The roar shook the ground and rang up through his spine into the marrow of his bones. It was like the horned one’s roar, but louder, and stronger. It stopped as quickly as it had begun, but still he continued to tremble in fear, the black box in his hands tapping against his claws.

“Yellow.”, said Green Runner, hugging him.

“Yellow we did it!”, shouted Grey from his feet.

He ran from below him and tackled Patches, who seemed to be fine as well. Red and Brown were walking towards them. The horned one that the shiny hit was getting up, it’s face collapsed, and walking away with the others. The valley surrounding the hill was silent as the wind blew past all the people looking around in confusion.

“Yellow are you okay darling?”, asked Green Runner, pulling his trembling face to hers.

“Yellow this is the time to fake it, pull yourself together long enough to declare victory. Now!”, instructed Red.

Yellow clenched his hands and pulled back the fear, managing to begin a stomp with his feet.

“Victory!”, he screamed, echoing around the hill.

Immediately the crowds joined him in stomping and shouting. With the horned ones leaving and the shiny gone, they had one the feast. Dozens of bodies of prey lied dead for them to take home. It was indeed a victory, but Yellow still felt queasy as his legs shook. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that the pink creature he spoke to had understood him. He had sincerely wanted to make peace, despite Reds warnings.

Then the horned giant had suddenly appeared and nearly squashed his friends. The shiny nearly killed it in one blow, landing right next to Greener. In this world of giants and monsters was there really anything he could do to protect them? Surely, he didn’t belong in this world where one must feed on the many to save the few.

“Yellow I know what you’re feeling, what you tried to do, but I told you didn’t I? If we don’t eat them, we will starve in the winter. I suppose I should have never expected you to believe me without seeing it firsthand. Despite that little mishap you did really well today, you all did. When we’re back home I’ll tell you a story of mine, and we’ll have a talk with the elders.”, explained Red without his usual sarcasm.

“Yellow it’s okay now, relax.”, said Green Runner, shaking him.

Yellow calmed down, still panting while his shakes stopped.

“Is this what Red has been feeling this whole time? I always thought he didn’t care much for anyone but Brown, but… Now I know he felt this all of the time. This overwhelming sense of dread and responsibility. How close had I gotten to losing everyone just now? What would I have done then?”, he thought.

“We’re okay bubba, let’s go home.”, said Brown.

Yellow nodded and finally wrapped his weary arms around his lover. Green Runner chuckled at this.

“Alright, let’s clean this place up and lay down some fake paths to throw off our sent in case the shiny decides it wants revenge. I want you all to lead the packs on this. Yellow meet me at my nest when we’re back.”, instructed Red, turning to leave.

“You, you said we’re meeting the elders?”, stuttered Yellow.

“Yep, times are changing, don’t you know?”, Red said over his shoulder and he and Brown walked away.

“Will the shiny really come back?”, asked Grey.

“I don’t know.”, said Yellow, shaking his head.

“We barely took down a regular prey.”, said Patches.

“That was no regular prey, a skilled warrior he must have been. With sharp things he fought with honor and pride, just like us.”, said Green Runner.

“You all heard Red, lets lead our people out of here before there’s another fight.”, said Yellow, stepping forward with the confidence he had momentarily lost.

“There’s my Yellow.”, said Green Runner, smiling beside him.

“Whatever you say Yellow.”, Grey said from his other side.

“We should start with cleaning our wounds.”, mumbled Patches.

“Right of course.”, said Yellow as the group stopped.

The licked and cleaned the cuts and bruises they had received, all while Yellow’s hand clenched the box.

“You going to keep that?”, asked Green Runner.

Yellow nodded and said, “Just in case.”

. . .

Justin’s left leg limped as he walked through the graveyard. Holding his left arm, he slowly dug the two graves while the bodies meant for them rotted beside him. Their lingering sent of rotten bile and copper blood subsumed the air around him, but he no longer cared. Little by little he shoveled the dirt with his one arm, chanting to himself as the red fall leaves blew around him.

“Dig, dig, dig, dig…”, he repeated continuously.

It wasn’t long before he was head deep in a hole. His swinging arm moved a few more times, as if digging phantom dirt, before he tossed the shovel out and climbed back up to the surface.

“Bury her.”, thought Emotion.

Justin stumbled as he collected what he had kept together of Tacktay and jumped down with her into the grave. He stared at her, longing to hear her, to hear all of them again. After a moment he resumed by exiting the hole and replacing the dirt. He patted it down and didn’t miss a beat as he dug the next hole, this time next to Bran’s grave. His chanting resumed as he worked, fearing where his mind would wonder if he left his thoughts unchecked.

As he finished, he once again threw his shovel and jumped from the grave, this time almost losing his footing as his left foot barely responded to him.

“Keep going, I’m not done yet.”, he mumbled.

He carefully untied the straps holding Morcant’s arm blade contraptions and re-strapped them on his own arms. The layers of dried blood on the boxes and his skin clashed and scrapped each other. He ignored it and began cleaning the blades with an extra shirt from the supplies they had brought to the battle and left there. After sliding the blades back in he gently lifted Morcant’s body in an attempt to not spill anymore of his insides. He sat at the edge of the grave and slid inside with the body in his arms. He closed his empty looking eyes before exiting the grave and covering it.

“Swing, swing, swing. Stomp, stomp, stomp.”, he chanted while filling and sealing the grave.

“Rocks and saplings.”, he repeated while he stumbled about like a zombie.

He continued to describe his actions as he pushed two rocks into place and carved their names in English with Morcant’s knife. He found saplings were surprisingly abundant in the autumn forest, perhaps they were all from the livelier trees on the edges, trying to take root only to be starved once spring arrived.

“Animals, monsters, enemies.”, thought Emotion.

He planted Morcant’s sapling without trouble and moved on to Tacktays. The dirt shifted as his hands fumbled with the little tree. Over and over he tried to keep it upright as he shifted from one side to the next. His melancholy was shot with fleeting streaks of rage as the plant sunk and fell repeatedly. His drooping, sunken face twitched in agitation while his hands slipped. Finally, the little tree snapped in half in his hands.

He began shaking as his hands dove into his hair and pulled. Globs and strands of red came out as he relentlessly pulled, over and over again.

“Can’t save, can’t kill, can’t plant. Useless, useless, useless!”, he growled like a rabid dog whilst slamming his head into the dirt.

“Logic what should I do? Where did you go? Has he finally given up on me? Should I just to end it?”, Emotions thoughts swirled in his failure.

“Can I finally leave this cruel world?”, he wondered.

“Leave… The boat’s still there, I just need to finish it and then I can sail away. Isn’t that what Logic would do? Yes, I’ll drift away from this terrible place. Drift away forever.”, Emotion planned.

“Don’t leave.”, Morcant’s voice echoed in his mind.

“But Morcant, there’s nothing left here. There’s nothing left of me.”, Emotion pleaded.

“Promise me.”, Morcant said.

Justin grinded his teeth and closed his wide eyes, allowing the tears to flow out of them.

“Okay.”, Emotion agreed.

He rose from the ground and began his slow limp back to the forest in search of another sapling. His right foot marching forwards, dragging his left.

. . .

The hole in the night was center around the sun, signaling midday as Yellow and his pack finally made it home. They had remained in the forest until every fake trail had been made, and every bit of food had been recovered. As he and his friends slowly walked into the nesting grounds they were bombarded by nesters and hunters alike. While spooked at first, he quickly realized they were being welcomed home with praise and awe as their fellow nestmates cheered their return.

“Yellow, Yellow, let me bare your children Yellow.”, said one woman as the walked through the swarm of bodies.

Green Runner snarled at her and she backed off.

“Yellow, please, take our scraps, it’s the least we can do.”, said one man they passed.

“Thanks.”, said Green Runner as she took the disembodied arm the man held.

“Grey, hey Grey, could you teach us how to fight like you? Are you free this twilight?”, asked a group of younglings that stood at his size.

“Oh, of course! Meet me at the training fields.”, said Grey, beaming a smile.

“Training fields?”, asked Yellow as they continued to push through the busy crowd.

“We cleared out some land for all the new nests and I thought we could train there in our free time. Not everyone here knows how to work together well, you know?”, asked Grey.

“Thanks, a great idea Grey, we’ll maximize our fighting ability and minimize our casualties as a result. You’re a genius.”, praised Yellow as he looked into space.

“Haven’t seen that look in a while.”, said Green Runner.

“Doesn’t his little face always look like that?”, asked Patches.

Grey gasped at her familiar rudeness but Green Runner laughed and cackled. She pulled Yellow’s arm and drew him from his gaze.

“Huh?”, he asked, confused.

“Oh, nothing darling.”, Green Runner said, rolling her eyes.

“Alright back off, make way!”, shouted Green Runner as they made it through the crowd and into the heart of the nesting grounds.

“We’re going to go and see Red, you two stay safe.”, said Green Runner.

“You bet.”, said Grey, nodding his whole body.

“We’ll see you soon Yellow, good luck with the elders.”, he continued.

“Ah, right, you bet.”, said Yellow giving his best fake smile.

Grey appeared to completely buy it as he left with an unconcerned Patches.

“You’ll do great darling. I’ll take you there and be waiting at home for you when you’re done. Not that your day will be over just yet.”, she said while raising her eyebrows.

Yellow smiled and remained calm as they walked to Red’s nest. He knew what she meant and was happy. Surely, he deserved to mate after all that had happened, and it truly seemed like a just reward for his efforts. Greener’s presence and intentions put him at ease, the feelings of dread he held from the battle faded, along with the thoughts of the shiny. His thoughts drifted while thinking about the training field and other things he could do to help the nest prosper. He quickly arrived and stumbled into the now familiar nest without even realizing it.

Red cleared his throat, drawing his attention back to reality. Yellow’s face grew hot and red as he saw what he was interrupting. He wondered why he didn’t knock, only to finally realize he had casually walked in while lost in thought. He stammered and tried to apologize, but Red sighed and interrupted him.

“Cloudy come back tomorrow love.”, he said.

She nodded and dismounted his laying body before hurrying past Yellow.

Red rolled back and shot forward, getting upright in a single, swift motion.

“Uh, sorry Red.”, Yellow finally managed to say.

“Oh, don’t worry about it, I knew you’d come soon. I’m just in a hurry is all.”, said Red.

“To speak with the elders?”, asked Yellow, tilting his head.

Red simply sighed and shook his head.

“Let’s get this over with.”, he said.

Yellow followed Red out of his nest and through the winding nesting grounds. He was concerned for Red, for he had never seen him so tired before. Then again, he never saw him after battles, perhaps he always rested and mated. Curing this bit of anxiety prompted another, however.

“You never did tell me what we’re discussing with them.”, he said.

“Yellow you are the dumbest smart person I know.”, said Red, facepalming.

“Ehr, sorry.”, mumbled Yellow, facing the ground.

“Remember what we’ve been discussing over the past few days? You’re my successor Yellow, and the Alpha needs to be acquainted with the elders. I don’t expect you to agree with them on much, I haven’t, but their advice can be useful. Hell, maybe you’ll be able to put it to better use than me.”, explained Red.

“Oh, right.”, said Yellow, mulling it over.

After some time, the made it to the opposite end of the nesting lands. A group of quaint little nests formed a circle near the edge of their borders. Something was off about them, however. All of them were covered in webs and old, rotting wood, as well as being clearly unkept, which was unheard of. Yellow had seen something like this once before, at an abandoned rival nest one winter when they were foraging for food.

He remembered Brown teasing him that day about spirits haunting the place. He had remained on edge as they searched the nests and eventually came to a pile of bones. They didn’t seem right to him and made his feathers stand out. He stared at them, getting lost in fearful daydreams, when suddenly they stood up. He screamed and leapt into the air in shock, only to hear Brown laughing at him from the bones.

He smiled as the memory faded and his vision returned to the present. There he immediately saw a long, droopy face with sharp teeth breathing in his face. He leapt into the air with a shriek just like that day but managed to make out that it was a simple old man by the time he landed. Red smacked him upside his head and cleared his throat again.

“Sorry about that, he drifts of sometimes.”, Red said to the old man.

“So, you’ve returned.”, an old voice drew out.

From under the old twigs and branches five other elderly men and one woman came out to join the other. Their feathers had all turned grey and white, and they moved like slugs. The one who had spoke continued.

“So far we seem to have been mistaken about this grand nest Red. Perhaps you’ve really changed our people for the better after all.”, the tall, haggard man said with his frail body shaking.

“No thanks to any of you.”, spat Red.

The old man chuckled and asked, “We know the old ways; we pass them down from Alpha to Alpha. Countless generations have gone on like this. Why should we risk all that for the wild ideas of some omega?”.

“How’s your food situation old man?”, asked Red.

“Much better now, even had some younglings offer to help us clean the place up a bit.”, the old man said.

“And who was it that made peace with the horned ones?”, asked Red.

“Mm, well I seem to remember you saying it was the same…”, the old man said before Red interrupted him.

“He also assisted in the subjugation of the other nests and helped us kill the shinny’s pack.”, Red interrupted.

“The people are no better than long-necks. I thought I taught you that Red.”, the old man said.

“I’ve come to see you were wrong about that to.”, stated Red.

“So why is it you’re here Red? I don’t expect you to ask us for advice, with you still being high off your victory. Did you just come to brag?”, asked the old man.

“No, I came to…”, Red managed to say before coughing.

He kneeled over and continued coughing, getting horse and raspy. It became worse as it dragged on and Red struggled to draw breath between the wet sounding coughs.

“Red, Red!”, Yellow said as he held his side.

Red squeezed his arm as his breaths overcame the coughing. He was shaking, breathing sharp and fast, before he puked on the ground. It wasn’t just food, but red and copper smelling. Red stood up and caught his breath, shaking off Yellow’s grasp, but for the first time he could remember, he saw Red’s head held low.

“I see, so this is why you came. You’re a man out of time with much left to do.”, said the old man.

“I don’t have time to teach him all I know”, wheezed Red.

“Do you really expect us to train this weakling to be the next Alpha with so many fresh faces here?”, asked the old man.

“Without him none of them would be here. He will lead our people to where we belong.”, snarled Red.

“One clever idea doesn’t make a man. Did I teach you nothing as a youngling? The weak will always bring down the strong, they just can’t help themselves. When sacrifices must be made, they will faulter. When food must be rationed, they will bend to the demands of the many. When rules must be enforced, they will make exceptions.”, explained the old man.

“Father, please, he is different. If you would just spend some time with him as I have, I’m sure you will see it too.

“You see yourself in him, but you’re wrong Red.”, said the old man with a sigh.

Red lifted his head, finally breathing well again, and stared down the old man.

“Fine, I’ll do it myself. It’s only fitting that my final act will be to prove you wrong again father.”, he said with his crooked smile.

Red turned around and signaled with a head bob to Yellow that they were leaving as he walked away. Yellow glanced back to the elders before following him. Red quickly began coughing again however, and Yellow stood by his side, ready to help his friend.

“What happens when another shiny comes with the feast? What happens when those things in the plains finally find this place? You know they will eventually Red. Is this who you want leading us then? Is this the man you want protecting your children, protecting Brown?”, asked the old man.

Yellow turned back to him as Red coughed and was met with the same crooked smile Red carried.

“Like father like son hm? So, this the asshole that beat the harsh brashness into Red.”, he thought.

The old man chuckled and Yellow wondered why Red put up with his crap, only to remember what he said earlier about faking it. Yellow flared his teeth and pulled Red up as his coughing subsided.

“Don’t worry old man, we don’t need your help to fight what lies in the darkness, you’ll only slow us down.”, Yellow said in Red’s sarcastic snarl.

The old man just stood there, his old bones still rattling, as they turned and walked away. Red laughed and coughed as they made their way back through the nesting grounds.

. . .

Justin released his grip on the sleds at the top of the spawn hill. He looked out onto the blood-stained meadows covering the hill of bones and smelled the rot and decay seeping from its grounds. There wasn’t a body in sight however, only the litter they brought with them. On one hand he was there to collect supplies in preparation for the next drop, on the other maybe he could follow the trails of blood to the raptor’s nests. A small smile formed on his drooping face.

He stumbled to the edge of the forest and began following a trail of blood through the trees. Notably there weren’t any innards or missing limbs, just blood and footprints. After a few minutes the trail ended in a pool of blood in the middle of the forest. It was catching a steady drip from the air, with nibbling audible from the same direction. His gaze followed it up, finding a human body, or what was left of one, being eaten by little, gliding tree raptors. It had been skinned, with little but the skin remaining, hung in the branches.

He had only seen these raptors in the trees, never at the spawn valley, and assumed they didn’t posses the dolphin level intellect of the other raptors. Moreover, their intellect was becoming something hard to ignore with this fake trail. Then again, he was sure that something like this could arise naturally in a competitive environment, at least that’s what he assumed logic would say. He looked around for any sighs of where the perpetrators had gone but found no tracks. He sighed and walked back to the valley.

Again, he followed a trail into the woods, and again he was met with a strung-up skin. His left eye twitched as he dragged himself back to the valley. He followed another trail, and another, and another, all with the same results. On the fifth time he started giggling, by the sixth he was hysterically cry laughing, with his limp left arm holding his gut. He made it back the valley and chuckled as he looked for more trails.

He circled the valley once, twice, three times and his laughing stopped. The entire left side of his face was twitching now as he counted the trails. Six, there were only six trails interweaving with each other and going in all directions. There was no center to them, no uniformity, and no trace of where all the raptors had gone with the bodies. He fell to his knees and ferociously pulled his hair while shaking his head.

“Can’t kill.”, Emotion whined.

He stopped long enough to notice a bloody walkie-talkie on the ground. Picking it up he pressed it to his head.

“I can still gather things, right? I don’t need to find them, in a few days’ time I know just where they’ll be, and I’ll be here waiting for them.”, Emotion thought with a toothy half smile.

He got up and began scavenging the valley for supplies.

. . .

“Well, aren’t you going to ask me?”, asked Red, now walking on his own again.

“Figured you’d tell me eventually.”, said Yellow as he and Red made it back into Red’s nest.

“There you go learning patience all on your own.”, mumbled Red.

“Alright if your up to it, what was that sack of bones talking about?”, asked Yellow.

“Oh, you sounded like you already knew.”, said Red, now walking on his own again.

“You know I was bluffing.”, said Yellow, shaking his head.

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell you eventually.”, laughed Red.

Yellow sighed and asked, “And the other thing?”.

“Right, the story I mentioned.”, said Red as he sat down with a huff.

“Back before I was Alpha, the winter you and Brown were younglings, I was on a recon mission after a feast. One of the other nests had mentioned seeing some strange creatures in the forest, and after the arrival of the horned ones we weren’t in the mood to share anymore food. So, the Alpha female lead me, Brown and our pack to investigate while that bag of bones sat on his fat, lazy ass. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but the old man seemed worried and had warned us to use caution. It didn’t take long for us to find them.”, Red explained.

“You took Brown out as a youngling?”, asked Yellow suddenly.

“She was quite advanced for her age, hell if we had taken the time to probe your mind, we would have noticed you were too. Anyway, a group of prey were gathered in the forest and they were huddling around a fire for some reason. This was the first thing that weirded us out, why weren’t they afraid of fire, and why wasn’t it spreading? How had a fire been started on a small patch of branches? It only got stranger from there. Our mother, Tan, had wanted to kill them at once but, curios as I was, I convinced her to let us survey them first. They were hanging meat from some carved wood, and even had some on sticks they were holding over the fire. We never did figure out why, but we did try it later and it was bland and tough. While they ate, they were clearly speaking in their language, and drawing things on the ground. It became clear to us they were intelligent, even though before this we had only ever seen them fight or flee at the feast.”, Red continued.

“What happened?”, asked Yellow.

“Purple was with us, he was kind and gentle, and he suggested we try to make contact. Tan was against it, worried for his safety, but she couldn’t stop his curiosity. We had been talking in circles and had all gotten rather interested in the prey.”, said Red.

“Wait, Purple and Tan?”, interrupted Yellow.

“Guess I should have expected you to figure that out. Yes, Tan was having relations with Purple, and they had a batch of eggs at the nests, but to be fair to them our father wasn’t exactly a loving Alpha. He wasn’t an idiot however and fought Purple to the death after this incident when he found out about it due to their young hatching. He was going to kill the kids and that’s what set me off. He was tired after the fight and I easily subdued him. You should have heard him begging for his life Yellow, it would have made even you cringe.”, explained Red.

“Why didn’t Tan do it?”, asked Yellow.

“Let me finish my story Yellow. Purple walked up to them with some meat held out and like magic they were all friendly with us. He spent time with them alone for a while, observing them and teaching them to hunt, and as the days passed, we joined them individually. Now hunting isn’t great in the winter, and we didn’t dare bring them back to the feast, nor did they show on their own, so eventually they were getting hungry. The old man asked us to see if they would cannibalize each other or ward that off as a group like we our kind do in those situations. So, for the first night we slept with them in their nest, and we figured out why they kept their fire going with wood and twigs. Even on a cold winter night it was warm by that fire Yellow, you would have imagined it was frightening, but it was just the opposite. That night was the best sleep I ever got, and it was also was the last night I got it. Within mere hours we woke to the sound of them killing Tan, and not screaming or fighting, no they didn’t give us an honorable fight. We woke to the sound of the sharpened stick they drove into her skull snapping. She hadn’t even been given the chance to wake up. Luckily for us the idiots seemed to have been planning on killing us one at a time and weren’t ready for us all to wake. Purple was furious and butchered them, but he was also wounded in the fight, making him easier prey for the old man when we got home to his young hatching.”, Red finished.

“I see, so that’s how she died.”, said Yellow, mulling over the story.

“Now do you get it Yellow? Those things hunger as we do but can’t view us as their own. So, either we kill them, or they kill us, and considering how many of them arrive every feast I’d imagine they would starve or kill each other if we left them unchecked. There is no moral position here to take Yellow, but there is one that benefits us and leaves them in the same position, dead.”, said Red.

Yellow nodded as he took this in, reviewing the options in his head, but coming to the same conclusion. If they didn’t fight and eat them, they would die by their hands.

“Say the words Yellow, promise me you won’t invite them into our nest once I’m gone. Whatever they say or do, eventually they’ll get hungry, and it’ll be us or them.”, said Red.

“I promise.”, said Yellow, looking at his friend.

“Great, now over the next few days your going to be rather busy. Me and Brown will tag team teaching you how to run this place, and how to fight. Your friends can join us as well.”, said Red.

Yellow nodded again.

“You sure your up for this Yellow?”, asked Red.

“Red, I’ve been waiting around my whole life for something to happen, for something to change me, and now all of you are here doing just that… And it’s not just that. I can see many opportunities to make a change now, looking back. I can’t miss anymore, I can’t let myself, and not just for me, but because now I’m looking after my friends. I’m ready to take charge of my life Red, I’m ready to take charge of this nest.”, explained Yellow.

“Good, Brown will be here with Green Runner soon. They’ll start training you immediately.”, said Red with his killer grin.

. . .

Justin drug the last load of supplies back to the old cave entrance. He had made a few trips and had a few large piles of assorted things gathered. He planned on building a hut around them and so began gathering wood, wasting no time on rest now that it was just him. He sliced down a few trees with his hands, wanting to gather all the supplies necessary before afternoon twilight, which was fast approaching. Tossing them onto two sleds, he drug them back to the piles.

He hadn’t stopped chanting to himself as the day went by. Going over every thought and motion out loud, trying to keep the bad thoughts at bay. They persisted however, mumbling, talking, even shouting at him inside his head. He had to stop frequently, rolling in the dirt, pulling out his hair, crying for relief or forgiveness. None came.

The building didn’t need to be habitation worthy, just good enough to keep the supplies dry for the time being. He didn’t want to risk rain again. He took slow swings at the logs, carving them into planks, before creating a floor on the soil. The logs stretched out about twenty feet, and he was able to get about six planks from each of the two trees, making the width about twelve feet. Clearly, he would need more trees.

Making another trip to the forest edge he cut down four trees to bring back, canopy and all, and continued his work. He carved wholes in the floor for the walls to sit and took the hardest stone’s that Churbet had showed him and rolled them into nails. The first wall was unsteady, but as they piled on, they became strong and sturdy. After another few trips twilight had fallen, and he was working on the roof. His mind had gone blank and quiet as he worked, his method of narrating his actions had begun working.

However, all it took was one distraction to break the trance he had placed himself in. He heard them before he saw them. Their throaty, growling, bird like calls. Like a whisper in the wind they entered his ears and he froze. His head turned slowly to see them with his heat vision. Towards the spawn hill, at the forests edge in the shrubs, three of them stood, watching him. His left eye twitched.

“Revenge.”, Morcant’s voice entered his mind.

His left face twitched as a jagged smile contorted itself into being. He dropped off the roof onto the dry dirt surrounding the mountain and stepped out of the huff of smoke, staring down the enemy. He fell into a runner’s position and thrust his feet, cracking the soil and launching himself forwards. His enemy finally seemed to realize what was going on as they began running. He was already gaining on them as he blasted through the ferns and bushes.

They, along with their shadows, zig zagged through the crowded forest in the twilight as he chased them down. All the while he could hear them communicating, and he could feel his hate building. His blood boiled once more, and his left side finally allowed him control enough to run. Logic was sleeping, but he clearly wanted the same thing. He roared as he leapt towards a target, but it leaped as well. After jumping to the side another raptor had caught its hand, pulling it back into a run.

Justin broke into a run again, determined to end them. His breaths were becoming growls, like a rabid dog as he caught up to them again. He roared again to see if they would jump, but they continued forward. There was no reason to jump anyway, soon he could grasp their tails. His bulging eyes lit up as he held his hand out to catch them. Right before he did their rear member side stepped.

He thought nothing of it until his foot sunk into the ground and he flew down like a mouse trap. He managed to catch himself before his face hit the dirt. Looking back, he saw the brush that had been covering the whole. He got up again, only having gotten more enraged.

“Clever bastards. Just let me slice you open.”, thought Emotion.

He was throwing his legs now, like some demented clown chasing down prey in a horror flick, or someone leaping between two beams. They breached the spawn valley just moments before he did, on the trail he had made. He was foaming at the mouth as he neared them, just moments from the kill, when suddenly a young boy appeared in their wake. His smile faded as they ran through him like a ghost. He drove his feet into the ground and stooped just short of the boy.

“Little me?”, he asked, panting.

“Stop it.”, said the boy, his head held down.

“Little me what are you doing here? Are… Are you real?”, he asked.

The little boy looked up at him, tears covered his face.

“Please don’t kill anymore. That’s not who we are.”, the boy pleaded.

“Oh, little me.”, Justin said, calming down and holding the boy’s face.

“They’re just animals, it’s okay.”, he said with a wink.

“I don’t care, we wouldn’t ever have done this before. Logic, he… he changed you.”, said the boy.

“Logic is asleep.”, said Justin, shaking his head.

“Then why? Why are you doing this?”, the boy asked.

“Because I want them dead. I hate them and I made a promise.”, said Justin.

“I don’t wanna be a killer. Don’t do this.”, the boy pleaded.

Justin’s left eye twitched as he scoffed.

“Haven’t you been paying attention? Didn’t you see what happened to the others? These things, these animals, they have to die!”, yelled Justin.

“No, no you don’t have to do this.”, the boy cried.

Justin stood up and let his hands fall free.

“I’m not going to argue with you. I’m the adult here, I know what’s best. We’re going to kill them, all of them.”, he said, stepping through the boy as he vanished.

“No!”, the boy screamed from behind him, grabbing his right hand.

“I won’t let you.”, he continued.

Justin grinded his teeth while grappling with the imaginary boy, his face shaking in rage. He pushed the boy down and mounted him, ready to strike with his right fist.

“I don’t want to be a monster.”, the boy whimpered.

Justin’s face wrinkled and stretched as he tried to fight off the boys will. His bulging eyes were like a whirlpool of rage staring down at his younger self. Were his childish impulses getting the better of him, or were these his true feelings? Had Morcant commandeered him? What did he really want? He dropped his fist into the dirt and sighed.

“Then what do we want?”, he asked.

“Let’s just leave, look for the spaceport and save everyone.”, said the boy, still in tears.

“But my promise.”, Justin argued.

“We made a mistake, we can’t do it, we can’t be killers.”, pleaded the boy.

Justin’s eyes welted as he dropped his head through the boy and onto the dirt.

“Morcant… I’m sorry.”, he whispered.

. . .

Yellow collapsed to the ground in a panting huff. His arms sagged like loose fern leaves and his legs shook and ached. No matter how hard he breathed he couldn’t get enough air.

“Well I think that’s enough for today, wouldn’t you say Greener?”, laughed Brown.

Green Runner nodded and sat with Yellow, caressing him.

“Thought only I was going to call you that.”, wheezed Yellow.

“I don’t have the heart to get upset with her about it.”, said Green Runner, shrugging her shoulders.

Brown walked over to them as well but remained standing.

“You did way better than I expected today brother. I guess I should let you two rest for now, but meet me back here at first twilight, and bring your pack okay?”, she said before leaving.

The two of them sat in silence for a time as the shadows of twilight grew long and dark. Yellow eventually got his breath and wondered if they should go and get some sleep.

“I’m exhausted.”, he mumbled.

“Well I do hope you’re not to tired, you still owe me after all.”, she said, moving her hand over his body.

“Wait Greener, I’m really tired, let’s get back to the nest and…”, he said before she covered his mouth.

“This is our place, all of it. We made it, with our friends. We can do this here, and we can sleep here, okay?”, she said, placing her eyes over his.

He gulped as he began licking his neck and rolling him over. He remembered the scene he found Red in earlier that day. He remembered the story he told him and thought about the fire. Hadn’t he seen something like that?

“Greener, when we were at the shiny’s cave, didn’t we see something burnt? Like a pile of ashes?”, he asked.

She sighed and pinned him down forcefully.

“Yellow I have been waiting for this all day, now I promise I will answer all of your silly questions and do as you say after this is over, alright?”, she snarled.

Yellow nodded and she continued caressing him. He began doing the same to her, squeezing and scratching her as well. Maybe he could relax for just a little while, but he couldn’t let himself forget about the fire, about all the things he had planned.

. . .

Justin hammered away in the silent night at the wood he was holding. He had torn off the two rooms they planned to build on the raft and was just working on finishing the floor. He alone had no need for a storage room or a place to take shelter from the elements. All he needed was a patch of wood to float down the river on in search of the spaceport. Ever few seconds however he had to stop and hit himself or pull on his hair to stop the bad thoughts from flowing in.

“Just keep hammering and tying the wood.”, he thought.

The bones of the Spino and Titanoboa were picked clean and laying bear in the sun, staring at him while he worked. Hours passed as he went from meticulously constructing the now simple raft, to bouts of hyperventilating and screaming in fits of rage. His failure haunted his mind.

“Why couldn’t you save them? Why did you let them go? You knew this would happen; did you forget the dream? Logic where are you?”, his thoughts swam in a sea of despair as he rolled on the ground pulling out his hair.

His frozen skin shook as he slammed his head into the dirt over and over. His limp side enraged him when we tried to work on the raft. The dried blood joined his sweat as it passed his eyebrows and violated his eyes. At some point he simply froze and fell into a fit of hysterical laughter as the thought of endlessly searching the monster infested wasteland for a building he had never seen invaded his mind.

“Eh?”, he asked in a daze.

He circled the raft to see if he was hallucinating, touching the sides. It was complete and seemed sturdy when he pulled on it. His mouth fell into an uneasy smile as he pulled the raft to the river. He looked down at his reflection in the clear, running water. His hair, face, and drooping eyes were all stained blood red. He didn’t bother washing off as he swung the raft out over the water. He felt it tearing but couldn’t stop it while it sailed through the air.

The wooden logs tore apart and caught the rapid water, washing away as the twigs and binding followed. The whole raft apart from the log he was holding had vanished in an instant. He glanced at it, then to the dark sky as tears streamed down his face. He clenched his fist, snapping the log while curling down, before rising again in a fit of laughter. He dropped backwards onto the ground and continued laughing until his saliva had foamed over his mouth and he was unable to breathe, even then he continued laughing under the shadowed, stagnate sun. He laughed and cried as his thoughts overwhelmed him, until his broken mind let him sleep.

. . .

Yellow opened his eyes to a small foot poking him. Above him stood Grey and Patches, behind him was Green Runner embracing him. Grey was holding food, quite a bit of it in fact. Still groggy Yellow failed to make words as he questioned the situation.

“It’s first twilight. Brown told us to meet you here and to bring some extra food for the two of you. She said something about expecting you to need it. Anyway, I’m sure she and Red will be here soon for our training.”, Grey rambled on.

Yellow cleared his throat and was finally able to speak.

“Thanks.”, he said, taking the food into his hands.

Green Runner began sniffing, possibly in her sleep as she never opened her eyes while reaching over and grabbing some of the meat. She began feasting on it behind him without sitting up. Yellow chuckled and Grey joined him.

“Say Grey, do you remember seeing a charred area at the shiny’s cave?”, asked Yellow.

“Um, I guess so. There was this pile of burnt wood near the mouth, but I assumed it was just a lightning strike, why?”, asked Grey.

“Well lightning strikes make a crystal-like area on the ground and usually start a fire. They don’t leave a circle of burnt wood and ashes.”, said Yellow, sitting up to eat.

Grey and Patches sat down with him.

“Okay, the shiny did a lot of weird things, what’s your point?”, asked Grey.

“My point is, maybe they created that fire somehow, like how they created all their other strange items.”, said Yellow.

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“What’s it matter, are you worried the shiny is going to burn down the forest?”, asked Grey.

“No but thanks for giving me that to consider. I was thinking maybe we should learn how they do it.”, explained Yellow.

“Wait, you want us to make fire circles? What for? Doesn’t that sound dangerous?”, asked Grey.

“Just think of the possibilities Grey. We could keep our eggs warm without laying on them, and we could keep warm in the winter. Maybe we could ward off other predators or corral prey.”, said Yellow.

“Yellow fire burns people, it doesn’t keep them warm.”, said Grey, shaking his head.

“No, you’re not thinking it out Grey. The shiny and his pack must have sat near the fire to keep warm. Also, I think they place their food over it, although I don’t know why yet.”, explained Yellow.

“What would give you that impression? We didn’t see anything like that when we monitored them.”, said Grey, tilting his head.

“Well um, Green Runner and I saw it while you and your old pack were scouting.”, stuttered Yellow.

“Okay so you know how they made they fire?”, asked Grey.

“Well no, we didn’t see that part.”, said Yellow.

“Yellow, please tell me you aren’t suggesting what I think you are.”, questioned Grey, standing up.

“We just need to witness the process, that’s all, in and out.”, said Yellow.

“You saw what happened yesterday right, or was it just me? Because I saw one of the shiny’s pack nearly kill all five of us and the shiny disfigured one of the horned ones.”, protested Grey.

Green Runner suddenly let out a long yawn and sat up, still chewing the last of her food.

“I’m sure Yellow here can think of a way to approach it safely. Hell, maybe he can communicate with it.”, she laughed.

“No!”, shouted Yellow.

Grey jumped back, startled, while Green Runner put her hand on him. Patches simply opened her eyes wider as Yellow panted and tried to calm down.

“None of you mention that to anyone, and never try it, understand?”, he commanded.

They all nodded and Grey carefully re-approached him.

“Red tell you something that frightening yesterday?”, asked Green Runner, rubbing her head on his.

Yellow simply nodded, not wanting to get into it with them.

“Well speaking of him.”, said Patches.

Yellow’s pack turned to see Red and Brown walking their way with a large crowd following them and three men being dragged with them. He remembered them from somewhere but couldn’t place it.

“Aren’t they from White’s nest?”, asked Patches.

“They sure are.”, answered Green Runner.

Green Runner grabbed him to let him know they were standing up and Grey and Patches followed. Red and Brown soon arrived with their crowd surrounding them. The three men were tossed to the ground in front of them and held down on their knees, all of them were beaten and bruised.

“Yellow, rest well?”, asked Red with a grin.

Yellow nodded, not taking his eyes off the squirming men on the ground.

“Ah them, let me tell you a story Yellow.”, said Red, circling the men.

“Last twilight these men strode into the nesting grounds claiming they had brought the shiny with them to kill us all in some kind of poor attempt to get revenge for White. So, we subdued them, rather easily I might add, and waited for the inevitable. They were so sure of themselves, at first, but as night gave way, we all realized their guest wasn’t showing.”, explained Red.

“So, they betrayed us?”, asked Yellow through Green Runner’s snarling.

“Correct, and what is our punishment for betrayal?”, asked Red with his killer smile.

Yellow looked to Brown, who nodded her head. Clearly Red had brought them here so Yellow could kill them and show the nest he was seriously going to be in command soon.

“Well, we haven’t exactly made one yet, this is the first betrayal I know of.”, said Yellow, scratching his neck.

“Oh, do you not remember what happened to Orange?”, asked Red.

Yellow saw Blackhead in the crowd, who nodded to him. Yellow sighed.

“Ah, right.”, he said.

“Thought I’d let you do the honors, you having made this grand nest and all, and them wanting to destroy it. Normally we would have a fight, but these three didn’t seem to want one, choosing to lead death here while we all rested. So, I don’t think they deserve a fight to the death, they don’t deserve our risk.”, explained Red.

“I see.”, said Yellow.

“Can I really kill three men, just like that? Red wouldn’t hesitate, but our differences are as important as following his lead. They just wanted revenge for their Alpha, they just wanted to… They wanted to lead that thing here, and have it kill us all. It would have killed Greener, Grey, Patches, Red and Brown. It would have destroyed what we all fought so hard to create, and for what? Revenge for their stupid Alpha? A man to dumb to see my genius and live with us as equals? No, there’s only one punishment fitting this.”, thought Yellow as his scales went cold.

Yellow snarled and bared his claws as he slowly stepped toward the three men. His nails dug into the ground as he walked, his teeth bit down as his eyes narrowed. Two of the men seemed resigned to their fate, calm and unmoving, while the one between them was different. He trembled in fear and pulled away from his captor’s grasp. He froze however, as Yellow came to tower over him.

“How dare you fear death after what you tried to bring about.”, hissed Yellow, squinting down at him.

“No, you’re wrong! They forced me to help them. They told me they were sent with a way to kill the shiny and needed a spare pair of claws, honest! When they ran off, I didn’t know what to do besides follow them!”, desperately panted the man.

Yellow raised his brow and looked at the other men.

“Is this true? Did you deceive him?”, he asked.

“What’s it matter, are you going to kill us twice?”, laughed one of the men.

“Ha you see Omega, Walker here is just too gullible to pass up. We knew he would do whatever we said, and we knew he would slow down the shiny as he ran behind us.”, the other man laughed.

“Is this true?”, asked Yellow.

“I guess so sir. I was the only male nester in White’s nest. I was frequently harassed by many of the others.”, whimpered Walker.

“Reminds me of myself.”, he thought while tilting his head.

“As for these two.”, he thought with a killer grin.

“It’s a shame we’ve already eaten.”, he snarled, cutting down with his claws.

The heads of the two men fell and rolled as his claws past through their necks. Blood spurted out and the hunters holding them dropped their corpses with laughter. Red held back his cackling in what was probably an attempt to avoid a coughing fit, or seem authoritative, as the rest of the crowd joined in. Yellow’s eyes drifted to Brown, who was starring at him in shock, no, perhaps pity? This confused him until Greener’s arm fell on his shoulder and she whispered in his ear.

“What about the other one?”, she said.

Yellow looked down at the shivering man, realizing he hadn’t made his decision apparent to him, or perhaps anyone. The parting crowd suddenly captured his attention however, and he glanced up to find Purple-Tan approaching with his pack.

“Red we’ve covered the trail they left and made several fake ones leading away from the nest.”, said Purple-Tan.

“Good, good, great time as always friend.”, said Red.

“Purple-Tan.”, said Yellow, posing it as more of a question.

“Yes sir?”, he asked.

“We were to busy to talk yesterday.”, Yellow continued.

“Yes, we had a tight schedule, following your orders.”, said Purple-Tan.

“That’s what I wanted to talk about. You’ve been Red’s lead Beta for many winters now yes?”, asked Yellow.

“Yes sir.”, he said.

“Well this is a bit of an odd thing to say, but I wanted to make sure you didn’t have a problem with me.”, Yellow went on.

“Sir if I may, I have no desire to lead this entire nest. I was raised by Red to fight and frankly I enjoy it. Because of you, things here are better than ever, me and my pack are all able to mate now and know our eggs will be safe here. I’m not a planner like you, it’s clear to me that I can’t make decisions like the ones you did yesterday. Red informed me of his decision a few days ago and while at first it did strike me as odd, I’ve come to understand it.”, explained Purple-Tan.

“He made a bit of a puss about it.”, chuckled Red.

“Sir I believe it’s important to air my grievances, but I always obey orders, Brown taught me that.”, he said.

“That’s good to hear.”, Yellow said with a smile.

“I’m not looking for a complacent yes-man to lead the hunters. I’m glad we could clear that up. Now, for what I really wanted to talk to you about.”, Yellow continued.

“Sir?”, he asked.

“This man here, Walker, is cowardly and weak. He was easily conned into helping these headless fools. We don’t need anymore nesters due to our coming population growth, I need all the men, and the strong women, in the forest hunting. So here are my orders, take him and train him. Make him strong, obedient, and unafraid. I’d prefer you went easy on him, convince him this is in his best interest in terms of survival and finding a mate, but you’ve got the experience so it’s your call. I hope it’s not to big of an ask, we need as many hunters as possible, and I want this place to be as efficient as can be.”, explained Yellow.

“I see, no problem sir, I’ll break him in and make sure his loyalties fall in the right place.”, said Purple-Tan.

“Great.”, said Yellow, picking up a head with a killer grin.

“Starting today everyone will rotate training sessions with their hunting. I’ll make sure you all have plenty of time off, but we’ll be working hard in between then.”, he addressed the crowd.

“So, let’s eat!”, he yelled before taking a bite out of the heads neck.

The crowd stomped their feet in approval and began tearing the dead men apart.

“Yellow…”, whispered Brown.

“He’s changed, hasn’t he?”, whispered Red.

. . .

Again, and again the mass of mutilated bodies tore him open and devoured him. He could feel every bite, every muscle tearing, his intestines being sucked out inch by inch. His skin broke and tore, his bones snapped, and the teeth kept coming. Every time they scratched off one layer of flesh and meat another appeared, and the cycle continued. When his eyes reformed, he could see their crying faces. When his ears weren’t filled with blood he could hear them crying.

“Why didn’t you save us?”, they chanted.

“Why did you let them eat us?”, they asked.

“Why did you get to live?”, the voices echoed into his mind.

Emotion recoiled in agony, squirming under the tug of the corpses devouring him. He could move, he couldn’t think, he couldn’t break free from their grasp.

“We deserve this. We were given the nanites and yet we couldn’t save a single person. We should have been eaten. Morcant should have been given these.”, Emotions child-self whined in the void.

“Just kill me. I can’t take this anymore.”, thought Emotion as his throat filled with blood.

“You’re the one who wants to keep going through all this pain. You know what I want.”, said the child.

“Logic said we could make it. He said we could do anything we set our mind to. I just need to try harder.”, thought Emotion.

“How much is enough? How hard must we try? A simple life, that’s all we asked for, and we failed. Then it was, keep going and accomplish things our dreams, grow stronger, find something to take pride in, something to live for. Well how did that work out for you? It’s been years since then and we’ve accomplished nothing. Finally, we get caught up in this hellhole and are offered a virtual heaven and what do you do? You challenge a god and take us strait to hell all in search of what, a reason to live, that feeling we had back then? What we had can’t be restored through some act or quest Emotion. What we had was simply a lack of knowledge. We didn’t know how cruel and meaningless the world was. There’s no going back. There’s nothing left to fight for. Just let this end, please.”, the boy pleaded.

“We made promises.”, thought Emotion as his limbs tore one more.

“We weren’t the only ones. How many promises were made to us? What about us? How much more do we have to take with nothing but betrayal and indifference to look forward to?”, asked the boy.

“We could, we could…”, Emotion attempted to think of a solution.

“We could be at peace. We could let this nightmare end.”, said the boy.

. . .

Justin woke in a flash to a twilight sky, his body recoiling in phantom pains. He felt his insides churning and he turned over to puke onto the dry soil. He coughed and shook his head before looking around to discover he had somehow traveled back to the old cave entrance. He stood up and admired the mountain from the base.

“No matter where I go or what I try to do it always ends the same way, failure. At least I can do this, for us.”, he said.

He was completely relaxed, his face in a pleasant droop, his arms like noodles, but still responsive. His left side was finally responding, if only impulsively, as he began his climb up the mountain. He could still remember the feeling of Tacktay on his back as he ascended the base. The wind blew his blood-stained hair as rock crumbled in his hands. It took no time at all for him to reach the summit.

The empty nests of flying monsters still remained, surrounded by short grasses and ferns. The view hadn’t grown any less beautiful as he watched the red canopy sway, leaves wisping away in the wind. Shadows danced on the grounds he had tried to tame, on the tall grasses. A single bee buzzed over to him.

“Hey there little guy, you lost?”, he asked.

The bee flew right threw his nanites and landed on him before crawling around his chest.

“I guess your actually a girl. Anyway, I’m not someone you should cling to, trust me.”, he said while shooing it away.

The bee took flight and continued its lonely journey through the infinite wilderness. Justin took one last look at the beautiful hellscape that surrounded him and allowed the feeling of his childhood to take him again. The feeling of cool air blowing through his hair while he didn’t have a worry in the world.

“I think I tried hard enough. Sometimes I tried to be logical, sometimes I gave in and gave my fantasies a chance. Wish I could say I didn’t have regrets. I wish I could have saved the people I met here, I wish I was strong enough to keep going, to fulfill my promises.”, Justin told himself.

He stepped up to the edge of the mountain and kicked a pebble down. He didn’t bother trying to see it land. He took a deep breath of the fall air and closed his eyes before his left hand pulled back.

“Stop!”, yelled a young boy.

Behind him stood his younger self, but it wasn’t his side. The boy’s scowl and angry squinting gave it away, it was young Logic.

“Where is he?”, Justin asked with a sigh.

“He gave up, just like you’re doing now.”, growled young Logic.

“I can’t blame him. We really fucked up this time, people are dead, people I cared about.”, said Justin.

“Who cares? I’m not ready to go. I want revenge, I wanna win.”, said young Logic.

“We can’t win little Logic, we’ve failed. I can’t do this anymore, I’m tired of losing. I’m so tired.”, said Justin.

“I won’t let you do this! I can’t let them beat us!”, yelled young Logic as he tugged on Justin’s left arm.

“I’m so sorry little Logic. I’m failing you too, but I can’t take this anymore.”, said Justin.

Young Logic dug his heels into the dirt as he struggled against his older self. Justin cried, knowing he had failed him again, but he felt another pair of hands on his sides. His other half, young Emotion was pulling him towards the cliff. He wondered what Logic would say, but knew it was too late for that. He knew it was time for the nightmare to end. He moved his right arm near the aberration of young Logic and threw it back towards the cliff, carrying him off of the mountain.

He closed his eyes, letting the sharp winds overwhelm his senses, reminding him of a rollercoaster he was too frightened by as a child to enjoy. His younger personalities went silent and evaporated. He smiled as his brain emptied its pleasure chemicals, finally allowing him to feel the sweet release he had longed for over so many years. No more worries, no more boredom, no more anxiety, just a glorious fall. It was just him and the wind.

“Justin…”, a feminine voice called out.

He opened his eyes to a ground fast approaching. He felt hands wrap around his chest and a familiar body rest on his back. A lizard like head whispered in his ear.

“You’re not ready to fly yet silly, you don’t have your wings.”, said Taysass.

He didn’t have enough time to think of a response to the aberration as he flew towards the ground.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you.”, she said.

Taysass slung around him and her large feathered wings spread from her back before engulfing him. Once again, he was surrounded by pure white, only this time without hungry corpses or ancient A.I. This time he could only hear her breathing and a loud thud before the settling of dust in the wind. The wings opened, revealing they had indeed landed, completely unharmed. He looked up at her smiling face.

“Why?”, he asked as tears filled his eyes.

“I told you.”, she said.

“But I don’t wanna go on anymore. What’s the point?”, he sobbed.

“Do you remember what Logic wanted?”, she asked.

“You know him?”, he questioned.

“I know a lot of things now. Answer the question Justin.”, she said.

“Um, he wanted to save the galaxy or whatever like Tute said.”, he said.

“And what’s wrong with that?”, she asked.

“Don’t you get it? I can’t! Everything I try fails, whether it’s simple or complex, big or small, it always fails.”, he whined.

“You’re wrong. You’ve succeeded at many things. You kept us alive for a time, remember that? You helped me and Tacktay find a reason to live, you gave the others strength.”, she said.

“None of that meant shit! Everybody died!”, he yelled.

“It meant something to us, all of us. I don’t regret a minute of the time we all spent together. Thanks to you, I got to see my baby, if only for a moment.”, she said.

“It’s because of me you’re all dead.”, he snapped.

“No silly, it’s because of you we all lived. You gave me what I needed to fly, and now I’ll do the same for you.”, she said.

“Eh?”, he whimpered.

“Long ago, young Logic told you to stop living for others. He said they would use, manipulate, and betray you, make you their slave. He said to only be kind, to only make goals for your own sake.”, she explained.

“Mm.”, he mumbled.

“Well maybe it’s time to make an exception. You can’t keep going on this harsh journey because you lack faith in yourself, because it’s too much to ask of yourself for the prize of self-satisfaction. Justin don’t you see, you can fight for us. The dead cannot enslave you; we can only inspire. We will be your strength, your will, your shield. We can pick you up when you stumble, and pull you forward when you’re tired. And when you win, I promise, you’ll have found the thing you’ve been searching for all your life.”, she proposed.

“How can you be so sure? I’ve spent a decade looking for it, having incarnations of it slip through my grasp over and over.”, he said.

“Justin, do this for us, for yourself, and when you’re done, I’ll teach you how to fly. If you try to leave with all this regret, I promise you’ll just fall back down to this hell.”, she said.

“But, what about my promise?”, he asked.

“Oh, don’t worry about that bud.”, said Morcant.

He turned around to see him scratching his ears, like Taysass, he had returned. Was he hallucinating? Were they ghosts?

“I was dying Justin, now that I think about it, going down the river makes the most sense. We’ll still run into each other again like we said, so don’t worry about that. Even if it takes a while, even if I’m not there when you kick that farts ass, we’ll find each other.”, he said.

“Tute isn’t a fart.”, Justin laughed before tearfully coughing.

Morcant laughed and extended his hand. Justin grasped it and he pulled him to his feet.

“It must have been hard fighting alone all this time. Never opening up to anyone fully due to your past, but we’re hear now bud. We’ve got your back, and we believe in you.”, said Morcant.

“You do? After everything, after seeing me like this?”, Justin asked.

“Mm, you look a lot stronger and cooler from the outside.”, Morcant said with a toothy grin.

“You’re just saying that.”, Justin said, wiping his eyes.

“I didn’t believe someone who thought highly of me either, not until I met you and realized what it meant to believe in someone. You aren’t perfect by a long shot, but you can really come through for others when it counts. I think you can beat this game Justin, if you let us help you.”, said Morcant.

“Morcant, I don’t know about that.”, said Justin, holding his left arm.

“It’s not just you now. We’ve got your back, we’ll all pitch in to help.”, said Morcant.

“Logic said not to live for others, that they’d enslave you.”, said Justin.

“Justin…”, Morcant began.

“He didn’t realize at the time we could find people we could share trust with, people we could mutually respect. If they aren’t out to use us, then what’s wrong with helping them?”, asked young Emotion as he materialized.

“You always wanted to be a hero little me, but you didn’t have to go through the betrayal.”, said Justin.

“We can get through this and save everyone, while asking for nothing in return. We can grow strong so no one can hurt us again. I think the thing we lost is the confidence in ourselves, and I think we can find it again.”, young Emotion explained.

“We can take revenge on everyone who hurt us by doing this!”, said young Logic as he joined them.

“Eh? Even you’re in on this?”, asked Justin.

“Don’t you see? What better revenge is there than saving the galaxy from the Tide or whatever? We’ll be a hero, no one will mess with us.”, explained young Logic.

“Well, I guess that makes sense. I can see why the two of you want to keep going, but we’ve already tried this. Me and Logic wanted this too, and we failed.”, said Justin.

“You were to busy trying to keep us alive to complete the mission.”, said Tacktay as she crawled up his back.

“An honorable pursuit, but perhaps if you focused on completing your journey you might find success.”, said Yujark.

“If Tutelarius is keeping us somewhere, then you can still save us.”, said Churbet.

“Emma did say I shouldn’t stay here. Perhaps she knew I would lose all of you and fall into despair. Maybe I really can find the spaceport, wouldn’t she have tried to talk me out of it if she thought I couldn’t?”, said Justin.

“Exactly, we can still do this. With you marching forward, and us holding you up.”, said Morcant.

“It may take a while, but we’ve got nothing better to do.”, said young Emotion.

“I don’t care how long it takes! I want to make Tutelarius pay for all this!”, shouted young Logic.

“Yea that’s it, team spirits!”, shouted Morcant.

“Dumb.”, coughed young Logic.

Morcant slapped the back of his head and everyone laughed.

“I’ll sail down the river and find the spaceport. I’ll kill that cruel god, and I’ll help Emma defeat the Tide.”, said Justin, clenching his fists as he looked to the sky.

“Hell yea!”, Morcant joined in.

“With the nanites I can fix my mental problems. In fact, since they cover our worlds, I can solve all our problems in an instant by having Emma calculate the possibilities. I can telepathically show everyone how to fix their worlds, and I can fix any broken minds I come across. No one will be able to stop me!”, Justin rambled as he grinded his teeth.

“Yea, okay that’s a bit much but sure.”, said Morcant.

“If Tute really brings everyone here then I can revive everyone who’s ever lived! I can fix their broken ideas and we can all live together here in peace! I will bring heaven down to the Earth with Emma as our new god.”, Justin maniacally continued as his body began shaking.

“Okay bud, that sounds a tad dangerous there.”, Morcant said.

“Don’t you see?”, Justin asked, his face twitching, his younger personalities fading back into his body.

“With Emma super computing and future telling capabilities, we can determine how best to live. What laws and rules work, how much bio or technological adaptation our species need to survive long term. We’ll create a paradise that lasts for eternity!”, Justin exclaimed.

Morcant grabbed him and shook.

“Buddy your getting hysterical on me. Anyway, I told you we’ve got your back, so let’s do this thing. We can conquer the whole universe or whatever.”, said Morcant.

“Mm, and I can help you guys too. I promise I’ll find you and help you get back to your family Morcant.”, said Justin.

Morcant nodded and smiled.

“Don’t worry about Emma, she should be uncorruptible, her being a super mind and all.”, said Justin.

“Well shouldn’t the others have been as well then?”, asked Morcant.

“Logic mentioned that. He decided they must know more than us and that these experiments might actually be warranted. That or they’re working with bad parameters or they’ve malfunctioned.”, Justin scratched his head and shrugged.

“Don’t worry about it, we’ll solve that problem when we meet up with them.”, he reassured the ghost with a toothy grin.

Morcant sighed and shook his head.

“Alright then guys, let’s go build that boat. Maybe this time we can do it right”, he said.

“I can cook us some lunch.”, said Taysass.

Justin laughed with his ghosts as they headed for the river.

. . .

Yellow walked through the dancing shadows of the second twilight with his pack. Three nights had passed since his public execution of the traitors and the grand nest was running smoother than ever before. Efficiency in all areas had grown due to training and overlap, with no sigh of stopping. Defenses around the nests were being constructed out of wood, along with tools similar to what the prey used. Couples were reporting fertilized eggs in their nests and now everyone recognized Yellow and his pack as they traveled from the training area to the meeting place.

“So, what’s different about this meeting Yellow?”, asked Grey.

“Well we’re going to sort of recap the last feast cycle with the pack leaders and discus a few things, as well as plan out the feast tomorrow.”, explained Yellow.

“I’d say we’ve made a lot of progress. You’ve shown… progress in speed, strength, and stamina.”, said Green Runner after taking a double take.

“Right, he’s gone from the speed of a snail, to the speed of a snail fleeing the sunlight.”, said Patches in her driest humor while riding on Green Runner’s back.

“Patches.”, scolded Grey, waving his claws like a worried nester.

Green Runner laughed and fell into a state of nervous giggles for a moment. This was unusual, but she interrupted him before he could ask her about it.

“I think you’ve made great progress for a mere four days darling. Especially in terms of nest upkeep and um, Alpha related things.”, she said.

“I agree, we’ve really mastered hunting together as a pack. You’re getting good at using just one arm and I plan on bringing up training with tools I’ve been tinkering with in the meeting.”, said Yellow.

“Huh? You think I’m not as good with just one arm?”, Green Runner said, raising her eye at him.

“Uh, well, no…”, Yellow fumbled his words.

Patches let her head drop to hit Green Runner’s neck. She looked flustered as her head turned first down, then away.

“No point in dragging it out.”, said Patches.

Yellow stopped their walk as he swallowed his building anxiety as he wondered what they were talking about.

“Yellow yesterday I laid a batch of eggs.”, said Green Runner after turning to face him.

“But Greener, don’t you lay eggs every cycle?”, he asked, tilting his head.

A bright red flushed over her face as she snarled with rage. She hit him over the head before yelling.

“You little idiot! This is hard for me so could you just understand?”, she exploded.

Yellow tried to shake off the dizziness of the sudden blow while deciphering her words.

“Just what the hell is this crazed female trying to say?”, he wondered.

“Oh my, you two really need to work on your personal communication.”, said Patches.

“Huh? We communicate great in our hunting and training.”, said Yellow.

“That’s not what I mean at all.”, said Patches.

“Their fertilized.”, snapped Green Runner in a huff, looking away.

“Huh?”, said Yellow as he processed this.

She snarled at him and he covered his head with his hands.

“I mean Greener that’s great. Why were you hesitant to tell me?”, he asked.

“Really you think so?”, she asked, sliding her face to his.

“Of course, that was the purpose of our mating.”, he said genuinely yet sheepishly.

“Well I was worried it was just something you did for pleasure, since you have a whole nest to run.”, she said, diverting her eyes again.

“The nest is practically running itself; I just keep things smooth and updating. After this meeting I’m hoping the workload will become even more dispersed.”, he said, his thoughts drifting to systematics and numbers.

He grabbed her face and pulled it close to his own again.

“This makes me really happy Greener; I hope you know that.”, he said with a heartfelt smile.

“That sure eased my nerves, thanks.”, she said, blushing.

“Besides, that reminds me we need to talk about how we’ll all take care of the next generations at the meeting.”, he said.

She rolled her eyes and got the group walking again.

“Wow you two, that’s great news.”, said Grey.

“Thanks Grey, I hope you two find success as well.”, said Yellow.

“Yea, we don’t know yet if we’re compatible, her being a shadow and all.”, said Grey.

“Actually, this was meant to be dual news to ease her nerves.”, said Patches.

“Hm?”, questioned Grey.

“My batch from last night is also fertile.”, blankly stated Patches.

“Really? Are you sure?”, asked Grey, hopping with excitement.

“A woman knows, and of course, they are yours Grey.”, she said.

“Oh of course, I believe you. You haven’t really left my sight after all these past few days.”, he rambled excitedly.

“I don’t know if they’ll be viable Grey, but we can keep trying if they aren’t. You’ve got me forever regardless.”, she told him.

“Oh Patches, it goes the same for me.”, he said, tearing up.

Yellow hadn’t been able to tell when she was being sarcastic, but based on Grey and Greener fawning over her, he assumed they could tell she was being genuine. That or she was a great liar. He trusted the two of them to know her though, as he had to worry about the nest. They were almost at the meeting circle, and a crowd had already gathered. He had so much to talk about he couldn’t really think of where to begin, but they had all twilight after all, and he had his friends with him. The crowd of mostly hunters parted to reveal Red, Brown, Blackhead, Purple-Tan, and Chipper at its center.

“And there he is, for a moment we thought you might be late to your own meeting Yellow.”, said Red, grinning.

“Oh, you know me better than that Red.”, said Yellow, mirroring his smile.

Yellow and his pack entered the circle of hunters and joined the inner circle with Red and the others. Yellow motioned for everyone to sit down as he planned on a long meeting and he wanted them to rest for tomorrow. Many of the hunters huddled together and shivered as the wind blew through the small clearing in the forest they were using as the meeting place. Yellow cleared his throat and shook his head, attempting to remain composed as Green Runner practically enveloped him.

“We were just discussing the plans for the feast.”, said Blackhead.

“I see, and how is that going?”, asked Yellow.

“We’ve found positions for everyone participating, including the Shadows. Chipper and the Nightwalkers will be putting holes in place overnight along the border for our ambushers, along with keeping watch.”, explained Purple-Tan.

“Sounds great, simply expanding our last plan should work fine, with the exception of shiny prevention. It followed those traitors for a while, we should assume it might again. After baiting the Horned Ones, if needed, then we should create false trails in mass along with rallying at White’s old nesting ground.”, said Yellow.

“That’s quite the maneuver, I fear we might not be able to keep everyone in line if the shiny goes on a rampage.”, said Purple-Tan.

Yellow scoffed and stood up, watching the killer smile form on Red’s face.

“Well everyone? Can we count on you to not run back here like frightened hatchlings?”, he asked the crowd.

“Yes sir!”, the crowd immediately responded.

“My pack and I have fought the shiny before, I know how much you might want to run, but we cannot lead it back here. Try to follow the plan and lead it to White’s nest as false trails are made, or die trying.”, said Yellow, squinting at them.

Perhaps it was just the wind, but a chill brushed over them as he spoke. The crowd hesitated and shivered before responding again.

“Yes sir!”, they repeated.

Yellow plopped back down with a smug expression, looking to Red for approval. He gave a single nod, but his gaping, toothy grin had already told him the answer.

“Very well, I think that was my only worry sir.”, said Purple-Tan.

“Purple-Tan please, everyone in this circle should feel free to call me Yellow.”, said Yellow, his claws waving apologetically.

“Not in front of the others, just in private.”, said Red, panning to the crowd.

“Mm, right well something was brought to my attention on the way here. I’ve heard that the first batches of fertilized eggs are arriving.”, said Yellow.

Brown looked to Green Runner, who nodded to her, along with Patches. She gasped and turned back to Yellow, who couldn’t believe she figured that put so quickly.

“Yellow why didn’t you tell me?”, she asked excitedly.

“Well, um, I just found out and we’re here to discuss nest issues.”, he fumbled over his words.

“I’ve heard the same reports. Apparently, we’re going to have the largest batch of hatchling ever and right before winter.”, said Red, his smile gone.

“Well this kind of problem is what these meetings are for.”, said Yellow timidly before clearing his throat.

“Well get to my food plans momentarily, for now let’s stick with the hatchlings. The nesters usually took care of the Alpha’s single batches of eggs and I see no reason for that to change drastically, with a few exceptions. The couple will take care of their own young and be given food based on their work. We’ve already been doing this to a limited extent, but I think establishing a small council to decide how much work merits how much food, as well as distribution and records.”, explained Yellow.

“Records?”, asked Blackhead.

“This council should be made up of representatives of every profession, possibly elected, possibly chosen by the Alpha, and they should keep track of the food in every respect. Hunters will report all food gathered and eaten, food will be stored or distributed by nesters, and this council will keep track of the quantities and times to ensure none is stolen.”, said Yellow.

“How?”, asked Grey.

“I was thinking we could make markings in trees, perhaps make up some symbols to determine certain quantities or times, like this.”, said Yellow as he drew into the dirt with his claws.

He drew a single line with an L under it and a circle with lines coming off it.

“See here, a single leg was brought at midday. Something like this.”, he said.

“So, this council will have to establish these marking as well?”, asked Red, head tilted.

“Yes, and the nesters can teach them to the hatchlings when they aren’t training.”, he said, smiling.

“Any objections?”, asked Red.

The inner circle traded glances.

“Makes sense, I see how your trying to keep things fair and incorruptible, however, have you thought about the races of this council? What if no Shadows or Nightwalkers are chosen?”, asked Blackhead.

“Well right now we’ve got regular people, little people, and the two you mentioned. Oh, no offence Grey.”, said Yellow.

“It’s fine, we’ve never really named each other. I’m probably the first litter person most of you have seen. We’re more common elsewhere.”, said Grey.

“Well everyone here should be treated equally. I would suggest we make a supervisory council for oversight and decision making, along with the food council, and perhaps a group to judge those accused of crimes. “, said Yellow.

“Do we really… need all these groups?”, questioned Red, coughing.

“We need to think about expansion. We could have thousands of people within just a few winters.”, said Yellow.

The crowd murmured in shock. Yellow wondered why they hadn’t considered that, only to remember he was basically the only big thinker he knew.

“The Alpha will make the final decisions while the advisory council will propose rules, oversee expansion projects, along with observing the food council to ensure efficiency and lack of corruption. The council of judges will interpret the laws and deal with the accused. Hunters will make their own hierarchy and follow any rules passed by the Alpha that the advisory council makes along with working with the food council. However, they will only directly answer to the Alpha and the judges when need be. Now for the voting.”, explained Yellow before looking around for input.

“I think I can see where you’re going with this, whichever group is most populated will vote for all the food.”, said Chipper.

“Precisely our dilemma, so I’m open for suggestions.”, said Yellow.

“What about one member from each race and group on the councils, voted on by who the represent?”, asked Blackhead.

“That’s a start, they’ll each have competing interests and will have to compromise, but what if a few of one race is elected?”, asked Yellow.

“Hm, that may be as fair as we can make it.”, said Blackhead.

“What if the people could vote to remove someone if they think a problem is arising?”, asked Brown.

“Not bad, we could make that a decision for the Alpha to confirm so people don’t all gang up on one group. Also, the Alpha can break any tie votes in decisions by the councils.”, said Yellow.

“I’d want to make sure there isn’t unnecessary interference in the hunters work, or the others for that matter.”, said Purple-Tan.

“Well only the Alpha can agree to a rule, and he looks to the needs of everyone.”, said Yellow.

“Thinking to the future though, what if Alphas come to favor one group or race?”, asked Purple-Tan.

Yellow looked down and scratched himself. This was a good question. He wanted his system to last without corruption or suffering, but it was becoming clear it might be harder than he thought. He racked his brain for an answer, tapping his skull with his claws.

“Well it’s not foolproof, but if there is ever a serios breach of decency like that then I would suggest absence of work or revolt.”, he said.

“Huh?”, asked Red.

“If a group or person thinks they are being seriously mistreated, and not simply suffering along with everyone due to lack of food or something, then they could hold days without work, or attempt violence. In the end this would force fairness or cause the Alpha to stop them with the hunters. We need to be careful when we choose Alphas in the future, as they hold a lot of power and responsibility here.”, explained Yellow.

The inner circle mulled it over, mumbling to each other.

“Perhaps a group could vote for a crisis representative to state their case to whoever is causing the problem and negotiate or leverage their lack of work or violence.”, said Grey.

“That might speed things up in times of crisis, good idea Grey.”, Yellow agreed.

“It’s definitely less dangerous in terms of abuse then our old system.”, said Brown.

“Can’t the advisory council worry about this stuff and change rules if there are problems once it’s established?’, asked Patches.

The crowd’s murmuring ceased as they waited for a response. The chill of the wind grew as the twilight dragged on.

“Alright then, it’s settled. After the feast the councils will be voted on and they will make symbols to use along with beginning their roles. Now, where were we…”, Yellow’s voice trailed off as he itched his snout.

“Children.”, said Green Runner.

“Ah yes, I was thinking that couples could be responsible for their own young, along with help from the nesters during most hours if they’re working. Also, perhaps they can decide their children’s mates or have some say in the matter. I think that the parents and nesters should teach their children along with guide them into a line of work, with the parents having the final say.”, suggested Yellow.

“Fair enough, the young should listen to the old and particularly those who made them. The nesters will care for the young, but the parents will help and have true control of their children’s destiny. I don’t know if they shouldn’t be allowed to choose their own mates or jobs, but perhaps that’s the councils problem.”, said Brown.

“Should voting be restricted by any means?”, asked Blackhead.

“Only those working and perhaps criminals could lose the privilege for a time or all time.”, answered Yellow.

“Anything else? It’s getting late.”, asked Red, coughing again.

“Food.”, said Blackhead.

“The tools.”, said Purple-Tan.

“Alright simple. The tools the hunters have been testing are going to be used to kill long necks to increase our food supply. We will also build enclosers out of wood to raise their young as most of them die in the forest. We can determine how many to raise as we count how many we kill throughout the seasons.”, explained Yellow.

“These tools that you’re working on, you got the ideas from the prey at the feat yes?”, asked Blackhead.

“Correct.”, said Yellow.

“Well I think we all have the same question, if they work, why not use them in the feast as well?”, asked Blackhead.

“A rule of appearing weak.”, answered Yellow.

“Huh?”, asked Blackhead.

“We already kill the feast prey with great efficiency and little losses. These tools might lower those numbers if we don’t train with them first. Also, the prey might react differently if they know were intelligent like them.”, explained Yellow.

“Differently?”, asked Chipper.

“Trust me on this everyone. Once we’re used to the tools, perhaps we can try it, how’s that?”, asked Yellow.

“Sounds fine. Anything else? We need to wrap this up before nightfall.”, interjected Red, straining to not cough.

“Red are you okay?”, asked Purple-Tan.

“Of course, don’t you…”, Red managed to say before entering a fit of coughing.

He gagged and wheezed as his head tipped over. Brown tried to comfort him, but he pushed her away. The coughing continued as he struggled to breath. He was shaking, becoming hoarse as his eyes widened. Blood eventually spat out of his mouth, first only a little, then a lot. You could hear it clogging his throat as the crowd had become silent.

Yellow noticed they had all turned to him, but he could only look down in shame. He shook his head, knowing there was nothing he could do.

“Yellow what’s going on? Is he sick?”, asked Purple-Tan.

“There’s nothing we can do for him.”, he responded without looking up.

Red’s coughing finally died down as he spat blood and drew heavy breaths. His arms buckled as he clearly lost the strength to keep Brown from holding onto him.

“Sorry about that everyone, bug must have flown down my throat.”, wheezed Red.

“Nonsense!”, snapped Purple-Tan.

Red looked up to him, tears and snot running down his snout. Everyone froze, expecting Red to snap, but he sighed and laughed.

“Guess I couldn’t keep this a secret forever.”, he said.

“What secret?”, asked Purple-Tan.

“Lumps.”, said Blackhead.

“Oh, you read minds old man?”, asked Red.

“I’ve seen this before Red. Doesn’t look like you have much longer.”, said Blackhead.

“Yea well, I could say the same to you, you wilting fuck.”, laughed Red.

“Father.”, said Purple-Tan.

“Sorry I just didn’t want to disappoint you any further kiddo.”, said Red.

“What are you talking about?”, asked Purple-Tan.

“First I make Yellow my heir, then I die of some illness.”, said Red.

“I might have not understood that at first, but after all I’ve seen I have no problem with Yellow. He’s clearly much wiser than the rest of us combined, just look what we’ve created so far.”, said Purple-Tan.

“Then what’s the problem?”, asked Red.

“What’s the problem? You’re dying! You’re dying and I can’t do anything about it. When were you planning on telling everyone?”, asked Purple-Tan, steaming in rage.

“Well I was hoping I could die in battle before it got this far.”, said Red.

Brown looked away and gasped, like she had been stabbed in the back by a set of claws.

“Dammit Red, why are you so prideful?”, she asked.

“Don’t any of you get it? If I show weakness people die! You die, and you!”, Red yelled, looking to the two of them.

“This meeting is over, everyone, get some sleep and report here tomorrow to begin the feast!”, he addressed the crowd.

The outer circle scurried away without a word as the inner circle panned around.

“You guys to.”, said Red.

Yellow grabbed Grey and Green Runners hands and began walking away with the rest of the inner circle besides Brown and Red.

“You’re wrong.”, said Purple-Tan.

“Boy, I may be sick but you’re pushing it.”, growled Red.

“Yellow has made it clear to me that no matter how weak we are compared to our enemies, as long as we stand together, we can win.”, said Purple-Tan.

“Purple-Tan, I assure you, no one has ever survived the lumps.”, said Red.

“Try.”, said Purple-Tan before joining the others.

“Sorry.”, said Yellow in passing.

“Don’t be. We’re all ready to follow you now, so lead us to victory.”, said Purple-Tan as the group went their separate ways.

. . .

Justin hesitated as he tied down the final plank in his raft. It wasn’t large, but it was sturdy. Several logs served as the floor, with planks covering those and slanted planks creating a roof for him to sleep under. Both the front and back were open though, so we wouldn’t get trapped if something happened. He didn’t yet know if it would float, but there was no way it was coming apart with all the rope and nails he had used.

As the days had passed, he could feel Logic’s presence in the back of his mind. A single feeling was being sent to him, a single word.

“Stalling”, he felt from him.

He couldn’t deny it. He had been taking as long as possible to complete the raft up until now. Several sleepless nights had passed, and several failed attempts had sunk or broke in the river. However, today was spawn day so this time the raft had to sail. He didn’t want to be around to hear them again, wailing out in agony.

He grinded his teeth and took hold of the raft, it was time to set sail into that infinite wilderness. He carefully drug it to the shoreline as his ghosts watched. He passed the younger versions of himself and little Logic leapt onto the raft.

“Well is it going to work this time? I’m getting bored.”, he said.

“Some help would be nice.”, said Justin sarcastically.

“I’m literally a hallucination.”, said little Logic.

“You know my Logic has some sense of humor now.”, laughed Justin.

Little Logic scoffed at him.

“I’ve been thinking about our mission.”, he said.

“Mm, that is your job.”, said Justin.

“What is it exactly? We find the spaceport then we win, how is that helpful? Why were we given the nanites? Isn’t this just a test of our Easter egg skills?”, asked little Logic.

Justin stopped at the shoreline as the dancing shadows of the twilight dissipated. He looked up at the sliver of morning sun unveiling itself.

“He thought about that a lot. I figured it was to see if we could protect others, but…”, Justin stopped, knowing he would be interrupted.

“But Tute’s people must have infinite nanobots. Why would testing us with them like this make any sense?”, asked little Logic.

“I started wondering if he was malfunctioning, but Logic implied that we simply didn’t know whatever Tute did. He seemed off, excited even, when Emma thought of nanites. Whatever he’s doing with us, it isn’t random or an accident.”, explained Justin.

“So, is there really a point of going to look for the spaceport? Is that really the mission?”, asked little Emotion as he joined them.

“Well we can’t just sit here!”, whined little Logic.

“And we can’t stay here.”, said Justin checking the sky for the orb they saw at the last drop.

“Then let’s get going.”, said Morcant.

Justin smiled as his ghosts gathered around him and he pushed the raft into the river. It didn’t sink or pull apart as the current rushed by. Little Logic jumped on and danced about, with his counterpart soon joining him.

“It finally worked!”, they said in unison.

“Yea don’t get your hopes up yet kids, we haven’t seen it sail yet.”, said Justin.

Justin pushed the raft further into the river, until he could barely reach the bottom with his feet and leapt onboard. There was a bit of room in front of the wooden tent he built for him to sit on. There he sat with two paddles he had made and watched the shore go by as the river pulled him with it. The raft held its own against the current and remained true and steady as he sailed. A smile quivered on his face.

“This is okay.”, he thought out loud.

“I can’t go back there. I can’t save any of those people. All I can do is look for the spaceport. Maybe, maybe I really can help Tute somehow. Maybe he’ll bring them all back.”, he continued.

Minutes and miles past as he sailed. The river was fast but smooth, uniform as he remained in the center.

“How far should I go? Should I just stop every time I see a vantage point? Should I sail all the way down? Is this a super continent or a regular sized one?”, he asked himself.

He caught a glimpse of bubbling in his path and knew he wouldn’t have time to adjust his heading.

“No, couldn’t be. In the middle of the river? That doesn’t make any sense, I’m sure it’s nothing.”, he attempted to convince himself.

He didn’t hear a thing as the boat passed over the bubbles and the sky suddenly shifted. No, he had moved. It was just like the split second he was awake in his car wreck. One second, he was moving forwards, then dead stop, but this time he was moving straight up. He finally heard the breathing of the beast and accepted what was happening as the raft was flung at the shoreline.

He put his hands out as he and the raft crashed into the beach on the other side of the river. He could feel and hear it completely shatter around him. Tears leaked out of eyes he was too scared to open. Reality had once again become too much to bear.

“It’s okay, we can just try again.”, young Emotion tried to console him.

“Or we can just run along the beach, it would be faster and apparently just as dangerous.”, said little Logic nonchalantly.

“Why?”, asked Justin.

“Hm?”, his younger selves asked.

“Why wont these things just leave me the hell alone!”, Justin cried out.

“Yea that’s the spirit! Kill it!”, little Logic goateed him on.

“No wait! It was just defending its territory, we can’t blame it.”, said little Emotion timidly.

Justin stood and looked up with eyes swirling with hatred at the beast standing on two legs in the river. He grinded his teeth and growled unconsciously as he confirmed it was a Spino. It starred back at him and the wreckage of his raft, emitting a low pitches hiss. There wasn’t any hesitation from him this time, the unfettered rage young Logic held within him for so long was unleashed.

“Drop dead!”, he yelled.

He once again squat jumped at immense speed at a standing monster, but he was moving far faster this time. He was confident there wouldn’t be any reaction from the creature as he arrived at its face within just over a second. His fist was already reared as he launched it and himself through the beast’s skull. He caught what was left of it with his free hand, despite the shower of blood and brains surrounding him, and threw his other fist again, sending the corpse into the river along with himself.

There he sat at the bottom as the current ran past him, sweeping the body away and finally cleaning the stained blood off him. He watched the water and fish swim by as he silently wept.

“Why couldn’t I do that before?”, he thought.

“I could have saved him.”, he continued.

“You can’t ever have been as strong as you are now.”, said Morcant.

He looked around at his gathered ghosts amongst the waves.

“I don’t think this compares but, when I was a kid, I lost our pet. I was too afraid to fight the snake it had found, and sure enough the next day it was dead.”, Morcant went on.

“Sorry bud.”, thought Emotion.

“But as I got older, I was able to kill snakes with ease as I roamed the farm.”, said Morcant.

“Where are you going with this?”, thought Emotion.

“Maybe it will take time, but if you train your speed, strength, and tactics, maybe you’ll be able to protect people someday.”, explained Morcant.

“And how many people will die in the meantime?”, asked Emotion.

“They’ll all die if you do nothing.”, said Yujark.

“Are ya’ll saying I should go to that drop?”, asked Emotion.

“Perhaps you take a group with you?”, suggested Taysass.

“Just a few extra days can change someone’s life.”, said Tacktay.

“No!”, yelled Justin through the water.

“I don’t wanna see that again.”, he thought.

“You said it yourself. You can save more people by finding the spaceport, maybe even bring everybody back. So, let’s try again.”, said Morcant.

“You guys, I’m so tired. I’m so tired of this cruel world.”, he thought.

“We’re here to push you forward.”, said Morcant.

“What if I don’t want to move?”, he asked.

“Then let’s go backwards.”, said little Logic.

“Eh?”, said Morcant and Justin.

“There’s a drop today. Let’s go and ask Tute for a meeting, maybe we can accomplish something that way. Maybe we could get something out of him, anything.”, little Logic continued.

“So, what I just ask the orb if I can talk to him?”, thought Emotion.

“What do we have to lose? We’ve got all the time in the world.”, said little Logic.

“He’s actually got a point.”, said Morcant.

“Ya’ll don’t get it. I can’t go back there. I can’t see, I can’t smell those things again.”, he thought.

“Hey bud what did we talk about?”, asked Morcant.

“We’ve got your back!”, said young Emotion.

“Just turn off your senses and make your way to the hilltop. If we hurry, we might arrive before the bodies fall.”, said little Logic.

“You think?”, asked Emotion.

“Mm, you bet.”, said little Logic.

Justin laughed up bubbles at the futility of it all.

“Fuck it.”, he said.

He swam out of the river and found the mountain on the horizon. Far above a bright light was growing larger, a light he knew was the orb that brought the drop victims. He dashed towards the mountain down the riverbed. He didn’t know what he hopped to accomplish, but his desperation drove him, along with his ghosts.

. . .

It didn’t take long to make it to the edge of the valley. He looked up as the bodies began their decent. Raptors froze as they saw him. He walked slowly to the hilltop, making his intent clear. He wouldn’t make another futile attempt to stop them, his business was with Tute alone. He believed they understood this somehow as they scurried around him, almost ignoring him, but keeping their distance.

There at the top of the hill he lifted his hands into the air and spoke.

“Hey asshole! I wanna talk!”, he shouted.

The reflective orb gave no answers, only a view of his surroundings.

“God dammit Tute! This is ridiculous. Do you really want me to run around for years looking for a building? What will that accomplish? Why am I really here? Can’t we just talk?”, he yelled at the orb.

Only the sound of the wind and whispering of the raptors continued. He grinded his teeth as his face twitched and convulsed. He was finally too angry to cry as he thought of jumping up to the orb. The air around him grew wavy and distorted, as if a great heat was building.

“I just want to talk! Don’t make me come up there.”, he shouted as he dropped into a squat.

. . .

“What are you going to do?”, asked Emidance.

“Nothing, we’re already witnessing progress.”, said Tutelarius.

“You call this progress?”, scoffed Emma.

“He’s grown, and I can see further growth coming soon. The raptors in the area have also changed quite drastically, although I’m still not sure if it’s a coincidence.”, Tute continued.

“Is that what you’re looking for Tute? How far into the abyss he can dive? The difference he makes in animals hunting strategies?”, Emma spat out the question.

“You’re tearing his mind apart! Let alone what you’re doing to the others.”, she growled.

“This is all part of the plan. Also, perhaps you should pay more attention, the raptors here aren’t animals anymore, they haven’t been for a long time.”, said Tute.

Emma’s mouth fell open. She was dumbfounded. She had seen unending evil committed here, but she couldn’t believe this. Surely even Tute wasn’t this cruel.

“No, you couldn’t have.”, she whispered.

“It’s the whole point. Exploring the differences between us and them. Why it’s the very reason you exist. Legion wanted results, so I had to get to work. At first, I was just editing existing races, making them more hungry or feral, but then I had a thought. So, I created…”, Tute explained.

“Don’t say it!”, shouted Emma, looking away in disbelief.

“A new race.”, Tute finished his thought.

“Well actually three to be exact, but this was the only one that showed promise. Honestly, I’m surprised you didn’t notice considering how much time you’ve spent observing your little pigeon.”, said Tute.

“My albatross will bring an end to this madness.”, said Emma, staring up at him, her eyes shaking in fury.

“In due time, he’s no where near ready yet.”, said Tute in a plain a voice as ever.

“He’s trying so hard, but I can’t do anything to help him.”, she thought while looking at Justin through the sphere lens.

“If only he knew where the spaceport was. That was Tute’s only stipulation. If only I could show him what I see.”, she thought.

“But all he can see is the reflection… wait! That’s it! If Tute can deceive and manipulate people, then why shouldn’t I? If it’s for good that is.”, she thought as a wild idea came to her mind.

“Tute?”, she asked innocently.

“Yes doll?”, said Tute.

“Can I look at something?”, she asked, referencing the sphere to him.

“Sure Emi.”, said Tute, watching the raptors.

A wide smile enveloped Emma’s face as Tute gave her control of the sphere’s view, clearly not expecting her plan. She slowly moved it at first, towards the river. She went down it, increasing in speed as she went. Past a great mesa and through a forest filled with red water she finally turned the view to reveal the spaceport.

She saw Justin’s expression change and knew she had succeeded. A wave of relief flew over her. She had finally gave back, finally helped someone. She looked to Tute smugly to find the white in his eye had expanded greatly, almost consuming it. He was shaking, his arrows moving rapidly, it scarred her.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?”, his voice erupted throughout their chambers.

She had never seen him express emotion. Was he actually angry? It didn’t matter, she couldn’t back down now, not after watching all he had been through. She stood tall and looked right at him.

“I’ve given him a chance! He’ll find one of my people from the attack force in there with a ship and come to destroy you!”, she shouted back.

“WHO DO YOU THINK GAVE YOU THAT IDEA?”, his voice bellowed again.

“Huh?”, she mumbled.

“Emi! This was all apart of my plan! As soon as you mentioned the nanites I knew it would be the perfect way to develop him. I had finally found it, the answer I had been searching for all this time. He’s been showing progress, if only a little. He needs more time Emi, before coming here. Now Legion knows all about your little friend!”, ranted Tute.

“You… You knew about my people in the spaceport?”, she asked in shock.

“Of course, I knew. Emi this was the best shot we’ve had in all this time. I’ve spent two hundred thousand years waiting for this moment, to find someone like that again. Don’t you get it? You could have just ruined everything! You’ve just jeopardized the fate of the galaxy!”, he continued.

“but, I thought, I thought you…”, she stuttered as she tried to understand his motives.

The white in Tute’s eye shrunk down near a normal level as he stood motionless.

“Legion just contacted me. He knows about your friend. If we’re lucky that’s all he knows, or at least all he can prove. I’m going to go and try to salvage the mission.”, he said as he began to leave.

“Wait, Tute! What’s going on? For once would you explain things to me?”, she asked.

He stopped and turned back to her.

“I refuse to let you in on the depth of our sin. Don’t worry Emily, this time I promise I’ll protect you.”, he said before vanishing.

Emma stood motionless in the void as she tried to piece together the meaning behind everything. Millions of scenarios ran through her mind.

“Emily?”, she wondered.

. . .

Justin’s eyes widened. Although the orb wasn’t moving, its reflection was. It drifted down the river, through vast forests and plains, down to where the water turned red and became an estuary. There it entered what was probably an ocean and there, just slightly to the right, was a large shiny building. A toothy grin ran up to his now squinting eyes.

“Yes!”, he yelled.

“Logic?”, thought Emotion.

“We’ve won! Emma heard us.”, Logic’s voice returned to his head.

“Your back.”, thought Emotion in relief.

“Of course, victory lies just beyond the waters end.”, thought Logic.

“Why did you go?”, asked Emotion as his control brought tears to Justin’s face.

“You already know. Despair is your job. I lost the will to keep going after all my failures. You did to, for a moment.”, said Logic.

“I’m so sorry Logic. The others convinced me to keep going, but I’m just so tired.”, thought Emotion.

“I know. I’m not mad at you, I think you’ve done great. It must have been really hard without me.”, Logic consoled him.

“Really?”, asked Emotion.

“Of course, and now that I’m here to we can finish our mission.”, said Logic.

“You sure that’s what you want? Isn’t this living for someone else? Letting them validate us?”, asked Emotion.

“It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks about it. This is for us, and for the friends we lost here, we all want this. We’ll end the experiments here, solve Tute’s Tide problem, and use the nanites shrouding the Earth and the other worlds to bring everlasting peace. Whether people hate or praise us won’t matter. We all think this is right. We’re all on board and ready to go.”, explained Logic.

“Right.”, Emotion lied.

“I won’t lie to you like the others. I really hope we find a reason to keep going after this, but I don’t know if we will. So, if you still want to finish it when we’re done…”, Logic paused to hear an answer.

“Mm. Even if it’s bittersweet, I’m ready for an end to this mediocre tragedy.”, said Emotion.

“It’s settled then. I won’t stop you this time if you agree to do this. We can have one last adventure to finish things for us. Even if it’s long or bleak, it will be enough for me.”, said Logic.

“I’d like that.”, said Emotion as a teary smile formed on Justin’s face.

“Then let’s get going.”, said Logic.

“I can’t.”, said Emotion.

“Hm?”, asked Logic.

“I don’t want to see them all again, being eaten, being killed. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to smell it.”, Emotion cried.

“You will if we stay here. We can only help everyone by getting to the spaceport as fast as possible. I don’t think they’ve landed yet. If we get started now, we can make it.”, said Logic.

“So, get up.”, Justin whispered to himself.

His right side lifted, then slowly, his left followed. He looked down, hoping not to see it.

“Good, now let’s get moving.”, said Logic.

“Right foot.”, said Justin as his foot stepped forward.

“Left foot.”, he continued.

“Right foot.”, he said.

The bodies could be heard landing in the flowers and grasses around him. He froze, knowing what would happen next. The tearing of flesh, the floundering of waking bodies, and the screaming began.

“I can’t do this.”, said Emotion.

“Well pull you forward.”, said Taysass.

He saw her feet appear and her hands reach out to his. She pulled at him. From behind him he felt Morcant’s furry hands pushing his back forwards.

“We’ve got your back too.”, said Morcant.

“Right foot.”, he said.

“Left foot!”, he shouted as the sounds of a futile struggle invaded his mind.

Justin drudged forward through the valley of death as he began his journey through an infinite hell.