“No.” Clo hissed throwing her hand forward. The beater slammed into hers palm stopping it just short of the fabric. Her free hand ran over the cloth and she cringed. She could feel the threads of reality preparing to tear. How? It was tight before, but not this bad. Why is it suddenly… There you are.

She felt the loose thread and glared at it. It was the thread they were trying to trim. The boy was a heartbeat from death, and his thread would fall from the fabric in the next stroke. But the fabric was not cooperating.

He is dying. I felt when Kao’s power ended the queen, but her toy is too injured. It cannot live. Clo stared at the thread. Why will you not just die? Atr can see the pattern without you, so why is the loom making room for you?

She adjusted the threads around it, but no matter what she tried, the tension remained. Worse the only way she could fill the gap was with this thread. She stared a the loom. It was as if reality itself rejected his death.

She glared at tapestry. If she struck the fabric, the stress would tear it. She shivered at the thought. I cannot let that happen. But what can I do though? He is finally dead. I cannot just undo everything we worked for.

Clo ignored Atr’s questioning glance as her world narrowed to the fabric in front of her. Slowly she began to nudge the threads again, messaging out any slack she could find. Tiny shifts and nudges of threads created the needed slack. She looked at her work and gently pulled the beater forward, only to stop short again.

WHY?! Her forehead fell into her hands and she stared at the offending thread. Around it she could see the slack removing the impacts of her earlier actions. She could even see that it removed the tension from his actions. But she knew if she brought the beater forward, reality would tear.

Cursing internally, she moved the thread back into place and using the beater set the past firmly in place. Moving quickly she began her work on the next row. It just needed one more row. Atr said this is where he bleeds out.

Again and again she tried to work the thread out of the loom. Yet with every stroke he only seemed to be stabilizing. Why? His thread fell from the loom. He was dying!

Clo glared back at the point where the fabric had refused to let his thread fall. Something pulled on him there. Something powerful kept him in the fabric.

Slowly tracing the thread she saw it being further interwoven in the threads around it. She struggled to understand the forces pulling on the thread, but with every strike of the beater, the force refusing to let him die grew stronger.

“What have you done?!” Atr’s voice cut through her thoughts and brought her attention away from the threads. “Why is he alive? He was dead, I saw him disappear from the pattern, but now he is back.”

Clo stood up quickly knocking over the loom’s bench. Atr’s eyes widened as Clo glared at her, and Lac froze looking worried. Then without saying a word to either sister she stormed out of the room, and in to the hall.

She had just slammed the door behind her, when a voice came from her right caused her to stop.

“We should talk.” Kao’s voice was rough, and Clo turned to see her sister’s cheeks were wet. “You nearly tore the fabric.”

Clo inhaled sharply and rounded on her youngest sister. “How dare you?” the words came out almost as a growl. “Your little creature nearly tore reality.”

“I have no control over his actions, as you know.” Kao met her gaze calmly, “Let us hope no goddess is playing with the threads close to him again, or he might accidentally cause a tear. I wonder what goddess was playing with the threads. Mother will not be pleased with her.”

She sneered, “You cannot threaten to wake Mother every time you do no get your way. You played that card when you got your pet. You will not call her now.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“I never said I would wake her.” Kao placed her hand on her chest affronted, “I was just noting that if you keep moving threads in lands that worship her, you will wake her up. Especially when that thread is completing a task for her.”

Clo’s eyes grew wide, and the pieces fell into place. He was dead, but that does not matter to her. If Mother was not done with him, he would stay. I knew those barbarians were not actually worshiping us, but to think they are still worshiping her! This is not good, what if they wake her up?

For that matter how did I not wake her up? She shot a worried glance at the wall. The door is not there, so she must have slept through it.

“You seem worried Clo,” Kao said, tilting her head to the side.

Clo tune from the wall to glare at her sister again. Why is she smiling?

“Do not worry so much Clo.” Kao’s smile grew wider, “It is not as if he was bore one of her mantles a the time.”

“A mantel?!” Clo choked out, as she tried to determine which of the two he took. “Which mantle?”

Rather than respond Kao turned on her heel and started walking away.

Clo followed after her, “Kao, do not walk away from me. This is as dangerous to us as it is to you! We have to know which mantle he has, to prepare. We cannot let him wake her.”

She reached for her sister’s shoulder only for her hand to pass through where the youngest goddess was standing moments before. “Kao!”

[Shadows]

It...No, SHE not it. The shadow corrected herself. I… another strange concept. I am having more of them recently.

The being pushed the thoughts aside and tried to trace how she came to be where she was. Half remembered glimpses of shadows moving through darkness, and pushing. Pushing was everything, to the shadows. She vaguely felt there was more to the shadows. Did they prey on each other, was there more too it than that, or was I just to small for it to matter? But I do remember that when a chance came to push, every shadow raced to push.

Even now she did not know what they pushed against or how she pushed through it, but it was the defining point for her. Everything was either before, or after she pushed. In the before, there were half remembered flashes of memories and shapes. The after was completely different, they were different.

Not that many would last long. She mentally grimaced at her first moments through. The safety of the darkness was gone, and many others pushed forward around her. They rose racing past her, through the leaves, and into the undark. As they touched it, they ceased to be.

They died. The concept came unbidden to her along with the knowledge that the light destroyed the others. She pushed the intrusive thought away and corrected herself. No, not all of the others. There was one more, and like me it did not move through the leaves into the unda… the light.

She remembered the feeling of living things all around her, but she did not seem drawn to any of them. Not that I was a her back then. I only became female after she disturbed the leaves, and threatened to expose me to the light.

I had not choice. I felt myself being pulled in, and knew I was no alone. The other was also inside, and we knew we had to be the first. The shadow pondered the memory, I did not know that the first to the mind gained control. So why did I race?

She filled the question away with so many others and continued. I lost. The other was first. So I settled near the middle, near the stomach. Then I felt hunger.

Hunger was the first feeling the new shadow experienced, and it became all she was. I demanded food, but was given little. The other was busy with something, so I insisted more. Eventually food came. Then we stopped moving and the changes started. The stomach began to grow and food became more common. Soon there was plenty of food. Eventually, I realized that we were not alone. There were others, and they brought us food.

Then something the shadow did not understand happened. The food became less and we started to move again. The other began to ignore me, so I made us hungrier. Food came, but never enough and we moved more.

The other never responded, but she knew things were not right. New emotions came form the other, sadness, anger, joy, and fear. The shadow remembered the last one the most, because of how quickly joy turned to fear. There was light inside with us. I fled back out into the leaves, as the other disappeared.

The shadow paused to piece together what happened in those moments. I was a bigger shadow and the leaves did not hide me well. The light cut away at me, unmaking any part it touched. I raced to find a new safe place. I was drawn to a figure nearby.

The shadow mentally sneered. It was alive, but also dead. It was not a safe place, so I kept moving.

Then there was light. Even at the memory of the light she shivered. It was hiding behind the other form, and it was worse than all other lights. I rushed to get past it and found a small dark recess, surrounded by the light.

Another thought intruded, and she knew it was a crack. I entered a crack, and hid. Now I am thinking. I know things. I know there is danger to following the cracks up, but also rewards.

The shadow could feel that it was alone and decided that it could bide its time. It would go up eventually, but not before it was strong enough, not before it was ready. I learned much from my first host. I wonder what I will learn from this one?