Gutterhob

You miss your husbands. You miss your daughters. You miss your sons. How did everything fall to dust so fast?

On the bright side though, your vision has been on and off improving. Your depth of vision sometimes chooses to expand, and sometimes chooses to retract. You have yet to figure out what is causing this.

You have been searching for your husbands for days. You have feel extremely fatigued from your journey. Thanks to your companion, you’ve managed to keep your belly full. Piro has been bringing you food that she hunted from around the desert. And she has been protecting you in the night so you have been getting good sleep. Why are you tired?

You RUN and HIDE behind the nearest LARGE STRUCTURE as the MAJESTIC woman of INNUMERABLE legs DISAPPEARS in a FLASH. As she DISAPPEARS, a KERATINOUS young man with a strangely COLLAGENOUS face FLUTTERS to her position but FAILS to catch her before she VANISHES.

Regal and Many Legged Woman: “Hide.”

After you BEGIN to LOG-OFF, a MYSTERIOUS bright FIGURE stands between you and the CONSOLE. You are PUSHED back.

You rejected this exchange.

You looked upon the creature that the Archon handed to you in exchange for Achias’ life. It is small, and it doesn’t have fingers.

As little as you mattered to them, they were still the Archon of Exchange. As Achias laid in her wounds on the ground, the Archon offered you a replacement. 

Achias was deeply wounded after her encounter with the Archon of Exchange. You don’t know if they knew of the deep bond you had with your pet, and you don’t even know if they cared. To these great divine beings, creatures like you only matter for the labor you’re capable of producing. 

Achias wasn't the biggest fan of the last Archon that liked her. The Archon of Exchange thought her submissiveness was fun to toy with, and used their powers of mind to throw her around in the air. 

The structure on top of the planet looks a lot like the ruins that are scattered across this world in between villages. You don’t know anyone besides Xyk’Xala that has been in one. Only erythromancers are permitted to explore them. They’re supposedly dangerous. You wonder if those ruins were once alien colonies. 

STARFIELD’s robotic attendant leads you back to the bridge of the ship. It says that STARFIELD has need of you; STARFIELD: “GWYNDAM. Now that you’ve properly explored your ship, we should leave. Beasts down on the surface are scavenging the remains of your village. They’ll eventually come over here start chowing down on my metal ass, so we should take off as soon as possible.”

As the smaller archon approaches, Achias goes up to her and climbs on her head. It seems like they like each other. The archon starts licking Achias from two of the mouthes coming from her ever-shifting shell. You’re not sure if she actually uses the mouth on her head. You’re not sure if she uses her head at all. 

As you start to pick up some of the eggs, you are approached by one of the Gate Archon’s daughters. She doesn’t say anything to you. She just stares into your eyes with curiosity. She is barely the size of one of her mother’s toes, but she is still a lot larger than you. She seems like an infant. She is silent and playful, but she is ancient. Not ancient in the standards of archons, but definitely ancient compared you. 

Today, the Exit Archon brought her twin sister to come visit. Her sister lays the eggs of our passage to the net universe. She is the Gate Archon. She spits them into our cartons from the mouths on her back. Sometimes when she visits, fleshy trees grow in the ground where she stepped. They watch you.

The village and everyone in it is gone. It is time for you to move on.