Two plump, giant capybaras.
Two Furnace Cores.
The rest of the capybara family fled the Forest Island, taking refuge in the water. They believed their leader had given the wrong signal, that the dangerous predator was not in the water, but on land.
Capybaras' brains are not advanced enough to conceive of aquatic predators coming into the forest to hunt, because they have never seen them before.
Famu left the area, following the pre-set coordinates to the next location where the Furnace-Core Creatures were hidden.
Once he has an appetite, he becomes a true glutton.
He even ate a few more capybaras along the way. The tender fat compressed and burst between his teeth, full of elasticity. Blood mist floated to the surface of the water along Famu's hunting path, attracting a group of small fish to follow behind Famu and swallow the floating blood foam.
The Arensa Wetlands are teeming with life; this is a rich, unclaimed land that supports hundreds of species.
For example, in wetlands and lakes, decaying roots and silt provide abundant nutrients, which in turn promote the growth of algae and plankton, nourishing fish and attracting birds.
White storks are among the best at fishing.
They forage along shallows, river tributaries, and lakes, using their long beaks to plunge into the water and catch small fish. More experienced Hunters, in order to catch larger fish, will pierce the prey's body with their beaks and then use their claws to carry it ashore to enjoy.
The fish fed the white storks, who in turn carried the nutrients from the water back to the forest.
They build their nests in the canopy of the Forest Island, rest on the tall branches, and year after year, the fish bones and droppings fall to the ground, gradually accumulating nutrients brought by the river into the forest.
As a result, the trees became more lush, and the abundant forests could support more small animals, such as snakes, Lizards, rodents, and shrews. The trees became a sanctuary and food source for the small animals, which in turn attracted larger predators, and so the cycle continued.
So a lake sustains a forest, and the interconnected forests sustain the wetlands. This is how Arensa was born. Of course, it has no owner, because no one truly owns this wetland, but at the same time, no one can live without it.
Night was receding behind Famu, who was heading east, so he could see the sun rising in the water.
A ray of golden-red light shone from the forest, and the river took on that color, its ripples carrying the morning light as they lapped towards him.
Some animals wake up even earlier than the sun. White storks stand on branches early, flapping their wings to dry the moisture that has accumulated on their feathers overnight.
Ysera climbed out of the cave and landed on the highest treetop. She had spent a night of pleasure with her husband, and now, hungry, she prepared to catch a large fish.
She moved her body towards the rising sun, her neck long, her waist slender, her legs long and graceful, her wingspan twice that of her kind. In terms of size, she looked like a Titan Feather-Crested Heron suddenly appearing among the white storks, while she herself was like a dancer dancing in the morning sun, raising her head and calling out, awakening the dawn of Arensa.
The white storks set off.
The adult birds left their nests one after another, spreading their wings and leaping down from the treetops. They glided along the Forest Island, over river branches and shallow lakes, and landed one after another on the shallow beaches illuminated by the morning light.
This is when the fish are most active, and it's also the easiest time to catch them each day.
A gust of wind swept through the forest, and the largest wings arrived. The white storks all bowed their heads in respect to the legendary Hunter.
Lake Crown's Ysera.
The dancer on the lake, Arensa's white crest, the Furnace-Core Creature of the white stork, a legend whose size rivals that of the Titan Feather-Crested Heron.
She was larger than her brothers and sisters from birth, and for a slender and agile Hunter like the white stork, being large is not always a good thing.
Ysera's steps were much heavier than those of her kind. Her feet would sink into the shallow water, stirring up the mud and sand. With the slightest movement of her wings, ripples would spread across the surface. The wary little fish didn't even need to see her; as long as they sensed the change in the water's flow, they would vanish without a trace.
But Ysera quickly adapted to hunting, not because she learned not to disturb the small fish in the shallows, but because she learned to venture into the deep waters and use her beak and claws to pierce the bodies of those giant toothed fish.
Before Ysera, those freshwater pirates had never been afraid of the white storks circling on the water.
But Ysera descended from the sky, plunged into the deep water, grabbed the giant freshwater fish from the surface and slammed them onto the ground, leaving their gills to close and their bodies to struggle and vomit on the shore, before finally meeting their belated death.
She taught the white storks their skills in hunting large fish.
The title "Lake Crown" originated thirty years ago.
The White Empire of the Titan Feather-Crested Heron rules the sky, its white wings covering the heavens and the earth. Everywhere, on the highest tree, stand the subjects of the White Empire. The territory of the terrible emperor born from the Titan Feather-Crested Heron expands in all directions from the lower reaches of the Mara River, almost covering the entire Mara River system.
The Titan Feather-Crested Herons were the rulers of the skies of the Samei Rainforest, and the Titan Feather-Crested Heron Emperor was even more extraordinary than ordinary Furnace-Core Creatures. Even Ra was astonished by his birth and thus called him Alaric of the Storm, meaning that he could stir up storms by spreading his wings and soaring over the forest.
Storm Alaric set its sights on the Arensa Wetlands.
He dispatched an army of Crowned Herons to occupy Forest Island, but Ysera defeated the Titan Feather-Crested Herons ' vanguard, causing countless white feathers to fall on the land of Arensa.
Strangely, Alaric did not retaliate.
Even Ysera herself was surprised by this, because Alaric had an even more fitting name: the Alaric the Arrogant. He dared to offend even super-species, and in the skies, he disregarded all life on earth. How could such an arrogant fellow possibly let go of the place that had caused his empire to fall?
In the end, Alaric neither descended upon Arensa in person nor sent a second army. The emperor who had once spread his white wings across the Mara River system shrank his territory and led his people back to the lower reaches of the Mara River.
Later, time brought an end to the White Empire.
One by one, the mighty Crowned Heron warriors died.
The warriors who guarded the highest treetops grew old and gradually disappeared. The young Crowned Heron could not fill the places they left behind, and the White Empire collapsed. The white feathers that once covered the sky became fewer and fewer.
In the end, even Alaric of the Storm disappeared.
The name of Storms had no successor, and along with Alaric's disappearance, vanished from the skies of the Samei Rainforest.
In contrast, Arensa's "Lake Crown" title shines brightly.