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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cerulean_Wings" data-source="post: 5196283" data-attributes="member: 55060">Now I had  to decide where to go. Given that I didn't know anything about the  land's geography, I had no way to do so but at random. However, as I  started to move again, a thought struck me, and I suddenly had a place  to go. I thought I had lost them, but after a few minutes I managed to  spot the human couple on their way back through the forest. Thanks to  the dark night I could spy on them from afar, without worrying of  getting noticed. I stalked them as they returned to their village, and  after an hour or two I saw what seemed like a dream: the end of the  forest. Suddenly there were no more trees, and instead I could look at a  vast land, bigger than anything I could ever have imagined. The ground  was covered by grass, bushes, and no more.What a strange  world, with no constricting walls of stone, or simply rocks as the only  thing one sees around. This meant that I would have to keep my distance  from the humans, and I lingered by the forest's edge a moment or two  before resuming my stalking.John and Dana were  moving in a straight line towards a group of buildings that was about  two hours away. Hm. There weren't many hiding spots for me to use if I  went after them all the way, and I didn't feel reckless enough to risk  being spotted by someone else other than them. For that matter, I didn't  know how they would react to my stalking, given how our first encounter  went. But I felt a need to observe a human community, and pushed on  anyway, dashing from cover to cover whenever I could find it.The human  settlement was small, housing probably around two hundred people. I  observed it all from an abandoned building that was separate from the  rest. Well, it wasn't actually empty; some tasty looking large quadruped  animals were kept in stalls, tethered with ropes, making nervous  whining noises every now and then at my presence, and stomping the  ground with their feet. John and Dana had disappeared inside one house  made out of wood (just like all the others), and I didn't spot any other  humans nearby. I suppose they aren't creatures of the night, after all,  despite the couple's forest expedition. So all was well for my spying  mission, at least if I didn't think of the smell of the building I was  in - even someone such as I had standards.My stomach had  given me a growling demand more than once, and I kept eying the animals  with more than passing interest. My hand reached for one of them in its  own volition when I heard movement coming my way: a human was walking  towards this very building with a lantern in hand. Damn. Were my stomach  and his synchronized? I didn't have time to think about it, and left as  quickly as I could without giving myself away. Laying against the  outside wall on the back of the building, I waited for some tense  minutes as I heard the human get closer and closer. When he finally got  inside, the strangest thing happened."Heya, boys and  girls, just comin' by to check on ye."Could humans talk  with these animals? I strained my ears to listen for a response, but  only heard the same noises the animals had done with me around, only  more relaxed. Hm. Maybe humans have the strange habit of talking with  their food. But just as I had reached some conclusions, I heard more  movement, and then saw one of the animals walk out of the building, with  the human on its back."Let's go 'round the village and do our  night guard, shall we?" the human was saying to the animal as they went."They're mounts?" I  whispered, frowning, suddenly feeling very stupid. Of course - they had  four sturdy legs, and muscled chests that looked strong enough to carry  heavy things, like people. I shook my head and stretched my limbs. All  this sneaking around wasn't like me, and I was both hungry and tired. I  didn't get to see how humans lived in this place, but I got some ideas. I  walked away from the back of the building and kicked a rock high in the  air without noticing. It landed twenty feet away with a heavy thump.The human,  naturally, noticed this and rode to see what the noise was about. I  didn't have time to run for it. With the lantern's light, he saw me well  enough to cry out in horror. I didn't like that, so I crossed the  distance between us and grabbed him by his shirt, lifting him off the  mount, while simultaneously snatching the animal's reins with my other  hand. And then I ran for it, human and mount in hand.Funny story about  humans: they scream a lot if you take them away by force. I put an end  to that by eating his head off in one big bite. It turned out to be  almost more than I could chew, but my teeth and jaw managed just fine.  Flavor-wise, I've had better. Actually, I was going to, thanks to my  other stolen item in that night. I dropped the headless human on the way  without ceremony and gulped down the remnants of the head, letting out a  big belch when I finished. The mount didn't seem to like any of this,  and wanted out, so smacked it silly on the head, ending its wild  protests. Now that the thing went limp, I had to carry it over my  shoulders.Well, what can I say, you can't have everything.I was sprinting as  fast as I could across the grassy plain carrying the animal mount in the  middle of the night, heading back to the forest, with a human corpse on  the way as proof of my passing. In hindsight, I should've hidden the  corpse. Hopefully he wasn't well liked in the village, and the other  humans would think "Good riddance!" at the sight of his headless body.  One can only hope, yes?Once I made it back to the forest,  panting and thoroughly tired by then, I dropped the animal to the ground  and rested my back against a tree. Once I was recuperated enough I had  my meal. Good meat. It tasted even better roasted. There wasn't much  left when I finished, so I didn't even consider carrying the left overs  in my sack. As I finished chewing on a large bone, I considered my  experiences so far in the world above. Not bad, for the first night, I  thought, and went to sleep against a nearby tree.The next morning  was going to be much more interesting, but I had no warning whatsoever.</blockquote>

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