¡°Rose. I¡¯m sorry we couldn¡¯t have met in better circumstances.¡±
¡°Spare me your pity. I just want to relax as much as I can in my final moments. We can talk if you want. But don¡¯t do anything more to remind me how things are. I already know.¡±
Beth sat next to her, staring out at the forest together with her. They sat like that for a long while.
This time, Rose was the one to break the silence. ¡°When I see that forest, I think¡ It''s beautiful. It¡¯s vast, untamable, incomprehensible. If I had a thousand years to live, I couldn¡¯t explore it all.¡±
Beth replied. ¡°It¡¯s just¡ There''s a lot of brutality behind that beauty. Almost everything in that forest wants to eat us. It¡¯s barely possible for us to survive out there.¡±
Rose thought for a while at that, then responded. ¡°Yeah. I guess that¡¯s just the price we pay for all that beauty, that growth. Everything needs food. I guess that¡¯s what we provide to this world.¡±
¡°I guess that¡¯s true. Everything needs food to grow. I just don¡¯t see why that food has to be thinking, feeling beings like us.¡±
Rose looked back at Beth. ¡°What do you mean? As far as I can tell, that¡¯s just the way of the world.¡±
¡°That¡¯s not how it is where I come from. I¡¯m from a land called Earth. Have you heard of it?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve heard people talk about it. Travelers. I didn¡¯t know if it was a real place, or just a story.¡±
¡°It¡¯s a real place, alright,¡± replied Beth. ¡°I grew up there. Crisis had been there too, as a human. We were friends there. We went to school together. I miss it, badly. Everything seemed so much more sane there.¡±
Rose seemed curious now. ¡°What is it like on Earth?¡±
¡°It¡¯s¡ not perfect. People fight, even kill each other, for various stupid reasons. But they don¡¯t need to kill to live. People never eat each other there! The few who do¡ we lock them in prison. We just eat plants and animals, not sentient beings like ourselves.¡± Neither Beth nor Rose noticed the cruel irony in her statement.
A tear appeared in Rose¡¯s eye. ¡°That does sound¡ like a peaceful place. Yeah, I wish I lived in a place like that. But I don¡¯t. That may be how Earth works, but Felarya doesn¡¯t work the same way.¡±
¡°Why not?¡± Beth asked. Rose¡¯s ears perked up. Beth supposed she must have been surprised to even hear the question. ¡°I mean¡ those ¡°mouse-people¡± you eat, what do they eat?¡±
¡°Oh, I dunno. Bugs, berries, leaves, roots? I guess I never really asked them.¡±
¡°But they don¡¯t eat people, right?¡±
¡°I guess not. There aren¡¯t really any people small enough.¡±
¡°And yet¡ they survive, right here in Felarya, without eating anyone! Even though they get eaten by nekos all the time, they still manage to sustain themselves like this.¡±
¡°Hmmm¡ that is interesting. I guess I never really thought about it like that before. But the thing is¡ I¡¯m not a neera. I¡¯m a neko. They might not be meant to eat people, but I am!¡±The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
¡°Look out at that forest. It¡¯s more vast, more lush than any I¡¯ve ever seen on Earth. And people survive there on only plants and animals. They don¡¯t have to eat anyone! I¡¯m sure neeras aren¡¯t the only thing you eat, right?¡± ¡°Yeah. I couldn¡¯t survive ONLY eating neeras. But I want to have a balanced diet, you know? Why should I deny my own instincts?¡±
¡°Because they¡¯re people too! You realize I tried to say the same thing to Crisis, and she didn¡¯t listen, and because of that¡ well¡¡± she realized this was going somewhere Rose didn¡¯t want to touch on, and stopped.
Rose sighed again. ¡°I just don¡¯t see why you¡¯re bothering to argue this. It won¡¯t bring back the neeras I already ate, and it¡¯s not like I¡¯m going to eat any more in the future regardless¡¡±
¡°You don¡¯t know that! Maybe I can convince her-¡±
¡°You¡¯re not going to convince her of anything,¡± Rose cut in. ¡°Many have tried, and all have failed. There¡¯s nobody who loves eating nekos more than her.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll try as hard as I can. That¡¯s all I can do.¡±
¡°That¡¯s all any of us can do,¡± replied Rose. ¡°And unfortunately, at least here in Felarya, that often isn¡¯t enough.¡±
¡°I suppose I can¡¯t disagree,¡± sighed Beth. She turned around to face the man in the adventuring gear. He was sitting idly on one of the beds, staring off into the distance and fiddling around with a button on his jacket.
¡°What about you? What¡¯s your name? What¡¯s your story?¡±
¡°Why should I tell you?¡±
The man¡¯s voice was dripping with contempt. It caught her off guard. ¡°What?¡± There was a tinge of hurt in her voice.
¡°Why are you even here? You¡¯re pals with that psychopath. You¡¯re not going to get eaten, like the two of us are. Go sleep on her belly or something, fall asleep to the screams of the people she thinks you¡¯re better than.¡±
Beth gasped in shock, then tried to defend herself. ¡°I DON¡¯T AGREE with that! I think it¡¯s HORRIBLE! I¡¯ve been trying to get her to stop-¡±
The man spit on the ground. ¡°Get her to stop!? Filth like that can¡¯t be reformed. They need to be put down.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t exactly put her down, can I!? I¡¯m doing everything I can, and that¡¯s the best I can ever do!¡±
¡°You really want to help us? Then stop being so high-and-mighty. Tell her you¡¯re ¡®food¡¯, just like the rest of us.¡±
¡°How would that even help?¡± asked Beth.
¡°It would make you less of a monster-loving piece of shit.¡±
Beth turned away, hurt by his insults. There was not really any point talking to him, she supposed.
She sat down on one of the beds and thought about what the man had said. She was trying her best to be a good person, ineffectual as she was, and yet that man despised her. Her mind went back to what she had said in the stomach, when she¡¯d first found out Crisis ate people.
¡°Anyone who has it in them to do that is a psychopath, whether they know it or not! But you were so good at pretending to care about those around you, I even believed it!¡±
It struck her that, with this way of thinking, the man was right. It would mean Crisis was just simply a psychopath, and all attempts to reason with her would be less than useless. It would mean that Crisis only kept her around because she was useful in some way, and therefore she must be helping her eat people somehow, knowingly or unknowingly.
But when Beth thought about it, she knew that wasn¡¯t true. She had no way to help Crisis hunt. She slowed her down, if anything. And yet Crisis still vomited her out, something she had never done before, something which hurt her, simply because they were friends.
Beth knew Crisis too well. She knew Crisis cared about those around her. That hadn¡¯t changed. What had changed was that she now had all these other memories telling her that only certain people were worth caring about, and everyone else was nothing more than food, beaten into her over decades. The only reason she¡¯d thought that Crisis was just simply a monster was that she hadn''t wanted to acknowledge that it didn¡¯t take a monster to do what she¡¯d done. If Beth had lived the same life, grown up in the same way, she probably would have done the same thing.
Beth knew that none of this understanding lessened the horror, the pain and suffering and death that Crisis had inflicted on the world. But it did at least leave some hope for future change open, something worth pursuing through any means necessary, whether kind or cruel.
She lay down in the bed, exhausted from the most insane day of her entire life by far. It would still be a while yet before she could actually get to sleep.
Horror
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her face.
Ultimatum
was that?
who she was supposed to be! She could meet back up with all her friends who she had forgotten about!
been a neko flailing and screaming inside her own stomach.
want to be friends anymore. Especially since she was now in the cage, talking to that prey as though they were people!
was a human after all, so even though Crisis had no reason to worry about eating humans, Beth had every reason to worry. But she needed to understand, she wasn¡¯t prey herself, she had nothing to worry about!
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help those around you, not hurt them, use them, kill them! That was the normal Crisis I knew! If this¡ if eating people is normal, then I don¡¯t want to be normal!¡±
She eats those smaller than herself too! She should accept this!¡± She heard a bit of hurt in Crisis¡¯ voice. Crisis yanked her away from Rose easily with her other hand, and placed her back in the cage.
Negotiation
She has a name.¡± There was barely contained rage in Beth¡¯s voice. ¡°She had a family, a people, Crisis, until you killed them all. And now all she can do is wait to die horribly at your hands. Milly, you don¡¯t know what that¡¯s like, but Crisis knows what that¡¯s like. I know what that¡¯s like.¡±
supposed to eat nagas like me!¡±
nothing to you! Her tribe did nothing to you! You killed them just because you were hungry!¡±
burning alive in stomach acid, then I REJECT the natural order! I want to follow something better! I know it feels right to you, I know your friends all think it¡¯s right, but you were a human for years. Surely you can remember how INSANE this is from that perspective, from my perspective!¡±
me, would that be the natural order? Nagas eat humans, after all. That¡¯s just the way it is.¡± Beth spat the words.
do know me, you ate me anyway, because you couldn¡¯t even be bothered to LOOK at me first, let alone talk to me!¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
actually digested can speak up for themselves! Maybe some of them could¡¯ve been your friends! And even if not, they don¡¯t deserve to be eaten! No one does! Not because they¡¯re humans, nekos, tomthumbs, and especially not because you just don¡¯t like them! Frankly, I don¡¯t even like Rose, but I¡¯m still risking my life for her, because she doesn¡¯t deserve this!¡±
why he jumped?¡±
you were going to do to him. Had already done to his friends, too, I bet.¡±
his fault, not mine.¡±
causing these horrible things. Think about it! If you were in a situation that was that hopeless, don¡¯t tell me the thought wouldn¡¯t cross your mind!¡± Crisis gasped and covered her mouth as she remembered the horrible smell, her burning skin¡
my home¡ in this horrible way! I can¡¯t think like that! I¡¯m just living the way I know how!¡± Tears began leaking from her eyes.
yourself. That¡¯s all you can do. You don¡¯t have to think about it all the time. Just don¡¯t make it worse! Because when you eat people, the world does get worse, whether you think about it or not. Now please, please, let Rose go!¡±
never to do this again!¡± begged Crisis through tears. Beth knew she wouldn¡¯t get a better chance than this. ¡°I promise. Now let. Her. Go.¡±
you¡¯ll pay.¡± Rose shivered and nodded. With that, Milly went out after Crisis, glaring daggers at Beth before slamming the door.
Realization
¡°You didn¡¯t have to do that!¡±
¡°It was the decent thing to do,¡± replied Beth. ¡°My life is not more valuable than yours, or anybody else¡¯s. Anybody else¡¯s. That includes tomthumbs.¡±
¡°But if that¡¯s true¡ maybe I deserved what was coming to me!¡± cried Rose.
¡°I don¡¯t believe in ¡®an eye for an eye¡¯. Not for things this horrible. The cycle has to end somewhere,¡± replied Beth. ¡°People can change, or nothing ever gets better.¡±
Rose sobbed for a while longer, until she calmed down a bit. ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m done eating neeras and tomthumbs. I can¡¯t live like that anymore. Not when I was saved from being eaten by the very same person who hates me for eating them.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t hate you, Rose. I just said I didn¡¯t like you to make a point.¡± Beth put a hand on her shoulder. ¡°And I don¡¯t hate Crisis either. You were only doing what you were taught growing up. I just need you to change that. And I believe you will. That takes strength, to admit you were wrong and change. You¡¯re a strong person, Rose.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t feel strong. My life is gone. I couldn¡¯t do anything about it. I couldn¡¯t save my daughter. I couldn¡¯t even save myself. I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m supposed to do now.¡±
¡°Maybe you can come with me and Crisis, if we can convince her to bring you along. We ought to be able to find some place for you to stay. Maybe you can join another neko tribe¡¡±
¡°Maybe¡ I dunno. Right now I just feel so¡ lost.¡±
¡°That¡¯s completely understandable. What¡¯s important is that even though you lost a whole lot, almost everything, you¡¯re still alive, and in some ways you¡¯ve grown as a person.¡±
¡°I guess so.¡±
Beth pulled Rose into a hug, and she began sobbing again as they embraced. Beth saw the early light of dawn coming through the window. Rose took a breath. ¡°I guess I forgot to even say thanks. Thank you for saving me. Even though I had done horrible things, even though I had given up.¡±
¡°It¡¯s alright, Rose. Despite all that, I truly believe you are worth saving.¡±
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¡°Crisis! Are you alright?¡± Milly had to run to catch up to her as she left.
¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she replied. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to do.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t listen to her! You know who you are, Crisis! You¡¯re a predator! Don¡¯t let some human take your nature from you. You can be polite about it, if she wants, but there¡¯s no reason to stop. If she can¡¯t handle it, drop her off in Safe Harbor. That¡¯s how it was with Isham. That way you can go back to the way things were!¡±
¡°It¡¯s not that simple!¡± Crisis cried. ¡°She made good points! She explained why that horrible wizard ate us, why that human jumped, and I think I might do the same thing, in their shoes! And I think she¡¯s right: If I had met her here, I probably would have eaten her. I DID eat her! How many people have I eaten who were just as undeserving as her? I was about to eat someone she really cared about, just to prove that I could. I wouldn¡¯t listen to her when she told me not to. That¡¯s not how friends treat each other!¡±
¡°But, Crisis, you can¡¯t buy into this! Nobody is a better hunter than you! It¡¯s in your blood! You¡¯re not some human, and you never did kill any of your friends! Why are you stressing so much about these hypothetical situations?¡±
¡°I know I¡¯m a hunter! I know it¡¯s my nature! Part of me just wants to ignore all this and go back to the way it was like you say! But Beth hates it every time I eat humans or nekos, and I think I can understand why! I would have thought the same thing back when I was human! So that¡¯s why I just don¡¯t know what to do. I miss L¨¦a. She never made me feel this way. Do you know where she is?¡±
Milly fell silent for a while before responding. ¡°Oh. Crisis. I¡¯m so sorry I didn¡¯t tell you before now. I know you cared about that human, I just¡ didn¡¯t know her all that well. She¡ must have slipped my mind.¡±
Crisis froze. ¡°What¡ what happened to her? Where is she?¡±
Milly looked down at the ground. ¡°...We don¡¯t know. She disappeared around the same time that you did.¡±
Crisis¡¯ face fell, but then brightened a bit. ¡°You don¡¯t know she¡¯s dead then! She could be alive somewhere!¡±
Milly made a pained face. ¡°Crisis¡ you know as well as I do¡ she¡¯s a human, she disappeared, she¡¯s all on her own here in Felarya. She¡¯s not even a fighter. Her chances, after several years? Very slim. Almost nonexistent.¡±
¡°But we don¡¯t know!¡±
¡°And we¡¯ll probably never know what really happened. I¡¯m sorry, Crisis. In all likelihood, she¡¯s now nothing more than a faint memory in the mind of some predator.¡±
Crisis¡¯ face darkened. ¡°And if I talked to that predator? If I asked them why they took my friend from this world? What would they say? Would they say the same things you just did?¡±
Milly put her hands up. ¡°Crisis! I would never eat your friends!¡±
¡°I know you wouldn¡¯t. But someone just like you, who didn''t happen to know me, know my friends, very well might.¡±
¡°Again with the hypotheticals!¡±
¡°You said it yourself. In all likelihood, this is what actually happened.¡±
Crisis began slithering off into the forest. ¡°Please don¡¯t follow me, Milly. I need time to think.¡±
¡°Wait! Crisis!¡± yelled Milly, but she was gone. Milly knew she couldn¡¯t have caught up to her if she¡¯d tried.
Conversation
that hungry yet. She felt so torn. One part of her was excited at the prospect of chasing them down, eating them, it would be so easy, she¡¯d feel better afterward, but¡ she still felt sick to her stomach. She thought she could feel the bones of the previous meal sloshing about inside of her. That wasn¡¯t exactly an appetizing thought.
sometimes, but Crisis felt if she opened up to her, she¡¯d just give some snarky comment like ¡°I told you so¡± or something.
long time! It¡¯s so nice to see you again!¡±
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this. There was never anything there that seemed this¡ horrible.¡±
know you don¡¯t believe that the natural order is always right, Crisis, because you just told me one of the final straws for you was L¨¦a being eaten, and that was perfectly natural! Sure, some predation is needed, but that doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s something to be celebrated. It¡¯s sad every time it happens!¡±
you just did. ¡®I¡¯d go hungry. I¡¯d miss it. I¡¯d be weird. I¡¯d lose friends.¡¯ And the thing is, if they ever do stop, those things generally don¡¯t happen, or aren¡¯t as bad as they thought. They mostly just wanted a reason not to change, when they were doing something they already knew was wrong. But once they really understand that that horror isn¡¯t worth their convenience, those obstacles don¡¯t seem like such a problem anymore.¡±
talk to them. I mean, really talk, and listen to what they say. See if you still want to eat them then. I think you already know it¡¯s wrong, and I think there¡¯s no way for you to be at peace anymore until you stop. And you know I¡¯ll always be here if you ever want to talk.¡±
Conversion
you ate them. You probably don¡¯t even fucking remember.¡± A tear appeared in his eye. ¡°Damn it! Don¡¯t make this longer than it has to be. We both know you¡¯re going to eat me. So FUCKING DO IT! GET IT OVER WITH!¡±
your numbers! Part of me doesn¡¯t want to keep eating nekos, but maybe I have to, or else she¡¯ll accuse me of letting her tribe die!¡±
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please don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve been lying about all this and you¡¯re just going to eat them all.¡±
Conflict
your fault, not mine. Don¡¯t think you can pull the same stunt on me.¡±
human is my prey. I caught it fair and square. And you don¡¯t get to tell me what to do. The only reason I won¡¯t kill you right now is because I don¡¯t want to hurt Crisis. But I¡¯m fed up with you, and I¡¯ll tell her as much when she gets back. You¡¯re a bad influence.¡±
Let her go. Just because you¡¯re bigger and stronger, doesn¡¯t mean you should just horribly kill everyone you come across! Even Crisis is starting to see that, and she¡¯s more of a predator than you!¡±
understood that¡ of course it would hurt! But that¡¯s better than letting something like that go unaddressed! I think that¡¯s the best a friend can do!¡±
awful friend,¡± Milly spat. ¡°You hurt her, shamed her, just to push your ideology. Friends tolerate each other, understand each other.¡±
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that?¡±
definitely won¡¯t eat my Alsumis!¡±
only them. The Pazuns will cooperate with this, because they need to keep my support. Right, Greencloud?¡±
Agreement
threatened to kill us! All hail the queen!¡±
she decides what to do about it.¡±
Crisis is doing for us. To her, we are like tomthumbs and neeras, and she thought we were nothing more than food, until she changed her mind. We are being given a chance we have never been given before, and we must take it, whether we like it or not, or else we are going to die.¡±
me.¡±
convinced me not to. I was angry about it for a little while, but I understand her point of view now. She is the reason I haven¡¯t eaten you. She¡¯s the reason I haven¡¯t eaten Rose. And she doesn¡¯t want you to eat neeras either. Rose has already stopped. I hope you can take her advice.¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
anyone is treated here. They feel pain, too. I never had a reason to deny that. I always knew humans felt pain. I just didn¡¯t think it was important. And just because you didn¡¯t like some of the people who fought against that horror back on Earth¡ doesn¡¯t mean they were wrong. You understand that, right?¡±
Aftermath
nobody gets eaten!¡±
live in my territory have given up on that, seeing the benefits of my deal. Most of the time when my neeras get eaten, it¡¯s because the nekos are coming into my territory, then running back to your territory where they can be safe from the consequences! ¡®Whatever happens outside of Safe Harbor is none of my business,¡¯ you say. Well it is my business, and it is definitely those neeras¡¯ business.¡±
Safe Harbor! People need it to be safe! If you do that, people will flee into the forest, and many of them will get eaten by God knows what!¡±
far safer than anywhere else in Felarya, unless you decide you¡¯re going to eat people yourself!¡±
among your own people!¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.