The Angtsìk had participated in the final fight of the first movie, or so I thought I remembered. Eywa had heard the pleas of Jake and the species that called home the Pandora's jungle, responded to the call of his mother, which resulted in a joint attack between Ikran, Angtsìk, Talioang, Nantang (Viperwolf), and even a Palulukan had joined the fight, having Tsaheylu with Neytiri, the daughter of the Olo'eyktan Eytukan, of the Omaticaya.
They were in charge of destroying those exoskeletons that the humans used, and thanks to their intervention, the terrestrial battle could be won. And now, a few meters away from the herd that the clan used as transportation, I could better understand the reason why the Angtsìk were so indispensable in that battle.
And that is that one alone was the size of a small bus, easily exceeding ten meters in length, and without a doubt, with more than six meters in height, it was a real colossus, as if I were facing a cross between an elephant and a giant moose.
I knew that the bone plates that the Angtsìk had on their necks and part of their backs were extremely tough, so much so that even in the tribe, those parts of dead Angtsìk were used to make shields or carving tools, due to their durability and robustness.
And they would easily be able to stop high caliber bullets, not to mention the imposing structure on its head as if it were a hammerhead shark, capable of wiping out everything in its path, they were creatures capable of doing immense damage, something I certainly wanted to use in case of any future confrontation against humans.
I may have been human in my old life, but those fourteen years of memories, experiences, and events here in Pandora, with my tribe, with my family, represented something I didn't have before: a home. And I would do anything to protect it.
And that is why I was here today, maybe what had happened with Fang that day was an isolated event, product of some natural or supernatural anomaly due to my reincarnation, and I was now here in front of the Angtsìk risking my life and being about to be crushed to death due to not having any extraordinary gift, or the other option; and it was that if I had a gift, something I could call my golden finger, some wish, or other strange term they had placed on it.
But whatever the outcome, I was willing to take the risk for the sake of knowing more of what saved me that day.
The Angtsìk may not have had very good eyesight, but their sense of smell and hearing was exceptional, they had heard me approaching from meters behind, but due to the familiarity between them and the clan members, they were not alarmed, although I could see how the females made the young move behind them, so that in case of danger they would be protected.
It was a behavior I had studied in rhinos, hippos, buffalo, oxen, and even dogs, it was an instinct of nature that made the females look after the young while the males of the herd faced the threat.
It was beautiful to see that these creatures greatly resembled the animals of my old world, and the idea of discovering their secrets, their realms of hunting, survival, and even the migration of some, such as the Tulkun giants, or even some Ikran wanderings.
"Hello, I come in peace", I said softly, without raising my voice too much, since I knew they heard me correctly, first I decided to wait, I stopped and watched for some sign that I could approach, in nature it was all about knowing how to interpret the signals that animals gave you, for example, humans smiled to look friendly, on the other hand, in primates, if a human smiled at you, it was a sign of aggression due to the act of showing teeth, because the primate would see it as an attack or a search for a fight.
Nature had a different language, and as a zoologist and zootechnician, I had learned to understand many of the signals animals showed when they felt at ease, hurt, angry, or even in heat, but while the colossal beasts in front of me would be animals in a way.
That didn't mean that what I knew of animals of their size would suit them, as they were a completely different species, Still, the memories of this body kicked in, and briefly but clearly, I could notice the signs, small crumbs, but they were there.
The fan of skin above their heads stopped bristling, while not completely lifted, they had held those parts of their bodies rigid, as the former sounds and loud footsteps were calming down, until, as if nothing had happened, the loud noises, the rigid but ready to charge forward postures, faded away.
While the females gave way so that the young could return to do what they were doing, thus giving me the signal that I did not represent a danger to them, and that I could approach.
So, taking firm but soft steps, I approached them, I lowered my torso a little to not look so tall, and even controlled my breathing so as not to give them reason to attack me, and it worked, one of the females of the herd approached me with suspicion and doubt, but with a strong curiosity.
Her huge hammer, as I call the huge protrusion on her head, was towering over me, and a simple movement of her neck would cause the hammer to hit me and throw me like a rag doll at least ten meters.
My nerves tried to overwhelm me, but I knew that if I panicked and acted without thinking, it could lead to an aggressive reaction from the Angtsìk, and being in the middle of the herd when that happened would not be pleasant.
I controlled my body as much as I could, maybe my mentality was that of an adult already used to being surrounded by dangerous animals, but this body still kept behaviors adhered from its former owner, behaviors and idioms of just a child whose only fight was the hormones of youth.
My calm demeanor brought tranquility to the herd, and that was what I wanted, for the herd to feel at ease with my presence, so that I could work at ease. And to the female that had approached me, I decided to take a risk, I extended my hand and ran it across the front of her hammer, gently brushing her tough skin, without making any other movement besides that.
I did this so as not to make them react in alarm, since even a single sudden movement of her and her hammer could result in hitting me, in a way, I was acting as if I were in front of a horse, that is to say: I was calm, careful, confident, but above all attentive to any discomfort.
But as far as I could see, the female was not uneasy with my presence, I don't know if it was normal or not, since even before, she had not come many times to see the Angtsìk, both before and now being Aleyx. But an approach like this could be explained by the fact that it was the Angtsìk herd of the clan, and thus, they did not attack without provocation unless they felt threatened.
So I prepared myself to try to make whatever happened that day with Fang happen, I looked the Angtsìk in the eyes, something that could not be done with many creatures of Pandora, since some of them interpreted it as a challenge and could attack you.
For a few seconds, nothing happened, no curved tunnel of fluorescent lights, no dizziness, no uneasiness in my mind... Just nothing, I sighed, a little frustrated that nothing happened.
The female lost interest in me and wandered off, going back to graze along with the rest of the herd. I instead decided to sit on the ground, as I thought about what had gone wrong.
Sure, I didn't know much about what had happened. I was even surprised that I was still alive, and that the Palulukan didn't kill me and Luak, but by some action of Eywa, that didn't happen, and instead, he was now my mate, how strange life was.
"Let's see, let's remember. That day Fang attacked us, I yelled at him several times to leave us, which didn't work, he only reacted when... The idea made me open my eyes, if it was about that, then it's very possible that it would work again.
Getting up from the ground, I looked at the nearby Angtsìk, the females were far away, tending to the young, and the Angtsìk closest to me was a male, and although the idea of approaching a male made me uneasy, due to his territoriality, the urge to learn more about my possible gift made the use of reason dismissed from my mind.
I looked the Angtsìk in the eyes, as I slowly approached, this time, the male did not react like the previous female; instead, his large, giant fan on his head was fully raised, as he produced trumpet-like sounds that made my ears reverberate.
His powerful paws scraped the earth, it was clear he was making his territory clear, but I didn't flinch, willing to do what was necessary to understand more about me, the advantage I had, what made me different, what would allow me and mine to live peacefully, or at least as safely as possible.
From one moment to the next, the male Angtsìk pounced on me, cutting the ten-meter distance quickly, my mind clouded for an instant, but the use of reason decided to blossom in the moment, and a simple word escaped my lips.
"Obey," I didn't have the strength to shout the word, and acted more on instinct than anything else, but surprisingly, I felt myself going down in a slide, with the walls of said slide made of a steady stream of colors, and then. Nothing, my eyesight returned to normal, as if nothing that had happened had happened, but it was obvious that something had happened.
When I came to my senses, I saw that the Angtsìk, which was running towards me before, stopped hard, dragging its four front legs against the ground, raised a small trail of dirt, its huge fan on its head placed them towards the front, instead of towards the back when it was calm.
But the most amazing thing about it all, was that just as with Fang days before, the huge Angtsìk flexed his four front paws, leaning towards me, as a strange connection arose in my mind, and immediately I felt it, a bridge had been created between my mind and that of the big boy in front of me.
"You're ready," a soft voice startled me, causing me to turn quickly. There, in front of me, stood my mother, looking at me with a look I couldn't quite identify, "mother". I greeted her, looking at her with mixed emotions. I was happy to have had a breakthrough, a huge breakthrough, confirming the unknown gifts I had, but now with my mother seeing what I did, I felt nervous, not knowing how she would react.
"You're ready," again that phrase, "ready for what?"
"Your initiation."
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