Young Writers Society

"Like this conversation," Kendrik mumbled.

Fyrsil glared at him, then looked back at Greed. "Would you like to talk about it, or?"



Well, at least Aegeas's attacks were getting pretty regular. And weaker. It wouldn't be too much longer before he stopped, even if Tristan swore he could start to see cracks in the door.

On the other hand, Tristan wasn't quite sure he could trust the stranger. "Could you please tell me what your species is?" he said, trying to make himself heard over the noise. "It sounds like Aegeas has met one of you guys before, and I'd kinda like an explanation for the last couple minutes."

"It's nothing," Greed replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. There was no need to get into something Fyrsil wasn't already aware of - they could talk about that later, once they figured out what was up with them getting magically transported.

Greed slung his arm over Envy's shoulder. "So, sibling of mine, what's the plan now?"

"We just keep looking through the ship," Envy replied. He couldn't tell they didn't like suddenly being the center of attention, but they didn't protest being used as an armrest.


The stranger was silent for a minute, the only noise in the small space being the sound of Aegeas pounding on the door. When he finally spoke again, his voice was quiet - almost to the point where Robin had to strain her ears.

"I'm something called a wraith," he said. "According to the history that I've uncovered, we were created as a hybrid between a parasitic bug and a sentient one. The bug didn't take life like we do, but the combination of the genes created that effect."

He let out a sigh and closed his eyes.

"But we were angry at the race responsible for the hybridization, so we started to attack them. At some point, it became a battle for control over our galaxy - and for control over the food source. They lost. We won. My kind's kept watch over the worlds of their descendants ever since, 'culling' their populations whenever we get a little too hungry."

He paused.

"But I'm different," he reassured them. "The other wraith have to feed on humans. I can take life from other things, so I never take life from people. I...I don't want to do that anymore."

Fyrsil didn't feel like it was nothing, but Greed made it clear he didn't want to talk about it. And, well, Fyrsil wasn't against exploring the rest of the ship.

Fyrsil and Kellach walked to the door, waving for Kendrik to follow. The hound was too busy burying his face in his paws to notice. "Let's go!" Fyrsil called, gripping onto the doorway. The hound peeled his face free, muttered something under his breath while looking at Greed and Envy, and walked after the otters.



"Okay," Tristan said, drawing out the word as he stared up at the stranger. "I understand most of that. But how come the others don't do what you do? It seems like it'd be a lot better than killing people."

Greed watched the group leave, arm still slung around his sibling's shoulder.

"I don't think he likes us much," Greed wisely guessed after it was just the two of them. Envy gave a small nod, though it was clear that they were distracted by something else - the conversation must have put them off as much as it had him.

"Well, it looks like it's our time to go," Greed said. Another distracted nod, and they were heading out after the ragtag group into the rest of the ship.


"They can't," the stranger said. "I have a mutation."

At Mage and Zogin's confused looks, he elaborated, "Something happened when I was born that made me different. The other wraith can't feed on anything that is human. I'm not sure why, and I'm not sure why I can. I just know that I've always been like this."

A few steps away from the door, Kendrik rolled his eyes. Of course Greed and Envy underestimated his hearing. And, well, they'd broken his sword, had picked a fight with him, and had done everything in their power to irritate him with all these conversations about alchemy and names. Why else would he hate them?

"Hey!" Fyrsil said. Kendrik saw the otter waving towards two figures on the other end of the hallway. The hound tensed up, but Fyrsil seemed to recognize who they were, which was enough of a relief to the hound that he only took a couple steps back. "Soul! Janos! Over here!"



Tristan blinked. He didn't know what a mutation was, but could guess at what the stranger was saying. "Wow," he said. "That must kind of suck, especially when you're around other wraiths."

Soul and Janos had spent their search of the hallway in an awkward silence. Neither felt like talking to the other. It wasn't the same sort of animosity Zogin had towards Mage - it was just discomfort with the pairing that had been made. Soul wondered what Janos had to be thinking as they silently continued on their trek; he wasn't much of a talker.

Soul kept his gaze down to the floor, and tried to ignore the feeling on his back. He had been like that for at least a month now, but it still didn't feel right.

"How are you doing?" Janos suddenly asked.

Soul raised his head, confusion flickering across his blue eyes.

"You must feel cramped," he said, gesturing at the armor and the cloth covering his back. "They are not meant to be restrained."

His gaze dropped back to the floor.

"You make no sense," Janos continued after another long, lengthy silence. When Soul snuck a glance over at him, he saw that Janos had crossed his arms. "No one here knows you. I can see the benefit in hiding when we are traveling through Arium, but we will likely never meet the people here again after this is concluded."

Soul didn't give an answer.

He didn't want to admit that Janos was right.

Before Janos could continue his argument, Fyrsil's voice rang out through the hallway. Soul raised his head and waved back, wasting no time in approaching him while Janos continued to stare after Soul's receding figure.


The stranger shook his head.

"I...I don't see other wraiths all that much," he quietly said. "It's been years since I lived on one of the hive ships. I...I have my own place."

Walking up to Soul, Fyrsil gently punched the armor around where his stomach would be. "How are you?" he said, staring up at Soul with a small frown. "Did you guys find anything? And, uh, have you been getting along with Janos?" - a quick glance at Janos, who appeared to be standing a short distance away in the hallway - "I know you two didn't look two comfortable around each other."



Aegeas's attacks had turned into weak thumps! While Tristan was reasonably sure that Aegeas had just about burned through his energy, he wasn't really keen on opening the door and finding out.

"Hive ships?" Tristan said. "I, can see that - I don't think I'd want to be on something called a 'hive ship.'"

"We haven't found anything," Soul said, giving a small shake of the head. It felt weird getting punched in the stomach, though he was still wearing his armor. He just had never gotten used to the change underneath the armor, and part of him doubted he ever would. "And we've been getting along, I think-"

He glanced down the hallway as he spoke, but came to a stop when he realized that Janos had disappeared down one of the hallways.


"Most people don't want to be," the stranger agreed. "That's where my kind usually live, and where we keep our prisoners. They're not pleasant places."

Fyrsil followed Soul's gaze. "Uh, are you sure about that?" Fyrsil said. "Is that just a thing he does, or?"



Tristan started to shiver. The less he thought about those prisoners and what happened to them, the better. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't stop thinking about it. "I'm, guessing you spent some time on one of those?" he said.

Soul didn't know how to answer the question.

"He...He does like to go off on his own," he hesitantly answered. But Janos usually did that when he got into an argument with Zogin, or the topic of angels came up - it seemed like he was too sophisticated for conversations like that, but Soul wondered if there was more to his disappearances.


He gave a small nod.

"I spent most of my life on a hive ship," he said. "I was our lorist. It's a rarer position that not all ships have, but it let me study the history of the wraiths and learn more about how we interact with the rest of the galaxy."

Yawning, Kellach shook his blanket as he walked over to Fyrsil. He was just starting to feel warm again, which he was pretty happy about - he hated being cold. Kellach had never gotten used to snow and ice and sleet. As soon as he would feel the cold start to seep through his fur, he would almost shut down. He would stop talking to people; he wouldn't have the energy to do things; he would get a little more tense and bitter. Granted, it took some cold weather for that to happen, but a few years on an airship in the middle of the desert had impacted how he tolerated temperatures.

"Should we go after him?" Kellach said, staring down the hallway. "Or d'ya think he'll come back? I don't really want to go after someone who can't even stay with his group."



"That doesn't sound half bad," said Tristan. He frowned. "If it's not a common position, how'd you get it?"

"We should go after him," Envy suddenly said from behind Fyrsil. It seemed like there was something that had happened between Soul and Janos, but the former wasn't explaining the latter. "It's not a good idea to be separated."

"He should come back," Soul said. "He...He always does."


"My queen was different," the stranger said. Robin kept leaning up on the door; the pounding was getting weaker, but she definitely hoped it would fully cease soon. "It was a position she wanted filled, so I was born to fill it. I did it for the first thirteen years of my life."

Zogin raised an eyebrow. "So they made a kid do it?"

"...I was good at what I did," the stranger said, ducking his head down in what had to be embarrassment. Robin was startled to realize she still didn't know his name, despite knowing his life story, but there wasn't a good time to ask for it.

Kendrik stomped past Fyrsil and Kellach, glaring down the hallway. "We got nothin' better to do but find him, 'specially if he can't stay in one place," he said.

"Should someone stay here?" said Fyrsil, glancing around to see if Janos would pop out of a hallway. No luck. "In case he does come back?"

The hound waved a paw. "Y'can," he said. "I won't. He can't have gotten that far anyhow."



The pounding had just about stopped; it was weak and sporadic now. It'd only be a matter of time before Aegeas gave up or passed out.

"What do you mean, you were 'born to fill it?'" Tristan said, staring up at the stranger.

"I'll stay here, too," Greed abruptly volunteered. Envy's eyes widened as the offer, and they spun around to stare at the brother that had been mostly silent for the duration of the conversation. "The name's Greed, by the way. I'm Envy's brother."

Soul gave a small nod, gaze traveling over to Envy.

Greed gestured for them to head off with a little shooing motion. Envy held his gaze for a moment before sighing and doing as requested - Greed, apparently, wanted some bonding time with Fyrsil.


"I was born with the intention of being our lorist," he said. "I'm...I'm not really sure how else to describe it. I was taught how to be one the moment I awoke on the hive ship, and I served as that position for the entire time that I was there."

As Soul, Envy, and Kendrik started walking away, Fyrsil tapped Kellach on the shoulder. Kellach spun back, mouth slightly agape when Fyrsil started to wave him off. And Kellach didn't move. Of course he didn't know what was going on. Fyrsil rolled his eyes and leaned close to Kellach.

"I think someone wants to talk to me," Fyrsil whispered into Kellach's ear, nodding in Greed's direction.

Kellach glanced between Fyrsil and Greed, then started to shuffle back. "Good luck," he whispered. He picked up his voice, probably to make himself look a little less suspicious - "Hope he comes back to you guys!"

"And, if not, I hope you find him!" Fyrsil called, watching Kellach turn around walk away. Fyrsil shook his head; that goof.



Nodding, Tristan let go of the door - with as many people pressing against it, and as little force as Aegeas was applying, it didn't make a difference if he joined in or not.

"It must've been weird, being so young and all," Tristan said. While Arlais let go and flopped onto of the lower steps, Tristan sat down on the top step and craned his neck up to look at the stranger. "Why'd you leave?"