what do yyou see in the dark

[NEREID POMANO]

You are only two sweeps old but you hate your custodian and you just want everything to stop. So you seek out the darkness, dive blindly into the yawning chasm off your hive. You don't look back, you just swim; swim until your hands ache and legs scream in protest; swim until you want to drown. Down here, down farther than you have ever gone, you are convinced you can just stop. Stop ever existing. Down here, down where the silence is deafening and the dark is blinding, you wait for the tendrils of blackness to slip into your agonized maw and suffocate you. Down here, down where the pressure is strange and the waters are cold, you wait for the thump of your bloodpusher to stutter. It stutters. It stutters and everything finally stops.

In a second you are overwhelmed by loud splashes of purple, even your attire screams this mutant color. You are lost. You are scared. You are alone. For the first time in your short life you let yourself cry like the wriggler you are. You let tears stain your face, the violet a testament to your failure. It only makes you cry more and more and more until you are heaving in air and dots of black spot your vision. You are a mess, a bundle of chaos and emotions. Once again you try to outrun your problems and throw yourself out of the window. A part of you knew you could fly, and it's this same part that hungers and urges you to gaze above. You do so. Stare at the darkened space above.

It stares back.

Your whole body begins to tremor, shake, seize, as something looms far in the distance. But it grows, it stretches, it commands the space away until all you see are inky tentacles and darkness. Far out of the reach of the purple towers and surrounded by this power you are aware you are in the presence of a deity. It lethargically opens a single eye and you fall down into the darkness and insanity of the pupil.

When you are conscious again you are against an unforgiving surface, rigged and jagged. You pull your hands away to see the coated in violet, in blood. Darkness swarms in your peripheral and you look. You are not alone. You see that eye once more and realize you are embracing it's beak. You feel like a defiler, a heretic, but something wet presses against your back encouragingly, trying to comfort you.

And then it whispers to you.

At once your know nothing and everything and it is agonizingly beautiful. Blood frees itself from your eyes, ears, mouth, anywhere it can slip from and drench you. All of your muscles seize, clench, pull, and rip until you cannot move anymore. Your jaw unhinges in a primal, animalistic scream but it comes out silent. The God comforts you once more and you feel a violent and powerful passion stream through your body; love.

We greet thee Thief, for ye are ours to own forevermore. Awaken.

It whispers once more.

Your head splits.

Pop.

When you awaken its to a piercing pain in your leg. You let out a howl and light floods your vision, rushing you. Your custodian is the cause for both. It hurts more to see your leg in between the rows of needle like teeth so you let out another cry as your custodian drags you away. You want to be let go so you hit and hit and hit, your fist smashing uselessly against her tough hide. It isn't long before you're digging your claws into her gills and tearing with your teeth. The release is just as painful, but you bite your tongue and grind your teeth. Your custodian gives you one long look and the unidentifiable stare causes you to lapse into inexpiable fear unlike anything you've ever experienced. Then she leaves, leaving her light on to guide you back to your hive. You follow even as a hissing noise erupts in your ears, the emptiness calling you back. The noise only motivates you further.

You are unsure why you came down here or for how long, but you consign yourself to never return.