Way of the Slugcat

Behind the Veil of Night

Night was correct. A small, cozy shelter was conveniently located a couple of rooms away. The slugcats still had not reached the surface of whatever structure they were in, but that did not matter this cycle. Thorns eagerly slid into the shelter's tunnel. Night lagged behind at the entrance, casting a backwards glance at the darkening room behind him before climbing in after Thorns. It did not take long for the two of them to get settled, as the room they had to do so was minuscule at best. The only other creature that would be small enough to fit comfortably with the slugcats would have been the baby centipede Night had eaten earlier. Luckily, the friends had just enough personal space to themselves.
"Soooooo?" Thorns poked Night's squishy tail. "Are you going to start telling me the story?"
"Thorns..." Night sighed. "...I don't know if now is a good-"
"You said that you would earlier! Do not go back on your word. That is one of the highest sins on my can."
"May I ask which can you resided on?"
"No Significant Harassment. What about you?"
"Excuse me?"
"What about you? Do you think that I am dull enough to ignore the signs? You are like me!"
"Ah." Night shifted his position on the floor uncomfortably. "I see why you would think that. However, your assumptions are a little off. I was in contact with an iterator, but I was always a slugcat. Just a little less... bright... than I am now."
Thorns blinked. He tilted his head to the side slightly, as if attempting to perceive the situation from a different angle. Night stared back, nervously fiddling with his paws.
"Alright, fine." He grumbled. "I will only say this once, so you had better listen closely."
Thorns silently nodded, struggling to contain his excitement. Night took a deep breath.

Flashes of green lit the sky above him, around him, below him... this strange metallic structure he was climbing seemed to attract it. Yet again, he questioned his decision to come up here. He had not seen the little yellow bugs in quite some time. They had promised him things here! Food, shelter, friends, and safety. Although, as things were going now, the little black slugcat had not run into any of that. A couple of pupa fruits here and there, a single blue worm-like creature that, contrary to everything else up here, had not tried to kill him... he did not think those things were worth the trip. Still, something within him wanted to keep climbing. He had made it this far. He wanted the promised food, safety, and friends the little yellow bugs had shown him. They drew pictures in the air for him to see and pointed him out of harm's way. They had led him to food and shelter and warned him about approaching predators. They promised him that, at the top of this structure, he would find everything he had ever desired. And he trusted them.
Up he went, climbing towards the farthest reaches of the clouds. Slowly, the air began to thin. His lungs took in what little air they could as he breached the cloud line. His entire body was soaking wet as he climbed out of the grey puffs of moisture. As his vision cleared, he looked above to assess the next challenge. This time, he could see clearly to the top of whatever it was he was climbing. No clouds blocked his view, as they were all below him now. At the end of this long climb, Night spotted a couple of yellow flashes. He took a deep breath and continued.
Higher and higher he climbed, leaving the clouds far below him. He scraped by on what little air he could get, breathing heavily with every step. His little friends started to return, flashing drawings to encourage him onwards. He was almost there! Almost...
Finally! The ground leveled out, much to Night's relief. He turned himself over and collapsed onto hard concrete, letting out a deep, prolonged sigh. At this point, he was too exhausted to worry about vultures coming down from the unobstructed sky above him. While his instincts were strong, they could not override the joy Night held within him. He had finally made it! Now where was the food? He looked over to the nearest yellow bug with a questioning expression. In response, it gestured behind him. A little arrow was drawn into the air, urging Night in a single direction. He turned around expecting to see a plentiful bounty of fruit. Instead, a long stretch of a concrete desert greeted him. At the end, a tall structure, probably built by straits.
Night growled at the floating bug, it's stringy tentacles still pointing Night towards the structure. How far away was this place? Couldn't the bugs have chosen something closer? Regardless, he decided to continue walking. What did he have to lose, after all?
Up here, Night encountered something he had not seen in a very long time: dust. It was everywhere he stepped. His feet kicked up clouds of the stuff every time he lifted them up or set them down. His chubby tail left a dustless path behind him. Obviously, nothing had been here in quite a few cycles. Off in the distance, however, there was movement. Life. Tall figures milled about stacks of huge boxes, making noises to each other. This was unmistakably a straight colony!
Night had seen very little straight activity as of late. The worse the rains got, the less he saw them. He only had a couple of interactions with the creatures. One had killed him, one just made noises at him and left, and the last one saved him from a blue lizard. He had no idea what to think of them...
Aside from the straights, the walk to the structure was uneventful. It seemed as if the vultures preferred to avoid this place. Night strutted confidently into the structure's shadow and squeezed through a hole the yellow bugs had pointed out. It was a tight squeeze, but his squishy black body was able to mold to its shape. The Slugcat popped out onto the other side of the wall, without bothering to look down first. A huge mistake.
Night's paws hit thin air. Before he could pull himself back into the hole, his hindquarters followed. He flailed his tiny limbs in the air as his body plummeted downwards, fruitlessly trying to catch something to slow his fall. Blurry murals on the walls sped by as gravity took the slugcat deeper. Deeper and deeper and deeper, until...
The murals on the wall started to pass his vision slower. He could make out shapes and patterns in their designs before they disappeared. A straight holding a long stick, a lizard with a leather circle around its neck, and a rain cloud spitting drops of water onto the earth. At the final mural, Night's body came to a slow stop. He floated there in shock, hovering upside down. A huge yellow "X" had been painted onto the wall with no other details to be seen. While it was interesting to look at, Night would have preferred to not be dangling upside down in mid air. He couldn't look for food or shelter effectively like this. He needed to right himself and find something to stand on!
As Night flailed about mid air, he felt a soft pull on his left side. That pull got stronger. He attempted to use it to his advantage, but it seemed less interested in helping him get upright and more interested in pulling him in a certain direction. Before he could react, the black slugcat was moving down a long hallway against his will, being dragged along by an invisible force. Night grabbed at the tunnel walls, his fingers unable to get a grip on their smooth surface. Suddenly, the force yanked him down into yet another tunnel, this one much smaller than the last. His head hurt. It ached, it burned. It was as if a scavenger had gotten a hold of both sides of his brain and used its dextrose paws to start tearing it apart. Night squeezed his eyes shut. His paws flew up to his muzzle and squeezed it tight, attempting to keep everything in place, maybe reduce the pain somehow.
Please, make it stop! Make it stop!
Then, the pressure was released. A wave of realization flooded Night's consciousness. Suddenly, everything made sense. Yet at the same time, he had no answers. Hundreds of questions flowed through the slugcat's mind, all a consequence of this new found knowledge.
Why am I here? What point does survival serve if I just come back anyway? What goals do I hope to accomplish in my endless lifespan? Why accomplish anything at all? Why does my heart contain feelings impossible to express...? Where did this void of endless possibilities come from in the first place?
Night opened his eyes. He floated within a box-like room, a thousand little beads of every color swirling around him. Tiny life forms with round heads and two tails suspended themselves above a creature that Night had never seen before. It wore a flowing yellow robe and dawned a red gem on its forehead. It's serene blue body was held in place by a sort of metal arm coming off the wall, travelling in smooth intervals all throughout the room. Thin red ribbons followed the creature's every move, undulating behind it as if there was a soft breeze. Everywhere the creature went, the rainbow of pearls would gracefully dance out of its way, then continue their circular pattern around the slugcat's body. For the first time, Night looked upon a scene that he considered beautiful. The pearls sort of reminded him of stars twinkling in the night sky, a rare sight nowadays. That memory was beautiful as well... and the grasses that swayed gently in the wind back on the surface, that scene also held a sort of beauty in it. How had he missed it? It had been right in front of him the entire time, and he never thought to admire it.
The blue being floated closer to Night. He tried to move away, but his feet were still in mid air. The being looked at him curiously, examining him from a couple of different angles. It then held out its scavenger-like paw to the slugcat.
"Hello there, little creature!"

Beauty
Find it in the simplest of things, if you choose to look.