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Scarlet

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Everyone quietly sits in a carriage that slowly bounces on the road. We just left the capital after Father left the king a report warning of the strange kidnapper from last night. He also gave me a quick rundown on what happened.

The soft thumping of the bullgrub pulling the carriage relaxes me. Hack licks my face for the third time to keep me awake. Damn thing, just let me nap. Father sits next to me, leaning against the wall. The older man quietly snores in his sleep. I’m glad he’s getting rest, he probably didn’t sleep at all last night.

Zenith sits across from me on the other cushioned bench. They are huddled together, almost defensively. Hugging themselves tightly, they occasionally look at me or Father.

This is so goddamn boring, why do I have to be awake for this? I’m not even in my body! Such trash nonsense. Coil’s rant whines in my mind like a pick to the brain.

Having your own body wouldn’t improve much, you moron.

Well, Father is sleeping, and Zenith is in their little cuddle fort over there. So if I was in my body, I’d probably just entertain myself by mas-

My sibling’s internal rambling is cut off, along with all sound. Looking down, I see the ground rushing past through a newly formed gap between the two seats. Before I can do anything, the carriage splits into two.

Momentum carries the two halves of the vehicle, making them tumble. As I spin along with the chaotic mess of wood and metal, I occasionally see glimpses of the bullgrub pulling the carriage. The poor creature has received the same treatment as the carriage, having several clean vertical cuts through its body. For such a violent scene, it’s so quiet.

A sharp pain on the back of my head makes my world go black.

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My eyes snap open, showing me a ceiling of rough stone. Sitting up, I look around quickly. The space I’m in is a natural cave, with water dripping from the ceiling in several places. I’ve been laying on a bed of wreckage from the crash, a small bed made of broken wood. Checking myself over, I feel a horrific pain whenever attempting to move my leg. That’s broken for sure… dammit.

Nervous because of my situation, I look for any plant life growing somewhere in the damp cavern. No luck, only stone and water. There’s not enough light in here for plants, I guess. The only plant-matter anywhere near me is the splintered and crushed boards from the carriage under me.

I lean forward to check my leg and feel a small tap on my chest. A small necklace falls forward from under my hair. The unfamiliar jewelry looks like it’s made of braided wood and a small acorn hangs from it. Touching the acorn, I feel a slight warmth from the wooden surface.

My investigation is stopped as I hear clicking sounds approaching. I quickly lay down, pretending to still be asleep. My acting pays off as two creatures emerge from an adjacent tunnel.

The creatures are about the size of a grown man sitting. They’re truly bizarre, having no discernible head. Their bodies are large ovoid glowing shells, with tendrils emerging from several holes in them. The stonelike shells are covered in unused holes. Both creatures are making erratic clicking sounds at each other. Whenever the creatures make one of those sounds their shells pulse with light, tinted by the color of their shells.

Silence falls on the room as the two things pause in front of me. They eventually meander away, returning to their clicking. Light fills the chamber each time one of their shells flash.

Several hours pass with nothing happening. The creatures continue to make sounds at one another. After listening to them for so long I notice some definite patterns. Seems like they're speaking to each other. They stop when my stomach lets out a loud growl. I hold my breath, hoping they ignore it.

Of course my luck isn’t that good. I hear them start moving towards me, occasionally clicking at each other. Through my eyelashes I can barely make out their shapes. They go quiet again, and I see one of them slowly move a tentacle towards my face. I try to not react, but once the appendage gets within a finger width of my face I sit up.

My sudden movement causes the one creature to let out a shrill whine. The other creature retracts its limb slowly, ignoring its comrade who’s fallen backwards in fear. Calmly, the creature clicks to its panicked friend. I watch as the shell on the floor stops rolling, limbs slowly re-emerging from it. The calmer of the duo raises its one tendril into the air, and then quickly wiggles the tip back and forth.

I stare at the odd gesture, unsure of what it means. The creature seems determined to get my understanding, and keeps doing it. Eventually it clicks and I can’t help but laugh at the clumsy attempt at a wave. My laughter scares the meeker creature back into its shell while the braver of the two just freezes. I slowly raise my hand and wave to them. The friendlier creature smacks two tentacles together, eagerly mimicking a clap.

No longer afraid of these strange two, I reach out my hand. “Hello there. I’m Scarlet, nice to meet you.” I continue to hold my hand out as the forward one slowly moves a limb towards mine. Eventually it wraps its tentacle around my hand and gently shakes it. I hold my hand out to the other creature, but it refuses to emerge from its shell.

The brave creature gets my attention with a wave. Once I’m looking at it, it makes a clicking sound. Confused, I continue to watch it. The creature points at its shell and then makes the sound again. It’s telling me its name. I give it a nod, eliciting another clap from it.

Stolen novel; please report.

It then points at its hiding friend, making another clicking sound. The new sound is identical to the last one.

I give the creature a frown. “I can’t hear a difference, I’m sorry.” My words make the being pause, before it begins pointing at itself again. This time when the creature clicks, it also flashes in a deep green color. Not knowing what else to do, I call out the color. “Emerald?”

The creature claps estatically. I guess it can understand me, but not the other way around. How annoying. Emerald points at their friend, attempting to tell me their name. This time the shelled being flashes a deep blue. I tilt my head. “Sapphire?”

They don’t clap this time, so I assume I got it wrong. Continuing to guess its name, I fire off words. I pause after each name, giving Emerald a chance to respond. “Blue, Water, Ice, Sky, Ocean, Sea.” The smaller being claps happily at my last guess. “So you’re Emerald, and they’re Sea?” They clap again at my words. After a moment they point at me, making a new clicking sound. The sound is also identical to the others, but Emerald flashes a deep red this time. I smile at them. “Is that me?” Emerald spins in place while clapping, very proud of themselves.

As Emerald and I had our little exchange, Sea slowly emerged from their shell. I give them a small wave, and they give me an even smaller wave back. Pain flares in my leg, reminding me of my situation.

I look at the two creatures, deciding to trust them some. “Did you see any other people like me? Our carriage crashed and I have to find them.” The duo start rapidly clicking and flashing at each other. Eventually the sounds stop, and Emerald waves for me to follow them.

“I can’t, my leg is broken.” I point at my leg, hoping they understand the concept of bones. Surprisingly Sea is the one that moves towards my leg, reaching out a limb. They run their tendril over the broken leg so softly I can’t even feel them. After a moment a cool goo seeps out of their appendage. I keep calm for a moment, hoping my trust isn’t misplaced.

After a minute the goo has hardened, wrapping itself around the broken limb. The substance hardens into something resembling Sea’s shell. Emerald helps me up so I can try putting weight on the leg. Pain shoots up my leg again.

I fall over and am saved by Emerald wrapping their limbs around my waist. Before I can panic, they lift me up gently, and place me on their shell. Their one limb releases me while the other remains around my waist, keeping me steady on their back. The two creatures start making their way out of the cave, my injured self in tow.

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The scene outside the cave is surreal. I see parts of the carriage crushed and twisted all over the road. The bullgrub’s corpse is lying on the road, large bites taken out of it. My body feels cold as I look at the carnage strewn around the crash site.

Emerald’s limb pats my shoulder softly, calming me some. Taking a closer look at the debris, I notice a tree growing out of some boards from the carriage door. The tree has a large alcove under it, its roots hiding the space from the road. Scrape marks lead from the tree to the cave I just exited. The tree hid me, how did it know to do that?

I look down at the shelled being carrying me. “Emerald, where did you come from?” A long tentacle slithers its way out of one of the many holes in their shell. The arm hovers over the ground for a moment, before drawing in the dirt.

They draw two lines, probably the road. Next they draw trees near the road, the forest surrounding us. Emerald draws a crude mountain behind the trees, after that they draw a hole in the side of the mountain. After they finish, they tap the hole they just drew.

I give them a nod. “Why are you here if your home is all the way over there?” Their limb moves over, drawing on a new patch of dirt. This time they sketch some kind of large angry looking animal. An arrow indicates that the creature was in the mountain they call home. After I give a nod, the creature rubs a line through the drawn trees from the mountain. They draw an arrow leading from the monster, through the erased trees, leading to the road.

“So, a monster appeared in or near your home. It headed away from there, so you followed it. The monster came across the road and attacked me and my family. Is all that right?” I look down at the shell of my new acquaintance. They give me a soft clap in confirmation.

Adding a small circle near the road, Emerald flashes red. They draw a small hill near the new circle. Lastly they add two more circles on the hill. Tapping each of them they flash green and then blue. They extend a line from the two circles to the red one.

So they saw the attack and came to help when they could. A small stab of anger rises in me. They could’ve saved my family, too. Why did they only get me? I try to control my emotions before I speak to the duo.

“Why did you only save me?” This question causes the two of them to rapidly click and flash. I wait, wondering what they’re talking about. Once the lightshow stops, Emerald starts drawing again.

They add three more circles near the road, along with a large oval. I point at the oval. “Is that the bullgrub?” Small claps from the two of them answer my question. Shifting my finger to the three circles I ask. “These are my family then?” Another round of applause is their only response.

The light green shelled being sketches the beast from before near the oval. Continuing to draw, they add the first thing I don’t understand at all. Between the circle representing me, and the ones that are my family, they start drawing more and more circles. After about thirty circles have cut the Scarlet circle off from the others, Emerald taps the mass of shapes.

They let out a new sound, instead of a click it sounds as if the dead crawled out of the earth. The unholy sound fills my ears, continuing for too long. Finally the damned sound ceases so I can look at Emerald.

“A large group of something horrid showed up?” My question is answered by Sea clapping. Emerald sweeps away the mass of circles, along with the beast and my family. I stare at the dirt for a good while. Many things appeared, and then disappeared with the others, so they took them? “Did the group take the others with them?” Emerald softly claps.

I grab my face in my hands, distraught. “I have no idea what to do, I don’t know where we are. I don’t know what took my family, and I don’t know where they were taken.” A few tears fall from my face onto the dirt drawing, creating small craters. A warm pat touches my back comfortingly. I glance up, expecting Emerald, but am shocked to see the owner of the arm is Sea.

The nervous creature’s limb shakes slightly as they pat my back. I smile at them as well as I can right now. “Thanks, Sea.” My moment of grief is interrupted by Emerald. They smack the dirt near their sketches. They draw a circle around the shape representing me, then an arrow leading to the mountain they drew.

Clicks and flashes erupt from Sea, but for once they get no response. Emerald rises into the air on their tendrils, extending more to the ground. Soon the shelled creature looks more like a headless spider than… whatever they are. Sea follows suit, still clicking frantically.

I feel the limb that has been wrapped around my waist loosen. Panic wells up in my chest. Are they dropping me? Why? Before my panic gets too extreme I feel a new arm wrap around me.

The ground is far below me as I dangle in the air. Sea’s strong tentacle gently places me on their shell. Oh, they’re just giving Emerald a break. Emerald clicks a few times before using their long legs to start running through the woods.

Wind and branches whip past my face as the two shelled beings move faster than I ever imagined they could. I clench my eyes shut, expecting smacks and cuts from the leaves and twigs around me. Soon I realize that none are coming. Cracking an eye open a sliver, I feel my stomach drop. Sea and Emerald are weaving through the branches at an impossible speed. I clamp my eyes shut, feeling the motion sickness coming up.

After a few deep breaths I manage to calm down, and I pretend I’m anywhere else.