Chapter 24: Unlikely Allies


KENT


A few days prior

Ever since he was a kid, Kent Hayes had known that there was something out there. Not God, since to a proper American like him, his existence was simply unquestionable, but something else, watching and waiting. Ever since he was in his teens, he'd also been made aware that the government did some pretty shady shit on a regular basis, both to cover their own skins and for other reasons.

These notions had stayed with him into adulthood, only getting clearer as the years passed and the rest of society seemed to become more and more blind to things. Sadly, for the longest time, it was clear that most of his acquaintances, which included the entirety of Elsewhere, his dear, tiny hometown, just 'put up with' and 'tolerated' his honest truths. The few people that really listened, along with adding their own to the discussion, were the others willing to see beyond what 'they' wanted them to see.

Kent hadn't liked it, but he'd accepted it.

But then, it'd all changed. First, New York had happened, affirming his first belief. Two years later, Washington had happened, affirming the second, as well as finally getting Adrian to listen to one of his go-to channels on the radio. And now, just three days ago, the Sun had turned white as chalk, all electronic connection to the outside world had vanished and come noon, those things had showed up, taking away anyone they could find. However, cooped up with Adrian and Tim's family at the latter's home, Kent had almost been more worried about the people that would come to 'rescue' them.

Things had looked especially bad when the person to barge through the apartment door this morning had been none other than UN General Lembit Juss, a frequent topic for him and his fellow theorists and with good reason, as this proved. Unbelievably, however, the shady officer and his small team of soldiers had actually turned out to be there to save them.

After a firefight against the white monsters, the rescue helicopter they'd promised had showed up at last, landing outside on the road. While the troopers had gotten the civilians to the chopper, the General had distracted the creatures with the giant sword he for some reason had. Still, when he too had nearly made it to the copter, one of the alien things had tripped him, making Kent have to save him with his trusty 1911. The soldier had jumped in and they'd been off.

However, their escape had been short lived, as what had to have been the smaller, flying monsters started to hit the chopper, making it spin out of control. The last thing Kent remembered as he'd braced for the crash, was a weird yellow flash. His memories from right after that were still blurry, though he remembered how the creatures had dug him and the others out of the wreck, basically ripping off the soldiers' gear and guns, his as well, before dragging them all into the desert.

Being hauled by two of the shiny aliens had been an awful experience, made even worse by the summer heat shining down on them, which seemed to have no effect on them. Try as he might've, Kent had been unable to wrestle either of his hands free of the monsters' steely grasps, leaving to just stay limp and endure, as everyone was taken towards the mountains near Elsewhere.


The entire, miserable trip had to have taken at least half a day, as evident by the Sun's position when they finally reached the cliffs. From there, the white monsters dragged the humans up a painfully rocky path, eventually coming to a wider ledge in the mountainside, where Kent was tossed to the ground with the others.

He quickly sat back up, checking himself over. Fortunately, he wasn't too hurt, with only a few bruises on his legs and a bigger one on his side from the crash. Looking around, he saw that Tim and Haley also seemed to be mostly okay (thank god), as did the three soldiers sitting together. However, he couldn't spot Adrian, Juss or the chopper pilot anywhere. Hopefully, that meant at least they'd managed to get away from the metallic creatures.

Speaking of the freaky things, a number of them were marching back off the cliff, while the few that'd stayed were standing towards its ledge, silently facing the humans. At one's skeletal feet, Kent saw a pile of the soldiers' equipment, even his pistol, which they for some reason had also carried over here.

The ledge, aside for them and their captors, was otherwise empty, with only a man-sized cave in the mountainside Kent knew to be natural, making him wonder what was going to happen next. The tall creatures seemed like they were waiting for something, but what? He looked up at the sky, unable to see anything that appeared to be getting closer. Unless the ship was just going to warp over their heads at some point. These things were aliens, right? What the hell did they even want with them?

Nothing good, that much was sure.

And honestly, Kent didn't really want to find out what. He had no idea why none of the soldiers had tried anything so far, but knew he would. He eyed the rocky mountainside, hoping the metallic beasts wouldn't climb as well as they ran. He wasn't going to try and get his gun, since it would've been too risky and kind of pointless. The thing wasn't even fully loaded. Nah. The man stood up, throwing a goodbye glance at Tim and his daughter, before bolting towards the far end of the ledge as fast as he could.

He grabbed onto the rock to climb up, as quick, heavy footsteps came from behind. Seconds later, he was yanked back and painfully slammed against the ground, then pinned there by a creature's foot. Kent looked up, thinking it was over for him, but to his surprise, the monster didn't do anything else, just stood over him, motionless.

He wasn't going anywhere.

Pretty much helpless, he turned his head towards the others, seeing the old shopkeeper stare back with shock. One of the soldiers, Lane (if that really was his name), stood up and approached, cautiously eyeing the creature, which didn't react to him at all.

"That was fuckin' stupid, you know that, Hayes," he said, crouching next to Kent.

"Better than doing nothing," the man groaned back, annoyed.

"Not if it's this dumb," Lane retorted. "You're goddamn lucky these things seem to want us alive. It could've easily killed you otherwise."

"And what if the things they'll do to us are worse than that," Kent asked.

"We don't know that for sure. But we are their prisoners right now, which means we act smart," the soldier spoke sternly, muttering: "Honestly, I didn't think you'd be this crazy."

"The hell's that supposed to mean," the theorist exclaimed angrily.

"Language, please," Tim called. "Haley's here too."

"Sorry, Tim," Kent replied, before turning back towards the trooper, hissing: "Listen here, 'Lane', I'm just a man who can see how much your leaders keep from us honest Americans."

"And we're just grunts trained to protect you honest Americans," the soldier shot back, "I'm one 'f those too. Just one that got assigned to fight things like this." He pointed up at the creature. "Though I know to tell that the shit that's still kept secret is that way for a reason."

"Really?" The theorist felt a sudden flash of curiosity. He'd yearned to learn of things like that for over half his life. And Lane seemed somewhat reasonable for a government pawn. "There a chance you'd spill some of it? We're prolly going to die here anyway."

"I said we don't know that," the other man said, lowering his voice, "but fine. I'll tell about your precious aliens. Just try to keep it to yourself, otherwise Smith'll get pis-"

He suddenly cut himself off, his head snapping towards the mountain. Before Kent could ask what he was doing, he too heard it, what sounded a lot like marching, coming from inside the cave in the rock face. He looked at the opening as best he could, while the sound from it got closer by the second. Then, a fairly large group of figures stepped out onto the ledge. While not as strange as the white monsters, from what he saw, they still looked akin to oversized bugs walking on two legs, wearing blueish armor. A couple even had wings. The majority of them were carrying very wide swords, with two also holding up poles with lamps on top.

The new creatures came further towards the humans, causing the tall, white one to take its leg off the theorist and pull him to his feet. One of the bug-things, who, judging from the fancier helmet, seemed to be their leader, then shouted something that he couldn't understand, motioning with its sword for him and the others to come closer. For a moment, Kent stood in place with a defiant glare, before being shoved forwards by the monster that'd pinned him down, to which reluctantly approached with Lane, as did the Charles' and the rest of the soldiers.

The bug-soldiers wasted no time in rounding them up into a row. Tim's frantic questions of 'who these things were' and 'what was even happening' were quickly silenced by punches from the surrounding guards, right in front of Haley and Kent, the latter wanting nothing other than to lay into the evil things, only stopped by the sword at his own back. Though, there was another thing he wanted to do.

"We're not done, you and I, alright," he whispered towards Lane, prompting another of the creatures to bark something at him, probably to shut up. At least the soldier nodded.


Shortly thereafter, the humans and their inhuman captors started into the previously normal-seeming cave. Kent was still quite surprised. He'd honestly believed these things, both the white and now also the small ones, were aliens or something of the sort. But as they soon passed into a tunnel that, even in the near dark, was very clearly built by hand, he realized that wasn't the case at all. Truth be told, after hearing about it, he had sometimes entertained the idea of lizards or the like hiding away somewhere (maybe even among people in some places, disguised), but had never thought it'd be giant bugs, nor that they'd be basically right next to Elsewhere.

As the humans were ushered further into the tunnel, it didn't take long for the man to notice that it was leading downwards and he began to wonder where they were being taken. These bug-creatures were smart enough to talk and use weapons, apparently even dig huge tunnels like this. Surely they had built something else in these caves. Though whatever it'd end up being, it wouldn't mean anything good for him and the others. That much was obvious. Seriously, what ungodly thing did these things need them for?

Matter of fact, why had they only showed up now? This tunnel looked old enough. There was an ever growing amount of things Kent wanted answers to, preferably without getting killed.

Being pushed along with the others, the only things shaking Kent from these thoughts were the increasingly chilly air and scutters and chirps in the darkness, which he would've brushed off as bats if they hadn't seemed to come from around ground-height.

Just as he was also starting to wonder how long this tunnel would last, he saw bright light coming from ahead and instead got surprised, thinking they were reaching the end of the road already.

However, that didn't turn out to be the case, as the large group soon made it through the wide passage at the end of the tunnel, before coming to a quick stop. His eyes adjusting, Kent saw they were on the side of a large, unbelievably well-lit underground canyon. Even stranger, there was a constant fall of what appeared to be white flakes, coming from above. There was a quiet gasp from someone. He would've whistled himself, hadn't it probably meant a punch from one of their captors.

Looking straight ahead, he then saw the likely reason for why they had stopped. Right in front of them, there'd very clearly once been a stone bridge leading to the canyon's other side. Now, though, there was just two ropes running across, with another of the bug-soldiers in the process of hastily fastening planks to them. Still, the shoddy thing was far from finished. The leader of his captors shouted a few words in their bizarre language, getting the builder's attention. They shouted in reply, pointing at the cave behind them, which caused fancy-helmet to groan angrily, before yelling something else.

One of the other bugs-things from their group spoke up in an asking tone. Kent was also a bit confused as to where they'd go now. He hoped they weren't just going to wait it out, since the cave's cold air was slowly starting to get to him. Fancy-helmet huffed, before saying what was surely an order and pointing towards the edge of the outcrop, where there was a narrow, steep footpath going down the side of the tall ravine.

Suddenly, freezing up there didn't seem like that bad an idea to the man and the others seemed to think the same way. Even the soldiers looked slightly more nervous. However, the bugs nodded in unison and began to push them towards the path.

"Y-you can't be serious about this," Tim tried protesting, but was forced quiet again, causing his daughter to whimper and Kent's disdain to grow, as the humans were all made to get onto the trail, each separated by one of the creatures.


The walk (or climb, rather) down was nerve-wracking to say the least. His hand basically glued against the canyon wall, Kent did his best to only look straight forward, feeling jealous at the winged bugs, who had flown ahead to wait for them. Still, he couldn't help peeking at the ground below a couple times, spotting a large amount of puddles with greenish stuff scattered all over.

Just when they were finally getting to the bottom of the canyon, the man suddenly noticed the two bug-soldiers that were waiting at the foot of the path become agitated at something, before hearing their panicked shouts, which seemed to scare the ones escorting them too. Moments later, a bunch of things flew out the large cave to the side. They looked about the same size of the beastie that'd attacked Adrian's nephew, but with the addition of bright orange sacs under their bodies.

These ones also looked much angrier than what Kent had shot. And they'd just rushed past the winged guards, going straight towards Kent and the others.

The entire 'prisoner caravan' livened up, with panicked shouts from both the bugs and humans, him included, as the guards started hurriedly trying to push them all along, only for a few of the flying creatures to get close, before spitting out globs of orange goo. Ducking in the nick of time, Kent heard one's splash against the cave wall above him, followed by loud sizzling. In the chaos that followed, he suddenly noticed that neither of the bugs were holding onto him anymore and, deciding to act, grabbed the one to his front, shoving them off the path.

Luckily for him, they were still high enough that it was an actual fall.

Kent heard the bug behind him shout and, not wanting to get hit, rushed forwards, where the soldiers also started fighting back against their momentarily overwhelmed captors, Smith sending another one off the side. With more globs of the nasty spit splattering on the path, the four men then got to making it down from the trail themselves, pushing past the other guards, who yelled angrily, as well as the Charles', neither of whom were strong enough to struggle free.

They jumped onto the chasm floor, where the winged bug-soldiers had taken off from to fight the spitter-things. Kent looked around frantically, trying to think of what to do next. Before he could, though, the other guards caught up, dragging along the remaining prisoners. They were quickly joined by the two that'd been chucked off the path, both seeming completely unhurt somehow.

The bugs' leader furiously spoke an order, prompting four of the others to rush towards the humans. One of them swung their weapon at Kent, making grab onto their sword arm, trying to twist it, while forcing them back with the other. As proud or embarrassed as he might've felt about it, he'd been in a fair few fights and knew how to defend himself in one. Still, the creature was pretty strong, the two struggling for a few moments, before the man managed a proper punch to its unarmored stomach area.

Unfortunately, the hard skin was tough enough that it didn't do much outside hurting his hand and angering the bug even further. It snarled, jabbing forward with their sword, which the man barely avoided. Getting close again, the creature then snatched onto his shirt, trying to tug him by it.

"Get the hell away," Kent shouted. He shoved as forcefully as he could, causing the bug to stumble backwards and fall right into one of the hissing, green puddles. They began to scream, clearly in pain, as one of the other bugs rushed over with a panicked shout, stooping down to pull them back out.

For a few moments, even Kent was shocked at what he'd just done, before forcing himself to shake it off and glancing to the side, where he saw Lane punch another bug hard enough to stun them. The soldier returned his look.

"We need to run, Hayes. Come on," he shouted, motioning for him to follow, as the winged bugs, having killed or scared off the spitters, landed to join the fight. The man nodded, before realizing something.

"Wait, what about Tim," he asked, looking towards the scared shopkeeper and his daughter, who were still held beside the bug-guards' leader and another, who he only now saw was hauling the troops' equipment and guns, as well as his piece.

"We'll never get to them! Now come on already," Green replied.

Sighing, Kent nodded again. Despite wanting to save his helpless friend, he understood his own safety took priority right now. Still, with a heavy heart, he took off after the soldiers that he'd thought would kill him just hours earlier, leaving the old man to whatever the hell these bugs wanted with them.

They rushed into the wide cave that the spitter-things had flown out of earlier, with a number of the bug-guards very audibly in pursuit.


ORO


The hermit nailmaster known once to others as Oro had had quite an interesting couple of days, to say the very least.

For what must have been decades by that point, the well-sized bug had lived alone at the far edge of Hallownest, cut off from the rest of the world. That wasn't an issue to the warrior. After all, it was the reason he had retreated there in the first place, among several others that he preferred to think of less, including a promise once broken, one he didn't think he could ever repay.

Oro had first arrived in the lonely hut around the time the City of Tears had closed its gates to stave off the Infection and in the time that had followed, he'd noticed himself gradually become less and less active. Not sluggish or old, no (he in fact appeared to have ceased aging altogether), but inactive regardless, until he had found himself silently meditating for what were no doubt years at a time, only rousing to eat a small fill from his stored food that'd still yet to run out.

This had gone on until very recently, when his remote home had been found by a scentless, mute little bug, whose nail had quickly betrayed their intent to learn, which the nailmaster, as once obliged by his own teacher, had adhered to, though only for a considerable amount of geo. It was useless, but being awoken from meditation had left him in a bad mood. Regardless, what the tiny warrior had lacked in size and speech, they'd made up for with skill and resolve, pleasantly surprising Oro, to whom it reminded of the Nailsage.

Having quickly mastered the Dash Slash, the strange youngling had left him to meditate in peace once more, only to soon return, this time to offer the larger bug a pure white flower that he'd ultimately decided to keep (though not before his pupil had gone). From their stature, he'd also taken away that they had gotten to train under Sheo, as well as him, which he'd made sure to mention.

That was the last time he had seen the tiny warrior and he thought things would return to the norm. Not long after, however, something about the air had changed and he couldn't help but feel that it had to do with them. Overall, he could suddenly feel much more again, almost as if an invisible cover had been lifted off his mind. Furthermore, he had found that he'd finally gotten his fill of meditating, having a peek out of his hut for the first time in a long time, happy to finding his training dummy in its old spot.


Still, even with this newfound state of mind, for the following couple of days, the nailmaster had abstained from venturing too far into the wilderness. That was until this midday, when he had started to feel slightly hungry. However, what remained of his supplies had finally become rancid in the time since the last time he'd eaten. So, come afternoon, he lifted his greatnail onto his shoulder and stepped out the door, having decided to go hunting.

As well as to throw away the rotten food before its stench spread into his preferred spot.

After the latter was done, Oro began to head down the wide cave, passing by the familiar white piles of what he knew to be the fallen ashes of some long dead beast. When it came to those right now, though, he had taken notice that many inhabitants of the caves had somehow perished, with ash-covered corpses of little hoppers being quite a frequent find, unlike their living brethren, who the nailmaster had yet only sensed. Curiously, their already sharp scent was entirely clear of the Infection's distinct presence, which he knew to have ailed them.

Perhaps it was linked to his sudden 'awakening'.

Still, although they too were less in numbers, it hadn't stopped the primal aspids, who seemed more insolent and fierce than ever before, having tried to attack Oro twice already. A few swings from his greatnail had repelled them, followed by a retreat to his hut, where they didn't dare enter.

Fortunately, the flying vermin hadn't bothered his hunt so far. Good, there was little edible in them anyway. The nailmaster hoped to come across a boofly, which would've fed him for days. Prowling along towards the pillar that led down to the Hive, he kept alert for anything that might've moved. He was also in thought, mostly about the times to come now that he was 'awake' again. After regaining his bearings here for a couple more days, it didn't seem such a bad idea to go and see how the rest of the known world was faring after all this time. Perhaps he'd even come across Sheo or their old master-

Oro's tram of thought was briefly interrupted by a gust of colder wind from ahead, which was largely blocked by his coat, the rest by his shell.

However, with it came a very interesting pair of scents. One of them was clearly that of Hallownest's folk. The other, though, was entirely foreign to him. Mere moments later, he started hearing distant shouts and decided it was worth investigating.


Having only strode a short distance, the warrior was met with the strange sight of four creatures fleeing his way from a same-sized pack of Hallownest's sentrybugs. Now truly wishing to know what it was about, he approached further, while the escapees did so on their end. Then, the four beings noticed him, freezing in place, breathing heavily, as he closed the remaining distance between them to get a proper look. They were clearly intelligent, standing upright and being almost entirely covered in garments. He could also hear hushed, fearful words from them, all of which were unfamiliar to him. They were each unarmed as well, leaving Oro confused as to why the sentries were after them. It didn't appear too noble of them.

It was then that the soldierbugs in question caught up, causing the creatures to glance back at them, one uttering something.

"Greatly done finally halting these filths, big warrior," one of the sentries spoke up, stepping closer, as the nailmaster felt a faint, sharp scent. "We shall have at them from-"

Before he could finish, a much larger creature burst through the cavern ceiling, granting the nailmaster barely enough time to dodge out its way. Landing with an earthshaking crash, the Great Hopper jumped up again, as both the smaller bugs and creatures scrambled with panicked yells. Oro was having none of it. He channeled his strength, eyes locked on the great beast. The moment it landed, he struck, cleaving through its sac with a single Dash Slash. It fell to the cave floor, dead.

He still had it.

He glanced to the side, where neither the sentries, nor the creatures had gotten very far, but were now looking back to him.

"The second time you've saved us trouble, good bug," the one who'd spoken before said. "We'll make sure to mention your service to the king, so he may offer you a place among us. Strong warriors like you are a rarity in these times. Now, however, we've to deal with these unguided." Nails readied, he and his companions turned towards the four beings, who looked rather tired by now.

Oro was not going to let it happen without answers. "Stop," he called out, causing the sentries to look at him again, visibly annoyed. "What is it they've done wrong?"

"If you must, they fled us while we were taking them to our Pale King to be enlightened, through which they injured one of ours," the sentry explained coldly, "for that, we shall make them pay!" He waved his nail towards the creatures.

The Nailsage's once spoken words ran through the larger bug's mind. "You cannot," he protested. "They are unarmed, defenseless. Take them to the king if you must, but do not punish them here like so. It is against a proper warrior's law."

"We are the king's hand. He is above all laws," the soldier argued, "now I suggest you mind your own business and leave us be, warrior."

"I am no mere warrior, you city tiktik," Oro declared, feeling indignant, "I am a nailmaster and you shall respect me as such."

"Bah, even if that was, such titles have long been without meaning," the other bug scoffed, "they're nothing before our king anyway. Now scram, brute, before we get too annoyed." He waved a hand, as if dismissing the nailmaster, which he refused to accept, having made up his mind.

"No! I shall not let you hurt them, whatever they are." He brought forth his greatnail. "In fact, I will not even let you take them, be it the king's will or not." Truth be told, he had never held the ancient ruler (who apparently had now returned) in very high regard, as the 'great' figure had disappeared when he was still a youngling.

"Insolent fool! Revoke that threat or be met with our blades!" All of the sentries had now turned towards him.

"I shall, gladly," the nailmaster chuckled darkly, channeling his strength, before charging for them with another Dash Slash, felling the mouthy one in an instant. The three remaining soldierbugs dispersed, doing their best to surround him. The single winged female took fight.

"It'd be for the best if he was the only one to lose his life today," he spoke up, his tone stern, "leave these caves while you still can."

"Never! You've proven an enemy to the king and for that, you shall perish," one of his opponents shouted like the indoctrinated bug they were.

The nailmaster simply grunted in reply, blocking strikes from the two earthbound sentries with a single wide swing of the greatnail, before bringing it upon them again, cutting down both. He cared not if he wielded his blade like a club, it was how he'd created his Art. This attack had left him open to one from the female, who flew at his back, managing a painful cut that tore his cloak. With an angry growl, Oro grabbed her and threw her at the cave wall, either killing or knocking her out.

Just like that, it was over. He truly still had it.

Though, he felt slight remorse taking in what was nothing more than carnage around him. These bugs, however single minded, had been following orders. However, they'd also tried to hurt the strange beings as petty revenge, betraying any form of decency. Not only that, they had used their position to act as if they were above it like their master.

Their end was justified. It was simply how matters outside Hallownest were anyway.

Still, the fight had left him tired and in a bad mood. He walked over to the dead hopper, grabbing its leg. It would have to do for that hunt. Then, looked towards the four creatures, who for some reason were still there, staring back and exchanging wary words. Oro wasn't quite sure what to do.

"Will you merely stand there or shall you come with me," he for some reason finally asked, despite knowing the beings understood him as little as he them. After a few moments without reply, he shook his head and began to drag his kill back towards home. A short while later, however, he heard footsteps and looked back to see them following him after all. Strangely, he saw that the three wearing similar bright-colored garments had picked up the dead sentries' nails.

For their sake, he hoped they were as passive as they looked, as he could've easily slain them too were it otherwise.

Soon, the five arrived back at the nailmaster's hut, where he wasted little time in preparing the hopper to be eaten, disposing of the putrid sac. The four creatures kept to themselves, resting in one of the home's corners. Since he'd no idea when their last meal had been, Oro decided to leave each of them a reasonable piece of the meat, the three that'd claimed the nails accepting theirs gratefully enough, while the fourth, different garmented one was much less trustful. At the very least, they stayed on peaceful terms until night, when they went to sleep and he to meditate.

At a certain moment, the large bug found himself wondering if he could call himself a 'pet owner', having heard in the past of bugs that kept domesticated beasts. He dismissed the thought, however, as it was clear the four were far from mere animals. They were company, one that was surprisingly enjoyable.

The following days were mostly eventless, yet certainly interesting, as Oro learned more of his peculiar new charges. Though the difference in language proved far too great to break, with the creatures making sounds he couldn't and the other way around, that didn't stop him from telling them his name, as well as the friendlier three presenting him theirs: 'Leyn', 'Smiff', 'Griin', with the fourth's name apparently being 'Kent'. As the day passed, the warrior observed that, unlike bugs, the creatures ate more frequently, but less at a time, which he found more than a tad impractical.

He was also witness to the three's admittedly horrid way of wielding their nails, which he sought to improve as much as he could without words, this time without requiring geo. It was strange to him, as their stature's seemed to be those of soldiers. Perhaps training with a different weapon?

What was this 'enlightenment' they'd apparently been brought here for anyway? Oro realized he was likely going to have to postpone his planned venture into Hallownest for the time being.

Two full days passed with their new way of life, simultaneous with the gradual disappearance of what was left of the hopper, which meant another hunt was soon in order. The nailmaster didn't yet wish to have the creatures accompany him, as they'd proved much more fragile than bugs. Then, on the third day's evening, as all five males were already settling down, they were alerted by the approaching thumps of several great hoppers. The warrior-creatures grabbed their blades, likely in case the beasts came too close, which Oro honestly doubted.

He was mistaken. They did, although not because of them.

Instead, through the door rushed two bugs and two of the same kind as his charges. Even more surprisingly, the newcomers knew his companions, with one of them being his new students' leader. The strangest part was that the dark-clad 'human's' speech was as it had been spoken to Oro by another bug. That also seemed the case for the other 'human', who, however, didn't say much, being quite gravely injured. The two bugs that'd arrived with them, a male and female, weren't much older than younglings, but carried blades nonetheless, their visible tiredness showing that they had been through a great deal. He wasn't sure of either's kind, though.

As Oro was doing away with the two great hoppers still outside and a little bit after as well, his charges told the human named 'Juss' of what'd happened to them after they'd been separated, as per the 'General's' request. In return, the stranger began recounting all that had happened to them, including the reason for his companion's injury. For some reason, as he was getting started, the young red clad female excused herself, quickly stepping outside. Meanwhile, the striped male, befitting his age, stayed largely quiet, sitting and listening beside the wounded 'Aydrian'.

From the very way the 'General's' tale started, Oro gained the idea that perhaps his journey back into the rest of the world wouldn't have to wait so long.


So here we are, on time this time. And another late night upload. Sorry. This one had little new information and was mostly about events from other points of view, with my trademark needlessly complex backstories to boot.

Honestly, I didn't hope this chapter would come out this long. As I said in the last one, I've not felt as enthusiastic recently and struggle to get out more than 300-350 words a day. I dunno, spring tiredness. Until this goes on, expect slightly shorter chapters like this, especially the next one, which will basically be an addon to this. I just want to get my schedule back. Home study has left my routine in shambles.

R&R We're almost at a hundred reviews and that's pretty cool. Also don't die.

P.S I've considered 'advertising' this story on the HK subreddit, but don't know if that is considered ethical in internet standards. What do you think?