You watched as the decommissioned creature stuffed its face full of bait before twisting its body around wildly again and swinging its tail at what you assumed to be air until you watched the tail disappear, and listened to an audible slap sound.

Another of the decommissioned beasts came tumbling out of thin air.

Well, most of it.

It seemed as if it was sliced in an awkward fashion, but it was still alive and moving just fine. As it moved parts of its body would disappear and others would reappear. The original decommissioned beast swung its tail in and out of the “current dimension” seemingly in a display to scare the other one. It seemed to not impress the oppressor who also wanted to feast as you could hear it make a piercing scream even though you could only see two of its legs and just a 6th of its body.

It charged forward and leaped on the original one, now fully in the current dimension, thus fully visible. There was a quick scuffle. Dust was flung in the area as they bit each other and rolled around, disappearing and reappearing over and over. Finally, the original beast scared off the other one, or, at least it seemed that way to you.

The other beast had simply fully disappeared from your view and never came back.

The victor quickly scarfed up as much food as it could as it swung its head around to make sure no one else came for it. You asked Hawk kid for the rope.

It seemed weary of you, but not scared. It wasn’t because of the bait, after all, it would take a few days for it to fully affect it. Instead, it seemed to not be scared because you didn’t flip in and out of view like the other of its species did. You signal to Hawk kid to go jump on the creature so you could tie it up easier. Hawk kid shot you a worried glance but did what he was told.

As he approached the creature, it suddenly turned its head to look him in the eye. Hawk kid froze, waiting for you to signal the next move, but you told him to just do it. He nods, but you know he doesn't want to go through with it. He gets ready to jump when the creature turns its whole body and screams loudly. Hawk kid backs up in fear, suspecting it was about to attack-

-but that's not what it was screaming at.

The other decommissioned beast appeared from out of the air. Its head lunging forward and the rest of its body pulling itself outwards. It bites down on Hawk kid before dragging itself back into its dimension.

That's when you saw the trick to the whole thing. It was not popping in and out of dimensions, just controlling its invisibility as it moved to appear as if it could. While the creature had disappeared Hawk kid seemed to be impossibly floating on his side as the beast tried to take him away. You yelled out to Slithers to stop the monster from taking Hawk kid away.

But Slithers had his head down a hole he dug in a crude attempt at preparing for winter.

It was all up to you.

You took out your knife and chased in the direction Hawk kid was being taken. You were slow, but it was slower due to carrying Hawk kid.

You were so close to it.

But its tail reappeared. Everything slowed down as you watched it descend upon you, and yet you were unable to move. It slammed into your side and you lost your vision for a few moments.

You made sure to keep a death grip on your knife this time though.


================


You couldn't have been down for more than a few minutes, but when you started to rouse again you were instantly hit by wave after wave of pinging. The swarm of notails that had gone into the ruins was alerted to the attack on Hawk kid when one of the tailmics they were traveling with seemed to have made a beeline out of the ruins and went after the attacker.

The one that you were baiting had consumed all the food and ran to avoid being attacked by the swarm.

The tailmic bit into the neck of the reptile over and over until the beast was forced to let go of Hawk kid and turn its attention to the tailmic. It wasn't fooled by the tailmic's disguise at all, seemingly immune to all psychics, explaining why the other one could see the invisible one attempting to steal food.

You got up but immediately was hit with a wave of pain in your leg and toppled over only because you didn't expect it.

Some of the swarm took out bows and shot at the creature while the tailmic still fought it off with Hawk kid just underneath the battle.

Sensing it was outnumbered the monster swung the tailmic off it and attempted an escape, turning invisible as it ran. The arrows that had pierced its hide ruined its disguise. A notail and her capture creature blocked its original exit path. It twisted around and attempted another, but one good shot to the head finally brought it crashing to the ground.

Some of the swarm ran excitedly into the ruins to tell the others about slaying such a powerful looking creature, others went to go prod the creature and ponder how its body could be used, and an S-class went to go pry the tailmic off of Hawk kid as it attempted to protect him so he could get a better look at Hawk kid.

For a moment you considered hiding just so no one would notice your failure.

But no. There just had to be one notail who exited the ruins and looked you dead in the eye as if you were a target to hit.

No, you were a target.

The short notail moseys on over. You were normally confident now, but the sight of the smaller notail made you shrink and look at the ground in an attempt to distance yourself.

They place their hand on your shoulder as if trying to reassure you.

But it just burns.

"E-2732! How nice to see you again! Looks like you lost your friends from before huh? You know E-2732, an F-class isn't an E-class. If you were attempting to build a swarm you should really start with the right classes. <:)"

Why did it have to be E-4?

"I wasn't trying to swarm. I don't swarm. =3"
"Then what were you trying to do, E-2732? <:)"

You shrug dismissively.

"Just trying to survive. =3"
"You are giving it a good show E-2732, but it's far from perfect you know? You and your friend almost died. <:)"

Shut up. Just shut up. You wanted them to leave you alone on the ground.

They reach down and grab your hand with their disgusting little fingers to help you up. If your face wasn't in the way you would have bit their hand then and there like an rabid dog. You get ready to spit out the vilest remark possible as they let go of your hand after assisting.

"Thank you! =3"
"You're welcome E-2732. <:)"

You're such a failure.

"You know E-2732. My offer of you joining us is still open. We have a delightfully rounded group, except for the muscle part. Alas. I was hoping you would join us in the woods, you know? <:)"

You're only good at one task.

"So it would be great if you could join us! Why, we might even have a spot for your friend, even if he is the wrong class. He looks strong, just like you. <:)"

You can't learn anything correctly.

"You wouldn't end up in an event like this again. At least I hope my leadership would be able to guide us all fairly well! Some of the adults have said they're quite surprised we're all just 11 years old! They said we operate like 15-year-olds already. <:)"

You wish people were proud of you.

"So how about it old friend? If you join, our group would be perfect. <:)"

Never.

"Sure. I think I could join. =3"
"Great! I can introduce you to some of the most important members in that case. <:)"

They put an arm around your back. You nearly let them drag you away to a life of being with a swarm until you remember something important.

"But I have to join later. I was going to meet up with my friends in a plain about a 2-month walk away. =3"
"Ah. Well, I guess you can't drop those plans. Do you have a map? <:)"

You hold out your map and they quickly draw on it.

"See here, I drew my face here. Now we'll be traveling through the tower next to the field you're going to by the end of spring. So you have to be there by the end of spring so we can pick you up. We can't wait because once summer starts we'll be spending our time near a lake and keeping movements to a minimum until fall to avoid the brunt of the heat. So make sure to wait for us at the tower after meeting your friends at the field. I suppose you can bring them but I cannot guarantee that they'll be able to come with us, after all, this swarm will be perfected after you join. <:)"
"I understand. =3"
"We'll take your tiger friend over there with us. He requires assistance and that is something we can provide. He'll slow you down considering it is going to be snowing quite a lot due to winter. You'll want to get to the plains as soon as possible after all. <:)"

You look at Hawk kid, the tiger masked F-class. They have gotten him to sit up. His chest is soaked in blood and tiny holes in his shirt indicate that the teeth of the reptile pierced right through with no issue.

You feel like you failed him just a bit.

"Sure E-4. I can allow that. Keep him safe, ok? =3"
"I'm sure we'll be about to. His wounds look bad, but I'm sure they're mostly superficial. If he dies from them I suppose that just means he was too weak. <:)"
"I'll get going now. =3"

You collect your things and tug at Slithers who is annoyed that they will not be able to hibernate at all with you around. You notice too late that your wire rope got lost in the scuffle. A random E-class comes up to you and taps you on the back with a question.

"The F-class heard you were going to leave and is asking if you can give him "West" or something. xuo"

You originally had no intent to give West directly to him before, but now you just didn't care. You picked up West and marched over to Hawk kid. He must have thought you were angry with him as you can watch him trying to not raise his arms in defense of an attack.

You hold out West and he seems confused for a moment before excitedly taking him from you and holding him as tight as he could considering the blood loss.

"Thank you for letting me have West! I'm sorry for messing up. >=3"

He couldn't have predicted or prepared for what happened but says sorry anyway.

"Whatever. Those creatures weren't cool anyway. Anyway, I'll see you later. I'm going to finish my trip and then I'll be back so don't worry about me. =3"

He nods at you and you get on Slithers. You head back on the path and away from the group.

It's quiet.

You can tell the next place you end up at is an anomaly land right away. There's an uneasy feeling attached to the whole place and in the distance you could sometimes spot an animal acting oddly. You also spotted that every single night was a full moon, but not even just a normal one. Instead, the moon had to be at least four times its normal size and bearing down on the landscape as if it could fall down at any moment.

One day you're rather cold when you spot smoke rising into the air. Believing it to be a group of notails you leave the safety of Slithers and head over.

But once you go past a few decaying bushes you see the oddest sight.

There are animals around a fire, cooking a meal using sticks slices of meat impaled on sticks. You freeze seeing the group of animals cooking, unable to make heads or tails of the situation.

A wolf points a paw at you as it sits upright on a log.

"What a cute cat! Woof!"

A goose points at you as well.

"Just a small cat! Neat! Honk!"
"I.....=3"
"That meow was so cute. Woof!"
"That cat seems awfully confused. Do you think it knows what's going on? Honk!"
"Cat! Are you confused? Woof!"
"Um. Yeah. I am. You know. Just a little. =3"

The animals bark, hoot, honk, and hiss with what you think is laughter. The wolf motions its paw for you to come and sit down so it could tell you a story. You take a seat and they pass you a piece of meat on a stick for you to cook. You watch some of the arms, wings, and bodies of the animals contort in extremely uncomfortable ways to do certain actions like fold their arms behind their head. Finally the wolf talks.

"I'll tell you the story of these lands. See, there was once a small swarm here of E-classes. They didn't want to leave the woods because they loved the woods and they knew of the horrors that awaited them beyond the exit gates. Woof!"

The wolf stands on two legs and holds out its front legs in a mock-scary manner.

Except it is unfortunately quite horrifying to watch as it clearly should be breaking all of its bones to do such a movement.

"They looked at animals and how free they were, so they came up with a plan. They all gathered together at night, and then prayed to the gods to change them into animals so they could roam free forever and ever. The terrible Neo answered them, changing them all into beasts. They frolicked free and happy.....

Until a wild animal killed and ate one of them.

And then visiting notails shot a few for fun.

They quickly realized that being an animal was not all fun and games. They couldn't even use the tools they had before to defend themselves. One by one they would be hunted and killed in some manner, until there was one left. A deer. It is said that her sadness caused the whole area to become blessed. All those who walked in would appear to become animals, thus she could hide more easily from others who might kill her.

Now she wanders these lands endlessly. Wishing she had not become a deer. She sees now that animals, even those that are free, are just as trapped as she and her friends would have been if they left the woods. They say that getting close to her will replace the mind of the notail with a nearby animal. The animal in a notail body, and the notail in an animal body. Woof!"

"We like being here cause everyone gets too freaked out to stay. So its easier to hunt here. Honk!"
"But how do you know what you're catching isn't a notail if they look like animals? =3"
"We trap all our prey so they don't die. Then we ask them if they're a notail, and if they instead growl or hiss at us, we know they're an animal and safe to kill. Honk!"
"But if those who get near the anomaly get their minds swapped by an animal, how do you know if an animal you kill isn't in a notail body, and just happens to look like an animal, and act like one too? =3"

Everyone stops what they're doing and look at their food nervously, eying it as if trying to figure out what animal it came from. Finally, the wolf speaks in a mumble.

"W-When winter is over w-we're out of this creepy place. woof...."
"Yeah, I d-don't want to hang around here anymore. honk."

You made their paradise situation extremely awkward. While it was unlikely that such a string of events would occur, they seemed to want to take no chances and accidentally end up eating notail flesh or capturing a creature that's really a notail in an animal's body, thus unable to vocalize their entrapment.

You excuse yourself and leave. You never go back.

You sleep cold that night, but you prefer that to dealing with their horrified thoughts. Once the giant moon leaves the sky and the sun rises you hop on Slithers and head towards the plains to meet your friends.


=============

Even though you're way out of the blessed lands, the next time you kill a beast for food you can't help but fear that it could have been a notail trapped inside the body of an animal.

You finally reach the plains in the dead of winter. The land is coated in white and you felt good, knowing that such coverage would make it easier to spot other notails.

You travel around for a week. Stopping at any groups of notails you see and asking about your friends. You describe them in detail and list all of their numbers.

But the first group hasn't seen them.

Nor the second.

or the third.

The tenth group says they'll keep an eye out.

The twentieth group shrugs.

Your friends would have been seen by someone if they were here. They would have been gathering creatures and offering assistance to others for supplies.

But it looks like they never made it to the field.

It's the dead of winter.

You're alone.

Your friends are missing.

And you're expected by the tower by the end of spring.




What a wonderful way to start your 12th year of life.