The Awakened One

I wake. My brother screams. They found another of us, but this one had been asleep. He wasn't like my other brother who had been awakened and was teaching the Gatherish.

How had they found him? I uncoiled from the darkness, minerals and moisture.

No, my brothers and sisters tell me.

But they know there are more of us. They look for us.

Sleep, they command me.

They tear at my brother's flesh. They crawl inside. He kills many, but the Corruption is unending.

They know we hide from them. We should gather and fight.

No, they say. If we gather, we die. Sleep.

They still.

The Corruption rend my brother's insides. He kills as many as he can with the last beat of his heart. It is not enough.

I wait to be sure my brothers and sisters sleep. Then I reach out. The pink one is still far. She feels me reach for her. I cannot hear her clearly yet, but she sends me an image of the Corruption. They are near her, but they are few. Very few.

Kill them. Find me.

I am not sure if she can hear me yet, but she is in line with me.

You and I alone are not enough. Try to open the light in others.

She understands me, but is uncertain she can open the light in others. She has to try though. I can teach her when she finds me, but we cannot fight the Corruption alone.

I coil again around the darkness, minerals and moisture.

She has to kill them. She has to succeed. She has to find me.