Chapter 12

Their usually slower sailing down the Blue River was practically lightning fast. Jason, who had recovered most of his strength, was rowing with all his might to push them at a speed down the river than the current ever could hope to. The faster the current, the harder it was to paddle down the river without flipping the boat. The rows were not used often as on a lotus boat because, due to the lilypad’s light weight, too much rowing could cause them to overturn. They had long since passed the bend in the river that led to the Primeval World and were a hair’s breadth away from Slab River.

However, with the current as calm as it was right now with no rain for the past two weeks or so, they could travel down the placid current as fast as possible. While Rillia steered the boat, trying to keep up with Jason’s movement, she could not help but hear Melsil speak aloud. He sat beside Vesha against the wall of the lotus, his sheathed sword leaning against his shoulder as the crawfish curled up beside him where he had remained for the duration of their time heading to Slab River. The last time Rillia looked over at him, he looked pretty forlorn.

“I can no longer use the White Spore sword,” he explained as they raced down the Blue River. “It has rejected me.”

Rillia had never heard so much disappointment in his voice. He was so depressed it honestly hurt her to listen to her. She was glad she was too focused on watching Jason’s rowing movements to keep up with him and occasionally checking the map beside her to know they were on the right course. Rillia hated the idea of looking at the sullen Melsil anymore than she had to.

“Why?” Vesha asked. “The sword accepted you, didn’t it? And you’ve never done anything wrong. Then what’s the problem?”

“I almost killed an innocent person,” Melsil said. “And now it won’t respond to me like it used to.”

“But you didn’t kill Secul,” Vesha answered. “So why would the White Spore not let you use it?”

“Because I came so close to doing so,” he said. “I decided at the last second not to kill the general because I wanted to become governor of Ushujin that bad. In other words, I wasn’t thinking of Lerus’s life but my own position as the leader of my people. In other words, I was being extremely selfish in putting my own people above his life.”

“Is it selfish to think that the declaration of enslaving an entire race deserves outrage?” Vesha asked.

“You don’t understand, Vesha,” Melsil replied. “The reason I was hateful of the idea of my people being made into slaves came from the fear and guilt I would have over being called a race traitor. My whole life I was indoctrinated with the ideology that survival of our race at the cost of other species in Wassergras was the most honorable thing you could do. When I rejected that ideology, parts of it still lingered in me. In my heart, I was afraid of being a traitor to the fungus people and lashed out as a result of fear for my own species. The White Spore has made it clear that it despises the placing of one’s race over others. Me acting upon that has shown that the venom of the Black Poison still lingers within me.”

“How?” Vesha asked. “How are you affected by the Black Poison if you’ve done as much as you have for the benefit of others?”

“Because,” Melsil said. “The influence of both the White Magnolia that created us and the Black Poison that contaminates us resides within an individual no matter how good or evil they may be. No person who does good is immune to the evil that lingers in their soul, just as no one who does evil is immune to the good that may linger in their soul. But evil, being the contaminating force it is, poisons even the best of us. And resist it though as much as I can, I am still a product of the sin committed by the humans all that long ago. The fact that I would go so far as to nearly kill someone who didn’t deserve it out of that fear means I...I still have an attachment to that ideology somewhere in my soul.”

“Well…” Vesha said. “So, what you’re saying is...because of that the White Spore will never let you use it again?”

“The restriction only comes to me using the blade as a weapon,” Melsil stated. “I cannot fight with it but I can still use it as a way to grow food and purify poison. And, if I am reading the sword correctly, this restriction is temporary. I have to regain the White Spore’s trust before I can fight again with it.”

“Well that’s good to know,” Vesha said. “You’re an incredible fighter and I know that it’ll give you another chance as selfless as you are.”

“Yes,” he replied. “You’re right. The two restrictions the White Spore has for the user is that they must be a fungus person and to have never killed an innocent person. As I didn’t actually kill Secul I’m not disqualified from using its power forever and still have a chance to regain it’s battle capabilities. But...I guess this is a humbling experience as I didn’t realize I was capable of such evil.”

“Melsil…” Vesha said. “I...I’m sorry that...that you’re so hurt by this. I-I wish I could…”

“There is nothing you can do to help me,” Melsil stated. “I am the only one who can prove to the White Spore I am still worthy of wielding it’s full potential. You, on the other hand, have a different role to play.”

“And why do you say that?” Vesha asked.

“Think about it,” Melsil said. “You think it was a coincidence we all met? The adopted daughter of the Knife Claw general, the Giant turned our size and the wielder of the White Spore sword? The White Spore called me here because it has deliberately placed us as a general would his shoulders. All of us are merely pawns in the game of the primordial struggle between the two plants that created all life. The White Magnolia has obviously brought us here to face this world head on.”

What he said disturbed Rillia.

If that’s true then...The ant thought. Does that mean I was acting in my own will trying to cross over to the Primeval World? Was it even my choice? But I’ve never come in contact with the White Magnolia. Jason ate it, Melsil pulled the sword from the White Spore and Vesha was shown her true nature by that sword. But me...I’ve never come in contact with it. So how have I been influenced? Could my own will be nothing more than an extension of the White Magnolia...or even the Black Poison?

She shook her head.

No. Rillia thought. Every decision I make is my own choice. I came here for myself, I do all this for myself. The White Magnolia doesn’t control me anymore than anyone else does. I rebelled against everyone and thing I knew...nothing can control me.

“Then, then…” Vesha said. “You think my father has been brought here by the White Magnolia? Does that mean he’s a good person?”

Melsil laughed.

“Oh, oh no,” he said. “While the four of us may have been gathered by the White Magnolia, your father has clearly been steered onto the course he’s travelling through the Black Poison’s influence.”

“But-but-” Vesha said. “You...you said...the White Magnolia brought us here. So...so how can my father be on the same course as us and instead be controlled by the Black Poison?”

“Because,” Melsil said. “Just as the White Magnolia has a will of its own, so does the Black Poison. It contaminates all of us but some are more allured by it than others. Your father does the bidding of the poison inherited from his ancestors on down to the letter. He’s driven by it...like a mad animal gone rabid.”

“You can’t be serious!” Vesha said. “He loves me! He took me in and raised me as his own from the time I was a child! When I had no one...he gave me everything. How can such a man be a pawn of the Black Poison tree?”

“Because he would have never done that for someone not of his own kind,” Melsil answered. “His tribalism keeps him from showing other non-crawfish empathy. He cares for no one that does not suit his race. The only way to defeat someone infected with the Black Poison is to put them down like you would a rabid animal.”

“No…” Vesha said. “No...I can’t. I can’t kill the very person who saved my life!”

“Facing your father down and winning the Pincer Duel with him to install yourself as general of the Knife Claw,” he said. “I don’t know if you can beat him but-”

“I won’t have to!” she yelled. “I’ll get my father to see the error of his ways! Then I won’t have to kill him to prevent the fungus people from being enslaved! No one will have to be killed at all!”

“And you think that because…?” Melsil asked.

“Because he’s my father and I love him!” she cried. “He may have killed the fungus people of Yellow Spore and deprived them of the right to arm themselves but that’s because I wasn’t there with him! Please...just understand that I’ll be able to make him see reason!”

“That’s far from realistic,” Melsil said. “You think your mere presence would make him call off the enslavement of the fungus people?”

“Yes!” Vesha said. “Just...just trust me!”

“Then why did you tell us that you’ll declare a Pincer Duel?” he asked.

“Well…” she stuttered. “Well…”

“Don’t tell me you were never fully committed to the idea of dueling your father?” he asked.

“I only said that as a last resort!” Vesha said. “If my father meets you, a Duchil that rebelled against the Red Fungus, he might have a change of heart and see that-”

“Vesha,” Melsil said sternly. “You know that won’t work. You know that your father, the slayer of Yellow Spore, would not be swayed by such a ridiculously simple notion of meeting a Red Fungus defector.”

“You don’t know him like I do!” Vesha said. “You don’t know him at all!”

“Of course I do,” he replied. “Because I was you at one point. I believed that my family could do no wrong and that I could simply be a good person by both acknowledging their flaws and accepting them...and in the meantime more people were killed by Juchil and those other monsters. We’ve all had to do it before…Jason fighting his brother, me killing my whole family and now you will have to atone for the sins of your ancestors as well.”

“Um…” Rillia said. “Guys. We’re here.”

Jason began rowing less as they drifted along the placid current to find they had reached the edge of Slab River. In front of them was a current flowing more than twice as fast as the one they were leaving, the only reason they didn’t enter was because the Blue River they were sailing on was stopped by the barrier of constructed stone that rose to knee height in front of them. The moving body of water was complimented on both sides by elevated, curved gray stone that acted as a dam to the rushing water. To the north of them was the mountainous dam constructed by the Giants to elevate their “roads” as Rillia had read the ancient explorers learned.

Like Slab Lake, it was a body of water that was formed by a construction made by the Giants, but instead of a small circle of the gray stone it was a long path of it. It wasn’t even like the paths that the Giants walked or steered their machines on as the construction of gray stone was curved along its surface, allowing water to flow down it to create a rather large river. It stretched for more than twice the distance that Wassergras was long and was inhabited by a variety of creatures.

While it did form the western edge of Wassergras, Slab River was usually too swift to navigate for boats as well have no diverting branches like the Blue River did. It was as vertical as could be, the river flowing directly north before leading into the Primeval World. What little contact the people of Wassergras had with those outside the region was usually through the crawfish either swimming or living along the shore interacting with others of their kind.

If Wassergras was the safe, mostly manageable home to its inhabitants, the Cities of the Giants the mysterious civilization of a people that far surpassed them and the Primeval World was the dangerous, untamed wilderness where exotic danger lurked behind every corner, then Slab River was the near-uncrossable border between them. Rillia had hoped to enter the Primeval World by sailing into the intersection where the Blue and Slab Rivers met so the swift current could jettison her into the world of adventure. Now they were being forced to sail upstream to some extent, which could only be done by Jason paddling them there.

“We’ll have to pick up the boat and start rowing up the river,” Rillia said as she looked at the map she laid on the floor at her feet. “Then we’ll find your father. And, from what Secul said, I don’t think he’ll be alone.”

The ant turned to the crawfish, Vesha sighing deeply.

“I hope he’ll be alone,” she said. “That way...I’ll be able to convince him not to enslave the fungus people.”

It would be two days before they met General Palvan on the Slab River. The Knife Claw general was at the edge of the stone banks with five other crawfish surrounding him. In this particular area of Slab River the green algae was thick and all manner of bugs swam through the water, occasionally drawing near their boat. Crawfish mounds littered the edge of the river’s bank where the general and his compatriots were. The half of Slab Lake that formed the western border of Wassergras was well-mapped so Rillia could arrive with impeccable accuracy.

“I think I’ve been here before,” Jason said.

“Really?” Rillia asked as she secreted venom from her arm. “How can you tell?”

“I…” he said. “I just imagine my journey from Giant to your size...starting here I think.”

“Then how did you get all the way into the complete opposite border of Wassergras?” Rillia asked. “The area I met you in isn’t far from the Red Mountain Colony’s main hill, on the eastern border of the country.”

“I…” he said. “I remember it but...but I don’t at the same time. It’s all a blur...like a dream that you can’t remember but was vivid in your mind at the time.”

All of the crawfish were nearly twice as large as normal members of their species, their exoskeletons dark red and claws so large they looked large enough to cut saplings in half, the serrated edges alone causing Rillia to shutter in fear. Their exteriors were covered in scars from what Rillia could only assume were countless battles.

The five subordinates of the General were dressed in a black variation of the typical blue and gold Knife Claw uniform with a red twin claw insignia on the back. Palvan had a similar uniform except on his read the words “Destroyer of My Enemies” in blood red on the black uniform. Upon them seeing the lotus boat show up where they stood, they turned to leer at them. Upon securing the boat to a strip of green algae with a dried venom rope, they climbed up the curved stone slab to find a strange object near the general.

It was a strange, partially black object that laid flat on the uppermost portion of the stone dam. The base of it was charcoal dark while the upper half was a glass, transparent casing that had strange liquid inside. The liquid was murky and so thick it was hard to see.

When Rillia looked around, she found that there were other objects like that but they were in disrepair. They were either broken, the clear dome portion either broken or split from the square black base. One was almost without defect but was dry of any liquid. Just as Rillia attempted to get close enough to touch, the crawfish standing in front of her swatted at her with his pincer.

“Away, ant!” he said. “This is our boon!”

“What-?” Rillia said. “What even is all this?”

“It looks like-” Melsil said, his knees shaking at the sight. “Technology made by the Giants.”

“What?!” Rillia said.

“Yes,” he said as he gripped the hilt of his sword as the sheathed weapon began shaking. “And the White Spore does not like it.”

The ant’s jaw hung open as she realized he was right. She had studied rather broadly the technology of all species in Wassergras while pouring over all the information about Giant technology the explorers found. Rillia nodded her head, still amazed at such a sight. It did in fact look like something the ancient explorers would describe as made by Giants rather than ants, crawfish or plant and fungus people.

“Correct,” Palvan said. “One of the Red Fungus weirdos we captured told us of the Duchils’ connections with the Giants. Apparently...this is where the Giants first entered our territory as our size.”

“The Red Fungus told you of this?!” Melsil shouted. “But how?! Only the Duchil family knew of it! My father even hid it from me! Who else would have known?!”

The large crawfish’s expression turned into an evil sneer.

“Some mushroom swordsman by the name of Elconquin Tuju,” he said.

“Tuju,” Melsil said. “He was my father’s best spy and informant. It would make sense he would know.”

“We tortured him until he gave up everything,” Palvan said. “As reward for telling us of the Giants’ shrinking technology, we gave him quick and painless death.”

“Aaaaaaahhhhhh!” Jason yelled.

Rillia turned around to see the boy keeling over in apparent pain, crying in agony. She rushed toward him as he bent over, grabbing his head again. She helped him up, trying to lean him back into place before Jason pushed her away. The ant stumbled to the ground, watching as he continued to cry in pain. Then the boy actually began to start tearing up, his expression clenching into anguished anger with his eyes shut.

“No!” Jason shouted. “No! No, I don’t want to go back!”

“Jason…” Melsil said.

“Jason!” Vesha said.

“What is this?!” Palvan said. “Is...is he one of them? The Giants who shrunk to our size?”

Jason clenched his hands over his own eyes as they grew wet with tears. Palvan crawled near the human, laughing as he did. Just as he threatened to touch him, Vesha quickly stepped in between them, raising her pincers in his defense.

“Father!” she said.

“Vesha!” the general said. “What are you doing here?!”

“Trying to stop you from committing a horrible mistake,” she said. “Look...I’ve been told what you plan to do with the fungus people and-”

“And you want me to do something different?” Palvan asked. “I was thinking about killing most of them but that would be a little difficult and I know they’d all rebel against me if I did so.”

“Um…” Vesha said. “Well...no, I-”

“Because the slavery of the fungus people would be easier to proposition,” Palvan said. “I could make a deal with the fungus people and say all who are willing to become slaves will live.”

“Father!” Vesha said.

“What?!” he asked. “This is the perfect time to enact such a proposal! They have no real army to protect them anymore! Our species could become richer than ever before!”

That’s what made Jason rise up. He was no longer clenching his face anymore and his eyes were wide open in anger. He also no longer cried, his hands balled into fists as he faced Palvan and looked ready to kill him. The only reason Jason didn’t step forward and immediately attack was Vesha in his way, who was already objecting to her father’s proposal.

“FATHER!” Vesha shouted.

The general walked back as if repulsed, shocked by his daughter’s outburst. She looked up at him with a pleading expression, tears streaming down her face while Jason’s silent fury was enough to make Rillia worry for the general’s safety. If his daughter was literally not directly in the way, there was no doubt Jason would go out of his way to pound Palvan until his fists were bloodied.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done to the people of the fungus?!” the crawfish said. “How much they’ve suffered?! How horrid their conditions have been as they’ve been trampled all over with no defense?!”

Palvan looked very concerned for his daughter, as if worried for her sanity. Then his expression darkened with a sinister leer. He raised a claw as if to prepare a defense.

“You seem as though you’re worried for them,” he said.

“I AM!” Vesha said. “The only reason the Red Fungus gained so much power in this amount of time was because they were oppressed! Do you realize if you had not slaughtered those in Yellow Spore, taken away their rights to have an army and monitored them closely the Red Fungus would never have been such a danger?!”

“You’re apologizing for the Red Fungus now?” Palvan asked. “Has my daughter been so brainwashed that she’s promoting a terrorist and crime group?”

“Please!” Vesha said. “No! Don’t do this! If you do...it will just cause more problems for us!”

“Problems?” Palvan asked. “For us? You do realize the crawfish benefitted from the massacre at Yellow Spore as the fungus people’s economy no longer rivalled our’s, don’t you?”

That caused Vesha to start smashing her claws into the stone beneath her, causing it to crack.

“So it was true!” she said. “You destroyed the fungus people’s center of commerce to hurt their economy, didn’t you?!”

“Of course,” Palvan answered. “Why else would I?!”

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The crawfish had enough and crumpled to the ground, covering her eyes with her pincers. Jason looked down at her in pity as she laid down in sorrow before averting his gaze back to Palvan. Despite all his anger, he remained silent and unmoving. It was one thing for the boy to lash out in anger at a perceived injustice but right now, it seemed Jason was beyond that. Rillia was shocked at the callousness of the general.

“So the rumors were right,” Melsil said. “You used the war as an excuse to destroy our economy.”

The crawfish turned to the mushroom swordsman, glaring.

“I would hope to remind you that there is no creature that does not act out of self-interest,” Palvan replied. “We must all be aware of how easy it is to lose our advantage in survival. Don’t pretend the fungus have never done anything malevolent to gain power.”

He then turned to Melsil, raising his claws in anger.

“Vesha was not like this before,” he said. “Normally, she’d be okay with accepting killing others not her own race but now…”

Palvan turned to his still-weeping daughter, his expression painted with disappointment.

“Something about her has weakened,” he said. “Softened...one might say. And I can only assume it was you who guilt-tripped her into feeling bad that people die in war and conflict. Honestly, killing for necessity is a part of life. Imagine if we applied the same logic of sparing others because we were afraid of moral outrage to hunting for food. Everyone would starve to death.”

“That’s your way of justifying your actions,” Melsil said. “I know there’s nothing I can do to change your mind.”

“Honestly, Vesha was always practical and reasonable,” Palvan said. “Loyal to the Knife Claw and Exploratory Pincer to the very end…”

He groaned in hatred.

“But now she’s lost it,” he said. “My own girl...her mind so poisoned by a rival species she’s agreeing with them. This is beyond preposterous.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt…” a crawfish behind the general said as he approached. “But shouldn’t we get on with this?”

“With what?” Rillia asked.

“Why don’t you ask the Giant over there,” Palvan pointed to Jason. “He’ll tell...just Tuju told me.”

Rillia turned to the boy to see he was shaking his head.

“They…” he said. “They’re shrinking chambers. Or...as my dad said...size manipulation chambers. They allow anyone who enters the liquid pools to become a different size...and...and yet retain the same strength of a full grown human even if they shrink to this size.”

“Yes!” Palvan said. “Exactly!”

He then turned back to the chamber that was mostly intact and had liquid in it.

“I’ve been waiting here for the Knife Claw officials I called to arrive and bathe in this with me,” Palvan said. “I want everyone of my closest friends to witness us bath in our new strength! I was even waiting for you to arrive, Vesha, so you could be the first to gain the strength of Giants.”

His daughter's sobbing only increased.

“With this technology at our disposal,” he said. “Crawfish could surpass not only ants but Giants themselves! We need this technology...we’ll become masters of our own fate and destroy everything that gets in our way…”

“That won’t work,” Jason said.

The Knife Claw general turned to look at him indignantly.

“Excuse me?” Palvan asked.

“It won’t work,” he said. “At least...I’m not sure if it will. From what I believe...the shrinking chambers diminish the more they’re used. From enough people stepping inside and manipulating their bodies’ size...the machine wears down.”

The general laughed.

“Don’t try and fool me,” he said. “You Giants are just trying to keep it all to yourselves.”

Jason shrugged.

“Maybe I’m wrong,” he said. “I’m just...just getting weird memories. I mean...I think I came out of that one that’s still got water or whatever in it.”

The general then rolled his eyes and walked back up to where Vesha laid on the ground.

“Vesha,” he said. “This is no time to cry. But to celebrate! We could-”

“No!” Vesha said.

She slowly stood up to face her father, her claws raised defensively.

“I knew there was no way to convince you to not enslave the fungus people,” Vesha said. “I knew you were so cold hearted you’d never give up on your plan to subjugate the fungus.”

She then looked over at the crawfish officials behind her, glaring viciously.

“Are you all just going to agree to let him enslave an entire race?!” she cried.

The five remained silent for a moment before one dared to answer.

“We are not sure what will happen if the fungus people are not suppressed,” one of the Knife Claw members said. “As much as we know that declaring enslavement will be a controversial decision...Palvan has proven to be reliable in his leadership and able to predict events-”

“Fool!” she shouted. “Fools! All of you.”

She then turned back to Palvan.

“So now…” Vesha seethed.

She walked forward to her father, obviously scared but marching forward as if something was driving her.

“I-” Vesha said. “I need...I need to challenge...challenge you.”

Palvan glared at her.

“In a Pincer Duel?” the general asked. “You know, I always wanted you to go as high as possible but this is not the way I’d hoped you’d go about it.”

“Please,” Vesha said. “Accept my challenge. If you don’t...I’ll-”

“Betray your race?” Palvan asked. “You’ve already done more than you could imagine.”

She lowered her claws, shaking her head.

“I-” she said. “I can’t do it. I can’t...I can’t kill my own father.”

“Then I’ll do it!” Jason said.

He stepped forward and pounded his fist into his open hand, only to cry in pain. Jason bent down from the shockwave that no doubt rippled throughout his body. He then picked himself up, desperately trying not to look weak.

Jason’s body is still healing. Rillia thought. He’s only about halfway recovered from his brawl with Garret. He’s in no condition to fight one of the strongest soldiers in the Knife Claw army. Melsil can’t use his sword right now and I know I can’t hope to win. He has far more battle experience than me. Vesha is our only hope.

“So…?” Palvan asked. “You want a Pincer Duel? Because I’m not averse to it. I’ll accept your challenge. I cannot stand the idea of a race traitor in my family and I will happily kill you for your crime of selling out your own kind.”

Instead of responding with any sort of strength, Vesha merely slumped at his words. Her claws hung limp at her side as she looked up at Palvan with dread and regret. Vesha tried to mumble out a response but the crawfish’s voice seemed to disappear as soon as it left her mouth. Rillia began to grow more and more uncomfortable at the sight. It was at that point that Melsil drew his sword from his sheath and held it toward Vesha.

“What are you doing?” Rillia said. “I thought you couldn’t fight with your sword?”

“I can’t,” he said. “But the White Spore still permits me to see into the innermost heart of a person.”

Rillia looked at the blade to see in the reflective surface of the blade was the crawfish’s likeness. However, rather than her old image of a selfish and self-righteous person were two distinct images of the same crawfish. She was constantly trying to decide which was the real Vesha while looking at it.

Somehow, the White Spore sword was showing off two contrasting portraits of her, one on each side of the blade. One half was the reflection of Vesha that Rillia was more familiar with. It was not only darker than the other but also resembled a restrained animal, a kind of creature that only cares for itself and sees others only as food that didn’t act out more because social conventions prevented it from doing so.

The other was far lighter in comparison. It was a new image of a new Vesha, someone who was no longer concerned with herself. All she cared for was helping others and sacrificing for the greater good. The burden of that person in the sword’s reflection was fundamentally compassionate and could be trusted. Rilllia shook her head at the sight.

“What-?” she said. “What is this? I thought Vesha was selfish but was good at playing as though she wasn’t.”

“She still is,” Melsil said. “But she isn’t. The selfish ambition that Vesha was full of was the Black Locust poison present in all beings driving her. But now…”

The lighter, more compassionate reflection of Vesha seemed to push its claw down on the dark, more sinister reflection on the surface of the sword.

“There is another combatting that old image,” Melsil said. “When Vesha looked at her own reflection and realized how filthy she was on the inside...the White Spore gave her new life as well as an enhanced perspective on her true nature.”

“What?” Rillia asked. “Are you serious? That...that the sword can actually change one’s personality?”

“Yes,” he said. “Possibly its most powerful ability...the ability to return a creature to its original nature before being infected by the Black Poison tree. When gazing upon their reflection the creature knows guilt that never occurred to them before, not for what they’ve done but who they are. And such has happened to Vesha.”

Rillia shook her head at what Melsil was saying, feeling silly to have been afraid to look at the sword knowing that.

I honestly wish I looked at the White Spore sword now. She thought. Yeah...it might hurt to get a glimpse of it at first but...but seeing how Vesha’s been changed for the better...could I become a new me if I looked at the sword?

“Right now those two Veshas are fighting one another in her heart,” Melsil said. “The new is clashing with the old as she wonders whether to make the selfless choice of fighting her father or selfish one of foregoing the fight and letting the fungus be enslaved.”

“So it would be selfish of her to not become general of the Knife Claw?” Rillia asked.

“At this point,” he replied. “Yes.”

She turned back to the distraught Vesha, the crawfish still sighing heavily. Her body seemed so feeble as she continued sobbing, almost like a gust of wind could knock her over. Vesha merely stood there, wobbling a little as she could obviously not decide what to do.

“I-I…” she said. “I-”

“Go on!” Palvan said. “Make up your mind! Do you want to duel or not?!”

She shut her eyes tight, raising her claws. Rillia looked back to the sword the cast the reflection of the crawfish to find the lighter reflection beating down the darker one. Finally, the reflection of Vesha that was more compassionate stood over the more evil of the two.

“I…” she said. “I want to commence a Pincer Duel with you.”

Rillia turned to see Palvan’s face cast with a very disappointed expression.

“Just as I thought,” he said. “Thoroughly brainwashed. You should be killed.”

The two crawfish stood on grassy earth before the battle began above Slab River. The Knife Claw troops behind Palvan faced down Vesha and her three friends behind her. The crawfish looked back at her friend to see Rillia, Melisl and Jason watching on in with disturbed expressions. She then turned back to her father as she couldn’t help but notice the immense amount of scars his body was covered in, marking the difference in power. Vesha felt intimidation and regret as she turned around to stare up at the much larger crawfish.

What has my life come to? She thought. Either I would die or kill the person who was always there for me. What...why did I do this?

She shook her head.

No. Vesha thought. No regrets. I’m too far gone whether this is good or bad. Now...the Pincer Duel doesn’t technically commence until one crawfish makes the first move...either by directly punching their opponent or by digging up dirt to use the Mud Pile technique. And my father knows this so he’s waiting for me to make the first move.

She lowered her pincers and positioned her body in such a way to make it look like she was about to lunge at Palvan. The rival crawfish quickly positioned himself accordingly, drawing his pincer over his face defensively to protect himself. However, just as he did, Vesha dug her legs into the soil and released water from the joints in her legs.

Palvan was taken aback as she quickly scraped up some soil beneath her body before moistening it. Vesha then rolled it up with her legs before jumping into the air and throwing the mud pellet at her father. The ball of moistened dirt exploded with enough force to leave a crack in her father’s exoskeleton on his right pincer which he used to block the ball from hitting him in the face. Just as Palvan reeled back in pain, Vesha landed back on the ground to then dig up more soil, moisten it and roll it before further sculpting it into an object she could use for battle.

“That’s the Mud Pile technique!” she heard Rillia cry from behind. “The unique fighting style of the crawfish! I can’t believe I’m seeing a fight with it…!”

“Yeah!” Jason said. “You rock! Go Vesha!”

Good. She thought. He did just as I thought he would...thinking the Mud Exploder would be easy to avoid but wounding the pincer he used to deflect it. Now that I’ve crippled one of his main weapons, it will be easier to hurt his main body.

But her father was even faster than she expected. Just as fell back down to the earth below, Palvan scraped up some dirt with his legs, moistened the dirt and rolled it into his claws. By the time the mud was in his pincers he had formed a long, curved blade. Vesha didn’t have time to dodge as he threw the blade made of soil at her, only able to jump back in an attempt to mitigate the damage it would do upon contact. In her haste to avoid the thrown object, she let go of the soil she was sculpting.

The long, sharp crescent of mud slashed at her raised stomach, cutting a deep and painful gash in her body. Vesha crumpled to the ground, bleeding profusely as her legs gave out on her. She looked up to see Palvan laughing at her as he approached.

“I trained you well, Vesha,” he said. “But you don’t have anywhere near the skill to beat me.”

She strained herself to stand up, fear racing through her mind as she determined not to give up.

Melsil...She thought. No...the White Spore was right when it showed me my true nature. I...I’ve never done anything for anyone else.

She scraped up soil with her legs, causing her father to pause.

This is the first time I’ve ever done anything for the sake of others. Vesha said. And it may be the last thing I ever do...if there is hope for my redemption I’m long past that point, too far gone. I’m unworthy of being judged noble...but I can do my best with what little time I may have before he kills me.

Instead of rolling the amount of mud she scooped up into one pellet, she instead split them off into two smaller ones before further sculpting them. The first object was a crescent blade less than half the size of the one Palvan threw at her but still a dangerous weapon. Palvan made sure to block it with his pincer that had not been wounded by Vesha’s first attack before advancing forward.

However, in the split second it took for him to notice and deflect the Mud Crescent, Vesha flung the second object at his eye. Palvan could have deflected the following mud construct by using his right pincer but it was too wounded for him to lift it quickly enough. The arrow of mud she had formed lodged into his right eye socket, causing him to bellow in pain as blood spilled from his eye.

Perfect. Vesha said. I’ve nearly completely dismantled his right side with my Mud Exploder and Arrow. Now I have to get close enough to kill him with the remaining strength in my body. Mud constructs would normally be enough to kill most creatures but my father is so big it’d take too much time just to kill him by throwing mud objects at him before Palvan would kill me by doing the same.

She winced in pain as she ignored the massive blood loss she was enduring and lunged at her father. While Palvan was still bellowing in pain, thrashing around as he roared in agony, Vesha was quick to cut at the uppermost portion of his legs. She gripped where two of the crawfish’s legs grew from his body where they were weak with all the force her pincers could provide. As she began cutting away at the legs of the older crawfish, Palvan came down on her with his own pincers.

He began smashing one of his claws into the back of her body and gripped the base of her right arm with the other. He was quickly breaking away the exoskeleton that protected her, her body’s exterior quickly shattering. However, as much as this would have impeded her in any other circumstance, Vesha was far too determined to kill her father. She was no longer driven by her own desire anymore but the thought that these could be her final moments and her entire life before was nothing but thinking about herself. Unlike Melsil, she had never spent a day trying to keep others safe or make someone else happy, it was all about her.

“You raised me…” Vesha said as she cut away at the two legs she’d gripped. “To be like...this...dad.”

“You little…!” Palvan roared.

She finally was able to wrench the legs of his in her grip free of the bottom portion of his body. Palvan was no longer able to steady himself, wobbling as he was barely able to stand and let go of Vesha in pain. He stumbled backwards, filling the air with his screams.

“General!” one of the Knife Claw officials cried.

“General Palvan!” another screamed.

“Vesha, no!” Rillia cried.

“Vesha!” Jason, Rillia and Melsil shouted.

Vesha’s vision began to blur from the blood loss and half her body now feeling broken. While Palvan was also suffering from blood loss and was stumbling around with so much of his body harmed, she had taken even worse damage. She was bleeding profusely from three different places now and nearly about to faint. Any more exertion and Vesha would die for sure.

I cannot die now. She said. I will not...fall until...he does.

“Vesha, call off the duel!” Rillia shouted. “You’ll die!”

“Yeah!” Jason said. “Stop this or you’ll go too far!”

“No,” Vesha said. “My father...even though we’re not blood related…”

She narrowed her eyes as Palvan flailed around, blinded by agony he had received in the duel. Vesha charged at him, scurrying as fast as she could toward the general of the Knife Claw army. It wasn’t until the last moment that Palvan realized she was on him but it was too late by that point, as she had reached his weakened right side.

“Yaaahhhh!” he screamed.

“I still carry your sins,” Vesha said. “And I’ll erase them all here and now.”

Vesha was slamming her pincers into the space between the plates in the two largest portions of his exoskeleton. The flesh between them was thin and very little of it was exposed but it was a structural weak point in the crawfish’s body. As she hammered away her claws into the shell around the weak point began to break, causing it to be further exposed. Palvan, after recovering a little, whirled his left claw at her, only to find he could barely reach with it. Palvan then began to slam his crippled right pincer into Vesha’s head, causing her to wince in pain.

While being brained over the head with the weakened pincer, she began to gradually go blind. Not only did she become visually impaired but her entire mind began to fog over. She couldn’t feel, hear, see or think, going into autopilot as Vesha had only one desire at this point: to kill her father.

At some point her unconscious mind gained some semblance of sense and instead of mindlessly slamming her pincers into the weak point between his armor plates, Vesha began to pry the pieces of his exoskeleton apart. She stabbed her pincers into the space between the plates and began trying to tear them apart.

Her movements slowed as Palvan continued to slam his pincers over her head but the older crawfish was also weakening as well. Finally, Vesha vaguely felt she had ripped open her father’s body enough that his vulnerable flesh had been exposed. She then plunged her claw into what she realized was Palvan’s body until her arm almost disappeared into it.

Vesha was vaguely aware of the body that she had impaled careening over, the crawfish falling on top with it. After a short break to breath she pulled her pincer out of the crawfish, faintly sensing the blood now coating her arm. She then staggered forward and could almost sense people rushing towards her, she thrashed out on instinct to protect herself. However, Vesha realized too late that the hands reaching toward her were trying to keep her from falling over. She landed on the ground, everything quickly going dark as blood flooded out of her body.

I hope… She thought. That I did enough.

The next thing Vesha realized, she was growing. She quickly was becoming bigger and bigger, her body racing upward involuntarily. Vesha looked down to see that she no longer had the body of a crawfish but she was now a flower. More specifically, she was an individual petal of a white as snow flower. At the center of the flower was a cone where yellow pollen grew from. Vesha could feel that not only was she a member of the White Magnolia but the entire tree was composed of pure souls who sang in gladness.

What? Vesha thought. Am I...a part of the White Magnolia now?

She looked around, with no eyes, to find that there were many white flowers growing from the tree. The waxy leaves shone in the bright light above them. The tree was tall and thick and every branch had at least one white blossom. Around the tree grew all sorts of plant life filled the area around it.

It wasn’t a forest or a meadow but a garden of fruit bearing trees and vivid flowers that had petals colored with every hue Vesha had ever seen and more. Vines and ivy bearing bright green leaves and grapes as large as a crawfish was. She was spellbound by the amount of flora as well as the sensation welling up in her.

She felt absolutely wonderful, refreshed beyond belief. It was the sensation of going to sleep after a long day’s work with the taste of honey mixed in. The amount of soothing emotions Vesha felt in that moment was overwhelming, her new body feeling like it was in the water’s of a gently flowing river and the scent of fresh, spring pollen flooded her.

What is all this? She thought. Why am I a part of the White Magnolia? My soul is not pure enough to be here.

That is no longer the case.

The voice that spoke to her was like rushing water, mighty and powerful but so gentle at the same time.

Your soul may have been unclean before… The White Magnolia said. But after you accepted the truth and acknowledged to change yourself your heart changed. Deciding to face your father was the act that allowed you to be brought here. Now…

A sudden wind blew against Vesha to increase her soothingness.

Rest in paradise. The White Magnolia said. For all eternity.

It was weeks after burying Vesha that they finally stopped mourning. The crawfish’s death didn’t feel real for the first few days but did during the second week. They ate little, mostly just gathering around the pile of dirt that she laid under and cried. While Rillia and Jason cried the most, it was Melsil who seemed the most upset. He shed a few tears and that seemed to be the ultimate sign of the pain he was enduring.

“If I knew this was going to happen,” Melsil said. “I would never have come here.”

The other Knife Claw officials fled after their leader had been killed. They mourned Palvan and seemed to be too concerned with his death than anything else. They took his body and swam with it back to the mainland of Wassergras. With them gone, Jason overturned the size alteration chamber that still had liquid in it to pour it out and break it. Over the past three weeks they spent in complete silence after Vesha’s death, he seemed to have fully recovered from his fight with Garret.

“She sacrificed everything for my people,” Melsil said. “I never thought I’d see the day my own conviction would so thoroughly change another person.”

“She...she…” Jason sobbed. “She was great. Impeccable, even.”

He wiped the tears from his eyes.

“I wish I was as brave as she was,” the human said.

“Vesha…” Rillia said. “I wanted to go to the Primeval World but...with you gone...I don’t know if I can go.”

“What?” Jason asked.

“Yeah,” she said. “She said she wanted to go to the Primeval World with me but...without her...without her I-”

“No!” Jason said. “She wouldn’t want you to do that! Vesha would want you to continue pursuing your dream until the very end, even without her!”

“But won’t it be disrespectful?” Rillia asked. “To just leave as if nothing happened? Won’t that dishonor her memory to live as though she were still alive?”

“No,” Melsil said. “Vesha died for others and she would want you to continue forward. Besides...I believe it is the will of the White Magnolia that you go to the Primeval World.”

“R-really?” Rillia asked.

“Yes,” he said. “After all, that’s where the magnolias are located, outside Wassergras. I thoroughly believe it has drawn us all together for that specific purpose.”

She sighed, shaking her head.

“But do you remember that I only seek to do my own will?” the ant replied. “Not someone else’s? My joy is freedom to pursue my own interests...so how is that also what the Magnolia wants me to do?”

“I don’t know,” Melsil said. “But I believe it nonetheless.”

He stood up and turned away from them.

“I have to leave,” he said. “As much sorrow I hold for Vesha’s passing...I cannot abandon my duties as governor of Ushujin. My ability to use the White Spore will return one day, I’m confident in that...so I must use it to cut away all evil in this world.”

“We’ll take you as far as we can,” Rillia said. “You must-”

“No!” he answered. “I will go alone. The White Spore tells me it will provide transportation another way. You on the other hand...you must leave for the Primeval World immediately. I don’t know what your destiny holds but...it is necessary for you to enter that untamed wilderness.”

“Yeah!” Jason said.

His eyes still blurred with tears, he stood up from where he sat, clutching the mushroom head attached to his hair as a hat.

“Let’s go, Rillia,” Jason said. “After all...Vesha would want us to see the Primeval World.”

Rillia’s eyes began to water as she nodded along with him. As they loaded into the lotus boat that was still attached to the algae growing from the river’s bottom, both of them waved at Melsil. After allowing him to cross to the opposite bank of the river with their boat, he waved back before walking east toward the mainland of Wassergras.

“I didn’t know the entrance was a cave,” Jason said.

He was right. The large, circular and black opening in front of them was basically a giant cave to them. From the material the cave was constructed of, a single glance could tell one that it was made by Giants and not by any species in Wassergras. Rillia had even read that it was made from a substance called plastic, though how the explorer knew that she was unaware. The explorers’ documents and journals were incomplete as only pieces of them remained. This particular construct was called a culvert.

On top and surrounding the culvert was raised earth that the Giants had constructed, the soil forming a long wall that rose far above any height an ant or crawfish could ever attain. This long mound of soil formed a sort of wall that was the northernmost border of Wassergras. On top of the wall of raised soil was a type of stone that was the same as the slabs were made of to form what the explorers called a road that the Giants drove large machines on.

As Rillia and Jason looked above while the fast flowing stream pushed their boat on, the atmosphere around them grew dark as they entered the culvert. On the other side she could see a bright light where the tunnel ended. If the ant looked close enough she could make out spider webs above her with the arachnids who made them crawling in them. As Rillia gazed at them, she turned to a blue of motion she caught out of the corner of her eye to just barely make out a massive fin breaching the surface of water in the culvert.

“Wow!” Jason said as he looked up at the spiders. “These bugs are amazing! I wish I could do that!”

“This is all so beautiful,” she said. “I...I think I’m about to faint...I never thought I’d see it all…”

She began to weep.

Distir… Rillia thought. Our promise...has been completed...even if you weren’t there to see it.

The ant was almost blinded by the light that they entered into as they quickly left the culvert. Rillia and Jason looked around to find a massive amount of new flora and plant life surrounding them. Vines thicker around than she was and so numerous they buried anything beneath them were on both sides of the bank, while trees with leaves that stretched down to the river’s surface touched the surface of the flowing water. Butterflies hovered around the massive plant life.

“This is Riverworld,” Rillia said.

“What?” Jason asked.

“There’s this theory put out by the explorers that the entire world,” she said. “Everything on this planet is connected by the Universal River...a body of water that feeds every living thing. I...I now understand what they mean. They call the area that is touched by the Universal River...Riverworld.”

The End