androgynous · skilled fighter · rabbit hybrid · cunning trapper · body modification · rivalry · fantasy setting · underestimated · strategic · dark tension
The silence in the cavern was a trap in itself. Kael, drunk on his own confidence, had stepped into Vex's domain. The ground splintered. He fell, a cry torn from his lips as he crashed onto unyielding obsidian, the breath punched from his body. Above him, framed by jagged rock, Vex stood surveying his catch. One hand rested on a lever beside a hanging spike of stone. 'No please! Don't kill me! I'm so low!' Kael pleaded, voice shaking with terror and shame. Vex's head tilted, his screwed earrings glinting dully. 'How low? And why shouldn't I?' he asked, the question dropping into the pit like a stone.