John was hungry, a feeling quite familiar to him. In fact he imagined almost everyone had experienced it at some point during the Great Famine, except for perhaps people like Cobalt. Then it was more common to find those starving to death than not, when the sun failed to shine for well over a year and the storehouses dwindled as clouds of equally desperate vermin blotted out the skies in their search to strip what little was even left, it was inevitable that even the most basic of needs would be out of reach for so many. But this, this felt like something else, he thought, as he slid a few dried berries beneath his mask and chewed.

Absent mindedly while his mouth was filled he breathed through his gills and felt a distinct burning deep within his lungs. It wasn’t anything close to what he had experienced when they had first breached the surface, something about the design of Gorekin’s den and the clearing they were in meant the concentration of spores in the air were reduced to merely uncomfortable rather than debilitating. But it made him rather conscious of just how much his body had changed, his very instincts altering to adjust for the perpetually slime coated slits that rested on his lower neck as though he had always had them. He did not remember much of that night, but Magni had said he split open like some overripe fruit, strange things bursting out of him as he ascended to the Mutant Realm. He still bore the scars of that time but thankfully had not a single inkling of repeating that incident as of yet. But among all his mutations, he could not think of a single one that would have resulted in that… nightmare. Usually he tried to put it out of his mind, especially since his lapse in control cost someone the focus they may have needed to save their life, but what if his new weird sense of hunger was from the same thing?

No, surely he was just overthinking. That’s right, he probably just needed something more substantial than dried meats and berries. His stomach growled again, and he turned to Cobalt.

“Do you think we can cook anything in here?” He asked.

Cobalt pondered as she looked at the piles of artefacts Gorekin had hoarded. “Well, all we would need is a fire I suppose. Only problem is there are still too many spores in the air. What if they ignite?”

“That’s fair enough...” He sighed. Oh well, it was worth a shot.

“Unless…” Cobalt trailed off, as she grabbed a small pot and placed it between her legs. Taking out a canteen of water from their mostly soaked remaining rations she poured a good amount in and some of the dried food Gorekin had for them. Extending her claws she started to carve, intricate patterns and shapes John recognised as a formation. “I am not a psychic expert, and I can’t channel anything of any real complexity. But heat is just another form of radiation, and converting Si into other forms of radiation is an elementary enough concept that I know what to carve for it. I could channel directly into the water to heat it up, and if things get to hot I could simply stop feeding it power!”

“Have you done this before?” John asked.

“I haven’t but Aunt Cinnabar did it once when I-” Cobalt trailed off, growing silent as painful memories re-emerged. John wanted to say something to comfort her, but words failed in his mouth. And besides, how could he when the pain of loss was so raw for himself? So in lieu of words he scuttled over closer to her and sat in silence besides her as she cradled the pot.

“You know, I don’t know if I ever told you the reason why I freaked out so hard… that day…” Cobalt said out of nowhere.

“You had a lot of reasons to freak out. I didn’t suppose it mattered.” John noted, his memories of that time were truthfully a bit hazy. Between burning out his nerves again and being controlled by ARTOS for who knows how long.

It was hard to gauge Cobalt’s exact expression with the mask on, but he could easily tell by her posture that something was weighing bad on her. Muscles tensed like she was expecting to either bolt or fight any given second. Yet nonetheless she continued. “My father, he’s a cannibal. He has a mutation that lets him process Si much more effectively via his gut than anywhere else, and in turn the best source of Si for processing is in a human Dantian… I inherited that trait even from birth. It was what ultimately proved my heritage beyond a shadow of a doubt.”

“I had heard rumours but… I assumed they were exaggerated.” John answered. Cannibalism was a strange thing, during the Age of Ash many were driven to it either through desperation or depravity. From the sacred rite of the Sword Saint and her crew of rebels to the horrific savages that haunted the wastes before being driven to the brink by the revival of a civilised age. Nothing changes the fact however it was an instinctively disturbing prospect to even consider.

Cobalt nodded slowly, shamefully. “People don’t usually talk. Why would they. It was always the barbarians getting eaten…” She gave a weak chuckle, sighed and went silent for a moment before continuing. “Once I thought he was weak for giving in so easily to the allure of power. But when things went to shit, I ate someone. I kracking ate someone and I loved it. It was… addictive… even now I remember the taste and I don’t want to gag… I want more…”

John was honestly not sure how to respond to that. But he didn’t move away, a part of him was a little unsettled. A bigger part could recognise when a friend needed someone by her side.

Rats that stick together survive together, after all.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“You really take things in stride way too much.” Cobalt finally said with a weak laugh. “Are you not the least bit afraid? Perhaps the brain damage was worse than I imagined.”

“I… I won’t lie, that is a bit disturbing.” He responded. “Bomb me… it explains quite a lot though. I can only say in the same situation I don’t know if I would be as strong as you were. To be honest Cobalt, you are really strong, for a while you basically defined what strong meant to me. You may not remember it, but I was the rat who handed you that Spirit Metal ingot a few years ago outside that nameless ruin. And while I have gotten to know you better, I have never once felt a reason not to trust you.”

Cobalt scoffed then fell silent, continuing with a whisper. “Fool… thank you John…”

“Don’t mention it, please.” He insisted.

Cobalt nodded and took her focus back onto the pot in front of her. With a breath in and out he could feel her channel her Si, warmth radiating out of her core as she made the runes glow. Bubbles began to form in the water as it was brought to an unnaturally fast boil, and within a few minutes a layer of steam filled the cave. This continued for perhaps half an hour until Cobalt motioned for John to test it, which he obliged to do by morphing his fingers into a blade-like shape and poking at one of the bits of meat. With only a little effort the bladed finger went in, a vast improvement compared to the earlier leathery strips of sun-dried meat. He tried to ignore how a small amount of water that touched the ring seemed to get sucked in, he would figure out what happens when liquids get inside after he actually figures out how to use it.

“It’s done.” He said simply.

Cobalt nodded and took her hands off the pot, the runes instantly losing their glow. Rummaging through some of Gorekin’s stash of human stuff she found two bowls and a couple slightly rusty spoons, and started separating out portions of the makeshift stew for each of them. John was glad his sense of smell was presently being blocked out by the mask he had to wear, the ‘meal’ certainly did not look appetising with its unique mix of uncomfortable chunkiness and weird wateriness. Still, beggars couldn’t be choosers he supposed.

Lifting the bottom portion of his mask, enduring the slight stinging at the back of his throat whenever he breathed in, he took a bite. It was actually a lot better than he imagined, he didn’t know what but it clearly hit the spot. The itch at the back of his mind nearly instantly feeling soothed as he mindlessly chewed.

“Hello human cubs! Ah! I see you made a human meal!” Gorekin suddenly made his presence known, lumbering into his den while the two of them were distracted.

“Oh we uh… we decided we would try to experiment with the rations… while your food is good we tend to prefer it cooked.” Cobalt tried to justify.

“I heard of that! Many human tribe use fire to make food! Small stomach cannot do raw meat! But you no fire here? How?” Gorekin asked, evidently puzzled.

“I made an um… small formation that heats water by converting my Si into heat.” Cobalt answered.

“Very interesting!” Gorekin said, before he turned to John. “Was not aware too human eat metal too! Learn new every day!”

“Eat metal? What do you-” Cobalt asked before she looked incredulously in John’s direction. Sensing something was awry he took the spoon out of his mouth… and noticed the entire head of it was chewed clean off. Presumably swallowed.

“Ah.” He said awkwardly. “I um… sorry?”

“It alright! No have use for that anyway, was figure out! Now know! Much useful!” Gorekin waved aside John’s concerns.

“So how did the uh, your meeting go?” Cobalt asked.

Gorekin’s eternally joyful expression soured somewhat at that. “They no trust you. Barely accept trade as is. Human no trustworthy. Human kill selves and each other too much.”

“Hey! Is that how you think of us!” John piped up, suddenly offended on behalf of his species.

Gorekin quickly defended himself. “Not me! But many Forest Kin remember the burning! World lit on fire by human war! Elders of elders remember!”

“Regardless, what happened?” Cobalt asked, the voice of reason as ever.

“Well, they no trust you keep secrets. Barely trust old human tribes at forest border. If you go back to Empire tribe, they afraid you talk too much. Make bad human learn of us.” Gorekin said.

“So, they don’t want us to leave then?” Cobalt picked up.

“Not unless someone make sure you safe. I vo- vol- volunteer. I go with you, to human land, when tribe go migrate North to Autumn fishing grounds.” Gorekin said solemnly.

“Wait, you would go with us? Leave your tribe?” John asked. “Why?”

“Many reason. Always want learn more about human. You so interesting, many thing not like us, many thing to learn.” Gorekin started explaining. “More than that, you are cubs, you say not but you still small. Too much to grow, not right to treat you like they say. Not right to not help.”

“Gorekin… I don’t know what to say…” Cobalt trailed off.

“No need say anything!” Gorekin said with a huge smile. “This chose by me! This my want! You no make the decision!”

“So, how long do we stay here for then?” John asked. “I mean, we don’t really know the way out. And I imagine you need time to get ready for such a big change.”

“Forest Kin move all time! No stay one place like human tribe! Always travel territory! No trouble move!” Gorekin explained. “Give three day, then ready. In meantime, I learn much from you, do you want learn from us?”

“Well, I can’t see why not.” John replied, chewing absentmindedly through the other half of his spoon.

He scratched the edge of his neck and felt something cold and hard there… he could have sworn ARTOS did not travel so far up his arm.