A Ravenous Hunger

The terrain of Geneshtra's surface was grey, cracked, and dry. The soil crunched under Arawn's boots, the sound so resonant that it nearly drowned out the electric hum of his plasma rifle. The planet's stale, sulfuric wind caused continuous torrents of silvery dust to spurt forth from the ground, the phenomenon making it appear as if he were cloaked in a thick and impenetrable shroud of fog.

Rigel's voice erupted through the Arawn's earpiece. Due to the interference of Geneshtra's dust clouds, his voice was soft and staticky. "Did you hear that?" he asked.

"Hear what?" snapped Artemis.

The woman's tone betrayed a feeling of annoyance and agitation. Arawn could sympathize. Rigel was overly cautious in his work. He was always hearing things beyond the curtains of dust around them, things that weren't there. After many false alarms, Artemis had, understandably, lost patience with the man.

"I heard something moving over there." Rigel pointed a shaky finger to his left. "I heard the soil breaking under its feet."

"That's us, you idiot! We're in a valley for heaven's sakes! You probably heard an echo and got confused."

"I know what I heard!"

Arawn looked at the digital timer implanted in his suit. "We'll follow Rigel's hunch," he said. "But if we don't find anything after ten minutes, we'll return to the parish. We have forty minutes before they close their doors for the night. We'll need to be back by then, with or without our quarry."

Arawn could hear Artemis grumble through the com. Though he couldn't see her eyes through her visor, he knew that they blazed with indignation. But, like the well-trained soldier she was, she nodded and followed as Arawn led their small group toward the direction Rigel indicated.

Ten minutes passed, and, as Arawn predicted, no evidence of the Unseen's presence was found. No tracks, droppings, or shed hairs graced their path. Once the allotted time elapsed, Arawn ordered his small squadron back to the parish. Rigel's hunch was, once again, proved wrong.

Anger flooded Arawn's consciousness. Not anger towards Rigel, but anger at this constant failure, anger towards a humiliation marked by the lack of meat on his plate. Since he first landed on Geneshtra, he had failed to slay a single manifestation of the Unseen.

Arawn sighed. Though the parish meant food and shelter, though it meant safety from the Unseen and the harsh environment of Geneshtra, the thought of returning filled him with dread and apprehension.

*   *   *

The parish's mess hall rattled with an obnoxious cacophony. Silverware clattered against ceramic plates as soldiers ate. Squadrons more successful than Arawn's howled and laughed boisterously. Fecks of moist meat spewed from their mouths as they spoke of their recent conquests.

Arawn's group, however, was silent. They picked at their rice and cauliflower unenthusiastically. The process of eating was burdensome to them.

When Arawn finally mustered the appetite to scoop up a spoonful of rice, he was interrupted by a not-so-gentle tap on the shoulder. Arawn put down his spoon and turned. Before him stood one of the Abbot's personal guard, a hook-nosed man clad in black robes.

His voice was high-pitched and crackly. "The Abbot would like to speak to you."

Arawn nodded. "Okay," he said, "I'll go straight to his office after my meal."

Arawn turned again to his plate, but he felt the man's hand squeeze his shoulder. "He wants to visit with you now."

With a sigh, Arawn stood up and followed the man out the mess hall. The chatter that previously flooded the room died down and was replaced by a harsh and uncomfortable silence. The eyes of every soldier were on him. Some of their gazes—such as Rigel and Artemis's—were filled with worry, but most of them took on a cruel and sinister air.

*   *   *

Abbot Kennedy's quarters were dimly lit, the only light in the room being the soft, orange glow of his votive candles. The Abbot himself stood in the middle of the room, his gaze fixed on an icon of the Holy Mother. 

"Do you know why we're here, Arawn?"

The Abbot continued before giving Arawn a chance to answer. "Five years ago, the Church of the Holy Mother received a stewardship over this planet from the Intergalactic Congress." The Abbot finally turned around and faced Arawn. His face was large, round, and bulbous. "I was sent to establish a parish on the planet. It is in this parish where we now speak. You, of course, know the rest."

Arawn nodded. "The Unseen."

The mere mention of the Unseen set the Abbot off in a frenzy. "The Unseen! From my first night here, I could feel their presence. I could hear their dark whisperings when I slept. I could see them form strange and amorphous shapes in the shadows. They are truly the creatures of nightmares. From the moment I discovered them, I knew that their presence would become a detriment to the Church's goals on Geneshtra. Do you know why Geneshtra is so important to the Church, Arawn?"

This time, Abbot Kennedy allowed Arawn to answer. "Geneshtra is only seventy parsecs from Rukovodstva. As such Geneshtra, if properly settled, can serve as a hub for those traveling to the capitol. With so many people on a Church-ran planet, the potential for new converts is high."

"Then you know why it's so important that we rid this world of the Unseen! Who knows what type of evil they are capable of? Our settlement can't grow until they are eradicated. You, of course, understand this." The Abbot paused and looked at Arawn with an accusatory glare. "Which makes me wonder—if you are so dedicated to our Church's cause, why is it that you and you squadron have not yet killed one of the Unseen since you've been here?"

Arawn sighed. He saw this question coming. Thankfully, the Abbot's endless rambling gave him time to concoct a worthy response. "Well, honored Abbot, it's just what you wrote in your report—the Unseen is an invisible creature that, for some reason unknown to us, spontaneously manifests itself in the form of strange and horrifying beasts, each manifestation being strange and alien from the last. They just as randomly disappear. We don't know much beyond that. For their safety, all requests by the Zoologist's Guild to study them has been denied."

The Abbot didn't seem impressed. "I know this already."

"Then you should understand why a creature such as the Unseen, a creature that can literally conceal itself at will, is so difficult to hunt."

"Other squadrons have found them without much difficulty."

Arawn felt the embers of fury kindle in his chest. With a deep breath, he managed to cool them a little, but he could still feel a small flicker within. "Those other soldiers got lucky then."

"Oh, they did?" said the Abbot mockingly.

But Arawn was resolute. "They were," he said. "My squad's failure doesn't stem from lack of effort. We are diligent in our search! We use everything instilled upon us in our training. We follow every hunch, scour every inch of land. But the Unseen are an enigma—no matter how much effort we put in, they elude us!"

Abbot Kennedy bowed his head. "I'm sorry, Arawn. I know that you are truly dedicated to the cause. If not, why would you have volunteered to travel to this wasteland of a world? I apologize if my words cast any doubt on your dedication. But you must understand my position. I am the chief clergyman here on Geneshtra. It is my duty to protect our small congregation of soldiers, not only from the dangers without our parish walls, but also from threats within."

"Threats within?"

The Abbot coughed out a laugh. "Arawn, have you heard the phrase 'wolf in sheep's clothing?'"

Arawn was taken aback at the question. As he answered, his words were slow, cautious, and uncertain. "I do. It's a phrase found in the Testaments, often used to refer to someone who, at first, appears to follow the Holy Mother, but whose true desire is, in actuality, to hinder the work of the Church. Why do you ask?"

Abbot Kennedy ignored Arawn's question. "The phrase has an increased significance here on Geneshtra, don't you agree?"

"I don't exactly know what you mean."

"We've already discussed the nature of the Unseen, have we not?"

"We have."

"Well, with that in mind, I want to share something with you. Since I first discovered the Unseen, I've worried that they would one day use their abilities of transformation to imitate humans. If they figured that out, they could, hypothetically, kill some of our soldiers, take on their appearance, and infiltrate our parish as, per the axiom, wolves among sheep."

Arawn found it difficult to speak. He felt as if his breath were taken from him. "I'm not an Unseen, Abbot… And neither are Artemis and Rigel…"

Abbot Kennedy raised his hands in feigned innocence. "I didn't accuse you or your squad mates of anything, Arawn. But I'll say this—a squadron seemingly incapable of killing an Unseen for weeks might make some suspicious."

*   *   *

"I see something." Rigel's words were soft and hesitant. He pointed his plasma rifle to the right, his body quivering as he did. "Over there! Do you see it?"

Artemis's voice took on a derisive tone. "Oh, you are seeing things now!"

"Shut it, Artemis!" said Arawn. "He's doing more than you. At least he's actually looking and listening for them. Now come on! Let's investigate."

The heat of Artemis's glare was palpable. "As you say, sir."

Arawn led the two through the swirling torrents of grey sand. Like a curtain opening for a play's climax, the shroud of dust parted before them, the grey fog twirling around them as they passed through. Nothing new could be seen immediately. Just more grey, as usual. However, as Arawn concentrated on the drab surroundings before him, he noticed a small area of blackness pressed against the blanket of fog.

His heart palpitating with excitement, Arawn marched towards it. As he did, the silhouette grew larger and more defined. It took on a strange and abstract shape and an unseemly mish-mash of colors.

What lay before them was the grotesque carcass of an unknown beast. Its face looked violent and feral, complete with a padding of brown fur, onyx-black eyes, and a maw filled with a sharp and uneven lining of teeth. As one went down the neck, the creature's fur became sparse and patchy, revealing skin that was folded, thick, and wrinkled. The exception, however, was the creature's stomach—there, the skin was taunt, round, and so thin that Arawn could see a red and blue web of blood vessels spreading from its umbilicus.

Artemis's voice sounded broken and breathy through the com. "Is… Is it alive?"

Arawn shook his head. "I don't think so. I don't see any rise and fall of the chest." Arawn bent and palpated the creature's antecubital. "And there isn't a pulse."

"But it's an Unseen," said Rigel. "Perhaps they don't need to breathe?"

"It could be setting up a trap," Artemis suggested. "Playing dead to lure us near?"

"No. If that were the case, we'd be dead already."

Arawn nudged the creature to punctuate his point. It remained motionless.

Rigel cocked his head as he examined the carcass. "Has there ever been reports of a dead Unseen in the wild?"

"I don't believe there have."

"Then how could we know for certain that this creature is one of the same? The Unseen don't seem to die of natural causes, at least not according to the Abbot's report. Could this be another native to Geneshtra?"

Arawn groaned at the mention of Abbot Kennedy. "The Abbot never comes out to hunt. What would he know?"

Artemis shrugged. "Unseen or not, we should take this in. The Abbot or his personal clergyman won't know the difference."

Arawn nodded. "Agreed."

Artemis grabbed the beast's forearm, ready to begin the long and laborious process of dragging the thing back to the parish. But Arawn raised his arm, signaling for her to stop.

"We need to shoot it a few time first," he said. "We need to make it look like it gave us a fight."

Rigel protested. "But it's dead! Shooting it now seems like overkill, right. Like kicking a dead horse."

Arawn shook his head. "No. That would look too suspicious. We need to make it look like we killed it… Look, I haven't told the two of you this earlier, but the Abbot has suggested that the three of us might be Unseen."

Rigel and Artemis were struck dumb at this revelation. Not even the sound of their breaths could be heard through the com.

After a minute of silence, Artemis finally managed to speak. Her words gave off a feeling of fear and disorientation. "What makes him think that?"

"Our inability to kill one," Arawn answered. "He thinks we might be Unseen who killed the real Arawn, Artemis, and Rigel and took on their appearance and form. In any case, it would look quite suspicious if we brought this thing in without any plasma shots in it. It might even confirm his suspicions, make him think we're imposters playing some Unseen trick. We have no choice—we need to shoot it."

With this, Arawn raised his rifle and pulled the trigger. A green flash of plasma flickered through the air like a bolt of lightning. As the beam collided with the creature's flesh, the soft pink of its lumpy skin turned a light, golden brown while the fur nearby evaporated under the extreme heat of the blast. Artemis and Rigel, likewise, began to shoot.

After a minute of continuous shooting, one of the plasma beams struck the creature's stomach. At impact, the already brittle skin tore. A viscous gush of water and blood spilt from the opening. All firing stopped, and the three watched in amazement.

As the stream weakened, a black, amorphous blob slid through the opening and plopped to the ground with a "splash." Arawn took a cautious step forward and, with squinted eyes, examined the oddity. When the last of the beast's bodily juices slid off it, the nature of the blob was clear—though much smaller, it took on the form of the larger creature by which it lay.

Artemis and Rigel gasped in unison.

Arawn didn't hesitate. He pointed his plasma rifle at its head. "We need to shoot this one too," he said.

"What for?"

"We can hide it and save it for tomorrow."

And with this, Arawn pulled the trigger.

*   *   *

The Abbot's quarters looked quite alien to Arawn. The orange glow of his votive candles was replaced by a white, artificial light. A table now stood at the center of the room, on which sat the evening meal. Arawn's plate held the usual rice and cauliflower, but, for the first time since landing on Geneshtra, a cutlet of golden-brown meat lay on the side. The Abbot's plate was identical, though this portion of meat was much larger than Arawn's.

Abbot Kennedy's face twisted into an unusually large grin. With the increased quantity of light that now lit the room, they appeared crooked and yellow. "I must say, Arawn—I am very pleased with today's bounty. It is quite amazing to me. First, you and your small squadron were the poorest performing unit in the parish. But today you bring us the largest manifestation of the Unseen we've seen since we've settled this ungodly planet."

"All my squadron did differently was engage in constant prayer to the Holy Mother during our hunt," Arawn explained. "I believe that this act alone led to our success. We felt our minds and steps guided to the right place. We felt her presence behind as we engaged in battle."

The Abbot nodded. "The power of the Holy Mother is truly an amazing resource."

"It is," Arawn agreed.

"I do, however, want to leave you with the following proverb."

The Abbot cleared his throat. "Faith and dedication is proven by repeated action. Even the devil himself can occasionally perform a miracle if it is to deceive."

Arawn took a deep breath and bowed his head in a feigned show of reverence. "Very wise words, Abbot. I will keep them in mind. But I will say this—I am confident that our new method will bring us continued success in the future."

Abbot Kennedy picked up the knife that lay beside his plate. The object appeared small and diminutive when handled by his sausage-like fingers. "That is reassuring to hear, Arawn. I'm glad we talked."

The Abbot cut into his meat. A look of ravenous hunger filled his eyes as he watched the juices bubble off the surface of his blade. "Now, let's eat."