Born? Again

When Bron came home from one early morning meeting with absolutely nothing happening in the workshop, he bit his tongue until it bled and covered his face with his hands to stop his tears from shedding.

“Failure! Another failure yet again! I shouldn’t even be surprised. How did I ever think I could defy the Greater Beings and carve a path such as this!” Bron cried, tossing the remains of the unviable eggs to the floor with the rest of the mess already down there. He heaved, taking in the sight of his beloved workshop. The wooden floors were covered in a slimy mess of shells and eggs both fresh and old, surrounded by piles and piles of clay bug-models, the vessels that he’d spent hours and hours on were now useless and unusable, tainted with remnants of humanity. Their only purpose now was to sit there until they were kneaded back into regular clay.

He hoped with all his heart that at least one of this batch would hatch while he was gone, only for them to prove to be completely unviable. None of the souls had taken. He had failed once more.

Bron left his workshop without cleaning up the mess the way he usually would, wondering how to tell his wife that he’s going to give up. Hylfa's idea of using wayward human souls for his creation was creative, but he had no idea how to properly set the souls inside the vessels he worked so hard on. He was bringing their project down.

At first, when he was still full of motivation and ambition, he thought that stuffing the human soul in its entirety in a bug-sized vessel would work. It took a few tries to get the first batch to hatch, but he ended up scarred with the haunting screams of souls bursting at the seams to escape his creation. But Bron was intent on making it work, so he learned from his mistakes, and changed his approach.

The second attempt was barely any better. With Hylfa’s help, he learned to wash away many of the unnecessary parts that clung to human souls. Things like emotions, memories, and values, he thought unnecessary, just to make them small enough to fit into his vessels. Only three of that batch hatched, but none were a success. One hatchling larva disappeared without a trace when he was visited by a messenger bird, the other died a few moments after taking its first breath of air. That third hatchling was strange. It screamed in a human tone the entire time it was alive, wiggling around in Bron’s palm before exploding all over him.

For his third attempt, he made the vessels larger, keeping the souls the exact same. This batch failed so terribly, Bron nearly gave up on the spot. Hylfa even switched it up for him, varying the types of souls she got: younger souls, older souls, ones that could’ve gotten a better judgement, ones who could’ve gotten worse, but nothing made a difference. It was all disappearances, deaths or worse- nothing at all.

And still, he kept going. He believed he could, with Hylfa by his side, do what the Greater Beings do. He kept going, trial after trial after trial, but he still had nothing to show for it. He was done.

Bron found himself in the kitchen, leaning heavily onto the cool white counters to sooth him until his wife came back. He worried over what to tell Hylfa, trying to construct a sound argument for why they should stop, how he would grovel for mercy at her feet for giving up on the project she already helped him so much with.

He didn’t wallow for too long, because moments later, the front door opened, and Bron teared up immediately.

“Hylfa!” He cried, racing to meet her in the hallway before she could take her coat off. “I can’t do it anymore!”

“Could this wait a little longer Bron? I have something for you-”

“No! My love I’ve reached my limit! I am no Greater Being. I cannot bring life into my creatures no matter how I mold them. My hands are too weak, my resolve too soft. Each failure has taken a part of my own soul with it and I fear I have none left to spare!”

Bron crumbled to the floor, hanging onto Hylfa’s coat as he weeped.

“My, my, Bronnie sweet, has it truly taken this much out of you?” Hylfa frowned, her heart aching and racing at seeing her usually strong and determined husband broken down like this, although she knew something else was behind it.

Her husband was stout, short and strong like many of Fire’s descendants tend to be, but that was where the similarities end. He was more humble and more kind than his progenitor, and more in-tune with his emotions though he’d learned to hide that away so deeply within himself. It had taken a lot for Hylfa to draw out this side of Bron over their years together, and she wasn’t going to push him away from it now.

“Aww, my poor thing. Come here, sweetheart.”

He stood on trembling legs, curling in on himself like he could keel over any moment.

“Tell me, why is it that this project has ruined you so? I’ve known you to push through worse failures than these. What makes this one so special?”

Bron kept his eyes on the floor, fiddling his slime-and-clay-stained fingers together. “I, well- you see, my love-”

“Do not mumble, Bronnie. Say it with your chest.”

He sighed, taking in a deep breath and steeling himself, looking ready to be humiliated. “I didn’t only think of this as a simple work project.”

He paused, like what he said made all the sense in the world.

“Pardon?”

“I-” Bron sighed, looking up at Hylfa with a deep sorrow. “I thought of it as our chance at becoming a family. I know we can’t create a child of our own, but in my head, somehow, it turned into this… I’m sorry to disappoint you, my love.”

“Bronnie…” Hylfa wrapped her grey arms around Bron, holding on so tight that she could feel his lifeblood beating against her skin. He hugged her back, arms wrapping around her hesitantly, like she would push him away at any moment. “I should have checked in on you much earlier. You were pushing too hard, and I assumed it was your usual enthusiasm... Bronnie, can you do something for me?”

Bron perked up, “anything for you, my universe.”

“Promise me, you’ll try one last time.”

Bron sagged again, flashes of his failures coursing through his mind.

“Bronnie sweet, I haven’t told you this, but I too see this project as more than just a project.”

Hylfa pulled out of the hug, grabbing Bron’s hands and holding them tightly in hers. “This is also how I wanted to start a family with you.”

Bron’s tears resumed, sobbing openly as his head fell to Hylfa’s shoulder. “I’ll do it.” He managed to say between sobs, “one last time, I’ll do it. For you. For our family.”

Hylfa smiled her usual toothy grin, placing a gentle kiss to the top of his head. “Trust me, it will work this time. I believe our little hatchling will blow us away. I just know it.”

Saif wasn’t used to being very cold. He lived in a country where summer was the only season for most of the year. Even when winter did finally come around, it would only last a few weeks and was bested with a singular coat. After he’d been taken though, he felt unbearably cold.

Despite being tightly packed against himself in the dark container she’d gathered him in, there was a chill at the edges of his being that he couldn’t shake off. He felt weak, tired and unbelievably cold. Eventually, he heard noises from beyond his container. Some talking, some sobbing, though he couldn’t see anything aside from darkness.

He felt the container’s seal break, and though he still couldn’t see, he could feel his soul get scooped up and handled very gently. He was trimmed down, the echoes of his failures abruptly disappearing from his memories before those too were stripped away. Saif knew he should have been scared about what was going on, but he could only be calm and let it all wash over him.
Not long after, the new instincts took over the old, Saif felt himself go to sleep, warm, wrapped up in a little shell.

A new power was building up inside him.
A new soul had taken to the vessel.
A new bug would be born.