Coming closer, the being felt the weight of the creature's gaze. When it had first been noticed was impossible to know, but that might have been since the very moment it had left its hiding spot.

  It struggled hard to push through the intimidating pressure, but there was a reason to its bravery.

  Whatever its kind had done to it, the creature was now less inherently dangerous. Still far from harmless, but not anymore to the point that the being's existence would be scoured away by mere proximity, not anymore to the point that it felt like crawling inside a tunnel and not coming out for the foreseeable future.

  Maybe it would still do that later, but now it had things to find out. And the shining creature didn't look like it resented its approach.

  Their approach apparently. The little light had actually come with. The wonder!

  Closer, the being could finally see it... better than before. The strange shine had already dimmed considerably, and was only getting fainter, but was still frustratingly bright and confusing. And what lay beneath held almost no amount of essence at all, forcing the being to understand its shape by virtue of the hole it left in its perception.

  It was as if this creature was too far above to be simply seen like any other.

  But the being was far too curious to look away.

  It was a slender thing, with only four limbs, no eyes and a frankly worrying lack of claws and any kind of natural weapons. How had it even survived till this point?

  No, that was a simple thought. This creature must be the very top of the entire world. Its special ability must be beyond the being's imagination.

  Or perhaps, there was something completely different at play. After all, this was yet another creature that was just... out of place. With unexplainable power and ... refinement?

  Despite looking so frail and weak, there was something to it, something that the being had only seen in one other case. A beauty.

  Beauty and grace that were even purer in this one, unmarred by the world.

  Though that was rapidly changing, likely in the wake of what had been done to it.

  What a pity.

  ...

  And complexity like nothing else around, judging by the fact that it was communicating with the little light!

  How had it not realized before? The orb had that familiar disposition, but clearly not aimed at the being.

  They were communicating... and the creature must have relayed something very bad, judging by the mood that came through the connection.

  There must be something in the way the creature was moving. Or in its gaze?

  No, it must be in the sounds it was making. They were so pleasant and melodious, that the being had thought them just an extension of the welcoming attitude of the creature.

  But they'd been exchanging these sounds even with the other shiny ones just now, and that meeting had been far from cordial...

  It was beyond annoying that they were communicating over the being's head.

  This creature was so fascinating. But there was no connection between them, not even one way like with the orb. And the being only knew of that.

  Though, maybe... There was something.

  It approached the creature slowly, as to not spook it. The little orb tried to send a quiet reprimand, but the shiny itself didn't seem upset. And the being would not be kept to the sides!

  It reached the beautiful one, and did what felt most natural: it laid down next to it, just behind. The being gently reached around its upper body... and pulled the creature up, to cradle it partly against its own body.

  The rebuke from the little light came fast...

  However, the shining creature didn't seem to mind. Rather, it turned slightly around and the being could feel its gaze, even though it had no eyes. A hand reaching up to gently nudge the side of its head.

  This act was something truly absurd. Something the being had never done before and had not the faintest idea where the inspiration had come from.

  But it felt like the best way to establish a point of contact. And since the creature didn't hate it... Possibly, it even appreciated?

  Only the little light, spoilsport that he was, seemed to be sad about this new arrangement, for some reason.

  Probably because he was the one feeling left out now. The being could understand the feeling.

  But it was tired of his attempt to distract it from good things.

  This creature though... it was so nice. Maybe it could join the both of them? Become a new friend?

  The being hadn't been so fascinated with another since the dark one.

  Strange that it felt so very wrong to compare them. As if even holding the two creatures within the same thought was wrong. And yet they were so similar!

  The little light suddenly exploded out in despair, even spooking the being a tiny bit.

  Though strange spikes of emotions completely out of nowhere were common with him, so it wasn't that surprising anymore, this was something beyond.

  The being squeezed the creature gently, to reassure it. Because it was generous like that.

  And it kept doing so until the orb finally calmed down a bit. Luckily, he didn't take as long as he sometimes could.

  And while squeezing... the being found out something amazing: there was principle here!

  It was fluctuating away very fast, caught by the currents' residual mist. But it was definitely here!

  Could those evil shinies have been the ones holding it back? And now that they were gone, the level was raising again?

  And even more was emanating from this nice creature! Though it was... unstable. Fragile in a way the being had never felt.

  But it still meant that it could use the whisper! And on a level even higher than the knight, most likely!

  Now they definitely needed to bring this one along, so that it could teach the being

  Its progress had been stuck for so long. It was starting to realize that the temporary setback might not be so temporary after all.

  And it surely wasn't just its frustration at having lost progress when entering this place.

  There was just a point in the spirally thing, past which the principle refused to obey, and no amount of goading and prodding would get it to move.

  The being needed something else to push past this hurdle, or it was bound to be stuck for a long time.

  If it ever made it past that point at all.

  After all, there was something that-

  Suddenly, the little light sent a vision. One with a passion and urgency rarely felt throughout the entirety of their travels together. In it, the being-

  the vision stopped far too soon to understand.

  The being was confused at first but, judging by the beautiful creature's raised arm towards the orb, it was the one responsible.

  Slowly, the arm lowered to its chest and... dug inside it.

  The being winced at the violence shown, before realizing it was just reaching through the same wound that was already there. Which was actually still clearly uncomfortable, enough for it to look away in second-hand upset.

  So it almost didn't notice when the creature reached back and gently tapped the being's own chest.

  What?

  There had been something there, hadn't it?

  But it was gone now. Even the annoyance was gone.

  And it wasn't the first time something like that had happened, was it?

  The being searched inside itself... but there seemed to be nothing.

  Or rather, there was something, but it was even harder to grasp than the spirally thing. It was much... deeper. Whatever that meant. And separate.

  In fact, if it weren't for the distinct lack of response from that area, the being doubted it would have found it in the first place.

  And it was getting more and more ineffable by the moment.

  It was yet another mysterious thing for the list. Fortunately the being thrived with-

  The vision resumed, and this time the creature didn't interfere.

  In it, the being let go, stood up, and reached behind its back.

  It took a spike, and then violently plunged it-

  No!

  The being recoiled so hard that it jumped back and unwittingly caused the creature's head to smack against the rocks. Which only compounded to its profound guilt at having even seen that horrible thing.

  Did it hurt the poor creature? Something small like that shouldn't be able to damage it, but... it looked so bad now. So... shriveled and empty. Much, much, much worse than when they'd arrived. When had that happened?

  The little light sent its impatience again through their connection and the being was astounded. What was up with him? This creature was so clearly good! It had even gifted something to it! Something completely strange and unknown, maybe. But whatever other creature had had ever willingly given something to the being?

  Maybe the little light had, but deep down the being knew that it wasn't a true gift so much as an... exchange. An exchange that was just waiting for the counterpart.

  And even if it weren't so, there were lines the being wouldn't cross. Not even for a friend.

  The creature had clearly understood what the little light planned.

  The gentle sound it emitted had turned ugly and unpleasant. Clearly it didn't want them here anymore. Which was beyond sad.

  But understandable.

  The being remembered how much it had hurt when the bison had showed its true self.

  The little light tried another vision again, putting in all the strength it could...

  but the being would have none of it! Rather, it got up, and started to walk away.

  When the orb got like this, it was always better to give it some time and space to calm down. The being would have liked to watch over the nice creature while it fed and recovered, something it sorely needed. But with its friend in this mood, they would only cause harm.

  Better to move and do their thing. They had something planned, after all. Something they'd sought for so very long.

  The creature should be all good once they came back. It was clearly strong enough to be by itself until they were done.

  Unless its former friends came back.

  But what could the being do to stop them, in that case?

  The creature was wise. It would hide and feed back to its top, so that it would be perfectly healthy when they came back. Because the being would be back for it, one way or the other. This, it swore.

  Perhaps the little light would have mellowed out by then.

  can't guarantee more than one chapter per week during the festivities.