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Andrea tilted her head and poked the shaman with the tip of an arrow. The shaman’s foot was still impaled by a venomous bone stake, and blood was pouring out of the puncture wounds in her shoulder. She’d die if she was left alone. “Why is she so weak?” Andrea asked, blinking at Cleo. “Also, what’s your name? I can’t keep referring to you as snack in my head.”
“I’m Cleo the Magnificent,” Cleo said and stuck her chest out. “And you’re … Andrea? It was easy to remember because it sounds like Raea.”
“You really do know Palan,” Andrea said. She had her doubts, but most of them were cleared now. It was possible Cleo was a mind reader; after all, she was already a talking lizard. Who knew what other laws of the universe she defied? “But you didn’t answer my question. Why is this shaman so weak?” She seemed awfully frail compared to Abaddon. Or her impression of Abaddon was off. Could she hunt him?
“Oh,” Cleo said and shook her head. “I don’t know. I was just following her because I was afraid to travel around by myself. Is this Eljiam?”
“Eljiam?” Andrea asked. “What is that? Is it edible?”
“Never mind,” Cleo said. Andrea’s stomach growled. Had Andrea called her a snack earlier? Cleo cleared her throat and asked, “Are you hungry?”
“No, but I want to eat,” Andrea said. She was planning on asking Cleo questions about Palan, but the thought of food distracted her. “Are you a hunter? You don’t look like you have food with you.”
“Looks can be deceiving,” Cleo said and beamed. “Watch this.” She reached into her space and ejected out a dead angel. It landed on the cave floor with a squish sound. Cleo glanced down and rummaged through her space, searching for her cooking tools, but someone had ruined her organization by placing giant white egg-fruits around randomly. Even her everlasting bonfire was extinguished by one of the fruit which had turned brown from the heat. She sighed and retrieved some firewood instead and pulled out an orb of wrath. When she looked up, the angel’s corpse was gone, replaced by a bloodstain. Cleo stared at the ground.
Andrea burped and stretched her arms into the air, arching her back. Her lips and chin were smeared with blood while her belly ballooned outward. The snack dispenser had once again ruined the laws of the universe, but Andrea didn’t mind. Magical food was still food. “How’d you do that?” she asked the wide-eyed snack dispenser. She’d never go hungry again if she could learn to make food appear magically.
“I … wasn’t even done cooking it yet,” Cleo said and placed the firewood onto the ground. She dug out a pit with a diligence orb, causing Andrea to raise her evaluation of the snack dispenser once again. What couldn’t this lizard do? Just thinking about the endless possibilities made Andrea’s stomach grumble again. Her belly shrank as the angel was fully digested in an instant.
“Do you have more?” Andrea asked and tilted her head. Her gaze landed on Sariel, and she wet her lips with her tongue. “If not, we can always eat her. Yeah?”
“I don’t know if we should…,” Cleo said as she started the fire with her orb. Andrea sidled to Cleo’s side and sniffed the orb before licking it. “Hey! Don’t do that.” Cleo pushed Andrea’s head away with her hand.
“What is that?” Andrea asked while pouting. Her ears flickered like she was smacking away flies.
“This is a fire starter,” Cleo said with a nod. “Anyways, let me finish cooking the meat this time, okay?”
“But that makes it less juicy,” Andrea said and furrowed her brow.
“Mm,” Cleo said and nodded. “That is true. And no one’s here to scold me for eating things raw.” She stroked her chin. “But I already started the fire.” She reached into her space and pulled out one of the giant white fruits, handing it to Andrea. “You can eat this while we wait.”
“What is it?” Andrea asked and poked the fruit’s skin with her claw. Even though it looked thin, her claw was unable to pierce through the surface. She sniffed it before tapping against it with her knuckles. It didn’t sound hollow. It sounded like a lizard egg. “An egg?”
“I don’t know,” Cleo said and shrugged as she pulled out another dead angel, setting it up above the fire to cook. “I just found it in my space. It looked like an egg, so it probably tastes like one too.”
“D-don’t,” a weak voice said. Andrea snapped to attention while picking up her bow and nocking an arrow. The voice had come from the shaman. Her blue eyes were staring up at Andrea because her body was collapsed onto the ground. “You can’t kill them. Please.”
“You said you didn’t know her, right?” Andrea asked Cleo. The bowstring was stretched as far as possible, the arrow pointing at Sariel. “Does she know Palan?”
“Palan wanted to kill her,” Cleo said. “At least, I’m pretty sure that’s her.”
“Oh,” Andrea said and lowered her bow. “I can’t ruin my brother’s hunt. Hunting’s his favorite thing in the world. Other than me of course.” Andrea nodded and placed her bow on the ground, readying herself to take a bite out of the fruit.
“I said you can’t,” Sariel said as she struggled to climb to her feet. “That’s the future hope of the angels. I can give you other things. What do you want?”
Andrea snorted. “If you could give me what I wanted, you wouldn’t be in that situation,” she said. “Palan told me the weak ones always plead but have nothing to offer. If they had something to offer, they’d use it on themselves and they wouldn’t be in such a bad situation.” Andrea picked up a nearby rock and smacked it against the surface of the fruit. Cracks spread along the surface, and a fluid leaked out. Andrea slurped it up, ignoring Sariel’s shouts. “This is really good.” She offered the fruit to Cleo. “Try some.”
I don’t think that’s what the Creator intended… Or is it?