Like someone seeing a dentist brandish a drill, Jack winced when the creature replied in the way it had done so earlier, using some variety of telepathic connection to his mind. It may have been normal for these people to communicate with animals in such a way, but for Jack it was going to take some getting used to. He wasn’t sure if he would ever get used to something like this. So intrusive…. And, on top of that, this little creature, now referring to itself as a Pygmy, didn’t seem to know what sarcastic humour was. Figures, all his jokes were going to be wasted on these freaks. But the Pygmy had made a good point, Jack was talking way more than he usually would, truth was that he never usually said more than necessary, but these extenuating circumstances seemed to have done something to him. Maybe all this jabbering was a way to cope, keep himself sane. 

It was nice, like a bad thought finally gone from his mind, when the Pygmy stopped instilling his message.  

“It was a joke, Pygmy, relax would ya.” He replied then dropped his eyes to his watch, the item the Pygmy seemed to show intervals of interest in, that was, when he wasn’t grooming himself or scratching fleas. Leaving the watch on his wrist, Jack twisted his arm a few times for the creature to take a better look. “And what, you like this?” He asked. “This is a Rolex watch, one of the most expensive on the market, worth more than… actually, never mind, I won’t waste my breath explaining. Anyway, what, you want to trade that little coin for this?” Jack now held a humorous smile, the type of look one might give to a child that offered his candy in exchange for a mans Ferrari.   

It was then, while having his arm extended, that Jack caught view of someone in his peripheral vision. He turned his head quickly to lay sight on a dark image of a humanoid form standing in the center of the road. The person must have been eight feet in height, clothed entirely in a dark hooded robe. In the glow of the ridiculous amount of moons, it was hard to tell if the robe was black or a dark shade of some colour. But their hands couldn’t be seen in the coupled sleeves, their feet were hidden beneath the fall of the hem that touched the cobblestone, and their face was completely unseen in the darkness of their hood. Still, what struck Jack the most peculiar, even haunting, was that their entire person was enveloped in an emerald aura, like a shroud of soft, luminous fog. Whoever or whatever it was, they were facing Jack and Piper as if to be watching them. Intimidating to say the least.

[i]Oh great… the grim reaper arrives…. [/i] Jack thought to himself as a shiver ran his body and caused him to shutter. [i]And why not? Like things weren’t weird enough[/i]

With a voice born of both fear and courage, Jack called out to the mysterious stranger; “Who are you? What to do you want?” But in the closing of his words, the entity vanished in a blink. The road was empty. 

Jack was morbidly pale as he returned his attention back to Piper. 

“Tell me you saw that….” He wheezed as though cheated of breath.