Desserted World

Origin.

  The figures stood around Valiant, taking him in. The tall bartender's arm shifted, and Valiant reached out to shake his hand but instead found the figure bowing to him, Valiant felt irritated, as he knew he was being mocked. "I am Xocoatl Lerisque." the bartender said, looking up at Valiant with a smirk, resuming his normal posture. The lady in red smiled wryly, "I am Arbetta La Ctesca." The cat girl stepped forward, "Celia-Suava Byssus. I like to go by CeCe for short." The satyr cocked its head and spoke, its voice was strange and not easy for Valiant to describe, it was like a thousand whispers in his head, speaking in unison with a voice too large for one world alone to contain: "Glycyrr." Valiant feared him. 

  "What are we?" 

  They sat in silence for a moment, "If it makes any sense- We know, but we don't." Xocoatl said. The satyr reared his head. "We know that we were created by a man of great power- He resides in a world of monsters. Monsters who consume us for pleasure- And throw us away." Glycyrr said with a snarl. "They may have killed us, too, had The Great One as we call him, not saved us from such a terrible fate..." CeCe murmured. Arbetta nodded, "We were put here, in this world, perhaps to protect us from harm. There are some things even Glycyrr cannot recall, as though our memories have been stolen from us- Perhaps with good reason." 

  "I was the first to find this place." Xocoatl said. "I followed the lights and met Xocoatl here." Arbetta added, "We thought we were the only ones until CeCe arrived." "I followed the sound of music." she said softly, "Xoco and Etta took me in, warmed me up, gave me water... As far as we know we are the only ones inhabiting this world." "I wandered a long time," Glycyrr purred, "I knew immediately that there were others, I felt their presence and it comforted me... but I wanted to familiarize myself with this realm- So I traced its borders, I memorized its terrain- This world has walls, and you cannot climb them. You cannot burrow beneath them, and you cannot penetrate them. You cannot see them. I followed them, but ended up in the same place I had begun- So I sought out the others. It was not long after I arrived that you joined us, my friend."

  Valiant nodded, intrigued by Glycyrr's story. "I awakened and was almost immediately afraid- I felt a force, drawing me to you- I still don't know what it was... But I am glad I found this place... What I don't understand is what exactly we were before- And how or why it changed." CeCe bit her lip, "I don't know, but it could not have been good... We were able to tap into the past- Glycyrr has excellent insight, and through him we can see nearly everything that took place up until we transformed, we all have one thing in common, though." "And what is that?" Valiant said with an air of urgency, "We were all used, and wasted, and left to decay." CeCe whispered, clenching her fists.

  Valiant felt her grief.

  "I was thrown away, simply for being not quite perfect..." Xocoatl said, sadly. Arbetta put a hand on his shoulder, looked to Valiant and said "I only held a human's interest for a few moments, it consumed nearly half of my body- but when it decided it no longer wanted me, it left me to rot in the cold..." CeCe's eyes filled with tears, "I was taken to be consumed, and then I was forgotten- pushed around and buried for months. I only thank fate that I was forgotten there..." Glycyrr stared into the distance and said absentmindedly: "And I....... I was to be ripped to pieces, my body scattered across, between, and within the countless bodies of others, as if the taste of one corpse is not enthralling enough to such monstrous beings..." Arbetta gazed into Valiant's eyes, she was a caring spirit, he felt. "What about you, Valiant?" "I- Don't know. But I want to..." Glycyrr stepped forth, and placed a hand on Valiant's forehead, "Let us find out together, my friend."

  Valiant tensed, as Glycyrr's power flowed through him, and countless images washed over his mind, memories without consciousness, like a dream.

  "I was alone......... But- No... Not always...... I had a- a family..." He saw several white tipped objects, wrapped in paper, surrounding one other- just like the rest. It must have been him. "What else do you see?" Arbetta's voice called out to him, "I don't know... it's so bright- I- Here comes this.... THING. It-it's so tall, and it's reaching out for my... my family- they're- they're saying this batch doesn't... make the cut- What does that mean?! S-save one? Save one- They're keeping one- for their-self... It's me- I'm the one, aren't I?!" "Tell us what else you see..." Glycyrr urged him, "They're taking my family away- They're- Oh no... No no no! They're- they're KILLING them! They're disposing of them- They- They brought them into existence just to take that existence away- And- And I'm the only one left!" Tears began to pour from his eyes, "And they meant to kill me too- They meant to consume me- After taking my whole family away from me..." Glycyrr loosened his grip on Valiant's mind. Slowly he came back to the present, and looked around him at the saddened faces of his newfound friends. "I'm so sorry, Valiant." Arbetta said, taking him into her arms. 

  They hung their heads as Valiant cried bitterly, "If I could have chosen, to never be born- I would have, so that I could have avoided this most horrible truth- We exist only to die, and there is nothing we can do..." Glycyrr said, matter-of-factly. Valiant's crying stopped. Those words sent a ripple through him, "No." he said, pulling away from Arbetta's embrace, "There HAS to be something we can do." Xocoatl took a shot of brandy, "I doubt that, otherwise The Great One would not have put us here to begin with. They must doubt us. But even so, we have been gifted a beautiful world to live in, and we have each other. Is it truly so bad?" "They took EVERYTHING from us. If The Great One was so great, wouldn't he end our suffering?" 

  No one could answer him.