Elach grimaced as Izzik led the group down a small, well-worn path through thicker tree cover than he’d seen anywhere else. Relaying everything Izzik said was starting to strain his voice, as the bug-man was quite a chatterbox when he got started. He now knew everything from Occril’s hatch-date to their favorite colour, and scant little about how he’d manage to survive an encounter with the suspected dark-spawn. Which he still didn’t understand, even after repeated asking and a botched explanation by Izzik.

He repeated a detail of Occril’s early training to Shar, who was lost in her own thoughts, but still managed a meaningful look and nod at the nugget of possibly useful information. Sieving the useful from the useless, Elach had managed to create an incomplete image of Occril the escort.

Occril had always been the largest bug in Izzik’s group, a hulking beetle-like person with twin horns like barbed lances. But he’d also loved everything colourful, shirking responsibility time and time again to find the largest tree to climb come nightfall and brave the shrieking winds for a better glimpse at the sunset. Izzik reminisced about the nights Occril had convinced him to join, sitting in silence among the winds as the sun fell into the direction the bugs called sunset.

When Izzik first found the little lights, Occril had been with him. Protecting the far weaker bug from the dangers of the deep sweet-forest as they traveled, and the keepers of the lights once they arrived. Occril had been a bulwark against the dark, shining a bright rainbow as he danced through the dark-spawn wielding his detached horns as twin spears, shrugging off any blows against his armored carapace of iridescent light. That one night earned Izzik the name Izzik of many lights, and Occril the title of Occril the escort.

For a long while, Izzik and Occril were the lone purveyors of the little lights. Izzik grew rich, and Occril grew influential. Eventually, Occril should have no longer had the time to escort Izzik, but time was always made for his oldest friend. Even when the dark-spawn invaded, the new greater lights banned any luminance, and Occril was stripped down to only a single colour out of his rainbow, he still guided Izzik. Then came the spies. And once the grove of lights was found, the assassins. Occril shared his lightblood with Izzik in an oath, linking their bodies together, so Occril could protect the grove at all times. For the beauty of Lighthome.

“Izzik ate for two, slept for two, and suffered for two.” Izzik mused. “As long as the dark-spawn attacked the grove, Occril defended it. Then the oath snapped, and Izzik was eating for one. Izzik was terrified to return to the grove, but Izzik didn’t need to. Izzik had enough lights to live long, enough to trade for chips for years to come. But then came the march of lights.”

Elach started relaying Izzik’s words to Shar, but Izzik wasn’t done yet.

“Lights flooded Lighthome’s market. What was worth ten thousand chips was worth one thousand in a week’s time, and three hundred in a month’s time. After eight month’s time, one light traded for fifty chips. Enough to live for one week.” Izzik laughed sadly, shaking his head. “If Izzik had sold earlier, Izzik could have lived forever. Now, Izzik could live for less than three years. Nowhere near enough.”

“Three years is plenty of time.” Elach pointed out, much to the confusion of Shar.

Izzik turned and looked quizzically at Elach, as if he’d grown another head. “Three years is one hundredth of how long Izzik has lived. One additional percent is nowhere near enough. So Izzik left the safety of Lighthome and ventured to the grove alone, hoping to find Occril and gather enough lights for one more year. Izzik found Occril. But not the Occril Izzik knew.”

“Because he was completely shadowed?”

“Because Occril was completely enshrouded.” Izzik confirmed. “And yet Occril still stood vigil, protecting the grove and the gatherers from the outside dark-spawn. But the fighting was terrifying. Kin on kin violence, carapace ripped from flesh and the draining of vibrant lightblood to the dull flowers below. The monsters on the inside completely under Occril’s wings, protecting them as mindlessly as Occril does the swarm.”

Elach nodded, sneaking a peek over his shoulder to see that Shar was ready to explode with untamed curiosity. “Just a second, please, Izzik. Shar needs to be caught up.”

“Of course.” Izzik replied. “Tell Izzik when Izzik can continue.”

Shar looked at Elach expectantly, and he ran a hand through his unkempt hair as he parsed the necessary info from the chaff. “Izzik got very rich gathering the firefly lights, then not so much when his link to Occril snapped and all the other bug-people suddenly showed up with fireflies. Occril still defends the grove, but he defends everyone who comes in, not just Izzik, and he does it mindlessly.”

“That was far quicker than what Izzik told you.” Shar said suspiciously. “You aren’t hiding anything from me, are you?”

Elach sighed and patted her on the shoulder. “Not like you’re still hiding anything, miss constant?”

Shar pinched the skin on the back of Elach’s hand and removed it from her shoulder. He hissed in pain as she maneuvered him like a puppet. “This and that are different. I’m hiding things for both of our safeties, and you hiding anything right now is to both of our detriments.”

“Justify it however you like.” Elach chuckled, rubbing the back of his stinging hand. He really needed to stop bringing that up, since it only served to bring him down. “But unless you’re interested in the fact that Izzik’s three hundred years old, or that there’s a whole lot of infighting in the grove, then I didn’t leave anything out.”

“Infighting in the grove is something we need to know about.” Shar snipped, switching her attention to Izzik. “Is Occril the one that hurt you, or was it someone collecting the fireflies?”

“Both.” Izzik whispered softly, rubbing the top of his shoulder as if remembering a particularly bad wound. Elach relayed the answer, and Izzik didn’t elaborate further.

But that wasn’t enough information for Shar. “Was this the first time you ventured to the grove since you lost connection with Occril, or have you returned before?” She pressed, stepping up to Izzik when he didn’t answer. “Izzik, am I going to have to kill Occril?”

“You will have to fight Occril.” Izzik whimpered, looking down at his feet in shame. “Izzik thought Occril would defend Izzik. Like Occril always did. As Occril had the three times before that Izzik visited since Occril’s shrouding.”

Shar looked back at Elach, and he simply raised 3 fingers in reply. She furrowed her brow, then nodded when realization hit her. “What changed the fourth time, Izzik?”

Izzik rubbed his hands together, producing a sound like a cricket’s chirp but far lower. Whatever he was remembering, it brought him more shame than anything so far.

“Izzik got greedy. Wanted too much; more than Izzik’s fair share. Izzik of many lights could not return to Lighthome with a dim glow; Izzik needed a bonfire.” Izzik rambled, looking up at Shar with eyes that spoke of shame and wished for pity. “Izzik fought for what another held. Killed for what another stole from Izzik.”

“You… what?” Shar stumbled over her words, looking back at Elach with confused horror. She obviously didn’t expect to be helping someone who was so blatantly in the wrong, and Elach had to admit that Izzik’s confession bothered him. Because it felt like something someone would have told him while he was still a guide.

He shook his head and clamped his lips together with his fingers. Even if Izzik wasn’t innocent, they still needed him to lead them to the firefly’s grove. After that, they could decide if they were going to actually help Izzik or not. Shar seemed to get the gist of what he was insinuating, giving an almost imperceptible nod and staring straight ahead of her.

Izzik, however, wasn’t content with the hole he’d just dug himself.

“Occril never intervened when Izzik stole from the wary, scavenged from the fallen, or fought for that which was rightfully Izzik’s. Death seemed to be the lone trigger for Occril’s intervention.” He explained, as if his killing was somehow a justified escalation from stealing and scavenging. “As long as the others do not escalate to that level, Occril will not need to be dealt with.”

“Eternals…” Shar hissed, falling back from Izzik much to the bug-man’s confusion. “I hope Prisoner found someone with a few more morals than our new ‘friend’ here to guide him.”

While he agreed with the sentiment of Shar’s words, Elach couldn’t help but think differently. If Prisoner was powerful enough for Hoalt and Sentence to respect him, then he wouldn’t need a guide.