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It was eerie. The void-serpents tied to Danacha's soul churned and writhed against her meat digesting her emotions away from her.
The city was dead. It was long-dead, skeletal, overrun with fungal forests and half-absorbed back into the island. There was no sense of intrusion. They were not breaching the privacy of some sacred place. They had merely found a corpse, where they had not expected to find anything.
Sasfsets seemed happy enough--was this happy? Danacha had no idea what emotions her owner had, at any given moment, or if she held emotions from one moment to the next, or if she had emotions Danacha could recognize. They had poked into several buildings, measured the dust left on the artifacts. They were following a road now.
Abatl was scrambling all about the ruins, over-excited, tail snapping behind her. She spoke to Sasfsets in Fellam, in that flowery, flowing rattle that Danacha couldn't even follow the sounds of.
Sasfsets responded in turn. Danacha couldn't pick where one word began from any other, but her owner's speech was even more ornate, complex, and alienating. They went back and forth in it, while she, Danacha, followed behind silently, carrying Abatl's bag of surveying equipment. She was the backpack only. The luggage-carrier.
These were hwual ruins. Danacha wished someone would talk to her.
How long ago had her people lived here? How long ago had they stopped? What had their lives been like? The buildings were so different from the huts she'd grown up in. Great things of carved stone and cast metal! The biggest things she'd ever seen in her life, even here in their ruined state, in their declined, debased form, still exceeding the old manor house, exceeding any of the port towns Sasfsets had taken her to.
All dead, all ruined, and her owner and the surveyor were discussing in a twisted, confusing tongue what would happen to all of it.
"This was our home once, you know."
Danacha's soul stuttered in comprehension. Abatl had said it. In the hwual language. In the language her parents had spoken.
Danacha looked up at Abatl, now perched on top of the remains of a wall, looking out across the valley, at the city buried in the fungal forest.
"Do you know our language?" Abatl asked.
"I--I do," Danacha said uneasily. She was surprised the words came to her so readily. She'd thought she'd forget it. Can you forget your first language?
"You look uncomfortable being here."
"I am uncomfortable being here," Danacha agreed.
Sasfsets made a noise. "Arright I guess we're all talking some weird native language," she muttered, loudly, in Brinnesch, just for Danacha's sake. "Remind me to learn your tongue then. I don't like you all being able to talk behind my back."
Abatl clearly didn't understand Sasfsets' Brinnesch. She pressed on to Danacha, "How does it make you feel to see this?"
"I don't know," Danacha said. "It gives me a sense of sadness. It's learning about the death of a relative I never knew I had bonds with, who died before I was born. A loss that is too late to mourn."
"You look like you say," Abatl agreed. "Once our people lived in cities like this. Now we serve people like Boss Silk-Twist on their boats and in their strange towns. But, in these dead cities, my people were your slaves. Before the invaders from the Old World came, the hwual, our neighbors, came as invaders. Your people had done this to our cities, and taken us to serve you here, to make this our home with you. Now it becomes your turn, and you wear the collar around your neck. And we both stare at the ruins of our now-once shared home. Isn't that interesting?"
Danacha stared up at Abatl, who was now perched wholly on the wall, staring back down at her. What was that expression in the glow of her eyes?
"Everything changes," Abatl said to Danacha's silence. "I think it's very interesting."
It was eerie. The void-serpents tied to Danacha's soul churned and writhed against her meat digesting her emotions away from her.
The city was dead. It was long-dead, skeletal, overrun with fungal forests and half-absorbed back into the island. There was no sense of intrusion. They were not breaching the privacy of some sacred place. They had merely found a corpse, where they had not expected to find anything.
Sasfsets seemed happy enough--was this happy? Danacha had no idea what emotions her owner had, at any given moment, or if she held emotions from one moment to the next, or if she had emotions Danacha could recognize. They had poked into several buildings, measured the dust left on the artifacts. They were following a road now.
Abatl was scrambling all about the ruins, over-excited, tail snapping behind her. She spoke to Sasfsets in Fellam, in that flowery, flowing rattle that Danacha couldn't even follow the sounds of.
Sasfsets responded in turn. Danacha couldn't pick where one word began from any other, but her owner's speech was even more ornate, complex, and alienating. They went back and forth in it, while she, Danacha, followed behind silently, carrying Abatl's bag of surveying equipment. She was the backpack only. The luggage-carrier.
These were hwual ruins. Danacha wished someone would talk to her.
How long ago had her people lived here? How long ago had they stopped? What had their lives been like? The buildings were so different from the huts she'd grown up in. Great things of carved stone and cast metal! The biggest things she'd ever seen in her life, even here in their ruined state, in their declined, debased form, still exceeding the old manor house, exceeding any of the port towns Sasfsets had taken her to.
All dead, all ruined, and her owner and the surveyor were discussing in a twisted, confusing tongue what would happen to all of it.
"This was our home once, you know."
Danacha's soul stuttered in comprehension. Abatl had said it. In the hwual language. In the language her parents had spoken.
Danacha looked up at Abatl, now perched on top of the remains of a wall, looking out across the valley, at the city buried in the fungal forest.
"Do you know our language?" Abatl asked.
"I--I do," Danacha said uneasily. She was surprised the words came to her so readily. She'd thought she'd forget it. Can you forget your first language?
"You look uncomfortable being here."
"I am uncomfortable being here," Danacha agreed.
Sasfsets made a noise. "Arright I guess we're all talking some weird native language," she muttered, loudly, in Brinnesch, just for Danacha's sake. "Remind me to learn your tongue then. I don't like you all being able to talk behind my back."
Abatl clearly didn't understand Sasfsets' Brinnesch. She pressed on to Danacha, "How does it make you feel to see this?"
"I don't know," Danacha said. "It gives me a sense of sadness. It's learning about the death of a relative I never knew I had bonds with, who died before I was born. A loss that is too late to mourn."
"You look like you say," Abatl agreed. "Once our people lived in cities like this. Now we serve people like Boss Silk-Twist on their boats and in their strange towns. But, in these dead cities, my people were your slaves. Before the invaders from the Old World came, the hwual, our neighbors, came as invaders. Your people had done this to our cities, and taken us to serve you here, to make this our home with you. Now it becomes your turn, and you wear the collar around your neck. And we both stare at the ruins of our now-once shared home. Isn't that interesting?"
Danacha stared up at Abatl, who was now perched wholly on the wall, staring back down at her. What was that expression in the glow of her eyes?
"Everything changes," Abatl said to Danacha's silence. "I think it's very interesting."
Category All / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 1405 x 900px
File Size 649.1 kB
the Ocean is made of the same thing souls are, but bigger. waaaay bigger. it is the source of all heat and light in the world.
the sky is the Void, and is BAD, because while everything in reality comes from the Ocean, the Void is the only thing you can ever encounter that isn't related to you. it's very dangerous.
so the Ocean sometimes disgorges massive pillars of itself into the sky, and sends them out as strands of light that float hundreds of miles across the sky, providing light and protection from above
do not sail near them they are incredibly dangerous however
the sky is the Void, and is BAD, because while everything in reality comes from the Ocean, the Void is the only thing you can ever encounter that isn't related to you. it's very dangerous.
so the Ocean sometimes disgorges massive pillars of itself into the sky, and sends them out as strands of light that float hundreds of miles across the sky, providing light and protection from above
do not sail near them they are incredibly dangerous however
it's a constant, soft, comforting humm and murmur, a background noise ASMR that you usually don't notice you're hearing but makes you feel better all the same
go inland a bit and the sound fades and it's easier to not hear it, and then you hear the Void, which is to say, nothing, which is to say, deeply upsetting,
unless you find the relief from all the constant noise great, in which case you're gonna end up like Danacha and surrender yourself to the consuming tranquility of silence
go inland a bit and the sound fades and it's easier to not hear it, and then you hear the Void, which is to say, nothing, which is to say, deeply upsetting,
unless you find the relief from all the constant noise great, in which case you're gonna end up like Danacha and surrender yourself to the consuming tranquility of silence
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