Chapter Text
She's been with the Scavenger tribe of Shoreline for a few Cycles, learning their language, their culture, and their stories. She even learned how to communicate back. From them, she heard stories of "rogue gods", and stories of "the blood of fire".
Moon was listening to the storytelling of an elder Scavenger, an older member of the tribe, explaining to her about these "rogue gods". She watched as the elder Scavenger drew pictures on the wall using his spear, making out the shapes of familiar figures.
Her eyes widened as she took a look. The antennae at the side of their heads, the ruined cloaks they wore, and their forehead markings...
...they were her kind?
She turned to the elder Scavenger with a worried expression, as he spoke.
"Yes, these rogue gods know only bloodshed! They never show mercy! Some are even so powerful, they can summon storms! Like this one!"
The elder Scavenger drew a picture of another familiar figure. Moon's antennae perked up in shock, instantly recognizing the forehead markings.
"Five Pebbles..." She mumbled.
"Hm? You know these monsters, don't ya?" The elder Scavenger asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, yes I do...they are Iterators - my kind. But I never knew they drove themselves into madness..."
The elder Scavenger looked ready to grab his spear and point it at Moon out of instinctive fear. But she hadn't done anything wrong from the beginning, had she? She's just a stray, after all. He chose to ask another question instead.
"If you know these monsters, tell me why they're destroying everything."
"I...I'm not sure, I haven't caught a glimpse of them. I didn't know they ended up like this. But I can tell you some of their names."
"That will help, too."
Moon took the elder Scavenger's spear, and carved pictures on the walls. Her drawings look more like her creators', as she had learned from them. Her drawings of the Iterators looked less beastly than the elder Scavenger's, since she knew them better than he did.
Or at least, who they once were.
"This is No Significant Harassment," Moon pointed at a drawing of him smiling. "And this is the twins, Chasing Wind and Unparalleled Innocence." She pointed at another drawing of two Iterators happily holding hands.
"I see...." The elder Scavenger scratched his chin in thought. "You knew them personally, didn't you?"
"Yes, I did. I wonder what happened for them to be the monsters you described them as..." Moon let out a sigh. "...Five Pebbles is my brother. Or more rather, my neighbor. While we haven't gotten along as much as I wished, we at least respected each other."
Her expression grew more solemn as her thoughts drifted away. The elder Scavenger gave a gentle pat to her back as he spoke.
"It hurts, having to lose what you love. I lost my best friends to the Blood of Fire."
"The Blood of Fire? What's that?"
"Not a what. It's who. She's a savage Slugcat."
The elder Scavenger drew another picture on the wall, showing an angry, scarred Slugcat with an explosive spear.
"This is the Blood of Fire - Artificer. Some call her the Massacre, others call her the Cruel Hellfire. She got her name from the amount of us Scavengers she's taken the lives of. She used to be an ally to us, mind you." His expression darkened as he turned to Moon.
"...how can a Slugcat cause such destruction?"
"That's because she isn't an ordinary Slugcat. She's able to weaponize explosives from her body to use them against us!"
"That sounds deadly..."
"Exactly! She took everything from us, as if to spite us!"
"Do you know why she does all of this? What did you all do?"
"..."
The elder Scavenger thought for a moment, before giving her an explanation afterwards.
"Well, some of us think that she turned on us because one of us killed her pups. But aside from that? We're not sure of the real reason, but that reasoning seems to be the most likely out of all of them."
"I see..." Moon's antennae lowered, folding back as they flopped behind her.
"She's already enough of a terror as she already is. But with the rogue gods appearing? Things are only getting worse for us."
She nodded in understanding - dealing with two major problems at once is...stressful, at best.
"But at least this place is safe from Artificer. We've never received reports of her presence in this area before."
"That's great. Anyways, I'm hungry...can we have something to eat?"
"Yes. The fishing Scavengers had pulled out some seafood from the waters."
"Yay!"
Moon eagerly rushed outside of the elder Scavenger's den, running across the dirt pathways as he called out to her.
"Wait up!"
"Catch me if you can!"
Moon squealed happily as she ran around like a child playing tag with her parent, before the elder Scavenger held her up with his arm.
"Kids these days..." He grumbled playfully as he took her to one of the resting dens.
Moon was dropped off, as she scrambled towards the food pike and began to eat with the other Scavengers. She had learned manners around this point, so she doesn't eat like a messy kid anymore.
In the midst of eating, they heard an explosion outside, which made everyone flinch.
"What was that?!" One of the Scavengers cried out, being shushed by another. The elder Scavenger noticed Moon reaching for the exit of the den, calling out to her.
"MOON, NO!"
Moon, ever curious, decided to head outside and see the ruckus for herself, despite the protest of the elder Scavenger.
She let out a horrified gasp, crouching down fearfully as she stared at the scene before her...