Before it could really think its actions through, and before it could internalize how truly bad of an idea this was, the being found itself moving.
The annoyance was strangely sharp and yet faint at the same time... because the little light had been left panicking already very far back.
Well, as long as he was following...
The feeling coming through their connection was pretty clear: the orb was completely cowed and terrified by those creatures. Whatever they were, they shook him deeply. Perhaps the being could get explanations from him, later.
Now, it needed to see what this was about for itself.
The being darted amongst castles, careful to keep out of view from the creature above, but otherwise much faster than before now that it didn't need to stop at each of the structures. And without having to fear ambushes - it really doubted the dark one would come out now.
They crested a small hill, getting closer and closer to where the first one had landed, and in no time they would be there. Beyond this corner, provided that the castles stayed this sparse, they should get a good view on those supremely interesting creatures. Creatures that were capable of...
the being slowed down. On second thought... wouldn't it be better to approach more carefully? The little light did have a point.
It backtracked...
until it found the tallest castle it could find, and started to climb. The wall was vertical and the surface pretty smooth and with few holds, but the being had a lot of experience with this.
In no time at all, it vaulted over the top... and immediately plastered itself on the ground, pushing its stealth to the limit.
It crawled forward on its belly, a bit like a worm. Which was so uncomfortable! How did those things do this all the time?
But staying undetected was paramount, and it certainly wouldn't achieve that by walking upright on top of the tallest building around.
Reaching the edge didn't take long, and the being could finally lean out and have a perfect view of the invaders.
They were gathered in a large, empty space that the being was pretty sure had been filled with castles only a little while ago. But clearly it had been mistaken, as there was only flat land and dust.
One of them, presumably the first to appear, was standing alone, while the others were arranged in a vague semicircle away from it, emitting strange, melodious noises. No matter how much it squinted, there weren't really any distinctive features that the being could catch with its senses. Nothing to understand their intentions. They could be here to do anything, maybe following the lone one in some adventure, just as its 'friends' had followed it long ago.
But the being couldn't shake the feeling that they weren't just paying attention to the lone one.
They were cornering it.
Over time, though the being still couldn't really see anything clear past their shine, its sight acclimated a bit, enough to catch a very vague outline more similar in size and number of limbs to itself and the dark one rather than... something like the bison.
That didn't really restrict the possibilities much. But even with this, even though they looked all the same to it...
It was increasingly obvious that they had the first one - the one that felt the most weirdly familiar - singled out. And the being didn't like what it was seeing. Not at all.
One of them had the weight of authority to it, and was separating from the group, to approach the lone-
The little light suddenly zipped by, and went to hover directly above the being, shining intermittently high and low as if it was trying to get spotted !!!
Which was the last thing the being wanted! Why would they wish to catch the attention of creatures that could move the currents like pebbles!?
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
But there was no way to get the orb to shut up and come back down, as their connection went only one way! If only-
Unless...
the spike missed by the tiniest amount. Truly a pity that these new ones didn't spook the little light as much...
But where quality wasn't enough...
That one was even closer! If only the orb could stop moving, that would make aiming much easier...
Luckily, the being had a lot of spikes to practice with.
Finally, the little light floated down and away from the edge, seemingly having got the message.
He went sulking away, as per his habit. Depending on how offended he was, he would either stay down, or charge in on his own.
The being would mourn him in that case, but as long as he didn't get it killed, it would get over the loss.
Luckily, the creatures didn't seem to have noticed his spectacle. Or perhaps they were just much wiser than the being, and were ignoring him.
In any case, whatever they were here to do, they were clearly more focused on each other than their surroundings. Especially, on the first one. They were clearly boxing it in, waiting for something.
Until another one of the creatures, one that somehow seemed the most... eager to be there, broke the encirclement, passed by the leader, and slowly stalked around the loner, completing the encirclement. It stopped in front of this familiar one, made some more noise...
and then slapped it.
But it was a strange slap, and the being felt more confused than sorry.
Given how clearly immensely powerful these creatures were, it would have expected much more from that strike. It had expected... honestly, to be thrown off its feet by the aftershock alone, even from here. They were that scary.
Instead, it was as if the attacker hadn't really put effort in the strike. But at the same time, it felt like it had? Quite a strange impression...
In any case, the slap still landed hard, enough to cause the victim to take a step back towards the others. The being knew that they must be about to intervene. After all, even simpler creatures, when they were so similar and together, got along well with each other.
And these ones were as complex as they were powerful, and clearly friends.
...But none of them moved a finger. They made some more sounds at it, but the being had the distinct impression that those weren't meant to help.
The leader made the same sound as before, while the attacker stepped up again... but the victim remained silent. And was rewarded by another, frightening slap.
This went on for some time, with the surrounding creatures getting louder and louder - none of them doing anything to stop it - and the being feeling more and more uneasy.
The victim was pushed and pushed until it was backed into the others. They made way... but not before tripping it up.
It went sprawling onto the ground.
It tried to get back up but, before it could even begin to move, its abuser was on it. No matter how much it tried to wiggle free, it was no use.
Unease was starting to turn into anxiety, and the being realized that maybe they were all friends with each other, but not friends with that one.
The slapper kept the victim pinned down, and turned to the leader, clearly wanting for permission to do something.
Immediately, all the others took a step back and made stranger, unpleasant noises, some vehemently. Some even turned away and backed off.
But the leader remained still, and made a movement that must have been confirmation, because the slapper whirled back...
and dug inside the victim with its hand.
Frankly, the being was quite disappointed with them. To be so complex and yet still so debased.
But maybe there was something more to it, judging by the little light's emotions.
After all, he had been following the owl around, and hadn't seemed particularly upset with its sadistic ways.
There must be another layer to what was happening that the being couldn't understand, no matter how much it focused. And whatever that layer was, it was nothing good.
It was over too fast to glean anything more than that some irreparable damage had been done.
The slapper got up, quite pleased with itself, and went to rejoin the others.
Whatever it had been doing, was done. Though the others weren't as happy with it now: save for the leader, it felt like they didn't want to be near it.
But most likely, the being had misunderstood the entire situation.Maybe the little light would be able to explain more, once he was out of his funk? He could be surprisingly explanatory when he put his mind to it.
The other creatures broke the encirclement and started to gather around their leader, but not before a little detour: as they passed by the broken one, each of them stopped by to hit the downed creature, or to do various acts that the being couldn't understand, but was sure were aimed at hurting it in some way.
When everybody got their turn, they shined brighter again and launched up, heading straight for the hole they'd come from.
The one that had pierced the victim's chest looked like it wanted to stay longer, but after one gesture from the leader, it reluctantly flew away too. Leaving the two of them alone.
The being realized that it was the only creature that hadn't jeered or hit or done anything bad to the broken one, even though it had clearly allowed the others to do so.
It stood there, simply staring down. It made no more noise, and neither did the victim.
Then, it threw something to the ground, and flew after the others, so fast that it caught back up in no time, and they all started filing out one by one.
Once again, the leader was the last one out, save for the one on patrol, and it cast one last gaze towards the victim... then it was out.
As soon as the patrol followed out too, the currents around the hole wobbled... and the passage quickly closed back, smoothing out perfectly, back to what it was before any of this happened.
Which confirmed that the patrol had been the one to forcefully maintain it open.
The being was left with many doubts.
What were those creatures? It had never met anything so... different. So out of place. Or rather, it had, but such a comparison felt deeply wrong. As if even entertaining it for a moment was a grave sin.
How could they be so strong? To be able to casually bend the very currents to their wishes... and the being was sure that it had seen absolutely nothing of their real capabilities. They were all clearly so far above anything it had ever seen. So far above the being itself that...
And what did they just do? Clearly they were extremely complex creatures, with connections between them that went beyond the categories of friend and non-friend the being knew. It felt like there was something important between them, but that whole charade had contained a malice to it that would have shocked even the owl.
And these were only the first of the mysteries.
It was a situation so completely beyond the being's means it was a wonder it hadn't crawled back in a hole to hide forever.
But it was just so very interesting.
It needed to know more.
And that started with that lone creature lying there, abandoned and broken.
