paid for along with us."

"S-so... that's it? You want to share your tale here?" Gharna said tilting her head. "Why... would you warn us?"

Michael stood silent a moment as he then stared in the small pit of fish he had near him. "Because although I gave up on hope for my home, because by the time the problems we made will rear their ugly head, it would be after I would have been long dead, still... it breaks my heart... knowing that there is another place with another people, that has yet to make the mistakes we did and it could all be prevented if I simply spoke of it. As mad as it all sounds and as weird as it might feel to you, it is all true." Michael said with a slight tremble in his voice, his eyes slightly tearing up. "I-... I know you only met me for a short time and I have done plenty of things already to make you doubt and fear my words... I might have made you paranoid of me, but... I-... I want to at least be able to tell myself... when I will be old and wrinkly that... I made a difference... if not for my own people... at least to someone else's. I could die a happy man knowing that... at least one human helped others who aren't his own and... did wondrous things for them, no matter how small and that a human helped a kin we didn't ruin or made nearly extinct... and that you won't follow our fate in your future." The young man finally said as he let out a gasped whimper, the tears finally flowing down his cheeks.

Azhul, Gharna and Woh stood silent. Azhul didn't explode with boarish determination or stubborness, Gharna didn't let out an oink nor a huff and Woh didn't eat nor croak.

Michael stood silent as he sniffled and exhaled a sigh before laughing lightly. "A-as you can see, I am no better than those of our kin that are selfish... even though I spoke you of these good things I wish to do here, in the end... it is just because I don't want to think of my own people for the rest of my life as being creatures who only thought of themselves. Ironic, isn't it?" He said as he wiped his eyes.

While Michael couldn't see, his whole body flinched as he felt a warm tight yet soft force wrap around him. Opening his eyes it was Gharna, who seemed to have hugged him, despite herself slightly trembling and snorting some whimpers.

"It is still scary to think how well you can guess certain things... and the stories you told us are indeed terrifying, but... nobody could lie this well, not even a mischevious and cunning creature like you hoomans. And I would be a liar saying we weren't selfish and hoping to learn more of you and gain your favour for an advantage against your own people... we are not so different." The sow said with a trembling chuckle and oink.

Azhul stomped slowly approaching as she let out a sighing snort, she reached forward and touched the top of Michael's head. "I agree with Gharna and... I am sure all kins have awful people in them and good people too. Although I don't know your people and only you, you have shown yourself, you are capable of everything from kindness and generosity to wrath and fury, and so on. I am sure maybe not all of your kin, but plenty would agree with your choice of action, even if it is "selfish"." The bigger sow said with a snorted small chuckle.

Michael looked at the two with wide eyes and then he felt something touching his leg as he then grunted and felt himself turn stiff in Gharna's arms and unable to move.

Woh holding his leg in a hug while chewing on a Vurm was sniffling and crying big tears going down her tiny frog cheeks, bloated by her snack. "I- I didn't understand everything, but you hoomans can't all be awful! You can catch Vurms a-and you shared them with me! Nobody who does that can be that bad!" She said sniffling and squeaking.

Although he was now once more paralyzed, Michael felt really at ease, and also his heart rate increasing again, as the rash that subsided previously began to flare up again. Still... the whole hug didn't feel bad at all, even in the current situation.