Jellyfish - Chapter 5 Difference

To Rei’s ears, the people here talked like they had a permanent lisp. Even without knowledge of the language, she hummed and rubbed her cheeks as she made out expressions from the people nearby. The Immortal leaned back and studied every twitch, every glance, and anything of the sort that helped.

The only one in the crowd she stared at was the young girl who was missing a tail.

Moss stayed silent and gazed into Rei’s eyes. In return, Rei looked tried to burn holes with her peekers. Moss saw milky seas surrounding dark cavities. Rei saw amber crystals split by a crack.

They both blinked.

“I bet you’re not very popular with the boys.” Remarked the Immortal.

“You are the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen.” Remarked the Nomad.

The two bowed their heads in the presence of each other.

Chunks of meat and shards of bone made their way all across the village. All the young men and all the young women had gone off and done their things. Some sat and watched the Outsider, others fell asleep and shuddered in their sleep, and a few picked up the chores they had paused earlier. The air felt hotter than usual.

Moss waved at Rei and pointed somewhere behind her. The Immortal smiled and shook off the rest of the slime hanging from her body. Some of the flung goop landed close to Moss, so she took a quick step backward. Soon the two would walk past a multitude of buried homes. There were stone plates of similar sizes placed like hatches above the holes. Hollow straws seemed to stick out from every single one. Rei counted the tubes and marveled, for a brief second, at how these people lived.

The only things above ground were tents, clay lanterns, and the occasional carpet. It seemed the homes below all looked the same from above, but their woven rugs held many unique flairs. Some depicted spears and figures gathering around fires. Others were tamer and showed off members of a family within the body of a snake. No two textiles were ever the same. There were plenty of tools and strings tied to rocks, and they were all spread out among the area.

The Immortal was distracted by a somewhat erotic work of art when Moss shouted her name from across the patchwork.

“Wei,” she would say with a pout.

“Rei.” The still slimy girl would correct while crossing her arms and mimicking Moss.

As the lizard was about to point something out, Rei interjected quickly with a clap.

“Before you ask. Yes, I am an immortal demon who’s traveled near and far to claim your first born. Although I think you might be the youngest lizard here…”

Moss felt as though Rei had said something absurd and thought it best to ignore it. She wasn’t one to take nonsense. Noting the expressions from the outsider’s face, and taking into account her wild gestures, the girl let out a grunt and moved on.

Moss continued with another step. Step after step, they climbed up the hot stairs that burned Rei’s feet. Moss thought to herself how weird it was for the Outsider to be unphased by any of the day’s events. She didn’t feel like looking back out of fear that the Outsider might show her another traumatizing event.

As the sun began to set, Moss and Rei arrived at their destination. The two had climbed the wall of a mountain that kept a side of the village safe. A great shadow had fallen upon the Valley before them. Various members of the town had slithered and serpentined out of their holes and tasted the fresh air. The night was cold and refreshing, and a gentle warmth from the stone scales ensured that it never got too chilly.

How strange it must be to come alive as the moon rose.

Bright burned the fires, and brilliant were the lanterns. The people of the Valley joined together with their voices, and Rei felt she heard a pleasant song.

The flames seemed like they’d never go out.

Everyone and everything burst with energy. The villagers flowed like water between the tents and markets. They crashed into revelries, pursuits, entertainments, competitions, shops, banquets, parties, love, sleep, poetry, construction, destruction, and all other activities of the night.

People came to small wooden stands and ate stew that cooked all day. The local urchins stole from the old fruit merchant again. A parent sat near a bench and watched his children walk on two feet. A hammock hung between two palm trees and just under the moon. A blind man finished the erotic painting of his doting wife.

Life went on.

Along the cliffside were clay pots and a lot of junk. Very precious junk, mind you. The rock was a rich and vibrant shade of ivory, which didn’t fit in with all the red in the valley. Everything here was somewhat simple. Just small offerings and few old scales. With a perfect view of the land, this cliff oversaw the world these villagers knew.

Sand, endless amounts of sand were the only sights to behold outside of the Valley. There was nothing but the village, the desert, and the river.

Moss felt like this was the center of her world.

The first thing Rei did after taking in the view was to try and jump off. Moss didn’t take this too kindly, so she reached out and gripped the Immortal by the ankle. The girl managed to suspend Rei above the village while dealing with her squirming and shouting. Slowly, she dragged the Outsider back up the cliff and on solid ground.

While keeping her watchful eye on the Immortal, Moss caught her breath and cycled through a few thoughts. This Outsider was insane. What the young woman was about to do would have committed a few hundred acts of sacrilege along with having the old custodian come out of retirement.

Sitting on the outsider’s stomach to keep them down, Moss used her surprisingly heavy body to pin the Outsider. The girl then proceeded to slap Rei silly with her hands. The sound echoed through the Valley.

“What is with you?” shouted Moss. Her cheeks looked slightly puffy, and her eyes locked onto Rei’s.

“What’s with you?” replied Rei. The Immortal rolled her eyes and pouted like a child.

Though neither could understand the other, both did very well in getting the message.

“A stranger comes to this valley,” Moss said, “And she survives inside the gut of a Rex. No person does this! You do not even seem bothered by any of us. You do not resemble any of us. You… You are white of skin and an albino. There is not even a tail on you at all…”

She took a deep breath and continued, “Who are you?”

Rei frowned. Her eyes avoided Moss and would instead look upon the side of the cliff.

“What do you want from me, you ugly mascot?” insulted Rei.

Her expression became quite dull.

“If you’re worried about me making a mess… I promise to aim for a bush or-”

“Stop that!”

The interruption caught Rei off guard and annoyed her slightly. The Immortal didn’t have the patience one would expect from a survivor of universal entropy. It seemed Moss had managed to bother the Outsider by cutting her off.

“What?” asked Rei.

“You are drifting off and appearing as though your spirit has abandoned your body. It’s like I am talking to a corpse! A dead person!”

“Oh, I wish that stupid God gave me the ability to talk with these idiots…”

The very fact that Rei seemed annoyed with Moss, despite her having saved the former’s life, was adding to the proverbial fire. The flames were swelling, and the air was getting harder to breathe. She felt her entire face burn and the blood under it boil.

“Ah. Fuck this I’m just going to-”

Rei mumbled off as she slipped out from under Moss somehow. The Nomad was surprised by this and quickly wrestled with the Immortal once more.

It was needless to say that this went on for quite some time until both parties exhausted themselves.

“Are you done? I’d like to keep this place pleasant.”

“Fine. Tomorrow then.”

Their brief respite had gone on for too long as it seemed someone had come to meet them. A villager, one of the carvers from the day who had helped pick apart the Dire Rex, climbed and shouted for Moss near the top of the steps. The girl yelled back, her voice quite shrill and louder than normal.

“A spotting!” shouted the Carver.

“What about it?”

“Dires… Dire Beasts are coming!”