415. About beings like her, 9

(Rose)

So they go.

I’ve learnt so much about them, that I still feel like I know nearly nothing. The paradox of knowledge. The more I know, the more I realise I know so little in every aspect.

They are alive, with that instinct of transmigration instead of the one of reproduction. Instead of fighting against death, they fight to become alive.

All the ones I’ve met had a different take on what it means to be alive, and what to do with that once it’s acquired.

The kind that is the most common I think are the new species. They are different from before, but still behave like the plants or animal they once were. That kind of hybridisation is easier to comprehend. They are just new species.

The human part of this is painful to meet most of the time. Maybe it’s harder for humans to evolve into new species than it is for them to become human-like.

From what I’ve seen and experienced, we can devolve into really primal and violent things with ease. But in some instances, we can become like heroes as well. In either case, we can become something different from all we could expect. Anyway...

Enough hypotheses.

I’ve followed my friend and Yaelun to the workshop.

For there’s the kind of beings-like-her feeling they are as gods. And sometimes, it implies creating new life forms.

Nightmare calls it playing. I would call it a kind of art. It could be seen as a form of reproduction as well.

For some of them, it happens within their own body. It’s probably easier. For my friend, it’s outdoors. In the middle of a field even, surrounded by trees and ponds, in a slightly swampy area.

She can work anywhere along her domain since she doesn’t really have a localised body around here. She has a network of vessels like arteries or roots, buried in the ground. She’s a little like Blume in some ways.

I notice a few eggs growing like mushrooms inside the ponds around us. They’re translucent and I see embryos floating inside. It’s really where she works.

Yaelun is likely wary of her and me, but goes to lie down in the middle of this odd field. The air is a little heavier as I can feel Nightmare’s presence all around us.

The giant snake looks at me before letting its head rest down on the ground and its eyes shut.

I think it asked me to watch over it. Please don’t let Nightmare destroy me.

There isn’t much I could do without starting something really awful. But I also trust her.

Yaelun loses consciousness as I see its body going softer, limp, heavier. It’s asleep, and Nightmare begins the work.

I can’t see how internal organs get the new necessary information for proteins and hormones manufacture. All I can notice are small vessels raising from the ground and attaching themselves like sticky vines to the flesh. Then little things change gradually.

Yaelun’s body doesn’t have any obvious missing parts or limbs, but it and my friend agreed on fixing something metabolic that was not well. It’s a little like a disease to cure.

I see small waves flowing around the fur of the animal. Shivers. Something does change in the aspect as well.

It gains weight, mass, and deeper colours.

It becomes more tangible, even more than it already was.

Nightmare doesn’t reply to my questions meanwhile, probably focused on her work.

After a while, the roots recede. The flow of air in here changed and some of the floating particles scatter away.

She then reappears, for a last chat. She wants us both out, now.

Not in a mean way, but in a tired one. She had guests, interactions and chatters for too long, and she needs her time alone now.

So she’s saying goodbye to me, for until we meet again.

R - You know, from all the gods I’ve met, you’re the one I like most.

N - ...

R - Blume didn’t call herself a god aside for jokes, so she’s different.

N - ... Have a nice journey Rose. See you.

She taps my shoulder oddly with her translucent hand, and abruptly disappears.

R - See you soon, Nightmare.

The pressure in the air changes even more. It’s even lighter, and the colours around me regain some saturation I didn’t notice was missing.

~

I’m waiting for this strange dragon to awaken. Its feathers or coat of fur has warm earth colours. Ochre body and Sienna wings, with umber ends. It’s a pretty one. I check the belly between each pair of wings.

It’s warm and hearts beat inside. More than one, on a tempo. I don’t recall any animal having more than one heart.

I thought it wasn’t quite possible. I guess there’s a main once and the others are complementary, not exactly identical.

I wish I knew more about biology right now. Because this animal alive in front of me and under my fingertips is real and warm blooded. Having multiple hearts, is it something Nightmare attempted on her own, or found records of somewhere? I wouldn’t know.

The shape of the wings is very different to the kinds I’ve seen before. There is a harden nail where feathers are scrapped from walking. Not exactly a hoof, but it’s a harder spot.

It’s muscular around the shoulders, to be able to raise its body, move its wings, and walk if necessary, but one can tell it’s not at ease with this. It’s a normal requirement. It’s nothing like that monstrous soldier of a Priest.

Yaelun looks more natural, as much sense saying this can get. That other thing was more akin to Nightmare herself, than her creatures.

I get closer to the head that is breathing softly.

It’s hard to believe this animal was created by a being-like-her, given how normal it looks in every aspect. It’s just obviously not a species that existed in my days. This animal is a second generation of being-like-her in a way, if that could mean anything. It’s akin to other dünyanın çiçekleris.

The eyelids opens to a pale translucent skin, which opens as well in the vertical way. The big eye is looking at me and constricting its pupil. I can see my whole face reflected on this colourful globe.

R - Good morning Yaelun.

Yaelun slowly recovers its body. Muscles reawaken. Wings spread for a stretch while the tummy lies on the ground, and then folds themselves into legs. The back then arcs as it stretches its spine. It has a skeleton.

The belly rises under this set of stretches as well. I hear loud pops as the numerous vertebras realign. The head rises above me and comes close to see me again.

Another kind of being-like-her. Child of another one, with an unusual frame of mind. One that probably understands what I say and have in mind. Maybe. Yaelun doesn’t speak nor maybe quite understands language, but it may change. We will see. We will be spending some time together it would seem.

I told him that all went well and that I was eager to discover what secrets lied in the far north, along with him.

Yaelun nodded, opening his mouth in what is probably the equivalent of a smile.

~

He can fly. I can only walk. He’s surely strong enough to carry me. We both think about the same eventuality, to travel rapidly and efficiently together.

Yaelun makes a heavy step on the side and lowers its belly between the first and second set of wings. Its head is following me carefully as I climb over. Thank you for having me there.

I hold on by strapping a piece of cloth around its belly, as there’s no real grip and I’m not sure I can stay lying and holding with just my arms and legs. It doesn’t mind the scarf.

I’m being lifted slightly with the belly as it stands up.

Yaelun hisses, stretching itself short and back before the jump. It lifts of with the flapping of every wing in strong and fast succession.

The lift off is brutal like a landing from a fall to me.

But a few seconds later, we’re flying.

~