Written by Falcour Pheonix
Art credits: @fantomyoshi
Nirvana cocked her head slightly and closed her eyes, pleasantly taking in all the sounds of nighttime. chirping crickets, hooting owls and the occasional wolf howl filled her with calmness and warmth. She enjoyed listening to nature all the time, but there was something about the night that made her more.. serene. A giant fluffy brown moth fluttered around her head and landed on her right shoulder, snapping her out of her trance. She startled at the sudden contact but was quick to forget it; she lifted her left hand and gently scratched it’s soft neck, smiling as it trilled quietly in pleasure and nuzzled her cheek before lifting off again into the sky. She waved goodbye before suddenly pausing, lowering her arm, and cocking her head once more, her brow raising in confusion.
Something was different. For whatever reason, whether it be hunters or almost morning, most of surrounding area had gone almost completely quiet. She looked up through the trees, and the moon was still rising from the horizon, and from what she could tell, the night was just beginning, and she couldn’t hear any crackling fires that signaled nearby hunters preparing for a meal or storytime. And then she heard footsteps. Bipedal footsteps. Albeit, they were coming from very very far away, but they sounded heavy, bear-foot and slightly sluggish, almost like a ward……
Her core skipped a beat as she realized what was coming. Who was coming. Her eyes widened in fear and she frantically looked around for a place to hide from him, slowly backing away as to hope he couldn’t catch onto her footsteps, sniff her down, and… She finally saw a bush just barely big enough to at least cover half of her. She instantly ran and dove into it, the horror of her situation slowly seeping into her mind like a crack in an old pipe. She could hear his footsteps begin to pick up pace. Had he heard her move to the bush? Oooooh gosh, he definitely had. She began to shake and stiffen, feeling more and more terror the closer he came. Then, he stopped, directly aside the bush she was crouched in. She could see him out of the corner of her vision, but she didn’t dare look at him directly out of fear of her own metallic joints giving her away. She was still very much in her prime, but this was a life-or-death moment and she was not taking any chances. She heard him sniffing the air, his deep breathing in and out, his old bones creaking in their sockets, searching for his next victim to tear apart……………………and then he began to walk away. He left the field of her vision, and she heard his footsteps pounding farther, and farther, and farther away.
Nirvana did not know how long she stayed half-protected in that bush, but when she finally broke free from her fearful trance, the moon was high in the sky and the sounds of nature had long since returned. But she didn’t have time to listen to any more of their noises as she was already sprinting through the trees, tears streaming down her cheeks and blurring her vision, towards the entrance of a healed underground city. There she called out for her friends, of whom instantly heard her and ran and embraced her and tried to slowly rid her of her sobs. The moment Puff heard her story however, it was like he had become a whole person heavier and he ended up sticking around Nirvana the longest out of everyone. She didn’t mind. She just didn’t want to be alone at the moment.
Thank you all for listening! This is the first time I’ve ever done something like this, so I do hope you enjoy it!