Citizen 1227 Cruor Carnifex

It was a day like any other when young Animus (by adulthood Cruor Carnifex) was tasked by his father to check the snares that they had placed down days ago for any wildlife. Dinner time was slowly approaching, and his father, a firm and unyielding hunter, wanted to treat his family with fresh meat that night. However, he was adamant to teach the young rexal that no meal is without work, and so, he entrusted his only son to go out into the nearby woods, with the threat of nightfall already looming over their heads.

With steps light as a feather but silent as a shark, he embarked upon this small adventure, trusting that the Elders who created this safe haven would watch over him and bless him with a peaceful night as he began to check the traps one by one. Little did he know that he would become a savior instead of a hunter tonight.

At first, he was not discouraged by the empty traps he had found, but as the pattern began to repeat, disappointment began seeping into his bones as nothingness awaited him at each one. However, when he approached the last one, his ears perked up at the sound of a rabbit rummaging nearby.

Animus quickly sucked under a bush and watched with tense muscles as the rabbit kept getting closer and closer to a snare, his eyes unblinking as he wished for it to be caught, only for an owl to disturb the scene.

The avian swooped down with silence and deadly precision, its claws sharpened and folded by Mother Nature to cut through skin and meat as if it were a hot knife slicing through butter. It just misses the rabbit by an inch, but when it landed on the ground, its mistake turned fatal as the snare snapped around its leg as if it was on command, preventing the owl from escaping the scene. It flapped around in desperation as the rabbit made its escape, and Animus found himself slowly but surely approaching the bird.

They did not eat owl meat, that much he knew, but he also dreaded disappointing his father. He could kill this bird right now and bring it home, for even unconventional meat was better than none, but as he stared down at the panicked eye, he froze.

“I am not supposed to be here”, he could almost hear the owl’s voice in his head as it looked at him, already giving up on trying to escape and instead faced the rexal with hostility, puffing itself up as much as possible. Its beak opened to warn with shrieks that Animus had ever heard before, ready to fight for its life.

Hunter and Hunter gazed into each other’s eyes for what felt like minutes as Animus found his resolve burning away like dried leaves placed on a campfire as his eyes darted to the owl’s leg, the snare already cutting into its delicate skin and drawing blood.

As he took a step forward, so did the owl. The animal, not knowing any better, was ready to launch itself at the rexal, making its own wound worse in the process. The essence of survival dawned on the young rex with harshness as he watched. The avian perhaps lacked the sense of future that the Rexal had, for if it broke its leg now, it would never be able to hunt and eat, dooming itself to a slow death. And yet, it wanted to fight. This moment mattered. This was the point of no return in its small life, and he fought to keep it just for a few days longer.

Animus tried to dance around the owl to get closer to it, his actions getting sloppier each time as he wanted nothing more than just to finally release it from its predicament. He no longer thought about food, about how angry and disappointed his father would be. He just wanted to give back the life that this owl was risking losing.

Eventually, he stopped moving around and instead tried a different approach. He focused his magic on trying to steer the owl’s mind into a calmer place. It was difficult. He had to empty his own head of the doubts and worries, and exude calmness to himself before he could try to direct it to the animal. It took him longer than expected, but eventually, he could calm the owl down enough to approach and grab it gently before it would begin to wiggle around again at the contact.

Its free leg held onto Animus’ arm with a deadly grip, unwilling to let go as the rexal cursed under his breath, hoping that the words would take away the pain that the talons inflicted upon him for daring to dissolve the situation, but they did little to numb the sharp like needle sensation in his arm as the owl’s clutch only tightened.

“If you had a good aim, neither of us would be in this mess”, he murmured this just as much to the owl as to himself as he slowly began to take the loop that held the owl captive apart, making sure not to cause any more pain than the creature already was in. It was… a lot more complicated than he originally expected. Usually, the knot would come apart quite easily if he just found the right spot, but he struggled to find it. Was it his father’s mistake or his own he did not know, but now he had to face the consequences of it.

He sat down on the cold ground to anchor his mind and focus. The owl, perhaps now knowing that the rexal meant no harm, was now motionless, only hooting once or twice when the snare tightened around his leg more by accident. After half an hour of finicking, it was free, and Animus quickly placed the bird down onto the ground as he collected the now ruined hunting tool. His father would surely chew him out for this, but alas, he made his bed, and he was proud to lie in it.

“Off you go now,” he encouraged the owl with a soft smile. He watched as it looked at its leg and then back at him before quickly flying off, its flight just as silent as before. He could only hope that one day, if he ever found himself in a trap, someone would show him the same kind of mercy he did. With that, he finally decided to head home, empty-handed, but with a heart full of hope.

Author: ForgottenCerberus