16 Strange Beast

The most bizarre creature Tyrant had ever seen stood silently in the entranceway.

Tyrant had no idea where such a thing could possibly have come to be.

It had a height of what looked to be about 100 centimeters, and had thin arms and legs, 2 large eyes, no snout, and generally petit, as though infantile. Though that wasn't what was weird about it.

What stumped Tyrant was the fact that it was completely and utterly defenseless!

It had no scales, fur, or tough leather to speak of. Only a weird, pale, elastic covering that looked as though it could be pierced by grains of sand. Wait, it did have fur, but it was only on it's head for some reason.

It had no fangs, talons, or claws. There were only flat teeth and nails where they were supposed to be.

Its body shape was also weird! It stood straight up like a stick in the ground and had no tail to speak of! If there was one thing he had to commend, it would be the extraordinary balance this species had!

It also wore strange armor, that looked as if it didn't defend anything. It was thin and flexible, but looked as if it could be torn through as easily as the walls of internal organs. It also covered most of it's body, so he could not tell it's gender.

The closest thing he could think of that was remotely similar were the prairie apes he encountered before. But the only similarities was being bipedal and tailless. They still had claws and fangs, as well as hard leather and fur. Yet even they had to have their large arms on the ground to move large distances. While this strange beast had walked a distance on 2 legs without being deferred whatsoever.

Yet even though it had this unique feature, its physique was frail, to say the least. The bones looked thin, flesh weak, and muscles pathetic. He could bet that this creature could be blown over by the slightest of winds.

Even if it was infantile, he couldn't see it's potential whatsoever. Tyrant couldn't fathom how such a creature possibly survived the course of natural selection.

"*** *****"

It said something he once again failed to understand, then held out its hand. It was extraordinarily dainty, and it's fingers were thin and long.

Was it some sort of greeting? He didn't smell any sort of poison, so he cautiously put his paw on it's hand while he watched it attentively. At the same time he continued to sway his tail threateningly, with his tail blade unsheathed, prepared to pierce it's throat in an instant.

But somehow the strange beast didn't seem to notice his threat, and stared resolutely at his paw, closing it's hand and squeezing his paw strangely.

Tyrant immediately pulled his paw back, while jumping back as he hissed at the strange beast.

The anomaly didn't approach recklessly this time, and instead stared at him with big, curious eyes.

What was that? He was sure he had never been touched in such a way before, and it was spine shivering.

He had the weirdest feeling. It didn't hurt, but he felt a stirring in his heart he didn't recognize. Was it some sort of hypnotism technique? He had once before encountered a species that influenced his mind with flashing lights before. But this was different, a mere touch sent him in such disarray.

He didn't understand this creature at all, it didn't act hostile, and in-fact, it was strangely friendly.

He felt incredibly suspicious. Why was this thing so confident? It approached him without caution and touched without warning, and was not perturbed by his threat in the slightest.

Maybe it had some mysterious methods, like the shiny wolf from before.

Tyrant decided that, before he tried to kill it, he should learn more about this species and and it's intentions. In the meanwhile, he decided he would cooperate with this strange creature.

The creature was still staring at him. He wasn't sure what it wanted.

This time Tyrant took the initiative to approach, and held out his paw like it did to him. He didn't take risks, and only imitated it's gestures.

The creature instantly became excited and revealed a look that was similar to that of a predator to it's prey.

He realized that he made a mistake and immediately began to withdraw his paw, but the creature had already snatched it. Tyrant was astonished by the sudden swiftness and prepared for a severe injury.

But unexpectedly to him, the creature just rubbed his paw incessantly with that excited look.

Tyrant was perplexed, and at the same time suffering from that strange feeling.

He did not resist. He intended to communicate with the creature and show his intention to cooperate. For this reason, he must resist, and allow it to rub his paws for whatever reason it had.

Instead, he tried to understand the meaning of it's action. He soon began to find the feeling familiar.

Eventually he realized it was the kind of feeling he felt from his parents or children at times, back in the Abyss.

Was this weird creature trying to give him... affection?

At this time the creature released his paw.

Tyrant was relieved, finally rid of the discomfort from the unexplained affection, when the creature suddenly embraced him.

"?!" Tyrant was dumbfounded once more. What was this gesture? Then he recognized this technique, it was a move he once witnessed a stout bipedal creature use. It grabbed a similar sized beast before breaking it's spine with the sheer force capitalized from the hold.

But this was different, he wasn't being harmed by it. Either this weird creature didn't intend to hurt him, or was just pitifully weak. He assumed the former based on the strength of the hold.

He then started to feel the same feeling as before. Could it be that this was another gesture of affection?

What was wrong with this thing? It kept giving him this unwanted affection and giving him feelings he didn't ask for.

For what mysterious purpose does this creature have for giving affection to a specie other than it's own? Tyrant couldn't make heads nor tails of it as he silently accepted it.