Chapter 9

Haledon drifted along a stream of stars. Just beyond his reach, a root-locked shore was home to snagged debris. What looked like small pieces of the Astralaceae were tangled by the leaves and branches.

The dark forest beyond the shoreline awoke as thousands of tiny yellow eyes watched Haledon drift. Swimming towards the edge, he found the shore escaping him. He swam harder, trying to free himself of the current, but was eventually cast into a vast lake.

There, the forest grew distant. The eyes, blinking away slowly until all that was left was the sea of stars that Haledon floated within. Sky and water blended into one, and Haledon felt at ease.

A pink moon floated over the horizon and towards its zenith. It became stationary within Haledon's gaze. The watchful eye was observing him as he drifted along.

The world was consumed by silence until it wasn't. A low rumbling groan began to boil the water. It was then that the sea of stars around Haledon appeared to compress and expand, sending waves out. The sound became louder as the sea erupted towards the sky in towering geysers.

Below Haledon, a mountain emerged, snagging his bare body as it rose. He held onto the geometric surface and felt the cold metal against his skin. His hands began to bleed as he struggled to keep hold until he finally slid down its sheer face.

Haledon caught an edge, but his grip failed, and he tumbled off the cliff's side. He plummeted into darkness, watching the flames beneath the mountain ignite the sky. And in the space between the fire and the inky abyss, a scream pierced his mind.

Haledon awoke with a start, his world a blur of light and colour that slowly came to focus.

The earthen halls of the Astralaceae held his back as he pivoted his head. Once tranquil corridors were busy with Druids running in every direction. Their faces flushed as they huffed and strained with sweat dripping from their brows. They carried in their hands oversized root masses that pulsed with orange light deep within their cores.

Screams erupted from the other end of the hall. Haledon swivelled his head again, where he saw a handful of Astralaceae Druids huddled together on the floor. A man sat with his head in his hands and a heaviness pulling on his shoulders. He sobbed deeply as the other red-eyed companions attempted to console him.

"You're awake." An excited voice spoke to Haledon.

Adjusting his gaze once more, he caught the approaching figure of Gazeas. The foliage of her suit looked dull and had begun to droop. Beneath the warm smile, Haledon could see the same exhaustion mirrored in her face. It was then that he noticed the subtle changes in her foliage. The leaves, though wilted, were fuller and glossier. The flowers that hid along the nodes of the vines had multiplied and were bone white.

"Seral Druid Gazeas," He said with a groggy, wide smile. He struggled to pull his head up and rest it back against the wall. "Congratulations."

"Seral Druid Haledon," She smiled and knelt to face him. Pulling him into her embrace, she squeezed. "When they brought you in, I—well, I feared the worst."

"You thought I was dead?" He questioned as he relaxed into her embrace.

"No, no," She corrected, clearing her throat and adjusting him to look upon his face. There, she began to diagnose him while continuing to talk. "I was able to see your breathing, so I knew you were alive. But you could have fared a lot worse. It was a good thing you had your SOIL."

She averted her eyes for a moment and looked over to the side. Haledon followed her gaze beyond the mourning Druids to see a body cloaked in a shroud of foliage. It lay motionless at the end of the hall, where the vines and roots bloomed vibrant flowers as the body decomposed.

"Who—?" Haledon asked quietly.

"Pioneer Druid Anadra. He was outside the ship when the—"

Gazeas choked on her words. She released a quick, pained breath.

Haledon instinctively reached out and placed a hand on her knee while revealing a sympathetic smile. He nodded in understanding as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"He has become one with Nature," Haledon spoke gently.

"And why were—"

"Gazeas, I need your help over here." An Earth Druid called from down the hall.

Gazeas looked at Haledon for a moment. "Sorry, I need—"

"Go." Haledon smiled and waved her away. "You have people to help."

She returned his smile with one of her own before rushing off.

Taking a moment, he watched the sea of faces passing through the hall. They carried with them a steady stream of exhaustion, panic, pain, and fear. Adrenaline seemed to pump through every Druid he caught a glimpse of. And every so often, groups would huddle around the windows and mutter to themselves before dispersing.

Haledon eventually pulled himself up and approached one of the windows. There, he lost himself in the stars that blotted the distance. The dream, still fresh in his mind, pulled his waking consciousness back into it. He could hear the wailing of the alarm and the pulsing of space around him like water. A hand rested on Haledon's shoulder, ripping him back to reality.

"I'm sorry..." Sparrow said quietly. There was a feeling of eagerness at the end of the word, like she wanted to add more. But nothing came. Instead, she stood with him and stared out the window in silence.

Haledon's gaze adjusted, shifting to the floating debris that moved alongside the remaining Astralaceaes. The once dozen ships had been reduced to four, with now only six Megacolides. Three of the unattached worms oscillated gracefully beside their respective seeds, with the other two following the fleet.

"Why aren't they attaching to the Astralac—Astras?" Haledon asked as he placed a hand on the window. The embryonic filter focused, quickly producing a crisper image of the space beyond.

Haledon lifted his hand from the window and looked at it. He stared at Sparrow, who had already been observing him. She gave him a shrug and looked towards the window.

"They can't." She said plainly. "I tried to warn them that the initial hard-seal process was damaging to the Astra. Attaching once was fine, but they decrease structural integrity in that section by three hundred percent every time they reconnect to the seedpod after that."

"That's why you told them to stay connected," Haledon muttered softly as he observed the naked worms drifting through the void. "So we're—"

"The smart ones, yes." She completed his sentence.

"What about the worm—erm, Colides?" He inquired and poked his finger against the window. The embryonic wall twitched and began to grow additional layers. It quickly produced a telescopic focus of the Megacolides.

"Whoa..." Haledon replied in astonishment, looking to Sparrow. "Those are some nutrients, huh? They're really altering the ship."

She nodded slowly, her eyes looking him up and down. Sparrow inspected the wall with equal curiosity before directing her attention back to him.

"Yes. Now, you were saying?"

"Wha—oh, yes. The scales on the ships are gone now. How will they defend us?"

"They grow back." Sparrow pointed out the window.

Along the surface of the Megacolides, small brown scales had begun to push their way through the grey surface. Like hair growing, the defences were slowly regenerating to their proper size.

"But what if they attack us before they're ready?"

"The Mecharrion like to lick their wounds after a loss. We won't see them for a little while, plus we're leaving them a treat."

Sparrow pointed towards a Dragonfly beyond the window. Atop the thorax, a pair of wooden tubes released pumpkin-sized spheres. They rolled silently behind the craft and extended two symmetric arms.

"What are those?"

"Exodidae..." She explained. They are modelled after a parasitic arachnid on Earth known as a tick. Basically, when the Mecharrion returns, those little critters will become magnetically attracted to the metal of the ships. They latch on and begin siphoning volatile compounds from the Mecharrion. Then, when they reach their max size, they detonate."

"That sounds awful!" Haledon replied with a horrified tone.

"It's their life cycle. The explosion both cripples the Mecharrion vessel and releases Exo eggs to repeat the process. It's what we would call a win-win."

Haledon watched as the Exodidae trailed behind and eventually disappeared in the wake of the ever-moving fleet. He redirected his loose gaze to the ships, taking notice of the debris that lingered with them. Astralaceae splinters and Colides gore drifted silently in tandem.

"So much death," Haledon muttered to himself, shaking his head. "Isn't there another way?"

"No," Sparrow spoke coldly as she also stared out the window. She eyed the carnage and then glanced at Haledon. "But death is not the end for them, look—"

Sparrow pointed at various Dragonflies and Astraloidea drifting through the sea of stars. They approached each fragment of the fleet before carefully latching themselves to the pieces. Adjusting the material, they pulled it towards the remaining Astralaceaes, rooting it to the hull.

This waltz happened by the hundreds, as busy crafts buzzed around the drifting cosmic carcasses.

"The processes of Nature continue. Even in space, their remains will decompose thanks to the Astralaceae. The nutrients from their loss will fuel this fleet's future and bring about many mast years."

Haledon felt his heart sink as he remembered the Astralaceae he had recently explored.

"Oh my—Sparrow, the sick Astra...they're all—"

"Haledon," Sparrow placed a hand on his shoulder and pulled him to face her. "They were at the center of the blast—it was instantaneous. Take comfort that they did not suffer."

Haledon pulled himself away from Sparrow. He could still see the face of the man who collapsed in the hallway. The thought of Sunray and Sierra crossed his mind. A child that had yet to be born, that never had a chance.

His gaze drifted to the decomposing Druid down the hall. A sickening feeling swept over his body. Haledon’s knees began to wobble before giving out.

Collapsing to the floor, his guts boiling up his throat. Without any food in his stomach, he heaved foam and bile to the ground.

"Seral Druid, this is not a time for collapse." Sparrow knelt in front of Haledon. She lifted his head and stared into his eyes. "On Earth, we do not mourn the dead. We celebrate their joining with Nature, no matter how it occurs. Remember, we all become one with Nature…in time."

"Even you?" Haledon sniffled as he wiped the bile from his lips.

Sparrow sat quietly for a moment. She eventually released a small chuckle as she smirked and lifted Haledon to his feet.

"Yes, even me...eventually."

"I want to destroy every Mecharrion—" Haledon muttered to himself as he looked down.

"Careful, Seral Druid Haledon," Sparrow spoke sternly. "A life of unsustainable hate and destruction makes you no better than the Mecharrion. We, Druids—we cannot lose ourselves in this conflict, lest we forget all we stand for."

"You said it yourself, though, this is survival of the fittest. There is no peace. We have to fight." He snapped back.

"And when only the fittest survive, countless others are left dead. War, conflict—" Sparrow spat on the floor. "It's wrong, all of it, wrong. In a forest, species work together. They sustain each other without unnecessary mass extinction. We don't need to be the fittest. We just need to work together."

"But you said they wouldn't work with us. You said the Druids tried—you tried."

Sparrow's intense glare eyed Haledon in the moments before her smirk widened.

"I both enjoy and despise your ability to recall things. Yes, it didn't work, but Nature spent hundreds of millions of years to figure it out—why can't we give ourselves more time? Why can't we end the suffering and live peacefully again?"

"Do you think it's possible?" Haledon asked, looking again to the stars and remaining fleet.

"I think we have to try," Sparrow replied and extended a hand in front of Haledon. Spores drifted and revealed the image of the Lateral Dendron Rods. "We have two out of three rods. What do you say we take some time to figure out what happened to the other ship?"

"But, Sparrow...it's gone."

"Yes, but what if it happens to one of the remaining Astras? Remember, we need to accept feedback from the universe around us and adapt to it."

Sparrow's head suddenly perked up and swivelled in the opposite direction. She listened for a moment with her eyes glossed over. Eventually, she scowled and released a sigh.

"What is it?" Haledon asked.

"I'm in trouble," Sparrow mumbled and started to march towards the front of the Astralaceae. "Come on, let's get this over with."

Haledon, coming to a stand and brushing some of the bile from his foliage, quickly followed.