(Two Hours Earlier)

  Two hours before his death, Buffrey stood at the centre of a shallow clearing in the Forest of Eldegar and felt something close to contentment.The morning air carried the scent of damp bark and crushed fern. Sunlight filtered through the canopy in fractured beams, warming the upper segments of his body while the soil beneath remained cool. It was a balanced day. A safe day.

  His two offspring grazed nearby, their smaller green forms bending rhythmically as they fed on low undergrowth. They were not yet hardened. Not yet darkened by battle. Their hides were still soft at the seams, their movements unrefined.They were his responsibility.

  Buffrey shifted his weight, his massive body coiling slightly as he surveyed the perimeter. He did not rely solely on sight. The Hulk caterbug brood felt small vibration through soil and root. If one was not stealthy enough in the forest they would announce themselves if one listened carefully enough.Today the forest felt quiet, usually Eldegar was never truly peaceful. With no pending threats Buffrey allowed his body to relax slightly.The brood had been smaller this season. Fewer eggs had survived the cold nights. Predators had been bold this year — serpents from the riverbank, sharp-beaked birds from the western ridge, even burrowers that attacked from below. Survival was never guaranteed.

  But these two had lived. He watched as one of them nudged the other aside to claim a thicker patch of leaves. Small aggression. Good. Strength required competition. Weakness in this forest was culled without hesitation. Buffrey emitted a low, vibrating call.

  "Bu rulu."

  Enough. Share.

  The smaller one yielded. They listened to him and that was important. Buffrey had not always been leader of this territory. He had earned it. Fought for it. Rammed rival males into tree trunks until bark shattered and the ground split beneath their weight. His hide bore scars beneath its hardened surface, faint ridges only visible when the light struck correctly.

  Strength was not inherited, it was proven.

  A subtle tremor pulsed through the soil. Buffrey stilled. It was faint, too light to belong to anything large. Not a boar a stag or a serpent of significant size.

  Small.

  Insect-small.

  His first instinct was dismissal. Many small things lived and died in Eldegar without consequence. Cicadas, beetles, darting lizards. None of them posed threat to a fully grown Hulk Caterpillar in his reinforced state. Still, he angled his body slightly, positioning himself between the vibration and his offspring.

  The tremor paused. Then resumed. It was light and controlled. Buffrey felt irritation stir. Predators larger than him crashed through terrain without subtlety. Smaller creatures that attempted stealth often overestimated themselves. He emitted another low sound — a warning pulse into the soil.

  "Bu du."

  Leave.

  The vibration did not retreat. Instead, it shifted position. His offspring remained unaware. They continued grazing, trusting his vigilance completely. A flicker of annoyance crossed Buffrey's instincts, his kids had to learn. Maybe this was the perfect scenario for a lesson to occur.

  He had managed to gain sight of the creature. A small black-scaled gecko with faint red markings. Nothing dangerous.

  Buffrey moved several lengths away from his kin. A little creature like this would make a good opponent for his children to learn about battle. That's if it dared attack in the first place, with his presence here he was sure that it would escape. He knew about the Aeynx geckos. They were weak little things with no redeeming factor. It was safe for them to fight it.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  The undergrowth ahead parted slightly. This one did not flee instead choosing to observe.

  Buffrey felt something unfamiliar at that stillness. The gecko did not dart in random patterns. It did not twitch nervously. It watched. Buffrey raised his body slightly, making his size obvious. His segments flexed, showing hardened sheen. The proper response would have been retreat.

  Instead, the gecko moved fast, flame erupted across its body. Buffrey felt heat before understanding what was happening. That should not have been possible? In all his life he had never seen an Aeynx gecko capable of engulfing its body in flames. Yet he couldn't deny the scene in front of him.

  I've got to stop it.

  Buffrey rushed towards his kids but it was already too late. The gecko had already rammed into one of his offspring. Fire transferred instantly, clinging unnaturally to soft segments. The smaller caterpillar shrieked. Buffrey lunged forward, but the second offspring was struck before he could intervene. Flame devoured both with horrifying efficiency. The scent of burning chitin filled the clearing.

  Buffrey froze.

  For a heartbeat, the world narrowed. His children writhed. Then they stopped, leaving nothing but silence.

  The gecko stood between their collapsing forms, flames fading. A small black thing. Utterly insignificant, yet it had taken his children... his only kin. Buffrey's body darkened instantly, resin-hardening surged across every segment, a defensive and offensive reflex honed through countless territorial battles. Rage flooded his system. He emitted a sound that shook the soil.

  "BU DU BURU!"

  Why?

  He demanded explanation not out of mercy, but out of order. The forest had a pecking order. This gecko didn't know its place and had caused unreversible damage. The gecko responded wit a nonchalant croak. As if Buffrey's anger was misdirected and he was overreacting. The action was obscene and mocking. Buffrey had never felt such a way from a being much weaker. The vibration beneath his body turned violent as fury overtook discipline.

  He charged. The gecko moved faster than anticipated. It darted sideways, scaling vertical surfaces as though gravity were irrelevant. Buffrey rammed into brush, splintering wood. The gecko repositioned constantly. Never committing fully. Testing angles. Striking when opportunity emerged.

  It burned him. Not enough to pierce armor — but enough to irritate. Buffrey felt a subtle shift. This was not random aggression, the gecko was guiding him. it moved toward thicker vegetation where he couldn't see its movement. Buffrey adjusted mid-charge, curving trajectory with controlled force to slow down. He was not an unthinking beast. His mass was a weapon, but one wielded with experience.

  The gecko struck again at a seam. Heat penetrated slightly deeper this time. Buffrey rolled violently, attempting to crush it. The gecko disengaged before impact.

  It retreated toward an ancient oak. What was it trying to do? He could take down the tree with ease, was the gecko admitting defeat already.

  The gecko taunted again. Insults layered with deliberate provocation. It positioned itself in front of the oak. Buffrey's final thread of restraint snapped. He charged at maximum force.

  Wood exploded around his head yet the oak held. His reinforced segments lodged between splintered bark. For the first time that day, Buffrey felt friction work against him. He thrashed, reversing and moving forward to unstick himself from the tree. The actions took quite a bit of effort, but eventually he freed himself.

  At the same moment of release the gecko was lined up above him. Buffrey's rage cooled for a single, lethal instant. Understanding dawned at the final moment. It had never been about strength or being backed up into a corner. The gecko was merely trying to find an optimal position for an attack.

  His children's deaths, the insults, the repeated angled strikes, the retreat toward the oak. The gecko had planned everything. It had not only been his kids that had been complacent but him as well.

  So this is the end.

  The gecko dropped. Buffrey tried to move but a fight against the speed of gravity was one that he could not win. The gecko landed around his eye area causing incredible pain to explode throughout his skeletal structure. Heat entered where armour did not exist.

  Buffrey convulsed, smashing against the oak in desperate resistance. The gecko forced itself inward. Fire consumed what resin could not protect. Buffrey's strength faltered. His body no longer responding with the same authority.

  The forest blurred. Two hours earlier, he had stood in quiet dominance, now he understood, this gecko was different. Unlike others it did not know it's place within the forest of Eldegar. This one was daring and calculative. A reckless level of courage, that went against basic instinct. It was a dangerous little thing. If allowed to grow, it would not remain small. His final coherent thought was not of himself. It was of the forest.

  "BU DU BIRIRI BURU!"

  May the Gods strike you with misfortune.

  Then darkness closed.