3. Why The Fear?

Before humans finally realized the various mistakes they made, they committed many others including the indirect or direct extermination of native species on Earth, these occurrences unfortunately did not happen once or twice but countless times in human history, when these events happened wrong added to the Anthropocene, a specific branch of mass extinctions with humans responsible. In the 21st century, even people are aware that they had already exterminated several species, both animals and plants, due to the way they lived, yet they continued the way they were. What led to the well-known natural and artificial disasters that we all know about, what many forget in the midst of this is the fact that at that time several species of animals were also eliminated and were added to the Anthropocene branch for obvious reasons.

Among these species exterminated in the 21st century until the 23rd century were both large and small species. But thanks to a thread of consciousness and hope for the future, some scientists created the Ark, originally it would be a bunker to store the seeds of various species of plants (both those that failed to follow the evolutionary course and those that were decimated by humans), however, it soon also began to have a genetic collection with samples of both several contemporary species of the time and extinct species. With the objective of preservation and with advances in genetic engineering, the possible reintroduction of these species into life.

Around the 1st century C.E. (30th century AD) this goal can be achieved with maximum effectiveness, failing both Earth and several other worlds with extinct species giving them a second chance in a myriad of new environments providing new chances of success for various species.

And why so much information about extinct species that came back thanks to genetic engineering, simply because one of the descendants of these once extinct species affected by radiation, was right in front of Lucien, right above the small waterfall. The "base" of this creature seemed to be a mix of two terrestrial species and one avian species, a mole, a bear and an unidentifiable bird, but these similarities with the known species on Earth ended in the general view of the creature.

The base of the body resembled that of a bear and in general appearance, however the front and rear claws were long and thick, similar to those of a mole, with the difference being that these claws not only gave tools of space but also of attack considering the metallic reflection they gave. The creature's face was more mule-like with yellow-orange fur contrasting with the rest of the dark, earthy body, but in place of its red star-shaped snout, it had a segmented beak that had the same luster as the claws and different In birds, this beak had large, pointed teeth that prevented the jaw from closing completely, causing fetid, greenish saliva to fall into the crystal clear water of the stream. 

The differences with ancient terrestrial creatures didn't just end in the fact that it was a strange mixture of three animals, this creature also had 4 bright red eyes occupying the entire sclera with pulsing black veins around each one, 3 protuberances just above the eyes looking like horns , but with an appearance that resembled frosted obsidian crystals, with the one in the middle of the forehead being the largest at 10 cm and the two next to the skull measuring 7 cm.

She had a strong and heavy body and we couldn't be sure if the weight came from her muscles or fat, her body was covered in dark hair with variations between black, brown and red, although it could also be dried blood, if it was from the creature or what was left of it she fed on could not be said either. It was at least 6 meters high from the base of the coat to the top of the skull, and 8 meters long, covering the entire small stream. 

Along its body, it was also possible to notice protuberances in different places, similar to tumors or pustoles that were jumping. in the same rhythm as the veins around the creature's eyes and along its spine, more spines emerged, these being more similar to the creature's claws, only smaller. And finally you could notice something like a thin smoke coming out of the creature like an aura, but this vapor had a dark red tone and every second that the creature was there, this aura permeated all the plants and insects that made mistakes get too close to her.

*UUUURRRRUUUUURRRRUUUMMMMM*

The monster let out a sound that could be either a roar or a bird's chirp, and as it did so the aura expanded violently in all directions as the wave of wind carried with this aura hit plants, insects, small animals and even Even the fish below the small waterfall all died instantly.

"Now now, what mess have you made here?" Lucien said indifferently and slightly irritated at the creature for having messed up one of his favorite walking spots.

The creature in turn looked at the human with what could be described as amazement, but it was soon replaced by anger, by the audacity of a creature that could resist its power. The creature propelled itself and jumped from top to bottom extremely quickly considering its size, heading towards Lucien. Raising its right paw, concentrating more of the red aura in its claws, the creature was sure it would break the strange creature that had managed to resist its roar with a direct attack. However, when he was 3 meters away from the man, the creature was stopped abruptly in mid-air.

"Ho!, I didn't think there was an 8th grade creature with enough driving mastery to group in just one part of the body like that." Luciene said without being surprised by the creature that was approaching quickly from above. However, without even raising his hand, the creature was abruptly suspended in the air, 3 meters away from Lucien.

"I guess I'm a little impressed." Moving his hand, the creature was placed in a position that left it with its face horizontally facing Lucien.

Even though the creature wasn't exactly smart, and because it was always in a state of constant hunger and pain almost since it was born, it still had enough intelligence and self-awareness to realize that the prey in front of it was responsible for immobilizing her in the air and without showing any effort. It wouldn't be the first time that the creature had encountered a being with this type of ability, but all the others were only able to hold it for a few moments or delay it and in both cases the being that did so showed pain or remained in some type of condition position as if they were holding something heavy. However, the being in front of her, which she had only considered as prey a few moments ago, showed no sign of that, it seemed to be completely indifferent towards her.

No matter how hard he tried to move, he couldn't move anything other than his eyes. Lucien fearlessly approached the creature, which in a futile act of resistance tried to force the dark red aura towards its "beak". But nothing happened, his strongest attack was as useless as the rest of his body as the human got closer and closer until he was right in front of him.

In a final act of resistance, the creature sent a low-frequency warning and soon.

*SSVVIIIIIIHHHAAAA*

4 shadows jumped from the trees, 2 coming from the right and 2 from the left. But just like the giant creature, they were also stopped 3 meters away from Lucien, these smaller creatures were clearly lizards but the size of wild cats with fur on their scales, unlike what would be common for clearly quadrupedal creatures they had on their backs. true 6 legs, two protuberances on the shoulder blades and two tails that have mines in thorns. Also unlike the larger creature, these smaller creatures only had 2 completely orange eyes and 2 dark stone horns next to their skulls.

"Hmm, now that makes sense, you were smart enough to use a group of 5th degree contaminated people as a distraction and came digging under the detection nets. Pretty smart for a super-developed mole." Lucien said, looking into the larger creature's eyes, and trying to ignore the putrid smell of the 5 creatures around her. He moved his hand again and the 4 smaller creatures were soon lined up next to the larger one.

"I think we're going to have to reformulate the drone routes or just create more, right?" He said in a tone of amusement to no one in particular.

"Now what to do with you, usually when someone enters my house without permission I just eliminate them. But you seem strangely different from normal. Too bad I won't be able to be sure if the other creatures you brought would also be respectful." Lucien said in a serious tone to the larger creature, which as its only form of resistance could only growl in response to the human's tone.

Suddenly Lucien seemed to have been shocked for less than 1 second, then he looked back at the creature with a smile on his face.

"Oh, actually it looks like some even managed to get away with it. Congratulations." He said quite happily, receiving just another growl from the creature and a chorus of indignant squeals from the minor criticisms. Luciene just shrugged and turned to the forest on the left just after the stream, moments later humanoid figures began to come out of the trees carrying several creatures identical to the smaller ones that had attacked him, these creatures were being brought in domes of blue energy in the palm of humanoid beings. For an attentive observer, it was obvious that the humanoid beings were not human, they were highly advanced mouthless androids with several veins of energy throughout their bodies that moved with ease, without any type of resistance like a living being.

"Well, now that we're all together, let's discuss the best way to deal with you." Luciene said to all the creatures with genuine happiness, even with a predatory smile on her face.

At that moment, a monster measuring at least 5 meters, covered in muscles and hair harder than iron, and with only basic intelligence and extremely refined instincts, felt an emotion that he rarely felt.

Fear.