New Orbit Magazine Issue 08; Feb 2020, The Future of Animals

hidden under a simple layer of skin. He ran
over the mute ashes, not daring to look back.
A dozen clouds began to swirl in the sky
and cover it with a strange metallic color.
Miles thought that it was another attack, and
that those conical ships would strike him
dead silently, in a few seconds. But no. It
was only the rain.
Then he stopped.
Then he froze completely.
III
Shaist-elxer, an illustrious Ikku and
Namar, stepped forward when he saw the
collapsed prey. He observed it in detail.
“These things are so weak,” he thought with
a grimace. The hunt hadn’t even been
exciting. He barely touched the carcass with
the back of his hand. It disgusted him.
He extended his fingers.
He couldn’t run anymore. His lungs
were broken bellows that groaned for rest.
Miles acquiesced.
“It’s useless trying to escape,” he
thought as the Cyclops’ steps came closer
and closer.
The conqueror shouted in his intelligible
language. Miles looked up, but he could
barely see anything other than those rain
clouds. He couldn’t hear or understand
anything. He stood still, his throat full of
pain and a bewildering peace that dazzled
him.
One shot fired as if in slow motion: a
flash of fire struck his flesh and stopped, just
for a moment, his heartbeat. He collapsed
slowly, with a little pain and fury. He
couldn’t defend himself. He couldn’t stop
the Cyclops’ blows.
He coughed
He vomited his own blood.
A cold sweat covered his limbs and
forehead.
“At least I won’t be the last one,” he said,
his teeth clenched in pain that pierced each
of his bones like an arrow.
An ikku couldn’t return to the Nest with
such a prey.
“I’ll have to look for another,” he
lamented for a moment and muttered his
curse at the damned planet.
Then Shaist-elxer walked impassive
through the few remaining forests on Earth,
the crash of waves closeby.
He stopped for a second to listen and
discovered right away that nothing buzzed in
his ears. He eased his pace while Earth’s
colors took shape in his memory and a
particular scent seeped into his sinuses.
Scents of seas and borders. Scents of fire
and seasons. Scents of life and death that
exploded in the last memory of his glory.◊