Where is mother?
Why isn’t she answering?
Amethyst tenses her back’s muscles underneath the armor, the carapace splits in two and moves out of the way, like the shell of a beetle.
As it opens, the gray skin beneath is exposed to the world.
Inside the compartment, two folded bone wings, dark purple in coloration, sprout from her back.
She stretches her segmented wings out, baring a major resemblance to her wing like appendages on her head.
However these wings are just the skeletal structure, they have nothing in between the five bones, nothing to produce lift with.
She channels the purple substance away from her blades, back up her arms, opening the special canals inside her shoulders, pushing the purple into her back.
Her blades fizzle out slowly, as they burn through the rest of the liquid seeping in them, before completely extinguishing.
The purple substance flows up inside the wings, splitting up evenly between both wing’s structures, going up inside the top four bones.
A slit is present underneath each bone for its entire length, the liquid blocked from freely flowing out by a sticky film.
Amethyst closes the wing’s access to her back canal and pushes the liquid forwards inside them, the pressure increasing as the purple liquid is pushed against the film.
The liquid becomes stiff, gel like, as it is squeezed through it. The wing bone’s gaps are getting covered by it, unfurling like sails and attaching to the bone below.
This happens symmetrically on both sides and continues down from the next one below, after the above one has finished.
The moist gel between the wing bones, shines in the sunlight for a moment. Gradually loosing its reflectiveness and hardening into a solid substance.
Now ready for flight, she flaps her wings slowly, but powerfully to get some height first, creating a small dust storm below.
A few meters off the ground, she starts flapping them rapidly, the wings become a blur and produce a low buzzing susurration, bearing many similarities to more traditional insects.
With her wings started up, she quickly zooms upwards, rapidly gaining height, along the first stone pile, and above it.
Until she can see the whole quarry, almost flying up to the same level as the edge of the valley.
Hovering in place, Amethyst scans the area with her hybrid eyes and spots some sort of huge box of metal with large rigid wings, landed at the far end of the quarry.
Thanks to Amethyst’s unusual eyes, she is able to see it accurately despite being far away.
Her subconscious recognizes the metal structure as some sort of a ship... a spaceship, whatever that is?
Its back is opened, a metal slope leading up to it.
Right next to the ship, her mother is chained up to a floating metal plate — with all too familiar black restraints.
She is crumpled up in a heap on top of it, motionless, as she is transported towards the ship's opening, humans pushing the platform along.
I'm coming mom!
She shoots through the air like a jet towards her.
Relief burned inside of her, for finding her, though she’s unsure why exactly. Even entertaining the opposite thought, of not going to her aid, squeezed her chest and tightened her throat.
She couldn’t figure out which part of her mind it belonged, to the old or the new.
But it didn’t matter now, this was the one thing they could agree on.
She flies over a second stone pile, the buzzing of her wings getting louder the faster she flew.
“What’s-?!”
“Look!”
Humans hollered below at the purple lightning streaking across the sky, she heard their voices only for a split second, before the audio got lost in the wind.
The humans have just loaded her mother inside of the ship, scattering away from inside of it as the door starts to rise back up, to close.
Will I make it?
She unfurls the sails on her head wings too and turns her head vertical against the wind.
The film covers the gaps, spreading out quickly due to the wind pressure, the semi-liquid gel withstands the force of the wind, remaining in place.
The door is rising, about one fourth closed, she's over the fourth rocky mountain now, only two remained to be flown over.
The film dries fast in the sunlight and the wind, she flaps her head wings, which start buzzing loudly as they pick up speed.
She can no longer hear anything but the sound of her wings as they accelerate her further.
Halfway closed, she’s almost there, just above the last stone pile.
Rapidly approaching, way too fast, but she couldn't slow down, if she was to make it.
Right at the door, she quickly closes her wings, the solid substance breaks and shatters like glass, raining down from the sky, sparkling in the sun's rays.
The wings tuck themselves into safety, inside of her back’s hollow armor, which then closes back up.
She shoots through the last gap of the door as aerodynamically as a speeding bullet, carried by her momentum.
Holding her long elbow blades in front of her, the blades sink deep into the steel wall awaiting to flatten her.
The blades embed themselves almost up to her arms, lessening the impact force tremendously.
A life-saving maneuver she had learned flying through her home’s forests, performed on instinct.
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She hangs limp on her blades for a moment catching a small break, resting momentarily as the door fully closes behind her.
It becomes dark, but through the compound eyes in her iris, she is able to see in the dark, but only for short distances.
Her pupils instead meant for long ranges, but being useless in the dark, so she only sees by the edges of her vision in the dark, a large ball of black in the middle.
Both parts of her eye being able too work together in light, but also having their own specializations.
Amethyst hangs above an entrance to somewhere, this room having a higher ceiling than the next one.
She channels energy to her elbow blades, as they ignite, she slides down, leaving behind two clean, red glowing cuts.
They shed a minuscule amount of light in the dark, the molten slag peeling off, giving them a messy look.
Her four sharp, slender legs hit the ground with a metallic clang.
There’s a corridor right ahead of her, lit by some dim ceiling lights to show the way forward.
She turns around, her mother is laying on the platform before her.
Completely still.
Amethyst approaches her and emits a low and sad buzz, it echoes empty and alone in the steely room.
Her head lies on its side, antennae mushed on top with green stain in her mane of light violet hair.
Only one head wing remains on her head, being just a short stub of bone.
Her eyes are closed, the reek of blood coming off of her makes Amethyst's antennae retreat backwards.
Suddenly everything starts shaking and she almost falls, being able to regain her balance thanks to her four legs.
A pressure tries to push her towards the floor, she fights against it, then suddenly it pushes her backwards too.
The room seems to tilt slightly, accompanied by the loud roar of an engine and the rattling of the shaking vessel.
She cannot move, it takes all her strength to stay still.
The body of her mother is thrown up and down, back and forth, green liquid oozes from under her.
Green blood is split and splattered around the room, onto the floor, walls and the ceiling.
Onto Amethyst.
The corpse’s head limply bounces against the platform, as do her legs.
Bang.
Bang.
They crash down after each shake of the ship, striking the hard metal beneath her, only her main body has been secured with the restraints.
Bang.
Bang.
Standing there, not being able to do anything, Amethyst flinches with each strike of this sickening sound.
A loud crunch plays as one of her mother’s legs comes loose, it’s mangled and broken, but somehow in one piece.
It hops along the floor, leaving a green smear as it travels to the cargo door, settling to shaking and bouncing up against it.
Amethyst’s vision starts fading, something impairs it, happening once again.
She cannot do anything to prevent it, she cannot wipe or touch her face with blades for hands.
An emotion emerged from inside of her.
A completely new feeling to her.
This feeling…
This emptiness…
This invisible pain…
This despair…
She felt…
Loss.
Loss of something important
Loss of something dear.
The loss of something irreplaceable.
Mother...
The ship’s shaking subsides.
“This is an automated cargo ship, traveling to planet: ‘Viridan Macula’.
If there are humans left on board by mistake or negligence, please make your way from the cargo hall, down the corridor and to the left.
There you will find a safety seat to strap yourself in for safe travel to your destination.”
A robotic voice filled the air pausing for a moment before continuing:
“Engaging warp drive in 60 seconds, please be seated before that. This action cannot be cancelled.
So if you hear this, enjoy a forced trip to our destination.
Tough luck.
Intergalactic Resources and Wildlife Ventures thanks you for your cooperation and understanding.”
She didn’t fully understand what the ethereal voice was trying to tell her, she recognized the words, but lacked context and their meaning.
“50,” the intangible voice counted down.
However, the voice clearly had urged her to take action, she had to do something, she didn’t want to go to this “Viridian Macula” place.
But what could she do?
“40.”
She was trapped, vulnerable and injured. She was not safe, she had to get back to her forest and hide.
Something kept her from cutting down the door, the way they she had come from.
It was like another small separate voice, another new instinct she had acquired.
It screamed, in no circumstance, should she damage that door, this new feeling fought hard against her old instincts.
“10.”
The arguing of these mixed messages stirred deep confusion inside.
She looked at her mother for help, for refuge.
And she found it.
As she looked at her, Amethyst's mind calmed down, but the noise was replaced by the invisible pain again.
“0.”
She had been unable to make a decision in this short time, wrestling with the turmoil inside of her.
The ship suddenly slides from under her legs and she’s sent hurtling towards the back wall.
She tries to grab hold of the restraints, which keep the corpse of her mother tied down.
Touching the first with her hand-
Snap
It immediately breaks as her hand blade cuts through it.
The next one.
Snap
Sliced through before it could even slow her fall.
Snap Snap Snap Snap Snap
She tore through all of the black harnesses and Amethyst’s back slams on the cargo door.
Her armor takes the brunt of the blow, but it still hurts.
The solid purple film that still remained on her head wings shatters from the impact, the small pieces proceeding to rattle against the steel door with her.
The invisible pressure holds her against the wall, unable to move at all.
Suddenly, her peripheral vision is filled with her mother.
She didn’t see her coming at all, due to being unable to utilize the middle of her sight in the low light.
The large carcass smashes into her at high speed, and her conciouscness fades.
...
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