Midnight

Vena knew the smell of human when it came as well as a baby could crawl. Dank, musty, like they hadn't cleaned themselves in days, and almost always the smell of some wet animal that they always held on like jailors keeping prisoners that committed a terrible crime. Poor dogs, cats, pigs, whatever this one had. But the scent of other animals was absent from this one.

The creeper's leg muscles loosened as he silently padded through the undergrowth of the midnight forest - a skill that took years to develop with years of payoff. No wonder the creeperlings were so noisy and bumblesome.

The smell of cave flooded Vena's nostrils. This human was a miner, he concluded. Used to the dark. That made things tricky. Vena was very much so used to the dark of caves and nighttime, but so were miners. All he was able to rely on now was his camoflague and quietness. Though he was unable to see the miner, the mere stench that was carried by the wind towards Vena was enough to tell him that the human was approximately to his 11 o'clock.

The undergrowth thinned out. Vena shifted gears and crouched down low, hiding behind the thick, burly trunks of trees that remained at the edge of the forest while getting a good look at what he was going to deal with. He could make out the dim outline of the human by now. They were holding something in their hands, but they were too far away for Vena to confirm. Some sort of tool, maybe.

The human had their back to Vena, and the wind was promising. Tonight would be a good hunt.

Being a cousin of the shadow creepers it was easy to blend in with shades of grey. But his mother's side of his heritage beheld the forest creeper species. A well-blended mix for such an occasion as this, for Vena had both the darkness and the forest on his side. Plus, the human was downhill from him, so that added a good bonus for his part.

The wind began to shift sideways, and the human's scent dimmed. Vena only hoped that the wind wouldn't blow to the direction of the human, or else the human would be able to smell the unhelpfully distinct Nightleaf creeper that was but a mere 100 yards from him.

Vena was quick on his feet, and a good thing, too - the human was rooting through the grass looking for seeds, which meant that he swerved his head around a lot. Vena made extra care in making sure he always saw the full backside of the miner's head so that they wouldn't see him.

Now only 80 yards away, Vena was struggling to not slip and fall from the steep incline of the hill. There were few trees left, but there was at least 3 in a close vicinity to this human that would do quite some damage if collision occured.

55 yards. Vena's heart started to throb at a quicker rate.

40 yards. The human glanced around as the wind picked up. Vena, however, managed to not be seen.

35 yards. When the human turned around again, though, Vena made a deadly miscalculation of his jump and he skidded out of control against the hill. Loose dirt kicked up and blew around to the human's 2 o'clock. Vena's heart skipped several beats at the thought of being discovered.

The human flinched and took several steps toward the soil that fell. Vena could see their eyebrow raise slightly in a sign of suspicion. The object they were holding was clear now - a golden hoe. How foolish this human was to use anything made of gold - even Vena knew that golden tools of human crafthood would break easily regardless of their unscathed beauty.

Things took a turn for the worse when the human turned around dead-center to Vena. Vena froze and tried to be as still as possible when he realized that his camoflague had kicked in just in time. Though, floating black eyes would be suspicious to even a fool in his folly.

The human started wandering around, still suspicious of beind watched, keeping a tight grip on their slick yellow farming tool. Their gaze wandered off of Vena. Vena felt a sigh of relief fall out of his mouth and he continued his slow journey to the human.

25 yards.

10 yards. So close. Vena saw the human's hand begin to shake. It was now or never. Vena slowly engaged in a crouching position, then after a short wait, lept through the air with an ear-shattering hiss.

To his dismay, however, a hard substance knocked against the side of his head with extreme force midway into his leap and he disbalanced, careening away from his target at an alarming speed. Vena's ears rung loudly, his vision blurred, as he hit the ground like a ragdoll, landing just short of the base of an ominously dark tree.

A dark shape flitted towards his direction. Vena felt his vision slowly clearing, recognizing the dim shape of the human he oh-so-miserably failed to hit.

"You really need to work on your timing, fuzzbrain," The human growled almost animal-like. Vena felt a shiver sprint down his spine before he regained his sight completely.

"You couldn't smell nightleaf right in front of your face," Vena retorted.

"Interesting how the wind happened to be blowing in your favor, genius. Trampling through a forest also doesn't help me."

"I'll get you sometime, Jenny. You just watch."

"A twelve-year-old creeper is not an adult creeper," Jenny replied playfully as she departed from Vena, while Vena scrambled up to his feet and headed back to the forest feeling discontent.