Cyber Stories

Chapter 7: The Embodiment of Purity

-Rumble POV-

"u-uh... hello..." I barely forced the words out.

Her facial expression lit up and she beamed. "Hi! I'm Phoenix! Who are you?" She asked, wagging her tail like a happy puppy.

It was then I realized I was still in my intimidation stance, slowly relaxing to a more neutral stance.

"....Rumble." I responded simply.

My response made her pause, almost as if she knew my name. She went quiet for maybe a moment before she smiled again. "Nice to meet you! Want to build a sandcastle?" She asked innocently.

"A... sandcastle...?" I echoed her, unfamiliar with the term, before out of nowhere I was suddenly struck with worry that my tone would be read as condescending or judgemental, "uh... s-sure. I... like building things."

Yeah... Great save. Though admittedly, not entirely a lie.

She didn't judge though, she just turned around and started digging in the sand. "Yeah, a sandcastle. A little building made of sand!" Her paws gathered up some sand and she mixed it with the water from the lake to solidify it a bit to create a small tower.

I watched her with fascination, legitimately impressed by the simple method and complete transformation it brought, turning sand into a solid form.

And for what? She worked and shaped to construct such extravagant yet small formations, for what end?

Maybe the same reason I had my rock throwing ritual? Just... for fun?

Is this what fun is?

"...how can I help?" I spoke softly, realizing I again hadn't spoken.

Her bright blue optics looked back up at me. Her sweet innocent smile, I felt a rush of unusual emotions.

"Here, you can build another tower." She smiled, shoving over a pile of dry sand.

I looked between the sand and water, having watched her perform this creation I attempted to do the same, ending up with a pool of water clouded by sand.

With my failure, she looked over and smiled. "No worries! If it's too wet, add more sand. If it's too dry, add more water." She shoved some dry sand into my puddle and started mixing it around, her servo landing on mine and she paused.

I glanced at our touching paws then up at her, confused by her reaction. It was just momentary physical contact. Though something in her optics kept me from moving, holding my paw still beneath hers.

She shook her head, coming out of her trance and she kept mixing the sand in front of me. "See? Perfect." She smiled.

I studied her perfect mixture, running my claws through it to test its consistency, then scooped over a new load of sand and began adding water, more carefully this time, until it reached the same mixture she showed me.

I then followed her motions to shape the sand into a sculpture. But what? What do I create?

I watched her movements, she was so focused, her beak scrunched up as she worked on the fine details of the tower she was building. Her tail wagged and swayed in the sand behind her. The breeze flowed through the feathers on her wings.

After thinking for a moment, I found my inspiration. I began sculpting like she was, dusting and shaving bits of sand with my claws to form the scene I had envisioned; a large cliff overlooking a forest.

Though my forest was simply dozens of tiny lumps of sand, the cliff I managed to sculpt with more detail, as much as I knew of anyway. It wasn't a place I'd seen in person, but one I'd been told stories of for most of my life.