Journey to the Village
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 117798
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Fred knew she'd probably regret it later, but she made a split-second decision, and darted down to follow the traveled through the leaves. When he stopped to rest a few minutes later, she crawled into his leather bag, and immediately began to subsist on the leather itself. She was sad to leave the log behind. It had been her home for most of her life; she had many kin there, and it was safe. But... but this felt important. As frightening as it was, she had to try. It was dark, but she liked it that way. The traveler stopped often, and she was always quick to make herself scarce when he did. The only part of him she ever really saw was his hand, and it confused and somewhat perturbed her. Why did it need to be that complex? So many fingers? What was the point of all of them? Did she really want to go back to that shape? Finally, she heard a din, like a lot of voices, and shortly thereafter sensed a change in atmosphere. He had arrived somewhere closed off - what were they called? The big boxes people usually lived in? Didn't matter. She was pretty sure they were in one of those. She escaped through a hole she had nibbled in the bag and found herself on a wide, flat surface. Her ocelli immediately alighted on a few huge pieces of food, but she heard a short shriek from the man, and disappeared, quick as a flash, down the leg, to the floor, through a crack, and into the outside world. She found stone beneath her tiny claws and brightness surrounding her. Everything was terribly confusing, and in an instant she was petrified at the realization of how hopeless this was. What, exactly, did she hope to accomplish by coming to a place like this? It was noisy, and bright, and everywhere she looked there were creatures bigger than her. And she couldn't even talk to them! What on earth was she doing? She skittered around, from one thing that provided cover to another, munching on various segments of rotting wood and dead plant matter whenever she found herself next to any. She was sticking to the shadows, and nobody seemed to notice her, but it was paramount that somebody did if she wanted anything to come of it. But how could she show them that she wasn't just an ordinary cockroach? If that was even true... she was beginning to doubt her own memory on that point. Eventually she resolved to just find somewhere safe and hole up until it was dark. She could go a few hours without food and be absolutely fine. She quickly squirmed into the foundations of the nearest... people box... whatever... and made herself comfortable. As she rested, she thought. Did she remember how to write? Well... no, she was pretty sure she didn't. Okay, then it was hopeless. May as well just find a new place to live near here. If she'd had even a little bit of intelligence, she might have been able to conclude that it wasn't on her to communicate her situation, as she had no way to, and she ought to try to find somebody who might be able to figure it out on their own - necessarily a mage. Unfortunately, she really didn't have any intelligence to speak of. After a week or two she found a small community of cockroaches in a storeroom, and joined them. She missed her log, and these guys weren't the same species as her, but at least it was something. She stayed for about a month, remaining mostly hidden. This family seemed to know they had an infestation, but they didn't have the resources or know-how to get rid of them. So each night, Fred feasted with her brethren - unaware that she was running out of time, as about 80% of her lifespan was up. Now eventually, the family called an exterminator to try to solve their pest problem, but this particular exterminator used a rather... experimental approach - which incorporated magic. His fee was low, but so was his success rate.
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9/12/2020 6:38:28 AM
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