The sun dipped below the horizon soon after they left the city, dusk quickly setting in. They found a comfortable spot in the meadows, spread far and wide in all directions a considerable distance away from the town, and sat down to eat. There were some clouds in the sky with a fairly strong wind blowing from the north-east, no signs of any strong storms yet.
Taking out the sandwiches Kurai handed one to Opal and one to Kesshō before taking out one for himself. None of them ate anything since morning and they were all very hungry, Opal and Kurai were at the least. Kesshō, being a Krystallite, never felt hunger as long as her core contained ample amounts of energy, which it did.
Opal attempted to tear open only the top part of the foil, not wanting her sandwich to be on the ground. Seeing her struggle Kesshō did it for her, slowly unwrapping the foil and laying it out before placing the sandwich on it for Opal.
At first Opal believed the sandwich appeared big due to the foil, but her expectations were not met by the sandwich, which indeed turned out to be big, almost three-fourth her body size. And while she remained aware of her small size, it still seemed quite big for a sandwich, appearing large even in Kurai's hand, who is quite tall himself.
Opal took a bite out of the corner of the sandwich, her tastebuds instantly being assaulted by the many flavors. The senses of a dragonoid monster were much greater than humans, which included the sense of taste as well, and Opal enjoyed that fact, cherishing every bite of her sandwich.
The already large sandwich also happened to be split in layers. A layer of mashed potatoes with some spices and salts being mixed in them to give it more flavor, a few layers of cheese and ketchup already inside the sandwich so to not require any from above. Opal felt certain there would be a lot more a food connoisseur would be able to discern, but she did not happen to be one, or care about the details of what she ate so long as it tasted good.
Kurai quietly ate his sandwich, also liking the taste, but being absorbed in other matters. Kesshō tucked into her sandwich, her smaller mouth making her take longer than others. She only managed to eat half of her first sandwich by the time Kurai started his second and Opal almost finished with hers.
It took Opal the same amount of time to finish hers as Kurai to finish his second. Being that small Opal already got full before she finished her sandwich and slowed greatly by then, allowing Kurai to finish his second before her. Kesshō also started her second before Opal could finish hers.
After Opal finished Kurai took them further away from the path before lying down beside a solitary tree in a wide expanse of the meadow. He laid the bag a bit away from him and rested his back on the tree, preparing to sleep while Kesshō remained eating. Opal rested her head beside him and drifted to sleep along with him, surprised at Kesshō's appetite since she could tell Kurai bought four sandwiches for her, knowing she will eat that many.
"Eat well," Kurai yawned before falling asleep.
Kesshō sat a bit further from Kurai and Opal, quietly eating her sandwiches and looking towards the moon and the stars. Her ears scanned the surroundings for everything, she could sense all the small animals which were active in the day retreating to their burrows as the animals of the night rose.
She could hear the near soundless wingbeats of an owl as it flew to the nearby tree with its prey, an unfortunate mouse which failed to escape the merciless claws of the Assassin Owl, having received it's name due to its completely pich black feathers and soundless flight, all while armed with claws capable of piercing even leather without any effort.
As Kesshō finished her sandwich she opened the bag to take out another one, noticing all the other items inside when she did. Everything else Kurai bought also happened inside of it, and she couldn't help her curiousity and chose to inspect all the things.
She slowly and carefully lifted a vial containing a red liquid, making sure not to make any noise by knocking the vials into each other. She inspected the vial, turning it around to get a better look. She bit at the top of the vial, accidentally knocking the lose lid off. The glass lid fell on the grass, luckily not shattering or making any noise. She inspected the liquid inside before draining the vial into her mouth, liking the strawberry-like flavor of the liquid.
She did the same with the other vials, failing to figure out what exactly they were, but liking the fact that most tasted like fruits. All were different in taste and slightly different in color, but none seemed to be very useful to her, and so she moved to the pieces of equipment he bought.
She recognised one of the pieces as leather, one as iron, one as lead, and one as rubber, but the rest she knew nothing of. She inspected all the different pieces, figuring out their properties, managing to identify two shiny pieces as gold and silver, mostly due to their color and slightly due to them repelling her venom to some extent. They melted slightly but less than how much anything else would have. She even identified which ones conducted electricity and heat well and which didn't, being quite proud and amazed at her findings.
After having satisfied her unreasonable and destructive curiosity, Kesshō refilled the bag with its contents excluding the two sandwiches, one held in her right most tail while the second she slowly gnawed at with her razor sharp fangs, her mind not being concerned by the fact that she might have ruined many of those items in her curiosity. Her tails did not bother with it either, knowing replicating simple and mostly pure substances like that would be an easy task.
As she slowly and quietly devoured her food, she felt a sort of 'cry for help' from towards the road they were on before straying away. Her ears didn't hear it, but her mind kept telling her somebody needed help in that direction. She consulted her tails and five of them pointed in the direction of the road while three others embedded themselves in the ground, opposing the idea of investigating the feeling.
The one holding the sandwich neither supported nor opposed the idea, simply doing it's work by holding the sandwich properly and not caring about what happens with anything else. Since majority of her tails supported her curiosity, she decided to check it out, not thinking of informing Kurai or Opal about it, knowing she would only disturb their rest.
She stood up, all her tails hanging loosely behind her, having extended to her height to protect her properly whenever needed, half of their length dragging on the ground behind Kesshō as she walked towards the road.
From a fair distance away, Kesshō noticed a black wagon drawn by two black horses. It seemed similar to the ones humans used for transporting goods, but it still seemed greatly suspicious. As the wagon got closer the weird feeling grew stronger to the point Kesshō could almost feel someone trying to grab her hand asking for help. She shook her hand in an attempt to get rid of the feeling, but it only grew even stronger.
Kesshō rolled her eyes as she took a bite out of her sandwich held in her other arm and allowed her four wings to spread wide. She stood straight for a moment, her eyes figuring out the distance, her ears checking for the wind speed and its direction.
After being satisfied with the results, Kesshō breath out a plume of pink-blue flames as the flames lit ablaze on the corner of her lips. Blue-pink lines shot through her wings and right leg as she placed it on the ground in front of her, launching herself into the air with it and her wings, her body engulfed in flames and soaring through the air like a shooting star.
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She landed on the top of the wagon, hitting it almost perfectly sideways, managing to not topple over only due to all eight of her tails sticking on to the roof of the wagon, something they were capable of doing, though Kesshō never figured out how exactly, and her tails were not talkative enough to reveal it.
The wagon slowed to a stop and she jumped down to the side of it, landing without the slightest sound. She used her side-ears to get an idea of her surroundings, according to which, there were two humans there.
One of them, the driver most likely, stood at the front of wagon, attempting to look at the top of it while another one of them got off the wagon from behind, walking to its side to have a look at the top. He went the opposite side from her so Kesshō used the opportunity to enter the wagon without causing a ruckus.
As she entered the wagon she noticed all the silent little creatures trapped in metal cages, looking very hungry and in poor health. The metal cages were littered about the floor carelessly, the wagon only containing the cages and nothing else. They looked to her with pleading eyes, their pain and suffering clawing at her heart.
She could tell just what they were feeling since she also felt similarly as she looked to them, the pain growing more intense the closer she got. Despite having been eating just a few moments ago, and being a Krystallite she should not feel any hunger, yet she did. She felt as if she has been starving and her body ached as if not having been allowed to move freely for years.
It took a moment for her tails to realise the problem, which they didn't see important enough to inform Kesshō of, but important enough for them to eliminate it instantly, and so they did. Without any prior warning her eight tails slashed violently at the metal cages, the ends of the tails turning into scythe-like blades for a moment as they slashed, returning to normal right after.
Kesshō gasped as a feeling of fear and terror crushed her heart, blue-pink lines shooting through her body as it instinctively prepared for a life or death situation. Kesshō gasped for air for a moment while the terror remained, calming down as a wave of relief washed the terror off her mind.
As she calmed she turned to the metal cages, noticing all the small animals' heads poking out, three foxes, two dogs, a snake up top two boxes, and five colorful birds, two of which jumped away on noticing the snake above them. Even when overjoyed at their freedom none of the animals made even the slightest sound, simply looking to Kesshō with admiration.
Kesshō heard a loud footstep behind her as all the animals were again seized by terror. It took Kesshō a moment to react, not knowing the source of the sound due to her having stopped using her side-ears, being too overwhelmed to focus on it. She turned instantly, seeing four of her tails hanging over the entrance of the wagon, a spray of red floating mid-air above them. She tilted her head as the red spray landed on the floor of the wagon.
Two of her tails rose up in instant, wrestling each other to seize possession of the sandwich, red drops squeezing out of it belonging to the ketchup, reminding Kesshō of the sandwich in her own arm, which no longer remained in her arm. The animals let out a shriek from behind, causing her to turn. As Kesshō turned red liquid sprayed on her eyes, causing her to shake her head wildly.
She opened her eyes and looked where the spray came from, spotting three of her tails wrestling for the half-eaten sandwich, which happened to earlier be in her hand. Kesshō stared between her tails with an annoyed look, sighing at their childish nature.
She allowed the foxes, dogs and birds to equally share the sandwich while she released the snake outside, dropping it on top of a mouse, the snake quickly coiling around it, eventually killing it from the constriction, the snake being twice as thick as the tiny mouse.
After reprimanding her tails she prepared to leave as her tails dragged behind her, feeling heavier due to their sadness from her scolding. Kesshō rolled her eyes at them and walked on to the grass. She realised that she didn't sense the two humans anywhere anymore, meaning she could leave the creatures to themselves without any worries.
Before she even reached ten steps away from the wagon another loud thud caught her attention. She turned towards it with a sigh, not knowing what shenanigans her tails were upto now.
"What in the world." A manly voice yelped as Kesshō heard a thud on the ground to the front of the wagon.
A man draped in black from head to toe jumped into view from in front of the wagon, keeping his distance from Kesshō. His eyes were the only visible part of his body in the black outfit, the emerald green of them giving ominous vibes. Kesshō barely noticed as three of her tails slowly retreated to their position behind her, having been at the top of the wagon a moment ago.
"What even are you?" The man gasped on seeing Kesshō's odd appearance. "Phoenix wings, dragon wings, wolf ears, those long tentacle things, what in the world even are you?"
Kesshō did not feel like straining her throat to answer the question, seeing no point in doing so. She herself did not know the exact answer to that after all. While she is aware of being a Krystallite, that barely defined her condition. She has seen other Krystallites but none were like her, leading her to believe it's not a species, just a condition. Not finding any sense of belonging with them, she even refused one's offer to travel together. Even with Kurai, she failed to feel that is where she belonged, but at the same time did not mind the feeling of safety she felt only with him thus far.
Kesshō returned back to attention, having drifted to her own thoughts, completely forgetting of the man standing in front of her, the man standing in front of her a moment ago. Kesshō looked around as the realisation hit her after a few moments, the man nowhere to be seen or heard, the only thing left behind being a small glass cube and a barely visible trail of red leading into the grass. Kesshō inquired to her tails if she should investigate the trail but all of them opposed the idea instantly and pointed to the glass cube.
Kesshō shrugged and walked to the glass cube, bending down to pick it up. As she held on to it with one of her hands she felt as if she shouldn't pick it up so carelessly. She crouched down, grabbing the box gently with both hands and lifting it to eye level to peer at the contents.
Inside the glass cube sat a butterfly, beautiful pink, blue, and black patterns visible on it. Its body mainly black body possessed two rings of blue towards it lower body and one ring of pink towards its head. The wings of the butterfly were marked with a black cobweb pattern between a blue sea with pink islands scattered indefinitely throughout it, the two wings still being identical. Kesshō found the butterfly very beautiful and felt as if the butterfly thought similarly of her.
As she inspected the butterfly she saw a seemingly opaque circle on one side of the transparent glass cube. She slowly turned the box so the side with the circle faced her, allowing the butterfly to move without getting tossed around. She inspected the circle and clawed at it, accidentally sliding the wall off, almost dropping the cube as the side plate dropped to the ground and shattered.
She turned her attention back to the butterfly, which slowly begun to crawl out of the box. It fluttered its wings a few times before flying up into the air out of the cube. As the butterfly flew around Kesshō watched it, the patterns on the butterfly glowing brightly in the starlit sky. Kesshō handed the cube to a tail of hers which offered to hold it for her.
Kesshō watched the butterfly flying freely in the beautiful night sky, snapping back to attention as her ears picked the sound of something crashing onto the ground and shattering. Kesshō looked around herself, not noticing anything broken around her, her tails simply hanging loosely behind her, seemingly resting.
Kesshō looked back up as her ears picked the barely audible sound of the butterfly's wingbeats. As she looked up the butterfly slowly descended, perching itself on her head, right beside her left wolf ear. Kesshō slowly shook her head and felt distress from the little creature, stopping just as she did and sighing.
Having no other option she walked back to where Kurai and Opal slept, surprisingly feeling as if she ate more than what she actually did. Her tails did not answer her but she felt certain they used the material absorption to devour something, or maybe even a few things without her knowledge.
She did not feel any emotion from the butterfly even as she slowly shook her head to ascertain if it still sat there, guessing that it left but her tails informed her it didn't. She slowly raised her hand to her head and gently placed it where see butterfly earlier, feeling a hard crystal-like object where the butterfly rested. Feeling around it she realised it to be in the shape of the butterfly, her tails ascertaining it looked the same, just crystallized.
Kesshō sat down a short distance away from Opal and Kurai, wondering what happened to the little butterfly and why it turned into a crystal. Something told Kesshō it isn't dead, it simply took that form because it wished to accompany her, but Kesshō chose not to fully listen to the feeling. At the end, she did not have much of a choice but to accept what the feeling told her, not having any idea of what happened with the butterfly, and not wishing to disturb Kurai's sleep for such a matter either.
As she sat down looking at the stars two hands gently grabbed her under her arms, lifting her into the air with care. She did not resist and allowed herself to be carried to the tree where Opal still slept soundly. Kurai sat back down, his back to the tree, still holding Kesshō in his hands as she sat in his lap, her head resting on his chest as she slowly closed her eyes, the starry sky turning to darkness as she drifted to sleep in the gentle and warm embrace of safety.