The sky was sealed beneath heavy, leaden clouds. The first drops had barely been noticed; the warm earth swallowed them instantly. But soon the rain intensified. The wind shifted direction. The sky split open, and the storm descended upon the savanna.

  The rain did not only halt the soil, it halted life itself.

  The starving Nuxali pack had taken refuge along the riverbank. For days, they had failed to secure a proper kill. The large herbivores had vanished, and even the smaller creatures disappeared before they could approach. Hunger had settled deep into their bones.

  Yet they had not scattered.

  That was because of Alexander.

  His attempts to hunt in the water had first been dismissed. Then the Queen had claimed the method as her own. Now the pack regularly attempted to fish in the river.

  They could not be called successful.

  But neither were they completely failing.

  In the shallows, they had managed to catch a few small fish, even pulling strange crab-like creatures with hard shells from the water. The meat was scarce, the shells troublesome… but it was enough to quiet their empty stomachs for a while.

  As the rain intensified, the pack waited beneath the trees.

  The ground was beginning to soften.

  The pack lay scattered beneath the trees, their ribs rising and falling in a slow, exhausted rhythm. Rain struck their backs and streamed down their thick hides, mixing with the softening soil below. Hunger had dulled their movements; even the tails that normally twitched with restless tension were now almost still.

  Alexander rested his jaw against the wet ground, listening to the storm.

  The roar of the rain nearly masked the faint vibration rising from beneath the earth.

  At first it was only a deep, distant tremor, but Alexander’s eyes snapped open.

  The ground shifted again. Stronger this time.

  A wave of pressure climbed from his legs up along his spine.

  Earthquake.

  The word formed instantly in his mind. But he had never felt one like this before.

  The shaking intensified suddenly. The earth twisted. The river shuddered, its surface breaking into chaotic waves. Nuxali bodies lurched upright in confusion as the world tilted violently from side to side.

  The tremors grew worse.

  Alexander’s mind tried to calculate, magnitude eight… perhaps even higher. The shaking went on and on. Far too long. Seconds stretched into what felt like hours. It did not weaken. It grew stronger.

  A deafening crack split the air.

  It was not thunder.

  The sound came from the earth itself.

  The ground was tearing apart.

  Somewhere in the distance, the land split open with a grinding roar, as if a mountain were being torn in two. Trees collapsed. Birds burst upward in panic.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  The rupture was not directly beneath them, but it was close enough.

  The shaking continued for minutes.

  Alexander tried to stand, but another violent wave threw him down. He dropped to all fours, claws digging into mud. Around him, pack members stumbled, collided, and screamed.

  They were in complete chaos.

  The earth convulsed once more.

  Then slowly…

  The violence began to fade.

  The tremors weakened into smaller aftershocks.

  And finally, they stopped.

  Only the rain remained.

  Alexander forced himself back onto all fours. His muscles trembled. He looked around.

  The landscape was unrecognizable. Trees leaned at broken angles; some had fallen entirely. The riverbank had collapsed in places, and the water ran thick and muddy.

  A scream rose through the rain.

  Alexander turned.

  One of the Nuxali hunters had been crushed when the tree he had rested beneath toppled onto him. The heavy trunk had shattered his lower body. The hunter thrashed weakly, emitting broken, choking sounds.

  The others hesitated.

  The Queen’s mental presence flickered, unstable and strained.

  Alexander tore his gaze away from the wounded hunter and looked toward the distance.

  Beyond the curtain of rain, the savanna had changed.

  And then he saw it.

  Five or six kilometers away, the earth had split open like a massive wound.

  A colossal fissure stretched across the plain.

  The savanna had been opened from within.

  For a few seconds, no one moved.

  Rain poured into the open wound of the earth, vanishing into the darkness below. The fissure was wider than any river they had ever seen, its shape raw and uneven, stretching in jagged curves for kilometers. Mud and torn roots hung from its walls.

  Then the scent reached them.

  It came like a heavy wave, metallic, rich, almost sweet.

  Blood.

  Far stronger than the smell from the crushed hunter behind them. Fresher. Abundant.

  The Queen’s mental presence stabilized instantly. Hunger found direction.

  Alexander felt it too. The scent cut through rain and mud, suppressing shock and fear. It dragged a primal hunger to the surface within them all.

  The command spread through the pack.

  Move.

  No one questioned it.

  They left the dying hunter where he lay. His weak screams followed them for a time, thin, broken sounds swallowed by storm and distance. None of them looked back.

  As they approached the fissure, the scent intensified until it was nearly suffocating. Along the way, the ground had collapsed inward, forming sloped paths of loose soil and exposed stone.

  They moved carefully and finally reached the edge.

  And then they saw them.

  The fissure was at least forty meters deep, and its walls were riddled with hundreds of tunnels burrowed into the exposed earth, dark passages stretching downward. Some narrow. Others wide enough for several Nuxali to enter side by side.

  At the mouth of every tunnel grew clusters of red mushrooms.

  Their caps were deep crimson with irregular white markings. Their thick stems looked swollen, as if filled with fluid. Rain slid over their surfaces, yet the scent did not fade.

  If anything, it grew stronger.

  And it did not come only from the mushrooms, the tunnels themselves exhaled it. The smell from within felt even denser. More alive.

  Alexander narrowed his eyes. He desperately wanted to eat them, but he could not see a way down.

  The Queen’s impatient, oppressive command struck every mind.

  Find a way down.

  The order stung, but none resisted. The pack began circling the fissure, searching for a descent.

  Eventually, one of the hunters found a narrow path.

  The Queen sensed it immediately and summoned the entire pack.

  They climbed down single file along a dangerous, crumbling trail and finally reached the bottom.

  The Queen stepped forward and inhaled deeply over one of the mushrooms. She hesitated, then forced a hunter to eat first.

  Through the mental link, she experienced everything the hunter felt as he consumed it.

  The pleasure.

  The satisfaction.

  It fascinated her.

  Without hesitation, she lunged and bit into one herself.

  The thick red flesh split easily. The interior was pale and fibrous, glistening like raw meat.

  For a heartbeat, the mental field fell silent.

  Then pleasure and fulfillment radiated outward from the Queen to the entire pack.

  After that wave of sensation, they surged toward the tunnel entrances.

  Alexander hesitated only half a second before tearing one free.

  The flesh was warm despite the rain.

  He bit down.

  The taste was perfect, dense and deeply satisfying.

  Energy flooded his body instantly.

  After days of surviving mostly on fish, Alexander felt as if he were in paradise.

  Around him, the pack tore into the mushrooms with wild hunger.

  The rain continued to fall without pause.

  For hours, they ripped the growth from the earth and devoured it; for the first time in days, their hunger truly faded. Their bodies grew heavy, smeared with mud and red fibers.

  That night, in the torn soil of the savanna, the Nuxali pack slept with full stomachs for the first time in a long while.

  ------------------------

  If you liked it and would like to read more, you can follow my book.