“We can call her Emerald, due to her green complexion?”

“Emerald… a green gemstone…” I repeat the name suggestion after Frank.

Amethyst…

I was named after a precious stone?

The green Trychid walking before us, seemingly unaware that the conversation concerned her.

If it was as Frank said, the name would suit her well, the dominant green color, something I had grown averse to.

But on her, it looked natural, it suited her.

Maybe it wasn’t as sickly as I thought it was.

But how is it possible?

Our Queen… my mother… had been dominantly purple, like me.

There was only one mother, everyone were children of her.

I knew it to be true, a feeling at the back of my mind, in my veins.

But I don’t remember…

Not even that we can be of different colors...

Emerald didn’t seem familiar either.

Like a total stranger to me, just happening to look alike, be like me.

It was all so dark, so blurry in my mind.

What if I never remember?

Frank is giving me a strange look, I realize never giving him an answer.

“It’s a good name” I say and try to smile.

Name...

Humans have their surnames to link them together, I think that’s right.

I just have one name.

Maybe…

Does us both being named after gemstones make us… family?

Make us cousins, siblings?

That…

That’d be nice...

Raising my heavy head I see other Tyrchids walk around in the forest.

The surroundings growing ever more sparse in foliage, the thicker and bigger trees almost compensating for it.

We pass close by of a group of my kin, a trio of orange ones, all differently patterned with other colors mixed in on their appearance too.

One of them glances our way, his orange eyes like shimmering embers, appear to evaluate us.

His gaze extinguishes quickly, and his head turns away, as if he grew bored of observing us.

Nobody else with him pays us any mind.

Did they really not see us as a threat?

I look down towards Frank walking on my right, his head spins as he looks all around at my colorful kin.

They walk on their paths trampled on the grass, some flying in the sky above. Some nondescript buzzing can be heard, but it was mostly quiet.

Emerald leads us to the main village, an area with extremely thick and numerous trees, their trunks covered in rough, uneven bark of purple and deep crimson.

Rays of the two suns cast strong and layered shadows from the tall trees, landing on the paths crisscrossing between them on the ground.

The grass and foliage had been stomped out, forming these frequently used pathways.

I really was home.

All around me, the forest I lived—grew up in.

Surrounded by my kin, my friends, one big family.

...

Even if I don’t remember any of it.

We enter into the main village area, it could be hard to recognize it apart from the rest of the forest, unless you knew what to look for.

As we close in, few Tyrchids approach Emerald, she says them only one word: food.

They stay close by to us and Emerald goes off to more Tyrchids, repeating the word.

I turn to frank and hesitate.

“H-here we are. My Flufvz- I mean, my home”

He is looking up at the trees, already having spotted our housing.

“You really do live in the trees, heh”

“Yeah, of course”

Why did he find it… funny?

Above their heads, Tyrchids fly going about their business, from tree to tree and to outside of the village.

One Tyrchid has some sort of large fruits of different kinds skewered to its elbow blades, along with a winged creature, resembling a hawk.

Flying to a hole in a tree, it folds its wings at the entrance, sending purple shards fluttering down like sharp petals.

The sparkling shrapnel fall onto the root of the tree, a stack of them already formed below, most of the tree trunks were completely surrounded in piles of them already.

“Might want to be mindful of the splinters when you walk around here” I add, watching Frank’s bright eyed wonderment.

“Do you all have your own... house hole here?”

“I think so, though some probably share them”

“So… yours is here somewhere too?”

“Y-yeah”

I… I know it’s here…

Has to be...

But where exactly?

During our discussion, Emerald has met with more and more Tyrchids, a sort of a crowd has started forming around us.

“Before that I think you better start plucking some berries, Emerald has announced dinnertime to everyone nearby”

Frank starts to quickly collect berries, from the huge bulb.

His hands looks steadier and his expression calmer then before.

Maybe I was worried for nothing.

Though I hope they understand it’s the berries that are the food…

He picks them dexterously and shoves them into his pocket, stockpiling them up.

More and more of my family arrive, some descend from the sky and litter the world with purple shards, though some opt to keep their wings open instead, just lowering them.

Some smaller than me in size, others a little bigger, the only truly uniform thing seemed to be the dominant color of violet in their blades and in their wings' film.

Even if their hair and armor were of different color, these crystal aspects always had purple in them, with the possibility of one accent color.

Their armor equally diverse in patterning, like pigment changes on skin, though much more extreme and wide ranged, even if they followed the principle of reds, purples and blues.

Eye color also varied, along with the length of hair.

Did they knowingly style their hair? Some choosing to keep it longer?

…

Did I do that?

A Tyrchid breaks off from the hesitant-to-approach group, going straight at Frank.

His aura of power and pride, walking straight backed, matched his armor.

A striking unusual mix of black, gray and red. From the sea of color that was the other Tyrchid’s, his black hair and eyes stood out.

Even bigger than me, he towers over Frank and speaks.

“Blizh”

Blizh… but that’s…

Did he just use it as a... swear word?

Frank just offers him berries, he seems to play along, keeping his eyes locked onto Frank’s as he crouches to eat.

Observing the scene from further away, I get the impression he meant no harm, despite his threatening manners.

Though I would be unable to stop those blackened blades in time, if he decided on cutting Frank down.

I wonder if I could even best him in combat either way if it came down to it.

The mandibles look longer than mine as they dexterously pluck the berries from Frank's hand.

After he is finished, a pointed looks to the crowd causes a red eyed, pink haired Tyrchid to slowly and awkwardly walk to his side.

“Blizh, Shfluz!”

A deep angry buzz directed again at Frank, the pink Tyrchid looks embarrassed to be there.

Frank offers her a hand of berries too, she timidly approaches and slowly plucks them one by one from his hand.

After the Pink Tyrchid gets her berries and they join back into the crowd, it breaks loose and others also approach.

The atmosphere slowly growing more relaxed as they surround Frank, the feeding scene repeats many times. As soon as he gets berries to his hand, somebody is already waiting to eat them.

Watching from the sidelines, I feel glad Frank seemed to have been accepted among us. Though, a strange tinge stung my chest.

What was this feeling?

...

Am I jealous?

No matter how intricately I observed each Tyrchid, I could not feel any closer to remembering.

Of invoking memories from their appearance, no matter how yellow their hair, how unique their armor pattern or how expressive their faces were.

Even observing our head wings, these bone crowns on our heads, all shaped a little differently, some even had theirs bent or with pieces missing.

But it didn’t help.

All of this information, combined with their antennae, the fur on them, its length and color, all wildly varied.

Many, many intricate details, differences and unique appearances.

So much to reminisce about, to recall them from.

Maybe there was no returning to the past, whoever I had been back then, lost to time.

All of my relationships, everything I had been.

...

I am as much of an outsider here as Frank is...

The crowd was starting to thin out, the rest of the Tyrchids had been much more nicer than the first one, but I still kept watch over Frank.

He had seemed really out of it with Emerald, but here he was, feeding them from his hand, like it was nothing.

He really was good with animals.

Animals...?

They are- We are... more than that

We have to be more than that…

I’ll prove it.

…

From the corner of my hybrid eyes, a spot of green, Emerald is watching from further back too.

I walk up to her and greet her with a buzz, she breaks her staring at Frank and seems surprised to see me.

I point a hand blade at myself.

“Amethyst”

Then at her.

“Emerald”

The Tyrchid looks at me curiously and tilts her head.

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I repeat the gesture.

“A-me-thy-st”

And back at her.

“E-me-ral-d”

Emerald points a blade at herself, looks down upon it and tilts her head. She remains quiet and just stares down at her blade.

I go through the Tyrchid vocabulary in my head, looking for a word to help me out.

Instead, I realize that it only has 11 words.

No way to form sentences, no word for 'name'.

Was it really even a language?

Suddenly, my antennae hear a faraway voice, Tyrchids all around react to it too, by surveying the area vigilant.

As the noise gets closer, I recognize the words.

“Bsii Bsii Bsii!”

A warning of an incoming danger.

“Blizh! Blizh!”

The Tyrchids around get restless as more of them hear the danger call.

Frank’s feeding is interrupted as they shift their focus to the direction of the sound.

Many take flight, including Emerald, others walk or run away. A few wait on the ground for the noise’s source, notably the black and pink Tyrchid.

I look for Frank and spot him running over to me, still holding on to the berry bulb.

“What’s going on!?”

Does he not hear it? Is human hearing terrible too?

“Sabertigers”

Stomp. Stomp.

The ground begins shaking rhythmically, and doesn’t stop.

In between the stomps, cries of birds and wildlife fleeing their path echo.

“W-what are they?”

No more noises, only silence in between the massive footsteps.

“That is what Grent called them. They are like... Pineapple, but larger. Big cats”

Their tread accelerates as does the shaking, the shards shingle as the piles of them get lifted off the ground only for gravity to slam them back down.

“There’s two of them…”

“W-what? Don’t tell me- the sabertigers are the cause of this shaking?”

A group of fleeing Tyrchids break through the treeline with two sabertigers on their heels.

Tyrchids who awaited them in the air break in two formations and dart at the cats.

I spread my wings and coat them with the film. The cats pounce at the Tyrchids at the ground and swipe at the flying ones.

My kin stab at them with fiery blades, but their thick fur doesn’t catch fire, nor can they penetrate through their tough skin.

What’s going on?

Mom fought them off just like that.

Slashing at them, slicing through their skin, even sometimes setting their fur alight.

My senses were telling me to flee, to hide and let the Queen, or somebody stronger handle this.

But she’s gone now…

She had always defended us.

I try to cling to those memories, to follow them, but they are just feelings, instincts, something I know deep within.

There is no experiences, no concrete memories associated with them. A scratch mark left on the surface of metal doors holding my memories within.

How would I ever break through that barrier in my mind, I did not know.

Even if I did, would I find anything inside?

Just the blurry inch deep experiences… of an animal.

My wings have dried up, but a feeling stops me from flying off to help my kin.

I look to my right to see Frank, he looks back at me.

“Go, help them. I’ll be fine”

These words are true, I can feel his sincerity imbued in them.

With a flap of my wings, I take off without a word.

Thank you…

Be careful.

----------------------------------------

Amethyst wings shoot open, splitting the wind, I barely dodge getting hit by her bony appendages.

For a few seconds she looks at her kin in trouble with a grimace, just as she is about to take off, she suddenly stops and looks at me instead.

I instantly realize what she must be thinking.

“Go, help them.

I’ll be fine”

Instinctively I answer, smiling sincerely as I break my promise.

She takes off as soon as I finish, the look in her eyes breaking my heart.

I did it again…

Why...

Why did I say that?

How could I possibly be fine?

I’m just a man, and even Tyrchids are getting…

Killed.

Another one, a humanoid insect of red and orange gets swiped from the air and slammed onto the ground.

A sickening pool of green, a mangled corpse, like a squashed spider.

It soon starts to smolder and burn brightly, like a midsummer bonfire.

Slowly but steadily, more and more of these fires were starting.

The two Sabertigers split up at least, the right one steadily coming to my general direction. I take shelter at the root of one of the massive trees.

At least I could kite it around the tree if it came my way.

What could I do…?

If I just waited this out…

It didn’t look like we would win...

How have the Tyrchids survived when all of their attacks appear ineffective?

Even when they go for the nose or eyes, the tiger is ready to block their offensive, with a paw or with one of the massive fangs.

The sabertiger makes contact with the ground force near me and devours one Tyrchid whole with its massive jaw.

So it does… eat… them.

My head spins, but I shake it off.

The black Tyrchid encounters the cat, it dodges a massive paw swing, by jumping forwards.

A follow up jump upwards, tries to reach the tiger's chin, but the strike comes up short.

Why fight on the ground?

Why doesn’t it just fly?

I survey the agile Tyrchid, dashing and dodging unexpectedly fast.

The armor on its back, where Amethyst has the wings tucked away in, is gone.

A spot of exposed gray skin in its place, two stubs barely visible.

I see…

It… no...

Onyx, is trying his best, even without wings.

Soon, the only remaining Tyrchids of the ground force are him, and the pink Tyrchid. The ground a mess of pools of green blood and bonfires of the dead.

Strong flashbacks, to red blood pools haunt my mind again. I take support from the tree and scatter berries onto the ground from my hand.

This is another slaughter.

I couldn't do anything back then…

But they-

They may be the ones who killed-

...

But…

I just can't...

I look at the few berries still on my hand, and then back at the fight.

Onyx goes for a reckless attack from the side, while the pink one holds the beast’s attention.

He gallops deep underneath it, and manages to sink a blade to its stomach, red blood gushes out and the tiger jolts in pain.

However, the sabercat starts bringing its body down, its trying to crush him!

Onyx just keeps on stabbing at the approaching crushing mass instead of running away.

I brace myself to see him squashed, like many of his comrades before.

Suddenly the pink Tyrchid flies to him with blistering speed and pushes him out from underneath the cat.

But… it gets caught under instead.

Her…

Garnet’s right wing and foot get crushed underneath.

Onyx recovers from the ground after being sent tumbling and stands up.

He looks… horrified.

Ahhh I can’t just keep spectating!

I have to do something.

The cat is lifting its giant paw up with obvious smashing intent.

I leave the safety of the root of the tree and hold the berry bulb on one hand, I start throw all the remaining barries on my other one at the cat.

Trying to aim for its small cone shaped ears, I knew that no animal, regardless of size liked foreign objects in there.

The cluster hits everything but its intended target, on the back of the head, side of its face, on the thick body’s fur.

Harmlessly bouncing off, peppering the area with berries instead.

Onyx gallops to Garnet, while the cat’s paw starts coming down towards them both.

Garnet tries to crawl towards him, digging into the ground with her blades, slowly moving.

I quickly resupply with berries from my pocket and toss another volley.

A bunch of them fly straight down the cat’s pointed ears and the slamming paw just misses them.

Onyx uses his wrists and armored arms, pulling Garnet up, who limps with three legs taking support from him.

The cat growls and turns its head towards me, fiercely shaking its head over and over.

"Come on!

I’m right here, come get me!"

I walk backwards and retreat back to the tree as I take the last of the berries from my pocket I had stockpiled the for the hungry insectoids.

The sabercat takes a long stomping step towards me.

BOOM.

A thundering explosion rings out and the cat lifts its paw quickly, like off from a hot stove.

It staggers backwards, its balance teetering and almost steps on the retreating Onyx and Garnet on the background.

Wait what just happened?

In the place where the cat stepped, a fire has started on the green pool of blood.

Could it be?

I look at the fistful of berries, purple swirls, a familiar sort of glow of energy inside.

The cat seems hesitant to approach, but after a careful step without an explosion, it seems to regain its confidence.

I throw berries low and scatter them on the ground, between me and the cat. Aiming for the green pools of blood, those yet unlit.

Hoping for the best, as it takes another step.

An even more fierce explosion rings out, stepping on many berries at once.

Yes!

The cat looks almost terrified and sags its exploded paw in the air, giving the limp a big lick.

The explosion starts a new inferno, spreading to a corpse of a Tyrchid that didn’t ignite on its own.

Its body twitches as the inferno starts, quickly exploding into ball of flame with a whoosh.

I’m sorry...

…

A sudden purple trail swooshes underneath the distracted cat and crimson floods over onto the ground.

A sorrow filled meow rumbles from the cat and it turns towards the way it came from.

On the left, the other cat’s world shaking steps already lead away from the village.

Amethyst flew to finish the job for us and the second cat starts retreating as well.

She lands next to me and closes her wings.

Her elbow blades bathed and dripping red after she extinguishes the flames on them.

The remaining blood slowly flows off them, dripping onto the ground, leaving behind pristine blades.

“Are you okay? What were those loud sounds?”

“Don’t worry about that… I’m just fine. But...”

We exchange sorrowful looks.

“So many are not...”

I remember Onyx and Garnet and spot them at another tree’s root, Garnet is sitting down, her mangled wing barely attached and the fractured leg bleeding.

I lay down the bulb next to the tree and gaze with determined eyes upon the inferno between us.

Within it, the small berries also hid, like landmines.

So…

If I understand this correctly, as long as I don’t step into any green pools, I’ll be fine.

Its not like the berry exploded into flames in my mouth before.

Strangely, the fire wasn’t spreading across the red grass, it just sizzled and charred without actually igniting, even when very close to a fire.

The fires were contained only in the blood pools of the perished Tyrchids.

“Amethyst, lets help them" I point to the other side at them.

"R-right"

"Watch out for the… green pools”

I say and take a step towards the inferno of funeral fires.

----------------------------------------

“R-right” Answering to Frank is hard, as my throat seems to want to grow shut.

The feelings in my head, burning on my face hotter than the fire, squeeze and grip my neck.

"Watch out for the… green pools”

Frank says and we proceed towards the flames.

Quiet, we zigzag past any pools of blood, past any dead and burning family.

Frank gives them a wide berth, the heat must be hard for him to bear.

We come across a crushed Tyrchid, not yet alight, her purple body slumped in a pool of sick green, stained and defiled.

Her…

Her head…

It’s gone.

The vacant neck, against the ground, still bleeding out viridian.

Her arm extended out, like reaching towards me for help.

Never finding any, always lost, always…

Too late.

I’m sorry…

I stop in front of her and ignite my hand, gently lowering myself to touch hers, the green blood catches fire after a moment.

Slowly, the smoldering low flame dances its way up her body, covering it entirely.

I rise up and look around.

We must have lost… at least…

Twenty?

Is this how numbers work?

Numerous charred patches on the grass, some bodies still burning.

Some unlit, Tyrchids help these unfortunate kin to get them on their way too, as I did.

Others watch from their holes up in the trees, I can’t find it in me to blame them.

It was what we had learned to do, our first proper fight without her.

I try to feel glad that only this many lives were lost.

...

A futile effort.

Glancing back down, her skin was starting to melt and peel off, the armor cracking and snapping too.

Averting my eyes, I leave her, I knew what came next.

Frank has stopped to wait for me, looking worried.

I only need a few steps to reach him, to join back at his side.

The fire roars behind.

However, he doesn’t start walking, instead, he holds out his left hand.

Confused at the gesture, I look at my blades.

What did he want me to do?

What is the purpose of this?

Suddenly he takes my hand, from the wrist, brings it close to him and presses his other hand on top of it. Encapsulating it, holding it in his hands.

My armor insulates my skin from the outside world, I cannot feel his touch.

I look at him, he looks back at me, deep into my eyes.

A line of water rolls down his face.

Why is he doing… this?

What is this?

Despite the tremendous loss, the strong smell of burning death in the air, somehow, I feel calmer.

The turmoil swelling inside subsiding.

How- did he know how I feel?

Why do I feel like this?

Frank closes his eyes for a moment before opening them again, his shining planets filled with kindness.

“Come, let us help those who can still be helped”

It gets hard to see, the image of Frank becomes blurry, I rapidly blink until I can see again and nod.

Frank removes the hand from on top and grabs my wrist, he pulls and I follow.

Leading me through the fire, hand in wrist, before I know it, we’ve reached the two Tyrchids.

Frank lets go of my arm and starts to rifle through his backpack.

Somehow, I felt the warmth of his touch finally reach my skin, just as he let go.

All the way through my hard shell, onto my hidden wrist.

Always shrouded from the sun, untouched by the wind, out of reach from the world.

The warmth slowly fades, but as I look at Frank, the feeling resurfaces within.