Stories of the Stars - Mossy Peak I

The Clone stood with its legs in the puddle caused by the overflowing Mirror Pool, the light of the full moon reflecting into the water. A drop of water could be heard repeatedly dripping from the ceiling, as a result of the rain that poured down continuously in the past few days. But the Clone could not know of that - it only took birth minutes ago. 

It looked down at it’s reflection in the water, but red swirls of blood deformed it’s face. The bodies of the dead clones layed all around the cave, their blood filling the puddles on the ground, flowing slowly into the Mirror Pool. The Clone raised its eyes to look at a particular body. That one seemed to be still breathing, but wasn’t conscious. In the water there was a reflection of an animal tilting over the body, but nothing could be seen above her.

A grin appeared on the face of the clone. It approached the body and sat down near it. It tilted its head above the abdomen of the grifix. The corners of its mouth stretched even more, as it was grinning, before it opened its mouth wide, and bit from the body.

A single scream filled the cave, from the dying grifx. Her eyes opened wide, then rolled over her head, as the clone was taking bites from her body. Her vision was dark and her body was numb, but she couldn’t die. Her soul would not leave the body.

“To think I was so close… to finding what they asked me to look for. Now a fate worse than death awaits me…” she thought, then smiled. Her eyes could only see one thing, that was the blue creature before her. It stood a few feet away, looking at her, their antlers growing wide above their head. 

*

Mossy Peak walked out of the cave with a smile on her face. She walked for a while on the forest paths, until she heard a shout behind her:

‘Don’t move! Who are you?’

She turned around, smiling, to find three grifix guards pointing their spears at her.

‘Oh, I was just trying to find the path back to the Village, but I seemed to have been lost. Would you be so kind as to help me?’