Land of the Blades

39. Praying

We didn't had time to truly understand what Assassin just said, as our senses were assaulted by the sound of drums, flutes, and other instruments, as well as banners wavering and flower petals flying everywhere. I instinctively made a shield to cover Caster and me, completely forgetting that there was a handful of Sundries right behind us.

—You do not have anything to worry about, Phosphophyllite —Assassin said, standing right next to them—, they are merely celebrating your arrival.

The sundries looked so different now, their faces weren't frozen in that creepy smiling expression anymore, and each had a slightly different hairstyle now that they had let their hair down. They also seemed to have tiny bunny ears on their top of their heads too. I peeked through my shield and didn't saw anyone aiming their bows at us, so I cautiously retrieved my alloy. Assassin asked us to follow her and the sundries that had come with us to where everyone else was. As we approached, a tall figure emerged from the crowd. By his clothes and demeanor, I assumed he was their leader.

—Welcome to the moon —he said, in a very casual manner.

—Hehe, so you can just talk like us —I said, feeling a burning sensation on my chest—, YOU TAKE US FOR FOOLS!!!

The sundries stepped back as the alloy in my body started to form spikes aiming towards them, I was only barely able to control myself and avoid going into a rampage.

—I see you are full of energy —the tall one said, the only one who had remained stoic— I apologize for the lack of communication, we despise the thick air in the planet as it bring us bad memories from long ago. Because of that, we try not to breathe while we are there. You are also the first of your kind who tried to establish a communication with us out of your own will. And so, we are thankful that you have accepted our request to come to discuss an alliance between us.

—That's not why we are here —I said, returning the alloy to my body—, you made a mess yourselves, and now you want us to save you. We will help you, but you have to surrender unconditionally to us.

The tall sundry stood in silence for a moment, while the rest of his entourage exchanged glances and murmured between them.

—Very well, we surrender —he finally said, not a single emotion in his words.

That wasn't as satisfying as I expected it to be, but I took what I could. There was also still a chance they wouldn't fulfill their word, and would betray us at the moment they seem convenient.

—Then, all of my brothers that you have stolen —I said—, I'll be taking them back!

—Please, take all you want —he said, extending his arms to his sides.

I didn't understood, we were the only ones there, everything else I could see was the surface of the moon. I started to get agitated again and he seemed to notice it.

—Sorry, allow me to explain myself —he said, and asked one of the others to bring him something, which they promptly did.

It was a hand, made with crystals that I recognized as quartz, one of a particular color that I was very familiar with.

—GHOST!!

—Yes, but this one is artificial. We made it with materials we extracted from the moons and carefully tried to reproduce what we saw while gathering the originals. But I think the real one was your friend, wasn't it?

He dropped the hand into a weird container, which started to make horrible sounds, worse than the reverb that was produced when the Amethyst hit their heads. I had to cover my ears, but it wasn't enough to silence that atrocious noise. After a few moments, what came out from the bottom of the container was a tray with some dust on it. He started to say something about how much grinding it had went through but it was still so rough.