I do not own Mythic Ocean. Paralune does.
Chapter published August 9 2020.
The mortals of this universe soon became aware of a species of all-devouring moth-like beings.
Elena
When she was getting ready for bed, she heard a huuuge explosion! It scared her stiff! But Papa came by, and assured her it was just a big rock falling in the woods, and she went to sleep with dreams of finding this rock and climbing it.
She woke up when the sun rose, and there was no school because it was the summer harvest season. She dressed in her favorite work clothes, and gathered for breakfast with Mama and Papa around their big wooden table. Today it was eggs, laid by their hens and cooked up by Mama just the way she liked it. She kicked her legs while eating, looking distractedly around the dining room and the neat little plates and clocks along the shelves.
"Mama? Papa? After my chores, can I go play in the woods?"
They froze. "Darling," Papa said slowly. "You can't go in the woods today."
WHAT?! "WHAT?! That's so unfair!" she said, balling her fists and slamming them on the table. "You let me play out there all the time, I wanna go I wanna go - "
Papa held up a hand, and she went still. "Me and some of my friends are gonna go out there, looking for whatever that rock was that fell. It might not be safe, Elena. Stay where your Ma can see you, alright?"
Elena took a deep breath, ready to start ranting about what unfair stupid heads they were being about this because seriously she went into the woods all the time it was just a stinking rock! but then she got an idea. She let out her breath, pouted, and crossed her arms. "Fine," she lied, planning to sneak away the moment she could. "But you better tell me all about it," she sulked sulkily.
He chuckled, then leaned over to ruffle her hair. "I will, honey, don't worry. Now, eat up and get started on your chores."
"Yes, Papa," she said, digging back into her eggs. She finished with super duper speed, and as fast as thought, pushed her plate away before her tummy even knew it was full. "Bye Mama and Papa, I'm going to do my chores!" she said quickly, and then she was flying out the door.
Like Telros she was going to do her chores. Adventure was waiting!
Outside, the farm stretched in all directions. She could see the corn fields with so many stalks rising from the ground, she could get lost for-ever in them. There were the stables where all the animals were, and she was supposed to be brushing the horses today but they could wait! There was adventure to be had, just waiting for her to go and take it!
Elena ran to the border of the woods she lived next to, all tall and dark and deep. She picked a nice walking stick off the ground and, now fully prepared with anything she could want, she headed in.
The woods were dark and spooooky. The sun couldn't get through the branches all that well, so there were weird looking shadows all around, kinda like arms reaching out ta get her! Haha. But it was kinda weird, too. Normally there'd have been, like, all kinds of squirrels and birds and stuff running around. Well, the birds wouldn't be running, they'd be - anyway, it was real quiet. It was definitely because of that rock that fell! If only she could just find the stupid thing.
... seriously, where was it? She'd been walking in circles for-ever! How hidden could it be? She thought it would've, like, knocked down a bunch of trees or something. But - wait, what's that?
Elena saw something, like, moving on the ground. But it wasn't actually moving. It was just kinda rippling like it was made of water. It was some kinda trail of purple slime all along the ground. She hopped closer and bent her knees to get a closer look. Yeah, super weird. The moss and grass and stuff around it was gone, like it'd been eaten up. There seemed to be something growing around the slime, too, but it was too small for her to see right.
Elena got up and followed the trail of slime back. It had to be coming from somewhere, right?
She followed the winding trail of gunk into the forest. It was still super quiet, too. And as she went deeper and deeper, she saw more of the purple slime trails coming from all different directions, and it looked like each of them was, like, making the plants around them rot super duper fast. Maybe she could scrape some of this and bring it back for the compost bin? Oh, but she didn't have anything to put it on... maybe if she could find a large, flat rock to carry it on? And something to pick the stuff up with - WHOA!
That was definitely not a rock!
In the middle of the forest was some kind of big... purple... uh, ball? But it wasn't smooth or anything, it had a bunch of holes in it, like someone had come by with a scoop and scooped a bunch of it out. And it wasn't just big, it was big! Like, twice as big as Papa. It was absolutely the thing that had fallen at night, too, because a bunch of the trees around it had been blown back and even torn up from the ground. The lines of slime were coming from it, too, first coming up from the little crater it'd fallen into and then going out into the woods in all directions.
Carefully, Elena crept closer to it. What was this thing? It was so weird. She got closer to the surface, and saw that inside one of the 'scoops' was some weird, white stuff shimmering in the little bits of sunlight that got through the trees.
((This one feels... approaching one...)) she heard.
"WHA!" Elena screamed, jumping out of her skin. "WHAT WAS THAT?!"
((... alarmed. But, familiar sounds and words, like this one dreamed...))
There it was again! Some kind of... voice in her head. It was quiet and calm, and she couldn't really tell if it was a boy's voice or a girl's voice. Sounded like a kid, too. Maybe a little younger than her, like that little girl that sometimes came over with Mister Marley.
Was there something... in the rock?
"H-Hello?" she asked, swallowing her fears. She had to be brave. She wasn't afraid of anything! Besides, what was a voice going to do? "Is anyone there?"
((This one is here in pod. Where is new one? Outside pod?))
"Pod? Is that this big thing?" Wait. "Are you... inside it?"
((Thinking yes. This one lives in pod and eats favorable-plants. Is new one outside pod?))
She looked around. "Uh, yeah."
((... this one did not know what was outside pod. This one dreamed of big dark empty space, with many small lights.))
"Uh, what? You mean, like, the night sky?"
((Unsureness.)) The voice paused. ((This one is curious what outside of pod looks like.))
"Well... you landed in a forest. My papa said you were just a big rock that fell but I guess he was wrong! There's trees all around, and there's so many that it's actually pretty dark." She looked around a bit more. "There's, uh, grass and stuff too, but your thingy destroyed a lot of it when it fell, I guess. It's just kinda laying in a dirt hole. It's sending out this weird purple slime, too. Kinda gross."
((New one says many unfamiliar words. Maybe dreaming makes more understanding of trees and grass and dirt.))
She giggled. "You talk funny." She walked closer to the pod's crater, sat, and dangled her feet down. "So what are ya, anyway?"
((This one... does not understand new one's question.))
"Like, what kinda thing are ya? Papa told me how there's manticores and dragons and stuff in real far away places, but I've never seen one. Uh, except in books. So? Whadaya look like?"
((This one is unsure what words to say to explain. Never seen other creature. Only has sense of self and eating favorable-plants.))
"Huh, okay. Guess it must be pretty dark in there." She brightened up. "Ooh, can you come out?"
((... this one... does not know. This one has feelings of openness and moving in pod, but this one has not tried.)) The voice got more scared. ((This one is unsure what is outside pod. Outside may be unfavorable. Inside pod has plants to remove hunger. This one stays inside.))
"Aww," she said. "Do you at least have a name?"
((What is 'name'?))
"Huh? You mean you don't? It's like, what people call you when they want your attention. Like, my Mama always says Elena, come inside and do your chores when I'm out playing sword-fight with the scarecrows."
((Strangeness. This one dreams sometimes and words come. Word 'Sitran' favorable. Is this one's name Sitran?))
She shrugged. "If ya want it to be, I guess."
((Happiness.)) Another pause. ((This one has new thoughts. Strange thoughts about new one.))
Elena flopped over onto her stomach and propped her head up in her hands. "Like?"
((Companionship. Company. Thought-sharing with new one is favorable, more than with smaller not-minds.))
Not minds? Oh, it meant, like, animals and junk. Elena was ready to say something, when she heard someone, far away but getting closer, call out "Here, look at this!"
She gasped, and turned to the pod. "That's Papa! He must've found you, too!"
((This one is not understanding 'Papa'.))
"... Elena?!" he called out.
She winced, slouching her shoulders. "Crud."
In no time at all, Papa and some of his grown-up friends came pushing through the woods, stepping uneasily around the purple slime Sitran's pod was making, and when she locked eyes with Papa she knew she was so busted.
"Elena!" he shouted, running over to her. He picked her off the ground and brushed her off, fussed with her hair, and looked her over. "Honey, what are you doing out here?"
"Um, I uh, wanted to see what the rock was." She glanced up at him, then back down when she saw how really mad he looked. "It's, uh, not a rock."
"I can see, that, are you okay? Did you touch those tendrils?" he asked, gesturing to the slime. She shook her head fiercely, and he sighed in relief. "Thank Telros. Let's get you out of here while we break open this thing - "
"NO!" she shouted, her heart suddenly leaping into her throat. "Papa, no, it's Sitran's home!"
He let go of her and furrowed his eyebrows. "Elena, who's Sitran?"
"She's my new friend! She lives in that thing and she talks in your head!" Elena looked back at the pod-thingy. "Sitran, say hello! This is my papa!"
There was a tense moment where he kept looking down at her, but then his eyes widened and he let go, stepping away. "What in Telros's name?"
She giggled nervously. "See? I told you!"
He sighed, and dragged a hand down his face. "Elena, sweetie, could you wait here a moment?"
"Um, okay."
She was in so much trouble, wasn't she?
Papa went to his friends that he'd brought over, one of whom had a giant freaking pickaxe slung over his shoulder, and started talking with them in hushed tones. She could make out a bit of it, though, because elf ears were awesome.
"... some sort of beast from the heavens..."
"... can't be, it spoke to me. Not just some beast..."
"... report a new race?"
"... can't be with just one..."
"...doesn't seem dangerous. Sounds scared to me..."
Papa came back and knelt down, placing a heavy hand on her shoulder. "Elena, honey."
She looked up at him hopefully. "Yes, Papa?"
"You're grounded."
She looked down. "Yes, Papa."
((Is new one in danger?)) Sitran asked, worriedly.
Elena looked over towards the pod-thingy. "No, I'm not. Thanks for worrying," she said. Then she turned back to Papa and asked, "For how long?"
He glanced off into the woods, humming, then looked back at her. "Your mother and I will discuss that. You shouldn't have run off after we told you not to, and you certainly shouldn't have done that before doing your chores, do you understand?" She nodded demurely, tracing a line in the dirt with a shoe. "Now, let's go home and get your chores done. You can come back out to meet your..." He looked over her shoulder at the pod. "... friend once you're not grounded anymore."
So... she got grounded for a week, which sucked. The only time she was allowed out was for chores on the farm. She didn't even get to have her friends over, ugh. At least she got to practice, like, swinging a sword in her room. She wasn't any good, though, which double-sucked because she wanted to be a knight when she grew up.
That.
Week.
Sucked!
But then she finally wasn't grounded, yay! She got up super early and made sure to do all her chores, out by the vegetable fields that day, and then she was running into the woods with a basket of lunch dangling from an arm. She hadn't seen Sitran in a week - well, teeeeechnically she'd never seen Sitran at all - and she couldn't wait!
Elena headed towards where she thought she remembered the pod had fallen, and soon enough she saw one of the trails of purple slime and whooooa.
The forest had changed a lot since she was last here. A bunch of the trees around the purple slime were fallen over and kinda... rotting away, and from the slime these giant purple and blue ferns grew up tall, as high up as her head! It was like something out of a storybook. Had it really changed this much in just a week?
She made her way to the pod, and strange enough, nothing was growing over it. Like, she'd have expected some creeper vines or something after a week, but nope, nothing! Just more ferns.
"Hello? Sitran, I'm back!"
((Friendly one returns,)) she heard. ((Happiness.))
"Did you know there's all sorts of ferns outside your pod? I think, like, it's making the ferns with the slimy stuff."
((This one does not know word 'ferns'. Confusion.))
"They're, like, big and purple and blue. Kinda, uh, made of lines stacked on top of each other? I dunno how to explain it."
((Friendly one describes something that sounds like pod-plants. This one eats pod-plants. Maybe eating outside ferns too?))
She gasped happily. "Does this mean you're willing to come out?!"
Sitran was quiet. Then, ((This one... had dreams. Creatures hunting and eating other creatures like this one hunts and eats ferns.)) Sitran's voice grew quieter, scared. ((Will... this one be hunted and eaten if this one leaves pod?))
"Nuh uh, no way!" she said, standing up tall and proud. "Anything tries to get you, they'll have to get through me, first!"
((Gratefulness. This one will leave pod if friendly one provides safety.))
Then the pod shifted. Elena hadn't noticed it before, but one of its faces was covered in thick vines. Or, uh, something that looked like vines, at least. They began to shrivel up, like they were being dried in super-fast-speed, and one by one they dropped away to reveal the dark interior of the pod...
A greenish... thing chirped and stuck its head out. It was some kinda giant bug, like a caterpillar but shorter and fatter, barely large enough to come up to her knees. Its shell was covered in small bumps, and beneath its body the legs were just, uh, slightly larger bumps. It had six freakishly huge bug-eyes, the kind that were made of smaller pieces all stuck together and looked kinda like blue glass, and around its face were these moving leaf-like things. It didn't have a mouth like her, but instead these tiny claw-things around a small mouth-hole. Was this Sitran?
"Oh my gosh!" she squealed, jumping down into the dirt hole to bring her closer to the bug-thing. "You're so cute!"
Sitran backed up, her six leaf-thingies waving around. ((This one is confused by word cute.)) She looked around the outside. ((There is much light and green here,)) she said, awed. ((This is where friendly one lives?))
"Well, not exactly here, my house is a bit over that way," she said, pointing. "Come on, didn't ya want to see these ferns? This way!" She climbed up from the hole, and Sitran followed, slowly moving her nubby legs against the soft dirt to come up. She led the bug-thingy to one of the ferns, and let Sitran approach. "Well? Whaddaya think?"
Sitran brushed her leaf-thingies near the fern, then bounced excitedly and chirped. ((These ones are pod-food plants! This one hungers again. Friendly one's timing is favorable!)) Sitran crawled closer and... whoa, that was weird. She was eating, but she did it by, like, ripping a piece of the fern off with her mouth-claw-thingies and shoveling it into her hole. It was gross, it was freaky, and it was so cool!
She was going to have a lot of fun with her new bug buddy, she could tell.
Elena came back the next day. Then the day after. It became a thing, at least whenever she could get away from the farm.
Sitran was so much fun! She had this weird way of looking at things that were so normal to Elena that she never would've considered. She was always ready to learn new things, or new games, and to top it off, she was adorable!
((This one tried pulling green fronds off of trees, bring them into pod. Pod made into fern plants!)) Sitran said excitedly. ((Plants had not grown back inside pod until this one tried that.))
"That's so cool," she said, laying on her stomach with her legs kicking behind her. "Maybe the slime and stuff is like, some super-composter that turns stuff into ferns for you!" She gasped and got an idea. "What if I bring an apple from the farm?"
((What is word farm? Apple this one thinks type of food?))
She nodded excitedly. "Uh huh! Apples are delicious. We grow them on the farm, and it's about time for them to be ripe." Oh, wait, Sitran'd had a question. "A farm's like, basically this place where we grow all sorts of food to eat. Kinda like how stuff grows out here in the woods, but on purpose!"
((Growing things on purpose so that hunger goes away,)) Sitran said quietly, more to herself than to Elena. ((This one has many thoughts.))
She walked along at a leisurely pace, deliberately going slowly, when she felt a tap on her leg.
Elena looked down and there was Sitran, who'd nudged her with a mandible. ((This one tags friendly one. Now this one will have a head start before friendly one hunts this one!)) she said happily, before turning around and scurrying as fast as her nubby little legs could carry her.
"Ah!" she said in mock anger. "I'm gonna get you!
"Hiya! Ha!" she said, practicing her footwork while swinging the sword. Sitran sat on an elevated rock, tearing a corn cob apart while she watched her. With one big swing, Elena spun around and slashed her invisible foes and WHOA!
The sword flew out of her hands like she was some kinda freaking amateur, right towards Sitran! She opened her mouth to scream a warning, but then it was too late and her sword just...
... just kinda... bounced off Sitran's shell. The little bug - well, not so little anymore, she was growing up as the years passed - jumped and shrieked in surprise.
"Sitran! I'm so sorry, are you okay?" she asked, rushing over.
Sitran's fronds curled inward. ((T-This one is... unharmed. Much fright.))
"I'm so sorry, I thought I was holding onto it tightly!" she said, pulling Sitran into a hug and rubbing her shell to comfort the poor thing.
((W-W-When will big loud thunder lights stop?)) Sitran asked, quivering in her grip. as lightning flashed outside and rain pummeled the ground.
From inside Sitran's pod, surrounded by its strangely pulsing white lights and resting on a bed of newly-grown ferns, Elena stroked her back. "I don't know, soon I guess. These sorts of storms always burn themselves out quickly." Sitran kept shivering. "Hey, hey, shh." She leaned in and placed a quick kiss on her shell. "You're safe, I've got you."
((...g-gratefulness...))
Sobbing and wiping snot from her nose, she ran into the woods. She ran and ran until she found the area of wilderness Sitran's pod had laid claim to, full of rotting logs and tendrils of pulsing ooze. She ran to the middle where she found Sitran sitting on top of her pod, deep in thought, but the bug heard her approach and turned to face her.
((Friendly one? You have great sadness.)) Its antenna-fronds bent inwards. ((Is something the matter?))
"H-He broke up with me," she blubbered, crawling onto the pod and pulling Sitran - who'd grown larger, but so had she, so they were still the same size compared to each other - into her lap. She sniffled, and started venting to Sitran. How she really thought Mikael was The One, she'd gotten him so many gifts and gone on so many dates with him, but he just told her that... that he didn't feel the same way about her and - ! And - !
((This one has great sadness because friendly one has great sadness,)) Sitran told her. ((But friendly one will be happy in future too! So no needing be so sad now.))
She cried again, gasped for breath, and buried her face into Sitran's shell. "T-Thanks," she whimpered.
More years passed, and she finally graduated from school! She was ready to strike out on her own, out to the capitol, and become the heroic knight she'd always dreamed of being. So, naturally, once the late-night party her parents had hosted was over the first thing that came to mind was to share the good news with Sitran.
She rushed out into the woods, strong and tough enough from years of hard work in the fields and harder work training that she could run the entire distance without becoming the least bit tired... only to find something was wrong.
Normally, the ferns surrounding Sitran's pod continued to grow back as they composted the forest around them, but now they were gone. Lately Sitran had been craving more filling food than ferns, sure, and Elena'd been happy to bring her some fresh produce from Mama and Papa's farm. But never had there been absolutely no ferns at all, except for the very first day Sitran's pod had fallen from the heavens.
Something was wrong.
Slowing down, Elena carefully crept forward, head on a swivel and her elven ears peeled for the slightest sound. The more she looked, the more things looked... wrong. There were no fallen logs being broken down by the trails of slime. Not a blade of grass in the soil. And there was... a clearing, up ahead, where there should've been a relatively thick forest despite years of being subjected to the pod's tendrils.
There! She saw something, gnawing away at a thick oak stump. Something big and... green. With mandibles.
"Sitran?" she asked warily, approaching her. The thing looked like Sitran, but it was big. As tall as Elena herself from head to toe, to say nothing of how long it was. "Is that you?"
The thoughts came into her head like a waterfall, crashing and roaring but difficult to get a grip on. ((Friendly one... this one... help...)) came Sitran's words.
"It is you," she said, walking closer. Sitran was absolutely demolishing the stump, tearing through bark and inner wood with ease as her mandibles broke the tree down into chunks and swallowed them up. "What's going on?"
((This one... HUNGERS.)) Elena winced and held her head under the sheer weight of the thought. ((Hungers like never before. Great Hunger... not... going away. This one eats and eats but this one still hurts with it!))
"Hey, it's gonna be okay," she said, steeling herself and walking closer. Elena placed a hand on Sitran's shell and gave it a reassuring pat. "We'll find a way through this. How long have you been eating?"
Already, most of the stump was gone. ((Since bright-light was at top of sky, this one had terrible hunger. This one must feed hunger for... for change.))
Change?
Elena's thoughts raced, and she realized what was happening. "Sitran, I think I know what's going on. You're getting ready to grow up! There are these little things called caterpillars, really super small, that'll eat a bunch and then turn into butterflies. I think that's what's happening to you."
((But... how much will this one have to eat?)) The stump was gone and, like a beast possessed, Sitran ran out from under Elena's palm and began stripping the bark from the nearest tree.
"I don't know, Sitran," she said. "But I'll be here with you the whole way." She looked up from Sitran and around the area. Sure enough, Sitran'd done a number on the forest so far. No trees in a huge area around the pod. "Hey, let's try something. Instead of eating your way out around in a circle, try to pick a line and move forward, right?"
((This one... not understanding. How will that help Great Hunger?))
"It won't, I don't think, but it'll make it easier for the forest to grow back after, right?" It made sense to her, at least.
((This one... this one... will try. Friendly one... helps?))
"I will."
Sitran kept eating, and eating, and eating. She went from tree to tree, devouring entire pines and oaks while growing bigger the entire time. Elena didn't even know where all that food was going. It couldn't be just... vanishing, right? Maybe it wasn't; Sitran was getting bigger, even before her very eyes. It was kinda creepy to see; when she'd been growing up as a kid it'd been so slow, she couldn't even see it. But she could actually look at Sitran and see the bug growing larger as she consumed more and more, driven by her terrible hunger.
It broke her heart to see Sitran like this. It must've hurt so much to be so hungry, and for so long too, despite eating so much. Elena did her best to help, but she felt so helpless in the face of this. The best she could do was lead Sitran in a specific direction so she wouldn't eat a giant, gaping hole in the forest, or bring her berries from a bush that was off their path. But it all seemed like it was not enough, even as the full moon continued to trawl across the sky. When the sun started to come up, she began wondering if maybe Sitran really would keep eating like this forever. The thought that her friend, so curious and playful and scared of lightning, would be stuck like this for the rest of her life was just... she didn't want to think about it.
Until finally, finally, halfway through eating the latest felled tree, Sitran's mandibles stopped moving and she pulled away. ((Great Hunger is... gone?)) She tilted her head. ((Great Hunger is... gone.)) Her antenna drooped. ((This one has much exhaustion. This one returns to pod.))
"I'll come with you," Elena said, fighting back a yawn.
They backtracked through the trail of devastation Sitran had left, and Elena found herself whistling. It hadn't seemed like as much during, but by Telros, this bug could eat! They must've gone farther than she thought, because it took nearly an hour to find their way back to Sitran's pod.
((This one feels... urges,)) Sitran said, leaving her behind and squirming over to her pod. Then she began eating the pod, too, munching and crunching until it too was gone. And then... Sitran laid down on the ground, and her shell began to change color.
"I think I was right, Sitran," she said quietly, staring as her friend's shell turned larger, bluer.
((What does... friendly one... mean?)) Sitran asked, even as her eyes began to get absorbed by the growing shell. ((This one... has much fear. What is happening to this one?))
"It's like I said. Caterpillars turn into butterflies. But when they do that, first they wrap themselves in this sort of... cocoon, to keep them safe as they're changing." She walked closer and stroked Sitran's emerging cocoon gingerly. It was hard as rock, but despite that it grew outwards so fast. How could something that rigid change that fast? "I bet you'll be really pretty when you're done."
((... amusement,)) came Sitran's tired whisper. ((Will... friendly one... still be there? When change is done?))
"I will," she whispered. The cocoon was fully emerged now, blue and patterned with green, and anchored into the ground. "I'll get some camping supplies from home, and I'll be right here, for as long as it takes," she said, her voice cracking. A tear traced its way down her cheek, and she wiped it away. Why was she crying? It... wasn't like Sitran was dying. "Take care, Sitran."
((... thankfulness. This one... had much fear, when Great Hunger gripped this one. Friendly one had... spoken about... farm, and growing things to feed others. This one had fear that this one would eat farm in Great Hunger, and would hurt friendly one. But... friendly one... kept this one... from hurting friends. Much... thankfulness...))
And then there was nothing else from Sitran. Elena stared up at the cocoon, smiling wistfully, and turned around for home.
She returned not long after. She brought pots and pans. A fire-starter-stick. A sleeping roll, too. She set up a quick little lean-to shelter using the few trees still in the area, and camped out next to Sitran's cocoon.
She meant what she'd said. Going off to the big city, becoming a squire, all that could wait.
As long as it took.
Mama and Papa came by a few times to check up on her and Sitran, and to wish Sitran their best wishes. Elena spoke to her too, but she didn't know if she could hear. She seemed to be in a really deep sleep.
It took a few days. She boiled water to drink, and caught small game with traps to supplement her diet of mushrooms and roots. But one morning, while she was stoking her campfire, she heard a wet SHLICK and looked up with a start.
The cocoon's blue and green had turned gray when she wasn't looking, and now a giant, jagged leg had torn a gash through the top. Another leg followed, then another, then three more. There was a flurry of movement, of the cocoon splitting open wider and wider, and a giant... thing burst out.
It wasn't a butterfly, but something like a moth. A giant moth, many times taller than Elena, with a grayish shell, a ring of fuzzy teal fur around its head, and six long, leaf-like green antennae around its head. Its abdomen was long and white, patterned with streaks of black. It squirmed about on top of its wrecked cocoon, righted itself, and then she caught a glimpse of its wings. They were wide and the bluish green of the sea, but folded against its back. The moth-like creature opened and closed them a few times, and she could actually see them growing in size with each fanning. There was some kind of marking on the wings, too, like a brilliant yellow star.
"Sitran?" she asked, awestruck.
She jerked her head over to look down at Elena, and tilted her head to the side. ((This... one...)) Even Sitran's voice had changed, to a proud and mature woman's commanding order. They'd both grown up, now.
"Sitran," she said, half laughing. She got up and approached gently. "How do you feel?"
((This one... feels... strange. New. Strong. Hungry.)) With a final flex, her wings opened to their full expanse, fluttering gently in the breeze. ((Memories... fuzzy.))
"Do you remember me?" she asked, placing a hand on her chest.
Sitran stared down at her, unflinching and eerily still, like a statue. ((This one... thinks so. One who is friendly. One who taught this one games, and held it in storms, and helped during Great Hunger.)) She looked up away from her, at the clear sky. With all the trees she'd eaten during her feeding frenzy, there was a lot of sky to see. ((This one... not knowing of what to do now.))
Elena laughed. "I mean, if you want, you could come with me. To the capitol, I mean. I wanted to train to be a knight, to help people in need. You don't have to, but..." But I'd really like you to be there with me.
((This one... wishes to be with friendly one, too. But this one hungers, now. Will friendly one come with this one as this one eats?))
She laughed. "Yeah, I bet you must be hungry, after all that. Come on, let's get you something from the farm."
((Agreement.))
Elena and Sitran made their way back to the farm, just in time to catch Papa feeding the pigs in their sty. He jolted in surprise when he saw Sitran's new, mothy body towering alongside Elena. "By Telros!" he shouted, stumbling and placing a hand to his chest. "Elena, you're back! Is... is that Sitran?"
She nodded. "It is! Can I get her something to eat from the fields? She's pretty hungry after all of..." She waved towards Sitran's body in general. "... all of this."
He smiled. "Sure you can. You'll be leaving soon?" She nodded. "Then let me get your mother, we can say goodbye to the two of you properly." Papa looked again at Sitran, and whistled lowly. "Telros take me, to think it'd grow up that big..."
Laughing, Elena led Sitran over to the apple orchard. She moved oddly on her long, spindly bug legs, half stumbling at times. It must've been pretty weird to wake up with legs, like, a million times longer than they were before. Their edges looked real sharp, too, and she kept punching holes in the dirt with every step. When they arrived, Elena gestured to the trees and said, "Go ahead. Just, uh, make sure to eat the apples, not the actual trees, okay?"
((This one understands. Trees make growing the apples. Consuming trees means no more consuming apples.)) And then, with a graceful flutter, Sitran took off and landed on one of the trees. Elena watched in fascination as she clambered over the boughs and leaves, snatching up the apples one at a time before hopping on over to the next tree. It took a dozen or so trees worth of apples for Sitran to come back down, but that wasn't a big surprise. Something that big definitely needed a lot of food to keep going.
((This one had dreams, during Great Change,)) Sitran said as they walked over to the house.
"Like what?" she asked, curious.
((Dreams of great big rock houses, many others like friendly one and... almost like friendly one but not.))
She gasped. "You probably saw a city! Does this mean you have psychic dreams?" Sitran turned to stare at her curiously, and she waved it off. "Right, sorry. Anyway, yeah, I'm going to the capitol to train. It's kind of like a..." She waved her hands around. "A really big city. All the best fighters go there to become squires, and I'm gonna be one of them."
((This one will help,)) she said proudly, raising her head to the sky.
Elena smiled, then reached up and ran her fingers through the tuft of fur around Sitran's head. It was soft and delicate, and Sitran chirped happily and leaned into her hand. "I'm really happy to hear that. It'll be fun having you around!"
They made their way back to the house, but obviously Sitran was too big to fit inside, so they had a picnic outside like in the old days. Mama and Papa set out a great big blanket and a basket full of homecooked food, and they ate out in the fields while Sitran, who'd just eaten a ton, sat and watched. They swapped stories about what happened on the farm, and shared tales of the rest of the world to Sitran, who in turn shared some of her stranger dreams with them. She smiled and laughed, but it was all overshadowed, in her mind, by the thought that she'd be leaving once this was all done. She'd be truly out in the world, truly out to make her mark.
The time came. They wrapped up, and Elena went into her room and packed. Her instruments would all have to stay. She'd bring what she needed, her journal, and nothing more. She hugged and kissed Mama and Papa, promising she'd take care of her sword, that she'd stay safe, all while Sitran stood on the roof, as awkwardly as a giant psychic moth could. But it came to pass that she was on the road, the farmhouse of her childhood receding past her, with Sitran moving alongside her in a strange stopping-starting hop to keep pace with Elena's shorter legs.
"Well," she said. "We're on our own."
((We are,)) Sitran said. ((Will friendly one do much walking to reach capitol?))
She nodded. "Mmhmm. There's some smaller towns we can stop at on the way, but yeah, it's pretty far. I'm hoping I can hitch a ride with a caravan." She eyed Sitran. "Or... maybe ride you?" Sitran's head rose and her antennae waved excitedly. "Well, maybe not. I don't wanna fall." Elena waved it off. "Doesn't matter though, because the world won't know what hit it! The adventures of Elena and Sitran are finally starting!"
"Whaddaya mean we can't stay the night?" she demanded furiously.
He pointed out the open door, to where Sitran had huddled close to the ground and stuck her head in. Her crown of fluffy fur stuck awkwardly around the doorframe. "Your pet's scaring people off! Either have it go sleep in the forest, or go join it in the forest!"
"Sitran isn't my pet! She can talk, and she's a damn sight smarter than you, too!"
His face turned red. "OUT!"
"Hey!" she shouted, chasing after the caravan. "Hey, wait! Are you taking passage to - " As though death were on their tails, they fled off into the road. " - Fungra... city," she trailed off. With a sigh, she turned back to Sitran. "Well, I guess I gotta keep trying. Someone's bound to give us a ride eventually."
((This one hopes so. This one...)) Sitran huddled lower. ((... does not find friendly one being ignored and hated favorable.))
Elena sighed and slumped, downtrodden. "Yeah. I don't think it's 'favorable' either. Come on, let's pitch camp."
"Hey, Sitran?"
A nearby tree rustled, and Sitran's head peeked out from on top with her six blue eyes glowing in the darkness. ((Friendly one shares thoughts with this one?))
"I was just thinking, doesn't it bother you? Everyone thinking you're just some dumb animal, I mean."
((This one does not mind,)) she said happily, swaying her top two antennae. ((This one can then speak thoughts with confused ones. Confused ones' reactions, much amusement!)) she said cheekily.
She snorted a laugh. "Yeah, it is pretty funny. It just bothers me."
((This one is thankful that friendly one cares.))
"Here we are!" she said excitedly, gesturing to the spires of marble and granite sticking up from the base of the mountain. "The capitol, Fungra city."
((This one thinks... capitol is very large,)) Sitran said faintly from beside her. She was huddled low against the ground, her iridescent wings spread wide open, as if at any moment the city would come to life and trample her.
"You don't have to come in if you don't want to," she said, rubbing her fingers over the smooth shell between Sitran's larger pair of eyes. "It, uh, might actually be better if you wait out here in the woods. You'll probably spook everyone if you come flying in over the walls."
((This one... agrees with plan. This one waits here while friendly one finds knight training.))
"Alright, I'm off. Stay safe!" she said, leaving Sitran behind. Elena shifted her bag, and headed towards the gates.
She made her way to the cobblestone road that led up to the gates, and fell into the crowd of people coming to and from the city. Her head swiveled back and forth so fast she feared she'd get a crick, and her eyes couldn't stop wandering over... over everything! There, driving a horse-drawn carriage out of the city, that was a dwarf! Over there, that was the famous tower of Isarack where the wizard Tulvor personally held off the demon hordes! There, a small tent set up outside the city, selling necklaces and souvenirs!
Elena walked past the gate, and ha! Her feet thumped on the wooden drawbridge! A tavern over there, squeezed between a mason and a jeweler! The palace up ahead! The coliseum far to her right! It was all just so much! She was over the moon, her heart was so light it threatened to drag her into the sky, it was finally happening, she was finally here, she was -
" - what do you mean I can't become a squire?!" she demanded furiously.
The man behind the counter, short and squat with biceps nearly the size of his head, scribbled on a piece of paper with a quill. He didn't even bother looking up at her. "Elves are not accepted for squirehood," he drawled, as if he had given this speech a million times before.
She sputtered. "What? Why? I brought my own sword and everything," she said, slinging off her bag and showing the hilt of the sword she'd brought from home.
"Doesn't matter." He still wasn't looking up. As if reciting from a book - which he may very well have been - he said, "Elves do not possess the disposition for muscle growth and endurance that knightly duties often require and so are prohibited from squirehood."
"Well what if I do have - " she started.
He held up a hand and look up. He wriggled his salt-and-pepper mustache. "Look, kid." She bristled. "I've been around before the law was written. Every elf that ever came through swore up and down on Telros's name that they're different, and they never are. It's just not worth the hastle. Go make your name somewhere else," he said, brushing her off.
She'd bristled before, but now she was doing her best imitation of a porcupine. "I will!" she snarled, whirling around and stomping out. She slammed the door for good measure because screw them.
Elena made her way out of the city with a stormcloud over her head. The glitter of the capitol was dulled to her now, all of it made of lies and without any substance. At least her parents on the farm did good work feeding people. Feeding these ungrateful people. She stomped her way all the way back to the forest, where Sitran had curled up on a treetop like a giant, carapace-covered cat. She perked her head up when Elena arrived, and crawled down the tree to greet her.
((Friendly one... returns?)) Sitran hesitated, then dipped its head. ((Friendly one has great sadness and hurt.))
"I don't wanna talk about it," she said, sitting down and leaning against a tree trunk. Elena let out a long breath. "I don't know what to do, now."
Sitran was quiet. Then, ((Friendly one... wished to become warrior in city. Was not allowed. Why?))
She quirked a smile. "Can't hide anything from you. It's cause I'm an elf, can you believe? Can't grow enough muscle, my ass."
Sitran cocked her head. ((Why does friendly one need other ones to allow her to be warrior?))
"That's not just it. It's not just that they won't let me, I need the training so I don't get myself killed the first time I protect a caravan from bandits. I've..." Warmth finally began to sting at her eyes, and she huddled up as tears started to flow. "I've wanted this since I was a little girl, and just like that, it's - " Her voice cracked. "I don't know what to do," she sobbed, crying into her arms.
After a moment, she felt something long and hard come to rest across her arms. She looked up to see Sitran peering down at her worriedly, resting one of her long, sharp legs on Elena. ((... why does friendly one want to be warrior?)) she asked gently.
"I wanted to help people. I wanted to save people, be someone others could look at and then they'd think, they'd think 'we're safe now'. But, I don't know how..."
Sitran's leg pressed down comfortingly. ((Then friendly one does not need large city to learn. Friendly one can help others now, and this one will protect friendly one until friendly one learns enough from doing.))
Elena sniffled, then looked up. She wiped the blurry tears from her eyes and smiled. "You mean it?"
((Friendly one protected this one during big loud thunder lights, and was there during Great Hunger and change. This one helps now during friendly one's Great Sadness.))
She laughed quietly. "... thanks, Sitran."
That was how they started living a life on the road, doing odd jobs for whatever town they came across and living off the land otherwise. Sitran, despite only eating plants, was a terrifyingly good hunter and could easily provide for both of them, so it wasn't a hard life.
It was when they came across their first caravan on the road that they had a break. After making sure the drivers didn't lose their minds at the sight of Sitran, and showing them her sword, she got a job escorting them to their destination. The pay was good, and she had fun chatting with the shepherds as she escorted them. She was actually useful, too, because there was a moment when dire wolves tried to make a move on the caravan at night, and she and Sitran were there to ward them off!
After her employers reached their destination, she got a room at an inn, with Sitran fluttering in the nearby prairie. She slept with a light heart and hope for the future. Her parents had always told her that life would throw curveballs at her, that she'd have to roll with the punches, that she probably wouldn't end up where she'd imagined, but she'd make it anyway. And she believed it.
It turned out, bandits and highwaymen weren't too intent on attacking anyone escorted by a giant moth. But wild animals weren't always so cautious, especially around something that looked like a blown-up version of a harmless bug, especially ones that were out of their minds with starvation.
Which was how, on her third assignment, Elena killed her first bear. She didn't even know bears came out this far, but she guessed hunger did strange things. She ducked under its paw and tore it open with her sword, throat to tail, moments before Sitran pounced on its back and skewered it with her razor-sharp legs.
That was the first thing she'd killed.
The first person came soon after.
She and Sitran got separated on an escort job, and she stared at a burly, hairy man, coming at her with deceptive swiftness and a butterfly knife. She didn't think, she just moved, and then he was on the floor, drowning in his own blood. It was... horrible, but she was paralyzed and couldn't do anything but watch, couldn't even end him quickly. She just... stared, cold and numb.
That night, Sitran came to her with a bucket of water in her mandibles, and she gratefully took it to wash the taste of vomit from her mouth. Once done she huddled back up, trembling and cold. She'd known she'd have to do this. She'd known it since she was a kid. This was stupid, why was it affecting her like this? Why couldn't she just get over it? If she got like this every t-time she had to kill someone she'd... she'd... she'd never...
She collapsed against Sitran's underside and sobbed into her crown of fur, while the insect gently stroked her back long into the night.
The world kept turning.
Days turned into weeks.
Weeks turned into months.
And she decided to take up Sitran on her offer, which was how she was currently...
"WHOOO!" she shouted, pumping her hands into the air and into the cloud right above her. It was cold, to her surprise, cold and wet just like fog and not at all a solid mass like it looked from the ground. Beneath her she could see the countryside in all directions, see the squares and circles farmland was divided up into. Elena saw the roads meandering through the woods, the hamlets and towns and cities connected together by them, the mountains in the distance. It was all so incredible, so breathtaking.
And it wasn't just the amazing flight she was on, but where they were going and why. They'd received a job from a city. Someone had actually come and contacted her and Sitran, asking for them by name. Their fame was spreading, she was making a name for herself! So what if most of that was probably just Sitran being enormously eyecatching? It was all finally coming together.
Screw knighthood. This was where she belonged.
She returned from the armorsmith, clanking and clinking in her newly purchased set of chainmail. Good enough to deflect a slashing blade, and the padding underneath could protect her from most arrows, too. It'd really only be hammers and stuff she'd have to watch out for, now. Well, magic too, but that was a given.
And to her amusement, she found Sitran huddled on the side of the street, wings folded against her back like a shell, as she leaned over something. Carefully, gingerly, Sitran lowered her head and grasped something in her mandibles... oh! She was turning a page! A glance up confirmed that, indeed, Sitran was sitting outside the library.
"Hey there," she said, grabbing her attention. "How do I look?" she said, giving a quick twirl to show Sitran her armor from all angles.
((Beloved one looks very armored and safe,)) Sitran said.
"So, what've you got there? I didn't know you could read," she said, taking a spot next to the moth.
((This one cannot read. This one was interested in understanding strange symbols that beloved one does, so this one came to strange symbol place for strange symbol book.)) She cocked her head and stared down at the book with something approaching frustration. ((This one... does not know where to start.))
She laughed quietly and sidled in closer. "Well, here, let me help. Oh good, it's a children's book, so you're starting light." She flipped around a bit, then pointed at what she'd found. "So, let's go over the alphabet..."
Sitran was covered. Absolutely covered. In toddlers.
Elena stifled a laugh at the sight. Sitran didn't seem to be bothered, though. If anything, she was delighted by the kids climbing over her back and poking at the hard bone of her wings, chirping and cooing softly to them. She had a book in her forelegs, too, and some of the kids were reading it to her.
"So, how's the local wildlife treating you?" she said cheekily.
Sitran looked up and chirped a greeting. ((Little ones are helping this one read symbols.)) She looked around at them. ((Please give greetings to beloved one.))
"Hey Miss Vienla," the kids greeted as one.
"Alright kids, Sitran and I need to get going. Say goodbye to her!"
"Aww."
"Bye Miss Sitran!"
"Bye!"
"Bye!"
One by one the kids left, and Sitran stood up to her full length and opened her wings. The sun shone down on her, and for a moment Elena was struck by how majestic she was, how awe-inspiring and beautiful. Her heart skipped a beat. "Hey," she said faintly, her train of thought gone.
Sitran laughed telepathically. ((Is beloved one ready to depart?))
She shook herself out of it. "Um, yeah. Let's go," she said, climbing onto her back, and within moments they were off.
They flew for a while, and Elena looked around at the countryside's vista. The setting sun made it all look so strange, covered in rust and oblong shadows. She couldn't help but keep thinking about Sitran covered in the children, though, and eventually she leaned over and spoke up over the wind. "Do you ever think about kids?" she asked.
((How does beloved one mean?))
"I mean, you're the only one of your kind I've ever seen. I'm sorry if this is a sore topic, but... I'm just curious."
((... this one had... dreams, when this one was small. Dreams of others like this one, and ways to make others that take only one.))
She blinked. "So, wait, you could make kids on your own? Like, you don't need another moth?"
((This one does not think so. But... then others like this one would need food for Great Hunger too. And then their other ones, and then theirs.)) Beneath her, Sitran shuddered. Actually shuddered, disturbed. ((This one... does not mind being only one of this one's kind. Especially not with that thought in this one's mind.))
Elena nodded. "Right, right."
"Mom! Dad!" she shouted, running up to embrace her parents.
"Sweetie!"
"Dear!"
She laughed as they swept her into a hug and smooched her on the cheek. She pulled away from them and let Mom mess up her hair. "Oh sweetie, you've gotten so big!"
"I think you just shrunk," she said, laughing. "I've missed you guys."
"And where's Sitran?" Dad asked. "You didn't just walk all the way here, did you?"
"Sitran's..." She looked around, then smiled. "... on the roof."
Mom and Dad turned around and gasped at the sight of her perched on the farmhouse, and Sitran chirped mischievously. ((This one surprises beloved one's parents! Surprise!)) They laughed, and Sitran fluttered over to join them on the ground.
"Oh, we have so much catching up to do," Mom said. "Honey, go get the picnic blanket, will you?" While he headed inside, Mom took her by the arm and led her away from the house. "So? How are you? Is my big strong girl a noble knight and defender of the innocent?" She smirked. "On a mighty moth steed, too?"
She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "... well, you see - "
"I've got the stuff!" Dad said, coming out with picnic supplies. "Oh, Sitran, we've got a fresh crop of apples growing, go help yourself."
The moth dipped her head. ((Thankfulness,)) she said, flying away to eat her fill.
Mom and Dad led her out into a field and laid out a picnic spread. Elena eagerly slung off her pack and joined them.
"So..." She took a deep breath. "I'm not a knight."
Mom and Dad gasped. "Oh, darling," he said.
She waved it off. "It's fine, really. It turns out I don't need those high-and-mighty assholes in the capitol anyway." She looked over to where Sitran was clambering over the apple trees, and smiled warmly. Her heart skipped a beat again. "Sitran and I started doing sort of volunteer work, and eventually I got really good at it." She shrugged, and grabbed a sandwich from the basket. "We've got a job that led past here, so I figured it was long past time for me to stop by."
"Well we're very happy you did," Mom said, pouring a glass of lemonade. "Tell us, tell us all about it!"
So she did. Elena left out some of the more grisly details, but she told them about how she'd been rejected in the capitol straight-up, and how it'd actually been Sitran's idea to go solo, and all the places they'd seen and the people they'd helped over the years. While Sitran was off out of earshot she also told them some of her own worries.
"Don't tell her I said this, but I feel kinda bad," she whispered. "I mean, it kinda feels like I'm slowing Sitran down. What would she be doing if she didn't have to keep tagging along with me?" She looked down at her feet. "And... I feel kinda like a fraud. Sitran's stupid strong, you know? Like, there was this dark mage, he threw a fireball at her, and we just had to clean the soot off her shell. It feels like... like I wouldn't be at all successful if it weren't for her carrying me. Sometimes literally."
"Oh, Elena, that's not true," Dad said, reaching over and resting a hand on her lap. When had his hand gotten so many wrinkles in it? When had their hair gotten so many more grey strands? "If Sitran didn't like being with you and helping you, do you think she wouldn't just up and leave to do what she wanted? Everyone affects everyone around them, and leaves their mark on them. Do you think I ever would've gotten into farming if it weren't for your mother?"
She rolled her eyes. "Dear Telros, not this story again." She smiled. "But yeah, I think I see what you mean."
((This one has eaten until hunger is gone,)) Sitran said, hopping over to them. ((This one wishes to share thoughts with beloved one's parents.))
"Please, scoot in," Mom said, moving aside. Sitran lowered herself and, carefully, upended the entire pitcher of lemonade into her mouth.
They laughed.
They laughed, and talked, and shared, until the sun headed for the horizon and it was time for Mom and Dad to head to sleep. They did, after all, have to get up bright and early tomorrow to work alongside their farmhands. She and Sitran remained outside, chatting a while longer.
Well. Mostly it was her talking. Sitran was uncharacteristically quiet, and she wasn't just going to let her friend stew.
"Sitran? What's eating you?"
Sitran sat up, propping herself up on her two forelegs, and looked down at her. ((This one has... many thoughts. This one wants to show beloved one something that came to this one in dreams.))
"Um, sure? WHOA!" Sitran grabbed her in her forelegs and took flight. In moments they had cleared the farm and approached the mountains. Sitran circled around one while she went limp in her grasp, trusting the moth not to drop her. Soon they came to a stop and Sitran gently set her down on a rocky nook facing the sunset.
((This one thinks... setting sun is favorable to see,)) she said. ((This one has had many thoughts about beloved one.)) Sitran sat on her hind legs, and stared down at her. The setting sun cast beautiful colors across her shell and eyes. ((Beloved one came to this one when it was in pod, and gave it bravery to see world outside. When this one was scared of loud noises and animals, beloved one stayed with it and made this one think things would end up pleasant instead of unpleasant. When this one suffered Great Hunger, beloved one helped this one and stayed with this one, even though this one was hurt by Great Hunger. Beloved one was first thing this one saw after change, when memories still were unclear.
((This one... would not be same without beloved one,)) she said, her psychic voice wavering. ((This one sees world and other ones look at this one and are happy to see this one, because beloved one wanted to help them. This one has many thoughts about beloved one, and wants to share in beloved one's life as beloved one as been there for all of this one's life.)) Her antennae lowered, and turned away bashfully. ((This one has romantic thoughts for beloved one, and hopes they are returned.))
At some point during her speech, Elena had started tearing up. She sniffled and wiped them away, and her chest absolutely roiled with emotion. By Telros, she'd been... such an idiot. And here she'd been worrying about chaining Sitran down. "Sitran, I don't know what to say. That was beautiful and I didn't - " She tripped over her own tongue. "I thought - I'd been worried that - " She sighed, breathed out, and looked up at the moth. She walked closer and put her hand on her head. "Come here, you."
Despite being many times her size, and many more times her weight, Sitran backed up under her advance and eventually landed on her back with a surprised squeak, beating her wings against the rock. Neither one of them had any idea what to do, it was strange and fumbling and full of awkward rotations, and it was everything she wished for.
They moved on from her childhood home. They moved across the seas and the islands and back again, going wherever their work took them.
She and Sitran had already been at ease with each other before, but now there was... something else, too. It wasn't easy for her to describe, but she and Sitran went out into fields and she braided flowers into her fur, they laid on their backs in meadows and looked for shapes in the clouds, they danced at bonfires and sang together at concerts. Money was steady, her heart was full of love, and her soul was alight with purpose.
It started like any other day.
"I spy with my little eye, something green."
Sitran looked around, startled, then turned to her with her antennae hanging. ((Unfairness! This one is surrounded by many blades of grass, how is this one to guess which one beloved one spies?))
Elena nudged her cheekily. "Well, you'd better get guessing, then."
Sitran sulked for a moment, then pointed a leg forward. ((Does beloved one spy that one?))
"Nope."
((... does beloved one spy that one?))
She laughed. "Nope!" she said with a skip.
Sitran gnashed her mandibles together and looked around. ((... does... does beloved one spy... entire field?))
"Ha!" She clapped her hands together. "You got it! Alright, your turn."
((Excitement!)) Sitran did a little dance on her three pairs of legs. ((This one spies with this one's eyes...)) Sitran froze, and trailed off. She didn't even put her lifted foreleg back down.
"Well?" When Sitran still didn't respond, Elena frowned. "What is it?"
((... put on armor and get on this one,)) Sitran whispered in her head.
Oh shit. Something was up, wasn't it? But what could it be? Elena'd never seen Sitran like this, never heard her as afraid as this. What could possibly get strong, beautiful, invincible Sitran so scared?
Whatever it was, she didn't want to stick around to find out. Elena put on her armor and readied her sword in record time. She hopped on Sitran, who shot off like an arrow the moment she was secured.
They flew up, and up, and up, until the sky turned darker blue, frost bit at her skin, and her breaths became shallow and faint. Sitran climbed as high up as they'd learned Elena could safely manage, and pointed at something even higher up. ((There, look. Something is coming from very high.))
Elena narrowed her eyes and peered up at where Sitran was pointing and, sure enough, there was... something in the sky. It just looked like a faint black dot, like a star made of darkness. But she swore she could see it... moving. Like it was constantly deforming in shape.
"... let's get back down," she whispered. "And let's get to the city, too. I don't like the looks of this."
((A-Agreement.))
That just made the unease in her gut even heavier. She could barely even remember the last time she'd heard Sitran stutter.
The nearest city was, as fortune would have it, Fungra city, the capitol of her home nation. It'd seen enormous growth in her years of adventuring, adding on a new wing to the palace, expanded the library, and even opened a college. She and Sitran swooped down towards the walls, startling several guards into pointing their bows and arrows at them.
"Halt!" one shouted. "These walls are off-limits to civilians, and - "
"Shut up, Andreas!" she shouted back. "Something's up. I mean literally, up. Look." She pointed a finger towards the sky, and the guards' eyes followed her.
"Mother of Telros," he said, looking back at her. "What is that? A black star? In the day, no less?"
"I don't know, but it spooked Sitran something fierce," she said, reaching over to scratch Sitran's furry mane. "I don't like it. Can't you, I don't know?" She waved a hand. "Ready the guard, or something? Sound the alarm?"
"Not on a hunch, but - all of you! Remain on alert!" Andreas shouted. "Lady Vienla, stay here until we get a better idea of what it is."
"On it," she said. Sitran just remained tense. Tense and quiet.
The black star in the sky grew, larger and larger until it was more akin to the size of the sun itself. But it wasn't a round disk, but rather something like a blob. It was as though Telros had gone to paint the tapestry of the sky and allowed a blot of ink to stain it. And then it split, first into three, then nine, then dozens of trailing-off blobs that shot in all directions. One grew closer and closer, until it darkened the sky above the capitol and the guards were rallied, aiming arrows up into the sky at the approaching... what was it?
As it got closer, the pure blackness broke up into hundreds - no, thousands - of smaller figures. It was a swarm. A swarm of...
She gasped.
"Moths," she whispered faintly, and she felt as sick and horrified as Sitran. She knew, in her heart of hearts, that this was not a swarm of moths coming to make friends with the people of the world.
The swarm descending upon the city split, as though a dome surrounded the capitol, and hundreds of moths landed upon the countryside. They landed in the meadows, in the forest, by the stream, anywhere that had anything green and growing got a moth or two or three to it. And they weren't like Sitran, either. These ones had wings the color of fire choked by its own smoke, and instead of radiant yellow symbols they each had markings, black as sin, on their wings like streaks of rain... or drops of blood.
And they were eating. Good heavens were they eating. She watched them chew up an entire tree in moments, and then move on to another, and another. Patches of grassless soil grew like mold before her eyes, except she was confident these moths would eat mold, too.
If every swarm that had arrived was like this... "We gotta stop them," she whispered. Then she cleared her throat, turned to the guards, and raised her sword. "We've gotta stop them!" She leaned over to whisper to Sitran, "We... can stop them, right?"
((... this one has to try,)) she said nervously, before taking off. They flew down towards the nearest moth, who'd overturned someone's private garden and was sifting through the flowers, consuming every frond it could find.
"HEY!" she shouted, grabbing its attention. It looked up to her, a dandelion impaled on its mandibles, and all her courage turned to ice. Its fur was a dark, dusty red, and even the antennae were red and bright yellow, as opposed to Sitran's green and gray. "You've... you've gotta stop, you..."
((This one demands explanation!)) Sitran said furiously. ((Where did other ones come from? Why did other ones come? Why are other ones...)) Sitran swiveled its gaze across the feasting swarm. ((... eating so much? Plants will not grow back fast enough.))
The strange, red moth tilted its head and gestured with its forelegs, but Elena didn't hear anything; it must've just been talking to Sitran. Eventually, her friend and love jerked beneath her. ((No! This one not allowing it! These ones need plants and need the animals that need the plants! Other ones must stop eating now!))
The moth remained still, then opened its wings wide. Around them, a dozen other moths took a break from feasting and turned to face them, approaching menacingly. "Um, Sitran, I think it's time to go," she said nervously.
((This one... this one agrees,)) she said, quiet and equally afraid. ((This one is just one and there are many other ones.))
They took off, leaving the moths behind. They could've easily pursued, but instead the crimson insects returned to their feast. She saw arrows and spells flying from the walls of the capitol, and a dozen or so moths took flight and approached the city. Elena squeezed her eyes shut and turned away; she'd seen Sitran shrug off pointed, weighted arrows and powerful magic alike, and seen her deal back the damage many times over.
She couldn't find it in her to watch the slaughter.
"What did it talk to you about?" she asked, once they were far enough away. They'd left behind the capitol swarm, but who knew where the others had flown off to? How much damage they'd already done?
((Other one spoke about... great dark empty space. Same that this one dreamed of before beloved one, before pod. Other ones fly in it from world to other world and eat everything they can. When one world's plants not enough, they move to next. Always more pods. Always more of other ones.))
"A world-devouring swarm," she said, in quiet horror. "And even if they just eat the plants, like, what are the cows and hydras and stuff gonna eat? Everything will..." She swallowed nervously. "Everyone is gonna die if we don't stop them." This was so much larger than her. She'd helped merchants move their wares safely and freed towns from under the yoke of bandits. This was... this was the apocalypse if what Sitran had heard was right. This was something for the great hero-kings of legends, not her.
"Well, there has to be something we can do. Are they all as strong as you?"
((This one... is afraid but not knowing for sure. So... many of them. This one never in danger from anything, this one only worries about beloved one but... now...)) Sitran went quiet again.
She went quit too as they flew onward, no destination except anywhere but here.
Finally, she pointed to a clearing in a nearby wood. "Land over there, please." Sitran did, making wide circles to burn off their speed before settling down and letting her dismount. "How do we kill them?" she asked, taking out her sword and facing Sitran. "There's gotta be something, right? You guys have to have some weakness?"
Sitran hesitated, then sat and ran her forelegs over her own body. ((This one has... cracks in shell, to let this one move around. Beloved one tries putting sharp weapon in there?))
"Can I try? I'm not gonna hurt you," she said, approaching nervously.
Sitran nodded. ((This one knows. Try it on this one.)) Elena approached and readied her sword. She was quite familiar with Sitran's body and knew where all of the creases in her carapace were. She found a larger one and tried wedging her sword into it, gently. ((Also, this one thinks... of ways to fight other ones that this one has not used before. Maybe more thoughts in dreaming.))
"I'm not... sure..." She grunted. Damn, her sword couldn't even get into the crack?! "... not sure we have time to sleep. We've gotta... hurry before they... damn it!" Beaten, she stepped back. "How the hell are you guys so tough? It's like you're invincible!"
Sitran cowered to the ground and lowered her antennae. ((... other one spoke of great powerful leader one named 'Lutra'. Said leader one made other ones and made this one, said leader one has great Gift that makes all other ones and this one strong.))
"Shit," she whispered. Then she clenched her fists and, with a shout, threw her sword at the nearest tree. "Shit!" Elena let her legs go limp and pounded the ground with her fists. "I feel so helpless," she muttered. "I mean, I know you're so much stronger than me. I'm used to it. But at least until now, we've been fighting things I can hurt, too. I feel so useless."
((This one apologizes.)) Sitran crawled closer and draped her body over Elena. She took a deep breath of Sitran's scent of spearmint. ((This one... does not know how to comfort beloved one. This one does not know how to fight so many other ones. This one feels so... weak again.))
"Well, we've gotta try something, right?" she said. "Maybe... maybe if we can evacuate people somewhere. A cave, maybe, with plants. Keep something hidden until they move on?"
((This one thinks... beloved one has only plan that could work.))
"But we've gotta move. Get off me?" Sitran did, and Elena got her gear. She got onto Sitran's back and held onto her fur tightly. "We've gotta get to Mom and Dad. I know they have a cellar, maybe we can hide out there."
What she didn't say was and hide enough food for how long? And then go to other farms and hide food there too? Enough so that people can repopulate after the moths eat everything else?
But what else could they do?
When they arrived, atop the mountainside where she and Sitran had first shared themselves with each other, Elena already knew it was too late. The moths had found the farm.
"Mom," she whispered. "Dad."
The scene beneath them was horrific. The pumpkin patch she'd played hide-and-seek in had been devoured by what looked like a single moth. The apple orchards Sitran so loved were down to tree stumps, and even those were going. The forest Sitran had grown up in, the forest that had so long ago recovered from her feeding frenzy, looked like a logging company had torn through it. Everywhere she looked was the same scene of carnage, the same pattern of blood-red moths and desolation.
This... this was too much. First the black star that she now knew was the swarm, then their arrival, the sheer magnitude of this invasion, and now this. They... they needed a miracle. An army. Divine intervention. It was all too much, too fast.
((This one... cannot find beloved ones' parents' thoughts,)) Sitran said nervously. ((This one hopes they ran away.))
"Me too," she said coldly, hand tight around her sword. Maybe she couldn't hurt a moth with it, but maybe she could distract one long enough for Sitran to do something.
((This one... tries something?))
"Go for it. It's now or never."
Sitran reared up, with Elena still holding onto her back, and flared her sea-green wings as wide as they went. She watched in amazement as hot-pink dust gathered on their insides, flowing together into four tightly packed clouds of energy. With a flap Sitran tossed them forwards, and the magic missiles streaked down onto the farm... each one aimed at a cluster of feasting moths.
There was a shrill whistle as they flew, and then...
BOOM!
Each of the clouds exploded with enormous force, more powerful than anything she'd ever seen. They left behind enormous craters all the way down to the shattered bedrock, the shockwave blew her hair back even from so far away, and the moths caught in the explosions were torn into so many assorted limbs. Elena's breath caught in her throat and she laughed. "You can hurt them," she cheered. "You can hurt them!"
Sitran chirped, sharing her excitement, but then pointed down the mountain. ((... one was not killed by this one's attack. Should go towards other one, kill while weak.))
"Or you can just do that exploding pink thing again?" She frowned. "Or... can you do it again so soon?"
Sitran just shook her head.
"Alright, then let's go! Get it while it's down; maybe you weakened its armor and I can do something too."
((Agreement!)) They took flight and soared down the mountain, down towards the gnawed-upon corpse of her family's farm, down towards the one moth that had survived Sitran's attack.
Together they flew closer and closer, and Elena readied herself to jump off. As they approached, she could make out more details in this moth. Like all the other invaders, this one was colored in dark reds and blacks, with the faintest touch of yellow. It looked... bigger than the others, though. Something like a time and a half Sitran's size. It stood on its six legs, looking around curiously, as though it hadn't just been struck point blank by a magic spell that'd instantly killed dozens of other moths.
That should've been her first clue.
"RAAAHH!" she shouted, jumping off Sitran and driving her sword into the moth's armored back, right where its thorax met its head. This was it, surely she could hurt it, it'd been struck so hard and she was going so fast and the point of her sword was aimed right at a weakness and -
The moth moved, so fast that her eyes couldn't see anything but a blur of black and red, and then she was snatched out of the air and pinned to the ground beneath a pair of legs. She gasped as they pressed into her sides, their spikes jabbing into her as though all her armor was just cotton. She stated up at the moth's face, into its eerily familiar trio of pairs of eyes. It might've only been slightly larger than Sitran, but laying beneath it, entirely at its mercy, it may as well have been the size of a continent to her.
((Let go of beloved one!)) Sitran shouted. The moth pinning her looked up in surprise, just as Sitran crashed into it. The two tumbled off from her and she scurried to grab her sword and come help. But by the time she'd gotten her weapon back from where it'd been wrenched from her grip, the red moth had already tossed Sitran back to her. She fell on her back, legs wobbling in the air, and righted herself after a moment of disorientation.
((THIS ONE IS SURPRISED,)) a new voice said in her head, deafening and forceful in its intent, not at all like Sitran's voice. ((OTHER ONE IS STRANGE COLORED LIKE NOTHING THIS ONE HAS SEEN. HOW IS GREEN ONE COMING TO BE HERE BEFORE THESE ONES?))
"Sitran was born here!" she challenged, taking a step forward. "Her pod fell here when I was just a little girl and we've been best friends since." She glanced back at Sitran. "Are you okay?" she whispered.
((This one is... not greatly harmed.))
Not greatly? What did she mean not greatly? She'd been harmed at all? They had to -
((GREEN ONE FELL HERE AHEAD OF THESE ONES? GREEN ONE'S POD MUST HAVE BEEN LOST AND TRAVELED HERE ON OWN. THIS ONE IS... CURIOUS.)) It stalked forward, circling the two of them like a wolf. They turned to keep facing it. ((HOW IS IT THAT GREEN ONE HAS NOT MADE MORE PODS? IF GREEN ONE HAS BEEN HERE SO LONG THERE SHOULD BE FEW PLANTS ALREADY.))
((This one does not wish for all plants to be eaten,)) Sitran retorted. ((These ones need them to live, too,)) she said, gesturing with a wing towards Elena.
"She's right. Why are you invading like this? We need these things to survive. What you're doing to us is... is... wrong!" It sounded naïve even just to say.
((OTHER ONES ARE NOT IMPORTANT,)) it said with a dismissive wave of a foreleg. ((THESE ONES WERE GIVEN GREATEST POWER! THESE ONES WERE GIVEN CHOICE AS TO WHAT WORLD STARTS! NOT OTHER ONES!))
"Greatest power?" she asked. Then understanding dawned on her, and her heart sunk. This wasn't just a moth. This wasn't just a leader. This was... this was a genuine god, standing menacingly before her. "You're Lutra." She looked left and right. They needed to... to what? Fight? Flee? Would Lutra even let them escape? It could move so fast.
Lutra cocked its head curiously to the side. ((HOW IS OTHER ONE KNOWING OF THIS ONE'S NAME?)) It held up a leg. ((ONE OF THESE ONES MUST HAVE EXPLAINED SOME. OTHER ONE IS CORRECT. THIS ONE NAME IS BEING 'LUTRA'.))
She let out a shaky breath, and her hands trembled on her sword's handle. It seemed so useless to hold onto. She'd already seen what it good it was against the godly insect. Elena clung to some vain hope that maybe she could get Lutra in the eyes, but she'd also seen how mind-numbingly fast the giant insect could move.
((T-This one,)) Sitran stammered, clearly as shaken as her. ((... this one demands other ones leave this world. Leave it for this one and these ones!))
It cocked its head, and took a prowling hop forwards. She yelped and Sitran chirped in fright and they stumbled back. ((NO. THESE ONES HUNGER, SO THESE ONES EAT.)) It chirped quietly, almost like it was humming. ((GREEN ONE COULD COME WITH THESE ONES. WINGS MAKE FOR FLYING BETWEEN WORLDS EVEN IN DARK SPACE WITH NO AIR AND BIG DISTANCES.))
((What would happen to beloved one?)) Sitran demanded.
Lutra turned a cold look to her, then back to Sitran. ((OTHERS NOT IMPORTANT.))
((Important to this one!)) Sitran shouted, rearing up and waving her legs furiously. ((Beloved one and others showed this one great kindness. This one cannot let leader one kill this one's world!))
"Sitran," she said, her breath hitching. "Tell me when." Despite her fears, her doubt, her panic, she kept her sword ready.
((... on counting to three,)) she heard in her head, and she trusted Sitran to not also tell Lutra. ((One.))
((THESE ONES WILL NOT LEAVE WORLD BE.))
((... two.))
((THIS PLACE HAS PLANTS AND THESE ONES HUNGER. THOSE ONLY THINGS THAT MATTER TO THESE ONES. WHY IS GREEN ONE -))
((... this one loves you. Three!))
They charged. Sitran moved first, reaching Lutra. She reared up, ready to drive her serrated leg into Lutra's skull -
Lutra's eyes ignited. The normal blue color was replaced all at once by a burning white, like one of those special fires that didn't burn wood. A bright orange light erupted from inside Lutra, as though the divine moth had plucked a star out of the sky and eaten that too. Lutra's movements turned into a blur as it slashed -
Sitran's top half fell onto the ground, and her bottom half fell next to it.
Elena's gorge rose and her heart stopped. She'd been ready to charge Lutra alongside her love, but now everything ground to a halt as her eyes were drawn to the grisly, unthinkable scene.
Sitran.
She was... gone.
She was just... gone.
Elena didn't even think. She just screamed, charged Lutra blindly, and -
Pain like nothing she'd ever felt, ever known she could feel, engulfed her mind and drove out all thought. By the time she'd hit the ground the pain was already gone, replaced with the cold, numbing claws of shock. Lutra took flight, and left them behind as though it had just squished a gnat.
Her vision blurred. She reached out a hand towards Sitran. Shaking, crying, and with the last of her strength, she held on to the tip of one of her legs.
And as the moths around her continued to swarm and feast, the world went dark.
Only those capable of interstellar space travel had a prayer of escaping them.
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