Crack! Crumble. "Are you sure this is the right way?" "Pretty sure." Crack! Crumble. "Are you sure you're sure? I'm getting dust all over my trichobrothia." Crack! Crumble. "Is that what spider hair is called?" "Yes, but nobody ever calls it that. So annoying... Just like people who call my pedipalps arms! Heathens, the lot of them!" "Both words translate to the same thing to me. Though, one of them does feel a bit more specific at least." Crack! Crumble. "Demon translation is weird. And stupid. I learned five languages and here you are just cheating and knowing all of them." "Give her a break. Demons have to interact with the languages of countless dimensions, each with entirely different concepts of communication. Even Didi's language is based on light instead of sound." "What? I can hear her perfectly fine though!" "Yea, if you're unaware of it I'll just sound like a natural speaker to you. Even translates puns and idioms to an extent. What do you hear when I say kikokikyom?" Crack! Crumble. "I hear reverence festival. An end of cycle festival, every other year." "I just heard kikokikyom. I think it's a demon thing?" "Lyla heard this world's version of an end of year festival. You seem to have a confusing distinction between calendar year and orbital year though. Aleph's, I believe, is from a different branch of infernal. A sound based one, though I'm not sure which." "Huh... Neat..."

Crack! Crumble. Whoosh! Wind bursts into the tunnel carved from Aether, kicking up a torrent of powderised stone and pulling it into the open. Stepping forward, Aleph carries the group past the smokescreen into the open air, a dense concoction of musty and leafy scents assailing them. Goldy and Didi sit comfortably on her back, holding down Fluffy who already seems moments away from bursting free out of boredom. Lyly stands proudly atop her perch, staring down at the world past the veil of dust. "Fuahahaha! Finally! I, divine beast Lyla have taken my first steps forward in- Holy shit that's a lot of bugs..."

The ground writhes in an ever shifting mass of vibrant insects. Rivers of murky white ants stream forth, winding through the terrain and past the horizon as they walk under larger pill bugs and step over smaller worms. Swarms of moth-like critters float around, carried along by the ambient winds with their spinning disk wings. In the distance, a giant creature which can only be described as tumbleweed with a brain rolls around, spearing insects with its thorny appendages and pulling them to its core.

"How lucky! It seems we've arrived during one of the great migrations!" Fluffy announces, pushing his head up to see, only to be kept firmly in place by a golden palm. "I take it you've been here a lot then..." Lyly mumbles, still cringing at the sight. "Quite! The sheer diversity of life here is staggering!" "Sheer diversity... of bugs..." "You don't like bugs?" "Common misconception number one. Spiders are not bugs." "True. The classification that encompasses both would be the phylum arthropoda. Very important distinction." "Oh, hey! We agree on something!" "Indeed! And yet both insects and arachnids are equally fascinating!" "Oh, hey! I disagree with you again..."

"Which way?" Aleph interrupts before they can begin arguing between the superiority of insects and arachnids. "Just follow the swarms." "Gross! We're not following that!" Lyly asserts, drawing confused glances from the rest of the group. "What? Same phylum or not bugs are gross. Just look at all their spindly legs! The flying ones are kinda cute though." Aleph shakes her head, sliding down the pillar she broke through. "Which way is fastest?" Fluffy habitually raises a hand to comb his scraggle, only to be vetoed by Aleph's tail. "Heading opposite is probably fastest then. Though we will run into a few roadblocks." "Like what?" "Lack of food mostly. Almost everything we could hunt follows this same migration pattern, and as far as I'm aware, the plants only bear fruit in synchronicity with the migration as well."

Looking over the horizon of bugs, Aleph considers her options. We can probably just stock up and be frugal. I don't need to eat much, and I don't think Didi eats anything. Everything here looks edible to me too, so we're not in short supply for now. "Goldy and Didi, you go collect food while Lyly and I figure out containers for it." "And me?" "If you move I'll get Lyly to bind you like the unruly medical patient you are." "Ooh! Please move! Please move!" "..."

Through the eyes of a sluggish monkey

Gol Dhee leaps from the emissary's back, the dull ache of muscle overexertion echoing throughout his body. I still ache from the battle... A fine test of my limits indeed. This stretch should assist the matter though. "Come, creature of flames. I am curious of your hunting methods." "Do you have to call me creature?" "Would you prefer the fiery one?" "Oh, that has a nice ring to it!" The fiery one responds with a twirl, skipping ahead as they approach the nearest swarm. "Do you suppose these to be edible?" Gol Dhee asks, grabbing a pill shaped critter which curls into a ball on contact. "No idea. I don't eat, so I'll have to trust you on this." He stares at her bemused, scritching his nose in confusion. "How can you sustain without food?"

Skipping over to one of the critters, the fiery one picks it up in imitation, a fascinated glint in her eyes as she playfully spins it within her grasp. "I think something might have been lost in translation there. When I was younger I was sustained by light. After reaching rank three I haven't needed to eat, since I have enough demonic essence to substitute. It's still nice to eat now and then, but the light from those orbs doesn't really do much for me. Tastes a bit stale." This must be the most foreign being I have met yet... Is she perhaps related to the great trees of my homeland, which greed after the orbs of light with their ever-growing tendrils of green? "Light can be tasty?" "Very! You should try it!" The cogs within his mind spin wildly as he ponders the logic behind eating light. One can almost even smell the bacon cooking, perhaps this is what she meant? I shall do my best!

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Through the eyes of a restrained patient

She really wasn't bluffing. Fluffy lays bound and gagged to Teacher's back, staring upward, the only direction he was permitted. Was the gag really necessary though? I feel like Lil' Blue had a bit too much fun. These threads are extremely tough though, I wonder if I can break them... Muscles twitch beneath the fibres, just begging to try tear through them. I'd best not. Not worth finding out what Teacher would threaten me with next. And besides, I am still recovering from hyperthermia, so rest is a must. But still...

Through the eyes of an intrigued demon

"So, do you think this is edible?" Diala asks from atop a giant rolling mass of spines and thorns. Spikes twist and snap, slowly bending their way to intercept the pest clinging to them, only for her to deftly wind around them without a care. "It... Doesn't look appetising." Gol Dhee responds from the ground, looking up bemused by the display. "You sure? I would figure this big thing has a lot of Mana. Is this not one of the worlds where Mana arbitrarily makes things tastier?" She curves around another spike, leaving herself dangling from one hand, just to show off. "Perhaps so, but it must have a fine taste to begin with for it to be enhanced."

Hmm, too bad. Loosening her grip, Diala allows herself to fall back to the ground, skipping over to Gol Dhee's side. "Do you think this will be enough then?" She gestures to the large beast sat beside them. A smooth exoskeleton coats its frame, four thin legs leading into keratin hooves, and a pair of elegant horns atop its head. Granted, having its head spun backwards puts a heavy inhibitor on the amount of elegance it can hold. "More would be difficult to preserve for long. Without the emissary eating, this should last us many rests." "Neat. Let's take it back then."

Through the eyes of a mischievous spider

"Fuehehehe..." Maybe I should stick his eyes closed? Or his nose? Hmm, no that might be too far. I can't mess with him if he dies from asphyxiation. "Lyly, can you please just stop thinking of ways to screw with Fluffy and sew properly." Gah! She knew! How?! Is she a time-travelling eldritch abomination who can read minds too?! "You've been snickering this whole time. It's obvious what you're thinking about." Ah, that makes more sense. She would've been way too overpowered otherwise. I need to work on my poker face though... "Hey, gimme a break. I'm almost done." Lyla chides, snipping the thread wound into the carapace she's sewing together.

"There! Complete! Bet you've never seen such a perfect... box?" Lyla steps back from the haphazardly bound together clump of chitin and thread, somehow serviceable as a container despite all appearances to the contrary. "I mean... Technically you're right. I've never seen something quite like this." "Yea, okay. Not my best work. When are the other two getting back?" "Already here." The demon playfully responds from behind. "Agh! What? Since when?" Lyla hops away, skittering behind the dragon's head to hide. "Just now. I'm guessing my lack of Mana is what made you miss me." Yea right. I bet she used one of her evil demon tricks to sneak up on me. I'm on to you, devil.

"Let's set off then. Oh, and please remove Fluffy's gag. He's our guide after all."

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Esfa, the divine canid, one of the ancients and progenitor to the esfins. A being said to be draped in lustrous white fur which can cure the sick and bearing fangs with venom corrosive enough to devour steel. Legends tell of a their immense speed and acute battle prowess, how they circled the world within a day, defeated seven great war era generals in a battle of wits, and out-manoeuvred the ten-thousand palms of Caxhaniel.

Centuries ago during the fourth battle of the gods, Esfa was said to be among the vanguard once the war struck their home territory in the western plateaus of aoleu'lothas. Single-handedly, they fended off an army of beings of incomprehensible and impossible form, and tremendous powers, as well as even defeating an archangel in battle. It is believed this war was the cause of the many craters in the western tundras, and there is much evidence supporting this.

In the time before the first battle of the gods, when the age after the great calamity was still young, Esfa is said to have raced their sister divine beast O'ovani around the dome shielding our world. Reasons for this vary between tellings from a mortal conflict settled through sport to a contest for territory, but in all iterations Esfa is able to circle the world in less than a day, completely eclipsing O'ovani and winning the race.

Modern sightings of Esfa occasionally liken them to the Earth myth of Fenrir, a being of immense power sealed by the gods until the end days. Despite frequent sightings, little is actually known about them, virtue of their fickle nature. Occasionally though, people report sightings of Esfa to the east near the territories of other divine beasts. What they do there, only they know.

-Excerpt from Shinya Mon Lale's 'Myths, Legends, and Divine Beasts'