《Epitaph of Everything》Chapter 8. Younger Brother

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After some time in the tunnels, Naive came upon an entrance so small it had to be entered on its hands and knees. Crawling through, Naive looked and took in the room. The domed ceiling threatened to brush the top of Naive’s skull and the far wall was little more than a wingspan away. In the center of the ground was a circle where stone changed into something else. In that circle was a pool of unknown substance, translucent but with a tint of color that grew darker the deeper Naive gazed. From the ceiling fell droplets, hitting the pool with rhythmic regularity. From every quiet splash, the pool sent out a ring which rolled into the stone and disappeared.

Naive noticed something strange as it watched the rings come and go. A skeleton gazed back from the surface, rippling along with it. Naive lifted an arm from the ground. The pool skeleton lifted an arm. Confirming that it was a copy, Naive watched with interest as the ripple distorted its image. Naive moved and contorted, curious to see how different poses were affected.

Naives thoughts were snapped from this improv modelling when it felt a pressure roll through its bones and disappear. A quiet splash sounded and the feeling returned. Looking down to find the source of the pressure Naive found some strange new changes had happened to its body. All its bones had gone wavy. Naive looked back at its reflection to find that it looked as though a ripple had gone through it. A droplet fell. Naive’s world became one of curves as its skull and vision were molded by the ripple. Again. Naive watched the world fly up around it as the contortions grew too much and its neck gave out. In a final moment of contemplation, the skeleton wondered if your head falling off made you die.

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A coffin lid hit the ground, two stiff arms left in its wake. Two familiar voices commented on the arrival of their mutual acquaintance. The first voice spoke with energy and vigor.

“Good guessing. I found it hard to believe that Naive would die so soon.”

The second voice spoke gently and with little inflection.

“You would have been impressed with how fast its first death was.”

“Really? That’s a surprise, Naive seemed pretty competent to me.”

Pulling itself out of its coffin, the subject of discussion walked over to join in, hand raised in greeting.

“Hello.”

“Hello.”

“Hello.”

Greetings over, Natus and Cresco let their arms go slack. Natus, ever a source of information for Naive, had a new tidbit for its fellow skeleton.

“Naive, a new arrival dropped in.”

Looking for the young addition to the group, Naive’s head darted from side to side.

“Where?”

“Up on the plateau. Go and be its welcomer.”

Naive a welcomer! The thought hit Naive’s mind like a boulder sized droplet. Confident, Naive set out on its task. Atop the plateau, the newly appointed welcomer stood before the coffin. Speaking words of great wisdom and sagacity, Naive imparted its knowledge.

“Push your arms out in front of you. It’ll open your coffin.”

The lid popped open, two skeletal arms visible beneath it. Naive didn’t expect that to happen but knew the next step and picked up the coffin lid and turned it around.

“Can you read this?”

Confused at the lack of response, Naive peered past the stone in its hands and checked on the occupant. That got a response.

“You.”

Back to confusion. Naive turned the lid and read the nameplate. The skeletons name wasn’t you. It was Cognate.

“Me?”

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Cognate reached up and grabbed Naive’s arm. Naive explained the concept of names and that the nameplate held Cognate’s name. The young skeleton found this an idea worth monologuing over.

“You Naive. Me Cognate.”

“Yes.”

Naive found this new skeleton difficult to handle. Cognate had released Naive’s arm so that it could examine its own hands. Setting the lid on the ground, Naive offered a hand to Cognate. The freshly born skeleton didn’t know what to do with the foreign hand thrust in its face.

“Grab my hand, I’ll help you out.”

Hand met hand and Cognate was pulled free from the only home it had ever known. Naive was amazed that with only some light stumbling and loss of balance, Cognate stood outside of its coffin for the first time.

“Come, I’ll introduce you to the others.”

Leading the way, Naive took a step down the stairs. At the sound of bones hitting stone ground, it looked back and remembered: walking is way more difficult than standing.

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