Zabin Laur’ke
“Dusk fell on than-guan causing shadows to grasp their ever growing tendrils across the jungle floor. In the distance, sharp claps of gunfire percussed a steady rhythm as the ooman tribes spelt out their differences in blood. A beast named shadow stalked the shadows around a cenotaph, waiting for their quarry.
It was smaller than its kin, and weaker too. Lar’ja had barely scraped through their trials. They had passed their first, it was bloody and they were almost killed serveral times. The prey they took down was equally unimpressive. Through their small stature, and small hunts Lar’ja hard been branded with the name insect, by all who knew of him.
A hunter by the name Yeyinde had committed a sin worth death. They had stolen the mask of an ancient elder, claimed that they were worthy of his legend, and that they were honouring his memory. The Laur’ke had been alerted to this trespass against the ancients. Looking to bolster their ranks they offered the hunt to the newly blooded. Lar'ja had taken an oath to kill Yeyinde, to protect the ancient temple. He had haunted his prey for days, tracking by the ways of old, and ignoring his technology. Yuatja were too reliant on their cloaks, masks, and bracers, if he relied on his technology Lar'ja would too be easy to spot.
As dusk turned to night and the shadows consumed the foliage, Lar'ja became aware of a disturbing of leaves, a rustle of movement. The familiar shimmer of a thermal cloak disrupted the air as the hunter Yeyinde stood tall in front of the cenotaph. It was clear enough that he cared not for honour, as he seized his hands on the Sandstone door slowly cracking it open.
Lar'ja exploded out of the treeline, launching himself shoulder first into the back of Yeyinde. Shadow failed to do anything other than bounce off of Yeyinde’s hulking frame, stumbling in between the bad blood and the sandstone door.
“I have been sent to kill you ic'jit! You must die for your crimes.” Lar'ja cried out, shuffling to his feet and drawing Bakuub his spear.
“You… Insect… Will bring me down? You are not worthy of this task, your will is as weak as your flesh! Both shall be torn open shall you not let me pass.”
“You must die.” Lar'ja retorted “I swore an oath.”
“Then you will break it!” Yeyinde cackled, crashing his hydraulic grip around Lar'ja’s throat. Lar'ja, fumbled in reply, losing his footing across the loose leaf covered ground as he attempted to haul Yeyinde back. Yeyinde cocked their head in amusement at the attempt, flinging Lar'ja against the door, spraying a cloud of green blood. Dazed, Lar'ja gasped for air.
“Killing you will do the elders proud!” roared Yeyinde, dragging aside the sandstone to reveal the cenotaph within “You are not Yautja! You are weak! Your tainted blood has no place in the hunt!” He punctuated each insult by pummeling Lar'ja against the sandstone, sending Bakuub skittering across the cenotaph floor.
Squirming, Lar'ja finally found his grip, planted a foot in a crack in the ground and launched himself backwards, sending Yeyinde skywards breaking their grip from his throat. Yeyinde, the larger of the two, was the first on his feet.
“Enough play, you are prey, you deserve a prey’s death” clicked Yeyinde, spreading wide his mandibles, and taking a ceremonial dagger from atop one of the empty sarcophagi.
“This is a sacred tomb Yeyinde! You take what doesn’t belong to you, and spill the blood of a Yautja in these walls? I am bound to kill you, you will die!”
“You are not Yautja, this is but a sacrifice, to the elders, no one will remember your name Insect.” Laughed Yeyinde, lunging forth with the dagger raised aloft in both hands.
Lar'ja drew his own dagger, darting forth to meet Yeyinde from below, aiming to drive their blade deep into Yeyinde’s trunk. He was not quick enough. Yeyinde was faster, bigger, and stronger. He simply batted Lar'ja’s blade aside with a swift kick to the shoulder. Yeyinde’s steel found its mark, biting hard into Lar'ja’s neck, spraying yet more vibrant green across the tomb. Lar'ja faltered and slipped in the viscera, his life gushing out of the hole in his throat.
“Just as I said Insect, easy, weak. Your life is mine to take”.
Yeyinde grasped the struggling Lar'ja by the back of their skull, bunching up their tendrils ready to cut them free.
Nau'je Luar’ke was watching from the cenotaph door. She decided that now was the time to show the heretic who’s honor he had questioned. She stepped in, and with a swift de-cloaking, cracked Yeyinde in the temple with her combistick.
“Yeyinde, you have desecrated this tomb.” She clicked without emotion.
Roaring, Yeyinde dropped Lar'ja’s form and charged. Nau'je bested him with ease, crashing the combistick down and behind his ankle, causing Yeyinde’s leg to buckle. She followed it up with a swift flurry of blows, cracking ribs, fracturing bones. Yeyinde, aware of the ever approaching nature of his death, lashed out, forcing Nau’je to step back. He took this chance to run, replacing his brave visage with that of a coward.
“On your feet Insect, you have failed your oath” Nau'je stated bluntly
“You are not a great warrior, Yeyinde is right. You are weak, you are small, you can not win in a test of might.”
“I can prove myself” Lar'ja coughed. “I can pull out that bad bloods bones and use them to mark my strength.”
“You will die trying, Shadow. An insect cannot bring down a giant through might, but through cunning and tact, they can make them hurt. To prove yourself you must bring down the traitor before the sun rises. In failing your duty they have taken what does not belong to him. He must be killed for it.”
With that, Nau'je departed leaving Lar'ja wounded, but alive. The humiliation was pain enough, he was proven weak. Pressing thwei crystals to his broken body, he gathered up Bakuub and stepped out into the night.
The beast named Shadow began the hunt.
Yeyinde had covered ground unknown, his teleport disabled by the Laur’ke ship above. The hulking form of Yeyinde left an easy trail to track, with footprints carved into the soft dirt, and snapped branches of the thick vegetation marking the way to Lar'ja’s quarry; it was only a matter of following in swift silence.
Lar'ja's mind raced along the way, Nau'je had spoken true, and he must swallow his pride. In an open fight to the death with Yeyinde Lar'ja was too weak, too small, and too easily bested. He would have to set a trap, and not one that Yeyinde could detect with his technology.
Lar'ja paused, Yeyinde’s tracks were growing closer and closer together. He had clearly stopped running, and these tracks could be fresh. The sky lightened ever slowly as Lar'ja’s trap was planned.
Yeyinde stepped into an oasis in the jungle with his thermal sight active, looking carefully at each opening to spot the familiar shimmer of a Yautja cloak. Nau'je would not sneak up on him. He strode into the waist high water, stopping briefly to survey the surroundings.
A sudden flash of a plasma caster lit up the treeline to his left. His eyes darted right to follow the tracer, but all he saw was motionless foliage.
Bang and flash filled his senses as the treeline cascaded into flames, he dropped his thermal sight crying out in pain as the overloaded sensors blinded him. Yeyinde widely unleashed a plasma volley on the treeline in panic.
White hot sharp pain thrust through his back and out his chest. He looked down in shock as blood turned the water green. His strength left him as he struggled to cry out, gargling blood.
“Killing you will do the elders proud.” Uttered a mud-covered Lar'ja as he drove Bakuub through Yeyinde’s heart, ending him and the hunt.
“You did well Lar’ja.” Nau'je noted stepping out from the shadows.
“You followed me?” Lar'ja asked.
Nau’je cocked her head in amusement. “You were bait, nothing more, but you proved yourself worthy.”
“I did as I promised Nau’je. But I am not Lar’ja. Yeyinde relied too much on his strength, stature, and technology. I am a hunter of a different nature. I am Zabin.
The sun rose on than-guan as the beast named Insect rose tall above his prey. His oath had been kept. His true name had been claimed. The tomb was safe once more.