The Razewes are the true dominant species of the planet Druont, but they are extremely deadly to any other species and demonstrate no interest in engaging others socially. Their use of technology and any social customs are unknown to mainstream Druintes who know the Razewes as vicious monsters that haunt their nightmares. They are mythic to mainstream Druintes who have not encountered the species since they left the forests long ago, but their bodies are sometimes found at the edges of the forests and serve as terrifying reminders of their place on the food chain. Razewes in their natural form are large, with a radius of over twelve feet, and they have eight legs like a spider. The brain of the Razewes are located in the bulbous head that connects their legs. They consume food by opening the mouth located on their underside. They have a seam along the underside of their arms and the bulb of their heads that folds out to expose many teeth in a membrane that oozes saliva. The Razewes eat by completely wrapping their bodies around their prey and it is an excruciating death for its meal, like being dropped into a slow moving wood chipper while still alive The Razewes are extremely fast in the trees, and there are legends that the Razewes can temporarily shape shift by exposing their insides, essentially turning themselves inside out, which can hold many forms and change colors for camouflage.
Because of the fearsome stories of the Razewes, mainstream Druintes do not believe that there are many Druintes who survive in the wilds of the forest.
Halgod was a Druinte of the wilds who was born under the roots of a large tree that eris family had called home. Wild Druintes are more social than mainstream Druintes and they have four distinct sexes; two are able to bare children. Halgod was the child of three Druintes who raised over twenty children together and was part of a network of Druintes who lived underneath nearby tree roots and shared resources like a community.
Halgod grew to become a leader of eris community and e became a legend when e killed a Razew hunting pack on eris own without a weapon, just eris long, retractable claws. The Razewes generally hunt in packs of four and they are extremely good at trapping prey in the wilds of the forest. The Druintes are the most difficult prey for the Razewes to catch, and coincidentally, they are also the most nutrient-rich. Druintes are no real match for the Razewes unless they vastly outnumber the predator.
Halgod led eris community successfully for many rounts and sired many children. One day, on a family trip to the ancient site that is believed to be the birthplace of Druinte culture, e was able to really study a group of mainstream Druintes who were also visiting the site. The ancient site is large and it is possible for mainstream Druintes to never encounter wild Druintes, who are known to avoid interaction with their evolutionary brethren who dressed strangely and did not engage their long nails for communication. While Halgod’s family enjoyed the waterfalls and lakes, e left them to watch the group of mainstream Druintes without letting erimself be seen. The group was a field trip of fifteen orphans with an adult chaperon and Halgod listened to the history lesson the chaperon gave.
It was Halgod’s first interaction with mainstream culture and he learned their story of the history of the Druinte race. Druintes of the wild know that Druintes were born from the waters of the great lakes after the creator of everything landed in the forest and brought the waters. Mainstream Druintes tell a drastically different story.
“The planet Druont has not always existed in this solar system, as you all know,” the chaperon explained to the orphans. “This planet formed in a solar system very far away and was piloted by the First People in search of a more hospitable sector of the universe. Druont is the result of the collision of a planet now known as Earth with another planetary body of its solar system. The precursors of Earth were split into two halves, and both formed up around it’s sun to become the hospitable worlds that they are today. Life formed much faster on early Druont and the chaos of it’s early solar system necessitated that the planet’s orbit change, or it would eventually spiral into the largest gas giant of the system and be destroyed. The First People of Druont developed technology that essentially pushed the planet out of its orbit and sent it rocketing into space, saving it from sure destruction, but dooming their own race that had not prepared for the effectiveness of their plan that caused the planet to overshoot its trajectory and resulted in it drifting deep into space. Druont is truly a wonder of the universe and it managed to survive a perilous journey through the cosmos before it settled in its current sector of space. This site is sacred to Druintes because it is the location where the technology of the ancient First People impacted the planet and moved it across the universe. Druintes can trace their lineage to these ancient First People, which suggests that if not for their ingenuity in saving the planet, the Druintes would never have come into being.”
Halgod eventually returned to eris family, and they returned home shortly after. E thought a lot about what e had heard and e wondered if it was true, if there was anyway to prove it.
E went to the flatlands and e stealthily observed mainstream society. E was struck with wonder at the life lived unencumbered by fear of the Razewes and e wanted eris family to enjoy that peace. But e knew that none of them would want to leave the forest. Instead, e took eris youngest child who had been recently born, and left erim at the Hall of Orphans with the name card Halgod 7 so that e would have a name like the others.
A few nights after killing it, Detectives Young and Colston met to bury the body of the strange monster that had followed Young home from the bar.
“I really wish you hadn’t called me,” Colston said as they arrived at a remote spot in the woods. Young drove, and they got out of the car to drag the body out of the trunk with effort.
“You know I hate to involve you,” Young said as they struggled. “I just can’t handle this myself and I ain’t answering questions about it. Let’s just get it done and forget it and you get everything you ask of me in the future.”
They dug the deepest grave they could manage in the dirt, but just as they were about to roll the body into the grave, they encountered a very tall black man in what appeared to be a shiny space suit with no helmet. Colston shrieked and Young noticed that the man only had three fingers, and the shortest had a long talon on it like the thing he had killed. It was similar but different and this man spoke to him.
“You killed the tracker? This is horrible news for your planet, truly horrible. The impossible has happened. A Razew has passed through the gateway and is loose on Earth. The tracker hoped to kill it before it developed a taste for humans. We must find it. You must find it or be responsible for the death of your species.”
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