All his new apprentices had watched in awe as he mixed the accelerant concoction into the small glass vials and explained the process - none of which they understood. But it had been fascinating to all to watch him work, pouring, mixing, shaking and explaining why aeration was important. At the end of it, all had a glass vial in their pockets - even Luna, though she doubted she would get to use it much.
She had never felt so hungry before - consuming her way through the stone-faced man’s ample supply of meat without any threat it’d run out. The boys had been nice, too, making her question whether Logan’s promise of her status as enemy of the people had been a lie. It was odd to imagine they’d ever wish to bring her harm, as they were more than kind to her, frequently offering massages and foot-rubs, should she want them. Despite Logan’s warning of a murderous people, their culture was intimate - as she soon found out by how close they all sat as she ate.
Logan kept more to himself, talking more to the large, red beast than with any of the humans. But being the relatively silent type that he was, she had found some catharsis in speaking of that horrific day and the terrible creature that had come to destroy Sitabee. His mask had jerked up slightly as she told of it, as if intrigued by her recount of the destruction. But their conversation had soon thereafter died as the sun set and a darkness overtook the forest.
In the darkness, she felt a familiar fright - one she hadn’t felt in some time. After stepping into her station, after Guy’s death, she had retired from walking the ocean floor - the despair and dread of her experience too much to bear whenever she wore the suit. But when darkness came, it was as if she had never left the abyss - as if she was still on her way to Sitalii, zooming over the great darkness; half-expecting something to come lunging out at her.
They had shared the tent, the boys slumbering in their cloth bags on one side, whereas she lay in a graciously gifted heap of blankets - courtesy of Logan. But the white-faced man was nowhere to be seen, nor were his protective weapons.
She had laid there for what had felt like hours - exhausted, yet unable to sleep. Cautiously, she had dared to get up to go verify that Logan’s great beast remained vigilant, only to freeze when she felt the icy night breeze as she stepped outside. Somehow, she hadn’t seen the light through the fabric of the tent. A blue, oddly glow exuding from a cylinder in the middle of the clearing, casting light to illuminate the undergrowth.
She stepped outside and pulled her hood far over her head - hovering over the cylinder to take in the magical radiance.
“Black light. They can’t register it.” She yelped as she heard him. How he could’ve been so silent was beyond her understanding - she hadn’t even heard him breathe, yet he stood right behind her shoulder. Before she could fall, a strong arm braced her by the shoulder, spinning her around so that she could almost see behind the mask. As if realizing his mistake, he quickly raised her back on her feet and took a long step back to gain a comfortable distance.
“Sorry. Nerves, you know.” She nodded. It was clear he was protective of his face, though she didn’t understand why. But, as the boys had told her, not even they had seen what he concealed behind the porcelain, meaning it was unlikely she’d have the honors.
“You said something earlier that’s been stuck in my head… symbiote, you said. I’ve read it somewhere - it’s when two different species live together, right? Like gillfish and shark?” It took a moment before he nodded, as if pondering his words carefully.
“I thought it was you who called to my symbiote, but now that I’ve found you, I get the sense you aren’t that close. You don’t even know what it is, do you?” Her sharp chin shook back and forth beneath the hood.
“I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about.”
In silence, he led her through the forest and out into another, familiar clearing. The stench of burnt flesh still clung to the air - as if someone had forgotten to take the fish out of the fryers. Further down the strip of sand, she knew she’d find them - three sets of smoky, crispy remains. Just being on the sand made her heart race again, but even in the midst of this hostile territory, she saw that there was beauty to explore. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the slight, cool waves rushing in over the muddy sands to wash away all signs she had ever sprinted up the beach. She’d not have expected to see in the darkness, but as soon as they had stepped from the forest, the world had lit up with a comfortable, dim light; the source of which made her knees quiver beneath her.
Up there, in the sky, she saw a distant, large, white sphere - its surface riddled with circular drawings that made it look as if it was grinning down at her. Next to the heavenly body, countless small, twinkling stars speckled the night’s sky with bright light.
“T-that’s… that’s the moon… and those are stars…” She muttered. Logan looked up to join her in admiring the night.
“I’ve been thinking about it. How your name is Luna, yet you’ve never seen the moon - none of you have.” She swallowed as her mind regretfully flashed her an image of her smiling father on the day of his departure. She kept staring up at the skies as she explained: “It’s the most common name in Sitabee. A lot of us are named after stuff in the heavens - my father said that it was a tradition. So that we could remember…”
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“Remember that it’s not all water?” To this, she chuckled.
“No… to remember that we weren’t going to stay there forever. That we’d take back our place up here in time.”
Logan folded his hands behind his back and asked pointedly: “And how’d that work out?”
She cocked her head back and forth as if to say ‘mixed’. But then went on to explain: “I guess they accepted it. I had accepted it. It wasn’t until he showed up I even began to think about this place - it’s still fucked that I’m here.”
“He?” The spooky figure asked - his voice nearly teasing in its sudden interest. She shook her head and went on to demand: “I’ve shared enough. Now, tell me. How am I here? How am I alive? What do you mean symbiote?”
He seemed disappointed his prying had come to an end, but returned to staring up at the moon as he explained: “You never asked, but yes. I changed your clothes and verified it. Over either shoulder, you’ve got its mark. If I needed any more evidence, that’d be it. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?” She blinked. Marks on her shoulders? She racked her mind for the last time she had seen her own back reflected in the mirror of her room. It had been pale and bony, but there had been no marks - not that she was aware of. But thinking about her room, those words and her naked back, she was reminded of someone else who had been marked in that region. Her head jerked sideways with a sudden curiosity.
“And how am I supposed to have gotten it? And where is it?” These were understandable questions - questions he seemed to have no definitive answer to.
“I am not sure. Have you ever eaten human flesh? Has anyone ever given you human flesh?” She felt nauseous to the pits of her stomach. She knew exactly when, how and why she had been given this ‘symbiote’.
“I- I ate an eye once… someone saved my life by giving it to me. I’d been poisoned.” His head bobbed in the moon’s reflected light.
“A good choice. My tests have verified that it can purify the blood - I don’t recommend exposing yourself to the toxins, though… They are usually painful.”
She was gripping her mouth as she digested the information. Having inherited Guy’s powers would have answered several of her questions, but the idea of having something living inside of her made her sick.
“I… This sounds insane. Why am I even listening to this?” She asked. He shrugged and with an irritating bemusement answered: “I’ve no idea - I’m just a random man you found on the beach.” He paused to chuckle, only to see that his jest did not catch on. In a change of tacts, he went on to ask: “You’ve been starving. As you eat, you’ll find your body changing - you’ll grow stronger and faster, but you’ll need to keep eating more. Actually, give me a moment-”
He bent down to pick a pebble for the sands and held it in his right hand.
With swift movements, he juggled the pebble back and forth before extending his arms to the side. “The symbiotes communicate - that’s how I heard you. I’ve got theories, but we’ll get to those later… for now, tell me where I’ve got the rock.” It was a one in two chance she’d guess it correctly anyways. Shrugging, she decided to humor the man and chose his right hand, only to see him turn the palm to reveal the small, round pebble.
She remained unconvinced and let it show by folding her arms.
The two continued the game for the quarter of an hour, eventually falling into silent repetitions of pointing and yelping as time and time again, she was right.
Eventually, Logan took the hint that she was getting overwhelmed by the dawning truth. She began to make connections - memories of impressive feats of strength and agility she had written up as dumb luck as they happened, but now seemed to have been designed. He dropped the pebble to the sand and went over to lay a hand on her shoulder, only worsening her palm-choked sobbing.
“What the fuck is this thing, Logan? Where is it? How do I get it out?” She asked.
“You can’t. And I’m not entirely sure what it is… but without them, I suspect we’d both have been dead. So that’s how I look at it - as if Logan died some time ago, only to be brought back as this. Me and it.” She gagged, imagining it squirming around her mind. It was almost as if she could feel it.
“Is it gonna turn me into a Hellspawn? Is this how it starts? Am I turning into one of those!?” He was regretting ever breaching the subject, but if she was to be what he needed her to, she had to know. Better to deal with the discussion then and there than to have it later.
“No… But as you learn to know it, you’ll find that it’s long since turned into you. It feels what you feel, thinks what you think and as infuriating as that can be, it’s a process. For now, you’ll need to feed it by continuing to eat - it needs to grow strong. I’ll teach you to talk to it, when that time comes.”
“Logos help you, it sounds like you want it to take over my body - what’s wrong with you? Why do you want to feed it!?” She accused. This time, he turned around and by some unseen, unheard means she could tell that he was grinning beyond the stone mask.
“Call it integration. As for what I want with it, the answer’s nothing. But you- you’ll help me, I can already tell by that look in your eye. Even if I don’t ask, you will.”
Despite his words being unnerving, she felt no hostility from him. A slight case of mental sickness, perhaps, but no malice - not towards her.
“And what am I supposed to help you with?” She folded her arms tighter over her chest as she spoke.
“I am going to kill every last one of the Monstrum - inside and outside of Cradle. And I won’t rest until I’ve seen the last of their corpses turn to ashes.”