Shrignold became much accustomed to his existence again. So used was he to residing in Malcolm's thoughts; it was nice to be out and about again after such a long time. As much as he enjoyed being Malcolm, being part of his consciousness, he missed being, he missed feeling, and he loved seeing the intense emotions of reality. Truly, the last time he'd been out (with a proper vessel mind you) was a couple hundred years ago. Things were simpler back then. People would just join you because you were a "god," no questions asked. Nowadays you had to either find crazy people, or do a LOT of convincing. People just didn't like to associate with the old gods and spirits anymore. It was frankly tiresome work.

Malcolm had assured Shrignold that their kingdom was thriving more than ever now and he had to admit, it did seem that way. All this modern, newfangled technology, they didn't even have to focus on making the clouds float with magic, when there was a machine that could do it for them! This did seem to let the rest of the king's subjects focus on other things like recruitment and... "infrastructure," whatever that was. Shrignold still didn't quite understand why they had to hide their kingdom away in the woods.

"Because the future is now. There are like... countries and crap. That're ruled by uh, democracy and... city state stuff. They don't like monarchs, my dear Shrignold. It's better to just live away where no one can see us."

"But doesn't that make it harder to get more people? And why don't we just crush them all with your powers?"

"Yes it does but I don't really care. And also we can't because guns exist now. And gun objects. And nukes. And nuke objects. A lot of weapons got invented while you were out."

Nonetheless, Shrignold continued at his work for five long, uneventful years. And the narrator can't be called out for skipping 5 years because I already skipped 80 years during Pete's POV. Anyhow, his work involved mostly luring unsuspecting people and objects into the woods so they could be more... easily convinced to join the kingdom. For some reason, the thought of a mystical city in the clouds ruled by one of the old spirits didn't quite appeal to them, so he had to be a little more forceful than he was used to. Still, even that became monotonous after a while. He could not find himself to be bored with his life, it was still mildly interesting and he still got to feel the height of emotions, fear and anger and joy and sadness, when he watched them on other people's faces. But he could not find himself to be too invested either after a while. He did not wish to become just like Malcolm in this regard, but he was growing to understand why the person he was an aspect of had grown to be so bored of the world.

Until he heard someone else in his head.

...

It was just a normal day where he was walking through the woods, perusing the various flora. Life was still as beautiful as he remembered, but he had heard that something was killing all the nature because of heat or something. He did not really understand or care much, but it was a little disappointing nonetheless. A little bit into his walk however, he heard a strange whispering. Shrignold stopped on the spot and slowly turned, looking every which way for some sort of stalker. But there was no one to be seen. He took a few steps and stopped sharply again to see if he could hear an extra footstep, but there was nothing.

The whispering grew a little louder. It sounded vaguely familiar but he couldn't quite pick it out. It was young, and cold, but with a hint of sweetness. Shrignold couldn't make out any words except "away." It crackled through his skull like static.

It suddenly struck him that it wasn't coming from outside of him but rather inside. There was some sort of... entity infecting his brain. It had the same reverberation as when his king talked to him, echoing through his brain and trying to jump out through his eyes. It was growing louder, more persistent, more eager to shove him out, squeeze him out through the holes in his skin. Shrignold squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his hair anxiously. His heart, HIS heart, not the vessel's, was pounding wildly and he began gasping for air. What was this?! Shrignold heaved himself backwards and slammed into a tree, leaving him dazed for a moment. Luckily that seemed to quiet the voice, at least for now.

This had never happened before. Not once in the three thousand years he'd existed. He was NOT hallucinating, that was for certain. There was no other explanation other than that someone had entered his brain, or his body. Something was trying to share his vessel, HIS precious, divinely selected vessel. How dare they try to take it away from him?!

Shrignold jumped to his feet and raced back towards the kingdom. He needed to tell Malcolm there was an invader right away, before his condition worsened.

...

The other court whatever guys (yes that is their official name) glanced worriedly at Shrignold as he hurried in a panic up the stairs to the throne room. His face was crazed and his body was sore but this was ABSOLUTELY an emergency.

He slammed through the giant, golden doors and sprinted across the huge room before collapsing at the king's feet, panting heavily.

Malcolm somehow showed enough shock to raise an eyebrow. "Shrignold? What's got you so worked up?"

"I- *gasp* there's- there's someone else! There's a- I-"

"Jeez, calm down and get your words out already." The boy rolled his eyes at his aspect's lack of composure.

Shrignold sucked in his breath before continuing. "My king, there's someone else in my head. There's a voice in my brain that isn't you!"

"What?" Malcolm, for once, showed an indication that he was concerned. He straightened up and actually opened his eyes all the way. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely, my king. They were coming from inside my head and they didn't sound like anyone I've ever heard before."

"And you only heard it just now? What were they saying?"

"I- I couldn't hear it clearly. But yes, only just now. Just- hhh-" The butterfly was incensed and panicked, unable to spit out the words. His venomous thoughts were muddled with anger that this was even happening in the first place.

Malcolm floated himself off the throne and circled around Shrignold, scanning him up and down. The butterfly felt a piercing stare that seemed to be scouring the inside of his skull, searching for impurities. Finally, the boy floated himself back to the throne and relaxed. "I think I might know what's happening, although I could've sworn I was more thorough than that..."

"Wh- whats going on with me?!"

Malcolm returned to his lazy gaze. "I think you should go take a vacation, my dear aspect. By the cliffside sea. That'll clear your head."

"Wh- this is no time for me to take a break, I don't even know what's wrong!"

"Don't worry. You should be able to figure it out while you're there." Malcolm smiled and floated Shrignold into the air. "Have fun."

He jolted his hand to the side and threw Shrignold out the throne room window.

...

"The cliffside sea huh? Well, at least it's a lovely place..."

Shrignold looked out over the edge and out into the shining waters. The ground had steeply sloped upwards until he'd arrived at the top, where there was a sheer drop into the sea to his right and a cool shaded forest to his left. He backed into the trees as the sun began inching down towards the horizon. The water turned a deep orange as the sun flowed across it.

"Still. I don't see how this is supposed to help me."

"Oh, it'll really help me though."

Shrignold nearly jumped out of his vessel in shock. The voice from before had returned, and it was far more distinct now.

"Wh- who the HELL are you?!" Shrignold whipped his head around wildly even though he knew it was in his head. His teeth were clenched in anger so hard he might crack them.

"I'm the original, you idiot! I'm the one you replaced! I'm the butterfly you SHOVED OUT OF THE WAY! You took my body, how DARE you!"

"Wh... oh. OH! AHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAH! Heheh, that's cute. You think this is still your body, don't you?" Shrignold let his voice grow soft and taunting, like a condescending parent. My, he wasn't expecting this outcome.

"Of course I do! I was here first!" The voice sounded pleading and frustrated, like a grumpy child.

"Hm. I thought Malcolm said that this body didn't know language when it arrived."

"I didn't, but you've been around here for five years! I was gonna find out howta talk at some point!"

"Pff, what, are you five years old too?"

"Yes!"

"Oh, that makes my life so much easier. It can't be that hard to outsmart a toddler."

"I'm not a TODDLER! I'm a big kid!" Shrignold felt himself stamping his foot at that statement. Or rather, the other Butterfly did. Wh... The other had taken over for a moment..?

"How did you..?"

The voice gasped in excitement. "I knew it! I knew I could do it! I can control you now! I DID IT I DID IT!" It took all of Shrignold's efforts to resist the child hopping up and down in excitement.

"No, no you're not- you're not winning that easily!"

Shrignold felt his legs step forward so he tilted his upper body and rammed into a nearby tree. The butterfly wobbled for a moment before reeling back and rebalancing.

"H- hey! Stop it! This is MY body! Why don't you go find someone else to steal huh? Why don't you just live in a corpse so you don't hurt anyone?! YOU DESERVE A ROTTEN HOUSE LIKE THAT!"

"You're a rather morbid kid aren't you?" Shrignold smiled as he toppled closer to the edge of the cliff. Gods, how was this little brat already so good at taking control? Had he been practicing? It felt as if his limbs were going numb. The child groaned in frustration and tried to use the arms to pull the two of them back towards the forest. But Shrignold retaliated a little too hard, leaving the two of them teetering on the very edge of the cliff.

"W- wait, don't- don't push us off you stupid kid! Don't you know what you're doing?!"

"I'm TRYING!" Shrignold felt those words come out of his own mouth. The kid had gotten control of his voice too! He was startled for only a very brief moment, but that was all it took for the balance to tip. Right has he clasped his hands over his mouth, he felt his foot slip. He was completely off the ground.

The Butterfly went crashing down into the waters below.

The sun was setting.