Acres upon acres of land of the freshest grass came to view. A cloud lazily drifted in the midday sky, making its way across the endless horizon. He breathed; the air here was pure, and clean. He was at peace. An oak tree lay a short distance away, swaying with the rhythm of the wind. Slowly, he shuffled through the grass to make his way over to the weathered tree. He felt the cracks in the bark as he ran his fingers across the tree. Looking up, there was a nest snugly tucked away into a hole. A bright coloured bird glided into the hole, presumably looking after it’s own young. Leaning back against the tree, he slid down and sat there for a moment. Life was still. Life had no rush; only the flow of nature at its own pace could be observed. It was beautiful; sometimes the simplest things could be the most unappreciated. He lay there for a while, dreaming.

He awoke with a chill. Leaves of crimson, orange and yellow were scattered across the floor of the tree. Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he looked up to see the tree naked of it’s colours; a husk of it’s former beauty. The nest was long gone; it had fallen to the ground long ago. He rose to his feet slowly, and looked around him. The former beauty that had once enthralled him had long decayed into nothing. A partly green leaf with speckled shades of red floated by, and was carried into the wind. He watched as it was carried away, letting the forces of nature guide it’s final course.

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“Get up.”

Thomas woke to his companion smacking him on the head with a mossy stick.

“The fuck was that for, you overgrown gnat?”

“What do you think? We need to keep moving. If they didn’t know before, they do by now. Ergo, let’s go. Preferably now.”

“You know I’ll need a minute to get up. Not everyone loves mornings as much as you do.”

“What does that mean?”

Thomas inhaled, and sighed. “Forget it.”

Rolling over onto his back, he took a minute to look up, recalling the dream he had. Dreams were fickle things that he never quite understood. It was like trying to reach for understanding for something that just wasn’t there.

“Take your time. Not like we have anywhere to be. Well, I mean, you do, but I don’t think you want to go back. So get up already.”

“Fuck off.” Thomas grumbled, and rose to his feet, brushing the twigs and dirt off his tattered clothing.

“Do you even know where we’re going?” he asked the changeling, who was currently taking in their environment.

The changeling paused for a moment, before responding, “No. Not really. Anywhere but here is best for now. Once we’re safe, we’ll assess that.”

“Fine by me.”

Sunlight broke through the trees, illuminating their campsite. It wasn’t much, but at least Tom managed to get a fire started. So that was something. It didn’t take long for them to have everything squared away for their travel, due to the fact that they had nothing except for their gear. They set out through the forest, hoping to come across an establishment of some sort. As time began to pass, Tom realized he knew next to nothing about his companion.

“I don’t think I ever got your name. We’ve been travelling together for nearly a week now.”

The changeling looked at Tom with his grotesquely large blue eyes, which, frankly, still bothered Tom even now.

“I don’t really have a name. In the hives, we associated with pheromones and smell as opposed to names. It seemed pointless.”

Tom spent the next few minutes racking his head for any synonyms for smell. It didn’t work.

“Well, instead of just calling you changeling, would Shift work?”

The changeling pondered for a minute, and asked, “what is the significance of that?”

“It’s just another term for change. I figured it worked.”

“Fine by me.”

They were now following a small creek that ran parallel to a well trodden path. It was now mid-afternoon, with a chill slowly beginning to settle into the air.

“Why not stop here and rest for a while? We’ve been travelling all day. Plus, I’m thirsty as hell,” Tom suggested.

“That’s fine, but we shouldn’t stay too long,” Shift said.

“Right,” Tom replied, “also, I’ve been meaning to ask you, what do you eat?”

“Excuse me?”

“I mean, what do changelings eat?”

“We eat feelings -”

“Don’t we all,” Tom muttered under his breath. “Have you not been starving this entire time?”

“Well…” Shift began, “yes.”

“If you were that hungry, you could have said something.”

Shift looked at Tom with an inquisitive face. “Are you not bothered by this?”

“I mean, not really. Everybody’s gotta eat. You can have some of mine, even though I have no idea how that really works.”

A flicker of a grateful look crossed Shift’s mostly impassive face. “I’d appreciate that.”

They settled amidst a dense canopy of trees. Tom slid off his sword holster and gear, and turned to face Shift.

“So how does it work?”

Shift walked over towards Tom. “Think of something that makes you feel a certain way. Something that provokes an emotion. In your most recent case that shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Fuck you. Any certain preference?”

“Love fills us up the most.”

“Don’t have much of that left, but I’ll see what I can do.”

A look of concentration crossed Tom’s face. A thought popped to mind of his childhood dog, of which he had spent many happy years with.

Shift’s horn piece began to glow a rich emerald green colour. “That should be fine.”

There was a slight tug on Tom’s conscience, and then as quickly as it came, it was gone.

“So how long should that keep you full?”

“Usually, it depends on how strong the emotion is. What I got from you should last a week.”

The sun was slowly beginning to fall. In an hour or so, they would be covered in darkness.
“What’s the plan from here?” Tom asked, “should we keep going or set up camp for the night?”

“The nearest village is another day’s walk away. Assuming news of them looking for a large hairless monkey hasn’t spread, we should be fine. The last time I was there, the village mostly consisted of wandering travellers, like a melting pot of everyone.”

“Ah,” Tom replied, “do you have any indication of where we are?”

“Somewhere near the border of the Everfree.”

Tom nearly choked on his drink. “Are you trying to tell me we’ve spent the last week running haphazardly through the Everfree? What the fuck!”

Shift snorted. “Get a grip. We went the safest way, along the border and tracking shortcuts along well trodden roads.”

Tom let out a heavy sigh. “Well, we aren’t dead yet, so I guess that’s something. Let’s start setting up for the night.”

The duo began to settle in. “I’m going to get firewood.” Tom rose and disappeared into the dense brush.

Shift sat alone. He began to recall how everything had gotten to this point. Sure, freedom from the hive was nice, but at the price he had to pay? He had spent much time debating this. He sighed as his own thoughts began to plague him once more.

____________________________________________________________________________

Fire and brimstone reigned from above. A white flash as hot as the sun struck the ground with such tremendous force. Shift could only watch as everything he ever knew had disappeared before his own eyes. Smoke clouded the skies. The hive mind was screaming in pain, the young, the old. This was not war, this was genocide. There were no prisoners. None were safe.

Shift had only just returned from a reconnaissance mission, to see his home ablaze. It was as if he had walked straight into the macabre heart of Tartarus itself. The dune he sat up seemed to fade around him as he was overwhelmed by the pain of the hive mind. The worst part was he felt every single thing as it happened. He could only watch in horror as the life he had lived burned to nothing. His mind raced with questions, but for every one that came to mind, he couldn’t answer. He had heard of other nests being obliterated and had known that it was only a matter of time before the impending doom would fall upon his own nest. He sat there on that dune for a while. What was he supposed to do? There were no survivors. The attackers had made sure of that. It was quiet now, there was no screaming. There was no pain. Only a numb feeling of being hollow inside. He could see the lingering trails of emotion dispersing in the air. Terror, fear, anger, and sorrow. Shift stood. He took his fill of the emotion in the air, and began to walk away.

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Author's Note

more on the way. Any feedback is appreciated.