After about twenty minutes of fierce debate on how many parents a child should optimally have, Sophie got tired of humming summery songs to herself and decided to try and capture the attention of her now-angry father.

“Daddy, are we home soon?” she asked, poking at his head with Billy the Bee’s right hand.

“Huh? Oh, uh, soon, sweetie,” Teach said without actually knowing where he was. He’d been so caught up in telling Tiftos not only about how having one parent was better than being an orphan but also about how there was no such thing as a god that he’d totally gotten himself lost. Tiftos had argued back by alluding to his own experiences, namely how he himself was an orphan and had turned out just fine, as well as how he himself had met Deus, the wandering God, which proved there was at least one God.

All and all, it was a discussion not one person on Earth or Lutum could bother listening to. But, although Teach felt just about ready to strangle someone, the realization that he had gotten himself and his daughter lost outweighed the annoying voice in his head arguing that gods lived among them. It had gotten even darker than before, with little flying bugs swirling about dim streetlamps, the desolate streets filled with the buzzing of far-off voices, the smells of dozens of different home-made dinners all mingling together into a vaguely nostalgic mixture. The wind tugged at Teach and Sophia’s clothes like claws.

Teach glanced about anxiously, instinctively searching for a street name to identify where they were. And then he remembered that he had a phone. The battery was rather low, but it would be enough. Teach quickly pulled up Google Maps. Apparently, he was in that weird part of town just outside the suburban parts. He and Sophie lived in the more centralized part, so he just had to take a right there and go straight ahead and he should-,

What was that?

Teach’s head snapped around to face a darkened street on his left. His eyes tried to get used to the dim darkness after having stared at the overly-bright phone in his hand, but it was hard. All he could sense was that weird… sound.

“K-kl-,kl-,k,” it went. Like some clicking, throaty sound, or the sound of two rocks tapping together. Or… like someone choking.

Despite the fact that somebody might be in danger over there in the darkness, Teach felt no hurry to rush off and save them. He couldn’t see anything over there. No, well, he could. A shadow. Humanoid in shape, limping, and unnatural. Like some sort of puppet being dragged along by its puppet master. Its movements were rigid, unnatural and entirely faked. At least, that’s how Teach saw it. Not right.

He didn’t know whether to let Sophie down so she might be able to run if things went bad or if he should keep her where she was so he could run with her in his arms if it came down to it. He went with the latter option. Tiftos’ voice was still grating about in his head, shifting between calling out to him, asking if he’s still there, and trying to remind him about which point they were discussing.

“Things are going weird,” was the only thought Teach could send Tiftos. He didn’t have time.

“Everything alright over there?” Teach asked diplomatically, the strange figure not even slowing down at being called out to.

“Kl-, kk, kll-k-,kl,” it continued. But as it stepped into the light, Teach came to realize that most of the clicking sounds came not from its throat, but instead from its feet as it stepped on the hard concrete below. It was not human.

A single, human eye peered out at him, the yellow glow of the streetlamps somehow failing to imbue the eye with any sort of life. It was yellow around the edges, and, considering how dead it looked, it was entirely dry, the rotting eye of someone who’d died from a failed liver. The only trait that hinted at the fact that whatever inhuman creature possessed the clearly human eye was alive at all was the fact that the eye moved. But not in the ordinary manner, where it would look at where it was going or the surroundings, no… Like the erratic attention of a fly, it shifted here and there, the dilated pupil never once actually landing upon anything. It simply rolled around like a cue-ball, unnerving Teach greatly.

The rest of the creature came into view, and Teach flinched harshly, his whole body transitioning into a steady shiver. Above him, Sophia whimpered and clutched Billy tightly, and with a steady hand, Teach carefully manoeuvred Sophia from his shoulders and into his arms. Just in case he had to run.

That was no man.

It had the silhouette of one, the eye of one, and the left leg of one, but that was about it. The rest was entirely inhuman, the sickly yellow lighting turning the brown carapace a strange, somehow disgusting golden colour, the transparent, wrinkled and wet wings not even attempting to glow, clearly underdeveloped. Beneath the spastic human eye, a pair of mandibles clicked together, the black, shadowy hole behind them groaning and grunting in a disturbingly human-like voice.

A thin, wrinkled yet shiny smooth hand, fitted with unsuitable claws reached out, shivering and shuddering, palm visible and what might be described as fingers pressed together. Despite the surface, the skin, as it was, clearly being a hard surface since it melded with the claws, it seemed strangely elusive, moving and wriggling, as if… as if something was moving beneath it, trying to escape. Like a thousand parasitic infant worms attempting to escape from the confines of a maggot’s fleshy body.

“Kkr-, kl-, krp-, sp-, spare s-, skr-, som-e, kkkkrroi-n, mi-, mis- kr-kr, misterrr…?” the insect-like creature pleaded, the single human eye focusing on Teach and none but Teach.

“Sir-, are you, are you alright?...” Teach stammered, his blue eyes zig-zagging about the odd form of the creature, taking note of the bloodied rags it wore, the strangely formed antennae poking out of its head like boney sceptres, and the hunched-over form making it look almost like…

Like a beggar.

Like a limping, inhuman, insect-like beggar, dragging itself along, leaving a trail of blood behind. The idea of the whole thing was so strange, so unnatural that Teach could only imagine himself having suddenly found himself within the pages of one of his beloved horror novels. But this creature was far too real for that. It moved closer. One step, two steps, hand still reached out, begging for change, limping painfully. Teach didn’t know how to react. He clutched Sophie close to him and felt her tears stain his jacket. Taking a few steps back, he increased the distance between himself and the creature. The creature didn’t seem to notice, having only eyes for Teach’s face and gaze.

Without saying anything further, Teach spun around on his heel, and started sprinting in the other direction, Sophia clutched tight in his arms.

“Teach, what’s happening out there?! You know I can’t understand whatever that language is you’re speaking!” Tiftos called out, getting a bit tired of hearing that weird gravelly language, especially as it was just the same thing being repeated over and over again. How was he to know what “fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck” meant?

Back on the outside, Teach was running for his life, the wind roaring in his ears, panting deeply, wishing he had actually eaten lunch instead of just drinking a cup of coffee. His legs were trembling and felt thinner than ever before, his daughter shivering in his arms, whether our of fear of mere cold he did not know. Behind him, those grunting clicking noises had never stopped being just behind him, nipping at his heels, breathing down his neck, but if Teach at any time took a peek behind him to make sure he wasn’t hearing things… He would find nothing. But the sound wouldn’t stop. He couldn’t slow down, he couldn’t take a breather, he couldn’t scream for help, he couldn’t do anything.

Stolen story; please report.

But it had to come to an end sometime.

With his lungs aching, his breaths shallow and ineffective, his mind hollow, he eventually came to a stop. He simply couldn’t run any longer. The clicking, however, did not come to a stop. It was all around him, in the road, in the dim lamps, in the cold air, in his head… it reverberated. Echoed. And yet, he could see nothing. His anxious gaze was flung everywhere, wherever the chatter was, he looked. Still, nothing. Swallowing bitterly through his aching throat, he prepared himself to run yet again.

He spun around to face the road behind him, his body tensing up for launch, and… there it was. With a piercing thousand-yard stare and a stretched out palm, as if nothing had happened. Teach choked on a scream, but his daughter was less restrained.

With a high-pitched shriek, she caught the attention of the creature, his yellow eye finally leaving Teach. But this did not make Teach any happier, no, if anything, this was worse.

It retrieved its hand. Without a sound beyond that annoying chattering, without so much as a warning to what its intents were, it leapt at Teach like a human-sized tick, arms stretched out, soggy wings flailing uselessly behind. Teach could not dodge. He was but a man, and this creature, this monster, was superhuman.

“Daddy!” Sophia cried out in fear. The blunt mandibles clasped around her tender little arm, grinding flesh and breaking bone. Teach grunted as he attempted to pull backwards and jerk her out of his awaiting jaws, but it did nothing but increase her suffering. In turn, the creature shook its head to and fro violently, like a rabid dog tugging at the limb of a prey.

“Let, her, go!” Teach commanded, but his words fell on deaf ears. Sophia, stuck between being pulled by her father and mauled by a monster, could do nothing but cry, scream and thrash about. But it wasn’t a fair fight to begin with. On one hand, there was a father, fighting for the life of his daughter, and on the other, a monster. Sophia’s fate was predestined, and so, with a final tug that surely dislodged her arm and severed a few tendons, she was violently ripped from her father’s arms, leaving her painfully shivering body to flail about, held in the air only by the mandibles of a monster.

“D-, daddy-,” she gasped weakly, her will to fight almost entirely gone. The bones in her arm were practically dust, and the muscles had hardly fared any better. She was only minutes from passing out, and Teach knew it. Jaw clenched, he fought between the urge to leap at the bloodthirsty monster and to run away, or that dreaded third option, “Freeze”. Head pounding, chest heaving, eyes bloodshot, he stood still, contemplating his choice, not realizing the decision had already been made.

“Teach!! Answer me!” Tiftos demanded, slamming his foot down on the eternal darkness below. The repeated mantra of “fuck fuck fuck” that had been going on loop for the last few minutes came to a grinding halt. The silence was heavy and Tiftos couldn’t help but feel his heart creep up into his throat.

“My daughter was assaulted by an insect monster and there is nothing I can do about it,” Teach answered perfectly, his voice as monotone and dead as his fighting spirit.

“You’re WHAT!?! By the Divine Goddess Beatrice, what are you standing around for?! I don’t-, is she hurt? I’m a priest, I can help her! I don’t know how, but please let me!” Tiftos pleaded, his carefully honed need to help those in need flaring up. He’d been taught to heal for years, and despite how cynical his master was, his need to assist had remained. He may have been forced into the life of a priest, but the teachings of Beatrice were close to his heart regardless.

“How?” Teach asked flatly. His mouth felt as dry as leather.

“I don’t… I don’t know! But… I’ll teach you! I’ll teach you how to use Magick, and you’ll be fine, and she’ll be fine, and… don’t panic, okay? If you panic, it’s over before you know it! I… I learnt that from a friend. First up, I want you to feel deep inside yourself…” Tiftos attempted. Now, there was no real way for Tiftos to know whether or not Teach even had a Cerritulus to begin with, and even if he did, the chances of this particular method actually working required the person to have a considerably large one at that, but… Tiftos didn’t have much choice. He had to do something.

“Alright…” Teach replied, and as much as it pained him, he turned his attention inward. Inside of him… there was nothing. At first, that is. Through all the panic, all the cortisol and adrenaline coursing through his veins, beyond the pounding of his heart, there was something unusual. A presence he had felt before, but never so closely…

“Huh?” Tiftos felt it too, but from the other side. Something, someone, reaching out for him. He returned the favour, and the contract was sealed.

When the two opened their eyes, they were one. Recognition dawned upon them This creature, this thing… was a Pterican Inseques. Or, at least… almost. If one were to disregard the disturbing human elements and the human-like stance, it was definitely an Inseques of some sort, and if Tiftos’ memories were to be trusted, it was a Pterican one. Considering that the Pterican variant was supposed to be docile, it was a wonder it had gone on this far. Perhaps it was hunger that drove it to this? Regardless, Tiftos was met with the fact that his assumption that this was about healing was incorrect. This was about escape, hopefully with an alive Sophia in tow.

Thankfully, they felt strong. Their body was younger and older than it had been, as if both their physical and mental aspects had merged. But they didn’t have time for that! The Inseques stared at them, big-eyed and slack-jawed, confused and dull. Sophia fell from it’s opened jaws and clattered to the floor, gasping painfully. Before anything else could happen, she curled herself into a ball and started sobbing, clutching her shattered arm.

This set off a fire inside both Teach and Tiftos. Both because Sophia was in such pain, and because they had been unable to help. But even so, a priest and a teacher does not make a fighter. The two-in-one-deal launched at the insectoid, fists at the ready and teeth bared.

But they were brushed aside. As easily as a leaping cat is swatted down, the two were slammed into a nearby wall, coughing and bruised. Neither Tiftos nor Teach were physical men. They were men of the mind. And so, they both knew that they did not stand a chance. The only thing keeping them from grabbing Sophia and running for the hills was the need for revenge. That, and as a preventive measure. If they ran, they risked the lives of others, if they stayed, they risked their lives…

But, when it all boiled down to it, it was just an excuse. Tiftos was a confrontational teen, living a life without compromise. If there was a Beast that threatened a town or human lives, he and his group went out to deal with it, no questions asked. Indeed, giving up and handing a mission to a more competent group was always a possibility, but it was uncommon. Fighting tooth and nail was the norm, escaping was not. Escaping was seen as foolish and unheroic, and handing the mission to a different team was cowardice.

But Teach knew better. He had seen kids come and go, bullies doing their thing, violence leading only to regret, and, in a way, he abhorred it. He cared more for the well-being of himself and his child than he did the emotional satisfaction of defeating an enemy, and… he cared more about him and his child than he did the lives of a stranger. He would not hesitate to escape and let somebody else deal with this repulsive creature if it meant he and Sophie could get away scot-free.

So, it was a battle between the heroic Tiftos and the cowardly Teach, of the emotional and the rational, the caring and the selfish, the right and the right.

In the end, rationality won.

The amalgamation of the two bolted at the Inseques, the air whooshing in their ears as they went at speeds quicker than the both had ever known. The creature could barely respond before the young, broken little girl was swooped up in their arms. Quickly, before the creature could react any further, they ran. The clicking was far away, growing further with each step, and, soon, it was gone entirely. Coming to a stop by what appeared to be the main street, they laid notice to the street signs. East Chaplin Road.

Instinctively, they opened up their jacket and grabbed Teach’s phone from the inner pocket. Tapping in the number nobody thinks they’ll actually call, they waited for the line to stop beeping. In the meantime, they noticed what they were wearing. A strange, long light-blue woollen (or made from the hairs of some sort of unknown Beast) robe, with a high collar and double breasts, underneath which a black turtleneck was snuggled comfortably. Around the waist, two brown leather belts hung, from which a satchel of healing items and herbs hung, as well as a grimoire, filled with spells and incantations for those with the talents to cast them. They wore a pair of Dejourdices on their hands and a pair of leather boots.

The most interesting aspect, beyond the strange gloves, were the Enhancing Collar around the neck. It was meant to help direct Magick more easily through the throat, which it did, but… for it to do this, it had to be perfectly still, meaning it had several rows of barbs, which stabbed into the skin and flesh at specific points in order for it to be as safe as possible. Tiftos, who had been wearing the common sorcerer’s item for years, had grown accustomed to it, but Teach was not so accepting. It was itchy and painful and he wanted it off.

But their job was not yet done. Before anything else happened, they had to do something about this arm. Thankfully, the dull mandibles of the Inseques had failed to penetrate the flesh itself, but it was still a dire situation. The only other good thing was that Sophia had passed out, which would make the operation a whole lot easier.

Placing Sophia as gently as possible down on the grown, Teach allowed the more Tiftos part to take control. Placing one hand on the damaged arm and one on the unharmed one, they let warm, healing Magick flow through Sophie, from one arm to the other, back into them, and round and round. This was just to ascertain the situation. Mumbling Demonic chants, they got to work for real, using Tiftos’ Magick element of Force pull and push, putting bones in the right places, aligning things, putting tendons in the right places, prodding for irregularities. Once that was done, the actual “healing” commenced, with blood vessels being regenerated, bones melding together, flesh regrowing. It took about twenty minutes, and when all was said and done, they opened their eyes to a paramedic trying to grab their attention.

“Sir? Is this the victim? We have to get her down to the hospital,” he said, and so was reluctantly handed the still unconscious Sophia. More than the ambulance, a police vessel had been dispatched to go make sure the attacker wasn’t on the loose, but they had already gone to work.

The two came along to the hospital in the ambulance, and things calmed down.

It wasn’t until after Sophia had been discharged, at about four in the evening, that the one became two once more.