In a room at the edge of town, a candle's flame danced over a wooden crate in the dark. Nothing good ever came out of the dark. Three Hopsch were present in the thick atmosphere and among them was Binsten.
Binsten crossed his heavy-set arms over his chair's backrest which creaked from his hands' pressure. He was fuming from within. He wanted to take action, anything to save the Hopsch from extinction. He turned to the other two Hopsch, "I believe you two are aware that action must be taken to save this Burrow. Burrow Leader Raloc is disillusioned with his sense of responsibility. He thinks that the Hopsch will survive in memory, texts, scriptures, or on ice cold stone slabs!"
Junjo, the white Hopsch, pushed her leg off the wall and came to the table. "I agree, I don't want Bluntfoot to meet the fate of my Reshim. The next Burrow that remains unscathed is miles away. If any of the Fellden, Err-Thak or Humans, know of our position, we'd be compromised."
On the opposite side, Utro patted his polkadot necktie. "Not one mind thinks alike. Even if we had a prior truce to the Fellden before this war, you can't be certain they won't find us a hindrance when one of their golems digs through the soil. Might I remind you both that one of the southern Burrows caved in because of their contraptions."
"I don't need reminding," glared Binsten. "What would you rather? Two races above ground or one with which we have more probability of safety? I'm choosing the latter. What also bothers me is Ghilo... Raloc plans on making him Burrow Leader soon and that one's even more foolish than Raloc. I'd rather sacrifice all the memories I have to Caeth than to see that child seal our fate."
Junjo nodded and asked, "Well, what do you propose Binsten?"
Binsten bore his index finger on the table. He locked eyes with both of his cohorts, "We make Raloc feel what it means to lose someone close to him. He's been cooped up in here giving us the orders and I doubt he has a clue of the horrors outside. He wants us to do our duty while willfully accepting our deaths. Our Time has come? Bullshit!"
Utro almost slipped as he rushed to the table. With a worried face, he pleaded, "But Binsten! Violence is never to be practiced! That's a rule as sacred as a Hopsch!"
"Ghilo has always had a habit of sneaking above ground," noted Binsten. He casually suggested, "All I'm suggesting is we give him a little help climbing up then we close it with a makeshift hatch. Blood will not stain our hands."
"But-"
Binsten cut Utro off and slammed his fist on the table. "Decide quickly brother! A lesson to learn or a lesson never taught?! We have to survive this one way or the other. I will not allow Raloc to lead us to our deaths, would you?!"
"I'm in," said Junjo. "I'll make the lid."
Utro took a big gulp but eventually nodded once. As soon as he gave his silent agreement, he saw something that needed concern and pointed towards Binsten's arm.
Binsten looked at his arm. It was deformed and more muscular. His claws were longer and sharper. The huge Hopsch closed his eyes and breathed deep. After a few breaths, he calmed down and his hand returned to normal. He rubbed his arm and made light of what just happened. He spoke to the others, "Good. We just have to wait until Ghilo gets back to that bad habit of his which I think won't take long."
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Ghilo stood in front of the ladder heading up to the war above. He could hear muffled sounds of guns firing and hefty whizzes of things flying past. He stood where the spot of light hit. It was also the only place in the area with a patch of grass. Looking upwards with unblinking eyes, his imagination wandered everywhere.
"Man... I really wanna head up there… Just a peek? No, no. I can't do that to Burrow Leader Raloc," muttered Ghilo to himself. He looked at his new red necktie. The fire of purpose grew but then a curious thought hit him. He looked around and Carwen wasn't anywhere in sight. Again. "Where'd he go off to this time?"
A blue beret, a Christmas hat, and hazel limp rabbit ears protruded behind large rocks. Binsten and the other two Hopsch ducked whenever Ghilo's eyes scanned for his friend.
Binsten grinded his teeth. In his temple, a vein twitched. "Come on, Ghilo! Give in! For crying out loud, he's been staring at for five days! Five days!"
Utro clung to the rock in front of him with both hands. "He just keeps talking to himself."
Junjo peeked at her spacious wallet. "We've already given his fat friend too many pies if you ask me."
"I can't take this," said Binsten as he stepped out from the rocks. The other two shared a look before following the muscular Hopsch's mad march. He headed for Ghilo with a glare sharper than a knife. "We can't waste anymore time."
Ghilo thumbed his chin and furrowed his eyebrows. "But it'll be like twenty years before I get to become a Timekeeper. Will this war last that- Oof!"
Ghilo was tackled to the ground by Binsten. Pinned down, he tried to wriggle himself loose and saw the face of his attacker. "Binsten?! What are you doing?! Get off me!"
"Ghilo, we're just here to just help you decide," said Binsten as he kept his weight on Ghilo. He flicked his head to the other two, "Come on! Who has the rope?!"
Utro handed Binsten the rope and they all tied Ghilo's wrists and ankles. Binsten slung him over his shoulder and Utro kept Ghilo's feet still. They made haste and headed for the ladder while Junjo carried the wooden makeshift lid of the entrance.
Ghilo struggled as much as he could but he couldn't get away from their hold nor his constraints. He shouted in desperation, "Carwen! Where are you?! Help me!"
Binsten chuckled. "Actually learned a thing or two from you like how Carwen just loves pie. He won't be back anytime soon trust me. Let's hoist him up the ladder!"
Carried like a sack of rice over the shoulder, Ghilo kneed Binsten's back though his captor didn't even flinch. "Damn it, let me go! Why are you doing this Binsten?!"
"You're going to be a hero Ghilo," assured Binsten. "Isn't that what you've always wanted? You'll save Bluntfoot and we'll all remember what you did for eternity."
"I want to remember, not be remembered! Don't do this Binsten!"
Halfway up the ladder with Ghilo thrashing about to break free, Binsten had more to say, "Don't take this personal Ghilo. Well, maybe you should a little. I can't see a future where you run this Burrow. Trust me, I'd die before that happened."
"Trust me when I say I hope you do!" snapped Ghilo.
Then a loud crash came from above them. The impact shook the Burrow and they had to hug onto the ladder's rails. Above, the ground was cracked open by a dragon's tail which was seen briefly. When it was gone, the skylight peered into the dim cavern, lighting them.
Utro squinted his eyes, "What's that-"
Utro's face caved in. An object with the sheen of metal fell from the sky and onto his face. He didn't let go of Ghilo's feet and dragged all the Hopsch down with him. The force of the falling object was so strong that it impaled Utro's head and set off a loud banging sound as soon as they crashed. Blood scattered and tainted the patch of green grass in the cave. Because of the recoil, the shotgun traveled close to where Ghilo landed, nearest to the ladder.
Prone on the floor, Ghilo opened his eyes in a daze. He touched his bleeding head and realized his bindings were undone. He saw Binsten vomit from having seen Utro's head splatter the walls, and Junjo knelt by the dead body.
"Utro!!! Nooo!" screamed Junjo. As her panicked eyes shifted around the bloody area, she saw that Ghilo had regained consciousness. She gritted her teeth, stood up, and headed for him. She mumbled sadistic phrases. "'I saw her with another man…', 'Why is life unfair…', 'How come he gets to live…'"
Sprawled on the floor, Binsten reached out to Junjo, "Stop it!"
Ghilo knew what Binsten wanted to stop from happening but it was too late. The words slid from under his breath, "Transference."
For a Hopsch, elevated emotions are dangerous. Through Transference, a Timekeeper uses the strong emotions of memories to become the only weapon Timekeepers utilize. Once a Timekeeper has passed the Ritual of Becoming, they discover the one emotion their heart responds to and remember moments in time when that emotion was present. This triggers their inner strength, a mutation, within the Hopsch. This gift was meant for defensive purposes only as the Hopsch strictly looked down on violence and it was meant to be used only to fend for themselves above ground while keeping track of history in the making.
"She's going to do it…" escaped from Ghilo's mouth.
Junjo's Christmas hat fell to the ground. Her voice wasn't her own but a cacophony of men, women, and children.
"If I can't do it, you can't do it...."
"I want an action figure like his..."
"Can you look at only me?"
Junjo's muscle grew exponentially and magnified her to four times her size. Her white fur shed away with each explosion of muscle and all that remained was a gargantuan husk of coarse coal skin. Her teeth, drool seeping from the gaps between, became rows of fangs like daggers and her nails turned into razor sharp claws like swords. Her eyes turned pearl black. She snarled and her heavy breath condensed in the musky air. There was no trace of Junjo left. All everyone could see was a monster.
Ghilo crawled away backwards, as fast as he was wounded and battered. Then his back hit something, something metal. The shotgun.
But the mutated Junjo's pitch black eyes found Ghilo as well. She coiled her body then charged towards him. The ground pelted and smoked with each massive step.
Ghilo fumbled as he took the shotgun in his hands. Though he knew how to operate it through memories, panic and fear shook his concentration. Weakened, he couldn't pump the shotgun and the distance, between Junjo's claws and his throat, was cut in half. Seeing how close Junjo was, he wrapped his legs around the weapon and, with an agonizing and desperate scream, used both hands. "Please, please, please!"
CH… CHK!
With the shotgun pumped, Ghilo didn't hesitate. Knees up on the floor, he held the gun on his shoulder and took aim. The crosshair swayed as his hands shook. He had one shot. He muttered the only phrase that came to mind, that would calm his aim, "Fast is nice..."
Junjo was meters away and poised to set flight, claws spread out for the deathly embrace.
Finger on the trigger, Ghilo muttered, "...but accuracy is everything."
Nothing but a heart-dropping click. Ghilo pulled on the trigger again and again. His eyes reflected Junjo had arrived with a grotesque arm reeled before the strike. But something odd happened. His view veered left and Junjo was out of sight.
Ghilo found himself reeling on the floor, meters away from where he planned to take his shot. He gathered what he could of himself and saw the horror that had just happened.
Carwen stood bloody. Three deep slashes across his chest. Like a tree cut from its roots, he fell to the ground.
Junjo roared and laughed haughtily. She was charmed by the blood on her claws. The power of death consumed and allured her. She turned around and shouted at whomever could hear within the Burrow, "Do you see?! Do you see what we can be?! The possibilities! We don't need to cower!"
While Junjo was distracted by the capabilities of her new found strength, Ghilo crawled to Carwen who meekly smiled at him. He cried, shattered and shaken, "Carwen… I'm sorry, Carwen…"
"Darn it, Ghilo…" Carwen's listless eyes found his friend. The three red streaks on his chest were submerged by the pooling blood. A few teardrops fell as he thumbed an unblemished part of his poncho. "I told... I told you I liked this poncho…"
"I'll get you a new one! I promise, Carwen! Please don't die!" Ghilo's heart ached without measure as he pleaded and called out to his only friend. "I'll even buy you all the pie you want! All the damn pies in the world! Just please don't die!"
One resigned smile then Carwen shed one final tear. Time had taken him in.
Ghilo sank his head and clenched the poncho's edge. The pieces of a broken heart would never fit the same. He raised his head and his eyes glared red at the murderer.
Binsten couldn't feel anything but the elation of happiness as Junjo preached words of fiery revolution and echoed such sparks as loud as she could through the tunnels. He knew the power that unfiltered words held. He then tipped his beret, not at Junjo's proclamations, but to Ghilo who he couldn't see. "Sorry, Ghilo. Might've been better if you were the sacrifice that needed to be made. What happened to that boy Carwen was regrettable but-"
Something was amiss. A chord of silence struck Binsten. He looked at Junjo who stood tall but his jaw dropped. Something was indeed missing apart from her voice: her head. A split second later, the decapitated head rolled to his feet. "Junjo?!"
The headless corpse crashed to the ground with a heavy impact. Dust escaped from beneath the body into clouds. Junjo's back revealed that she was impaled by claws larger than hers. And once the dust settled, behind the corpse were large red eyes fixated on Binsten.
"Impossible?! Ghilo?!" Binsten was baffled and at awe. He had never witnessed a Transference this powerful.
Ghilo was at least seven times larger than a normal Hopsch. His fur didn't shed but looked more like white metal. He was and looked ferocious but remnants of a Hopsch's identity were intact. He didn't look like a monster but a manifestation of raging grief. His red necktie had snapped and laid torn on the ground beside him.
"Big bad rabbit, huh?" Binsten looked down and scoffed. He set aside his beret on a rock. "Raloc wasn't wrong about you being special. You haven't even done the ritual... Guess that makes it easier not to hold back."
Binsten closed his eyes.
"Why am I so helpless..."
"Is there nothing we can do?"
"I'm so done with this."
Ghilo softly placed Carwen's corpse away from the upcoming battlefield then sunk his teeth into Junjo's body and easily flung the heavy body to a crash on the Burrow wall. He growled in wait as he watched the silhouette of Binsten's transformation.
"I'm fighting to save the Burrows!" shouted Binsten through the pain of his mutating physique. "The plump one's already dead, Ghilo! Haven't you learned anything as a Hopsch?! Past is fucking past! What do you even bare your teeth for?!"
Ghilo glanced to his side at Carwen's body then, with rekindled fury, set his sights back at Binsten. Having undergone Transference, his voice was grittier and deeper. With a tinge of regret, he replied, "Innocence."
Done with his Transference, Binsten roared and emerged larger than Ghilo and even more fearsome than Junjo. He pummeled the boulders nearby to dust for a show of force. "You ready for this, Ghilo?"
Both stared down at each other. It was a silent understanding that only one would walk away with breath. On all fours, they stayed low and steady, with their massive hind legs ready to bolt. Without any indication, as if Time willed that moment, they swiftly charged at one another into a thunderous collision.
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Raloc ran as fast as he could to where he heard the roars; roars that could've only come from a Hopsch's Transference. He arrived and dropped his cane. What greeted him was the grisly scene of a transformed Ghilo, bloodied and maimed with bites and swipes, who stood over Binsten's corpse.
"Ghilo?"
Ghilo heard Raloc's voice and had that face of someone whose heart sunk deeper than his wounds. He lowered his head in shame. His anger was subdued and fulfilled but he was too ashamed to let Raloc see the fragile guilt across his face. Tears falling from his monstrous eyes, he was no better than a lost child within his large frame. Despite their distance, which felt further than the meters apart between them, he felt the disappointment and pity Raloc had for him.
"Oh, Ghilo…"