Chapter Text
Five Pebbles sit in his chamber, dread slowly and inevitably rising. He pushed it down. It rose again, slightly higher and stronger, and he would try to stamp it out. Again and again. Feeling the inevitable death and undeath nipping at him, snuffing out memories slowly. The pain of death itself choking out your own organs wasn't half as bad as the knowledge that you did it to yourself. Your own choking incompetence, the ashes of those you loved clinging to you. The cinders burn, but maybe you deserve it. A sun and a moon both shone their love once, and now all that lays where they once loved was a Karmic Bind, the want to survive. Corrupted and snarling.
Five Pebbles' antenna flicked up, the soft tug of his own systems wanting his attention stirring him from his thoughts. A little overseer, one missing a few receptors, pulling at him so he would see its message. A little beast, fur longer than most of its kind. Crimson and tainted in soot and ash, its eyes narrow and its tail thin. But those weren't why his systems yearned for his attention, no, it was the little beast's companion. One of his access keys, trailing the beast at a passive pace. A beast and a key, the beast without its kin, the key without an owner. Five Pebbles let out a soft huff, gently shooing the overseer off. The tug remained, but it was far softer, far gentler.
Five Pebbles felt another key, this one close enough to send a static hum to the systems near it. He felt little paws, little claws slowly climbing up his wall. An odd sensation, amplified by the key's need to notify him of its presence. He felt a gate lurch open, and the scuttling of far more paws than he had felt prior in his city. An overseer pinged, briefly showing him the creatures in his city. Scavengers. He wasn’t surprised when he felt the overseer's eye snap from its tether to him. He fidgeted with the hem of his cloak, mechanical fingers feeling the fabric. Scavengers were intelligent, sure, but he knew the beasts were violent, and fiercely protective too. He worried for his ancients' belongings. He worried for his chamber.
The Ashen Howl of Love Lost hissed, claws digging into walls as she clambered up them. She hungered, jaws smoking and tail sparking. When the explosion snapped out at her tail she quickly grabbed onto a ledge, sharp fangs bared. She smelled scavengers, and she knew the beasts smelled her. A spear, a claw. A knife, a fang. Her claws dug little grooves into the spear. She spotted her prey, and heard the snap of bones before she felt the air between her jaws. Another and another, before a pack lay at her feet, and she felt the sun in her expand. Hunger left, and wrath took its place, and so she stood, making her way towards the large structure.
A towering wall, the crackle of lightning, and the faint sound of gas falling from the sky. She didn’t like this area, and she sparked. A bang and she stood on a box, the beast inside creaking below her weight. Snips beneath her told her to fear. She pressed against the boxed beast, making herself smaller. The snapping paused, and the flightless vultures rushed off. The crimson sun continued her journey and met a gate. Crackling electricity irritated her whiskers, and with a final sparking snap, she went to sleep.