The Turtle Bridge

The Onyx Orb appears to have taken wise counsel from the clouds as it descends from them. It hovers over the turtles, sits in front of Zara and Bibby, opens its lips, and declares, "I have a new strategy now. I'll—" It comes to an end.

It gives Zara a look. Gush-radical, who is currently sitting near the cave entrance and sucking on a long blade of grass, is the object of its gaze. It gives Bibby a look. Then it surveys the trio, looking at all three at once. "Strange."

It then turns and flies toward the far-off mountains, crossing the turtles' route. Bibby now realizes—something she doesn't recall—that they encircle the entire land. She goes back to Zara after seeing it disappear till it is only a speck. She appears to be lot better now, more at ease in the present and more skilled at hiding the hurt of her past. She throws Bibby a quick glance before returning her gaze to the river and gazing at it with the disillusioned expression one gives an old friend who has been lying for a lifetime. Zara continued to see the river as a person, but Bibby still thinks this is stupid. It was incapable of thinking. It was unable to sense. Why would she worry about severing feelings that didn't exist when it never loved her?

Slowly and unsteadily, Zara gets to her feet and stumbles in the direction of Gush-radical. They take a seat next to him after Bibby quickly comes over and offers assistance. Then, although Bibby hadn't noticed him coming, the man is sitting with them and sucking on a long blade of grass. After spinning it around in his fingers, he replaces it in his mouth. Gush-radical gives him a smile, but nobody else says anything.

The silence is then broken by someone. "Thank you," Zara murmurs. "I was unaware that I was dying. At least I'll live a little while longer, even though I'm miserable right now."

With a gentle "you're welcome," the man holds the blade of grass in his mouth.

Zara dismisses Bibby's question about what he did specifically to help her recover as just another unsolvable riddle of this universe. She thus bides her time till someone else speaks.

"Who are you?" For some reason, Bibby is first unable to identify the speaker. She loses her ability to hear. She can see who is speaking for a little while, but she is unable to comprehend what is being said, and then even that disappears.

When she awakens, Gush-radical, who is once more the size of a giant frog, is sitting on her chest. He clambers onto her shoulder as she sits up. She gives him a strange look, but all he does is smile broadly, so she pretends it's nothing out of the ordinary.

She gets to her feet and surveys the area. Zara and the man are standing in front of the cave entrance, conversing. With the familiarity of old friends, they exchange glances before Bibby approaches. As soon as Bibby gets to them, they embrace.

"Bibby!" As she releases him, Zara says with a smile. "My uncle is this person. If he hadn't told me, I would never have known. It's been a long time. "The rest of my family lives in the mountains," he explains. I can return to them.

"It's pleasant. Bibby adds, "And that's just the direction that Gush-radical and I are going," grinning as she mentions her little friend.

Zara responds, "Then we won't have to split up,". "I feel so content right now. After all this time, I'll be able to visit my family again. I'll be able to make amends and mend the things I damaged between us when I was so stupid. She considers this for a time while pushing her hair back behind her ears. "It's going to be great."

"Yes, but you'd better get going soon," he says after allowing them to savor the solitude for a bit. The turtles won't remain that way indefinitely. A few of them have already left.

They turn to gaze back at the turtles' trail. The passageway is gradually getting smaller as some of the turtles on the edges swim away. Gush-radical takes turns sitting on Bibby's head and shoulder as Zara's uncle bids them farewell and Bibby and the others begin walking down the trail.

They walk for a while before they can plainly see the country across the river. It looks like a dense forest enclosing long-grass fields. Bibby can't see through the thick trees, but there may be clearings inside. They occasionally catch glimpses of movement through the branches. Occasionally, a flying figure would rise from the earth, only to be smashed by another before they both fell back into the surrounding forest. They can observe big creatures wandering around in the countryside. "Perhaps they are grazing?" "This," Bibby tells herself. When Zara and Gush-radical inquire as to what she means, she responds that she is aware of certain animals that consume grass straight from the ground.

"Well, they certainly do. In what other way would they eat? "Gush-radical." "Besides, what else is there to eat?"

"Yeah," replies Zara. "Grazing, or whatever you call it, is what they are, of course. They simply don't use their hands; that's just eating. Do you not eat, what?

Bibby is surprised by the question. She responds, "Well, of course I do, but not grass."

This seemed to have stunned Zara and Gush-radical. From Bibby's shoulder to Zara's, Gush-radical leaps. For the remainder of the walk to the other side, they don't talk to her.

They leave the turtles when they get to the far bank. The path they had constructed was much narrower than it had been when they began, and the turtles below them had left as soon as they passed. Now that Bibby and Zara are no longer in their support, the last of the turtles scatter in all directions. Bibby scans the area. It is just as they had imagined it would be from a distance: broad grasslands with a few little trees dotted here and there, resembling a savanna or prairie at home. She can see the mountains looming beyond the dense forest that surrounds it.

Then she sees them—the grazing critters, the roaming beasts, the big field animals. Despite the fact that these names are all of the same type, she mentally cycles between them. She observes that despite their size, they seem to creep over the ground rather than along it. They are primarily black with bright green areas.

The Gush-radical, "Well, here we are, man," says. "We succeeded in crossing over! I feel very overwhelmed.

"Yeah, me too," acknowledges Zara. Since she stated not eating grass, these are the first words she has said to Bibby. "Let's rest here for a little bit."

Once more, Gush-radical sits on Bibby's shoulder as they sit together against a tree. After a while of seeing the grazing Behemoths, Bibby wonders what they are, figuring one of her friends would know, as the animals appear to be a common sight to them.

"They are Behemoths," Zara responds. But that's just what they're called, so don't worry about them assaulting you or anything. They are quite tranquil. Take a peek at them. She gestures toward a few of them congregating around a tree. "Look at those? Even people are riding on them.

All of this intrigues Bibby, but Gush-radical tilts his head quickly in confusion. "Hold on, dude. How does that operate? Aren't those items really toxic to handle?

"I just realized how annoying your manner of speaking is," Zara responds.

"I apologize. But really, though. If you tried it, wouldn't you die?"

"No," Zara replies plainly. "That only occurs if you contact them for an extended period of time. They have stronger skin than the river. For the adrenaline, some people would touch them, such as the guys who ride them. They now require it to survive.

Since her own queries would likely seem apparent and uninteresting to both of them, Bibby prefers to listen to others rather than ask questions herself. "What happens when they fall off?" asks Gush-radical.

To get them back on a Behemoth, the others rush. They usually recover them rather fast, but occasionally they pass away due to an unforeseen circumstance.

When Bibby says, "That's horrible," she covers her mouth in terror.

"Don't be concerned. "They almost always get them back on," Zara states plainly.

Although Bibby and Gush-radical have the same question, Gush-radical is the one who asks it. "How do you know all this stuff, man?"

Zara pauses before responding. It's similar to the river, but stronger, as I mentioned. I was like them once.

After a brief period of silence, Bibby inquires, "How come you aren't anymore?"

Simply put, "I kept on falling off," Zara explains. "How about we visit and speak with a few of them? I'm sure some people still remember me.

As he sits on top of her head, Gush-radical nods and Bibby just remains still, an unwritten accord between them. They move in the direction of the Behemoths and their riders. Zara yells when they are roughly twenty feet distant. They all turn, some of them almost tripping. If they almost collapse every time they simply turn, how can any of them stay on? Bibby ponders.

Some of them appear to know Zara. They hurriedly yell and wave, clearly happy to see her. One of them stumbles and falls off his Behemoth, hitting the ground with a bang. After dispersing to give him space, the other riders swarm back to assist him in standing. Bibby can see him suffering brief seizures between their legs, his body trembling on the ground and never being motionless. His breathing is rapid, irregular, and shallow as he panics. His mouth opens wide as he tries to take in as much air as possible before passing away. Like the carved marble eyes of an ancient monument, his eyes are rolled back into his head, revealing just the whites—empty, soulless. However, according to Bibby, these are even less alive than a statue because they conjure images of nothingness, gloom, and the imminence of the second death if you haven't been rescued yet.

His back stiffens the instant a Behemoth snatches him up in its big paw. He arches briefly before settling into its hold, asleep and limp.

He wakes up and shakes a little when he is put back on top of his Behemoth. He stretches and turns back to Zara, who is introducing herself to everyone she doesn't know and greeting them all. The way they all handled the boy's fall so casually, as though it were a regular occurrence, frightens Bibby. Did they not witness him on the ground, enacting their own potential death in its entirety? All of their eyes are now sunken, ranging from marginally to extremely deeply, as Bibby can observe. What kind of lives do these individuals lead? Are they unaware of the fact that they are gradually taking their own lives?

"No," Zara says, jolting Bibby out of her reverie. She sounds terrified and startled. Bibby gives her a troubled glance in return. She seemed to be about to cry.

Bibby's initial reaction is to avoid these folks because she doesn't know them, but then she sees Zara standing next to her, face in her hands on the ground. Through her tense fingers, tears trickle down her face, hands, arms, and legs, creating a pool that oddly does not appear to moisten the ground and only touches the person who sheds them.

Now Zara's clothing are wet. She drops her hands on her knees and stares at them. Bibby sits down next to Zara despite not understanding what just transpired. Uncertain of how to feel or what to do, the riders on their Behemoths wander around, glancing at each other. Even when one of them falls, they have never caused anyone to cry. The fallen never weep. They are contented by the Behemoths. Zara had stated it was like the river, but stronger. Zara had died; were the horsemen dying too?

Zara's eyes continue to leak tears, although they are now quieter and less frequent. As she puts an arm around Zara's shoulder, much like she did at the river, Bibby sits in the puddle of tears, feeling the moisture. Zara is the younger sister. As Bibby asks, "Now what is causing this leak?," Zara speculates that it might be the mother. "What's wrong?"

Zara adds, "You wouldn't know yet," as she sobs. "I haven't mentioned him to you. "My friend—"

She collapses back into weeping, unable to continue. She suppresses them till her only signs of grief are her body trembling and tears. The riders appear even more perplexed, believing she may have completed, and possibly even giggling at what they perceive to be blatant stupidity. However, they have no genuine understanding of anything. Zara, what they're doing, and even the Behemoths they ride are all beyond their comprehension. They are essentially desperate individuals in need of Zara's uncle's or even a higher authority's assistance. Bibby believes that there is always someone superior to any one individual.

Zara sobs once more at the bikers' indifference after attempting to ignore them and failing. Her sobbing is the only sound left after they have quieted down. Once more, Bibby gives her a sisterly embrace and asks, "What is wrong?" while honoring the silence.

After a while, Zara stops crying and doesn't respond, so Bibby waits with optimism. The motorcyclists are wandering around again as she speaks. Sometimes they fall, twitching until someone else catches them and puts them back on their Behemoth. "My friend," she adds, her gaze averted on the floor. "He was put back on the incorrect Behemoth after falling off his own. Too much was shot at him. He is no longer alive.

Bibby falls forward onto her face after feeling something brush across her.