The Red Reaper

2 - Crossing paths

This is the full art of Laip'xi, It's one of my masterpieces honestly. I love it so much! If you'd like to see more of my art, you can find me on Instagram as addie.bee.boo

Enjoy reading and see ya again <3

Love you

Author-chan

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It took her weeks of running through plains and strange forests before she found the first familiar place, the Hallelujah mountains. Mom took her there once when she had a day off. They took a picture at one of the islands. She climbed as high as possible to survey the lands reaching the island they visited. It looked exactly like back then. She shook off the sentimental memory of easier times and looked down at the forest. Finally, she knew where she was and could orientate herself. She made her way back down to the bottom and hunger struck her.

Over the last few weeks, she learned what she could and couldn't eat and how to hunt, making it no issue for her now.

She walked silently through the forest, listening for potential prey until she heard leaves rustling about 40 metres in front of her. She crouched close to the ground and flattened her tail fin so it wouldn't hit anything and make noise. She stalked the prey she had yet to see. She peeked through a bush to meet face to face with what she was going to eat, but immediately stopped her ambush when she realised she had encountered a group of na'vi, who were not pleasantly surprised by her. They froze still, with their spears at ready, observing her every move.

Alice looked at them to see if she would know any of them from the school, as many of them were quite young. She saw a familiar face, Tsu'tey, and excitedly jumped forward not thinking about the consequences. The spear of one of the adults' pierced her front leg and she took a step back as she winced from the pain. Seeing as she wasn't attacking them after that, they started talking nervously while keeping an eye on her. Before long, they all dropped their spears to show they mean no harm and crouched slightly while retreating.

She turned her head to the side curiously, slightly confused by their actions, still failing to realise she was a giant predator that could easily kill them all. She lowered her head and her body followed, slowly inching closer to them. She was focused on Tsu'tey, who, unlike the others, didn't have even a hint of fear behind his eyes. Rather they had a sparkle in them, seemingly mesmerized by the creature he had never seen before. It must have migrated here, travelling a long way from its natural habitat.

The boy had matured since the last time she saw him, making her feel the weight of the event that happened in the school. His height was almost the same, but the look in his eyes told stories of hatred and anguish. Alice remembered how cute he used to be, getting into trouble with her, Silwanin, Neytiri, and the other kids. But before her now, stood the future olo'eyktan, training to be a warrior and choose his Ikran. Her tail wagged with pride towards her friend. She wanted to follow him despite knowing the warriors wouldn't allow it. Her ears dropped with sadness and she backed away into a bush, disappearing in the darkness.

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The na'vi warriors took Tsu'tey and his fellow young hunters to train in the forest. It was their last year in training before they would take the challenge and prove themselves worthy warriors and get an Ikran. Everything was going well and they managed to catch a few medium-sized herbivores before going back to the home tree. However, on their way back they crossed paths with a predator on the hunt.

They all froze in their tracks, hoping to not anger the giant carnivore. Its belly and legs were black, transitioning into white on the sides and head and red on the top. Red eyes stared at the nervous adults before landing on Tsu'tey. He stared back at them, mesmerized by this unknown creature. Suddenly it jumped towards Tsu'tey and before he could say that he sensed no hostility from the creature, someone had attacked it, wanting to protect Tsu'tey. The predator yelped and stepped back, raising its injured leg. 

"Skxwangs, it meant no harm!"

They were afraid the creature would defend itself and retaliate. They looked at it, ready to hit and run at any point, however when an attack never came, they rethought their plan and decided they would show the creature that they mean no harm either. They all lowered their spears and bodies slowly while taking quiet steps back. It tilted its head and Tsu'tey stifled a laugh, knowing it was confused. It must have picked up on the small sound as it stared at him again. He looked back at it, taking in all of its beautiful features.

So far from home, it must have been, migrated to this forest for an unknown reason. Tsu'tey's curiosity grew, wondering if sky people destroyed its habitat hence why it was here. It lowered its body and the na'vi released a relieved breath they were holding in due to the tension. It came so close to Tsu'tey, he could feel its warm breath on his face as the big red eyes observed him. He looked behind the creature when he heard an odd sound and saw its tail was wagging. He smiled and then it got backed away, disappearing into the forest.

The group returned home and reported what they saw to the olo'eyktan, Eytukan.

"I see you Eytukan"

Tsu'tey raised his hand and gestured politely towards the chieftain, giving him his greetings. the other hunt members presented their catch before mentioning the sighting of a strange beast.

"It was unlike anything we've ever seen, black, white and red body, many big teeth, big body, bigger than Thanathor, red glowing eyes"

"What a strange creature, it must be far away from its natural habitat, this is surely the fault of the sky people!"

"It must be, predators don't move easily"

"Well, I'm glad you're all alright, how did you escape it?"

"It wasn't hostile, although it scared this skxawng over here and he attacked it, we thought we were done for afterwards, yet it still didn't attack"

"How odd"

"It was weirdly fixated on Tsu'tey, jumping towards him excitedly like a youngling"

They all looked at the young boy with admiration and curiosity. He maintained his stone face as he stepped forward to voice his thought on the topic.

"It was so sinister yet beautiful, it could have killed us anytime in wanted yet it just looked, I was mesmerized by it"

Eytukan nodded, growing curious about the creature himself. Nevertheless, it was still dangerous and so he told them to warn everyone and be more cautious when moving through the forest in the upcoming days. 

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Alice was baffled by the meeting she just had with the na'vi. Only now it hit her why they were acting the way they were. She felt stupid for continually failing to realise her current role in the food chain and realising and remembering this fact brought forth an opportunity. Her life would be secure if she stuck around Tsu'tey and she could find her mom that way as well. She could protect him and the na'vi people from humans once the inevitable happened and they attacked.