Haze pt 3: SECONDARY FALLOUT

Prima:

Should have known I’d find you here sulking in the back of the cave beneath the waterfall. Why are you staring at that message like it’s the barrel of a loaded gun?

Segun:

It’s from the Racing Regulation Committee. They say...they say I’m not allowed to race anymore. I can’t leave the Kennel.

Prima:

Don’t cry, Segun. Your chameleon scales copy the color of your tears, and you get unsightly invisibility streaking your face.

Segun:

How can I not cry, Prima? This is a nightmare. You heard the same stream last night. Even though Nil argued for me, they still think I should be deleted, and I...I’m not sure I can disagree.

Prima:

You want to get deleted?

Segun:

No, of course not. But Knight is dead because I exist. Because we exist.

Prima:

You don’t know that for sure.

Segun:

Now you look like Nil, hands on hips and wings all flared.

Prima:

And you look a mess, really, ears flopped to the side, face puffy and halfway invisible. One look at you could give a child a heart attack.

Segun:

~SNIFFLE~ I’m not...not half a creepy as you, sneaking up on me in the dark with your glowing blue marks on your wings and yellow dragon eyes. You look like a half-formed monster come to eat me.

Prima:

What if that’s what came for Knight? Perhaps there’s a new life form slinking through the Server? Didn’t you tell me the Server spoke to you, said it was a new consciousness? What if this is that trying to take on a physical form, but it needs fuel and parts? Materials it gets from feeding on us?

Segun:

That sounds like something out of a scary story.

Prima:

The best stories always have a basis of truth.

Segun:

~SNIFFLE~ W-what’s that?

Prima:

What?

Segun:

That! Hiding behind your leg!

Prima:

What, you’re afraid of this little child?

Segun:

Don’t hold her like that, Prima. Can’t you see she’s terrified?

Prima:

I told you your face would scare someone.

Segun:

I’m not the culprit. Put her down, she’s as stiff as a board.

Prima:

If I put her down, she’ll just glue herself to my leg again, and it annoys me.

Segun:

What’s your name little girl?

Prima:

You leaning over her like that with your grotesque face is only frightening her more.

Segun:

Let’s ignore the big, scary Prima, okay? Do you want me to try to guess your name?

Prima:

Oh, look a nod. Apparently, she can understand the spoken word.

Segun:

Hmm, you have huge, gorgeous green eyes. Maybe your name’s Emerald? No? Was I even close?

Prima:

Our Masters just changed her name when they bought her, Segun. They’re not really that creative.

Segun:

Well, she has adorable bunny ears hanging down her back and short, cerulean hair. Maybe Cotton?

Prima:

The wrinkled nose says she’d prefer it not be, but doesn’t specifically- okay, there’s the head shake.

Segun:

Pretty adamant, too. Eek! What just grabbed my tail?

Prima:

Spin faster. Maybe it’ll fly off.

~BOOM~

Prima:

That was actually pretty impressive.

Segun:

It’s another kid. He’s all curled up like an armadillo, and he looks so sweet asleep.

Prima:

You probably just killed him.

Segun:

Not a timely joke, Prima! Really, kid, are you okay? ~TAP-TAP~ Prima, he’s not responding, even when I tap his chubby cheeks.

Prima:

If you weren’t so violent, maybe you wouldn’t kill people so often.

Segun:

Prima, seriously!

Prima:

Just let that runny nose of yours drip on him.

Segun:

That would be disrespectful. Maybe if I hug him and wish hard enough it’ll resurrect him.

Prima:

I’d say that might only crush him, but he has an armadillo shell, so he should be fine.

Kid:

Huhuhu.

Segun:

Is he...is he laughing?

Prima:

Like I said, drip snot on him.

Kid:

You should have seen your face! Ow, don’t drop me. I’m fragile!

Segun:

Don’t tell me our masters bought this joker, too.

Kid:

That’s right. I’m now a part of Countdown for the Win Kennels, home of the epicness of Nil, and you’d better treat me right. I’ll be even more epic one day.

Prima:

More epic than Nil? That’s not a hard bar to clear, pipsqueak.

Kid:

My name’s not pipsqueak; it’s Quart. And that’s my sister, Tresca.

Prima:

Hahaha, I told you our masters weren’t very creative.

Segun:

Four and three? What were your names before?

Quart:

Doesn’t matter. They’ve been replaced in our memories anyway. I know I wasn’t always Quart, but now I can’t remember anyone ever calling me something different.

Prima:

Don’t worry, I’ll call you plenty of different things.

Quart:

Her teeth are kinda scary. Not that I’m scared or anything. I’m not scared of nothing!

Prima:

Easy, since “nothing” isn’t all that scary.

Segun:

Did you two recently hatch from your first cocoons?

Quart:

Yep, we’re five now and ready for some official Beginner Races. So, you’d better not mess them up for us, glitches.

Segun:

Don’t call us glitches. It’s rude.

Quart:

Isn’t it rude to break the world, too?

Segun:

I’m not breaking the world.

Quart:

The stream people say you are. So, where’s Nil? I want to meet him.

Segun:

I’m not breaking the world. I…I’m just me.

Quart:

I saw the end of your last race. You could barely move. The crowd was rooting against you.

Segun:

It works that way, too?

Quart:

You are older than me, right?

Segun:

…I’m not sure. There’s something about those onyx eyes of yours that seem familiar and older and wiser than dirt.

Quart:

Glad I’m wiser than dirt, then. Sadly, I can’t say the same for you. Come on, Tresca. We’re going to find Nil.

Segun:

But really, his eyes do seem too familiar. Like, who all do we know with black irises like that?

Prima:

Any Synth smart enough to earn the intelligence color in their first cocoon.

Segun:

He’s at least second generation, though, since he has a sibling and he’s not a glitch like us. He could have inherited his eyes from a parent. The mods, too, like Nil did.

Prima:

Discussing the lineage of random children is fascinating and all, but I actually came here to ask you about that prize you got in the Volcano Race, you know, for coming in last. What’s it do?

Segun:

You want it Prima? You can have it.

Prima:

You misheard the question. What does it do?

Segun:

I don’t know.

Prima:

Wear it. Figure it out. It might help you. And, if you discover it’s useful, then I might want it.

Segun:

It…why would they give me a prize for coming in last?

Prima:

I don’t know if you can see my shoulders shrugging in the dark, but they can’t wrap around the concept any more than my brain can. It’s what has me so curious about this Ally Rose.

Segun:

Oh sure, I should just wear it around the Kennel. Because I so feel like showing off for the large crowd watching me here.

Prima:

There are kids here now. That’s something.

Segun:

Why am I the glitch, Prima? You’re also a twin Synth. Why am only I being punished?

Prima:

Why was it only you who received a prize when I won first place?

Segun:

They didn’t give you anything?

Prima:

Such an observant thing you are. The masters got prize money, but no, you got the mod.

Segun:

That is strange. What if this mod could help me fix things?

Prima:

Like your face?

Segun:

Like our world. I have to explore this more. I refuse to be stuck here. I have to see what’s going on for myself, see how much I’m really affecting things.

Prima:

What’ll you do if you enter a race and someone else gets deleted?

Segun:

I’m not going to enter a race. I’ll start this experiment by entering a different competition.

Prima:

A Death Match? The skill of summoning a void to devour your opponent would definitely come in handy there.

Segun:

I don’t want to kill people. I’ll enter one of the other sports. Like Flags.

Prima:

And if more people get sucked into non-existence?

Segun:

They won’t. I’m ninety percent sure it’s not me. I’ve finally gotten to leave the Kennel and do things. My freedom, my fulfilling my purpose can’t be evil, can’t be destruction incarnate.

Prima:

The masters can’t approve it, and I don’t think they would even if they could.

Segun:

I’ll need a code copy like before. Good thing I know who can get one for me.

Continued in pt 4

Thank you for reading!