Every good story has a beginning and an end. In fact, it would be quite difficult to have a story without those things. But if you have a story that has not a beginning or an end, then congratulations! You have broken the physics of storytelling! This one, though, has very many beginnings and many endings. So we'll have no problems with the physics of storytelling.
Now, I do hope you're not expecting a fairy-tale or a comedy. For this is most definitely a tragedy. The tragedy those poor twelve beings. The first beginning starts with a simple mutation of blood. A misfit in a society lacking love or virtue.
Now... Shall we begin? I do think so...
[o]
It began with a mistake. Multiple mistakes, actually. The first was in his blood. Trolls like him were never meant to exist. He was never supposed to survive. That was the second mistake. Night after night, the old Alternian Grub Cull went into work. The Drones with their blades, and the infants drawing their last breaths before an easy and said-painless death. None of the lusii had wanted them anyway. Who would?
The color of his blood was not even on the Hemospectrum, identifying him as an error. It was something that was thought to be a myth until his birth. The sucker didn't even stand a chance with the lusii. No one would take in a genetic glitch. He would only live about fifty sweeps, making him useless to Trollkind.
Nobody really knows how he escaped the blades of the Culling Drones. Some say the drones took pity on him. Some say he was never brought to The Cull at all. Either way, the young mutant was left for dead in the harsh underground caverns of Alternia. He should have been dead by sunrise.
That is if it hadn't been for the Jade Mother.
It reeked...
The young Jadeblood dumped the multicolored contents into the slur. Disgusting... The muggy, cavern air filled with the putrid stench of genetic material. Not that it didn't already smell that way. Porrim's nose scrunched up in utter disgust as she watched the colors mix into an incestuous mess, preparing to be absorbed by the Mother Grub. She tossed the bucket into the washing pit, waiting to hear its loud clatter.
Porrim searched around the dark cavern for her apprentice. Alta was most likely sleeping as she usually was. Porrim stumbled upon the elder, ensconced in a pile of cleaning rags. The poor woman. She couldn't hold herself up for more than an hour at a time. Although Porrim didn't know for sure, Alta must have been over 400 solar sweeps old, and nobody knew why the Highbloods hadn't come for her Departure.
"Are you feeling ill again?" Porrim placed a hand over her apprentice's forehead. Instead of feeling hot, it was rather cold to the touch.
"Ah... I am fine, my dear." Alta clasped her hands around Porrim's in a reassuring manner.
Alta tried to rise shakily from her resting spot, her old bones failing her. The elder simply resorted to sitting back down in the pile. With a great aching of her back, she rested back over the rags. Porrim had tried to help her up, but didn't want to hurt her poor, frail arms.
"Ough... If you don't mind, I think I'll rest here for the day..." Alta closed her worn eyes.
"You mustn't! You'll have nightmares!" Again, Porrim prompted for her to get up.
Alta paused briefly, "Fetch me some Sopor... That may help me."
Porrim nodded promptly and rushed down the halls. If the Drones wouldn't come for Alta's Departure, she could pass on her own. Both options were equally as frightening. Porrim passed down the dimly lit corridors of her lifelong prison, passing sign after sign. The Counsel of Highbloods always hung signs that were suppoused to be "encouraging".
More candles passed by.
Her footsteps echoed off the long, stone halls.
Finally, Porrim arrived in the Sopor production outlet. The green slime slid through the underground pipes, forcing its way to he surface of Alternia. She reached forward, opening a faucet to fill a small bucket with the healing slime. Nobody knew exactly where it came from. It flowed under the ground, and was said to have healing properties on Trolls.
Squeee...
Porrim had heard many strange sounds underground in her life. She had been told to ignore them, and not to let them distract her.
SQUEEEEAK!
This sound was different, however. It was a pleading screech coming from a nearby corner. Porrim took her eyes off the low-pressured faucet to examine the room. Had it been her imagination? Was she finally losing her mind after 30 sweeps underground?
SCREEE...
It couldn't be. She arose quickly, turning her head every which way.
"Who's there!?" She called out through the halls.
Were the Drones here to take Alta? Could Alta be in danger?
"Alta...?" The dry moan of wind returned her call.
Squeeek...
Porrim's head snapped to her right in fright. It was coming from under the pile of soporific waste. But... how? Something was alive under there. Her eminent curiosity got the best of her. She crept over, bringing to dig through the waste. It was piping hot, and singed her hands to the touch. Finally, she reached something solid, slowly pulling out from under the waste.
"Good heavens...!" She couldn't help but to gasp in awe.
From under the waste, she had found a newborn grub, something both she and Alta were meant to protect. Porrim brushed the scalding waste off of the grubs body, only to reveal even more shock. In all her sweeps of working with grubs, she'd never seen a grub this color. Bright red... She'd read about these kind of Trolls before in banned books, but had only thought it to be a hoax.
"Hisssss..." The bright red infant hissed feebly at her as she held it in her palms.
"Oh, come on now... I don't I'm not going to hurt you." Porrim nuzzled the creature with her finger.
She was lucky that she worked with grubs everyday. Most trolls above ground had never laid eyes on the young of their own species. Porrim gently examined the grub, finding its left ear and one of its left feelers were damaged, most likely by burn. She wasn't shocked when the grub began to weep as she grazed a finger across its ear. She was going to need something to heal it with. ... like Sopor!
... Oh, bollocks.
Porrim set the grub on the cold floor again, quickly spinning around to face the Sopor bucket she's just remembered. Sure enough, it had overflowed, and Sopor was flowing across the floor. She dashed in a panic to the faucet to turn it off. A mess like this would earn her a punishment from Alta. Porrim sighed, unable to help what mess she'd already made. Using a bit of torn cloth from her own robes, she soaked up some of the Sopor from the ground.
"Here you are, child..." She backed toward the grub again, using the cloth on its wounds.
It squealed in protest, its helpless, newborn eyes widening. Porrim tried to comfort him by pulling him closer as she eased the Sopor in. It wiggled in her arm, getting used to her touch, its short breaths becoming more eased. Pretty soon, he seemed more at peace than ever. Sure, his ear was still damaged, and the one feeler still seemed corrupt, but he was in no pain. No more suffering.
"See...? How bad was that...?" Porrim couldn't help but to giggle at the wriggler.
"Porrim...!?" Alta's frail voice echoed down the corridor. She'd completely forgotten why she came to the Sopor Dispensary in the first place.
"Coming, Mistress...!" Porrim set the grub down on the ground, "... Goodbye, Signless."
She didn't know why she called him that. It just seemed fit for a, well... Signless child. But giving something a name was a one way ticket to becoming attached to it, and Porrim knew she couldn't become attached to the mutant. She snatched up the bucket, careful not to spill any more, and dashed back down the caverns, not daring to look back, not even after she heard the grub weep.
According to her books, grubs with such a hue were often left to fend for the selves underground. They would raise themselves, forced to hide their Bloodcaste from everyone. It was an awful demise, really. Porrim understood she would never see the grub again, as it would most likely die before it even pupated.
"Porrim, you weren't reading any of those books, were you?" Alta turned to face Porrim as she returned.
"No, Mistress." Porrim rubbed some Sopor into Alta's forehead, as she had with the baby.
"Oh, goodness! Your hands... Whatever did you do...?" Alta exclaimed upon sight if Porrim's singed hands.
"Just a mishap with the Sopor. Do not worry." Porrim felt the woman's forehead. It felt nearly cold.
"What am I going to do with you..." Alta sighed, dozing off in her pile, "I see much potential in you, Dear. Don't you let that go to waste. "
Porrim didn't answer. Alta had told her those words so many times before, and she chose never to believe them. Nobody who was cursed to a life underground had potential. Nobody on the planet had potential. Nobody did anymore than work and reproduce. And that was just the way it was. Life on Alternia.
"Alta... Was there a Trial today?" Porrim stopped short in her tracks.
"Mmmhmmm... I believe all of them were paired with lusii." Alta replied with much rasp in her voice.
"... Sleep tight, Mistress." Porrim tugged on the breaker switch, shutting the lights off, and the cavern was dark.
Porrim awoke with a start just as the Alternian sun had set. She felt as if she'd had a dream, but wasn't possible... She'd slept in rags of Sopor as she usually did. She rose slowly, rubbing her head while reaching for her jade robes, but tripped clumsily over something laying on the ground.
Screee!
... Wait a minute... Porrim knew that cry. She turned her fallen body around to face the same, bright red grub as the morning before. He'd found his way all the way back to her. The grub recovered from being kicked over, and wriggled over to her. He made himself quite comfy by her legs, and began to rest again. This wasn't good... The grub was becoming attached to her.
"No no. I'm not your lusus. You must go back to the crater..." Porrim got up off the ground, wrapping her robes around her body.
She swallowed hard as she watched the grub attempt to crawl up her ankle. This was not a good situation to be in... She pulled the grub off her leg and set it down by the Recupricoon. Perhaps she could hide the grub in her Respite Block, for now. Just so that no one would find him and harm him.
"... Your ear looks much better, Signless." Porrim knew she couldn't keep calling him that. She would become essentially attached to the grub.
She closed the pressurized door to her Block, hoping he wouldn't cause too much trouble while she was away. Porrim was already late for her daily chores. Her quick and nimble footsteps rang down the unusually quiet hallways. Usually Alta was awake by this time, and the sound if clattering buckets was already ambient.
"Mistress...?" Porrim approached the rags where she'd left her apprentice in the morning before, "...Alta?"
She stared heavily down on Alta's motionless body. Had it finally happened...? Porrim leaned over placing her hands over Alta's face. Her skin was frighteningly cold, and lacked any temperature. As a final measure, Porrim rested her head against her chest, list it for her blood pusher. It was no surprise that it was silent.
It wasn't like Porrim didn't see it coming. She'd known that sooner or later, she'd be caring for the Mother Grub on her own. She felt unsettled despite her confidence. Sure, she and Alta's relationship had been complicated. Alta had taught her to never let he mind stray from work, and beat her when she was caught reading banned books, but she had also taught Porrim to have an open mind. Alta taught her to accept new things in life.
Porrim snapped an olive branch from a nearby display. It was fake, but it would have to do. Carefully, Porrim placed the branch in Alta's hands. Indeed, she had died peacefully. In fact, more peacefully than she would have if the Drones ended up arriving.
"I'm so sorry, Alta." Porrim bent her head in respect, "I can't stay here anymore."
It had been Alta who had taught her to be open to new paths. And open she was to these new ideas. Ideas she'd be culled for if caught. Alta's death was sudden, and so was her freedom. The Mother Grub would scold her for this, as she had been her lusus. She understood the sacrifices that would have to be made in order to follow this new path. It was a terrible idea, really, and it was her fault. She had let her self become attached to Signless. She would pay eventually for sure, but the grub deserved a chance.
Porrim rushed back into her Respite Block where Signless was waiting patiently. She gathered her books from a hole in the wall, and packed them into a burlap bag that was meant for egg transport. Stringing the rucksack over her shoulder, she swooped back down to pick up Signless. He seemed content to see her again, and happily nuzzled her arm. It was then that Porrim knew she was making the right choice.
The corridors were quiet and dark. There were about five more hours before daylight. As a Rainbow Drinker, which most Jade Bloods resorted to due to lack of protein underground, she didn't care for sunlight. Not to mention the Alternian sun was incredibly bright, harmful to most who went outside. Porrim placed her grub on her shoulder, reaching up the ladder she had passed by everyday. She'd known where it lead to, but hardly ever got to ascend it. This would be the first time in sweeps since she'd breathed fresh air.
The light of the two Alternian moons illuminated Porrim's face as she lifted the cover to the surface. Stars scattered the night sky, bringing back memories of her childhood above the surface. ... Was this the right idea? Porrim gazed back down the passage she'd climbed through. It was cold, dark, and uninviting. She gently lifted her body out of the passage, careful not to harm Signless.
It was time to go into hiding.