Heaven's Mount, Siki Country, Old World
Powerful winds howl as they rush across the vast mountain range which dominates Siki, causing the unstable landscape to shift as the titanic roots holding up some parts are moved around. Chunks of stones fall from the rocky landscape as the midnight windstorm grows stronger by the minute, making the area even more hazardous than before.
The racket created by the environment at this moment is truly deafening, with the event drowning out all but the loudest of sounds. Clouds are continually moved around by the galeforce winds; this in turn constantly alters the region's visibility, with some areas being very clear, whilst others are shrouded in a thick and near impenetrable veil of mist.
Life on and around Heaven's Mount is very hard; the constantly changing environment makes certainty impossible here, forcing organisms to keep adapting to the landscape's unpredictability. Suddenly, bolts of lightning erupt from within a cluster of storm clouds, unleashing mighty blasts of thunder. As flashes of light periodically illuminate the surrounding region, they reveal a bloody trail along the mountainside. With another blast of light, the storm illuminates a heavily injured Shah Dalamadur. Pulling itself over the landscape, the colossal elder dragon leaves behind more of its blood as the fluids pour out of the gaping wounds in its body.
Having recently shed its old skin, this individual would have usually stayed underground to let its new hide harden, and in staying cool, accelerate the process. However, with the breeding season for Dalamadurs happening now, it took the risk of coming out early to mate, thinking it would be worth it; unfortunately for the Shah Dalamadur, this was a big mistake. While it was trying to court another member of its species, it was attacked by a rival. Caught off guard, the Sha Dalamadur was horrifically mauled and barely managed to escape, left in critical condition. As the elder dragon pulls itself across the mountain, its vision becomes blurry as the continuous blood loss takes a toll.
Starting to blackout, the colossal animal loses its grip and slips down the rocky slopes. Tumbling for a bit, the Shah Dalamadur's body finally comes to rest on a flatter part of the mountainside. Letting out a deafening crash upon landing, the death of the elder dragon awakens many of the species in the surrounding region, and soon, it provides them with a rare feast.
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The sun starts rising over the fractured sea of clouds and towering peaks, its presence turning the sky a blueish-yellow and chasing off the darkness of night. As rays shine down upon the landscape, the tallest of mountains create enormous shadows, building a tapestry of light and darkness.
As sun rays seep through the shifting cloud cover, creating brief spots of light in the sea of shade, a large shadow moves across one of the illuminated areas. Moving under the shaft, Tyrant, an adult female Deviljho, sniffs the air as she searches for any signs of something she can eat, the sunlight revealing the scars covering her entire body as she emerges from the shade.
Largest and most aggressive of all brute wyverns, Tyrant's species strikes terror into nearly anything that sees them, with only elder dragons and a select few monsters capable of standing up to these animals. The reason why so many fear Deviljhos is because of the sheer power these creatures can demonstrate. Their legs, tail, torso, and neck are heavily muscled, giving the brute wyverns the ability to exhort an incredible amount of strength, allowing them to overpower most adversaries; however, this raw might does come at a major cost.
To fuel this muscle mass, Deviljhos must eat a lot to replace the huge amounts of calories they use up every day, putting them in a state of near-constant hunger. Because of this drawback, these brute wyverns spend most of their lives traveling over enormous distances to seek out food which causes them to burn through even more energy, so when an opportunity arises, they won't hesitate to take it, no matter how big, small, fast, or dangerous their potential meal is.
Smelling her surroundings, Tyrant keeps moving forward as she tries to detect anything of interest, her heavy footsteps shaking the less stable parts of the ground beneath her. Aware of the very unstable terrain, the Deviljho is very careful about where she steps. Her body may be very tough, bearing the scars of just how much damage it has been subjected to throughout her lifetime, yet she knows that falling from this height would certainly kill her.
The life of a Deviljho is already pretty hard; however, this challenge of survival is significantly harder for Tyrant and other members of her species living in Siki. Stranded on a mountainous island, this population can't travel to another region of the old world, the sea separating them from the mainland being too wide to swim across. With so many obstacles preventing her from going to a more profitable area, Tyrant simply has to make do with what she's given. Sniffing the ground around her, the Deviljho detects some very faint scent trails, finally giving her an idea of where she has to go.
Her eyesight may not be the best compared to other brute wyverns, but she has an incredibly potent sense of smell, allowing her to pick up the aromas left behind by other creatures even when they're hours or days old. The scent is too weak for Tyrant to identify what animal it belongs to, but what she can figure out is that multiple individuals of the same species are all heading in the same direction, and they are notably smaller than herself.
Tossing a thin layer of dust off the ground with a snort, the Deviljho raises her head and starts following the scent trails across the rocky landscape, her acute sense of smell guiding her the whole time. Luckily for Tyrant, the creatures appear to have used a path wide and gentle enough for her to continue her pursuit.
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As Tyrant keeps following the odors, she eventually comes to a region with uneven terrain, making her traversal somewhat more complicated. Stepping around the sloping areas, the Deviljho occasionally finds herself clumsily jumping or climbing up ledges, actions that make her burn through her calories.
After scrambling over the landscape, Tyrant notices that the aroma she's been trailing is getting notably stronger, signaling she's approaching the source. Walking around for a little longer, the brute wyvern ultimately finds herself standing in front of a cave, its entrance barely large enough to let her through. Ducking slightly, Tyrant begins forcing her way into the cavern, her massive body colliding against the walls and ceiling in the process. It's far from comfortable inside the cave, but the Deviljho still has enough room to move and turn, so she's not forced to stop following the trail just yet.
Moving deeper into the tunnel, the brute wyvern constantly finds herself having to crouch down to avoid colliding with the undulating ceiling, though occasionally this still happens. This may be uncomfortable, but Tyrant has had to go through worse, so this continuous bumping is no more than an annoyance to her. Even as one particularly rough area opens an old scar, she barely takes notice of it; the years of regularly fighting other monsters have led her to build a high tolerance to pain.
Whilst Tyrant continues to push her enormous body through the catacombs, the scent trails become stronger than ever, notifying her that she's getting close. Suddenly, a herd of Kelbis dashes out from a chamber off to the side and bound past her, the sounds of her moving through the tunnel having alerted them to her presence. Tyrant quickly snaps her jaws at the fleeing mammals in an attempt to catch one, but every one of her attacks misses. Incapable of going back the way they entered, the Kelbis have no other choice but to move deeper into the tunnel as the Deviljho gives chase.
Normally, Kelbis wouldn't venture this far into caves as it could get them cornered; however, since the plants here are severely lacking in salt, the small animals need to visit salt licks to get this necessary mineral. Despite not being made to inhabit these subterranean caverns, the mammals are fairing much better than Tyrant as she continuously gets caught on lower areas of the ceiling.
As the two species continue this chase, the left side of the tunnel opens up to the surface. Unfortunately, this doesn't provide the Kelbis with a way out. Instead, it only serves to pin them between a wall of solid rock, a drop whose bottom is hidden by clouds, and the advancing Deviljho. Once again their only option is to move forward. With the threat of falling to their deaths, the herd slows down whilst passing this area, but before they can all cross safely, Tyrant catches up with them, lets loose a guttural roar, and causes panic to set in as the mammals start rushing away, colliding with one another as they do.
Seeing that this stretch of the tunnel is most certainly too narrow for her to cross without potentially falling, Tyrant lunges at the mammals in a final bid to get something. Her advancement causes the Kelbis that are still trapped on her side to stand their ground in a desperate attempt to keep her away. The herbivores swing their horns around, but this doesn't phase the massive brute wyvern in the slightest, and she snaps her jaws down on one of the animals.
Shaking her head, Tyrant's teeth sink deeper into her prey, causing massive amounts of damage to the body before swallowing the animal whole, the highly specialized teeth on her tongue making the task easier. As more of the smaller mammals make the crossing, the Deviljho snatches another by its leg and throws it into a wall before picking it up again and devouring it in a single gulp.
While Tyrant is distracted the remaining animals make it to the other side, finally giving them some form of safety. Snorting, the Deviljho momentarily contemplates trying to cross as the two Kelbis she did eat didn't satisfying her hunger, but she quickly decides against it. Turning around, she stomps away and begins heading back to the surface.
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As the sun reaches its peak, marking the arrival of midday, a westerly wind moves through the mountains, momentarily pushing the cloud cover away, and allowing the area to be bathed in light. But this change in scenery goes unnoticed by Tyrant. All she cares about right now is finding more food. The Kelbis she devoured earlier may have given her some energy, but their small mass is nowhere near enough to keep her satiate; if she wants to get the calorie count needed to stay alive, the Deviljho is going to need something much bigger.
Stomping around the stony landscape, Tyrant hears something nearby. Although it's not an animal, it's still something that is of interest to her. Moving across the terrain with some slight difficulty, the massive brute wyvern eventually makes one more turn and sees a flowing mountain stream. Walking over to the water source, the Deviljho bends down and starts eagerly lapping up the cool liquids into her maw. As Tyrant drinks from the stream, she takes this peaceful moment to stop her search and have a small break. Sitting by the flowing water, the brute wyvern doesn't do anything. She just takes in her surroundings and allows the sun to warm her body while a light breeze rolls over her back.
This tranquility is something Tyrant rarely gets the chance to experience, and for the briefest of moments, she manages to forget about her intense hunger. Breathing calmly, the Deviljho ignores the things going on around her; even as she smells a small Jaggi pack carefully approaching the stream, she doesn't stand up nor attempt to hunt them. Turning her head towards the Jaggis, the much smaller animals either flee immediately or freeze in place. Tyrant simply looks at the theropod bird wyverns before going back to watching the landscape before her. Seeing the opportunity to drink, the Jaggis quickly quench their thirst before sprinting away from the scene, not waiting for Tyrant to change her mind.
After looking around for a little longer, the Deviljho gets to her feet and stretches, letting out a yawn as she does. Though she enjoyed this moment of peace, she still needs to find more food. Before she resumes her hunt, Tyrant starts scraping her head across the ground to sharpen the hundreds of teeth she possesses, making sure they are ready to do as much damage as possible when the time comes. Once she's done doing this action, the Deviljho starts stomping away from the stream and up the mountain, smelling for any promising scents.
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Tyrant continues scaling up the titanic mountain, her quest to find food having yet to be accomplished. As midday turns to afternoon, the landscape's unpredictable weather shifts drastically as the clouds around the area grow dark. The brute wyvern is used to these sudden changes; she can tell that rain is about to start.
Aware of how slippery the rocks can get when wet, Tyrant hastily moves away from the clouds, not wanting to get caught in a downpour that may cause a rockslide, something that's very common in this region. As the Deviljho keeps moving, she can feel a few raindrops, making her quicken her pace until she gets out of the storm's current range, finally arriving at a clearing containing the remains of some old buildings.
As the Deviljho moves through the ruins, the buildings' colorless and ripped banners flapping in the wind, she detects something strange in the air. Sniffing her surroundings, Tyrant tries to identify what the odor is; she knows that she's encountered this aroma before, but she just can't quite figure out what it is.
Suddenly, a Seltas flies past Tyrant's face, momentarily surprising her, but she quickly recovers and snaps at the neopteron with her jaws. The invertebrate moves away from her before it's abruptly grabbed and yanked behind a pillar. Stomping over to where the animal disappeared, the Deviljho turns the corner to be met by a Seltas Queen, its male counterpart caught between the pincers on its tail.
Using the special organs in its tail, the Seltas Queen produced a concoction of pheromones to attract the much smaller male, and now that it has the Seltas in its clutches, the larger female releases another substance from the long appendage, causing its sexually dimorphic counterpart to become very aggressive. Placing the fooled animal onto its back, the enormous neopteron shrieks at Tyrant, making it clear to her that it feels threatened by her presence and that it's ready to stand its ground.
For most creatures, this threat of having to deal with both neopterons would be enough to make them back down, but for Tyrant, this is a chance to get an actual meal. Not bothered by this warning in the slightest, the Deviljho charges forward and swings her head at the two invertebrates, forcing the Seltas Queen to step back to avoid her attack. Springing into action, the Seltas Queen charges at Tyrant while its male counterpart swings its first set of limbs at her. As all three creatures collide, the brute wyvern is slightly taken aback by the amount of force behind that counterstrike; however, she quickly recovers and grabs the Seltas.
Although her species is the most powerfully built brute wyvern and able to swell their already large muscles to massive proportions when stressed, their bite force is surprisingly weak, which means Tyrant is incapable of breaking through the Seltas's exoskeleton; however, she has other ways of busting its armor open. With her interlocking teeth making it harder for the invertebrate to escape, the Deviljho starts swinging her head around, smashing the poor neopteron against things, including the Seltas Queen it was supposed to be protecting.
Realizing that it's in trouble, the Seltas Queen tries retreating, but Tyrant is faster and she quickly catches up. Lifting her entire upper body, the Deviljho uses all the power in her neck to slam her tooth-covered chin down on the neopteron, breaking off a corner of its carapace.
With the chunk giving way, the Deviljho proceeds to slam into the ground, momentarily stunning her, and allowing the wounded Seltas Queen to make its escape. If the brute wyvern's aim wasn't off, this attack could have killed the massive female, but while the large invertebrate managed to flee, its male counterpart isn't so lucky. Still trapped in Tyrant's jaws as she gets up, the Seltas is savagely thrown across the ground before crashing into the stone gateway.
Crippled and mauled beyond comprehension, the neopteron is barely clinging to life as Tyrant stomps over to it, and with a devastating chin slam, crushes its body. As the Deviljho raises her head, chunks of exoskeleton, muscle, and green blood stick to her lower jaw before falling to the ground. This isn't as much food as she was hoping for, but the brute wyvern isn't one to be particularly picky, and she starts feasting upon her newest victim.
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As the day nears its end, Tyrant continues to search for more food, her burning hunger still unsatisfied as her muscles keep demanding more calories. This is unfortunately something that happens a lot, with her body's high energy demands making it hard for her to stay satiated for long.
Even as the sun starts setting, all she can think about is getting something to eat; luckily for her, she doesn't need to sleep as much as most animals, giving her more time to look for food. As she moves over the mountain, she sees a Remobra fly past her, heading towards more of its species in the distance. Although the snake wyverns wouldn't be much of a meal, Tyrant knows that they're scavengers, making it worth her time to follow them. Trailing the Remobras, Tyrant eventually starts smelling the unmistakable scent of dried blood; this causes her to quicken her pace, the aroma growing stronger the closer she gets to the source. Finally, after making one more turn, the Deviljho sees something incredible: the Shah Dalamadur's corpse.
This is without a doubt the best thing she could have come across. Without a moment's hesitation, Tyrant sprints over to the body and begins looking around for an opening on the colossal carcass. Eventually, the Deviljho discovers a massive bite mark on the elder dragon's side and immediately starts tearing into it.
Stuffing her head as far down as she can, the Deviljho uses her teeth to deal deep slashes to the body and carve out massive chunks of meat, devouring every one of them as soon as they're prod free from the immense carcass. Occasionally, some areas are too hard for Tyrant to bite through; however, she makes short work of these obstacles by repeatedly slamming her lower jaw into the corpse, eventually busting through the thicker parts of the hide.
While Tyrant continues gutting the corpse, the Remobras surrounding her start picking away at the gashes she has widened, allowing them even more access to the meat hidden beneath the massive scales. Soon, some Jaggis also arrive, letting the Deviljho open the body, then start feasting upon the fallen elder dragon once the brute wyvern is done with a section.
After ripping through the dead Shah Dalamadur, the Deviljho feels something she hasn't felt for a very long time: she's full. Pulling away from the gargantuan corpse, the brute wyvern walks over to an overhang and lays down, allowing herself to finally go to sleep. Even with her ravenous hunger, it will still take her some time before she has to go out hunting again. For now, Tyrant has managed to find a food source that can sustain her.