Chapter Text
“… Why am I here?” Jet asked one afternoon, nimble fingers plucking another ear from the mile long row.
Huu sighed with visible irritation. After nearly ten hours in the heat, idle chatter felt more like a burden than a blessing. But knowing Jet, once he wanted an answer…
“You’re my ward; you’re here to work for me, and as long as you keep it up life will be easier for you.” That was one way to put it. “All that energy of yours needed to be put to good use.” And that was an understatement.
“I understand, Sir,” Jet tried again, his own impatience only outweighed by his curiosity. “…But if that’s true, where did I come from and why is it you?”
Lowering his hook-swords from the dead stalks, Huu leveled his glare, the smallest glimpse of humor meeting in his eyes. “Hmm— Well boy, I suppose only the Witch of the Woods would know that one...”
“…Where do I find this witch?”
***
When Jet was a boy, it was easier to ignore that churning in the pit of his stomach. The one that told him something wasn't right. It was the same feeling that left his bedding soaked in sweat when he dared sleeping; that made him lust for whatever lay beyond the treetops.
“Why am I here?”
He’d only ever asked once, it was all he’d ever needed to.
Farmer Huu had never been a man for frivolous conversations, and as far as Jet was concerned he’d gotten all the information he’d ever needed that afternoon.
There was only one person in this world who knew the answers to the real questions he had, and she wouldn’t be found in this tired old town.
No, she was leaps and bounds away. Over the tree tops and across the green pastures…
“…Beyond the hills of stone, high as the heavens, where the dragons lay, and centered in the deepest darkest woods… That’s where you’ll find a witch, boy.”
Of course Jet didn’t believe Huu at first, not really, he was no fool. But as he watched the birds fly over the horizon, disappearing for the cold months and returning for the spring, his mentor's tale became less foolish. It became a promise. That one day he would find her… that fact was all he had left.
As for Huu himself, he succumbed to the will of time.
Dying like a pig in the tall corn fields just as he’d always proclaimed he would: Facedown in the soil that his mother bore him in, that his forefathers tended to for almost a century, the soil that he in turn made Jet slave on day in and day out, swinging Hu’s heavy swords, and ripping the ears until his adolescent fingers tore and blistered.
To honor his dearest mentor, Jet buried Hu beneath those same fields, planting him like every other seed he’d ever sown, which sadly in turn, damned the soil. Though the two were truly one at last, creation returned back to the creator, after all Jet’s kindness— Fields of gold and green turned black. Dogs snarled at the land and Cats hissed, as humans shuffled quickly away, all whispering…
Demon, that’s what they called him. The monster that slayed Huu and put a curse on the dead man’s land. That was what they chose to believe,
And Jet had quickly grown… restless.
Without Huu the many jobs amidst the farm had become obsolete to him, from harvesting the corn, or working the stand, to tending the caving roof when the rain rolled near. What was the point? There was nothing worth doing and his sword hands were becoming so anxious.
Then there was that woman… the one who danced.
Jet remained within the town for one more summer, much to the dismay of the townspeople. But on the day of his departure, like Huu, he was smiled upon the first time in his life.
Hated as he was, it was those same neighbors who glared and sneered that bestowed the simple provisions for his journey, each practical in their own right, so that he would never have to return.
From Theo, the baker, he received two loaves of stone bread and honey. He promised it would fill Jet’s belly for forty nights and so he accepted, tucking the bread away into his satchel.
Due, the black smith, bestowed him a plate of armor; and swore it could defend against even the toughest foe if worn by a skilled enough owner. Jet readily accepted this as well.
But of all the practical treasures he collected, the most useless came from Bushi the Beggar, a self proclaimed adventurer who’d recently staggered into the small farming village.
“Beware the path, Son.” Bushi warned, pulling Jet close. His stinking breath blew hot against the younger man's ear before he could push him away. “There are thousands of roads but only if you stray away from the one you’re after will your eyes ever behold them!”
“Enough of your riddles, beggar, I have a quest of grave importance, so speak plainly or not at all.” Jet demanded, using his sword to put space between himself and the older man.
Over the treetops and across the green pastures…
The instructions were clear, and surely any warning could prove to be beneficial but Bushi…
“No no, that old road is no use for you…” Bushi advised, his fingers twisting together anxiously as he watched the well worn road winding into the distance. “Find work where you can, and a home to rest your head, but most of all, boy, heed my words when I tell you to steer clear of the hog farms.”
That was interesting… “And what is wrong with hog—”
“No good work there at all,” The beggar mumbled absently as his eyes glassed over studying the shifting dust. “And the smell. No, no good work there at all."
Jet considered the old man's words, odd as they were, but gave no thanks for his pointless riddles before setting himself upon the path ahead, leaving his little town behind for the world.
Jet did keep to the beaten path, far past the towering trees that hid his town, and out into the lush floral fields just beyond.
The long days of summer caused the flowers to bloom with gusto; a sight he’d never seen in all his days, with a rainbow of petals preening under the stinging rays. Those fields lasted thirteen days.
Soon the flowers gave up their pilgrimage of the countryside and gave way to an endless span of grassy plains; before making way for acres of rolling hills so high they met the sun, covered in a velvety green like Jet had never seen. Those plains lasted thirteen days, with not a single town or village in sight.
Just green.
“Old Theo’s been out of the village before you know. Much further than I have too. Says it’s beautiful, sure, but not much else.” Huu offered unexpectedly, watching Jet as he restlessly paced the front of their corn stand. “You could appreciate that, couldn't you? Beauty... something worth a second glance? It’s a human thing...”
Jet pondered his mentor's words, but shook off the slimy feeling they left behind. “What are you going on about, Sir.” he snorted with a roll of his eyes. As the old man continued to get older, all he did was spout nonsense at the worst of times. “I know what beauty is... it's a human thing... It's like the moon. It’s worth a second glance.”
“Yeah... Yeah it’s just like the moon.” Smiling softly, Huu turned his attention back to the crowd skirting quickly away from their little stand in fear of Jet's visibly short fuse. “Well, think of the moon when you’re restless like this.
And take a damn seat! You’re scaring the customers!”
There was no work to be done on these roads. No shops to eat from, no inn for Jet to rest his weary head or blistered feet, not a single friendly face to distract him from the beams that beat down on him from above.
Jet's thin, once protective armor plates became weighted burdens, attracting twice the heat and trying to defend against an untouchable attacker but to remove them would only give him weight in his hands. If the strength in his hands faltered, the way his feet began to, then the armor wouldn’t matter at all because he would be truly defenseless…
But to go back would be a waste.
Jet’s provisions were running low enough as it was and now; after witnessing the nothingness that existed just outside, …the brittle comfort of his old home felt like a suicide in every sense of the word. It was this single realization alone that pushed Jet forward— but Gods that heat. The sun had never shone with such anger in all his life, but the longer Jet continued the mightier it seemed it’s wrath became.
As Jet’s rations withered so had his morale, and it quickly became clear who the true enemy on these roads were.
Thirteen more days passed before his provisions had been consumed entirely, just as his water. It was another three under the sun's bitter rays before Jet could hardly feel his shins dragging across the lightly trekked soil, or the sharp rocks pressing into his calloused palms as he crawled in search for shade. Pushing his body tooth and nail towards the hopes of it.
Sixty-one days had passed in the bright green pastures,
But it was under the blessed light of the moon that Jet saw bushed treetops looming just over a nearby hill. The last beautiful sight before darkness overtook him.
****
bzzzz
Bzzzzzz
BZZZZZZ
BUZZZZZZ
It’s deafening.
BZZZ bzzzz BZZZ
That damned unnatural buzzing, pounding through his eardrums, and rocking his brain violently within his skull, until his eyes throbbed with it. Jet’s teeth clattered and chipped under the intense thrumming, pain radiating through his jaw until he finally fell to his knees. Jet's dull fingernails digging into the flesh of his scalp as he shielded his bleeding ears from the noise,... as vibrations shook the very earth around him.
No... but that couldn’t be true. The earth had never been this gold. From the skies to the soft mush on which he knelt all glittering GOLD.
BZZZZ BZZZZZ BZZZZZ
Dripping from the heavens… from the trees… like the thickest sap he’d ever— wait, not sap, Honey. Everywhere.
BZZZZZ BZZZZZ BZZZZZZ
Rivers of silk honey soaking his feet, slowly rising above his shins and clinging to his every desperate attempt to move forward. No matter how struggled to rid himself of this sickeningly sweet world, he couldn’t—
AND THAT DAMNED BUZZING!
He couldn’t think. There was no way to think past that grating noise! It wasn’t possible, there was nothing in sight; a world void of bees, wasps, beetles and the like, but the noise, that Gods forsaking buzzing, rattling the very bones in his body.
“Where are you, you bastards! Show yourself!” Jet cried desperately. He needed help. Someone— Anyone who would listen. He had to call out to her... despite the pain, and Gods he tried.
“SAVE ME!”
BZZZZZZZ BZZZZZZZZ
His body felt full. As if he’d consumed the honey himself.
“SAVE ME!”
BZZZZZZZZ BZZZZZZZZ
But there was no one to turn to, no hands stretched forth, no fire or warmth, and as Jet turned to the sky, there sat no one there either. No… no… not even the clouds. No woman at all, but rather a grand hive. Larger than the sun itself and turned inside out, its giant combs dripped with abandon as sweet maroon honey spilled languidly from the exploded combs, covering Jet entirely.
Here all along, hanging just above, while it's walls distended as whatever inhabited it struggled to be released, pressing futilely against the thick inner shells. Over and over knocking about angrily just out of sight, until the walls began to bleed right before his eyes.
The furious buzzing rattled the hive, and Jet watched it swing, splashing the world until he couldn’t sort the red from the gold.
It continued, until Jet’s insides were out, his body stiff under the rising tide of goo, which sucked him in deeper.
And as Jet attempted to plead once more before the golden waves dragged him under for good, a woman finally appeared. Greater than a mountain, and voice as sticky sweet as that of which consumed him.
“Fear not, Dearest.” She spoke softly, a giant finger scooping up a taste of the ever darkening, red honey. “There are no bees in my hive.”