A buzzing from the hornet in the back caused the one in front to turn away from Elach. “The unknown one comes from a dead light nexus.” It stated, but didn’t instantly loose the chittering vortex it held between two of its hands. “The unknown one will surrender or die.”

Elach attached the end of a chain to the further hornet, then pulled it towards his knee. He felt the cracking of chitin as the bug’s body was pulled a little too far, then shoved the hornet as far away as he could manage. The thing’s unmoving body crashed through a tree and fell into the underbrush as the other let out a war cry and charged, then froze as Elach chained it in place.

He felt it struggling to break his technique, but it was going at it all wrong. It simply tried to soldier on by flooding itself with light, and Elach let the technique falter. The hornet yelped in surprise as all that extra light dispersed uselessly into the air in one big harmless blast, then was motionless again as Elach recast his technique.

Two physical chains appeared on either side of the hornets neck, and Elach pulled. The hornet's neck cracked and shattered in a geiser of light, spurting in the air like a broken fountain as the body stumbled around for a brief moment before falling dead to the ground.

Elach wiped the light blue blood from his face and launched the hornet into the underbrush with a chain-empowered kick, grumbling to himself about the waste of Issi while he stepped over to the decapitated head that was sitting in a splotch of rapidly-evaporating light.

That was when it hit him. He’d seen these bugs before, or at least more of their species. At the beginning of this floor, right after he’d helped Shar collect all of her foul-smelling fruit seeds. Just a few days ago, she’d said it would be impossible to fight even one of these things. And here he’d dispatched a pair without breaking a sweat. Elach looked down at the head and frowned. He didn’t feel any stronger than a few days ago. But he was certainly more confident in using his techniques, so maybe that was it?

“That’s gotta be it.” Elach muttered, picking up the head and sending a questioning message over to Flow. They responded quickly, and were out of his headspace in the blink of an eye. “There are two bodies in the bushes over there, and you can have this right now.”

Flow caught the head in their talons as they pushed off the ground, flying over to the bushes and diving down to the hornet corpses. “Stay with Shar for now so we can communicate while I’m in Lighthome.”

Flow sent a pulse of confirmation, the sounds of tearing flesh and cracking chitin accompanying bursts of happy thoughts. Elach shook his head and set off for Lighthome, leaving the sounds of Flow’s growing appetite behind.

The chain-walk to Lighthome was mostly uneventful, but it was enlightening. Elach witnessed multiple accounts of bug-on-bug violence, but none of them ended in death. The tamest he’d seen was what looked like two rival factions in the middle of a sparring exercise that had turned violent, with two luminescent-bloodied bugs facing off in the middle of a clearing with no weapons or techniques to be seen.

It was almost wholesome, watching the two bugs beat the tar out of each other while equally coloured bugs on either side cheered or jeered. It felt like something Elach could imagine happening anywhere else on the world piece. A friendly competition that slowly devolved into violence, but not so violent that it threatened lives or safety. He’d lingered to watch a little longer than he’d meant to, just until the neon-orange blooded bug landed a sweep that left the dirty-yellow blooded bug helpless on the ground and went in for the finishing blow, but held itself back just before it landed.

Cheers had somehow erupted from both sides, and as the yellow-blooded bug offered a hand to the orange-blooded bug, Elach couldn’t help but feel like he was witnessing the beginning of a lifelong rivalry. But it didn’t matter. He was going to steal the light from these bug-people, and whether their leaders could lead them through it or not wasn’t his problem.

On the other end of the spectrum, however, was a show of violence that reminded him of the time he’d been forced to guide a child who was far too young to be searching for a wisp. A grim display of exactly why there was a strict age minimum, and if he could go back and do it all again, he’d be a whole lot stricter with immature people as well. In a situation that could turn dangerous at any second, one outlier could either doom or save the entire group.

This one had been doomed. A smaller–and by their mannerisms, younger–bug had been caught by a large flying bug that looked somewhat like a mosquito. Too many bugs stayed back to try and save the smaller bug, but when it was pierced through and left to bleed out on the grass, all that happened was an increase in casualties. Elach had stared blankly at the grisly aftermath. Not a single bug that had stayed behind to try and protect the little one was making it out alive.

Exactly like how he’d lost six kids, all who belonged to the same extended family, because they couldn’t accept that two broken legs, a sharp rock through both lungs, and a slashed-open gut wasn’t salvageable. He’d had to drag away a hysterical boy who seemed to be about his age who was constantly screaming at Elach to let go, to save his brother and cousins, even as the Issi beasts tore into already cooling flesh. He could have easily saved five, if they’d abandoned one. Or if they hadn’t snuck the smaller boy in through an oversized backpack.

In the moment, he’d been angry at them. Frustrated that he’d lost too many people to their selfishness, and that he’d have to delay Kayvee’s group to clear out the Issi beasts. Looking back, however… it was horrifying.

“Hells.” Elach muttered, wiping away tears as he threw the mosquito’s head off to the side. Chains rattled off his wrists and ankles, and in a split second two of the other three bugs had been chained and staked down to the ground. The third rushed forward, but it met chains and a hand through the windpipe as Elach pulled himself to its demise. “Everything needs to change.”

The other two bugs died without fanfare, and Elach walked through the carnage with a heavy heart. He’d been too shocked and disgusted to act, but that wasn’t it. He leaned down to cradle the smallest bug’s face, watching as the light bled out of it in a luminescent mist.

“I’m so sorry.” He whispered, an apology directed at everyone he hadn’t managed to save over the years. “I’ll make it right. I know it doesn’t mean anything to any of you now, but the Eternals and Hoalt will pay for this. Both Hoalts, if it comes to that.”

“Is the Elach certain this is what the Elach wishes?” The gatekeeper asked for the third time, as if hoping Elach’s answer would be different this time around. “Lights such as this are quite valuable in lighthome, and a weak creature like the Elach would have such troubles keeping them safe.”

Elach held in a sigh and pulled the lantern back from the gatekeeper’s greedy hands. “I know the risks. Will you let me in or not?”

The gatekeeper looked down at Elach, then at its hands. One of its fingers was scoured and dripping light, and his lantern had a coloured stain that suspiciously matched up with it. It looked down at Elach with slight fear in its body language, as if a nick on the finger was enough of a reason to be scared of someone. Maybe this gatekeeper didn’t deserve its post.

“Lighthome welcomes you.” It said after a long silence, skittering its spider body as far back into the gatehouse as it could while the underground passage to Lighthome showed itself. “Hope for fortune. The Elach will need it to survive.”

Elach slung the lantern over his shoulder, not sparing the gatekeeper a parting glance as he pulled himself into the entryway. If nothing else the gatekeeper had shown him just how unwelcome he’d be in Lighthome, and had cemented his desire to get in and out before that unwelcome transformed into something far more sinister.