The Cult of Moths

The arid sunlight had taken its toll on the wandering young soul, who held their peeling face with desperation. The young one laid in defeat and wearily gazed to their right, knowing that once he closed his eyes, life would finally come to a bitter, unresolved end.

My old friend wasn’t here… He was never here to begin with, The soul angrily thought to himself.

How sad is it to finally realise I was chasing after a dream? I dedicated the past decade to find him, only to dig my own grave on this wasteland on the star charts…

With the last final breaths the soul took in, he cried.

“Pristine… I sh-should have never…” he had begun to croak, “I shouldn’t have left so soon-,”

With that the wanderer had died from over exposure. Their skin had slowly begun to peel away, revealing glass bones and a wax candle in place of a heart. Their remains were slowly carried upward toward the muggy atmosphere.

_____

In the desolate, humid skies, a microscopic, six-winged creature had their duty to fulfil. It gracefully landed on top of the red, desert planet’s thin atmosphere and had picked up the pieces of soul fragments from the recently deceased corpse. The bits of the soul were luckily in a trail and were collected within a span of an hour.

How lucky.

Most souls take up to 36 hours to properly scavenge… This one must have died recently for his soul's remains to have been close to each other. Seems as though the heat overwhelmed their heat-driven form, The winged creature thought to itself with pity.

With the soul in a cup, the creature took off and bolted toward the shining light in the distance. Its speed reached roughly 30000 kilometres in the blink of an eye as space’s planets and comets around had begun to resemble one cohesive blur. A light electric shock had run through the creature's body, as the area had begun to look grey with poorly lit candles.

In an immediate halt, the creature landed on the ground and had taken the shape of a small human child. Albeit, something out of a nightmare as the children lacked irises, had moth-like clothes, and all of their mouths are neatly sewn shut with a plain, silky thread.

This creature looked like the rest of their kin, with the exception of their leader. Who had greeted the carcass collector with open arms.

“Nympha, welcome home. How many souls did you bring for us to revive?”

The humanoid looked to the ground and held their cup toward their towering leader clothed in orange. The one in charge appeared as a young woman in her mid 20’s, with an astonishing build of 7’2. Though she was tall, she got on her knees to appear more friendly to her subordinates. Nympha flinched as its leader, Genesis picked up the souls and began counting them.

“Ah, I see. 458 souls? That’s a new record for you!” She playfully giggled as the humanoids around her smiled at her expression. “Thank you for your efforts. Now they’ll never be forgotten now that we can save all of them…”

Nympha and the others gathered around the centre of the flat, monochromatic plain and waited for their leader to speak. They all held hands and looked toward the surrounding embers held by tall, thin lamps.

In the middle, their leader stood tall and proud.

“Thank you all. With our final collector arriving home safely, we will begin the revival! Every one of these poor souls died in unhappy, cruel, and brutal conditions. With our magic, we shall grant them the gift of immortality. Under our care, they will be protected and have the ability of rebirth when their physical forms decay. No longer will we let the creatures of this universe live in fear, what fear is there when no one can die?”

The followers had begun to hum as their foreheads illuminated a triangle-esque symbol. Nympha’s nearly-still heart began to flutter as the ashes from her cup began to form all the individual souls they had found. Their bits and pieces slipped away and formed the shape of young humanoids.

Most of them had immediately began to run toward the field and greet their new fellow kin. A few souls had stuck out, feeling the sins of their past lives lingering as they were hesitant to respond.

Nympha voluntarily greeted the grieving souls with tears forming in their blank eyes.

“Please restrain dwelling on your previous conditions. Those days are now forever gone. We know that many of you lost your lives to the eldritch monsters that plague our galaxies. However, there is nothing to fear. Here, you are immortal,” Nympha raised its hands to the skies and gave a warm smile, “Here, you cannot die, not with Genesis providing us with immortality.”

The other reborn souls took their time, and slowly got up to greet their kin. Except one soul, who curled up in a ball and began to touch their flesh-like face. His eyes twitched as they felt Nympha place her hand on their face.

“Please don’t give up, you’ll live forever more in the arms of our leader and us. Perhaps you should use your newfound immortality to make amends?”

The reborn soul remained silent, sceptical of what the young collector Nympha was spewing.

Immortality? What nonsense. Everyone knows that anyone claiming to have an unlimited life span is a fraud. Lost Soul thought himself.

On the inside he wasn't pleased with the idea of being stuck with the moth children. But on the outside, he formed a small smile and nodded.

“Thank you for getting up and accepting your fate. You may go as you please, so long as you return home eventually,” Nympha gestured toward the sky and flew off in a hurry.

What does that even mean? Well, I do know… But what’s the time frame for this whole thing? Why did I come back to life? Was I chosen out of pity or for another reason?

The Lost Soul looked around the minimalist plains. It was odd to see structures and grey grasses for miles on end. The humming of the humanoids did not help the scenery, it was off putting. Imagine a splodge of neon pink on a gloomy painting, how garish the distinction would be.

Genesis approached Lost Soul and tapped on his frail shoulder to get his attention. The newly reborn soul had a worried look and wondered what was wrong.

“If you need a headstart, I will gladly be willing to help. I am the leader of the moth children, but that does not mean their issues are not my own,”

Lost Soul tried to open their mouth. They touched their own face and was horrified to find white thread stitching their mouth shut.

“With Immortality comes the price of not speaking. Many outsiders seek us for knowledge of general history, and use us for their selfish deeds. Not long ago, a woman arrived on this planet to seek out proof for their revenge. We were lucky enough to not utter a sound,” Genesis whispered as quietly as she could. “You may not be able to speak, but communication by other means is just as meaningful,”

Lost Soul gestured that he was alright and did not require assistance.

“Very well then, I wish you luck on finding peace,”

Lost Soul nodded and flew off to where he last stood as a mortal.

_____

Time had passed and with little results. The friend he had been looking for may as well have not existed in the minds of everyone else.

Lost Soul stared off into the grey fields and watched newly resurrected souls form from dust and revive. Cheering ensued, along with a few sceptics, and eventually everything turned to peace. It was the same routine again and Lost Soul was begining to feel impatient with finding his friend.

...I don’t know how I’ll ask her such a specific question. But I clearly don’t have connections to people like I used to. Less and less people know about her as time goes on. I need to know what happened to Pristine, she was someone who I at least have to thank.

Lost Soul approached his tall leader and tugged on her flowing, sky blue gown.

“Lost Soul? The one I named Phosphorus… Is that you?”

Don’t call me that. I’ll never accept that name.

Lost Soul nodded and tapped their ear, requesting for Genesis to hear their plea.

“If I had to guess, you finally came to me for help? After refusing for so long, you’ve come a long way to reach out,” Genesis hummed with delight, sitting gracefully on the ground, “Who was it you were after?”

Lost Soul had begun to write down the name of their old friend. The letters were shakily written, from a lack of practice and impatience.

Pristine.

"P.R.I.S.T.I.N.E, English from the Far Away Solar System? What a rare language around here. You're from Terra… the one near Jupiter and Sol, correct?"

Lost Soul nodded quickly.

"Those people… right. You truly are a formidable traveller, having come such a long way to find a single soul," Genesis leaned in close and loosened the mouth stitches, "Tell me, how was this being so remarkable?"

"Mmm… H'w Pr'st'ne… was important?" Lost Soul slurred as they felt uncomfortable speaking aloud.

"What did this friend mean to you?"

Genesis loomed over the shivering soul, remembering why they did what they did.

"... He was my friend. One of many, actually. It's as simple as that. All of the companions I met across my nomad life were important to me. Even if I knew them for a day, they were little joys in my lifetime…"

"Was he magical by chance?"

"No, I was but he wasn't. Normal human"

"Was he... a love interest?"

"Er, I wasn't a romantic type."

Genesis paused, astonished how puny Pristine seemed to be now. The tall woman pressed for questions, becoming uncharacteristically nosy. The child-like humanoid moths had surrounded Genesis, fascinated by her sudden change in demeanour.

"I do not understand… He was a typical human, no magic, no love connection, no tragedy… You were looking for him to say thank you for one good deed???"

"What can I say? I felt sorry for leaving him so soon. He protected me back when I was with my crew of wizards. We were a rowdy bunch surviving the after math of a Great War on Earth. Though one day, I was selfish and left him for a treasure that turned out to be false."

Nympha was disgusted and amused. Admiring the blind courage of Lost Soul, knowing this moment could be their last.

Genesis could only muster a giggle.

"You do realize that this Pristine, given he was human, is long dead right? You only knew him for a short time and you spent the last centuries looking for someone you only have one thing to say to them?"

The moths began to unanimously giggle.

We all thought your friend was worth more than that!

Is he stupid? Searching for someone turned to dust by now.

300 years wasted when they could have been collecting souls like some of us…

"Why are you laughing? I'm serious about this story. I know Pristine is long dead, I know this better than anyone. But if I can just find his resting place, I'll be at peace."

Genesis sighed and grabbed Lost Soul by the arm and lifted their 2 feet tall form high above the ground. The moths cowered in fear, instinctively bowing at their tall leader.

"This is what happens when you are unthankful for immortality. You become so obsessed with an uneventful past you cannot let go. How sad, you have been with all of us for 300 years, only to focus on one person," Genesis barked.

Nymphia was in the crowd, staring at Lost Soul with pity.

"How can you treat someone you've never met as some sort of… insignificant thing?-" Lost Soul asked with genuine pain in his voice.

"To someone with immortality, his soul is insignificant. He only helped you for a short span within your short lifetime, and you spent your spare time looking for him?! What if he was a bad person? You never knew him longer than a year! That's a blink of an eye in my perspective-"

"You're missing the point! I am thankful for everyone I meet! Even someone as unkind as you! Of course I didn't know everything about him! But that doesn't matter, the time I spent with him did matter to me in the end! You don’t see that because you pretend to care about us and souls, but all you do is sit around and live in eternal stillness because of immortality. I'm stuck in the past? You live eternally in the past-"

With that said Genesis crushed their soul into bits by hand and grunted.

"Lecturing me… How rude. This is what happens when your mortal ways. You obsess over small details and waste your time missing the big picture. There are souls needed to be saved from literal horrors of our solar systems and this being wasted their time with one person. I gave everyone immortality so that we may stand a chance against these horrors... Even if I have to stand still in time. This creature was a picture perfect example of selfishness."

The moths hummed amongst each other and scattered in fear.

Nympha approached Genesis with grace, careful to not slip or make a fool of herself.

Immortality is a feeble thing. Having to care about large things with such little time. Nympha elegantly scribbled in an old language, conforming to what Genesis expected.

"... It is an annoyance. This soul should have been spending their free time working for the moths instead of thinking about their own interests. Collecting souls to become immortal is what we were meant to do… it was the only solution to our crisis,"

Nympha nodded and dared to sit by Genesis, continuing to write to her leader.

I remember… The first time we met as mortals. You said raising mortal warriors is pointless if they are expendable and can be easily bested by the strongest millipede or the swiftest meteor shower. How right you were. Nympha wrote, writing in cursive as she cuddled her leader.

She made sure to make her feel she was completely in the right.

"Mm. And I still stand by my logic, Nympha. You were the first to agree with me with my plan to create a race of immortals. So no one would fight with the fear of facing death. Instead, we evade the enemy and continue our conquest for souls."

The two stood in the grey fields alone with no one around.

Nympha stared at the scattering ashes of Lost Soul, then at a distracted Genesis who felt high and mighty. Her purple eye sockets seemed to stare at the endless voids in the skies above. She felt a moment of peace before Nympha raised her hand and snatched away Genesis’ life force hidden in her chest.

The giant had disintegrated without even flinching as the planet had gone cold. The moths panicked and cowered in fear, as they saw their kin hold a white mist in her hands. Nympha wrapped the contents of the mist around her neck and wore it as a scarf.

“I suppose you’re all wondering why I did what I just did. To be frank, I was planning this since the latest recruits arrived. We may be taking souls but that’s all we do. We haven’t retaliated against the beasts in aeons, only biding our time-”

As Nympha shouted to the cult followers her wings began to dissolve. Her pale complexion had gained her original medium grey skin, her silver hair braided itself neatly in the back, and her clothes had changed from white to fiery orange hues. Standing tall she began to shout even louder.

“I say we take action and stop hoarding souls like common thieves!”

The moths had changed their shape to emulate soldiers, reflecting their new leader’s form.

“Let us travel as knights and leave this place behind! If our souls are stuck in purgatory then so be it, better to die doing something than to wither here!”

At that moment, Nympha saw a reflection of Genesis in the sky, her tall form looking down in disapproval. The knight shuttered but she refused to let anyone stand in her way.

She grabbed the ashes of Lost Soul and quickly revived them, this time they had their appearance before they had died in the heat. The human looked at their body and sighed in relief at the familiarity before realising non familiar beings circled them.

“Where is Genesis?” Lost Soul cried out in fear.

“She is no more. I apologise if I could not save you sooner, I selfishly waited too long before I could have done anything,” Nympha lowered her head as the soldiers stood and watched, “I hope you can forgive my actions one day,”

Lost Soul recognized the familiar voice and felt revelived once more.

“You heard me admit I was selfish once too, I hated being lifted like that but better late than never. Seems like the place is empty... I guess I’ll find my way on my own from here-”

“If I may… It’s been a long time since I’ve met another familiar species. I would like for you to accompany us. We’ll be travelling planet to planet hunting down beasts, perhaps you will find Pristine as a lost soul on your journeys,”

Lost Soul pondered for a moment questioning the pros and cons of the offer.

“If we meet again I’ll gladly take up the offer, for now I’d like to be alone. I have my reasons to go places since I’m free…”

“Lost Soul-"

“You don’t have to call me that, my name is Damon. I’m from Earth, if you can remember that,”

“Earth, you mean Terra? Right. I’m sure I will remember, you made quite the scene that I’ll never forget,”

Damon with their humanoid form intact, walked toward the stratosphere like a staircase toward the east. As Nympha and her soldiers headed west one by one, toward a new beginning. Not looking back to the crumbling, grey prairies they once called their “safe haven”.