The Favour of Ghosts

Ghostlight plucked the feathers from the large bird she was preparing to be dined on. Every movement was careful and precise as she delicately set them aside in a small pile. Meticulous. She simply didn’t enjoy the prickle of feather quills on her gums, so she cleaned the carcass as well as she could. Though it was intended for someone else, she would ultimately be the one to pick the meat from the carcass.

Anyone watching her work would be forgiven for thinking that her blindness was a lie, though her blown out, greyed out  pupils spoke a very different and obvious truth. She had never been able to see, yet it had never impeded her. She could navigate the world as well as anyone else could - or better, in some cases.

She knew that it was night, though she had never once seen the sun fall. The air was cooler now than it was during the day, though the scrublands radiated heat that they’d hung onto and collected while the sun was still high in the sky. She knew that it had been days since it had rained - the ground was dry and hard beneath her, and when she moved, little puffs of dust stirred and lifted into the air. She could smell it before it settled back down onto the earth.

And she knew, very well, that she was not alone. She had not been for some time. A brightly coloured shadow had been following her, in stark contrast to the earth tones of stone and earth and scrubland plants around her. He was a curious little thing - both in terms of appearance and in temperament.

Why exactly had she given Larry a venomous snake as a meal offering? And, if rumours were to believe, how had a blind dinosaur even acquired a venomous snake as a meal offering? It was astonishing that she was even alive, honestly, because she seemed to be entirely alone.

And now there she was, laying on the sun-warmed earth, plucking the feathers off of a… rather large bird. It made Paradise’s wings ache to watch her ministrations, and he wasn’t quite sure he should approach just yet.

Of course, she didn’t give him much of a choice when she turned her muzzle from the bird to point directly towards him.

Then she lay one of the long wing feathers down on the delicate pile, giving Paradise a moment to breathe. Something about her stare - sightless, yet not - put a chill through his blood that only started to ease up when she was no longer looking at him.

“You will join me?”

Somehow, it was as much a statement as it was a question. It felt impolite to refuse her invitation and really, what reason did Paradise have to say no? She had already shown to be at least somewhat kind to oviraptors, despite the fact that many others seemed to find their presence… unpleasant. They had been chased, hunted and harassed. The islanders had made it very clear that they were unwelcome as they spread across the islands to sow the land with seeds brought up from the world beneath. Their aggression was misplaced and foolish. They had no idea the wonders that Atlantis could bring them. Perhaps in time they could even teach some of them to plant seeds as well - convince the islanders to spread the touch of Atlantis without even realising what they were doing.

But for now, a meal. Maybe. He still wasn’t sure about joining her, since Ghostlight appeared to have been waiting for him.

Paradise stepped slowly towards Ghostlight, cautious of her even as she continued her methodical plucking of the bird held in her claws. An old, rusted metal railroad lamp sat on the ground beside her. It hadn’t burned in so long that it didn’t even smell like oil sat. She could feel its warmth, even if he couldn’t.

“What am I joining you for, exactly?”

“A meal,” she mused, as though it were obvious. Did he expect her to eat this herself? No. She was preparing it for the three of them.

She could feel his approach. It wouldn’t be long now.

“You caught this yourself?” Paradise asked, glancing between the “meal” and… her. Her blank, unseeing eyes. If it were any other malady he might feel bad for staring, but this - it wasn’t as though she could see him staring.

But she could tell, all the same, and she turned her muzzle towards him again. It was unsettling, the accuracy of her gaze despite her lack of vision. “It fell out of the sky before me.”

Whether that was the truth or a lie, Paradise wasn’t entirely certain. He hadn’t been following her long enough to see. “And the snake that you brought Larry?” A highly venomous creature if sources were to be believed, much like the vipers that they had learned to avoid in Atlantis. Yet here she was, seemingly unharmed. There hadn’t even been a mark on the rattlesnake she presented Larry, save for where she had picked it up in her teeth.

Ghostlight almost seemed to smile, and didn’t reply. A venomous snake for the poisoned promises and choking plantlife that the oviraptors brought with them. The hatchlings were so innocent, vying for his affection as they were. They would all be witnesses to a war, the islanders just didn’t know it yet.

She used her claws to push the plucked bird towards the bird that yet had its feathers intact. He would eat.

“... Do you have questions?” Paradise tilted his head as he settled down on the side of the bird opposite to her. The question came out more hesitant than he had intended. All the islanders had questions - namely how, and why, and what they were doing. They could only answer the “how” of course, they’d been told not to reveal too much about their origins unless they thought they could trust the islanders. So far, Paradise wasn’t too sure.

But Ghostlight had no questions. She seemed to have all the answers already, even. She could almost see where the future would lead them. All she could do was guide the lost home, when it came to it.

Instead, she turned her muzzle up, looking past the oviraptor with a softness in her features that hadn’t been there before. “All paths lead to- “

“- Paradise.” Another voice spoke up from behind them, making Paradise jump to his feet in alarm.

The newcomer’s tone was inflectionless, flat, devoid of life. He could clearly see, yet his pale eyes held even less life to them than Ghostlight’s, were even more sightless, and were the same cold colour as the distant flecks of light in the night sky. Paradise’s feathers fluffed as a chill once more shot through him. He hadn’t told either of them his name, and was certain he’d never even heard of this newcomer, so how had he known who he was? A lucky guess, surely.

“Beloved,” Ghostlight greeted. Did he remember her this time? Or did she have to guide him back to her once again?

No. This time there was recognition in his gaze, only for her to see.

“I saw your light,” Tobias replied as he approached. His voice was a soft sigh, like the last breath that escaped a courtier as their life was stolen from them by the wretched plants that littered the jungles of Atlantis.

Paradise looked at the newcomer with a look of perplexed trepidation, his heart racing in his chest. The lamp was unlit. These two were clearly mad, and that was why they hadn’t chosen to attack like their sharp-toothed, razor-clawed kin. The intent behind their actions was simply unknowable.

Tobias had brought an offering for Paradise as well. Fresh, raw fish was cradled gently in his claws. The kind which filtered into the Atlantean rivers from beyond the dome, whose scales the Atlanteans used to grind into a powder and mix with other items to make paint. The same teal paint that was drawn over Paradise’s feathers. It was unsettling, to say the least. Maybe it was just a coincidence.

But it wasn’t. Tobias had felt the pull again. The draw. It wasn’t just Ghostlight’s lantern that had brought him here, it was something more, like what had brought him deep into the earth to recover Click. It had guided him to the mackerel, across the scrublands to this place where both Paradise and the cryo he knew, but could remember little of despite her knowing all of him.

The island was buzzing with activity, yet it felt like everyone was holding their breath. They were waiting, yet no one knew what for.

Tobias approached the pair of them, Ghostlight gazing towards the sound of his impossibly faint footsteps and Paradise shifting his feet warily. Tobias set the fish on the earth next to the plucked bird, then tilted his head faintly, studying Paradise with his flat, blank stare. Was this enough to gain the scout’s trust, to guide them to his home?

… No, not just yet. They were still on uncertain grounds, they hadn’t done enough yet to prove themselves trustworthy. Perhaps in time.

Still, they would need to go, and soon. If they didn’t find a guide, then he would simply let himself be pulled along again. Pieces were settling into place. The acros who came from deep beneath the earth would make a mistake; the pachys from the quiet, rocky shoreline were in over their heads. Something was going to happen. He felt certain that one or both of them needed to be there.

Ghostlight recognised the faint feeling of tension from Tobias. She knew what path they were on now. She would join him this time, let him lead them onwards. There were a lot of lost souls that would need help in finding the light. There was blood in the air.

Paradise glanced between the cryos, increasingly uncomfortable with his current circumstances. The islanders were strange, but these two… these two were even more so. He wasn’t entirely sure he was safe anymore.

That didn’t stop him from recalling his manners, though. He somewhat begrudgingly sampled the bird that Ghostlight had provided, just to be polite, and collected the fish that Tobias had brought in his claws. It would be useful to make more paint, at the very least, since he didn’t particularly feel like eating it now. He could bring it with him back down to Atlantis, and warn the warriors to keep an eye out for them should some scout be foolish enough to lead them through the gateway.

He dipped his head in wordless thanks towards Tobias, who simply gazed at him in return. By habit, even though he knew she couldn’t see, Paradise dipped his head as well towards Ghostlight. To his astonishment, Ghostlight dipped her head in return - an action which sent an icy spike of fear through Paradise’s heart.

He bolted away, clouds of dust kicking up behind him with every panicked step, leaving behind a rejected offering - a warning - and a pair of cryos who were little more than ghosts.