“Every region had its own food chain, and as much as people liked to think otherwise, they rarely dominated the top of it. At best, they shared the top with some apex predators who proved far too wily or powerful to exterminate, and thus could only be tolerated.” - Madivia Khryssv, Scholar and Researcher of Monster Biology from the Elmaiya Empire, circa 590 VA.

From her perch high above the forest floor, Aideen watched all too nonchalantly at the feeding frenzy she had inadvertently caused below. Her eyes kept a close watch on the creatures that flocked to the carcass, while her hands took note in a small notebook, in which she detailed the characteristics and presumed capabilities of the creatures she saw.

Predators of every sort, from the mammalian to the reptilian, to the insectoid and avian, flocked and devoured the carcass of the large creature she killed, with some of them also falling prey to others that also partook in the feast.

Quietly, Aideen noted that those that fell to others seemed either malnourished, or judged from what she knew of monster biology, immature. They were probably beasts that had failed to secure a steady supply of food or were unable to compete for it against stronger predators, and thus came to the carcass out of desperation, or simply too young to know better.

Some beasts, like a large beast that sort of resembled a predatory feline in stature and look except for how it was clearly reptilian, and covered in scales from the tip of its nose all the way to its spiked tail, tore off a whole segment from the dead insect’s carcass, and left with it, hissing at others that tried to snatch the food out of its jaws.

Before two hours had passed, all that remained of the carcass was bits of empty shell on the ground, with a few errant bits of flesh and organs left behind. Most of the larger beasts had dispersed by then, and in their place, smaller creatures that had not dared to approach the carcass previously arrived and cleaned up their scraps.

After another couple of hours, only the hard shell of the insectoid creature was left, with every bit of flesh attached to it devoured by the scavengers. Even so, Aideen remained on her perch, as she had long noticed an anomaly in her journey so far.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

Namely how she had not run across even a single carcass of any kind, not even old bones, on the forest floor.

Aideen waited patiently atop the tree, where more than a few small squirrel-like creatures eyed her curiously. The tree she was on happened to bear fruit at the time, odd, misshapen fruits with its skin being of a deep magenta shade at the top and fading to a light yellow at the bottom, with hairy protrusions on it.

She saw how some of the critters ate the fruits, removing the “hairs” from its skin before they gorged on it wholesale until only the small pit inside was left, and gave it a try as well. The fruit was solid in her grip, not hard like an apple or pear, but closer to the juicy solidity of a ripe peach. Removing the hairs was easy enough, but she noticed right away why the animals had removed those hair-like protrusions carefully using their teeth.

The protrusions stung her hands, and pumped what she quickly identified as a sort of neural venom into the wound. Aideen spent a while as she tested said venom first, before she noted that it was likely strong enough to paralyze a human-sized creature to the point of cardiac arrest. Naturally, with her being an unliving, it did little to her other than give a sort of tingling sensation.

After she removed the protrusions, and peeled the fruit as well for good measure - not difficult as its thin skin gave way without issue to a knife - she took a bit into the orange-purplish flesh of the fruit beneath, and found that it was quite pleasant to the taste, tart with a hint of bittersweetness. The fruit itself also contained no poisons or toxins as far as she could tell, despite how the protrusions that grew on it were lethally venomous.

Just shortly after the sun had set and darkness settled in the forest, Aideen noticed motion on the forest floor. Something approached the remnant of the carcass below, slowly shuffling its way through the undergrowth.

She could barely make it out under the bright moonlight that night, but what approached the carcass turned out to be a massive snail-like creature, with a large, coiled, solid shell that almost looked metallic on its back. The snail approached the carcass even as its four eyestalks warily scanned the surroundings, before it began to feast on the leftover shell, making crunchy noises as it chewed up the shells.

Unlike most snails she knew, this one seemed to be an entirely carnivorous scavenger. The reason it ate the shell was likely to digest it and use it to further strengthen the shell on its back. Aideen also saw how the snail-like creature snatched a squirrel that fell off another tree from mid-air using a slimy tentacle-like appendage and tossed it whole into its mouth.

It took the beast a few hours to devour all the leftover shell, and just as it left, Aideen saw a feathered lizard - one larger than she was tall - come across it. The lizard peered at the snail, took a couple sniffs into the air, then turned and fled with surprising speed. Clearly the snail was something that most creatures in the forest would not mess with, for some reason.

Curious, Aideen followed the creature from the treetops - there were plenty of branches and vines she could use to traverse from up high - as it headed back eastwards where it came from. She was collecting information on the local creatures anyway, so no reason not to keep an eye on this unusual one.