Chapter 5
(Authors note: a bit of a longer chapter, but not too bad.)
Neither of them spoke for several hours. Days, possibly. It was difficult to gauge the time in the dream realm. In their prison.
The Wyrm was still sitting, dried tears on his face, which displayed an expression of complete nothingness. He felt empty. Everything he lived for was gone. If only he could gather enough soul… he could conjure up a sword and end it. But he didn't have a kingsoul connection to get transferred any. There really were no more reasons for him to continue living.
The moth, on the other hand, was playing solitaire with a deck of cards she made. One of her goals was to get every possible outcome of a solitaire game. It was hard to keep track, though, so she just played and won over and over.
She had a dreaded question that she'd been meaning to ask. But she didn't know when the time was right. The crybaby wyrm would probably take the question very differently, considering how sensitive he was. Maybe when he calmed down a bit more, would she ask.
His lady had always calmed him down. She would always hug him and rub his back. She was practically his therapist. Now she was gone, leaving him to slowly go insane in this everlasting dream. Did she not believe in him? Did she believe him to be weak? To not be able to rule over Hallownest any longer? Whatever the reason, he was in complete agony.
The moth had little power left. But she still attempted to make her way into the Wyrm's mind, both to see if she could still do it and pure curiosity. She focused… abandoned… too weak… agony… that was all she could get out of it before the Wyrm noticed and turned to look at her.
"What are you doing in my head…" his voice was shaky and weak. It wouldn't be long before another outburst of tears. She didn't want to go through that again, it was dreadful.
"I am going for a fly." She stood up. She needed to clear her own head.
"A what?"
"You have wings yourself. Don't you ever just take a fly?" She didn't do it all the time, but it felt good to be in the air.
"No." He never really used his wings unless he needed to. He never even thought about just "flying for the fun of it". What an interesting concept.
"You're missing out, Wyrm." That was the last thing she said before she took off in the opposite direction he was facing. He wondered if this realm was infinite, or if it just looped around like falling.
Maybe he should try it. He stood up and spread his wings wide, which felt seldom awkward. He walked toward the edge the moth jumped off of and just let his body fall, gliding along the air.
The moth was right. He felt nice and free. Even if he was to be spending eternity here, he just closed his eyes and enjoyed the experience. It wasn't long before he came upon a structure that looked like a gazebo.
The Wyrm landed on top of it. Each direction looked the same. White, yellow, orange. Clouds, mist, color.
"So nice of you to join me, Wyrm." The moth's voice sounded depressed. He jumped down into the gazebo. She was slumped on the floor, looking at the ground. Her eyelids were drooping.
"What is this place?" It was a rather small structure, with four pillars holding up the triangular roof. He then noticed a design of the Radiance on the roof, looking distorted because of the hollowed out triangle.
"This is where I first birthed the moth tribe. They all bathed in my warmth. They dreamt of me, giving me strength. And then when you and your little ego came along, less and less of them remembered me. It weakened me, making an easy put-away for you." Her voice was quieter than usual.
"So, have you never been able to manifest in the physical world?" It would make sense, considering she was made of essence. He truthfully didn't know, despite his mother telling him stories about the moth gods, and the great battle they once had between them and the wyrms.
"I was able to when I was very little. When my parents both died from that battle, I got so scared I trapped myself inside the dream realm. I didn't know what I was doing. It was different than you trapping me here. I was still able to traverse through different dreams, while you put me into one singular dream."
She let out a long sigh. "I wish I was a Wyrm. It is just your nature to lead. Us moths have to work for our praise. Sometimes I sit here and wonder if even one being still remembers me or my failed tribe. I cursed myself to be reborn every time I died as long as I am in the confines of this kingdom." The moth was too scared to admit that it never really was the Wyrm. It was her own mistakes that caused her to create that infection.
This was the moth that had started the infection, overtaking innocent bugs' minds. This defeated, helpless moth. The Wyrm couldn't help but take pity on her. Both of them had lost so much.
The Wyrm walked over and sat down next to her. They could at least enjoy being in each other's company.
"What was your backstory?" The moth attempted to change the subject.
"My what? Backstory?" He didn't have much of one, other than growing up as a Wyrm and rebirthing. "It's not very interesting."
"I'm done talking. It's your turn to speak."
"Ok, um… when Wyrm's mate, the mother actually eats the father, so I never had a father. I had one brother and two sisters. All of them would pick on me for being so small since I was the runt. Our mother always neglected us, and then when we were old enough she kicked us out. I barely remember anything about the kingdom she ruled, except that there were very large bugs that inhabited it." The wyrm shivered at the memories of always losing the play fights against his siblings.
"After we were kicked out of the nest, we all went our separate ways. I haven't seen any of my siblings since. Then while I was traveling, I felt the ground give out beneath my body. And I fell… and fell… and fell… I hit the ground, and I knew I was dying. I was able to use the one rebirth granted to me to survive, but I saw that the bugs around the area were generally very small, so I made sure to reflect that in my reborn body."
There was a small pause before the moth opted in. "I wish I had siblings. I would get lonely since my parents would never be around."
So both of them had a tough time growing up. They had more in common than the Wyrm expected. "Even though it was tough being the smallest, I will admit that it was nice to have other bodies to warm your own at night."
There was a long pause between them. They both looked out on the endless realm. The moth decided to just send it. It was time she asked the question.
"Wyrm, do you have a name?" Oh please let this go well oh please oh please…
"A name? Umh, yes, I chose it when I was rebirthed. Why would you like to know?" The Wyrm wasn't expecting the moth to ever ask him that.
"If we are spending eternity together, I need something else to refer to you as." Ok, it wasn't a no.
The Wyrm was very hesitant to give the moth his real name. He had only told two other people, that being his lady and Hollow. Now he was about to give it to the being that he had hated from the beginning. But it surely could not do any harm now.
"It's… Colin." The moth perked up at the name being finally announced. Colin…
"I like that name. It fits you very well."
Colin decided to reciprocate the question. "Do YOU have a name?"
"Oh gosh, I think I do, but it hasn't been used since… since my parents were alive." She was not expecting Colin to return the question. She searched the very deep parts of her mind for something resembling a name being associated with her. Something that she was referred to thousands of years ago…
There. She remembered. She hadn't been called this since the death of her parents. Would Colin like the name? She hoped he would. Here goes nothing…
"Gabrielle. Gabby." It felt weird saying it. The word had been buried deep within her memory.
What a fine name. That would work for her. Colin showed his approval of the name by scooting closer to her. If only you knew…
He liked the name. Good. You were my enemy… but I cannot go on thinking like that. If only you knew… Gabby wrapped her right wing around Colin as they both embraced the moment of peace, together.
(more shoutouts to MrsLittleTall)
