The Strands of Time

by Faedelaide

10. A Machine to Remember the Dead

Raven expected the trip to the firewinder dens to be much more demanding. Sure, he had enough sand in his eyes to fill his saddlebag, and he constantly felt inches away from slipping off of Blur's wing and trapping himself deep in the dirt, but altogether it wasn't that bad. Despite Blur warning Raven to hold his breath, he had just barely begun to feel breathless by the time they breached the first tunnel.

"Wuh... well, we're hhh... here, now puh... please stop tugging on my... wings."

"Sorry," Raven muttered. leaping off of the lizard's back, Raven's legs buckled as he landed on the rough, compacted dirt. He groaned, and the echoes carried far into the depths of the tunnel.

Branch walked up to the tunnel's edge, poking at one of the many vines that hung from the ceiling "Woah. This place is impressive... in a terrifying sort of way."

"generations of firewinder guh... grit are to thank for... for that. Even I don't know how old suh... some of these tunnels are."

Blur took a deep breath. All around him, dozens of thick vines swayed gently from the ceiling, each of them bearing an odd orb at the tip that filled the winding tunnel with a comforting, orange glow. Though Blur was significantly larger than both Raven and Branch, the wide dirt passageways made him look quite small. Raven tilted his head. Was this to make room for lizards like Ruin, with their impressive wings? But Ruin was an exception, an outlier... wasn't he?

Blur slithered up to a shriveled, dim orb that hung just above his face. "Hmm, we're in thuh... the older tunnels. I don't know exactly where... we are, but this path should lead to thuh... the central den eventually."

Branch skipped to catch up with Blur. "So how far do these tunnels reach anyway?"

"Possibly... throughout the whole desert."

"Wait, there's an end to the desert?" Raven blurted.

"The duh... desert is only cut short by water. Our home is one of the few things that the suh... sands never reached."

Branch's pace quickened to match his mounting excitement. "Is your home nice?"

"It's nothing but meh... melted stone and charred bones... As much as I'd like to sss... see my family again, that place is a... a nightmare upkept only by... tradition and a lack of other ah... options."

"Geez."

"Yes... not even our own tuh... tunnels are safe."

Raven's eyes widened. What creature could possibly bring danger to a firewinder?

"What do you mean, Blur?" Branch questioned.

"Well, when I sss...said our tunnels spanned the whole desert, that wasn't cuh... completely accurate. There are some small sectors, yoo... usually underneath the ashtrees... where the swarmlings live."

Branch's walking faltered for a second. "Uhh... what are swarmlings?"

Blur snorted, and a ruby red blossom of flame burst forth from between his teeth. "Vile little creatures. Old children's stuh... stories said that they used to fff... feed on souls, but now the only thing they care about is ah... ashtree roots."

"How come we've never heard of these things before?"

"You mentioned yuh... you used to live in Cant? That must be... in the marble fields above gruh... ground. Swarmlings don't breach th...the surface. I think the light would... blind them."

Raven scoffed. "What, you mean the light from the barely visible sun that's hidden behind clouds twenty four seven? How blind are these things?"

"Quite the contrary my ehh... equine companion. They can find you in the darkest tunnels where even the brr... bravest firewinders dare not venture. They can sense the pulse of your blood, the druh... drawing of your breath," Blur leaned in close to Raven, his warm breath causing the pony to start sweating almost immediately. "And if they find you... they won't waste time or resources. You get caught... and nothing gets left behind."

"Geez, these things sound freaky," Branch shivered, "Have you ever run into one before, Blur?"

"Yes, and believe mm... me when I say that you never run into just one swarmling. It was mmm... many years ago, and I was part of the excavation class, intended to expand the tunnels and increase ah... our territory. Well me and some younger sport... were digging, and then all of a sss... sudden, the whole wall collapses. Turns out, a huhhh... whole swarmling hive was on the other side. I reacted in time but thuh... the kid didn't make it. Poor kid... they went for the throat first, set the whole tuh... tunnel ablaze in the process. It took us a month to get rrr... rid of them all, and by then we'd luh... lost a quarter of our numbers."

"Oh... I'm so sorry, Blur," Branch placed a hoof on the dragon's emaciated arm.

"Bah, nothing tuh... to be done about it now. Kid's dead, swarmlings are gone. It's buh... best to just learn from it and move on. It's nuh... not like the other firewinders cared anyway."

"Well why not? Don't they care about their families?" Raven barked.

Blur's answer travelled rapidly and deeply through the tunnels, its bluntness almost denting the walls. "Never have."

For a long while after, the only sound that could be heard was the clopping of quiet, depressed hooves. After a long time, the vine globes increased in density. The once dim glow of the tunnels slowly transformed into a bright, consistent shine, as if the entire tunnel's ceiling was decorated with gleaming golden lanterns. The more Raven looked at it, the more the lights looked intentionally placed. How advanced were these firewinders?

"Hey Blur, did the firewinders make these lamp vine things?" Raven asked aloud, squinting at the bright lights.

"Yes, the sss... smaller firewinders are in charge of mmmm... menial construction. The vines are a gift from our hhhuh... homeland. They're windervines. Fireproof, live fff... for hundreds of years, and are edible in case of ehhh... emergency."\

"Huh..." Raven squinted harder at the numerous gelatinous orbs that were each carefully tied to a single vine. "Are these bulb things on the end part of the vine? they look weird."

"Hmm? Oh, no no... they're something else. Ah, wuh... we're here!"

Branch's wings buzzed ecstatically. "Ooh! We're here? I wanna see!"

"I feel like I should be concerned by your excitement about being inside the firewinders' headquarters, but I've got to admit... this is pretty impressive."

The central chamber was massive. Dozens of holes of varying size and depth marked the chamber walls, and several rows of wide dirt platforms made the room look like the interior of some incredibly complex tower. windervines poked through the rough dirt walls, weighed down by the fleshy globes that hung from their ends. However, most impressive of all was the grand chandelier that hung from the room's center. It was beautifully constructed, but gave Raven an unwavering feeling of foreboding. He could almost immediately point out a couple shaghorn skulls as well as the skulls of scalemanes with their peculiar forked horns and the distinctive skulls, elytra, and pockmarked hoof bones of several insecticorns.

Raven gulped. Dozens upon dozens of featherback skulls were organized in neat circles, and he even noticed several odd antler-esque horns here and there. However, what was most impressive was the skull that dangled from the bottom of the chandelier. It was a skull that looked vaguely like a firewinder, but it was much larger, and looked as if it's once spear-like snout had been smooshed against a flat wall, turning it flat and stout.

Blur took in a deep breath through his nose. "ahhh, smells like ssss... soot. What we need should be just up there, in rrr... Ruin's chamber."

Raven tore his eyes away from the macabre centerpiece to look at Blur. "Should we be going up there? Is it safe?"

"Come on rrr... rrayyy... Raven, Ruin's not even hhh... here. What's the worst that could hhaaa... happen?"

"I don't know, what if those swarmlings you talked about are up there?"

Blur chuckled. "Oh don't wuh... worry. Swarmlings won't attack us if we keep our distance, and rrr... Ruin's charred any swarmling that even tries to ssss... sneak in. They know better than to attack our hhh... home by now."

"If you say so, but I'm putting my trust in you, scaley," Raven scrambled on to Blur's back.

The pearly white lizard turned to look at Branch, who's eyes were filled with wonder. "Are you cuh... coming, kid?"

"Uhh... is it alright if I just look around while you two grab that thing you need? This might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! I can't afford to let this moment go to waste!"

"If Blur says it's safe, then I don't see any problem with it. Just don't wander too far off, hun," Raven gave his partner a warm smile. Blur attempted to do the same, but could only manage a toothy grimace.

"Thanks, hun! You two be safe now!" Branch waved to Raven as he and Blur climbed up the rows of holes towards the top of the central chamber.

With his isolation assured, Branch dashed from room to room. His wings buzzed in excited glee as he drank in the vast culture that seeped from every wall. He poked his head in one room to see its walls completely lined with firewinder skulls. Each of them had names carved into their foreheads, and they were in various sizes, shapes, and states of petrification. Another similar room held what must have been hundreds of featherback skulls. In addition to the hauntingly vast collection of bones, there were also several leather bags full of large, grey feathers. It was terrifying to see this much death, sure, but it was all so fascinating. Firewinders really were conscious beings. That meant they could be reasoned with, maybe even convinced to join Raven and him on their path to a peaceful paradise. Somehow, that distant dream didn't seem so distant anymore.

Branch felt like he was going to explode. This was fantastic. His wings buzzed loud enough to echo out of the room and throughout the main chamber. He dashed out of the featherback room and nearly threw himself off of the platform as he continued to sprint from room to room. He was just about to enter a room that seemed to organize the colors of shed scales when he heard a distant buzzing. Branch looked behind him, but his wings were neatly tucked into his elytra.

Again the buzz could be heard. Branch stepped away from the scale room, and towards a brightly lit hallway. He poked his head out, and nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. The hallway's entrance was brightly lit, but Branch could easily see it was barely lit at all only a hundred feet past. Barely functioning bulbs hung pitifully from the ceiling, their shriveled and dried up husks threatening to turn to dust at any moment.

However, as empty as the hall seemed, Branch could sense something. Before he knew it, the buzzing sounded again, but this time, he looked back to see it was his own wings that had done it. They frantically flapped as if on reflex, and the low thrum of Branch's wingbeats carried easily throughout the silent halls of the firewinder den.

After a brief moment, the buzz returned, but it was no echo. From the dim light of the vine bulbs, Branch could see something moving. It crawled out from behind the shadows, scampered on the wall, and finally landed in front of Branch with a quiet thud.

Branch gasped. The creature's wings were a brilliant sheen, almost like a rainbow. It's exoskeleton was black, but seemed to glisten, as if coated in yellow wax.

The creature inched forward, and Branch had no choice but to move back, too shocked to do anything else. His heart pounded in his chest, and his wings buzzed in panic.

The other insecticorn tilted its head in confusion. Then, after a brief, awkward moment, it straightened up again and buzzed its wings in response.

Somehow, by some miracle that even he couldn't understand, Branch could hear words as clear as day through the humming of the insecticorn's wings.

"Hello friend."