\|/ Turn 55, midlight

  The net worked! I’m beyond exhausted, though.

  After writing, I got back to the impossible task of tying a knot.

  It took me about another mark to figure it out. I had to keep tending to the fire, which made the process slower. My left arm wasn’t helping, either.

  I was able to use my it somewhat. Though, no matter how much I tried to ignore it, the feeling of prickling from my elbow downward was always there, turning to electrifying pain if I did too much.

  Around late dark, I thought I had finished the net.

  It was about my height and the same in length. Big enough for anything reasonable. I felt the tiniest sense of pride.

  But as I inspected it again, it just didn’t seem strong enough. Having only a single layer of fungal vines felt like something a pisca could bite through easily. Too flimsy, too thin.

  Not done yet. I sighed internally.

  Reinforcing it would mean getting more fungal vines, since I had used all of them in the first version.

  And that itself would mean going into the dark beyond our camp.

  I looked into the abyss that was the forest, where the light from the campfire didn’t reach. The clearing on the opposite side was less horrifying, due to having some light from the sky, but I knew there weren’t any vines there.

  So into the abyss I had to go.

  I picked up a thicker branch from what was left of the tree and put the end in the fire. It ignited in a few moments. I used it as a torch with my left hand and held the knife in my right.

  A few deep breaths, and into the forest I went.

  Suns, it was too silent.

  No singing, no rustling. Not even any wind. Stepping on a leaf or twig was deafening.

  The torch didn’t illuminate anything, and the knife felt pitifully useless in my hand.

  Combining the need to be quiet and trying to get it over with as quickly as possible left me in a constant state of terror. Because I was an idiot when I was collecting them in the light, I had to go farther out to find more.

  I got about four strands when I started breaking down from stress.

  My hearing rang from the total silence. The torch was starting to die down in my hands, which meant I could see even less.

  I couldn’t taste anything around me, but that didn’t make me feel safe. It made me think I was just missing something that was about to kill me.

  I got my seventh strand when I saw an eye in the corner of my vision.

  My eyes widened, and I almost dropped the torch with how fast I spun around. But when I looked, nothing was there.

  I crouched for a moment, trying to gather my thoughts, but it was too much. I was genuinely deliberating setting the closest tree on fire for light.

  I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to go back before I did something rash.

  I was shaking when I got back to the camp. The fire was barely alive, and my eyes were defocused, but I could see Mik. I think seeing Mik saved me at that moment.

  I put the torch in the fire and sat down next to Mik, wrapping my tail around myself. I didn’t even notice I was silently whimpering until then.

  Mik breathing, and just… existing, next to me. I wouldn’t get through that dark without it.

  I lay down, gently leaning against Mik’s back. I started drifting asleep.

  …no…

  I forced myself to sit up.

  “I have to finish this.” I whispered to myself. Going to sleep was the easy option. Not the option that would keep us alive.

  Just as keeping the scavenger alive was easier for me, mentally. I would have to work for it, not hope that we would find food before we became delirious.

  I got up and continued working.

  I took the new strands and reinforced the net, so it was twice as dense as before. When I was done, the net looked much more filled, and was definitely sturdier, but I couldn’t stop myself from asking another question.

  What if the knots separate…?

  …

  Not done yet.

  I was barely standing at that point, but I wasn’t going to give up.

  Using the remaining metal pieces, I drove them through the joints that seemed the most critical; the corners and the middle.

  A new taste in the air got me to stop. A mix of ground and rotting flesh.

  I thought I was hallucinating my left arm tasting like it used to when I was sick. More tricks my mind played on me, so I ignored the taste.

  But it was incessant.

  I tasted the air next to my left arm, holding it up to my head. It was the same intensity as before, meaning that that wasn’t it.

  I licked my left arm. Nothing.

  What could it be…?

  Getting frustrated, I tasted around the net and found that it was the source. I wasn’t expecting it, since it usually didn’t have any taste.

  I brought my hands up to my snout, scratching it from frustration.

  And almost puked when I tasted the air.

  My hands. It was on my hands. And I had just gotten it on my snout.

  Oh f-

  I dropped the net, falling to the ground and wiping my snout off the grass. It pricked it, and dirt clung to the already oily scales, but I couldn’t stop. Afterwards, I vigorously wiped my hands off the ground as well.

  The horror of imagining what the vines released onto my scales didn’t pass me, but I had to finish the last few incisions. I used the knife for those.

  And I was done.

  Finally, actually done.

  When I looked up, I saw that the sky was extremely red, meaning the red dwarf was about to come out.

  I looked back at the net. It was hideous, improvised, and smelled like death. But it was mine, and it would work.

  It had to work.

  Not managing to think properly anymore, I collapsed next to Mik and fell asleep.

  “Mayaaaaaaa”

  I felt a light shake on my shoulder. I groaned, not quite awake.

  “Mayaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa” Mik said again, prolonging the hiss absurdly and shaking me a bit harder.

  Groaning, I forced my eyes open.

  Though blurred, I could see Mik crouching over me. I rubbed my eyes awake and saw it smiling widely.

  My head pounding and my body exhausted, I still smiled back. Waking up to that sight was possibly the best way to wake up.

  As I sat up, Mik took a step back and held the net up. If it had a tail, it’d be swishing around.

  Interestingly, the net didn’t have any taste anymore, whatever it had released having dried off.

  Mik shook the net lightly, asking “Maya?”

  I nodded.

  Mik let go and sat back down next to me, writing “When?”

  I wrote “Entire dark”

  Mik took another look at me, probably seeing my barely open eyes, and presented me a closed fist.

  So, it is the same as a tailtap…

  I tapped my tailend against it.

  Mik made a weird gesture, opening its hand and making some whoosing noise.

  …

  …

  Alright.

  I was too tired to even start thinking about whatever that meant. Mik was happy, that’s that.

  I opened my journal, tapping the electric grass field. I felt that it was just slightly cooler than it had been the past few turns, meaning we wouldn’t have to rush to go get water and hunt.

  Mik shook his head excitedly taking the net into its hands again.

  I sighed, stopping my tail from twitching, and wrote “No. Water more important.”

  Mik’s smile faded a bit, but it nodded.

  And went to get some water.

  Getting water wasn’t really eventful, so I won’t waste space in repeating how that went. Mik was extra springy, while I was barely keeping from falling asleep.

  After we left the bowl at the camp, Mik immediately grabbed the net and almost started running towards the river. Mik had completely forgotten its bottle, so I took it and jogged after Mik.

  “Are you” I panted “that hungry?!”

  Mik, not hearing my pleas, continued its quick pace. It felt like a bit too much to be pure excitement.

  I didn’t taste the scavenger on the way there. While we were traveling, I silently hoped that it had moved on from our camp after not getting anything from us for a bit.

  We got to the river in record time. At least the dash there woke me up.

  Mik stepped knee-deep into the river, holding the net by its corners. I held my breath as Mik pulled it open.

  Fortunately, it didn’t tear.

  I stepped in after a moment of contemplation, keeping my bottommost thorns on my legs out of the water. Overhydrating myself while starving was the absolute last thing I wanted to repeat in my lifetime.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Mik handed me one side and held the other tightly.

  We both stared at the water between us, waiting for something to pass by. I felt Mik nervously shake the net a bit.

  And then Mik suddenly stopped holding the net taut. I looked over, confused about why it had let its arms fall to its sides.

  “What’re you doing?” I asked.

  Mik then made a sequence of gestures:

  It first held the net higher, saying “Maya”.

  Then, it made some noises and quickly pulled down the net.

  …

  “Oh, a countdown?”

  I held the net a bit higher, careful not to go above the height of my shoulders.

  Mik did the same and repeated the countdown.

  I missed the last number, lagging behind Mik in bringing the net down. Though, I figured out its countdown was basically three moments. Mik shook its head and brought the net up again.

  This time, I focused. When Mik started, I repeated the countdown after it.

  “Three”

  “Two”

  “One!”

  We brought the net down at about the same time. Mik smiled widely, going to tap my back before it saw how poor of an idea that would be without me wearing a cloak.

  I tapped the water surface, and Mik nodded. We went back to waiting.

  …

  A shape appeared a few lengths in front of us, rapidly approaching. Mik started the countdown as it got closer, following where the stream flowed. I hissed alongside Mik.

  “Three”

  “Two”

  “ONE!”

  With both of us screaming, we brought the net into the water.

  The shape tried squirming out but was encircled on all sides. It fought vigorously, trying to break the net. Had I not reinforced it, it would’ve succeeded.

  I had to dip my arms deep into the water to not let it escape from the bottom, making me hydrate unintentionally. I had to get out of that situation, fast.

  Holding the net down, I started walking towards the shore. Mik followed.

  The creature crashed against all sides, almost making me slip, but I kept my balance. I wasn’t letting go.

  After a few grueling steps, we managed to get it out of the water.

  The creature was similar to pisca but completely alien in a way Tau could only make.

  The ‘pisca’ was completely covered in blue scales with an ellipsoid shape. Actually pretty similar to what I’ve seen, if the fins weren’t so unusual.

  Instead of having fins that went horizontally along its body, it had fins both horizontally and vertically, intersecting at its tail. The bulging, nearly completely blue eyes were frantically snapping between Mik and me as its mouth opened and closed.

  It flopped around, not being able to breathe. I quickly got on my knees and pulled my knife out.

  Sorry.

  And I stuck it in its skull. It stopped squirming after.

  Suddenly, I was tugged upward.

  “WAH!” I yelped out.

  I turned my head around, only to see Mik trying to hold me while visibly scrunching its face. I’m pretty sure it was making its facial equivalent of “ow ow ow”

  Mik let go me, making me stumble

  Mik wanted to envelop me but had the worst possible method of doing so. I panicked and checked its arms, only to see them irritated red, but not pierced.

  I stared at Mik.

  Mik stared back.

  And I burst out laughing.

  “Come on! You should’ve expected that!” I laughed hysterically. Nobody on Varanth did the enveloping thing Mik taught me, and now I could see why.

  Mik slapped its forehead, chuckling despite itself.

  After a short laugh, we both crouched next to the caught pisca with my knife embedded in its head. Yellow blood poured onto the ground.

  Mik pulled out its journal and wrote “Cook first”, its face contorted into discomfort.

  “Definitely.” I nodded.

  I took the knife out and cleaned it off some grass. We both immediately set out to make a fire.

  It didn’t take long, but it was getting really warm. We should’ve been back at the camp by now.

  I went up to Mik, who was adding a big branch to the pile, and wrote “Late, warm monster?”

  Mik shook its head, took off its shirt and went into the water.

  …

  “Right. Forgot you can do that.” I mumbled.

  With Mik thoroughly drenched, we went back to starting the fire.

  I had to do it, since Mik would just get the wood wet. That didn’t bode well for my still recovering left arm.

  “oooowwww” I groaned, holding my arm. Mik went to pat me, but I really didn’t want to be wet alongside the pain, so I gently swatted its arm away with my tail.

  But in the end, I managed to get the fire going, and we could cook the pisca.

  …

  Without a bowl.

  Or a skewer or a spear of any kind.

  “Right.” I sighed, staring at the uncooked food in front of me. Mik was adding more wood when I hissed to it to get over to me.

  It crouched next to me, nodding me to continue.

  I drew a fire and the pisca in front of us, and then a spear and bowl on the ground. I scribbled those two out.

  Mik looked at the fire, then the pisca, then me. It hummed unusually, looking at the sky.

  Before I could say anything else, Mik got up, turned around and whacked a branch with its hatchet.

  It then grabbed the broken branch and picked up the pisca, impaling it.

  “… Yeah, that works.”

  I took the branch and sat down, holding the pisca over the fire.

  Mik stood next to me for a few moments, then took its journal from my pocket and wrote “Hunt more”

  I nodded, since Mik couldn’t really help me with waiting for the pisca to cook. It took the net and walked off to the river.

  Waiting for it to be done felt like an eternity. I had fun watching Mik throw itself around in the water, though.

  Mik struggled to catch anything for a good while. Until it just appeared next to me when I wasn’t looking, holding another pisca by the tail.

  “Oh wow! Well done!!” I hissed loudly, almost dropping the one I was holding.

  Mik set it down next to me and ran back off to the water.

  Maybe you’d be good with a gatorid…

  Then, I saw the pisca next to me still flopping and twitching, its mouth opening and closing. Mik hadn’t killed it.

  Oh come on. Don’t let it suff-…

  …

  I was the one who thought that, acting morally better than Mik. Me.

  Silently, I moved the cooking pisca off to the side, grabbed my knife and killed the one next to me. Afterwards, I went back to cooking the first one.

  I focused on the strong taste of it cooking instead of all the suffering I had caused.

  After an eternity, I gauged the first pisca as about done (the scales pretty charred), and I called Mik over.

  Mik ran to me and immediately took the pisca off the spear. It, of course, was still incredibly hot, so Mik had to drop it.

  “Cal-“

  Before I could even finish a word, Mik had taken its hatchet out and cleaved the pisca in half. I felt disturbed by how erratic Mik was acting. Taking the tail-end of it, we both ate.

  I carved out the meat on mine and ate it. It was extremely savory, and I would’ve loved to season it, but it felt so damn good to eat.

  Mik, meanwhile, was just eating it like an animal. It ate the scaleless part with its hands and non-snout, surprising me with the pure manic bite force it could conjure. It was unsettling, and I tried to give it as much privacy as possible, but Mik was just so damn loud.

  Afterwards, I cooked the other one, with Mik lying in the shade. The light must’ve been too much at that point.

  In fairness, even I was struggling with the warmth from the fire and midlight. At one point, I went over to the river and splashed myself with water, absorbing some of it. I hadn’t felt overwarmed in Suns know how long.

  When the pisca was done, I woke Mik up and we split it again. Fortunately, Mik was much less… bestial, with the second one.

  Now, we’re still at the river. Mik’s sleeping in the shade, and I’m barely awake at this point. The pisca were so damn good, and, for the first time in a long time, I feel absolutely full.

  We had to stay here, since Mik probably couldn’t make the trip back. Interestingly, it didn’t even suggest going back to the camp.

  I’m going to join Mik in sleeping, though. I left the fins and heads off to the side so the scavenger can take them if it wants, though it hasn’t come here yet.

  It feels odd, really. I’m glad it moved on for the time being, but I was getting used to its presence.

  Probably better for everyone that it left.

  \|/ Turn 55, dark

  The scavenger is still here.

  I’m going to stop trying to predict things.

  Mik and I slept through the entire midlight. It’s been the best sleep I’d had in forever.

  When I woke up, I saw that Mik was hunting in the river again.

  I yawned and stretched for a bit, getting up to go help Mik. I felt amazing, since my head didn’t hurt anymore. My arm was a bit numb from sleeping on it, which was better than it being painful.

  As I was walking, I saw something blue in the corner of my eye. I turned my head and noticed two more pisca, lying dead on the shore.

  “Wow! Mik, well done!!” I hissed out to Mik.

  Mik turned its attention to me and smiled widely. A moment later, it got out of the river and walked up to me.

  I crouched next to the pisca, marveling at what Mik managed to do.

  “How long did this take?” I asked, not expecting an answer.

  Only then did I look at Mik properly.

  Mik was RED.

  It had its shirt off, and all of the flesh was red. Even its face!

  I gasped in horror, standing up and taking a step back.

  Why?! How?! What hurt you!?

  Mik would only ever get red if I scratched it or it accidentally impaled itself on me. This looked like it had been wounded everywhere all at once!

  As I pulled out my journal to ask what in the living Suns could’ve happened, I noticed Mik’s taste.

  It was rancid.

  I gagged, trying to stop myself from tasting the air, but I couldn’t. Mik started looking afraid as I struggled to write.

  “WHAT HAPPEN”

  I held the journal out for Mik to write in. I had to keep a hand over my snout so as not to taste the air out of reflex.

  Mik, staring at me awkwardly, wrote “What?”

  I tapped its flesh once. Mik flinched. I almost fainted from that.

  Mik took the journal and wrote “Light.

  “LIGHT?!” I screeched. “Light did THIS?!”

  Mik took a step back.

  I quickly wrote “Mik live?? Light monster??”

  Mik read it, and, very carefully, wrote: “Yes YesNoYes”

  …

  “Mik what in the-“

  …

  I took a deep breath, rubbing my snout. It felt unusually itchy, probably due to frustration.

  “Mik, what does that mean?” I asked. Mik stared at me. I wrote “?” under Mik’s “YesNoYes”.

  Mik wrote “Ow long light under” it paused for a moment “Live, just ow”

  …

  Mik just hurts. From sunlight. Because that’s normal.

  Sighing deeply, I nodded and tried my best to accept the fact that, something I have to do regularly, hurts Mik.

  I need to make a list at this point.

  Mik, seeing I was done with my panicking, picked up the two pisca and proudly presented them to me. I nodded, fake smiling, since I was still disturbed about Mik being hurt from light.

  It put the pisca down, dried its hands off and took the journal, asking “Hungry?”

  I shook my head. Mik did so as well, giving me back my journal.

  Even the hands…

  I was starting to get used to Mik’s (I prayed) temporary taste, but I was still extremely distraught.

  Seeing the red flesh reminded me of something else. Mik and water.

  I went over to Mik’s bottle that was in the shade and sloshed it around a bit. I heard it was almost completely empty.

  I got lost in thought for a moment, until Mik came up to me, still holding my journal, and presented “One for tonight, one for tomorrow?”, gesturing to the pisca.

  I read it, not understanding what Mik had just written. I wrote “?” under both “tonight” and “tomorrow”.

  Mik picked up its journal from the ground, flipped a few pages, read something from its notes, and wrote “this dark” and “next turn?” in mine.

  I nodded. It seemed like a good plan to not overeat, another positive being that we wouldn’t have to search for more food, and Mik wouldn’t be fried from light exposure.

  I flipped over to the map, staring at the empty spaces between the drawings.

  “Go next turn?” I wrote, tapping the empty parts. Mik wrote “Why?”

  I wrote “Go see, maybe good?”

  After a few moments of thinking, Mik nodded. Then, it wrote “What now?”

  …

  Good question.

  We have food for next turn… Water…?

  “Camp and get water for next turn?”

  Mik nodded.

  A plan having been made, we started gathering our things.

  Thank the suns, Mik put its shirt on, which made it taste much less in the air. Still, the taste was unsettling, even if Mik wasn’t actually hurt.

  … Or at least it told me it wasn’t actually hurt.

  No, it wouldn’t lie about that. It’s less stupid than I.

  Mik brought the pisca and its bottle, and I… Well, I stashed the knife and took the leftover heads and fins. Mik seemed to notice but fortunately didn’t ask questions at the moment.

  We got

  What is that.

  The dark sky suddenly has massive blue stripes. Am I…?

  I had to wake Mik up, but they’re actually there. I’m not imagining them.

  It’s like its lighttime.

  They’re actually… beautiful. I haven’t seen anything like it.

  I’ll finish this chronologically, though it’ll take me longer. I haven’t seen something so… I can’t describe it. It just happened in a moment. I’ll… finish what I was last writing.

  Uh, right. We got back to the camp after refilling the water at the valley.

  We got back to the camp. The scavenger was there, which I could immediately taste.

  What I wasn’t hoping for was the scavenger being so damn loud.

  Speaking of, I think the scavenger thinks its light now. I’m pretty sure I saw the tail just disappear into the forest…

  Right, turn. I’ll finish this quickly since I keep getting distracted.

  The bush was rustling extremely loudly. Mik drew its hatchet and started going towards it, and I saw my entire lie unravel before my eyes.

  “Wait, no!” I hissed, dropping everything and running to Mik.

  Mik ignored my hissing until I frantically slapped its back once. It turned around, still in a crouched stance.

  I took out my journal and wrote “Friend!”

  Mik read it. The little growths on the top of its face shot up.

  “Here?” it wrote, gesturing towards the bush.

  “Yes! Maya friend!” I wrote, hissing it aloud at the same time.

  …

  Mik started laughing. I felt all of my blood leave my head.

  It took the journal and wrote “There?? Long??” holding its stomach.

  I was clawing at my snout from stress, almost breaking scales.

  I wrote “Turns, Mik”

  Mik continued laughing for a bit more, getting even more red. My tail was coiled around my leg at that point.

  It then took my journal and wrote “Food friend?”, gesturing to the fins and head on the ground behind me.

  I nodded.

  Mik went around me, still chuckling and shaking its head, and picked the food up. It then went towards the bush.

  “Don’t, please!” I panicked, going after Mik and tugging its shirt.

  Mik completely ignored me, marching closer to the bush. It was smiling.

  Suns, it reminded me of when I first saw it. The same red flesh, the same monster I thought it was.

  I hadn’t been afraid of Mik since we crashed.

  But I was afraid.

  I let go. I couldn’t stop whatever it was about to do.

  Mik stopped a few steps away from the bush, putting down its hatchet.

  And it gently threw the food towards the bush.

  …

  I heard a loud rustle, and then the scavenger crashing through the trees beyond its bush on the opposite side of the camp.

  Mik walked back to me. It wasn’t smiling anymore.

  I stood, unmoving, as Mik took the journal and wrote “Friend not hungry, I sad”

  My hand shaking, I wrote “No hunt?”

  Mik smiled again, writing “Maya friend, Mik friend. Have fish.”

  Whatever fish meant, Mik was fine with the scavenger being there. Like I hadn’t lied for turns.

  …

  Are you more insane than me…?

  “Can go?” it wrote, gesturing to the bush. I gave a frail nod and followed it.

  Mik moved the branches away and revealed why the scavenger had been so loud.

  It was nesting.

  The bottom of the bush was filled with leaves, grass and branches, which had been compressed by the bulk of the scavenger. It had decided that our camp was the perfect place.

  Because of me.

  And Mik was fine with it.

  I was struggling to comprehend everything.

  Mik, said something in its language and went back to the camp.

  I stared at the nest for a bit longer before going back, too.

  The rest of the turn felt relieving, if that makes any sense. I had been lying to Mik for so long that Mik being trivial about it was barely believable.

  But when it kept joking about the scavenger being “big and scared, cute”, I really felt like Mik didn’t want to kill it, either.

  It was desperation. Mik wasn’t telling me how hungry it really was.

  I’m glad I made the net. I think I saved the scavenger.

  At least I did something right, for once.

  We ate one pisca and hid the other under some rocks that are right next to us, so it wouldn’t end up being stolen. The scavenger returned to its… nest, in the meantime.

  Now, about the lights.

  Mik had been sleeping while I was writing.

  I was dozing off myself, struggling to keep concentrating, when the sky literally lit up.

  For a moment, I thought I was hallucinating or dreaming.

  But I was in the same spot, and it didn’t feel like her doing.

  “Mik” I hissed. “Mik!”

  Mik jolted awake, reaching for its hatchet. I stopped its hand and gestured to the sky.

  If Mik hadn’t immediately started at the sky in disbelief, I would’ve thought I was properly gone. It got up a moment later and stepped into the then-bright clearing. I followed it.

  We both just stared at the sky.

  Mik sat down, and I did next to it. We’re still in the same spot.

  I think I figured out what it is.

  It has to be another CME. Rather, the magnetic field of Tau is repelling it.

  It reminds me of SILT and the ship. I thought I had gotten over that.

  I haven’t. I don’t think I ever will.

  Writing more about it isn’t helping, though. I’ll write next turn.

  Mik is here. We’re not starving. That’s all I need.

  That's all I'll ever need.