Chapter 4

Hungry. That was the first thing that came to mind when Heksis woke up from his nap. The boy's eyes opened slowly, and a quiet yawn escaped his throat as his eyes adjusted. The faint glow of his eyes shined through the thin screen that had been placed on the top of his cradle. He lifted his head up but struggled somewhat since his blanket was still wrapped around him. His arms had been on his chest, giving himself a hug. His legs were pointed down, with his all four of his tiny little toes sticking out at the end.

Eliksni feet were made for holding onto objects. Two long front toes on each foot, with triangular toenails that felt as hard as iron. Hek looked at his toes for a little bit, moving his toes down and up, pretending he was trying to grasp something sturdy like his mother's arm or perhaps the tree nearby. He shaped them essentially into hooks and could practically feel the wood from the tree beneath them. He wasn't entirely sure what it actually felt like, but he thought it could only be as soft as his mother.

He gave them another small flex as he licked his mandibles, cleaning the pink gums right between his dull little, dull teeth. His arms were still hugging himself and slowly falling asleep as he sit awake. So he went to work, wiggling his body backwards until the left side of the back of his head gently hit the wooden bar behind him. It didn't hurt very much, and the pain soon faded away. He'd made progress, about a third of his body had managed to escape the cocoon. His top arms were free! He lifted the arms up, turned himself so the bars he had hit his head on were on his left. He made a quick glance behind him to check the distance between the bars behind him. Pretty good distance. He'd have plenty of space.

He leaned back, putting his feet on the ground, lifting his waist up, and beginning to push the blanket down with his upper arms. His lower arms were closer now. The blanket had gone down to his feet. So kept pushing until his lower arms were free, and once they were, he laid his head back, pushing the rest of the blanket off of him with his feet. Finally! He was free!

He gave a small glance behind him to check the distance he had been from the bars. The pup wasn't even close to them. In fact, it seemed like he hadn't moved at all!

"Wait for Mommy." The boy's conscious told himself. If he got out of the cradle, Mommy might get upset with him, and then she would find a way to stop him from getting out again, another screen probably. Now he felt a little conflicted. If he waited he might lose some opportunity forever. If he went he might get in trouble, and then he wouldn't ever be able to climb out of his cradle again on his own. He debated about which decision was best for a few seconds. She was super smart. She'd find out eventually. She probably already found a way to prevent him from escaping his cradle before he got the chance to escape at all.

He came up with a plan as he looked around the room, briefly planning his escape. He stopped as soon as he saw the Javlok plant. It had been put in the left corner of the room, encased in a vertical, rectangular glass terrarium. One face of the rectangle had a small door on it, which could be opened. It looked easy to open. Just lift the small metal thing in the middle that held the two glass pieces together. He'd only gotten a small glimpse at the Javlok plant. A wide, wood looking stem, covered in hard scaly bark. The leaves had been small, but there were hundreds of them, all growing on little sticks that protruded along the sides of the stem. The color of the small leaves was dark blue, with one or two light green lines crossing the plant. The small branches were green, and covered in thin, short hair that was covered in drops of dew.

Hek hadn't gotten a look at the top of the plant. But when he saw it, it did fascinate him.

At the top was a large square shaped flower, with the vibrant orange petals being similar to the hair covered branches, except the hair on the petals was long, and thinner than the hair on the branches. 'Strange,' Hek immediately thought. There were few plants on the mountaintop, and he hadn't gotten to see very much. Especially since he's never left his house without his mother watching him non stop.

He'd keep the Javlok in mind, but right now he'd need to focus on his escape from the cradle.

He'd stood up before, walking on his feet. But he always went back to crawling nonetheless. It was much more fun that way. He put his upper arms up to the bars in front of him, quickly gripping the wooden bars as tightly as his tiny little hands would allow. He brought his lower arms up, and they too grabbed onto the bars tightly. He'd have to pull himself up, maybe use his feet to hang on too.

He let go of the bars with his upper hands, reaching up higher and holding on again. Already, he was halfway there. But the weight was beginning to take its toll on him. Sure, he'd carried his Eriv around everywhere he went, but even he had his limits. After all, he was just a child, and his physical prowess was certainly lacking. He continued to climb up the wooden bars as best as he could.

He held onto them as best as he could, a small burning sensation forming inside the muscles of his upper arms. But he had to keep going! He was close now, only one step more and he would be at the top of the cradle. His left leg fell down, hanging uselessly as he let go of the bars with his upper arms, reached up further; held on again, and then let go of the bars with his lower arms, and pulling himself up further. Now only need to do that one more time and then he would be at the top of the cradle. Then he'd lift the small screen top up, and climb out. This has taken a long time, longer than even he thought it would, and his stomach probably felt the same way, because it let out a low growl as he began to repeat what he had done before, letting go of the bars with his upper hands and reaching up.

The growl was light, but it was enough to remind him that he was hungry amongst his climbing. He held on with his upper arms, letting go with his lower and pulling himself up. He felt a soft chink as his little head hit the screen top. He'd made it to the top, finally.

The screen wasn't very hard to push up, there was no lock or weight holding it in place. It was as easy as lifting it up, sticking his head in the gap between the railing and the screen top, and pulling himself up. He pulled himself up, his belly lying on the railing, his lower arms firmly holding onto it. Now he had a perfect view of the room, except this time it was from above.

The room was about 23 steps long, and 17 steps wide. Relatively small compared to the rest of the rooms, but it was very large to Heksis. A thick but soft white foam covered the floor and the walls of the room, meant to protect Hek in case he fell down, which he had done many many times. His toys were littered across the room. His small red pacifier was on a small table to his left, his old wooden shape puzzle was in front of the cradle, and his small bright red play ribbon was on the floor, one end going toward the left corner and the other toward the right corner.

The gifts mother had given him were in a small box, which was also in the left corner and right next to the Javlok plant terrarium. The rest of the room was barren. He'd never gotten to see it from this height. Momma was taller than the cradle, and she'd picked him up before, but he'd never been scooped up while he was in a playful mood, only when he was tired or close to it. And even then, seeing the room was impossible, since she always picked him up with his head facing her neck or her shoulder, so he'd never gotten to see it.

He'd need to stay away from the right side, that was where the door was. She might be able to see him if he walked in front of the door. But he'd need to think about that later. Right now he needed to focus on getting down quietly…

It hasn't taken taken long for Heksis to make his way down. The floor was soft enough for him to just jump off, but he chose not to do that, even though he could. He didn't want to take the chance and make noise, or mommy would hear him or reached the bottom of the cradle, holding onto it as tightly as he could as he straightened his feet out, preparing to land. The boy let go of the bars, and fell down onto the floor in a millisecond, landing on his feet for a brief moment before stumbling clumsily and falling backwards onto the floor, letting out a small gentle squeak as his back hit the floor. The toddler stood there for a moment, looking up at the cold stone ceiling of the room with a blank look on his face. He was free now. So now he'd need to get back up and begin his little adventure.

The Javlok plant was still in the corner, sitting quietly. Did it not wish to speak? Or did maybe it just could not speak loud enough for him to hear? Or...maybe it was because it was inside a glass box thing, which probably muffled the noise. Either way, Heksis wanted to check it out. He rolled to the side and moved his head back, with his body lifting up as his knees now began to support it. He put one little foot up, before pushing himself up, lifting the other one up as he rose. Both feet now on the ground, he made his way over to the terrarium. The soil that the plant was based in was mossy, like dried out green lichen. His stomach growled quickly, immediately assuming that the plant was covered in something he could eat. And he certainly believed it was. His stomach let out another gentle growl as he reached the terrarium.

He reached out with his upper left hand, to the two small little glass doors that were connected by a gray metal hook on the left door sliding through a polished bronze ring in the right side.

Lifting it was easy, he simply pinched the hook with his hand and lifted it up, freeing it from the little ring that held the two doors together. He pulled the doors back, and almost immediately he could smell the soil. The soil certainly looked like the lichen he'd loved to snack on, but this was different. It looked dried, dead, and yet, he could still see the specks of dew on the surface. The smell did not seem right to him. So he chose not to put it in his mouth. It was an instinctive response, to not eat things that smell bad. And then...there was the plant itself. It's beauty was far more apparent from this distance.

He could see now that it was not as square-shaped as he had thought it had been. It was rectangular. It's vibrant orange petals had small irregular blobs of yellow near the edges. The petals had hair covering their edges, which looked just like the hair on the small branches, except it was thinner and longer. The plant was illuminated by the large bar above the glass box, which gave the plant the light it needed.

The boy liked the look of the flowers, with their silky and vibrant look giving him a nice feeling of calm. He quickly felt the urge to touch it, and he gave into the urge, with his right upper hand immediately reaching over to it, with one of his fingers reaching out and touching one of the petals. He felt a slight sting as the silky hair of the petals curled around the tip of his finger. It moved, so it must be able to speak. But where was it's mouth? His questions were quickly answered when he felt a thought in his mind. "This plant should be put in a better spot."

The thought was not his own, he knew, but he did not know that. He let out a small whisper toward the still plant.

"Why should it be put in a better spot?" Heksis asked quietly, not wanting to alert Kelvi.

"This plant believes it is too humid in this place." The plant said, with the thought echoing in Hek's mind. This thought was not his own. And yet the voice was his own. The plant communicated mentally then. Strange.

"Humid? What's that? How can you tell?" He asked. He spoke, but he still needed to think about what he said before he said. He still had a mild struggle with words, placing the syntax where it needed to be. The Javlok made his coherent thoughts even more difficult to put into words, replacing his words before he noticed.

'This plant does not know how.' It replied. This plant unnerved him, made him uncomfortable. Hek did not like this, he didn't like having his mind be used like a microphone for the strange creature before him.

"Well I can't carry you. Only mommy can do that," he said.

'Then get them so they can carry the Javlok.' It replied. Heksis pulled his finger back slightly, and the small needle hairs loosened from his finger, letting him go. The voice was no longer in his head. He thought to himself.

"I should go wake her up." He said aloud, words coming from his mouth, and the thoughts of the words he spoke echoed through his thin mental corridors. Yes. These were his own thoughts. He wanted to wake up Mom and move the plant.

The child looked back at the plant, staring at its orange flower like he would stare at a face. Analyzing it, scanning for emotion. He saw nothing. Nothing but stillness.

He decided to move on, and try to understand this strange experience with mommy. He backed up, closing the glass doors shut, putting the hook through the ring, and turned around. Eriv was missing. He wasn't in the room with Heksis. Where had he gone?

The boy planned on finding out where his stuffed companion had gone, he couldn't have gone far. He was heavy and had short little feet. Only way he could get out was if Mother let him out. But why would she do that? He must have left, gone exploring perhaps. Yes. He must have done that. Maybe he was encouraging Heksis to follow? Perhaps Heksis was meant to leave his crib, to follow the Yuzka. That seemed like a good explanation to his little mind.

Hek would be lying if he said that he didn't feel ashamed for disobeying his mommy. But...how bad could it be? He wouldn't hurt himself, and he was a good boy. He wouldn't do anything to hurt himself or anyone else.

Another loud growl came from his stomach, which sent gentle vibrations throughout his soft furry belly.

Hungry. Still hungry. Perhaps the search for Eriv would have to wait. Heksis couldn't reach the food box where mommy kept all the yummy food. So he'd need to wake her up.

The little eliksni stumbled his way over toward the oval shaped door, put one little foot after another as he walked upright. The feeling was weird to him, and his spine felt bent, like it was in an unnatural stance. But the feeling subsided in less than a second, and his spine felt like it had split into multiple little spines all connected together.

He could get used to walking like this, but he still enjoyed crawling and at his age it was much less time consuming than walking was. But he stayed his course, walking forward toward the door until he was right in front of it. All he needed to do was take one step forward and he would be out of his room and inside the living room. He stepped forward, looking around as he searched for Kelvi. Loud snore-like grunting noises could be heard from the couch, and Heksis could who it was coming from.

Kelvi had her eyes shut tightly as she slept, with the Yuzka plushie on her left near her waist, upside down on its back and staring away from her. Several loud grunts were being produced in her throat, with her mouth making little 'wheeeeeessp' noises as she exhaled. Her mandibles were curled around each other, which was the reason for the noise. Her brain reactivated, a single spark lighting up inside her mind, waking all the cells, all the neurons, big and small. Like a single spark in a barrel of heating fuel. The whole thing burst into light.

Her middle left eye twitched slightly in annoyance after the neurons had fired up, little flicks of blue lights escaping from her glowing eyes, which were covered by her eyelids, which then pulled back, allowed the light to touch the ceiling, and then closed again.

She did this a few times, with both of the left eyes on her face now twitching to life. She didn't notice the small child clumsily walking up to her on the left side as she continued to do her best to fall back asleep, still in a subconscious state.

Her right eyes twitched to life in unison as well, with the ceiling now being barraged with small and short bursts of blue light as her eyes opened and closed. They continued to twitch, until her conscious took over and she finally awoke, a crusty feeling could be felt around her eyes, the kind you feel when you haven't gotten enough sleep. She had experienced this feeling many times since Yav had gone missing. Taking care of Heksis alone was difficult sometimes.

The adult let out a loud yawn as Hek passed her, which alerted the boy to her presence. Before she hadn't made a sound. All the pup did was make a small turn to his left, and Eriv came into view. Laying on his side in the middle of the couch, the plushie laid there in a sassy, annoyed way. The fake Yuzka's long spiked tail hung idly off the side of the couch, with his legs stiffly pointing out toward Hek. Lazy and carefree. How Eriv had gotten up on the couch was unknown to Hek. Why he was laying with mommy was also unknown. Why was mommy laying there, acting like she was sleeping? He had never seen her sleep. It just wasn't something he thought she was capable of doing. A child can think that, especially since she's never really taken breaks with him. Eriv. The plushie must have done something. He must have used a spell of some sort on her. Putting her to sleep just because he wanted to be able to sleep on the couch! How selfish of him! Just because Mom wouldn't let him sleep on the couch doesn't mean that he had to make her fall asleep! All she was doing now was breathing, taking deep breaths into her lungs and stretching her mandibles out, spreading them out widely and cleaning them with her long purple tongue. Yes. Eriv must have put her to sleep just so he could sleep there! What else could have happened? Eriv was just a bad bad Yuzka! Very very bad!

He quickly set to work, clumsily walking over to the couch on his shaky feet, knocking against it slightly as he held onto the edge of it tightly with his upper arms. Kelvi didn't notice it. In fact, she was still running her long tongue down her mandibles, brushing it against them and cleaning out any leftovers from meals hiding between the teeth on her left mandibles. Hek was at the middle of the couch, trying to pull himself up uselessly, letting out a small grunt of frustration as he began to try again, before his lower right arm bumped against Eriv's spiked tail. He turned to it, analyzing the long gray tail, and giving the two spikes at the end of the tail a little poke just for amusement. The plushie spikes were pushed back by the touch. Eriv had a problem, his spikes weren't as hard as they should've been. And for some reason he couldn't move at all... But it probably wasn't a big deal. He could use the tail to climb up. Yes. Great idea!

Kelvi finished up cleaning on the left side, giving a small huff to celebrate her completion. Hek had already grabbed onto the tail, and began to try to pull himself up. Her body turned to the side that Hek was on as he started to climb, a part of her waist pressing down on the Yuzka plushie and holding it down a bit. There was a weird, jerking movement that she felt near her waist, and she quickly determined that something was moving near her. So she prepared to open her eyes, moving her waist back as she prepared to look near it, which caused Eriv to slowly begin to be pulled back because she wasn't pressing down on him anymore. Once her eyes had opened she looked down to her waist and immediately saw the rear end of Hek's yuzka plushie, and to her surprise, his furry little head sticking up near the end of the couch, with both of his little upper arms holding onto the tail of the plushie as tightly as they could as Eriv slowly was pulled toward the edge by his weight. Soon as it reached the edge he would fall down onto the cold stone floor, and the plushie would fall down on him. It only took only a millisecond for her to connect the dots and all four of her blue spectral eyes widened almost immediately, with her upper right arm shooting out toward the end of the tail to grab onto it. But it was too late, and the plushie reached the edge of the couch, and Heksis looked at her, a confused and surprised look on his face. How could his plan have failed?! His weight pulled the pebble filled yuzka off the couch and fell, with his mother's upper arm reaching out to him but to no avail.

The drop was small, only two and a half steps. And Heksis was just three steps tall. But the distance didn't matter. The floor was what she worried about. A look of horror immediately struck Kelvi's face as he fell, lifting herself up and ignoring the stretch of her once asleep tendons and sinews as she looked over the edge to see if her little boy was okay. Eriv had fallen in Hek's face as he'd held onto the side of the couch, and having the plushie full of pebbles fall down on him made him stumble backwards a bit before falling down on his bottom, with Eriv rolling off his face and onto his lap. The boys arms hung idly at his sides, with his body slouching forward as a slightly pained expression formed on his face.

Kelvi lifted herself up all the way now, turning to face Heksis as the painful look on his face grew. 'Oh dear...' She instantly thought as she saw the look on his face. Poor little Heksis. How had he gotten out of his crib? His upper left hand lifted up to his forehead, pressing the hand against his head.

"It's okay. Aww you poor baby. It's okay. It's okay..." She cooed, speaking to him in her baby voice as the pained expression started to fade away. And as soon as it did, what Heksis did surprised her. The pained expression faded completely, and his eyes twitched slightly. Then, her little boy burst into laughter, falling on his back as he laughed maniacally at his own misfortune. The noise of his laughs brought her out of her short pause, with her mandibles slowly pressing against each other in a smile. The laughing was a gentle and chirpy "Jah", repeatedly exhaled from the pup over and over like the sweet symphony of a song on the radio. It was precious to her. Her boy laughed at his misfortune. Everything was amusing to him. Even his own bad luck. The yuzka was still lying in front of him, laying on its weaved belly and looking toward Hek as his laughs weakened.

"You're a funny one aren't you?" Kelvi said, speaking like she normally would instead of in her gentle calming cooing voice.

Hek started to cease his laughter now, getting over the funny little mistake he'd made and lifting his head forward again, still sitting down on the cold floor.

"I woke you up momma. Eriv put you to sleep so he could sleep on the couch without you stopping him! He's a bad 'uzka!" Heksis exclaimed, struggling to pronounce Yuzka correctly at the end. 'Eriv?' she immediately thought, confused about who he was talking about. He looked down at Hek's eyes and saw how they were looking at the plushie in front of him. Ah yes. Eriv. How he had produced such a name she did not know. And Heksis seemed to believe that the plushie was magically or something. And that it had put her to sleep so it could sleep on the couch without her stopping him.

"Ahhh...I see." She said, pretending to take a few seconds longer to understand Hek. "Yes he must be a very bad Yuzka. But you woke me up so it's okay now. I'll make sure to keep him with you so he won't get in anymore trouble."

Hek simply gave her a quick nod of agreement as he began to try to lift himself up onto his feet, walking forward toward her as soon as he was on two legs. He reached the edge of the couch and she quickly lifted him up by his shoulders, setting him down on her lap with one of her lower arms around him just to be sure that he wouldn't fall off or anything.

"How did you get out of your room?" Mother asked him, letting him lean against her.

"I climbed to the top and back down Mommy." The boy said simply, with Kelvi putting the pieces together quickly and setting an image in her mind of him climbing up the bars, lifting the screen top, and then climbing back down. Heh. Carrying that plushie around had certainly given him some muscles.

"Good job little one." She said plainly, making sure she didn't speak in a rewarding voice, or in a disappointed voice. A plan immediately came to mind for how she'd be able to keep the toddler in his crib. She knew he wouldn't be a toddler for much longer, eliksni grew pretty quickly when they were young. But until then she had an idea.

"How about I keep Eriv in your crib every time you sleep in it, so he won't be able to escape. He isn't as good of a climber as you are buddy." Yes. That would do it. Heksis wouldn't leave the crib because he didn't want Eriv to escape from his room. As for the belief that the fake Yuzka was magical or something...she assumed it was simply inspired by the books she'd read to him.

"What are you gonna do to him now though Mommy?" He asked curiously.

"I'm gonna give him a little warning. He understands what he did was wrong." She mumbled, not really in the mood to 'punish' an inanimate object.

"Okay Mommy." He said, still leaning against her. A small growl came from his stomach, gentle but loud enough for her ears to detect it.

"Are you hungry?" She asked. He nodded in response.

"Okay. Let me go fix something up for you. Maybe some sweet dough. I'll show you how to make it," she said, with a happy look forming on the boys face. Back to work.

Time flew by like the wind blew through the mountains.

Fast, uncontrolled, and unplanned.

Heksis had finished up his meal and both of them had decided to go outside for a little bit. It was spring now, and the aviasni migrate to the valleys and the fields beyond the mountain range. It was summer after all. The plants were beginning to sprout. The smaller animals were awakening from their slumber. Why would they stay here in the mountains? There was more food for the beasts elsewhere. Yes, the aviasni were gone, and that opened up a great opportunity to allow Heksis to play outside again. The snow was still present. But it wasn't as thick as it was before. Hek would be able to walk through it without sinking deep into the snow. Kelvi had given him a few minutes after he'd devoured all of the sweet dough she'd given him, she didn't want him to get sick or something. Once he'd had enough time she walked back over to the table, looking over at the end of the table, where Heksis had been set down in the chair, sitting on a couple of pillows which elevated him enough for his head to be above the edge of the table. In front of him was a small square shaped white plate, with small brownish orange markings around the edges, there were four in total in the middle of each side. They were the symbols of the makers of the fine piece of ceramic.

In the middle of the plate there were a dozen or so sugary crumbs, all from the sweet dough she'd given him. And as expected, he had inhaled them all, probably not even bothering to enjoy the taste like she would've. His mandibles were covered in pieces of the light brown dough, with most of the little pieces lodged between the small shark like teeth.

Their eyes met, but his shined brighter than hers. Some eliksni had brighter eyes than others. The look he gave was adorable to her, all large blue spectral eyes staring at her with unending curiosity. The eyes themselves were large compared to the size of his head, and they seemed to 'pop' out, giving him a very goggly appearance. But they weren't popping out, a small movement of the head to look at Heksis from another angle confirmed it. His eyes certainly did have a luminous glow to them, like four blue stars.

"You enjoy that dough?" She cooed, getting only two rapid nods from the whelp, who was running his tongue around the mandibles to clean them.

"All your gonna give me is a nod? I need more specifics." She said, pretending to sound annoyed.

Hek pulled his tongue back and a gentle croak came from his throats as he prepared to speak.

"It tastes sweeter than it was last time." The boy muttered, his voice muffled slightly since his tongue had already gone back to cleaning his mandibles.

"I added a lil more sugar to it. You like it?" Adding more sugar would definitively mean he'd be getting less sweet dough in the long run. But there was no need to tell him of this. He wouldn't understand it anyways.

Hek gave another nod of agreement, still cleaning out the remaining pieces of sweet dough from his teeth, making little grunting noises as he did. Yeah, he definitely preferred having more sugar added to his treats.

She gave him about half a minute to clean all the remaining pieces out. He blinked twice rapidly, four eyes squinting slightly and his mandibles spreading out to the sides slightly as he inhaled deeply. He breathed in deeply one more time before he let out a loud squeaky sneeze, wildly shaking his head as he did, with saliva and crumbs flying forward onto his plate. He hadn't exactly mastered the concept of proper eating yet. She'd teach him soon though. She planned to take him outside and let him play around for awhile.

"You wanna go outside buddy?" She asked him, with the whelp giving her another nod of approval once again. She had an idea for where she would take him. There was a small cave nearby, on the side of a small rocky hill. Close by, right near the edge of the mountain. But she didn't need to worry about him falling off, she'd watch him the whole time. But once they got into the cave they'd be perfectly safe, and Heksis would be able to play around all he wanted to. He'd still need to be careful though. As hard as his eliksni bones were, he was still but a child. And he wasn't invincible by any means whatsoever. She and Yaviks had gone to the cave before in the past to hang out together. They'd had a little honeymoon together in the cave the last time they'd been together. She tried her best to not let the memory affect her negatively. Heksis would be able to tell if she was sad. Yaviks had never taken this long before, and she admitted that she had started to worry about her beloved. Sometimes she'd stare at the ceiling in her bed at night and just wonder. Where was her beloved? Still, she remained faithful, putting up signs for him and asking every traveling merchant she met if they'd seen Yaviks.

Kelvi had zoned out slightly, staring at the wall behind Heksis for a few seconds as Heksis stared at her curiously before speaking up. Her eyes still stared at the wall as he began to speak.

"Momma? What are you doing?" He asked in a confused tone, the thin mane around his neck puffing out slightly. She shook her head slightly, blinking a few times before looking back down at him and pressing her mandibles together in a smile. He immediately responded by trying to make a similar expression, copying her as best as he could. The "smile" an eliksni made was simply done by pressing both pairs of mandibles against each other.

Heksis tried his best to copy it, spreading his mandibles out slightly before tucking them back. Both of his pairs of mandibles pressed against each other which created the illusion of cheeks. He pressed them against each other, but failed when the left mandible brushed over the other, which produced a crooked but cute smile. The boy did his best to copy her, which was all she asked from him. He still stared at her curiously as she answered him, with that adorable crooked smile still on his face.

"Oh. Just thinking about things Heksis." Mommy replied, leaning forward slightly, which Heksis assumed was her getting ready to pick him up. He grunted out a gentle "Orrrrff" from his throat as he eagerly lifted his upper arms up above his head ready to be picked up. He was ready to get out of this seat and off of these pillows. The adult granted his request, leaning forward more and grabbing his hands with her lower arms, lifting him up close to her head and putting his head on her top right shoulder and giving him a warm and loving hug. She brought her upper left arm up to his back as her lower arms held Hek's body against her tighter. She began to give his back some gentle pats and he felt a gentle growl come from his stomach as he let out a muffled burp. He couldn't help but purr slightly as she finished patting him on the back, the feeling of his mothers body's heat relaxing him. The feeling he'd had while she'd pat his back was strange, and he was relieved that she'd stopped. He couldn't help but to close his eyes slightly, enjoying the body heat his mother was sharing with him.

Kelvi felt a small amount of satisfaction as she held him against her. Before the eliksni had really started to settle down, the eliksni were nothing but a bunch of nomadic tribes, traveling the planet. She imagined what that would be like. Moving all the time. Always going to new places, seeing new things. Before the Great Machine came and blessed the eliksni with its gifts, she would've needed to follow behind the other members of the group, holding Heksis against her to protect him from the cold. It felt natural. But she didn't want Heksis to fall asleep yet. Not yet. She wanted to take him to the cave so he could explore, there were bound to be a few animals or plants inside the cave that Heksis would be able to see and ask about. She decided to ask him if he was interested. But he needed to promise her something.

"Would you like to go outside? I know one place you would love to see. But you have to make me a promise." Momma said calmly into his ear, which made him cease his relaxed purring and open his eyes up slightly in surprise.

"What is it?" He asked, all eyes fully open now. Explore? Outside? Fun!

"Promise me that you won't touch anything? Without my permission? I wouldn't let anything ever happen to you but I don't want you to find something that you've never seen and then decide to stuff it in your mouth. You need to be responsible. Can you do that?" She asked, her soft voice sounding serious all of a sudden. Hearing her speak like that concerned him slightly, but the chance to go outside was one that he'd do anything for! He wouldn't eat anything! Or touch anything! Unless she gave him permission!

"Yes Ma'am." He said as he gave her a small nod, doing his best to contain his excitement. But Kelvi could tell that he was excited to go outside. He hadn't gone outside in awhile.

"Alrighty then buddy. Let's get going. It's just a short walk from here Heksis." She said, letting go of him with her upper arms with her lower ones grabbing him by the waist and setting him down. He was getting bigger, about 3 steps tall now. She turned toward the door, feeling a soft, small three fingered hand reach up and hold her bottom left hand, which had been hanging at her side. She smiled.

It hasn't taken long for them to get to the cave that she'd told Heksis about. The snow was thin, but still made a distinctive crunch as she walked. Hek's footsteps were silent, with his weight probably making her light as a feather compared to her. They walked around a tall grey rock as Kelvi did her best to remember where the caves location was. The tall rock was a landmark, the cave should be right behind it. And of course, she was correct, the entrance to the cave immediately came into view in the same place she had remembered it to be. The entrance was a small rectangle shaped hole, just big enough for her to fit through. It wasn't exactly a perfect fit, and she'd need to pull herself through to enter. But the inside was the only thing that really mattered to her. The inside of the cave had plenty of space. She stepped forward to look inside, but Heksis stopped her when he tugged on her arm.

Heksis hadn't really enjoyed the trip to the cave as much as he thought he would. But his mother hadn't offered to carry him to the cave, so maybe she just didn't want him to be left out or something. Yes, that was the only answer he could come up with. Maybe because she needed her arms free or something. Either way, he'd been at her side the whole time, holding onto her hand as his eyes examined everything that they saw. He gazed to his left, spotting a single purple sphere far off in the distance, and immediately he held onto her hand tighter and gave it a light tug to get her attention. Whatever he saw was flying toward them. Heksis quickly assumed it was a servitor, just like the ones Kelvi had told him about in her stories, a large mechanical sphere. She'd told him that they were wise machines, built by the Great Machine to watch over eliksnios. She said she'd only spoken to a servitor once in her lifetime, aboard a ship she'd taken to visit the Great Machine herself. Momma said it had been very helpful with navigation and advice. But, whatever the purple sphere flying towards them was, a thin trail of purple energy was streaking behind it. Certainly it was a servitor, Kelvi had told him that they all had one purple eye in the center.

"Mommy? What is that?" He asked, giving another tug at her hand which finally made her turn to the left to see the strange object. A look of dread appeared on her face, immediately assuming it was a danger of some kind. The sphere zoomed toward them, in about half a minute it would be here. Whatever it was. Kelvi couldn't help but feel defensive, and her hand tightened on her sons hand.

"It's a servitor mommy! Remember? Like the one you told me about!" He said reassuringly, obviously unaware of the possibility of it being a threat. He believed she'd forgotten. Her head swiveled to the right again, seeing the small crevice. Just big enough for Heksis to fit through. Her feet began to move forward before she even thought about putting Heksis inside the cave. Her steps were long compared to Hek's, especially since she was rushing toward the crevice with Heksis hanging onto her hand as his feet were dragged through the snow as he tried to keep up.

'What is she doing?' The boy immediately thought as he followed her through the thin snow as best as he could. They quickly reached it, and Kelvi quickly picked him up by grabbing his upper arms and lifting him up so he was in front of her, he couldn't help but to giggle slightly as she lifted him up, thinking that it was her playing with him. She brought him up to the crevice and set him down inside the cave, but since she was rushed, she'd set him down on an uneven surface, and soon as he tried to turn around to look around in the cave he slipped and fell on his back with a gentle thump. He heard her gasp with surprise, but she made no effort to help him. She then turned around and swiveled her head back toward the cave. Their eyes met. Heksis huffed out a gentle cough as she spoke to him

"Heksis. Listen to me." She said in the most serious voice he had ever heard as she stared into his soul. What was wrong with her? She sounded scared. He couldn't help but to begin to feel scared as well.

"What's wrong?" He asked in his childish way. His face was worried now, if mommy was scared he was scared because he didn't want mommy to be scared. No one should be scared.

"Heksiss...My light." She said in a calm voice to him, her voice still infected with fear.

"Stay right here. Don't move from this spot. I'll be back soon." She said, quickly worrying that she'd never see him again. No. She would. He'll be fine.

"Mommy?" Heksis could see the small purple light traveling toward them now from behind mommy. The hints of fear may have been infesting his mind but even that was not enough to shake off the child's curiosity. Was it a servitor? It must be! What else was purple and could float wherever it pleased? He leaned to the side to glance out of the cave just a little bit, and he saw nothing but a ball of swirling, purple energy. The ball was not encased inside of a metal sphere.

"M-" He tried to warn as the axion dart flew forward toward them, landing right behind Kelvi and then exploding. The flash of purple light blinded Heksis as he felt a loud crack above him and below him. The stone beneath his feet cracked collapsed from the explosion, and he was only able to let out a gentle squawk of surprise as gravity pulled him down, the roof of the cave collapsing down on the place he had been standing just a few seconds before. He fell for what felt like a millisecond, and as his yelling ceased he landed, hitting the back of his head on a rock behind him, knocking him out in an instant as the shattered pieces of the roof fell down on him. Darkness took him. And he was too weak to object.

Message From The Author: A thousand thank yous for all the wonderful support! And an honorable mention to SurefireReadingFF for checking my grammar and etc. Continue to send ideas to me by messaging me, or by including it in the review! Until the next chapter!