484. Pragmatic flesh, 5

(Myls)

The sun rose over a sleepless night.

With dawn came the sight of the thing I rapidly had recognised after it landed.

The Snake.

Its humongous body covering the fields of ruins. Its head in between the two openings to the underground we used with Blume.

Its colours had changed, but there weren’t two birds like it.

Blume and I went in front of its head, so they could speak together.

I’m a bystander again. It ticks me off. I’m left behind while she does the silent talking again with something inhuman.

M - I’m glad it’s still alive at least. Happy for it, whatever it is.

B - Biologically speaking, it’s related to birds, and probably Corvus.

M - So?

B - So if you give her some time, she may learn to speak.

M - SO that huge dragon is a female... I wonder what her eggs would look like.

B - For what I can see, her reproductive organs are underdeveloped. She’s sterile. And she’s built as a complex chimerism, so what would come out of an egg wouldn’t necessarily be like her at all.

M - Well... Now for the main topic... She didn’t come here randomly. So?

B - She says something like you’re part of her family.

Surprised at first, I then understand. It’s about Nightmare’s spawn inside of me, growing peacefully along my muscles and bones from the mould on my arm. Most of the time I forget about it.

I guess Snake smells a little brother or sister being hidden inside of me.

The tip of the giant tongue of the beast comes close to me. Its mouth could swallow trucks whole.

I accept to put my hand in contact with the tip of that carpet of soft flesh.

It’s as gooey as you’d expect. Yuck.

M - She said Nightmare really liked you. And therefore you’re important to her too now... I think she was lonely.

I guess that giant monster did feel lonely, losing her creator at the time.

Possibly for the first time, she was alone. I feel some sympathy for a being such as her.

The tip of the tongue is so squishy, it almost swallows my hand. My fingers sink in it.

She pulls me one step forward with ease.

She releases me before I trip or start yelling my way out.

M - I know she can keeps things alive somewhere in that mouth, but if we are to travel together, I want to ride on top.

Blume translates. Then Snake stretches its closest wing until its tip reaches us. It makes a long ramp curving to its back so we can climb.

M - That will save us a lot of time.

B - True, but we shouldn’t push her too much. Her body isn’t as strong as it looks.

M - I will let you be her voice of reason then.

Blume made a sad smile. What I said reminded her of something she didn’t want to share.

~

I brought even the motorcycle up there. We could build a town atop Snake.

M - First goal is that place in the Himalayan chain then?

B - No. It’s the nearest forest. Snake needs to feed.

M - Alright.

So do I.

Blume can stay longer without solid food, she just spreads the leaves covering her body during the day.

Snake raises her head, with us above.

She raises herself like a normal snake about to bite or jump I guess.

The wings are spread. I’m told to hold myself.

Snake jumps and lifts off as if the world fell below us. The sudden acceleration knocks me out.

~

Something like a warm feeling rose inside of me while I was unconscious. Like an affective connection between the thing inside of me, and the thing outside of me. Two different spawns of the same nightmare. They feel something for each other. A relief against loneliness I guess.

I’m just in the way, a carrier, but they don’t mind me.

Both of them have agreed to help me...

I gently wake up to the sight of the flowery construct Blume has become, when looked at from the back. The sky runs behind.

Giant wings are flapping. And I feel like I’m on a boat on a sea with very large and high waves.

We’re flying above the desert, away from this forsaken land of the sun.

I sit up. Blume comes to check on me.

The sights are nice and painful to me.

B - How do you feel Myls?

M - Odd...

B - Both of them are reaching out to you. I think they like you.

M - I’m not sure I should rejoice to be the centre of attention of monsters. I’m not Rose.

B - ...

Blume is thinking or day-dreaming about something.

B - You know... There are a few aspects where we are very much like humans and other living things. We aim to survive first. There’s loneliness we feel when we’re in the dark and alone too. The relief and the emotional affection when we find a familiar face is another. I know you and Zeslinry survived for so long precisely because you avoided all contacts with beings-like-me...

M - What’s your point?

B - The way you felt about me, or even about Rose... I’d be relieved to hear you open it to Snake and the other one similarly.

M - I’m already doing that.

B - You’re right...

Blume turns around and leaves me sulking. I hate when I feel like that. Like I’m right but also wrong or immature.

Or maybe I’m annoyed because for a minute she sounded like Zes...

Neither of these two monsters speaks to me in words. But some fuzzy feelings still go through to me, through me. It scares me a little...

Rose always ran with open arms to every one of them like a stupid kid. And she died so many times.

Blume once said that Rose’s average lifespan was below two years. That’s ridiculous. But it shows how dreadful the world is now to humans.

What more risks should I take? I’m already far too bold for my own sake...

I wanted to leave, to travel. On my bad days, I regret it... Maybe we should have stayed in the roses garden.

Now I’m feeling bad. But I can redirect that toward my foe. I can turn it into resentment against Magenta...

I’ll do whatever it takes.

And if that includes befriending demons, giant monsters and intelligent diseases, so be it.

All so that it goes down in flames.

I’m surrounded by freaks. Insults to nature. And I’m willing to play along.

And maybe we don’t feel that lonely anymore because of it.

I stand up, my heartbeat rising.

Something I feel, we share. I can feel their reply. It’s confidence.

We’ll work together. We’ll accomplish something big together.

We’ll bring the power of the sun somewhere beyond the sky.

Together, we will bring doom to the magenta god.

~