Several thousand years ago, Sapey was a very different world. It was one dominated by the Sentray. The Sentray were enormous, powerful, reptile-like creatures. They were incredibly strong, durable, and fast. The Sentray were also strong swimmers. They were able to hunt as well in water as they did on land. On top of that, their senses were incredibly sharp, and they were highly intelligent. They were the ultimate predator.

The other two species in Sapey were the Linap and the Sapes. Both these species lived in fear of the Sentray. To escape the Sentray, the Linap would hide in caves and use their ability to become invisible to blend in with their environment. The Sapes would protect themselves by moving in extremely large herds.

Despite being smaller and less pleasant to eat, the Sentray focused more of their energy on hunting and attacking the Linap. It appeared they did so because the Linap were a bigger threat to them than the Sapes. The Linap were the most intelligent species in Sapey. In the past, the Linap have used their intelligence to gain the upper hand on the Sentray. Evolution swung the balance to and fro between the two species. The Sentray became stronger and more skilled hunters. The Linap became smarter and skilled shapeshifters. The Linap also hunted Sapes; thus, a competitor for food.

The Sapes were all herbivores. The Sentray were happy to let the populations of Sapes expand so they could use them as a future food source for their growing population. There were also Water Sapes that the Sentray could hunt off the coast of Sapey or in the Great Lake. These were easier to attack than the land Sapes. They were not overhunted; they would always be a reliable food source for the Sentray.

The Linap were losing the battle to the Sentray, and their population was shrinking. They were forced to live in caves. These caves offered shelter and could keep the large Sentray at bay, but they had limited access to water and usually no access to food. The Linap needed to go out to collect, forage, and hunt. The Sentray were always watching and listening to pick off the Linap whenever they left the safety of their caves. The Linap’s ability to become invisible helped them escape the view of the Sentray, but many were still killed as the Sentray had extremely sharp hearing. Some very skilled Linap were also able to move silently. However, remaining invisible and silent required great concentration. The Sentray knew how to break their concentration through loud roars and violent sudden movements. When the Linap’s concentration was broken, the Sentray could easily pick them off.

The Linap needed to turn the tables on the Sentray, or they were going to become extinct. However, the Linap may have stumbled across something that presented them with an opportunity to change their fortunes.

The Linap had been forced into the mountainous area in the east. It was now the only remaining area that they had any chance of hiding from the Sentray. This area did not offer much in terms of food. The most reliable source of food was berries growing on the bushes around and on the mountains and hills.

Derek and Matilda were two of the best foragers from the Bramley tribe. Both Derek and Matilda were extremely good at becoming invisible as well as shapeshifting. They had managed to evade the Sentray on several occasions. They were so skilled that they could also make large quantities of collected food become invisible.

One morning, Derek and Matilda were foraging for berries in an area they had yet to explore. There were plenty of bushes full of berries. They knew that this was dangerous because the Sentray often observed potential food sources for the Linap. Both of them moved as stealthily as possible between the bushes, grabbing what they could without making a sound.

Derek entered a small clearing. On the other side of the clearing, he saw a Sentray lying down. He had never seen one lying down. They would normally be standing upright or in a crouching position.

‘This doesn’t look right,’ said Derek as he turned to Matilda, who was crouched behind him.

‘Let’s just move on,’ she replied as she started to retreat.

The two of them backed away and continued to forage for berries in a different direction from the Sentray. However, it was not long before Derek spotted another Sentray lying down.

‘Something’s happening to them,’ said Derek as he turned to Matilda again.

‘It could be a trap,’ replied Matilda. ‘They are always up to something.’

‘We have a good haul,’ said Derek. ‘Let’s head back and talk to the elders.’

Later that day, inside a cave, while the Bramley tribe feasted on the berries. Derek raised what he had observed with the elders.

‘They were just lying down motionless,’ said Derek to Elder Leo.

‘I have not seen this behaviour before,’ remarked Elder Leo.

‘I think they were both dead,’ said Derek.

‘Sentray don’t just drop dead,’ said Elder Charley firmly.

‘I have seen a dead one before,’ said Elder Bisko. ‘It looked like she had been in a fight. Probably killed by another Sentray.’

‘I saw no evidence of a fight, and the two Sentray did not appear wounded,’ said Derek. ‘Something else killed them.’

‘Let’s not assume they are dead,’ said Matilda. ‘This could be a trap to lure us into investigating them.’

‘If we don’t investigate, we will not be able to confirm they are dead or what might have killed them if they are,’ said Derek forcefully as he turned to Matilda.

‘I suggest you return to the location you saw them,’ said Elder Leo. ‘If they are undisturbed, I suggest you take a closer look.’

‘I will do that tomorrow,’ replied Derek as he looked at Matilda, who was shaking her head. ‘Matilda will accompany me.’

‘Yes, it is safer to travel in pairs,’ said Elder Leo. ‘Matilda has the best natural skills to evade any detection.’

Matilda stared at Derek angrily.

The next day they returned to where they saw the first Sentray. He was lying in the same position.

‘Just as I predicted, the Sentray has not moved,’ commented Derek as he winked at Matilda. ‘He’s definitely dead.’

‘Probably, but we still need to be cautious,’ said Matilda as she watched Derek scamper over to the Sentray. She sighed, and then she cautiously joined him.

Both of them began to inspect the Sentray’s body, but they could not see any obvious cause of death.

‘Maybe he just became sick and died,’ said Matilda.

‘Let’s take a look at the other one,’ suggested Derek. ‘I’m pretty sure he or she is dead too.’

They inspected the other dead Sentray, and they still could not determine the cause of death.

‘If they died of a disease, it could spread to us,’ said Matilda, sounding alarmed.

‘Not necessarily,’ replied Derek. ‘I’ve seen disease pass between Sapes and not to us. It could be the same for Sentray. However, I don’t think they died of a disease. We need to explore the area a little further.’

‘What are you thinking?’ asked Matilda. ‘What should we be looking for?’

‘We should look for the nearest water source,’ replied Derek.

The two of them continued exploring. It was not long before they encountered two more dead Sentray.

They looked at these two bodies and still found nothing.

‘Now, I’m getting nervous,’ said Matilda in a stressed tone. ‘There are too many of them. We’re sure to come across a live one soon.’

‘I don’t think so,’ replied Derek. ‘We need to find out what’s killing them. We might be able to use this to fight back.’

Matilda frowned and shook her head.

‘We can’t run forever,’ said Derek firmly. ‘We can’t live like this; something has to change.’

The two of them continued walking. They soon came across a small body of water. It was covered in a pinkish substance.

‘I think we have our answer,’ said Derek as he squatted down by the water. ‘They drank this, and it poisoned them.’

‘How?’ asked Matilda. ‘We have drunk water with this pinkish stuff in it before, and it did not harm us.’

‘Maybe there is more to it,’ said Derek as he scooped out some of the water with his hands. In doing so, he revealed a bluish goo underneath the pink substance.

‘I think its algae,’ replied Matilda. ‘I know some are toxic, but surely not sufficient to kill a Sentray.’

‘Maybe not, but I know Sapes are more sensitive to certain toxins than we are,’ said Derek. ‘It is possible that the Sentray might be adversely affected by certain things we are not.’

‘Maybe the combination of the pink stuff and the algae is highly toxic to the Sentray,’ said Matilda.

‘We need to find out more,’ said Derek as he scooped up some of the water with a container he had with him. ‘Let’s bring a sample back to the elders.’

Later that day, Derek took the sample he collected to Elder Leo.

‘This algae is toxic to Sapes but not to us,’ said Elder Leo. ‘I don’t know how it affects Sentray.’

‘What about the pink stuff?’ asked Derek.

‘It is just the harmless pollen from the Roo flower,’ replied Elder Leo. ‘Saying that, it seems the pollen is reacting a little with the algae.’

‘Could the two together create a strong poison?’ asked Derek.

‘It seems quite possible,’ replied Elder Leo.

Derek grabbed the water sample containing the algae and pollen and drank it. ‘Well, let’s see if this combination is poisonous to us,’ said Derek as the others gazed at him in shock.

Derek became very ill, but he did not die. He had fully recovered in around a week.

‘That stunt you pulled was insane,’ remarked Matilda as she sat next to Derek, who was lying down on his Sape skin blanket.

‘It was a risk I needed to take,’ replied Derek. ‘We now know that the pollen-algae combination is toxic to us but not deadly in small quantities. We know the Sentray react far worse than we do.’

‘Well, congratulations to you,’ said Matilda as she patted the blanket. ‘I wanted to let you know that when the elders from our tribe saw you dying, they knew you had discovered a very lethal concoction. Therefore, they sent messengers to the other nearby tribes of Carvaress, Yensid, Alset, Wolf, Rezif, and Spiro. An extremely ambitious plan has been put into full swing.’

‘It’s about time the tribes worked together,’ said Derek as he got up. ‘We need to take back Sapey.’

‘Well, tonight the elders are going to brief us in the main cave,’ said Matilda as she stood up. ‘I believe we’re going to play an important part in this plan.’

That evening, all the members of the Bramley tribe gathered in the main cave. Elder Leo and Elder Bisko stood at the front of the cave to explain their plan.

‘For centuries our tribes have been forced to run and hide from the Sentray,’ said Elder Leo. ‘One day, we will become extinct. It is just a matter of time.’

The members of the tribe began to moan loudly.

‘This does not have to be the case,’ said Elder Bisko. ‘We can fight back. We can do so if we use our greatest asset. That is our intelligence.’

The tribe became quiet. They had perplexed looks on their faces.

‘The Sentray have us all backed into the mountains, and they are coming to finish us off,’ said Elder Leo.

‘Oh no, that’s terrible!’ shouted someone in an extremely panicked tone.

‘No, that’s perfect,’ replied Elder Leo. ‘There are only a few ways in and out of this mountainous area. I say we let them trap us here.’

The tribe members gasped in shock at the thought of being trapped in the mountains by the Sentray.

‘We need to prepare; everyone must play their part,’ said Elder Bisko. ‘We must collect a large surplus of food so we can remain hidden in the caves for as long as possible.’

‘They will wait us out,’ called out a tribe member. ‘They can survive months without food. If they want to escape, they can climb over the mountains.’

‘You are right, and the Sentray know that,’ chuckled Elder Leo. ‘One thing they can’t go without is water. That’s where our brave and slightly foolish friend, Derek, comes in.’

Elder Leo and Elder Bisko went on to explain in detail their plan and the roles of everyone as well as that of the other tribes.

The Alset tribe sent messengers to the Kosh tribe in the north, and the Spiro tribe sent messengers to the Ripe tribe in the south. The Kosh and Ripe tribes agreed to lure as many Sentray as possible to the mountainous area in the east. They needed to let the Sentray know that all the remaining Linap were residing in the mountains.

The elder Linap knew the Sentray had been closely observing them. They believed that the Sentray would trap the Linap rather than eliminate them before they reached the mountainous area. The elders were correct. Over the next few months, the Sentray gathered in enormous numbers in the area between the mountains and the Great Lake. The elders had correctly anticipated that this would be their response. The Sentray had now completely trapped all the Linap in the mountains. They had completely blocked them from accessing the lake, which was their major water and food source. The Sentray had strategically forced the Linap to either starve in the mountains or be killed trying to access the lake. Even if the Linap could survive in the mountains with minimal food and water, the winter would probably finish them off.

While the Kosh and Ripe tribes were luring in the Sentray. The members of the other tribes dedicated their time to collecting as many berries as possible as well as Roo flowers, which they needed for their plan to work. Derek and Matilda were put in charge of a team to rapidly spread algae spores to the Great Lake. This was extremely dangerous as the number of Sentray around the lake was rapidly increasing.

Three months had passed since the dead Sentray had been discovered. Thousands of Sentray now lined the area between the mountains and the Great Lake. The lake was almost covered with the algae. The pollen had not yet been dumped on the lake. The Linap were waiting for a strong wind to blow the pollen they had collected onto the lake. Luckily for them, they did not have to wait long. Strong gusts blew across the mountains towards the lake. The Linap let the pollen blow from the collected flowers. The pink pollen blew down on the Sentray and the lake like an amazing pink snow. Within a few hours, the lake was mostly covered with the pollen.

End of Part One. Continue this story in Part Two

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Images were created with the help of Bing Image Creator

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Sapien Loop Short Stories

Sapien Loop short stories explore the adventures of some of the characters from the Sapien Loop series. These stories are intended to reveal more about individual characters and the events that have helped shape them.

Currently, two books from the series have been published on Amazon; see links below:

• Sapien Loop: End of an Era
• Sapien Loop: Frozen in Time

All individual chapters can be found on my @captainhive account.

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