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A void: The Edge
21. Growth and growths

21. Growth and growths

It's perfectly normal to have rain. Good for the plants, good for the ground and such. Usually, rain isn't made out of liquified void, though. Nonetheless, the black rain that descends upon the grassy hills is very good for the plant life, specifically in that it's bringing to life more than just the single species of grass that covers these hills.

As drops land and take their shapes, slowly the hills become colorful. Blackness transitions to reds, yellows, blues, sometimes tinting the grass into another species, sometimes in the form of small flowers among the grass. But that's not all; Some of these drops are a bit more proactive, building up larger congregations to form plantlife of similar size; The beginnings of a tree here, a small bush there. Life flourishes.

A small flowered hillside with a number of trees dotted along it is built -and that is the right word for this, built- within just a few minutes. Weathered trees as if they've been there for your, overgrown bark with vines crawling up. Luscious plump fruits scattered among branches of trees and bushes.

And still the rain continues. But it doesn't quite reach the ground anymore. No, no instead it stops just above it, evaporating into thin air. Something you wouldn't notice at first unless you had similar senses as one such as me. But quickly this invisible cut-off gets higher and higher off the ground, as if it's filling a container in the exact size of this strip of land.

That is all to say that the power of the Blackvoid is immense. Both its effect on life and in making something out of nothing.

A similar observation is soon to occur back on the whitestone arc. After becoming painfully aware (in the form of some mild hunger and thirst) that food and drink are now necessary, the conversation has shifted to where that food would come from. In a lull of the discussion about how to get sustenance, Recluse asks a question pertaining to a notable change in Knight.

To be specific:

"Say, have you always had scales? Or is that a thing from this place?" Pointing at the knight's arms.

Knight is confused at first, until she looks down to find iron scales in the various spots the blood of the creatures had touched.

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"Of fucking course. So, what do I have?" Shepherd is more exasperated-angry than the fury she's used to. Not that Knight really notices because she has her own shit to deal with.

The background noise of Shepherd discovering his new sun-styled tattoos is just that, background noise. Knight stares at the scaled patches on her arms, letting her emotions run rampant, yet contained inside, as she calmly breathes. She gently touches the surface of the scales, feeling the rough texture, before settling on one of the smaller scales. She grits her teeth as she yanks the scale out leaving a tiny hole that slowly fills with blood.

She stares at the scale in her hand for a moment before putting it between her teeth and biting on it. After the hardness test she resumes staring at it, sunk in thought.

"Are you alright, Knight?" Recluse asks with a concerned look, feeling slightly guilty about pointing out her mutation.

Knight successfully hides the way this violation of her bodily autonomy got to her. She can feel the tears about to flow but manages not to let them loose. She speaks as if all is normal.

"I'm not going to lie, I'm not a fan of this." She sighs as she stands up, looking over the rest of her body for more patches. "That being said, these do give some protection." She shrugs.

"Right…" Recluse decides not to pry, it's not his place, not yet at least.

Refugee, in the meantime, has managed to successfully persuade Shepherd that the tattoos look good on him. They do look good on him in fact, even the warpaint like faint-lined tattoos on his face. This, of course, does not change the fact that Shepherd has had some more fuel thrown on the fire in regards to his hatred for this world.

Which remains unfortunate as he is very much stuck in here.

"So uh, shouldn't there be more people?" Refugee wonders asking the group at large.

Both Recluse and Knight clue in on it when he asks that question. "Ah, because of the two other areas?"

Shepherd is on board now too.

"There was a lot of commotion and running. It's no wonder we missed them, if they've arrived already." Knight looks down at Valwen, who staunchly remains unconscious, despite her wishes.

"You guys have no weaponry with you, do you? Right, that's fair… Fuck." Knight thinks for a moment. She bites her thumb as she considers the options, eventually settling on her going to look for the other new people.

"Alright, this is what we're going to do. You guys are going to stay here and I a- All of you, get behind me! Hand me your crook."

It is at this point that Knight sees the enormous spider approaching.