I shook off my frustration. I hadn’t hit a ntal wall like this in a while.
"Let’s see… I suppose we can call Bloodroot."
"That’s not a na. That’s like saying my na is ‘Human.’"
"Kevin?"
"...No."
"I thought it was a good na… Luna."
I—no, we shuddered. A pulse of excitent rippled through us. Yes. This was it. The na in the intruder language that I wanted.
"Fine. And I’m not an intruder. This is my bod—"
"No, it’s not. Rember? You’re the big thing."
Wait. Who said that?
I exhaled. "Maybe I should go back."
"What, I as in Lu—"
"PETER. Obviously."
I focused inward, willing myself like the ti before to exit, but now I was not panicked.
I opened my eyes. It seed like my body had sat down on it’s own and not moved the entire ti I was in Luna’s mind.
Luna was still there vibrating and flickering in a variety of colors.
I smiled. I guess I wasn’t totally alone…but I was never going to tell my friends that I beca buddies with a piece of grass while they were gone.
"Alright, Luna…I guess you probably can’t understand like this, but let’s get along."
With literally nothing better to do, I searched inward, noticing that the red energy hadn’t fully extinguished yet. So, I reached out.
Luna t , and we fused consciousness once more.
"Okay. Let’s work on getting better at telling who’s who."
I blinked a few tis, my vision shifting to turquoise hues, then nodded. Our body lit up, lightly swaying in the wind.
"Soooo, what now? We just stay rooted, glowing at each other?” I asked, curious to know more about the other.
I thought for a mont. Neither of us knew much about the other, though we had connected through each other’s languages surprisingly well.
"How about this? How did you get here? This is my body, but sohow you left the big beast and ended up here." I flashed bits of silver, my interest growing.
I wondered what my friends would think of ...blinking so erratically. I was already an outcast. Now I probably looked even weirder.
"You're an outcast?"
I tried to imagine how a society of grass could even have outcasts, but nothing ca to mind.
"I want to go to the ancestral land. No one wants to leave, soooo" Luna responded.
"Hey, wait! I could tell that was you!"
It seed like practice was already working.It hadn’t been long. Or maybe it had. Hard to tell. But I was starting to occasionally distinguish our hues.
"You just thought in colors," I respon—never mind. More practice needed.
"Ancestral land?"
"Yeah, one sec."
Luna’s roots sliced through the soil, smooth as a sprout splitting rotted bark.
"Weird taphor," I comnted. At least that was easy to differentiate. I would never say sothing that ridiculous.
I ignored Peter and gazed through the generations of work. A lifelong ritual, passed down over and over. I had done it since I was born. I knew nothing else.
"So the pool is your ancestral land?"
"What? No…Is your entire species this dumb?" Luna pulsed in disbelief.
"I’m one of the smartest," I replied confidently, without missing a beat.
A long pause. Luna’s glow dimd slightly, like a candle questioning its own existence.
"..."
"Anyway, it’s under it. Far under. Just look," Luna finally muttered, clearly deciding this conversation wasn’t worth continuing.
"How could I possibly see through all of thi—oh man."
It hit . In Luna’s form, I could see it. Everything.
"See what?"
"You don’t understand. I don’t see anything like this."
The currents of energy swirled like streams in the sky, shifting colors, each representing a different form of cultivation energy.
This was what I glimpsed after drinking the erald liquid. But now…I could see it through Luna.
"Wait. You did what? Please tell you didn’t drink that stuff."
Luna turned a shade I hadn’t seen before, a wilting brown-orange.
I nodded, the tip of my blade tilting. "Yeah, why?"
"Better we never think about it."
Luna shut that thought down imdiately, and I decided not to press it. Instead, I peered further down. Even with enhanced sight, I could barely make out anything past a few stalks of weeds.
"How deep is it?" I asked.
"How should I know? You’re way bigger than . You tell !" Luna huffed.
Hmmm. Maybe I could use my sensory veil on my entire body and jump down. If there really was sothing below, I should go. There were no other exits anyway.
Then again…I could just wait for my friends to help.
"You an the other ones that left?" Luna pulsed in color.
"Yeah, they’re like my family," I explained.
"Um, well…they won’t be coming here if they left the garden."
Luna’s glow dimd slightly as she sent the thought back to .
"Wait. What? Why?"
"It moves. You felt it before."
There was finality in her tone, sothing unexpected from sothing smaller than a leaf.
"YOU'RE A LEAF!"
"Sorry."
Luna ignored , clearly unimpressed by my serious breach of our small trust.
"I didn’t an it, I really am sorry. But…how do you know that it moves? It’s not like our size is impressive right now."
I glanced at my reflection in the pool. Small. Insignificant compared to our surroundings.
"Well, I guess I don’t. It’s just legend," Luna softly pouted.
The flickers of energy swirled around . Reds, golds, blues, shifting in countless shades and vibrancies.
I made my decision.
"Do you want to co?"
"You an…down there?"
We stared at the unknown below, uncertainty pooling between us.
"A-are you sure?"
"You wanted to go, right? But are you really okay leaving everyone behind? Outcast or not, you still have your own friends and family."
We spoke firmly, ensuring there were no regrets.
Luna turned toward the huddle of grass, the others spreading further and further. Everyone I had lived and grown with. From a small seed to what I was now.
"I’ll say goodbye. I want to go. There has to be more than this. You ca from outside, after all."
I studied the work of my ancestors, but now, I saw it with ambition.
"Who knows? Maybe I’ll return one day…and show my people where we ca from."
"Take your ti. I need to make sure I can pull this off first. All we can hope is that it isn’t too deep."
I willed myself away from Luna’s body, my normal vision returning.
Alright, now just gotta practice a bit.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Luna shift away. I let her go, giving her the space she needed. She may never see her family or friends again. This may be the final goodbye.
I wasn’t sure exactly how much ti it would take to restore my internal fla to full, but I knew there was still so left.
I activated my Precursor Sense, imdiately reading my control ability, then began using Sensory Veil. Modifying it ca easily, like pushing a stone to release a dam. My energy moved exactly how I wanted, in the way I wanted.
I surrounded myself in the veil, keeping Silencing Current running to avoid unintentionally suffocating myself.
Then, my head went fuzzy.
I shut off my abilities. Everything faded away into nothing.
Okay, maybe just a quick nap. I needed my energy back fully. Drowning in an erald pool wasn’t on my to-do list.
I shifted away from the soil, settling onto a fairly uncomfortable rock just outside the pool’s edge.
Cold.
I missed my supplies. A tent and so blankets would be really useful right now. Plus I got used to sleeping next to Thea.
At least there was one benefit to burning through my violet fla, it took everything out of and I knocked out almost imdiately.
When I woke up, a single blade of grass was tilted slightly on its side, almost as if waiting.
Does Luna sleep?
I guess she must…or she’s dying. But I really doubt it.
I reached out, extending my arm to the tiny creature I dwarfed, pressing down lightly as I entered her mind.
"Luna, are you ready?"
A pulse flashed through us, surprise crackling as my consciousness shot up.
"Huh? Oh. Oh yeah. Ready!"
"Aweso." I responded, then hesitated. A question hit .
"How exactly am I bringing you? Should I grab so soil?"
"What do you an? I don’t need it. The food I need is in high quantities in your angry juice."
"Angry jui—oh, cause it’s red. Wait, how do you know 'juice' but not 'blood'?" I asked, glowing slightly in disbelief.
"I thought you understood jokes?" Luna fired back, equal disbelief pulsing through us.
She had a point.
I really should know better than to overanalyze cody…as a master of it.
I left our body and returned to mine.
"Alright, focus. Control the energy."
I concentrated on the red lightning-like energy inside , extending my hand, forcing it to stay still rather than shoot out on instinct.
Could you imagine jumping into a herd of pack claws, slipping into one’s body just as the others tear yours into ribbons fit for a party?
It worked.
The energy responded to my intentions, and as my hand hit the soil beneath Luna, I muttered, "Don’t drink too much." Not that I expected her to understand right now.
I pulled out my small-scale blade, cutting lightly across the top of my wrist, then carefully brushed the dirt away from Luna as delicately as I could.
She pulsed a pinkish hue, vibrating slightly, shaking off the last bits of soil. Pink was…anxiety? How long had Luna been in the sa place, never knowing anything else?
I placed her over the cut, and to my relief, she wrapped around it, almost like a bandage, sealing the wound.
Now I had an actual mood band around my wrist. Everyone's gonna be so jealous.
I was probably still bleeding underneath her, but I only felt the tickling sensation for a mont before it faded.
I took a deep breath and walked to the edge of the erald pool. Precursor Sense. Sensory Veil. I activated both, surrounding myself with protective energy.
"Let’s go."
Without another second of hesitation, I jumped in feet first.
The thin barrier wrapped around like a full-body dry suit, keeping safe.
…Except I didn’t sink.
For a second, I just floated awkwardly, forcing to flounder like a maniac until the water finally pulled downward.
I fell further and further.
The surface disappeared. Visibility? Still garbage.
My heart pounded against my ribs, panic creeping in as I dropped like a stone into the abyss.
Then. Contact.
I touched sothing. Or…nothing?
I wasn’t sinking anymore. My feet were hanging in the air.
That made no sense.
I waved my arms to push lower...
And suddenly, I was falling again.
A startled yell escaped before I landed a second later on my feet.
Totally safe.
I blinked, staring upward.
A massive crevice of green hovered above , floating like a mirage. Sothing was keeping gravity from pulling the liquid further.
And when I turned to the side…whoa.
This place, no...this world, was sothing else.
A deep blue light bathed everything, like a sun illuminating an alien land. The warmth here was different, comforting but charged.
I stood on a cliff’s edge, staring at a vast expanse of shifting forests not just moving…walking.
Vibrant trees and strange plants road the landscape below, gilding around like animals on the prowl rather than the flora they were. The air buzzed with unknown scents, colors blurring at the edges of my vision, an entire fantasy ecosystem in motion.
I barely had ti to process it before...
A small surge of red energy slipped from into Luna from my lost focus.
"PETER!"
I snapped my gaze down to my wrist. Wait, yeah, my wrist. I needed to figure out why I wasn’t leaving my own b—
"Stop thinking, you idiot!" Luna’s voice flashed through , urgent.
"Sothing’s coming. I can see it. You have to MOVE!"
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