Shadow Parasite

Avea let go; her heart stopped, falling between the many rows of teeth. Everything went still as she caught a glimpse of the bare sky; it seemed to ignore her terrified gaze. Trust was like sand; you couldn’t hold too much of it, or it would start slipping through your fingers. That was what she’d done, desperately scooping more and more sand into her arms, trying to keep it all from slipping away. As Neomon faded from view, she realised that the tiny granules of hope that the Umbratus claimed wouldn’t betray her, that they were truly allies, were slipping through her calloused fingers. 

Trust was nothing but a fool's hope. 

And she’d been a fool. 

Her arms flailed as she surrendered to the fall, until suddenly an arrow of shadow tore toward her, following her down into the jaws of the terrifying mother Erembour. Avea almost choked on a sob of relief as Neomon’s shadows caught her, wrapping around her in an embrace. We’ve got you, they seemed to whisper before they threw her sideways, narrowly saving her from being devoured. As she fell onto the sands, Avea thought she might vomit up her heart, the organ aggressively pumping into her throat. They didn’t waste time; Neomon followed close behind, masked in his shadow, his form solidifying once his feet hit the ground. 

“You caught me.” 

“You thought I wouldn’t?”

“Crossed my mind.” Avea shrugged, not wanting to admit that it had been the only thought screaming in her mind as she fell. Neomon stared at her, and for a fleeting moment she thought she saw a glimmer of stars reflecting in those onyx eyes. “We’re allies now,” he said this time without any of the stinging sarcasm from the night of the unification. She knew he meant those words, and though it felt like her chest might cave in. She only nodded, her eyes conveying the same sentiment … They were allies. 

They scrambled away from the mother worm, who was still emerging from the cold depths of the sands. “They were the monsters that hunted the Noctyra in the veil … the ones that the crone warned us about.” Anger narrowed Neomon’s eyes to sharp points as he stared at the Erembour mother. “They betrayed us”, his voice lowered to a dangerous calm, his fists opening and closing in rhythm as his shadows spiralled around him, revealing his spear. These were the horrifying creatures the crone spoke of, monsters tunnelling beneath the sands and snatching the fellow banished Noctrya. The same creatures whose power was meant to protect these Umbraki were now being controlled to hunt them. The cruel irony was born of a sick, twisted mind bred from resentment toward the Noctrya. 

Neomon moved towards them, spear in hand. Avea grabbed his arm; her eyes didn’t leave the Erembour mother. “She’s the host”, she murmured. The mother worm wasn’t built like her kin. Rows and rows of teeth erupted from the sand, swirling around in a death trap. Her body remained buried underneath the sand, making her younglings look puny. Avea’s mind whirled with everything she’d seen: the dark mist that had leaked from the youngling worm's flesh wound.

 An infection, but more than that… 

A shadow parasite. 

“The what?!” 

“The Erembour … you were right; the herd is infected.” Neomon stared at the swarm, and a piercing clarity reached his eyes. There was a brief moment of hesitation. “They didn’t abandon the Umbraki?” 

“No.” 

“She’s the host, and she’s controlling the younglings,” Avea said. 

Ripples of shadow traced down the mother Erembour’s body, stretching unnaturally as they anchored themselves to the sand, but as Avea peered closer, she noticed they looked more like chains leashed around her. Shackling her to the sands, they coiled over her flesh, tightening with every movement. She’s a prisoner, Avea realised, and as she glanced toward Neomon, the anger that flashed across his face was chilling as he watched the mother Erembour struggle, thrashing against her chains while her terrifying jaw slayed open to unleash a shrill screech. 

“We need to cure her.” 

“Who said anything about we?”

“NEOMON!” 

“We need to bait her to come out.” “Why are you looking at me?” Neomon said. “Well, it has to be something she wants,” Avea replied, indicating to Neomon. “What about that precious moonstone around your neck?” Avea clutched her moonstone protectively. Neomon quirked an eyebrow. “You didn’t think I’d notice.” Avea tried not to let her guilt show as she pulled the stone out.  

“You didn’t give it to the Supreme?” It was a dangerous question, and the silence was excruciating as Neomon stared at the translucent stone sitting idly around her neck. “No”, she replied, and she could feel the secrets between them rising like a tide, threatening to drown them. Neomon still hadn’t told her what the stars had whispered to him, but his shadows had saved her from Mother Erembour’s clutches. She couldn’t do this without him. “There’s something else hidden beyond these dunes, and I need the moonstone to help me find it.”  

“Find what?”

“Leverage.” 

Surrendering part of the truth felt like a relief, but Neomon knew there was something else she wasn’t saying. “It would seem treason runs in the family … like mother, like daughter”, he chided her, tauntingly, but his tone held wariness. As though the stakes had gotten too high, and he needed to reconsider their alliance. 

 “Just listen; the moonstone burns the parasite out of them; they’re repelled by it.” 

“So I’m the bait.” 

“You said it yourself: they want the Noctyra… so let’s give her one”  

………………………..

Neomon stood now, drenched head to toe in putrid black blood. He stared down at the mother Erembour, spear in hand and violet flare in his eyes. He moved his spear through the air in swift, lethal strokes, channelling the stars until a flare exploded in a cosmic crescendo of light and colour. He’d carried darkness for so long that the moment he let go, the Noctyra flare became the most brilliant thing in the dunes. A heart bursting open, cracking through the sand. The sands responded, igniting a violet path straight toward the Erembour mother, who stirred and roared so loud the ground shook beneath them. “Come get me, you giant slug!” Neomon screamed out, igniting the flare brighter. The Erembour mother roared, and her younglings screeched as the ground caved inward while their mother tore free. Her ferocity held a terrifying hunger; she’d taken the bait, and the flare was a hook drawing her out. Neomon’s flare flickered slightly as he beheld the true size of the mother. But he didn’t hesitate, morphing into shadow and leaving a violet trail behind him with his Noctyra gifts. Avea waited for the signal, watching Neomon seamlessly switch between his two gifts, morphing back and forth into shadow form and diverting the mother worm as his spear glowed with the Noctyra flare. Avea never considered how Neomon could have both gifts. The crone’s words suddenly rang in her head… 

“You’re something else, though, aren’t you claimed?”

Avea sensed there was more to Neomon’s Noctrya gifts, but perhaps he was entitled to his secrets, as she was to hers. She waited as Neomon drew out the Erembour mother, luring her closer and closer while narrowly evading her ferocious jaws. The solid ground broke beneath Avea’s feet as the Erembour mother raged toward her, and then, suddenly, in his shadow form, Neomon made a sharp left turn. 

That was the signal. 

 Avea charged toward the mother Erembour, keeping her small daggers at her sides. The mother Erembour was too distracted by the noctrya flare to notice Avea scaling her back, drenched in the youngling's blood, masking her scent. White-knuckled, she climbed onto her back, arms straining as she pulled herself up. Horror struck through her as she saw the marks the shadow shackles left on her outer layers. The ugly ribbon markings cut deep, like lashings across her flesh. Anger rose from the depths of Avea’s core, and her blood boiled at what this shadow parasite had done to this herd's mother. Shadow shackles slithered over the mother worm's back, and Avea tried to slash at the restraints with her daggers, but they hissed and tightened, refusing to come undone. The Erembour mother whined, thrashing side to side; the shackles resembled puppet strings driving her toward Neomon, but the question remained… who was the master? 

“Where are you hiding?” Avea sneered, she had to find the vulnerable point, holding up her moonstone and searching for where the parasite had leeched in. It took every bit of her strength to keep her from being thrown off the back, as the mother worm charged after Neomon. She shrieked as she barreled through the sands, driven by nothing but predatory hunger. Her hollowed gaze locked onto her prey. “HURRY!” Neomon screamed. She was running out of time, frantically searching. 

A wound … a puncture … a mark … Anything. 

The mother worm took a sharp turn. Throwing Avea violently to the side, she held on, fingers digging into the groove spine. Neomon kept the violet flare lit, even as the mother worm hunted the Noctrya flare; it was her prey. Where is the mark? Avea thought, where could this parasite be hiding? The mother roared, and Avea suddenly saw it: that putrid black mark, a blemish on her flesh. She didn’t hesitate, plunging her dagger into the dark mass. 

As she sliced into the mother worm, it shrieked louder, but it slowed. Squirming as the dagger sliced downward; the moonstone erupted, but the Erembour mother had thicker flesh than her younglings. The cut ran deeper; moonlight spiralled out from the stone down Avea's arms, like cleansing water. It was cool against her skin, igniting her daggers with a silver glow. Avea could see the writhing mass of darkness infesting the Erembour mother’s spine, wrapped around the vertebrae like a python. She dug deeper, and the shadow parasite hissed, trying to retreat deeper into the wound. “Come out, you coward,” Avea grunted; her blades glowed with silver fire, and the shadow hissed at its flames. “Scared of this, are we?” She held up the moonstone. The parasite didn’t slither out; it tore free with a vengeful screech, as if it had been ripped out. 

The parasite took form, and Avea visibly recoiled. It had many spindly legs that twisted, its body frighteningly contorted. A void of shadow leaked from its eye sockets and mouth. It was as if the shadow parasite had stepped out of her nightmares, the kind that stirred in the dark, twisted crevices of her mind she didn’t let herself wander too far into. “You think you can vanquish me?” the shadow parasite hissed, its voice hollow and empty, like the cold space between stars. “Yep, pretty much”, Avea replied, shrugging dismissively. This host parasite was more sentient than the others. Snarling, it lunged for Avea, but she was ready, holding up the moonstone. The stone glowed brightly, and the parasite hissed. Avea channelled it all into her daggers. 

Charged with the moonstone's light, the parasite hissed and spat, threatened and cursed as she swung her blades. Its body dissolved and reformed to avoid the blades' sharp edge. “We will devour the Umbratus moon”, the parasite only laughed, the sound harrowing. Not a shred of humanity in its voice. “We are hungry; we haven’t been fed for a millennium, and now we shall feast.”The promise in the words was frightening, but Avea didn’t let herself falter. She flipped the blades in her hands, shifting her stance and grip, moving them in a fluid rhythm with no beginning or end. Avea kept slashing at the host parasite, snarling with its fangs and tearing with its claws from every direction while balancing on the Erembour mother. Deflecting the parasite, which grew stronger while Avea only tired, her limbs grew heavier, and her stance weakened, as a hollowness filled her chest like a void of despair. “I smell your fear; you will be delicious.” This was a parasite; it fed off fatigue and fear. She thought of the youngling Erembour she’d cured with the moonstone, its hopelessness and desperation not to leave its herd and its mother. Neomon’s flare would only last so long, and while the moonstone repelled the shadow parasite,  it required Avea’s strength to vanquish it. 

The Erembour mother was still chasing Neomon, who was beginning to tire. The noctyra flare was growing dimmer. 

“The master shall feast upon your worthless uri, and your corpses will be a banquet for us.” 

Master. 

An idea struck Avea. This parasite was the puppet master; with its many arms and legs, it controlled the great Erembour mother. It fed on her despair and Avea’s fatigue, and how do you release a puppet? … you cut the strings. Avea raised her dagger, allowing the moonstone's light to flow down her arms like flowing water and ignite the steel blade. The shadow parasite only cocked its grotesque head to the side, taunting in its sunken gaze. “What shall you do with that, claimed?” the parasite spat. She angled it towards the parasite, whose lips twisted into a sickening smile … go on… it purred like a perverse lover. 

Avea raised the dagger, then drove it down, slashing at the nearest shadow chain. The break was clean; the broken link unravelled the entire chain. “Filth”, the parasite hissed, lunging toward her, but Avea ducked and slashed at the other chains, watching them come undone with ease. The parasite bared its teeth more ferociously. “Stop”, it snarled. Avea’s daggers slashed at the shackles, and the shadow parasite withered, leapt over her on its many legs. Darkness wafted from its mouth, as though a dragon were breathing fire.  

 It was like cutting off the shadow parasite's blood supply; unable to feed off the mother Erembour, it began to wither away with every chain broken. She needed to break the rest. Avea gave the sandworm a vulgar gesture before sliding down the spine of the Erembour mother. The parasite growled and dove after her, but Avea was slashing at the chains with vigour. Fueled by rage, she thought of the youngling sandworm she’d saved; she’d sensed its fear for its herd … for its mother. She knew that fear, and so she’d give the youngling erembour back its mother since Avea couldn’t have hers. The parasite dissolved into shadow, losing its form completely. They fell to the base of the spine; her daggers glowed, but the host parasite was no match for Avea’s anger. She slashed at the parasite without mercy. “You will fail,” the parasite growled; its hollow eyes suddenly burned like the pits of hellfire. 

“Maybe … but I’m not going down without a fight!” 

She plunged her knives into the parasite, watching the dark mist writhe and squirm before dissolving. “We will take the Umbratus moon,” the parasite hissed before Avea delivered the final blow. The host parasite vanished; the mother worm collapsed to the ground, her body twitching uncontrollably as the parasite's remnants faded. Neomon halted, his body nothing more than a speck beneath her, as she stood atop the mother worm. His Noctyra flare retreated, and they watched the mother worm slowly turn. The sickening, pellucid grey faded away as the celestial silver glow returned. It was as if the mother Erembour had swallowed the moon, her silver light a beacon shining outward, and Avea could only stare in wonder as the younglings bathed in their mother's celestial light and transformed. Glowing inside and out, they were celestial divinities on solid ground. 

The stars returned to the night sky, spinning around the Erembour mother and forming a halo of starlight. The Erembour mother hummed gently, and Avea stayed silent, trying to ignore the tears welling in her eyes. As the mother Erembour’s voice echoed, "Thank you", she spoke gently, her voice maternal. Her eyes twinkled with gratitude and benevolence, so far removed from the terrifying puppet that had tried to devour them just moments before. 

“My claimed” The Erembour mother spoke, bowing her head to Neomon, granting him permission to climb onto her back. The act was one of deep mutual respect, but also an acknowledgement of all the sorrow that had befallen them both. 

A humble act of forgiveness. 

“You have saved my children and myself… whatever you ask, it is yours.”The Erembour mother spoke in her ancient tongue, as soft and as gentle as the celestial glow imbued in her flesh. “We need you to take us to the Obscurous”, Neomon replied. The Erembour mother sighed, shaking her large head. “The crone never revealed to us where the Obscurous was buried; it has been concealed even to our senses.” 

“… but we can take you somewhere that may help you find it.” 

Neomon nodded in agreement and climbed onto the Erbour mother's back. Too in awe to speak, he sat down quietly; it wasn’t until Avea turned to look at him that she spoke. “You stink”, Neomon laughed. The sound made Avea’s chest swell with happiness. Slowly, the dunes rose and fell like the inhale and exhale of breath. The Erembour mother moved through the dunes with her herd of younglings following behind. Though there was no light in the skies, not a blink in the stars. Yet the worms' glow was breathtaking as they moved together across the dunes. Sitting atop the glowing worm, Avea looked out at the Erembour herd. This beauty had once existed on the Umbratus moon, and had been imbued with it. The very sight of it had knocked the breath out of her lungs. How could Morpheus wish to destroy this? 

“What happened to you?” she heard herself ask; the question had been ringing in her mind. 

The lies, the secrecy and the betrayal.

How did it come to this? 

The Erembour mother sighed, the heaviness of her sorrow crashed over her. “We do not know; our memory begins and ends with the veil. We sensed the stirrings of a dark force, and that the Asterlayna was in danger. So we set out to destroy it, but it was a trap … we were caught in the veil's snare.” They continued riding over the dunes to the mysterious location. “Why the Noctrya? I don’t understand what it is they want?” Neomon said. The Erembour mother’s celestial glow shimmered, specks of light flickering as if constellations were imprinted on her flesh. 

“The Noctrya are the astral seers of the Umbratus moon … the only Umbraki able to guide the uri through the astralayna. If you wanted to cut off a moon's source of power … wouldn’t you want to remove the only ones with the ability to call upon that power?” 

There was a shudder that passed through Neomon and Avea, as the cold reality hit them. 

A threat … that’s what the Noctrya were to whatever dark force wanted to destroy the Umbratus moon.

However, Avea couldn’t help but think that Neomon was so much more than that.