> “You can kill me, you know. You can kill me and I’d let you. I’d let you get away with anything.”
> “Somehow it’s exhausting just to wake up.”
> “Some things are left to dry. Some things are left to melt. Either way, you’re not getting out alive.”
> -Things No One Would Ever Say, Vol. III, Vol. II, Vol. I..
Her name meant ‘The Adoration of Crowns, Beloved By All’. She supposed her parents wanted her to be some kind of idol or queen or celebrity or even a goddess, if one was willing to stretch their disbelief that far. What she instead became was a sneak-thief, blackmailer, charmer, seducer, and an orphan, all by choice. She now lies on the glass dome of the glasshouse, hidden by the darkness of storm clouds above and the thunderous roar of rain that sometimes comes and stays in Blood Falls for days or even weeks on end. Her skin felt alive even as the warmth of light below invited her to come in and make herself at home. Like the ruby had told her. She has had more than enough time to figure out its powers and its motives, and for a time had to resist its pull in her own mind, but now it laid perfectly flat against her chest, as it was now no more than a piece of colored paper folded up into a diamond shape. It was bound now to her, for all of eternity and beyond, or until her death. Whichever came first.
She lies on her side and bends down, looping her arms over her knees and curling into a ball, wishing she could see it all like the gods above, wishing she was one of them, free and powerful and beyond mortal concerns like food, water, and love. She knows what she wants is a lie everyone tells to themselves whenever the rain comes and washes away the world. Sometimes she wished she could believe her lie as much as she could convince others to be trapped together in the dream with no end. What kind of life would that be? The woman wondered.
Lightning struck roofs and some stayed there, taking the form of cats big and small. One such spark came not a hair’s breadth from the woman’s head, with the remnant purring against her leg and licking the tips of her toes. The woman yawned and felt sleep finally catch her, and despite the place and time, she found herself drifting further into a dream. The Cat-That-Was-Lightning curled around the woman and made its fur stand up, repelling the worst of the rain away from its new owner before it too found itself yawning and thinking of sleep.
Around them the world moved on.
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The lovers stirred as the hogdragon stuck its head inside the tent. It sniffed and poked its snout against the blanket covering the dignity of two persons, bumping against every body part it could reach until finally someone got the memo and started waking up. Sigala, survivor, warrior, atoner, redeemer; titles she fits into as well as her muscles latch onto her bones, but only one title was coveted by her. For now though, dreams would be left behind for the harshness of reality. She gently rubbed the top of the hogdragon’s head where a small tuft of hair made their mark, and the creature shuddered in delight as wet breaths escaped its mouth.
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“Hoggis, not in the tent, please.” Sigala said with a faint smile as she moved her hands to squish the hogdragon’s cheeks. “I still haven’t thanked you yet for pulling us out of Blood Falls. I still don’t know what hogdragons like, though.”
“He likes maids, is what he likes, this melodramatic worm on legs.” A disgusted voice came through to the hogdragon’s side, which earned its owner a dismissive slap from one of the hogdragon’s wings. “Why you little-“
“Give it a rest, Gwendy-Bot.” Reuth finally woke up, turning away from the light and pulling the blanket closer to himself in an effort to go back to sleep. “It’s still light out, we can sleep in a little bit longer.”
“No, we can’t, not when Blood Falls have gone completely insane. It was lucky enough we managed to get out before the circle was closed.” Sigala checked whether she had clothes on before stepping out of the tent, coming face-to-face with the robot Reuth had so drolly called ‘Gwendy-Bot’. In the time between Reuth’s brawl with Sigala and now, it learned plenty of things, chief of all was fear. It was one of those things you can’t quite program into something, except as a vague feeling of ‘not-wanting-to-be-brought-offline-permanently’.
It knew it well now, though, especially once it saw the vast runes hidden under the land activating one after the other. What it had thought to be cliffs surrounding the city turned out to be giant remains of creatures that could rival dragons with their size, and now they encircled Blood Falls, eyes pointed in and out, watching for any who would dare escape or interfere with the coming ritual. One had gazed at it, and suddenly it had felt very small and weak. Only the hogdragon’s insistent prodding and bumping head snapped the robot out of its existential crisis long enough for it to start running the other way.
Now they were in the wastelands, the liminal space where fallen gods hide and failed experiments thrive. Whatever knowledge the Trium Ilustricate saw fit to equip the robot fell short when it came to the topic of what lies beyond Blood Falls, and what little did exist came across more as vague warnings and suggestions to get out as soon as possible. They did, however, give the robot a rough map of the nearest Godhomes to Blood Fall’s own that would still be accurate for about a month or so, which would make a valuable bargaining chip for it to exploit moving forward.
Hoggis looked up from its chewing of a nearby red cactus, its mouth stained with the plant’s apparently delicious sap. Sigala yawned once more before walking over to the beast and giving it another head rub, which Hoggis responded to graciously with a soft head butt. She moved along its length and ducked under the hogdragon’s wings, her goal in sight as she neared the packs she had secured on what might be called Hoggis’ waist. She pulled out a couple of red cans and a blue one, ending her search with a pan that looked positively ancient.
“I want the eggamato on-season, Sigala.” Reuth called out, still inside the tent. “Extra crispy.”
Sigala shook her head at the drifter’s antics before giving a certain look at Hoggis. The beast cleaned its mouth of sap and thorns before stomping silently towards Reuth Giapain. A song then came to the valkyrie’s lips and she decided to start humming it, just in time to drown out the pleas of a smothered man, the laughter of a robot, and the chuffed grunt of a hogdragon.