Kinverse: Volume One

PATH OF THE EMERALD MAIDEN

A naive young monster's tale by Moros, aka KinverseWriter

Legal Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise herein mentioned. No copyright infringement is intended. All characters and events in this story are entirely fictional. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental. This work of fiction contains disturbing content.

Reader discretion is advised.

Description:

A young woman from a pre-neolithic society is accidentally whisked away to another world entirely during a raid on a research lab run by alien invaders. Stranded with no friends, badly injured, and no idea where home even is, she's forced to live off the land and learn how to survive in this strange and hostile world.

There's only one slight problem, though.

She's not trapped in this world with them. They're trapped in this world with her.

Categories:

Adventure, Coming-of-Age, Isekai, Erotica.

Disclaimers:

This story contains sexual elements and disturbing themes. The contents aren't purely intended to be pornographic, but some scenes objectively are. This is about a giant monster that eats people, so reader discretion is advised. This story contains vorarephilic themes.

This story will have a very slow and intermittent pace to begin with. True stakes don't really show up until halfway through, though the build-up is always there in the background. This is ultimately not a story of grand adventure and defeating one's enemies to rise to the top, it is the tale of a lost and naive young woman growing as a person and learning new things. It is a personal one concerning her, and thus this story will be told in present-tense first-person.

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Chapter 29: Sick

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For the final time until come tomorrow, I blink open blearily, my slumber disturbed.

Sleep has come fitfully due to the occasional need to slink away from Carey's fire pit to attend to myself--not to mention the dreadful pain.

The food my Carey brought me yesterday was bland and downright weird, even for cooked meat. It did its job--not that it stayed within me for long. Frankly the less said about it the better, in my opinion.

At least I've finally had the time to actually eat now. I shouldn't have put it off earlier, but by the time that I would have had a chance to, she wanted me to stay in one place! I didn't like it, I didn't want her to leave, and I did want to go and see where she was going, but... I've learned from my mistake.

If I needed to fight, I wouldn't have been in top form and something could have happened. I gathered that we were near a created-nesting ground and it probably would have been a bit of a bad idea to go against what Carey wanted me to do.

Prey does not order the predator around, but again, I suppose that she doesn't necessarily fit within either category. She is confusing. Her words are confusing, she is confusing, and her things are confusing. And sure, last time I did what she wanted I got hurt, but nobody could have predicted that.

Every time I returned during the night, she too had returned to my side, huddling for my warmth. The contact was not unpleasant--it reminds me of huddles with siblings. It is an efficient use of body heat, I will admit. Much like me but for unknown reasons she occasionally jolted awake in the night--sometimes with a yell--before huddling closer to me while fighting to calm her breathing, all while the scent of fear wafted from her.

How strange.

I snort, causing Carey's eyelids to rise in response as she stirs. She didn't shoot up from a sudden awakening so the lazy little not-food must have been trying to sleep in!

The not-tall intruder beside me yawns and stretches her arms out high from below her blanket. While yesterday might have been quite uncomfortable, at least I learned new words: she taught me the names for all of my things, like 'bag,' 'flashlight,' 'pillow, 'bottle,' and 'water.' She also showed me various items within her own bag, like the 'blanket,' 'knife,' and berry,' or 'berries.' The two most intriguing were the knife and berries, as I now know what they call their created-claws and what they call fruits.

“Good [morning,] Emeral," she says, patting my side with a slight frown on her face. I continue laying where I am, lost in thought with my head on my pillow, and she too remains still out of my lack of action.

I like the words... or at least, most. The sound 'f' is not one that I have much practice with, despite being the first sound that I've tried to learn. Kin lips are quite a bit wider than her kind's, and yet... I'm finding that I really don't have much issue with their words. It's a bit strange... I've been watching her lips to see how they move to make sounds and sounding out on my own occasionally to try and practice, but all in all, I feel like this should be harder.

But surprisingly, it really just... isn't. I just move only specific parts of my mouth, as if blowing scentspeech.

We Kin rely on our special pheromones to communicate with each other. It is not uncommon that we will actively scentspeak through blowing in a direction with our lips, and I didn't realize until now how much of a boon that is for this; to have dextrous lips. We appear to have failed at learning to speak with words, and yet still successfully have the means to do so. Truly we are a multifaceted and strong people. Hmph.

I just wish we were better at actually making use of our gifts... this speech would be a colossal benefit for coordinating a hunt, and words require only air--if you run out of air, you have bigger problems. If you run out of whatever it is that allows us to scentspeak, well... that's actually not unusual if you need to speak a lot like I've seen Mother have to.

I suppose being the leader of not only your brood but the organizer and tactician for a war between species necessitates a lot of socializing.

Once again my belly rumbles, signalling its discontent. Carey takes this as her cue to get things done.

“Alright. We- need to walk more. Let's go," she says.

She initially stumbled over her words a little, as if intending to say something else but realizing that I would not understand. I would assume that they are words she would not easily be able to explain to me.

After a brief breakfast on the move, with Carey eating left-over berries and I killing an elk for myself out on my own, we continue through the trees.

The 'dam' yesterday as it is called was quite interesting. It was quite clearly created: a created-hill. Part of me wants to go back and investigate the machines but she seems quite insistent that we go this way for some reason, back towards the fire and away from her kind. The rains and her kin will have put out the fire so I see little issue. More distance from her kind is also, so I put up little fuss. If she wants to be alone with me then surely she has a good reason.

The dam made one thing quite clear to me, however: it would appear that this lake, like the dam, is created. A created-lake. The massive reservoir of water was likely originally a smaller lake, or perhaps merely a river at the bed of the valley, but through their designs they have ensured its creation.

I would not be surprised if it is thus clear of major predators should they exist, but... I'm still stumped on why they would make it in the first place. It's definitely an easy source of water but it's many hours' walk from their place. For a Kin this wouldn't be much of a problem as we usually range far in our hunts, but... it just seems rather... inefficient. My brood always nested near springs and clean rivers for a reason.

They went to so much trouble to make this dam--assuming that they did not just repurpose an already existing waterfall--and yet they do not live around it. They cannot prosper from their work. Either I am missing something or they are truly foolish. At least I got to take a look at the strange sharp-rock spindle-trees holding up thick black vines... but there really wasn't much to look at there.

Regardless of the facts of the matter the scene itself is still quite nice. Ahead of us are the hills, mountains, and valleys which I had originally found myself within. These however are significantly further to the north, perhaps beyond the great divide running east and west amongst the mountains and hills. I'm not quite sure where exactly we are along the lake but it is definitely to its north.

The rest of the day consisted of walking, and walking, and walking. After lunch, we crested a hill only to find that the landscape ahead had... well... rather radically changed.

It was dead.

Completely and utterly dead.

What was once a verdant green and brown land had been replaced with a black and grey scar. The fire had indeed spread this far north--we had not gone north enough, and this is no place for living creatures. One day life will return but today is not and will not be that day, for the jungle is sick.

I turn to head further north but Carey puts a hand on my haunch and grabs at a plate. Ignoring her, I drag her along as she holds on until she lets go, having stumbled.

“Emeral, come on! We need to go [through!]" she complains.

Nope. Nuh uh. Not happening. There is literally nothing to eat there and any water to be found is a sooty poison. I may have some water I'm able to keep with me and Carey has some berries she's holding onto, but I. Am. Not. Going in there. I continue trekking north along the ridge.

Carey quickly catches up and matches my pace.

“Please, Emeral? We need to, going [further north] will take too long!" she yet again complains. Picky, lazy, whiny Carey.

This time she changes tactics and wraps her right arm around my neck, trying to steer me in the direction of the scar. She may be relatively strong--certainly stronger than the female a week ago--but she cannot match the strength of a Kin. I simply ignore her and press on. The act does raise the question of how they control their movers... one day I'll hopefully learn this, once I make Carey get a new one. Somehow.

“We're [almost] there, Emeral! Please!" she whines.

“No. Bad. No food. Bad water," I state, for it is the truth.

“Yes bad, but- food! Yes food, yes water!" she replies.

I stop and turn to stare at her. Her smile beams at what little progress she has eked out. She claims that there is food and water where there is quite clearly none to be found. I snort and continue trekking north perpendicular to death.

“Ugh! Fine. You know what? Fine! You win!" she frustratedly yells before storming off... west.

I pay her tantrum no mind as I watch her form recede in my night eye, a blotch of color approaching blacks, greys, and whites. After a few moments... she continues. And continues. And walks down the hillside. I stop.

She's actually doing it. She's going in there. What? Why? And... wait, that's my Carey getting away from me!

I trusted her with the created-nesting place but this is something else entirely. I must protect my Carey even from her own ineptitude! I turn and sprint down the hill, placing my steps with care, and come up behind her. As I approach she turns, a smile on her face which quickly turns to a look of shock, and fear--

I come to a stop and speak. “No. Bad. No, Carey. Bad," I say.

She's breathing hard, and for a moment I worry that she's about to break again, but it evens out. I must have spooked her with my charge to catch up... I may need to be more mindful of this in the future. Rather than respond she simply turns and continues down the hill.

I follow, and finally I line up behind her and shove my neck beneath her, forcing her onto my back.

“Hey! Emeral, come on!" she shouts. I think that she's complained every time that I've had to carry her like this, but you don't see me complaining. I'm tired, especially from all of this walking, and yet I haven't grumbled one bit... except for that one time, and my belly doesn't count either. I turn and begin to leave the eerie landscape. Skeletal carbonized trees surround me as I step over a scorched and ashy rock. Rather than the all-too-common mud and dirt, the ground has been replaced with what was once the trees themselves.

Carey willfully slides from my shoulders into said ash, nearly finding herself underfoot before I pull it back and catch my balance. She swiftly climbs back to her feet before hefting her bag and trudging behind me down the hill again! She is like one oversized broodling, trying to escape its guardian!

Enough!

With a growl I turn, but Carey takes off, sprinting into the distance! MY CAREY!

I give chase through the soot but a pain in my rear shoots up, slowing me. I've felt bloated and cramped--which is normally not an unusual sensation--but it's certainly a result of things that shouldn't be bloating, bloating.

Carey calls back to me. “It'll be fine, Emeral! Please! [Just trust] me! Follow!" she yells.

Why, I oughta... oh, there's certainly food out there now, and I've got the water right here in my bag around my neck. It would be so easy... if painful... to just sprint after her and grab her, wolf her down, and perhaps eat a berry or twenty. But she has proven far too useful far too recently to justify it.

Oh well. I suppose if things do get bad enough out here I always have that option, and she can't rightly complain if it's her that put me in the position, now can she?

As I now more sedately follow her trail, both physical and manifested as a scent among the cold smoky air, she slows but remains ahead of me. The pain in my abdomen eventually ebbs but does not disappear; I suppose I'm likely in for another night of bloody excretions. Wonderful...

As the sun begins to set and I grow hungrier, I pick up the pace... the gap between me and my Carey thins, and I salivate. Idly, I rear up and pull a bottle of water from my bag and down it. Luckily for Carey, just as we crest another ridgeline the greenery of the land abruptly returns, though quite charred nonetheless. We appear to have made it through the sick lands. I suppose I won't need to eat her after all, then.

Not-prey she shall remain.

The object of my dashed intentions turns, a wide smile borne upon her face, and throws her arms out to her sides before planting her hands on her hips.

“See, Emeral? I said it would be fine," she gloats.

I simply huff in response.

---

That night proved my guess correct, and thankfully, food was indeed easy to find as well. I'd been expecting at least another day or two of travel through this place, but... perhaps that air-mover dumping water from the lake had something to do with this? And Carey had known. Hmph, perhaps Shaggy and Laggy--my enemies from soon after my arrival--may indeed still be where I last saw them. Seeing as I'm remotely in the area again I might need to pay them a visit, but... not until after I'm better. Gut wounds are truly horrible.

My Carey continued her thing of jolting awake and yelling through the night, heart pounding and breathing heavy. I don't really have enough experience to guess at whether this is normal or not, but regardless she is waking each time with a healthy dose of 'fearousal.' That odd quirk is so strange to me; I don't know if I'll ever get used to it, and then should I ever make it home I'd have to get used to the mix-up all over again.

We had a similar breakfast, but this time I caught her a different animal and I ate a fox. A cougar tried sneaking up on our temporary place but I scared it off with but a look. Size is everything among predators and prey, and I am the largest that I have yet seen here. I'm not the only one capable of noticing the disparity.

Now if only Carey would let me rest for a while, but she just keeps walking through the hills, as if she has yet another destination in mind...

Ugh. My butt hurts. Being sick sucks.

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A/N:

This is a shorter chapter than usual and contains a lot of told content. More complications of Emeral's illness make themselves apparent. Not much particularly happens in this chapter beyond that, but it's a transitionary travel chapter that sets up for other chapters.