View on furaffinity here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/38040263/

View in high quality here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6s9vicadgxaf0cb/Hunted%20by%20the%20Kindred.mp3?dl=0

Probably my longest and most ambitious audio-based piece to-date, commissioned by CodeX! A long PoV piece about you, a hunter, accidentally taking the kill of the legendary hunters, Death themselves, the Kindred. One mark later and you're sprinting through the woods to get away. Will you make it? It's hard to say. Find the mini-story/script below!

0:00: It's the dead of winter, and you've been sent out on a hunt. The bitter cold is backed by a light, whistling wind that enhances its bite. The snow crunches under your boots--you've been out here for hours, and it seems like you're not going to find to a damn thing. The trees are high all around you, snow hanging from their dead branches.

0:21: A strange, ethereal humming floats through the empty, otherwise silent woods. You stop to listen--another hunter? Hopefully they can see you well enough to avoid shooting you.

0:31: After a few seconds of silence, you continue on--it must've just been your imagination.

0:35: You're certain you heard it that time. Ghostly humming through the trees. A moment later, it comes again, and a chill runs up your spine. Something isn't right here.

0:45: You shake it off. While it's distressing, you can't sit here all day listening to humming. You've got meat to find. A moment later, you spot a deer standing stock still, ears perked. Perfect! Seems it heard the noise as well. You post up near a tree as it starts up again, and luckily the sound gets the deer to face away from you. You nock an arrow to your bow, pull back, let your breath go...and let fly.

1:06: Dead on! The deer collapses into the snow, splashing bright red across its pearly white surface. However, you don't make it but a step or two before a voice breaks the stillness. You look up. There, on a ridge, stands a young-looking, lamb-like creature on two legs, with a much larger, far more intimidating wolf creature accompanying her...or at least the head of one. The wolf yells at his companion, and they stare at each other, seemingly deciding on their course of action. Sounds like they want to give you a head start.

1:20: You don't have time for this. You've got to dress the deer and take what you can from it. You walk away while they continue to babble, but when they land on divvying you up and discussions of hunger, you stop, looking back at them. A strange feeling comes over you, and a light surrounds your body. You pace back and forth, trying to shake it, but it sticks to you like glue. When the pair speak next, it's from inside your head. Their voices echo in your skull, and you instinctively grab at it, trying to make them stop.

1:57: The wolf tells you to run, out loud this time, and you don't need any more prompting. His voice echoes in your head once more as you turn and run away, cursing your bad luck. You stop and start and stumble, hearing them chatter all the while. Sometimes they're in your head, sometimes they speak aloud, but every word makes your blood run colder.

2:27: You duck behind a tree, panting as you try to catch your breath, hoping you've lost them. The humming and laughter comes again, inside your head. You start to breathe through your nose, as silently as possible, hoping they can't hear the fearful hammering of your heart. Despite the lamb's taunting, you hold firm, sinking down to a squatting position. When the wolf speaks, however, your breath suddenly stirs, and you can't stop yourself from panting again. They sound close, but you just can't stop it, as though an invisible hand is pulling the breath right from your chest.

3:10: You turn and come face-to-face with the Wolf, who gleefully declares he's found you. You're off like a shot, running full-tilt through the woods with the lamb's words echoing in your head. They're right behind you, but their steps don't even make a sound, neither do they seem to breathe. You come to a stop overlooking a large hill., its face covered in snow. You look back and see the pair approaching, the lamb with her bow ready and the wolf showing off a mouth full of glittering teeth.

3:35: As they yell and advance on you, you step back and go tumbling down the hill, falling into an uncontrolled slide. You hit the bottom of the hill hard, and as the adrenaline begins to fade, you realize that everything hurts. You didn't think you took the fall that hard! As your consciousness fades in and out, you hear the Lamb's damnable humming once more, and can barely see them moving down the hill, gracefully as you please, coming toward you.

3:51: You snap back to reality, panting, as the pair stands over you. It seems they're quite pleased with themselves. The pain of your fall hasn't abated, but you force yourself to catch your breath. Despite yourself, knowing that you're quite literally staring Death in the face, you start to cry silently, biting down on your tongue to avoid sobbing. A deep growl from the lamb's midsection catches your attention, and she leans closer to you. "Tomorrow is a hope," she says, "never a promise." You know what that means, every fiber of your body screams to run, but you can't force yourself to move. The wind and birds recede as you fall into an abyss, losing consciousness.

4:43: You hear their voices despite your unconsciousness--still they play inside your head. The story seems oddly poignant, and you listen closely. Part of you knows this will be the last time you will ever hear such a story. At least you have a moment to savor it.

5:17: The sound of churning, gurgling and swallowing brings you to your senses. Something is eating you, but what? The answer is obvious enough, but it can't be both of them at once, can it? Surely not. You try to struggle, having regained some of your strength, but your predator doesn't budge. They pause briefly at the end, with only your feet left outside, before a final, powerful gulp sends you fully inside them, where you're forced to curl up tightly in the confined space. It must be the lamb, then, given how little room there is.

5:29: She belches, and a wave of rage surfaces inside you. You kick, squirm and struggle against her satisfied burps and insufferable taunting. Surely she doesn't think this is comforting to you. The stomach grooooans around you, going full-force into digestion, and you're just starting to accept it when the wolf urges you on, bumping his partner's bloated midsection. You kick back against the force and yet again, the wolf seems pleased. Some of the sounds around you catch your attention, and the promise of pain makes your skin crawl. Or, perhaps, that's the acids flooding down and over you.

6:00: You continue to thrash inside the lamb, each kick and squirm dislodging another belch. You stretch your body side to side, punch, headbutt, attempt to make yourself as big and uncomfortable a meal as possible, but the lamb's stomach holds firm. Her barb only makes you angrier. She's calling you a coward, saying you're running from your death, but of course you are, it's not your time yet! This is all over some stupid deer!

6:23: Even so, all the belches you've knocked loose have depleted the oxygen, badly. You can barely find a breath in the fetid, stinging air, and you're forced to slump against one of the walls to recover before giving a few more feeble little struggles. Lamb mushes you around inside her, and already, you can feel yourself breaking down. It's terrifying, how quick she's processing you

6:37: With one final gloop and a deep growl from her stomach, your time runs out, and it only takes a big push from both sides, followed by a massive belch, to turn you into a meaty slurry. For all your time as a peerless hunter for your people, and all your skill, it amounts to nothing.

6:52: She, the lamb, is the only one to give your eulogy, but the wolf seems displeased. Perhaps you did break too easily. She mushes you around while conversing idly with the wolf, her gut happily digesting what remains of you, a once-proud hunter. On occasion, her massaging and the natural process of digestion squeezes the rest of the air that remains out in a series of hearty belches which she and her companion apparently find quite hilarious.

7:55: She begins to bounce her belly up and down, humming to herself and rocking it side-to-side like a big, furred plaything. At least you don't have to see that, your remains treated more like a toy than the reverence you deserved. Then she settles into mushing it back and forth in her hands while the wolf mashes his nose into it from the side, aiding in breaking you down all the faster.

8:18: One would think she's worked all the gas out by now, but an absolutely thunderous belch, followed by a smaller one, follows the rubbing session. Seemingly finished with you, she gives your mashed-up body one last parting word before laying back to settle into the rest of your long digestion. An ignoble fate, to be sure, but if nothing else, you at least make fine padding for the lamb...

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