Monstrous Beings

The loud chirping of some kind of insect echoed through the jungle, barreling between logs and branches and intertwining itself with the very essence of this place: its darkness.

From above, it was beautifully bright and sunny, but from below, it was almost the complete opposite due to the insanely thick canopy above.

Only a few rays of sunshine peer through the small cracks, but even then, they are still diminished by the vines dangling from the massive logs above.

"Should we make a fire?" Faye asked, gripping the straps of her backpack tightly.

"No. You'll draw them towards us… and for now, we must run from this spot. They'll be coming soon."

"Wait, who-"

I slipped my finger over her lips, quickly silencing her as I looked around, seeing if we were already being followed… and well, I guess we made too much noise crashing into their home as an array of red lights appeared in the tree line.

Scattered across the intertwining branches were long, slender, and shadowy figures whose eyes glowed like blood moons on a dark and deadly night.

[Darkness Manipulation]

Quickly, the shadows below us enveloped our very beings, and just as the shadowy figures began to move, I dragged Faye right next to me and pulled her to the shrubbery below us.

Although, it seems she was a bit distracted as she looked up at me with doe eyes, admiring my face, which covered an overwhelming wave of panic.

Crunch

A light crunch from the grass beside us rippled through the air, sending a few shavings of wood at us, bouncing right off the shadow which enveloped both Faye and me.

The shadowy figure was more noticeable now, allowing Faye to see their entire being for just a split second before diverging her shaking pupils.

She shivered from fear as I could only think that she met eyes with the thing standing only centimeters from us.

Sweat dripped down my forehead and to the tip of my nose, dripping onto the crisp grass below me.

I stared forward. Straight forward. I didn't look anywhere but forward into the array of grass and into the hard but glistening outer shell of a creature who stood on two legs.

The beings after us were bipedal monsters that lurked in the shadows of this seemingly endless jungle. They were creatures built, formed, and honed to be at the top of the food chain within this jungle, whom a normal mortal would be slaughtered in seconds.

From the top of my vision, I saw a green and harder chin, glistening like the carapace of a mantis. Its chitin armor was so strong that even the toughest of attacks would barely even leave a scratch.

Faye's fingers gripped onto my wrist as she stared downward, avoiding the eyes of this chin, which slowly began to reveal more of its face.

It had a humanoid quality being flat with a nose, mouth, and especially two beady eyes, but all of these qualities were disturbing. They were something uncanny to the average human… something that could only make shivers practically drip down your spine.

It had the same green, hard, carapace quality to it. Its lips were green and jagged, while its nose was pointy and sharp. But the creepiest part of it all, had to be its kaleidoscopic eyes which attempted to try and replicate regular, humanoid eyes.

Contradictory to a humanoid being, whose white sclera would most likely stand out in the darkness of this jungle, these beings had black sclera, which blended in with the void of darkness encapsulating this violent and grotesque jungle of death.

Their pupils, on the other hand, had this kaleidoscopic effect that allowed them the capabilities of a normal bug with such an evolution.

Perfect three-hundred-sixty degree vision with such precision that they could see the twitching of an ant's eye hundreds of meters away from it.

It was terrifying prowess, when in tandem with their near-indestructible outer shell, which they boldly and arrogantly called skin… made them the greatest predators within this jungle.

"Fooooooo…"

Slowly, I let out the air I didn't even realize I had trapped in my throat, but the assassinating pressure of this being which lowered its eyes to my level, was so powerful that I could barely breathe.

I remember the first time I met these things was the first time I had appeared here, scared, hopeless, and filled to the brim with radiating fear.

If they didn't recognize me as such a non-threat back then, I wouldn't even have had the chance to indulge in this second life.

Crick… crick… crick… crick….

Something flickered behind those hard alien lips of theirs as if the thing in front of me was communicating with the cricketing beings around it.

Currently, I was staring into the thing's eyes, but it was hard to tell if it was really looking at me or somewhere around it… I had no clue, and to be honest, I didn't want to know.

Its face slowly moved towards me, so I proceeded to activate my next skill.

[Stealth]

Now, any signs of my breathing, heartbeat, or even twitch of my muscles would be completely eradicated. I was essentially a ghost drifting in front of this being… yet somehow, it still seemed to know where I was.

Crick… crick… crick… crick…

I breathed a sigh of relief, seeing it slowly back away, turning its head towards what looked to be a shadowy figure in the distance.

The being nodded once before disappearing into thin air, its speed completely outmatching my stats at my current status.

Beneath these beings, I was basically nothing. They might have even noticed me but realized how weak I was and ignored me… just like last time.

Every single shadow soon disappeared from my senses, and even Faye gave me a slight nod of confirmation whilst we stood up, the shadow wrapping around us and draping upwards with us.

"Huff… huff… huff… huff… I think… I pissed my pants."

I could only deadpan at these words.