486. Endless world, 1

(Myls)

On the morrow we returned to Snake.

The beast was asleep in the middle of uprooted barren lands.

For a moment I feared she had been killed along with the forest by a rain form heaven.

No, it had eaten the woods entirely, drank the lake down to a pond, and was now digesting the whole thing as it slept. A true world-eating snake...

This land wouldn’t be able to sustain many beasts like Snake for very long. It’s too big.

I guess that’s a good reason why Nightmare created her as a sterile being. It would be a global ecological disaster to multiply this thing like an invasive species.

Blume said we shouldn’t wake up Snake, that she needed her rest. So we didn’t, and rested as well for a few days.

I sparred with Blume. She was obviously kind on me. I wasn’t having fun anyway.

On the other hand, the thing inside of me is about to reach its maturity, and I can feel it. My strength and speed are improving in my whole body.

Rather than changing my body, that thing assists it, working alongside, complementary.

I can jump a little higher than before. I want more. Especially in my legs, I want more power.

We discuss it, still without words. What we could do together.

~

Probably a day before the next magenta sunrise, Snake woke up.

She excreted tons of compost somewhere near the end of her long body. I could clearly smell it.

For a warm blooded creature, it still defies what I know. Blume told me she had more than one heart and two different kinds of blood. That lifeform is insane no matter what part you look at.

And that it still lives, years after its creation, is even more insane.

And probably an insult to more than one god.

Snake greets me with the tip of her tongue.

I accept the icky greeting and plunge both my hands in the squishiness of that thing, getting them all sticky. Smells like turpentine inside that open cave.

Snake is happy, and my hands are all gooey now.

We climb on top of the wing spread like a ramp to us.

Blume holds my back, my neck and my head in a firm manner, while Snake raises herself above the land and spreads open her first wings.

Then that giant winged totem bursts its way above the ground with tremendous force. I almost pass out in the first moments. Then we’re already in the sky.

Snake raises her altitude steadily. Then she goes for her steady rhythm where her body undulates vertically, along with the flapping of each pair of wings. That snake undulates in sinusoidal in flight, instead of horizontally, like normal snakes on water or on ground. Anyway, we cover great distances in shorter time clearly.

Heading south west. The wind massages my scalp and tickles my skin.

Blume lies down on her human belly, opening her back, her true self, like a small flowery jungle at sunlight. I can barely see the humanity in this aspect now.

Me I don’t feel too seasick yet despite the undulation. I watch the infinite landscape evolving without end.

I have few memories of the world before the white day.

But one I remember now, was when I was in an airplane.

I remember looking outside a lot at that time.

I lived in the safe shade of my parents back then. They looked so tall next to me, behind me...

Behind me now, is that monstrous flowery thing...

I haven’t thought much about them since I met Zes...

I grit my teeth again.

Enjoy the sight...

I feel the shivers sparkling inside of me.

The magenta star is rising again in the distance.

I’m trembling, like always.

One day soon, that thing will be the one that needs to hide from my sight.

~

We wonder what’s best to do. If it’s just a calamity again and no rain, we should be fine.

But I don’t want to underestimate them like Rose did.

We tell Snake to abandon us at the next potential rain shelter we can see, and to fly further away for a few hours.

A city in the mountains will do. Old.

Blume holds me tight, and takes care of our descent and landing. We jump down while Snake is as its lowest non-landing altitude. We avoid her a tiring landing mostly to tire herself into a second lift off.

Blume’s landing is rough, but we manage.

M - Why don’t you fly by the way?

B - I don’t like it. It’s dangerous.

Her jungle still runs swiftly along her two human legs. We take shelter below an arch of some sort. A building that was built like a giant torsade bridge.

And Magenta reaches the zenith. We hold our breath, but there’s no rain this time again.

There’s a calamity diving through the sky, straight to us.

We’re ready. Blume charges some of her dark magic at the end of the rifle.

I aim where the angelic thing would stop her fall usually. Blume heads ahead, sword in hand.

The falling ball of fire is scattered, revealing the light.

Her. Again. Always. Looking mean and severe. Looking almost human... Her hands are glowing.

Her wings are glowing.

A ring of fire surrounds her suddenly. It’s about to burst, and I shoot.

An arm is entirely ripped off. The shoulder bleeds.

The other arm raises a hand to the sky, as if to plead to the heavens for something more.

Then, to my stupor, it feels as if the skies replied to her call.

A fissure of light appears over the clouds left after her fall.

Rays of sunlight surrounding her, blessing this land seemingly. It’s a nice picture, if I knew less.

I check that I’m under good cover, because I know what that light from heavens really implies.

Then the rays, the thread sent by the star, they ignite. Light becomes blinding strong, they blow into growing lines of fire. From the clouds to the ground, pillars of fire suddenly scar the landscape and grow, crushing the roads, creating a turmoil of winds, smokes and flames.

In the midst of that storm, shines still that wounded angel about to die.

The blood loss is already bringing her down before the fires she summoned would catch her.

Worst even, below her, protruding from the fields of smokes and flames, is rising the mouth of madness.

Blume survived, always more bitter, always bigger, always scarier.

Tentacles are rising along with her to the angel falling to its demise. Blume opens into a giant mouth meant to devour it. She does. They’re still no match for her, the demon.

But they too are getting stronger and wiser.

The ruins surrounding us are on fire.

I stand there, in good distance, looking at the landscape turning to ashes. All the monstrous shapes seem to vanish in there while I unload the rifle.

It’s a race... Between a demon, and a god.

And me in between? Not quite. I’m the second choice target for Magenta and its winged spawns. I’m lower priority, they always target Blume first.

But I will prevail.

My humanity will prevail over them all.

And then... Zes...

~

Snake reappears in the sky. We’re at the highest point of the city with Blume.

Blume spreads her leaves and petals like wings. They’re huge.

M - So we’re going to fly then?

B - To spare her a landing and lift off again, yes. I don’t like it, but it should be alright.

She just doesn’t like flying. But she can go beyond when it’s required.

I hold onto whatever part of her are these mixtures of bark and flesh.

She jumps right before Snake flies above us.

We glide for a few seconds. Then it all gets dark, warm and sticky around us.

Then I lose my balance, as Snake spits us above herself. Blume recovers her balance in mid-air, just above the head of Snake. I didn’t get the time to realise what was going on, it all felt like a long twirl.

I’m standing on Snake again, feeling dizzy, and we’re flying away already.

The teamwork between them was incredible. It took less than a minute, and we’re back.

The skies are reopening themselves to our flight while Magenta vanishes on the other side of the planet.

The landscapes are free again. Dusty ochre, earths and woods, now covered by silky dusk.

I’m above a gentle plane... Over beautiful lands. I feel... A little relieved...

Thank you.

~