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Rise of a Witness in the Dark

Becoming the Apex

By Thor Grey (G. Steven Moore)Published 2 years ago 7 min read
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The vantage point from this particular tree limb provides an excellent purview of events. The perfect place to ascertain that the results were ostensibly foreseen the moment they all arrived. It never ends well when they meet like this.

There was always the skittish one. Well, more skittish. As surely no two things can truly be equal therefore there will always be one with more of a quality and in comparison, another with less of that quality. Alas, like any other night, the series of events played out.

The dominant one, and again, to reiterate, well, that’s redundant, the dominant one in this case held a minimal margin of dominance over the other. Yet, there was always a way to tell right at the start who would be leaving alive.

The beginnings are typically less interesting than the ending for sure, and this interaction held up that notion. The mice scurrying below held a better show than those humans tussling about. Those creatures with their weapons they had to make. Far better are the weapons one is born with; talons… a sharp beak.

The mice below didn’t know. They never knew. Knowing requires more intelligence than they have. All they perceived were the mountains moving around them, the gales roaring around, and that everything above them was a god. They feared those creatures no more than they feared much else, pitiful morsels.

The sure sounds of an escalation in the brawling drew attention to them once more. The skittish one was on the ground. The margin of dominance for the other growing. The ground creature turned over, scrambled behind one of their moving machines, and stopped. The other had ceased movement as well. An amateur stalker of the night. Once the threat was engaged, the target was to be taken immediately. Don’t play with your food. Then again, they never did consume their prey. They were typically just left there to waste for the scavengers to take what they could. Sometimes they were buried. The fresh mounds of dirt tilling up the small pieces of others who had been left behind and not wholly consumed.

The loudness that they created seemed impossible. No other sound came close to being created without those things being used. The noise seemed most often associated with an injury of the other. The flare of light ruining any chance of seeing what comes next. But the results were often the same. The skittish one on the ground. Sometimes, perhaps the dominant one had poor aim and missed. There would be several of these sounds, flashes of light, and finally the other would be on the ground, never getting up. Their blood flowing freely into the soil.

While it was vexing for the humans to leave such remains all the time, their prey served to create quite the gathering of life here. Creatures in the trees, the ground, the air, and all in between.

Another couple of those loud noises, momentarily blinding flashes, the increasing smell of blood, and the silence that ensued, established the impending finality of this night’s meeting. Once able to ascertain the shapes below, having been disoriented by the eruption, it was apparent that both had found themselves predator and prey.

Before the sounds of flowing blood had even fully ceased, the first arrivals made their way toward the debris. This perch was perfect for seeing it all unfold. Everything was seen, heard, felt, from this very spot.

However, now was the first time a predator did not leave after their kill. Their immobile machine sat with a low rumble just passed the bushes with quaking mice in the dirt mound beneath. The lights issuing forth from it showing the sparse ground that led back towards where those humans came from. It wasn’t every night these visitors found their way here, so it was unknown when someone might arrive and retrieve the machine.

Having never been able to examine the fresh remains of the scenes after the activity had ceased, the astonishment was overwhelming. Gliding down to the earth, it was a spectacular chance to learn more about these creatures.

Glancing over to the humans, this vantage point piqued curiosity. Moving over to them, it was easier to investigate the type of weapons they used. Seemingly made from the same material as their mobility machine, it was unclear how these objects could make the light and sound they did. Yet, they were surely the items that did result in such a display. The smell was evident.

A true predator is never taken by surprise and an approaching machine could be felt in the ground. Feeling no threat as the machine approached there was no need to escape. The human emerged from their machine and looked around. It didn’t seem to notice the presence it found itself in and there was a need to alert them of their folly. Surely, they were too large to be prey, but that didn’t mean simply permitting it to get closer than was deemed acceptable.

The human halted, as it should. It stared for a moment, then continued to perform its own investigation of the scene. Collecting the weapons of the others. It was then that one of the preys made a sound that startled the new arrival. Clearly this human would be identified as the skittish one in any pairing of them that were to ever come out.

They communicated briefly followed by an instant that served as warning to recoil from them before getting the full effect of the weapon as the prey met its undeniable end. Being this close did not allow for the experience that had been gained from all this time to take the brunt of this recent exposure. It was now necessary to retreat.

This predator knew more than the other creatures here. This one saw all, heard all, felt all, knew all from this perch. A barn owl above all others. A predator who had witnessed these attacks, even one so close to itself and lived, was surely an apex. This witness in the dark cared not of the fate of the humans amongst themselves. What was witnessed tonight was the birth of an apex predator that would consume all that was either unintelligent enough to fear it or to otherwise cower before it.

The human predator moved to the other prey. Surely it now knew to confirm death to avoid surprise, amateur. It cautiously approached, attempting communication. The weapon pointed at the body. There had been no sound from that one for quite some time. The other had barely any time before the sounds of its heart would terminate. The humans had such horrible senses to not be able to have heard that and been more aware. Perhaps that is why they needed such disorienting weapons.

The distance provided enabled sufficient protection from the illuminate and percussive effects of the next attack that the human inflicted upon the prey’s head. This human seemed too unfocused to be much of a threat.

As hunger welled up inside, hunger to prove the status of dominant predator and hunger to consume for survival, this was an opportunity to swoop down to efficiently efface prey to ensure the title of a master predator.

Unlike one such as this epitomical specimen, the human was startled upon witnessing such behavior. It turned and directed an attack. Taking flight, unsettled by the human’s audacity to attack during a superior’s feeding, a return to the perch was necessary. The echo of their weapon sounded once more, aim untrue.

Upon perching, the human was seen rushing back into its machine and leaving. The sounds of the area settling back down as the rumble it produced faded.

It was thrilling to have been so close to the humans this time, to smell their blood, hear their heartbeats fade. There was always the skittish one and the dominant one. While amongst themselves there was often a marginal difference, here there was a clear dominant force. The master predator sitting at its throne decided that after tonight no human intruder to its domain would ever again leave alive.

Mystery
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About the Creator

Thor Grey (G. Steven Moore)

Since 1991, this compassionate writer has grown through much adversity in life. One day it will culminate on his final day on Earth, but until then, we learn something new every day and we all have something to offer to others as well.

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