Hello, and welcome to my ficnapping of quite possibly the most legendary fic, Nature of a Giant by the one and only /u/Acceptable_Egg5560. Mute has fascinated me since we first learned of his hobby, and I thought it would be fun to write about his first purification.
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Memory Transcription Subject: Orhew, Venlil Exterminator PURIFYING FLAME
Date (Standardized Human Time): [REDACTED]
I’ve been preparing for this moment for multiple solar passes. Following. Watching. Waiting. Planning. This one will go right. This taint will not escape me. Can’t have a repeat of M̵̺͗a̴̝͝l̵̪̎c̸̣̕o̵̝̐s̴̛̥. Can’t let the taint spread further. Can’t fail. Not again. Have to protect the herd. Have to keep them safe. Keep them safe. Keep them safe.
“The fuck you mean I’m cut off?” the voice of the predator slurs out. Its veneer of a normal Venlil already peeling away. My paw tightens around the blade in my bag.
Don’t make me do this here. I don’t want to risk your taint spreading, but I won’t let you harm the herd.
“Your credit chip was declined,” the bartender replies.
“Come on, you know I’m good for it. Just one more scorcher and I’m on my way.”
The bartender snorts. “Yeah, just one more, then another after that till I’m out a hundred creds and you never show your face here again. You drunks are all the same. Now get out of here before I call the exterminators and have you removed.”
The taint looks like it wants to resist, but the threat of exterminator intervention is enough to make it hesitate. It stares claws at the bartender for a few moments before slamming its paws on the table and standing up.
“You’re not worth it,” it hisses as it turns to leave. Purposefully knocking its empty glass to the ground with its tail as they go.
“Bastard,” I hear the bartender grumble as I leave my seat in the corner to follow the predator. The taint was drinking heavily before it ran out of credits, so its movements are slow and easy to follow. I know its ritual well by now. The next paw is its rest one. Now that it's been banned from another bar it will stumble through the park and head to its lair. I won’t let it. This abomination of sapience won’t be harming its young ever again.
I hope I will stop it before it can pass the taint to them. I don’t want to cleanse them when they’re grown. But I will do what I must. For the herd.
I’ve been following the predator for nearly a full claw at this point and it still failed to make it anywhere secluded enough to eliminate. The drunken fool can’t go more than a few steps without stumbling and expelling the contents of its stomach onto the dirt. I am on shift at the guild in another pawful of claws. I can’t afford to follow this…thing all damned paw. If this keeps up I’m going to be forced to try again in another solar-pass when it has enough credits to drink itself into a stupor again.
As if purposefully attempting to test my patience further, the taint stumbles over to a nearby bench, pulling out its datapad and tapping away at it with paws that lack any sort of grace. I imitate its actions and plant myself on a bench within earshot. Pulling out my pad, and pretending to browse the news as a new voice echoes from the speakers of my target’s pad.
“What do you want, Kurli?” The voice of an annoyed sounding female. Does she know she's been placed on speaker?
“Hey come on, don’t be like that, Vessi. Can’t I just call to say hi?” the taint slurs out.
“You can, but you never do, so tell me what you want? More credits ‘for our pups’?”
“Whaat, no way. I’m just in the neighborhood and thought-”
“That I’d let you crash on my couch so you don’t have to walk the whole way home?”
“No, of course not,” it hisses. “I just thought that maybe we could have some fun, like old times.”
The female doesn’t reply for a while, but when she does her voice is full of fury.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now, Kurli? How drunk are you that you think I’ll let you screw me again after all the speh you put me through? You know what? Don’t call me again unless it’s about our pups or I’ll have the exterminators pay you a visit. I’m sure they can find more than enough on you to throw your worthless tail in a facility for the rest of your life.”
“How dare you sp-” Its words are cut off as the call presumably disconnects. “That bitch hung up on me?!”
It slams his paw on the pad again. Its rage growing further and further as its prey refuses to answer its calls.
“Ungrateful fucking bitch,” it spits. “Thinks she can threaten me? Who the fuck does she think she is? When I get my paws on her she’s going to regret ever speaking to me like that.”
The last words are quieter. Perhaps the taint has remembered its in a public park and is trying to avoid having the exterminators called on it? I’m thankful for its restraint in that regard. I can’t let my colleagues get to it before I do. They don’t understand what needs to be done. Finally it begins walking again, but the way it carries itself has changed. No longer aimless stumbling. There is a sense of urgency and anger to their movement. I need to stop them this paw or they will hurt others. My own pace increases as the predator decides to cut through a wooded area to make it to their prey faster.
Now or never. Herd guide my paw.
I pull the blade from my bag, not even daring to breath as I approach the target as quietly as my paws will carry me. It's almost in range. A few more steps and I can strike. The predator is in range. I lunge forward, my knife aimed directly towards its tainted heart. Time feels like it is moving in slow motion as the beast trips over its own two paws mere moments before its taint can be purged. I can’t stop myself or change the direction of my blade in time. I land on top of the predator, knocking the wind out of both of us as my knife grazes the beasts shoulder before slipping from my paws and landing a meter away.
Speh.
“What the fuck?” the creature growls.
I scamper off it as fast as I can, desperately crawling for my blade. Out of my periphery I see the beast realize its shoulder is bleeding. Its eyes lock onto the blood stained knife mere centimeters from my grasp. My paw touches the handle as my leg is grabbed and I am ripped back towards the predator.
“Speh!” I croak out through my damaged vocal cords.
“Get your tail over here.”
The taint’s voice is filled with bloodlust as it drags me closer. I desperately claw at the dirt, but my paws can’t grasp anything. In a moment of pure panic I kick my free leg into its groin. The beast’s grip falters as it falls over in pain. No sooner has it released its grasp on me than I am already making a break for my fallen blade.
“You fucker,” it wheezes out, “when I’m done with you you’re gonna wish I’d handed you to the exterminators!”
I’m almost at the knife again when the beast tackles me to the ground, sending both of us careening far past my weapon. As soon as we hit the dirt the predator grabs my head and slams it into the ground. The only thing keeping me conscious through its attack is my species' naturally thick skull as blood rapidly pools in my mouth. I’m sure it plans to kill me as it continues its relentless assault, but, to my surprise, it stops its attack and rolls me over before grabbing me by the ears and painfully dragging me to my feet.
“Had enough, you piece of shit?” it growls at me. “Answer me when I’m talking to you.”
My inability to respond even if I had wanted to is only making it angrier.
“Guess you haven’t learned your lesson yet. Don’t worry, I am an excellent teacher.”
It balls its paw up, winding it up for what is sure to be a devastating hit. Before it has a chance, I spit a mouthful of blood into his eyes.
“Fuck!” It screams out in agony, releasing its grip on my ears as it wipes at its eyes. My eyes dart to my knife. I want to make another break for it, but this predator is fast, and I doubt I’ll be able to make it before it gets its filthy paws on me again. I make a claw-tip decision and leap headfirst as hard as I can towards its stomach.
“I’m gonna kill-”
Its words are cut short and I hear a crack as my skull collides with its newly shattered ribcage and the two of us fall once more to the ground. The beast wheezes out pained breaths but I refuse to give it another chance to retaliate. I begin swinging rapidly at its exposed face. I can feel the softer bones in my paws cracking against the denser material of its skull, but I’m too afraid to relent and give it another chance to hurt me, so I keep up my attack. A stray strike to its mouth cuts my finger on one of its teeth. I barely stop for a moment, but it was enough. The beast manages to get one its paws around my throat and begins squeezing the life out of me.
No no no no no no no no. This isn't right! I can't die here!
I spit at it again. It winces but it's not enough to make it release its grip this time. The taint has its prey, and it isn’t going to let it go so easily. Its eyes are full of fury and it closes its paw tighter and tighter around my windpipe. Darkness is overtaking my vision as I pitifully swipe at the beast's face.
I’ve…failed them…
In a moment of pure desperation I begin clawing at my would-be killer’s face. My claws aren’t nearly sharp enough to pierce skin, but there is one thing I can damage. I jam one of my claws through the soft membrane of its eye. A scream of agony is my only reward as it refuses to release its grasp.
LET. ME. GO!
I push my claw further into the predator's eye as my other paw joins on the other side. I feel something give, followed by a faint pop as my claws rapidly go deeper into where its eyes used to be. The beast can only scream as it finally releases me from its clutches and tosses me to the side.
“You predator diseased freak,” it hisses as it blindly fumbles about on the ground, but I ignore its empty words. The taint made its last mistake. My knife is within reach. I clasp it in my paw as I walk towards it.
“Time…to…cleanse…your…taint,” I manage to wheeze out just loudly enough for it to hear. The pain in my vocal cords is almost enough to make me lose consciousness, but I can’t fail now.
“C-cleanse? Wh-what do you mean?” The anger is gone from its voice. Replaced only by fear. I don’t have enough left in me to explain.
I guess even a predator can feel afraid when it knows its end is near.
“S-stay back!”
It rolls onto its stomach, fumbling in the darkness as it makes a pitiful attempt to escape. A quick slash to the tendons in its knees stops that.
“P-please. N-n-no more. I’m s-sorry. P-please just stop,” it sobs.
A pathetic attempt at acting like prey in its last moments. I won’t fall for it. It doesn’t have any fight left in it as I climb on top of it and prepare to cleanse this universe of its filth.
“I want my mom,” It whimpers out its last words as I plunge the knife through its heart.
“Go, return to the herd as a pure herbivore. I have saved you from the taint that ran through your polluted veins.” Whispering those words fills me with agony, but he needed to hear them before he was gone. Needed to know I don’t blame him for what happened. No prey wants to become tainted. I know his father passed the taint to him when he was just a pup. I can only hope I cleansed him before he could infect his children. If not, I will stop them before they have a chance to spread the taint further.
I struggle to my feet. Every part of my body aches, and I will need to cleanse his tainted blood from my fur in the nearby river before I return home, but I feel nothing but joy in this moment. I was able to save this poor lost and twisted creature from itself. I have done what none of my kind has done before. I’ve cured a predator of its sickening hunger. I wish I could tell everyone at the guild what I have done, but I know they would never understand. They would try to stop my work. Something I can never allow.
After all, I have so many more souls to save.