Midnight Iris

  The Present Moment

  A bright and oppressive heat blazes down from the sky as the twin suns slowly creep toward the horizon.

  The larger sun further in the sky, would be the first to hide and abandon its smaller brethren.

  This period, a two-hour-long dusk, the borderline between day and night, is still hours away.

  Frank shields his eyes and takes a leaping step through the improvised clinic door, the heat making him wish he had prepared with a hat.

  Maybe next time he’ll ransack one from among all that junk in the lobby. It seemed like the kind of space where almost anything could be found.

  Amethyst follows and easily steps over the high metal sill of her door.

  Frank waits for her outside and they start walking together.

  Her blades sparkle and reflect the harsh sunlight, casting blinding beams, wherever they happen to point during her gait.

  Only her less armored bits, mainly the face and thighs get to enjoy the warmth of her home suns.

  Amethyst seems to carefully look Frank over as they walk.

  “You didn’t take your gun with you?”

  The surprising remark almost causes him offense.

  “Better to not go building peace with a figurative knife behind one’s back.”

  Lofty words for someone who mainly left it behind for how big it is.

  I’d rather not gamble on them being unable to recognize a weapon though...

  But… that shouldn’t matter.

  She’ll protect me if need be...

  Like last time.

  Right?

  “Are you… worried?” Amethyst’s skin sparkles in the sunlight for a moment, before a long dark gray cloud blocks out the sun.

  The striking dark blue eyes seem to pierce through Frank, seeing all of his hidden emotions, leaving him exposed.

  “What? Me? Nnnn-” Frank stops himself before a promise is broken.

  “A little,” He admits, as they start climbing one of the quarry’s slopes up to the valley.

  Amethyst looks ahead again, like avoiding him.

  “That's okay, but I- I’m not worried, it’ll be just fine.”

  Her faltering tone didn’t instill confidence in their simple plan if it could even be called one.

  As they get closer to the top of the valley, the sounds of the forest grow louder and louder.

  The chirping of strange birds from somewhere in the trees, the background noise of small insects sounding their melodies, and the occasional gusts of wind pulling on the branches and leaves.

  Cresting to the top, they are instantly transported to a lush alien jungle, the industrial and man-made scenery left behind.

  Now that Frank isn’t in any acute danger: being held at gunpoint, or in anti-air weaponry's sights, he can appreciate its beauty.

  Strange flora, bushes, and grass, mostly in shades of red and violet, grant the forest a magnificent and unique color pallet, even in terms of other planets in the galaxy.

  Finding himself enthralled, Frank tries to spot any wildlife hiding in the thick vegetation: gazing at the tall trees, their curved and numerous branches, underneath large leaves of flowers and plants...

  However, the sound of Amethyst cutting down the underbrush from her way brings him back.

  With a slow walk, he follows, still looking around, finding hanging red vines, and spotting an exotic bush.

  A crooked trunk like a tree, but much shorter, the top covered with a half sphere of violet leaves with blue tips.

  Nearby, a massive plant catches his eye with a closed-up bulb hanging downwards.

  It started as black from the root and changed shade from dark violet to pink once the tip was reached.

  Small blue-petaled flowers with purple in the middle, surround its large stalk.

  The deeper they walk, the thicker and higher the surrounding trees get, measuring at least five meters in diameter… or maybe just in radius?

  So massive, one could in theory even live in them, nature’s own housing ready for carving.

  An intriguing thought.

  They have been walking for a while now, and gradually the newness of the environment wears out on Frank, even if just enough to free his thoughts from their grasp.

  Amethyst has been quiet ever since they reached the forest, seemingly determined to just push on, barely even looking around herself.

  “What exactly are we looking for?”

  His words cause her to stop, her arms left in the middle of a cutting motion.

  She stays silent for a moment before answering.

  “Fruits, or maybe berries of these plants... I don't think they actually have a name.” Amethyst pauses having trouble describing them.

  “Well, it has these sort of… grapes(?) inside of them...” Amethyst finishes and continues her cut, slicing away at a round bush with black leaves barring her way.

  “Where do they grow? What should I look for?”

  “This sort of tall flower with a large bulb that hangs-”

  “-black at the root and changes hue through the whole length of the stalk, reaching pink at the tip?” I interrupt her with a guess.

  “You found one already?” She cuts some low branches off a tree to let her pass and glances back at me.

  “Yeah, though that was right at the edge of the quarry. Oh well, I bet we’ll find some more.”

  Looking back at their path, a snaking clearing follows their wake; its end cannot be seen.

  “Any particular reason why these grapes?” Frank continues to observe his surroundings, though now knowing to look for the familiar plant.

  “They are super delicious! And hard for us to eat, we can’t really separate them well from the vine that holds the cluster together.”

  Listening to her, Frank looks everywhere but in front of him.

  “And they are painful to eat whole with them still attached to it.”

  Her voice coming from the left alerts Frank and he manages to stop himself from walking to one of the massive trees Amethyst is working to go around.

  He catches up to her.

  “You want me to separate the berries from the vine for you?”

  “Yeah, should be no problem for you since you have fingers,” Amethyst beams.

  Walking some more, the ground gets easier to traverse as the trees continue to gain height and width, stealing all the sunlight for themselves.

  Vines and small bushes have almost completely disappeared, most likely due to a lack of light and nutrients.

  The ground is mostly grass now, any bigger plants are so few and far between they could be traversed around easily instead of needing to be cut down.

  “Here’s one,” Amethyst finds one of the flowers, growing in a spot of sunshine the trees high up thick leaves happen to let through.

  Its bulb is open, but as Amethyst approaches it and blocks some of the light, it quickly closes.

  The plant is taller than even Amethyst, so she has to reach to get a bladed arm near the bulb's stalk.

  “Frank, catch it as I cut it loose?”

  “O-okay, isn’t that kinda huge though?”

  “You’ll be fine,” She beams a silly grin.

  “Ehhh...?”

  Amethyst cuts it without warning, it falls straight down towards Frank.

  He manages to catch it on his arms, bracing to bend from the knees, but it isn’t as heavy as it looked.

  Though it's still truly massive, completely filling his lap, and obstructing his vision ahead.

  “Rotate it around and I’ll cut the thing open for you.”

  Frank does as she is told and maneuvers the bulb.

  With an instant swish of a blade, his view is filled with leafy matter flying in the air, unable to stop himself from flinching.

  About 1/4th of the bulb is gone now, allowing him to see Amethyst and her frisky smile.

  Frank responds with an exaggerated eye roll before peeking inside the flower.

  There's one massive clump of berries in a vine, resembling the thornous nature of the Applenut growth back in Viridian Macula.

  Instinctively it reminds him of the small nick he got when gathering them, it's still visible on his hand. At least, this time he didn't have to grasp in the dark for these.

  The berries themselves, bright violet and dark red, cast a faint light inside the dark of the bulb.

  They are glowing.

  “Amethyst, are the thorns… safe? What will happen if I get struck by one?”

  “I don’t know? I’ve never been struck by one?” She taps her chin with the flat of her bladed hand quizzically.

  “Didn’t you say you used to swallow these whole with thorns and all?”

  “Well yeah, it’s uncomfortable but the thorns aren’t sharp enough to pierce the inside of our throats.”

  “Of course not…” Resigning to his fate, he carefully sticks his right hand inside, pressing the bulb against his chest with his left arm to balance it.

  Amethyst starts staring at him intently and expectantly.

  Despite her scrutiny, Frank manages to grab ahold of one, its surface firm and smooth, it comes loose with a small plop, the berry a bit bigger than his thumb.

  Inspecting it closer, the bright violet juices move and swirl inside its dark red translucent shell, like forming small typhoons.

  It’s unlike anything he's ever seen, it’s… enchanting.

  “Come on Frank, please, can I have that one?” Amethyst's face is almost desperate for it.

  “Oh, sure, sure.”

  The berry paints his fingers with its purple glow as he holds it between two fingers.

  “These are safe to eat... right?”

  “Of course! Now give it to me!”

  Amethyst opens her mouth wide, her mandibles grasp eagerly forward. She waits, her eyes closed in happy lines.

  Bringing his hand closer, he tosses it into her mouth, out of range from the swishing mandibles, she gulps it down whole as it goes straight down her throat.

  “Hey!”

  Amethyst opens her eyes and stares me down.

  “I can’t taste it if you throw it, I gotta puncture it with my mandibles first!”

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “Okay okay, fine.” Sticking his hand back inside the bulb, he gets out another berry.

  Holding it in his fingertips, he brings it close to Amethyst’s mouth.

  Her mandible ravenously stabs through it and plonks it into her mouth, Frank quickly pulls his hand away.

  Something trickles down his hand, mistaking the feeling for bleeding, but a look confirms the liquid to be violet, glistening even in the shade.

  “Mmmmmm! So good! Come on Frank you’ve gotta try it!”

  Frank shakes the berry juice from his hand, the liquid forms into thin solid slabs during its fall, but he is too busy fishing out more berries to notice.

  Frank picks three berries, surprisingly they all swirl in slightly different manner and speed.

  Their color is slightly inconsistent too.

  Maybe these attributes tell of their ripeness?

  The idea of tasting these peculiar berries gives him pause.

  Amethyst ate one and she’s fine, why would I be any different?

  Frank decides to treat it as a hypothetical question and not think about its lack of logic any further.

  He slips one of the three berries into his mouth.

  On his tongue, its surface feels and tastes just like any other berry, like any grape.

  Amethyst observes and anxiously awaits his reaction.

  Biting into it, the liquid explodes into his mouth like it was under pressure.

  An extremely sweet taste coats every part of my mouth, and I lick it all clean.

  It reminds me of a peach or a mango, only a little tangy.

  “It really is delicious!”

  “Right!?” Her face lights up, cheekbones rising high.

  A desire for more of these sweet berries emerges, but he restrains the urge.

  Maybe later, if I still feel fine then.

  “Hmm, what should we call these? How about... ‘Pango’?”

  “Pan-go?” She elaborately pronounces and tilts her head.

  “Haha, yeah. These berries' taste reminded me of-”

  “Shh,” She shushes Frank, her antennae starting to spin around on her head.

  “Something is coming.”

  Footsteps and cracking sounds of branches echo around the forest, the sound bouncing around from the incredibly wide trees.

  Amethyst’s antennae continue rotating searching for the source of the sound, like some radars.

  Frank tries to locate the source too, but despite the sparse underbrush, the few large plants around and the ginormous trees offer plenty of protection from being seen.

  Glancing back at Amethyst, she seems to have trouble finding it as well.

  Then, an eerie silence falls.

  Birdsong, the voices of the forest, and even the wind have died down.

  The anticipation of the unknown is crushing, at any moment something could pounce, and end their existence without warning.

  It dawns on Frank just how vulnerable and helpless he really is in this situation.

  Surrounded by strange flora, in a foreign landscape on another planet with no knowledge of what could lay in wait for them.

  He doesn’t remember feeling like this back in Viridian Macula, even in its forests rife with escaped animals from all around the galaxy.

  Was my laser rifle really the source of all my confidence?

  It’s not like a weapon can save me anyway if I don’t see it coming.

  His inner voice is interrupted as Amethyst’s antennae return to attention and she lets out a buzzing sound.

  Though nothing seems to happen.

  She repeats the same sound.

  Rustling starts again and from a tree to our right, a Tyrchid appears from behind it.

  It sports short dark green hair and green eyes, slowly approaching us it brandishes its blades.

  Is it the same one who Amethyst fought with before?

  Buzzing and clicking echo a warning as it advances.

  Its armor is partly blue like Amethyst’s, but the dominant color is green, even its blades and crystals are tinted translucent green.

  When he last saw other Tyrchids, he didn’t realize just how different some of the details had been, but now… The memories come flooding back of-

  The blood-soaked blades.

  Organs splattered on their skin and ground.

  Ravenous mandibles ripping out, eating-

  Amethyst repeats the same sound once again, Frank raises his head to see her point at him and then at herself.

  The green one looks directly into his eyes, wary and angry.

  “Frank, the berries,” Amethyst whispers.

  Oh, right.

  He still has the two from before, holding out his palm, he shows them to it. The two overly sweet, mysterious-looking Pangos.

  The Tyrchid tilts its head, curious.

  Amethyst says another word and with both of her blades gestures his way.

  Her kin doesn’t respond anything but starts to approach.

  A blood splatter splashes before Frank's eyes.

  A flying head of Jack.

  The desperation and blame in Jill’s eyes.

  The… the… blood… all the bodies…

  The feast-

  “Frank” Amethyst says quietly with worry, clearing his head.

  He finds his free hand in a sideways fist, and as he opens it, it's revealed to be empty.

  His hand moves on its own, uncontrollably.

  Shaking.

  Trembling.

  Looking up, he flinches at the other Tyrchid already right in front of him.

  It responds by flinching too, retreating with a buzz.

  “Sorry, it’s okay, it’s okaayy,” Frank says in a calming voice and slowly extends a hand inside the bulb and shakily plucks a berry.

  Presenting it to its green hybrid eyes, they shift focus between the berry and me.

  It steps closer again.

  Frank subdues his trembling and brings his hand forth, higher, closer to its head.

  Closer to its blades, its tearing, piercing, mandibles...

  The Tyrchid lowers its head, and Frank closes his eyes.

  A tickle of wind is all he feels, continuing to wait for an eternity, awaiting the raking touch of teeth.

  For his hand to be ripped off, the blood to gush from his stump.

  His head pounds, the quickened heartbeat in his ears.

  Finally, as nothing seems to be happening, Frank cracks open an eyelid to see the berries nabbed from his hand.

  The mandibles didn’t even brush against his skin, a much more precise eater than Amethyst.

  Feeling faint, Frank realizes to start breathing.

  The Tyrchid keeps looking at him and emits a buzzing he's heard before.

  “She wants more food,” Amethyst says, though Frank doesn’t look at her, instead keeping his eyes nailed at the Tyrchid before him.

  “A-alright, more Pangos then?”

  He hastily inserts his right hand inside the bulb, a sharp pain letting him know of his mistake, a thorn puncturing the feeble human skin easily.

  “Hhhhhhhs-” Frank fights the pain, letting only a sharp hissing sound from under his breath.

  It burns like his hand is on an open flame, despite the illogical feeling, he cannot help but frantically check if it is actually aflame.

  I really hope this isn't poisonous...

  Just, really, really, painful...

  He manages to pick three more berries despite the wound continuing to sear and throb.

  The back of his palm trickles blood as he extends a hand to the Tyrchid again.

  Noticing Amethyst’s concerned stare, he produces a forced smile and feels a trail of sweat go across his face.

  The searing pain continues further down his hand and wrist, pulsing and sweltering.

  The Tyrchid lowers its head again toward the unsteady hand and plucks the berries quickly.

  The pain distracts and Frank doesn't even have time to prepare before it's over.

  It looks happy after the fact, its hostile expression gone, emitting a low buzzing noise.

  “Frank, she called you a friend!” A thrilled Amethyst clamors.

  “Great...” Frank holds his hand, wiping the blood away while balancing the bulb in his lap.

  “Now answer her back.”

  The green Tyrchid looks at me as if evaluating me.

  “What? How am I supposed to do that?” He responds quietly with a monotone voice.

  “Come on, it’s easy, just say ‘Shuzs bfhusz’.”

  “H-” I control my volume, “how do you expect me to do a sound like that?”

  “Just do it, she’s waiting!” Amethyst beams like she's enjoying this.

  Sighing, he turns to the green-shaded Tyrchid, who continues to wait patiently, and says:

  “Sufzs bhousz.”

  Despite trying his best, even Frank can tell he butchered the pronunciation.

  Struggling to even remember what he’s supposed to say, the burning hand and his state of mind not doing him any favors.

  At least the pain doesn’t seem to be getting any worse.

  “Frank that wasn’t even close! What are you doing?!”

  “Your language is impossible!” He continues the whispering exchange.

  Unexpectedly, the Tyrchid repeats the same sound back.

  “Seems to suit her just fine. You sure you’re not rusty in your mother’s tongue?” Frank jests with a gleeful smile.

  “What does that even mean? We don’t even have tongues!”

  “That was a figure of speech, it means ‘your native language’.”

  “Oh.”

  They notice the green Tyrchid observing their bickering and they both shut up.

  Amethyst turns to it.

  “Flufvz.”

  “What did you say to it now?”

  Her new friend repeats the word and points into the forest.

  “I asked her to take us home.”

  “Smart, it definitely won’t hurt to have a local with us when we arrive there.”

  “Hey!” She gives me an appalling glare.

  “Heh, sorry.”

  The green-eyed Tyrchid starts walking into the forest leading the way, and they follow after it.

  “Should we give it a name?” I ask with a suggestion in mind.

  “Her, and maybe. We gotta ask her about it later though.”

  “How can you tell it’s a... she?”

  “It’s obvious, can’t you?”

  “No…“ Frank ruffles his hair.

  “It’s their... scent, obviously the scent of a female.”

  “Oh, well our human’s sense of smell is so bad, we might as well not have it”

  “Really?”

  “I mean, when compared to you. We can still smell and stuff, of course, but you just have us completely outclassed”

  In the hearing department too I bet.

  “Anyway since you’re named after a gemstone too-”

  “I am?”

  “Yeah, Amethyst is a purple gemstone.”

  “Ah, I see…”

  “We can call her Emerald, due to her green complexion?”

  “Emerald... a green gemstone...” Amethyst repeats, focusing on the Tyrchid before them.

  “It's a good name,” She eventually says and smiles at him, but it seems shallow, sadness clinging to her lips.