This land was quite different from any Grrkkn had felt before. When he first lay eyes on the false-forest of steel, frozen like ice erupting from ancient fountains in the deep north, words could scant describe how awe-struck he was. Humans truly were fascinating to create this, though for what purpose not even his current tribe knew. And that was with sight alone, having touched one of those titanic pillars he could tell with the worn textures upon them that there was a story here that likely spanned centuries. With his spores spreading out to every corner and sending back minute strands of information back to him it was somewhat hard to focus on the present, to remember he should not be encouraging their growth and instead be more cautious in the territory of unknown humans. Even so, inevitably, he imagined he would become more than familiar with the inner workings of all the machines here, whether he intended to or not. It was lucky then that he happened to enjoy such things… and what the others didn’t know surely couldn’t hurt them.

  After they were invited in properly there was a meeting of sorts with some of the human Elders gathered here, though their role was distinctly different from the Elders of his tribe. There were five seats, only two of which were presently occupied. The first by a large blue-skinned male with worm-like veins that moved seemingly of their own accord, deep-set and almost armoured eyes staring down at them with the smell of caustic venom emanating off him even from a distance. The other one was a female, looking almost like several humans stitched together and smelling strongly like a medicine hut, six multicoloured eyes looking down at them as a half dozen mismatched limbs glowing with various tumours scribed down details on parchment and a strange machine that seemed to automatically inscribe words when buttons were pressed. A fascinating piece of artifice truly.

  “May we have for the official record the names of all gathered presently?” The spice-smelling woman asked.

  “John Zhou Aurelium, of the Lead Cave.” John started first.

  “Faith… Faith Smith.” Faith said next, clutching her beads and strange wooden cross tightly. Come to think of it, this was the first time any of them had heard her clan name was it?

  “Grrkkn of Hurhn.” He spoke next.

  “G… grkn?” The blue-skinned man asked, not quite right, but by far the most correct anyone had been thus far.

  “Grrkkn!” He chimed excitedly. He didn’t mind the name his companions gave him, but it was good to hear someone come close!

  There was a small nod of acknowledgement, at least what he assumed to be acknowledgement, they turned to the last member of their crew.

  “We have records of you Cobalt Phagos of the Lead Cave, you visited five years ago in the entourage of your father correct?” The blue man asked.

  “That is correct honoured Elder.” Cobalt said with a bow.

  “Why is it that you did not inform us of your apparent… relation to a member of our Sect?” The many-armed woman asked next.

  “Father told me to remain silent about the relation… and I didn’t exactly have much opportunity to speak up anyway. I truly only saw her once, and I only recognised her off scent.”

  “I see, do you mind submitting some blood for testing? We may have a relic that will confirm the authenticity of the claim, but until then please understand our skepticism.” The woman offered, extracting a golden drinking vessel of some sort.

  Without hesitation, cobalt accepted the vessel. “Of course.”

  Extending a claw she slit along a vein, pouring thick blood into the vessel before the wound quickly stitched itself shut leaving only an ugly scab in its wake.

  “Thank you for that. Now, what purpose do you all have for coming here? I presume not all of you are here for the same purposes as Phagos here.” The blue elder asked.

  “Indeed no… I was on a pilgrimage for matters of faith.” Faith answered.

  “I pil-grim-ag too! Search knowledge, far and wide!” Grrkkn grunted chipperly.

  “And as for me…” John moved his machine-arm and showed the ring at the top. The eyes dotting the limb stopped looking around idly and focused too in the direction of the ring, as though drawing focus to it. “I found this in a tech-cache in the Lead Cave and it is tied to the reason we managed to make it up North so quickly. I don’t know what it is, but I am hoping there would be some answers here.”

  “A Relic of sorts? While there is something about the arm, I sense no direct psychic signature around the ring, however. And you claim it aided in the traversal of a great distance?” The many-limbed woman asked.

  John nodded and looked down at his arm as though asking something of it in his head. As though on cue, a large amount of rusted human artefacts, soil and other miscellaneous items fell onto the floor.

  Grrkkn quietly grabbed one of the items that fell nearest to him, he always was a bit of a collector at heart.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “A storage ring… I have only heard myths of its existence.” The woman gasped.

  “And I believe it to be a key to a greater mechanism. Though I am not certain how it works… and I certainly would like whatever aid your Sect can provide on that front.”

  “Well as it happens, our Relic expert was among the group most recently discharged from active service, and our Sect is known far and wide for the many ancient wonders dredged from the lake. I am sure if anywhere will have the answers you seek, it will be with us.”

  Grrkkn perked up hearing the words Relic expert. How long had he spent trying to decipher the mysterious ancient human ways by himself? Cross-referencing only with traders who often seemed more interested in selling artefacts than understanding how they worked, and tribesmen who never bothered to investigate beyond basic functionality and the old myths?

  He let out a loud rumble of glee which was met with a few confused looks. Right, humans didn’t quite do that. They did that smiling thing a lot, and he was admittedly well practiced in that through his interaction with traders, but sometimes it really just made more sense to obey the natural order.

  The blue elder coughed and signalled for a man to come in, heavily scarred especially around his face. There was something off about the matte purple orbs that were his eyes, Grrkkn thought, some instinct which sent his hair rising on the back of his spine but did not grant him enough knowledge to know why. Perhaps there was something odd about his movements, mechanical down to the tendrils hypnotically swirling in the air. But perhaps he was overthinking things. Perhaps it was the smell, there was something metallic and oily about him, though he normally quite enjoyed those scents something about this case was putting him off. But without anything concrete, it wasn’t right to judge, so he held his tongue.

  “Alright, if there is nothing else to speak of today, Brother Keye here will show you to your temporary quarters.” The blue elder explained. “We thank you for your time and hope your stay here will be productive. I trust we can help each other greatly.

  If the others felt anything strange they didn’t much indicate it.

  “Thank you Elders.” Cobalt said with a bow, followed by the rest of the humans. Not wanting to stick out, Grrkkn followed but didn’t take his eyes off the target for one second. Perhaps he was being overly judgemental and rude.

  They were led to their temporary accommodations in relative silence. An artificial cave much like most other human settlements, complete with layered nesting plush with some sort of feathers or fur.

  Strangely as the man gave them some privacy his eyes locked with John’s for a strange moment, or more accurately the eyes lining John’s arm. He didn’t say anything more however as he left, without so much as a word.

  Some of his spores clung to the man as he left. Strange, he thought they were only compatible with non-living matter.

  “Saha, you know why we are here.” Elder Fisher said with a flat tone belying a clear frustration and perhaps anger. Her many arms were folded tightly together, while her piercing eyes from her fused faces bored into her soul, making clear this was an interrogation. Saha bit her tongue firmly. Keeping a cool head in an unfortunate situation was vital, after all.

  “You must understand, the situation-” She began before she was cut off firmly by a blast of nuclear power, flickering the lights overhead from the electromagnetic pulse.

  “What, the situation isn’t what it looks like? Because from my standpoint, it seems like you have neglected to inform the Sect of a rather major development.” Fisher chastised.

  “We do not have any certain proof of that relationship now, do we? I mean, this girl comes out of nowhere after years, after her Sect had fallen and-”

  “Bearing an Imperial Seal, freely offering her own blood for examination no less?” Saha sighed. “Not to mention the fact she practically reeks of you. Elder Huckleberry is still skeptical, but his nose was never as good as mine.”

  She curled up into herself tightly, and without any other options took a massive gamble. Shuddering with the harrowing weight of vulnerability, she murmured. “But as a woman… you understand right.”

  Elder Fisher paused and sighed herself. “I do Saha. I truly do. And as the one who scouted you out from Reed-garden City I admit I feel no small amount of responsibility towards you. The truth is, though, at times I have been disappointed by your actions, when I was young I was much like you. Perhaps, had it been my womb to suddenly decide to bear fruit I would have faced your current conundrum myself. But whatever the case, you understand it is too late now right?”

  “So what do I do then?” Saha hissed. “Let my growth and progress be stymied by legions of the most disgusting possible men? Those who see me only as a way of carrying their wretched ideas of bloodline, little matter most of them do not have seed that functions a damn either! I did not scramble all this way to be reduced to the value of my womb for a random fluke more than a decade and a half ago!”

  “I- I will do my best, I assure you, to prevent the worst-case scenario.” Fisher offered. “But in the meantime, why don’t you talk to your daughter? Do you even know her?”

  “What is there to know?” Saha scoffed. “Everyone’s all the same, aren’t we? Scrambling for every advantage. She’s just here to squeeze me out of whatever I am worth, take advantage of her relations to bolster her own goals. We don’t know each other.”

  “Even so, is it not better to cultivate an advantageous position with her before you get backed into a corner?” Fisher asked, raising two disjointed eyebrows on the left side of her fused face.

  Saha bit her lip. “Very well, I will speak to the brat.”

  Elder Fisher gave a small, split smile across both halves of her face. “Now was that truly so hard?”

  “You are a treacherous woman aren’t you?” She muttered with a glare.

  In response there was only a chorus of laughter, Fisher covering her mouths so as to not expose the rows of what she knew to be snapping inner jaws. “Well if that is all you have to say then you are dismissed. But I expect we will be talking a lot more soon enough.”

  With a huff and a hiss Saha uncoiled and slithered out the door, giving a token bow of respect and not looking back. Truly perhaps she should have smashed that little egg when she had the chance if she knew there were going to be headaches like this.