Broken Lands

Lightning struck the ground near Physalix. He raised one of his tentacle arms and shook it in the general direction of the Hungering Spark. “Yen! Control your lightning.”

Yen’s amused answer was easily heard over the thunder that echoed across the grassland. Physalix did not even realize that this was odd; after all, why would mere sound make a mental communication difficult to hear? “My Domain is always under my control. It did not strike you.”

Physalix wanted to snap at the lightning-creature that it should not have even come close to hitting, but it knew better. Its control of its temporary companion was not yet that high. Yen could decide to attack Physalix; it was always hungry and while Physalix was certain it could prevent Yen from actually managing to consume Physalix, having to kill Yen would be a huge setback in the hunt for the bright spark. Yen would surely taste good, but a snack wasn’t worth the loss of Yen’s abilities in the hunt for a far better meal.

Worse, Yen could decide that it wanted to chase the bright spark without waiting on Physalix. Yen could move far faster than Physalix. That was almost as annoying as the fact that the lightning monster had a Domain that Physalix could do nothing about. It could not follow the link to the bright spark, but it knew the direction they were traveling in. All Yen had to do was hurry ahead and kill everything it found and it would surely find the bright spark.

It was good that Yen had not realized this. Yen could not think beyond its hunger and Physalix had promised it delicious food. That was all Yen seemed to need. Physalix still wanted more control. It was not yet powerful enough.

Physalix looked into the distance towards the stone jungle. There had to be prey there, prey that would let it grow stronger. It was also the wrong direction for both the bright spark and the little spark. They were almost to the little spark. It was time to choose; should Physalix hide for the bright time once again or should they press on in search of the little spark?

Physalix did not like the too bright and too hot ball in the sky. It could tolerate it now, with the Water Retention Ability it gained after it ate the spicy fish two nights before, but it still did not like it.

The hot bright time was when the small spark moved and it always moved away, towards the bright spark. Physalix was tired of chasing the small spark.

Physalix trudged onwards as it thought. The decision was a foregone conclusion; the simple fact that it kept moving meant it had already decided. It was tired of chasing the small spark. Physalix was going to pursue it until it caught it, then it was going to either eat the small spark or convince it to help capture the big spark for Physalix to eat.

Physalix no longer cared which. It was tired of walking. It was not made to walk long distances like this.

Dawn came and went and Physalix kept moving. The Hungering Spark’s Domain kept up easily, though Yen did not show itself except in afterimages of its lightning.

For once, the small spark did not run away. It moved, but it moved off to the side, away from the direction of the bright spark.

Physalix had to choose: did it follow the far away bright spark or did it follow the closer small spark?

The small spark was close. The bright spark would take days of travel to reach, maybe more. As long as the small spark did not run too far, it was worth finding the small spark. Physalix followed the feel of the small spark.

It led to a strange stone jungle, one that was not overgrown the way the earlier stone jungle was. There were some plants, but they were mostly the small ones that lived on rock rather than the big ones that pushed between the rocks. Physalix scraped some of the small plants off a stone and ate it.

It was no tastier than the big plants. Physalix would not eat that unless it had to; the small spark would be far more yummy.

Yen was not as picky. It saw Physalix try to eat the small plants and appeared beside the Land Jelly for the first time since the hot bright thing climbed into the sky. It carved a large mat of small plants off a rock and shoved it into the space that opened in its chest.

“This is edible but not very filling,” Yen projected at Physalix. “Are we near the yummy spark? Is there better food?”

It carved more of the small plant from the rock, taking some of the stone with the plant. A large tong extended from the Hungering Spark’s middle and scooped up the greenery while it waited for Physalix’s answer.

“We are close, but the small spark may be an ally in the hunt for the bright spark,” Physalix warned Yen. “You must not eat it unless I tell you to.”

Yen did not send any more thoughts. Instead, lightning sparked from its location and rose into the sky. Physalix knew that meant Yen would not be back for some time. It did not like being told there was nothing to eat and was off finding something better than the small plants.

Or perhaps it was hunting more of the small plants. Physalix did not know; it only knew that Yen did not mind the big plants and seemed happy with everything about the small plants except for their size. Yen could eat a lot, far more than Physalix could eat.

The effects of the Domain of the Hungering Spark seemed lessened as Physalix made its way through piles of tall gray stone. It could tell it was getting closer and closer to the small spark.

It turned a corner and thought it might even be close enough to see the small spark. It looked around and a splash of many colors in all of the gray caught its eye from exactly the direction the small spark was in.

A small furry animal sat in an opening in the stone piles. It seemed like it should have been white and gray and black, but bright colors marred whatever camouflage it should have had in the dull environment. Strangely, the small plants and even some of the rocks near it were also brightly colored, as if the animal granted color to everything around it. It was clearly not a domain like the Hungering Spark’s.

If anything, it should be a problem for a small animal like that. It might be the small spark, but it looked positively delicious. Brightly colored yummy small animals wanted to be eaten.

“You have been following me. What do you want?” The small animal’s high pitched voice clearly carried across the distance to Physalix.

That seemed wrong to Physalix, but it did not know why. Maybe it was because Yen spoke in Physalix’s mind? The animal had a mouth; there was no reason it could not speak.

“I can feel your spark,” Physalix answered bluntly. “You look delicious, but I seek better prey. Will you aid me in hunting the bright spark?”

A loud crack of thunder announced Yen’s arrival behind Physalix. It must have noticed that Physalix stopped.

The furry animal lowered its head and flattened its ears. “You want to eat the bright spark?”

Physalix felt its mouth moisten at the thought. The bright spark would be truly yummy. Far yummier than fish, even spicy fish. “Yes. It is a long way from here but the prize is worth the walk. It is mine and I will eat it.”

“It travels with others. Will you eat them as well?” There was an odd note in the colorful animal’s voice. It almost sounded like it was telling Physalix what to do. Normally, Physalix would object, but it would happily eat more bright sparks.

“There are more sparks? If there are more sparks, I can share them. Would you like to eat a small spark?” Physalix could barely contain its excitement.

“I want to eat a spark,” Yen projected from behind Physalix. “Is this a spark? It looks yummy.”

The colorful-furred animal lifted its head to look beyond Physalix at Yen. “I can feel you. You have changed. You are not the รค๔เк I knew any more than I am the man I once was.”

Physalix knew the animal said a name. It even knew the name was Yen’s. What it didn’t know was what the name was. It wasn’t Yen, but Physalix could not hear what the name was. It was wrong. It was painful.

Physalix felt a sudden pain from one of its arm-tentacles and whipped around to see Yen withdrawing one of its energy claws with a fragment of tentacle dangling from it.

“Idiot!” Physalix roared mentally. “Claw the one who hurt you, not me!”

“You have not changed,” the animal’s voice sounded a little softer and slower. “I should have expected that.”

Physalix felt an odd pain, almost like tearing, followed by a sharp ping! noise inside its head that scrambled all of its senses for a moment. Even before its vision cleared, Physalix knew it could no longer feel the small spark it followed to find the animal. The animal had cut the link between them.

“Kill it,” Physalis projected in the hope Yen could hear its words. “You can eat the fluffy spark.”

When it could see again, both Yen and the colorful animal were gone. The brightly colored rocks and small plants were there. Physalix wondered if the color meant they would taste better or worse.

It could not move well right now, so it might as well find out. Yen would catch the small spark and it would be done.

The brightly colored rocks were not yummy.

The multicolored small plants were better than the rocks. They were even better than normal large plants. There was a flavor to them that reminded Physalix of the taste the small spark once had. It was far weaker, but even a little of that taste was good.

Physalix would have preferred to eat the small spark himself, but the colorful small plants would have to do. Yen could catch the small spark; Physalix did not think it would be able to. Telling Yen to save the small spark for Physalix would only make it angry. Giving it the small spark meant Yen would owe Physalix and that would make it easier to claim the bright spark when the time came.

Knowing there were other sparks with it made it even easier. Physalix could distract Yen with the other sparks while it ate the bright spark. Yen would even thank it for the chance to eat more than its share. That was how Yen had been, even in the time Physalix could not truly remember. He was easy. The other one was less easy but the other one should be eaten now. Physalix was certain the animal was the other one.

Physalix finished the colorful small plants, then looked around. Yen should be back by now.

Before Physalix could decide if it should climb over the shelf of piled-up rock to hunt for Yen, a bright light erupted from somewhere in the stone piles ahead of Physalix. It almost looked like a larger version of Yen’s lightning, but Yen’s lightning was green. This was pink and orange and blue. It seemed far more like the colors of the small spark.

If the small spark could make lightning stronger than Yen’s, something was very wrong. Physalix couldn’t quite believe that the small spark could overwhelm Yen. Maybe they hurt each other?

If they hurt each other, maybe Physalix could eat the pieces?

The lightning did not last long, but it pushed Physalix into struggling over the rocks. It started to head towards the lightning, but Yen arrived first.

“It got away,” Yen complained. It was almost a whine. “It ran into a hole in the rock and then yummy-looking colors with no taste came out. When I looked inside again it was gone.”

“Show me the hole,” Physalix ordered Yen. This was even better than giving Yen the chance to eat the small spark. Physalix now had a failure it could remind Yen of. It might even be able to eat the small spark as well as the bright spark!