Chapter Text
Harken felt the heavy footsteps behind her inching closer at a rapid pace, her legs being able to only carry her so far, feeling adrenaline pumping through her like it replaced her own blood, flight being the only thing in her mind.
No matter how fast she ran, the footsteps only grew closer and closer— She was running out out of time. And what could a small construct like her do? Weak in her form, brittle in her body, all she could do was run, and even that wasn't helping. She tried to serpent through the foliage, running into bushes, tripping and using the trees to hide herself but the construct following her knew what she is doing, did and will do. Is she that predictable? Is there really no escape? Her mind started to play her life before her eyes— Is it truly the end? The memories of fishing with her pop, learning the ways of living in this unforgiving world and yet, it is going to end like she knew it would eventually.
But in a clash, her and another construct crashed into each other, both trying to escape the same fate. Harkens eye widened as she looked at the other, this construct had such bright yet familiar colours not to mention the size advantage this construct had over her. Are they a threat? Harken can't even begin to process this before noticing the footsteps growing closer, slowly inching towards them. She looked up behind her helplessly, the sun slowly being covered up and leaving them in the shadows as the construct grew closer. In a sudden move, Harken felt her arm being gripped by a small hand that held her with sizeable force before being yanked into running, held tightly by the wrist. Was the other construct really helping her? Was she going to become dinner? But as they ran, Harken suddenly started to see where they were going, the denser part of the forest, where a clash of blues, pinks and purples adorned the leaves of trees, the berries of bushes, even the ground they stepped in, and that's where she noticed why the colours of the other construct were so familiar. They were an exact match to the mushrooms that grew there, this construct even had a mushroom cap! Were they trying to hide? But why carry her? She was just going to be a burden...
Harken was suddenly thrown to the ground and guided into a fetal position by the other construct, confused, she obliged, getting thrown into her face the mushroom construct's.. Cape? Looks like one, but it also matches the mushrooms that surround them. They were hiding her. The construct with précised ease that showed they had done this a million times hid their limb into themselves. The footsteps grew closer and closer, Harken was getting nervous, shutting her eye and preparing for the worse. Yet it never came.
The construct passed them. It went along its way. They're saved. The mushroom construct got up no much longer after, stretching their limbs while Harken kneeled on the ground and hugged the dirt, feeling the most relief she had ever felt in years to be alive but quickly being shoved out of her trance and happiness of living when she notices a hand, the same one that led her here, offering itself to help her get up. She quickly accepted it, being pushed upwards in a way that made her lose her balance. She cleaned herself and stared at the other construct who seemed composed. She looked awkwardly around before tapping a quick thanks with her fingers, the sound being like two rocks tapping each other.
They stared at one at the other for a moment before Harken turned to leave. Yet being followed. The other construct wouldn't leave her alone now.
She went fishing, they were also there, sticking their head in the water like they could talk to the fishes.
Foraging? She got startled as their camouflage was very convincing.
They also got chased. More than once. The mushroom construct didn't seem to fear sound or care about it. I mean, who would when you look like a poisonous mushroom? No one will mess with you up to a certain point
Harken was growing tired of this, always followed around, never alone and getting chased all the time, fearing for her life a lot more frequently than usual. Sitting in the white sand of the beach, the sound of the waves always calmed her yet.. She had company. That construct was making drawings in the sand with their hand but the they.. Wrote something.
Lelest?
Celest?
Celest!
Is that their name? Harken stares at them for a moment, doubting herself before also writing in the sand. "Harken." She has nothing to lose now.
The other construct, Celest, seemed happy at this judged at by their body language. Maybe their company wasn't so bad after all. Being followed around by them didn't seem so bad now, their company a comforting presence when she's used to being alone. When was the last time she was this close to someone? She doesn't remember. At least not until that accident.
After that, they became inseparable. Celest was playful and more carefree than Harken, who was more reserved and keen on keeping a low profile. What an odd pair! Yet they balance each other perfectly. Their days were peaceful, well, at least some, spend together in one another's company as they were all they had at the moment, wanting to enjoy it while it lasted.
Things grew more unstable in their island, the approach of the giant construct in the horizon becoming more of a threat each day that passed, its silhouette becoming bigger and bigger. What will they do?
Celest and Harken spend their days trying to see how to escape; climbing mountains high up to see their surroundings yet only seeing the crystal water surrounding the island for kilometers to come, not a piece of land in sight. For Celest, this wasn't a problem, they could easily survive out in the sea, but Harken? It wasn't so easy, her brittle body put together with the earth and stones would not survive in the ferocious waters without becoming part of the sea floor.
What else did they have but spend the rest of their time together? There was nothing to do to assure the survival of both of them. It was one or none.
The more time passed the more commotion there were, they could visibly see the population of the smaller and medium constructs decreasing as they grew desperate to flee the island, venturing in the waters until twilight, only to never be seen again.
Everyone knows stepping a foot into the night is a dead wish; yet, if you're going to die anyway why not gamble?
But they didn't want to risk it.
It was too dangerous.
And Harken already accepted her fate— but Celest didn't. They pushed her around, explored, climbed, everything to find a possible solution for this, a way to flee, but found none.
In their exploration they even found aa broken frame with weird words written on it, catching their attention. Looked oddly familiar, like something you'd hear in an old tale yet didn't have much to it.
The place where it was seemed like it hasn't been touched by anyone else in forever, Celest and Harken deciding to make it their hangout spot, Celest especially liked balancing upside down on the upper part of the frame.
They didn't go exploring or fishing anymore, just sending their days on the branches of trees high up in the sky and watch as slowly impending doom grew closer. There was nothing to do, no one to pray and no one to save them. It came to the point even the bigger constructs were hiding, blending with the mountains and some even venture into the water, slowly being swallowed by the deep sea no matter even how big they were. The size of a mountain was nothing for the sea.
The population slowly decreased, they didn't even have to care about their safety now, the island was quiet, oddly quiet. There was no one else to bother them and nowhere to go.
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THEM BTW >>>> (ignore ester)
