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Reaches top. MORE
Looks down over the rim. It appears there is nothing below but more trees. MORE
She goes down into the valley, down below the canopy of the forest. MORE
The trees rise for hundreds of feet, and all of the vegetation is at the very top of the trees. This is what the Initium Novum senses from orbit, as well as all the colony probes that have been flying over the valley. But under the canopy, what Kendra sees amazes her.
Except for the trunks of the trees, all of the vegetation has been cleared, cultivated. The stream she has been following from the valley rim flows straight into the forest, and a well-maintained path, an artificial path, runs right by the stream.
She sees a reflection in the water. It is the reflection of a tall, very tall, well muscled man. Kendra lets out a scream and stands up, turning around.
The man stands there, looming above her, over seven feet tall. He is the tallest human she has ever seen. But... he's not fully human, is he? There he stood, completely naked, shaggy light-brown hair running all the way down his back. Being so much shorter than he was, she was eye-level with his rib-cage, but the bones of his torso were wrong, thicker, with several more ribs protecting his chest. Not that she could make them out that well, as they were under a huge wall of muscle. Looking at his face, the bones there were thicker also, the muscles of his head and neck thicker, stronger than that of a regular man.
They stood for several seconds, as Kendra sensed other things about him. There were no shadows about him, no whispering.
Other parts of him were fully human. Kendra suddenly felt vulnerable, and very afraid in the presence of this towering creature.
Kendra turned, and ran, as fast as she could back the way she had come.