A little girl sat in the corner of her dark room with a soft hand covering her mouth. The arm that it belonged to was covered in scales, some white and some black. The little girl tried her best not to cry, she truly did. Unfortunately, her tears flowed like a river and muffled cries would resonate through the room's walls. A small crack near the edge of the ceiling formed. Light spilled through the opening and shined on the opposite end of the room.
The tears became a flood.
Whimpering, trying hard to press herself against the wall and sink into the dirt, the girl fled from the light creeping towards her.
The boy next to her, the one holding the screams in with his hand, made a silent curse and kept his arm steady.
…
The moonlit desert was peaceful on the night the Nomad returned. Though there was much mourning, the night would eventually turn to day. The people gathered in a line, cloth bundles at hand, as they climbed the steps to the "Bright Place." At the top of the mountain, a priest burned as much possible from the remains of the deceased. The ashes were carried off the cliff and into the air above the village, gone with the wind.
The Outsider even had her ceremony done multiple times.
Two children stood and watched from a distance. They hid behind the crowd as they sang their final goodbyes to their parents. The boy squeezed the hand of his sister and sang a little louder for both of them. He tried to be brave for the sake of their broken family.
They cried.
...
The older sister's name was Ya'Fu, and her brother was Ya'Fi. Neither had yet to receive proper, more adult names, from the ceremony that came in just two years. It seemed that these two would never receive their names at all.
The early morning, after the ritual, Ya'Fu had found herself in need of answers.
She woke up in the dark and threw—the quilts her brother would likely find later—off the side of her bed. Sweat ran down her face, and Ya'Fu found the air in their home to be impossible to breathe. She pulled a rope and opened the top of the hole, slipped out from an opening in the hatch, and ran as fast as she could without a destination in mind.
The moon shone upon the girl as she fell on her knees and into the sand. Her village was distant now, but she had traveled to a place with which she was familiar. In the side of the mountain lining the town, a small opening in the wall led Ya'Fu down a winding path and into a cave full of blue crystals. They blinded her for a moment as she adjusted her pupils dilated. The world around her was nothing but light.
The minerals began to glow brighter as Ya'Fu wailed.
…
In the room, Ya'Fi had kept an eye on his sister as she threw the quilts off the side of her bed. He could not sleep that night, and it seemed his sister was also sharing the same issue. Ya'Fi was too tired to bother his sister as she slipped out from their home. After a few minutes of waiting for her to return, he tugged the quilt away from his body and hopped off the bed.
Ya'Fi felt he might've known where his sister was going to be that night. He pulled the slab back over the entrance and tidied the carpet on top of it. His hand hovered above the image of their family. His chubby fingers reached down and plucked a single thread from his mother and father before heading off.
The boy's footsteps were inaudible. He used to sneak around at night by his sister's side. The two siblings were known for being quite the rambunctious kids, but not so much these days. Not many people were able to spot or find Ya'Fi and Ya'fu when they prowled through the night. Once the two had claimed they were invisible, one with the shadows, and masters of stealth.
"Oh? Where are you heading off to, boy?"
Ya'Fi froze for a second since the voice behind him came out of nowhere. He didn't look back as his feet kicked off the ground. His steps echoed through the Valley.
…
Ya'Fu had been sitting cross-legged in the middle of the cave; her fingers ran over the surface of a pebble-sized crystal in her hand. It's light captivated her, offering a distraction while she sang a quiet song. Ya'Fi's footsteps thundered through the cave's tunnel as he ran into it. Curious, Ya'Fu looked towards her brother as he slowed down and walked with unsteady feet.
"Why the rush?" she asked. Her eyes looked down and focused on the crystal.
"Oh. It's nothing!" hissed Ya'Fi. He chuckled and laid himself down.
"I just wanted to go for a run. Hah…"
The boy put his face flat against the ground and turned on his cheek to see Ya'Fu. He smiled awkwardly and did his best to look happy and not at all tired.
Ya'Fu rearranged her legs and turned to face Ya'Fi. The girl took the crystal and poked her brother's cheek with it. He was squishy, plump really, and the slight press left beads of sweat on the surface of her crystal.
"Liar. You never run!" she exclaimed with a smirk.
"Okay… It was the Outsider." relented Ya'Fi.
The elder sister's eyes widened as her brother told her this. The Outsider, the very same one who arrived this day and took off with the last Nomad. Ya'Fu had remembered the Outsider more clearly than she remembered her parents. For some odd reason, bringing up the image of the Immortal was easier than recalling her mother or father.
"What did she want?" the girl asked.
"I don't know! I ran! She scared me." replied the boy.
Ya'Fi rolled back onto his stomach and pushed himself off the ground with great difficulty. He laid his back against one of the walls in the narrow cave and sighed.
"Enough about the Outsider. How are you?" he asked.
"Fine. She didn't see you run here, right?" asked Ya'Fu.
This time, the boy took a small crystal from the wall and tossed it lightly her way. It missed.
"I don't know, but she didn't follow me. Also, you're the liar here!"
Ya'Fi crossed his arms and sat straight, which was something he never did. He posed like his father once did and how his mother would have wanted. Proud, courageous, and with his stomach tucked in. He also had an ugly pout on his face.
"You look like an idiot." Ya'Fu would say while struggling to hold in her laugh.
"Don't make fun of me! It's only because of papa that my stomach is this big. His was big too!"
They both laughed as the recalled their parents, and at the moment the distraction from the pain worked. It helped—in a strange way— by a little.
"Yeah… He was a bit fat…" trailed off Ya'Fi.
The siblings put down their rocks, and their smiles began to fade. As silence befell the cavern, the crystals dimmed, and the blue lights were quiet as well. Every small sound and slight twitch made the cave hum and sing. The sounds of wind blowing through the small entrance created a haunting whistle to lull the children to sleep.
They stayed there: silent, thinking, alone, together.
When Ya Fu woke up just before dawn, she yawned and took two crystals and struck them against each other. The crack had amplified against the cavern walls and resounded into a hollow boom. She thought this would wake up her brother.
But when she looked behind her, Ya Fi had already gone.
…
Rei took the plate and cleaned it off with a nearby jellyfish.
Her work was going well.
The tent she had been given, or taken, lit up the entire Valley from the center of the village. The morning sun had yet to rise over the horizon. The steady blue lights that surrounded the Immortal would float and swim through the air. Jellyfish, the types that resembled the full moon, would flow in and out of the room. They crawled through the alleys and hovered above the stone slabs and animal pens.
First, the animals came out. They shrieked and cried, but slowly their noise had gone completely silent as the jellyfish descended upon them.
The creatures of the Valley had their fill.
More and more jellyfish made their way out from Rei's tent. The covered the sky and blanketed the lands. Now and then, the creatures would slip inside the homes of every family and hover just above their heads. Soft light bore down on the sleeping adults but would not wake them. The jellyfish approached closer, but the sleepers did not stir.
It was the children, on the other hand, who were the only ones to witness this strange occurrence.
Then just like that, the jellyfish slipped into people's mouths and down their throats. Adults breathed them in as though the things were air. Children picked them up at first and panicked when the creatures wiggled around in their hands. However, they grew quiet as the jellyfish hugged their faces. The oddities entered regardless through the nostrils. The children tasted fruit and breathed through their mouths, which the jellyfish would then swim into
The Immortal whistled and hummed as she turned.
Moss struggled.
The Outsider held out within her hand a glowing jellyfish.
The Nomad closed her eyes.
Fruit.