Presence

Five years have passed, sitting in a tree all while watching the god forsaken souls of this world wonder endlessly; every now and then, one passes by and that's where this story begins. This world is my new home, this is Presence.

I'm in deep thought resting on one of the larger branches in a tree, zoned out on a street light across the road with it bulb flickering. A faint buzzing coming from it some how locking me in a trance when I'm interrupted by a distant growl. Catching my attention I snap out of it and back to reality to see a a small for legged creature walking down the sidewalk beneath my tree. The humans here refer to these as a Severant. It's about the size the of your average twin mattress with no hair and a salmon pink tone to its skin. Tonight has been a rather dull night for me so for entertainment I convince myself to follow it for a few. After an hour or so and a decent walk across town it heads down an alley and I go for the kill. Throwing one of my blades at it and getting lodged in its back it finally notices me and starts to run, myself giving chase. Just before we reach the other end of the alley I catch up to it and throw myself onto its back. Reaching with my remaining blade I wrap my arm around its neck giving it a clean slice killing it in only a few seconds. The wound just right causing its trachea to fill with blood, suffocating the creature not giving it a chance to make a sound. However knowing myself I cant help but reach through the wound and retrieve a portion of its airway. Now for the less than enjoyable task of lugging its lifeless body back to my tree to cook it for a midnight snack.

In Presence there are no police or court system. This world survives purely on mutual trust between its inhabitants. However life often isn't that smooth, one bump in the road, any mild inconvenience can can derail the entire train. Insert myself. In a world like this, I'm free to do what I please with no consequence. Now don't take me wrong for being some sort of villain, I have my morals but we'll get to that later. For now my story is simple. Do what the spirit told me to and I'll get to continue on in peace. Even if my version of peace isn't the most ideal for others in terms of the value of their ability to consider themselves alive. As much as I do personally value life, I've learned its not always a gift to be grateful for. To me, that gift is me having the chance to live here. Free from the distraught I left behind such as my family or lack of companions and friendships. My only worry if you would call it that, is one simple condition...

Presence itself is a unique world to say the least. The sun has never shined here, its rays never providing their warmth. Yet the atmosphere isn't cold. Along with this rock or what ever we live on feeling, alive. A living, breathing organism in itself. I've seen lightning strikes start fires only for the sky to open up and drench it out. Presence heals itself, call it... Global warming in reverse. It's a living creature home to people like you and me, but also creatures that of movies. Teeth a foot long and claws that could disembowel you in a heart beat. The creatures range from nothing larger than rat to the prehistoric monsters that once ruled the earth. Thankfully, their usually mellow in temper and preferring to ignore you than swallow you in one bite. I don't know why there here or how any of us got here other than me. The history of how Presence came into existence is easier to imagine than try and find archives of. What ever it is or how it came to be, all I can tell you is that Presence is my home. A place of personal solitude and an escape from the life I despise. The only emotion one would feel is a hatred from seeing how dark humans can get and yet throw a mask to hold themselves in a higher light. I fear though, Presence wont be here for much longer. I can feel its time coming to an end and something is coming to destroy it.

I often find find myself  looking up at the night sky, watching the meteors race each other in an elegant dance. Again only to be distracted by yet another growl. Looking down I find another one of Presence's creatures walking by, this time it being what we call a Revonous. This one a decent amount larger than the Severant. I'd say about twenty feet in height, bipedal, and a thick almost leather like skin. A decent meal to last a few weeks. I slowly sit up and wait for it to pass just beneath me in my tree. As it passes under the branch I'm sitting on I jump down aiming for it back, unfortunately missing by a few feet and landing on its tail. I dig in with my blades to stop me from sliding off, this however causes the Revonous to let out a bellowing roar and start to swipe its claws at me. Putting one blade above the other I start to make my way up its back eventually reaching its head. Going for its eyes I blind the creature to make my job a bit easier, given I still have to avoid it swinging at me. Throwing myself into the air the Revonous faces up at me and opens its jaws; me falling back down I enter its throat and let it consume me. Now the one beautiful flaw about the Revonous is they tend to forget how to chew their food, preferring to swallow things whole. Before it has time to digest me I start cutting me way through its body and exit its chest with its heart in my hand. The Revonous on the other hand is still alive, these creatures in particular have several of each organ allowing it take massive damage and walk away. Bearly jumping out of the way, the Revonous slams its tail on the ground next to me leaving a nice crack in the sidewalk. Jumping back up I burry my blades into its lower stomach, pulling out its intestines. Its organs staining the concrete with the Revonous following suit. Its own body weight crushing it organs leading to its death. Taking a good effort I cut off one of its arms and drag it back over to my fire. A salvageable seventy pounds of meat, plenty to last me.