assault . “ Saesryc ,” he repeats . “ What ’ s your name ?” He points at the pesky thing , but the thing zips backwards and holds his weapon above his head .
Saesryc ’ s eyes widen as he holds out his hands in what he hopes is a placating manner , drawing his nails back into his fingers . “ No no no no no .”
He waits for the impact but there is none , so he cautiously opens his eyes and hopes that the weapon won ’ t suddenly come smashing to his face . The creature is standing before him , head tilted to one side as he ( Saesryc hopes it ’ s a he , she ’ s are generally more vicious in his experience ) contemplates the being before him .
“ Can you speak ?” asks Saesryc , exasperated .
The creature frowns and scrunches up its face .
“ Wh-what are you doing ?” Saesryc asks , feeling a little alarmed . Was this some form of preparation before an attack ? Why was he doing this ? What had Saesryc done ?
To his relief , the creature merely lets out a tiny sound and then stops and holds his weapon tightly .
“ What ’ s wrong with you ?” asks Saesryc once more . This is getting repetitive .
As expected , the creature doesn ’ t answer .
Saesryc growls and runs a hand over his face , trying to keep his cool . Right . Maybe more hand gestures ? Etchings maybe ? He doesn ’ t have any material to etch on – or etch with , for that matter – but it ’ s worth a shot .
Just as he starts looking around for something to draw with , the ground starts shaking . Saesryc feels a tendril of fear wrap around him as he recognises the rocking movement from the earlier catastrophe . The last time this happened , it had boded ill for Labyrinth , with the ground splitting in half from ground to sky at a point only Labyrinth knew about . He doesn ’ t think that they are anywhere near a place that a hole can form , but he had also thought that Labyrinth was invincible .
The creature is frowning – is it frowning ? Saesryc thinks it ’ s frowning – and then it stomps its hind legs onto the ground . Something in his posture changes , and Saesryc doesn ’ t know what , but apparently he ’ s been paying the little thing too much attention because the next thing he knows , the ground is swallowing him up but he ’ s floating out of the ground and he should really be thankful he ’ s not going to be thrown back into that horrible world but he doesn ’ t know how to get down-
***
The boy watches as the creature desperately wriggles its limbs in an attempt to stay down . He wonders why this is happening – nothing about this is making sense . The rumbling he felt beneath his feet had left him sprawled on the ground as he attempts to regain his bearings . The shaking has stopped as suddenly as its begun , and now there ’ s a thin hairline crack spreading from where the creature once stood .
The creature shouldn ’ t be floating . It ’ s not right . Science or physical whatever people called it here shouldn ’ t allow this creature to float while he himself remains on the ground . The creature doesn ’ t seem to know what ’ s going on either , but it ’ s clearly panicking . The boy thinks of how his older brother would leave the creature struggling , and contemplates helping it back down . Then he