The Brink

Prologue

Cedar waited exuberantly for the annual moonblossom rising to begin. He waited with nearly twenty-thousand other people, all gathered around the Eastern Flora Nexus. The area was very crowded, but Cedar and Finn had picked a good spot to watch from three-hundred feet up in an elder tree.

Any minute now, the moonblossom rising would begin. Down below, a massive cavern stretched deep under the planet’s surface. The cavern walls were covered with cyan-colored flower buds just waiting to bloom. These flowers were called moonblossoms, and they only grew underground. None of them had bloomed yet. They would all bloom at roughly the same time. That would begin the annual moonblossom rising that everyone was anxious for.

Once the flowers bloomed, each one would release a single seed that would float up out of the caves and glow in the moonlight. Each seed would have a balloon-shaped petal attached to it that would carry it into the air. With all the millions of seeds that would emerge from the pit, the sky would soon be filled with glowing petals like bluish stars traveling across the sky to reach every corner of the planet.

None of the seeds would be moonblossom seeds. Each one would be different, actually. The moonblossoms could create any type of seed, from a tiny red poppy to a great elder tree. It was part of the symbiotic relationship that existed across the entire planet. Plants and animals helped each other grow and thrive. There weren’t any two species that had to fight each other for survival. While the moonblossoms created elder tree seeds for the forests, the elder trees would suck water out of the clouds and pass it down to the moonblossoms through their roots. Everything worked together like that. That’s just how it was on the planet of Gaias.

“Want some stalkberries?” Finn asked, standing barefoot on the tree branch beside Cedar. He held out a handful of juicy yellow berries that stuck together with a sappy, sticky paste.

Cedar accepted the handful, pulling the berries apart one at a time while he watched the pit down below. Once he was finished with the berries, his hands were still covered with stalk sap, so he wiped his hands on the moss that covered the tree branch. The moss soaked up the sap immediately, using it to grow itself and heal the elder tree it grew on. It was nice because it cleaned Cedar’s hands in the process.

Suddenly, the massive crowd around the pit grew silent. Way down below, Cedar spotted a single speck of light blue light that rose up from the darkness. It was followed quickly by another speck of light, and then a few more, and then hundreds more. Cedar was too far away to see the seeds, but he knew that each speck of light was a glowing petal that carried a seed into the sky.

Pretty soon, everyone was cheering. The moonblossom rising was one of the biggest celebrations of the year each year, almost as big as the rain of Gaia.

The number of petals continued to grow exponentially. Supposedly, this was happening today in seven other places around the world, in some places it had already happened, and in some places it hadn’t happened yet, but today was the day of the moonblossom rising for all Flora Nexus’s. This was the Eastern Flora Nexus, the one that Cedar lived closest to. It took five days to walk here with Finn and some of Cedar’s other friends, but it was worth it. There was also a Western Flora Nexus, a Northern Flora Nexus, a Southern Flora Nexus, a Meridian Flora Nexus, a Prisintine Flora Nexus, an Elder Flora Nexus, and a Ruby Flora Nexus. All of them had the same purpose, and all of them would spew out countless floating seeds that would fill the sky for the next few weeks.

Pretty soon, there were more glowing blossoms visible than stars in the sky. Cedar couldn’t help but smile. It was a beautiful sight, and it would cause countless new plants to spring up and thrive in the coming months. He always loved to see new flowers, trees, and other plants pop up around his home after the moonblossom rising.

Somehow, something else caught Cedar’s attention. Even with one of the most beautiful, stunning sights known on the planet right in front of him, he noticed something strange in the sky that didn’t belong there. It was tiny and faint, but it slowly grew brighter.

Cedar continued to stare at the strange object. It was just too interesting to look away from, even during the moonblossom rising. It looked like… a comet? There was something very off about it, though, something that forced him to keep staring. Eventually Finn noticed his expression and followed his gaze, then he started staring at the comet as well.

The color of this comet was definitely that part that kept Cedar hooked on it. It wasn’t a color he had ever seen before. It wasn’t any combination of blue, red, or yellow. It wasn’t a dark color, but it wasn’t a light color either. It wasn’t really in between light and dark. It seemed almost incomprehensible, completely separate from the color spectrum and every law of nature that the universe lived by. Cedar immediately decided that it was the strangest and most interesting thing he had ever seen, even more interesting than the moonblossom rising.

“What is that?” Finn asked, a hint of worry in his tone.

Cedar didn’t answer. How could he answer? He had no idea what this thing was, but it continued to grow brighter and brighter, telling him that it might hit the planet as a meteorite.

Somehow, Cedar was able to look away from the object for a few seconds. He looked out over the massive crowd of people gathered around the Eastern Flora Nexus. The vast majority of them were smiling and cheering, but a few of them looked just as confused as Cedar. Those were the other people who had spotted the strange object.

A brighter flash of light suddenly came from the object, drawing Cedar’s attention back to it. It had entered the atmosphere with incredible speed, catching on fire in the process. He could now tell that the meteor was almost right above the flora nexus, but it was heading south. It wasn’t very large, but it glowed brightly in the night sky. More and more faces turned to stare at the extraterrestrial object as it soared over the crowd and into the forest behind Cedar and Finn.

Finn shook Cedar’s shoulder, getting his attention. “We need to go check that thing out,” he said.

“But,” Cedar hesitated, “Today is the moonblossom rising. We’ve been looking forward to this all year.”

“I know,” Finn said, “But this happens every year. That meteor was a once in a lifetime experience.”

“It probably landed a few miles away,” Cedar said, “You want to look at it up close?”

“Yeah,” Finn said, “We need to go right now, though. I’m sure other people are gonna check it out, so I wanna be the first people there.”

“What if it’s dangerous?” Cedar asked.

“Well it didn’t cause any destructive shockwave or explosion like some other meteors. It’s pretty small. It’s probably just a weird rock from space. What could be dangerous about it?”

 “Yeah that’s true,” Cedar admitted, “Let’s go check it out before anyone else gets a chance.”

Finn grinned and jumped off the branch they stood on. He used his hands and feet to slide down the massive trunk of the elder tree, the moss on the bark helped him descend safely and comfortably until he landed softly on the fluffy vegetation at the base of the tree.

Cedar followed close behind his friend. The base of the tree was very crowded as the large congregation of viewers marveled at the moonblossom rising.

The two friends weaved through the crowd away from the Eastern Flora Nexus. A few people watched them leave with confused expressions, wondering why the heck they would be walking away from the annual celebration.

Cedar still wasn’t quite sure about all this. The strangely-colored meteor was interesting to watch, and it sure made him curious, but perhaps this wasn’t the best idea. Regardless, he followed Finn past the crowds and into the thickets. Finn usually made the important decisions in their friendship and friend groups, so this wasn’t actually unusual for him.

The two of them exited the crowds and continued traveling away from the celebration on foot. Their feet were still barefoot, but it was comfortable on the soft vegetation that covered the planet. Overhead, Cedar could barely see some of the moonblossoms floating across the night sky, but there were way too many elder tree branches in the way for him to get the whole view. Missing the celebration made him sad, but the real reason he loved the moonblossom rising was because of the beautiful sights. He would be able to see moonblossoms filling the sky for weeks to come, so it wasn’t actually all that bad that he was missing the main event tonight.

After speed-walking through the forest for nearly twenty minutes, Cedar and Finn reached a clearing of sorts. Cedar was starting to wonder how difficult it would be to find the small meteorite in the thick vegetation, but it wasn’t difficult at all once they neared its location.

Cedar first spotted the strange color pulsing from the object resting on the forest floor. The meteorite had landed without causing very much damage to the general area, it was just sitting on a large dense shrub. The color still confused him, but now there was something else about the object that made him even more curious.

All around the meteorite in a fifteen-foot radius, the vegetation was slightly blackened. The ferns and roots were starting to decay with rapid speed, and some of the leaves were even twitching and folding as if in pain. Whatever this meteorite was, it definitely wasn’t healthy for the flora.

“It’s killing the plants,” Finn said, suddenly worried.

“It’s spreading,” Cedar added, staying a good distance away from the extraterrestrial oddity.

“We have to stop it,” Finn said, stepping even closer, “It could corrupt the elder trees if it spreads too far.”

“Don’t touch it!” Cedar yelled, watching his friend step into the area of decaying plants.

“Why not?” Finn asked, “Would you rather just let it kill the forest?”

“What if it corrupts you?” Cedar asked.

“Animals have a much stronger immunity to diseases than plants do. If it gets me sick, I’m sure I’ll recover. I’ll just need some stalkberries.”

Without any more discussion, Finn closed the distance between him and the meteorite, picking it up without hesitation. Despite Finn’s hopes, the decay of the vegetation did not stop spreading. Instead, something else happened when he touched the strange object.

Cedar still couldn’t tell what the object was. It was a rough, organic shape, like a rock or a crystal, but it glowed so bright that it was hard to see any details. It was about the size of a closed fist, so it fit nicely in Finn’s hand. The skin on Finn’s palm immediately blackened when he picked up the meteorite, causing both Finn and Cedar to shout in horror. For some reason, however, Finn did not let go of the object. His fist only clamped around it even tighter, as if acting against his will.

The blackness spread up Finn’s wrist, becoming wet and blistery like fresh black mold. His fingers became longer, with hideous warts and smooth purple spots. They wrapped around the glowing meteor like tentacles.

The decay continued to spread up Finn’s arm and to his neck. His veins popped out, throbbing with corrupted black blood. He coughed up some blood a couple of times, then he fell back and began writhing in agony. His irises were filled with blackness then his eyes became shiny and purple, matching the various other purple spots on his inhuman body.

Fingers and tentacles emerged from random places all over Finn’s body. His muscles grew to three times the size, but they were lumpy and deformed, tearing apart his clothing to reveal the horrible monster he had become in less than thirty seconds. His breaths were now wet and bloody, his skin was black and slimy, his limbs were twisted and broken, and he now had an extra arm, two extra legs, and several other strange appendages that didn’t belong on any natural creature.

The black slime that oozed from Finn’s skin dripped onto the plants below him, corrupting them even faster and spreading the horrible alien disease. Cedar’s friend was no longer recognizable as human. Finn was obviously dead, and this monstrosity had taken his place.

The creature’s writhing and twitching slowed down some as the transformation process was complete. Cedar realized that he had been frozen in his horror this entire time. Was he supposed to run? Where could he run? He had a hard time thinking through anything.

The monster then rose on all fours, plus a few extra limbs that hung on the ground. It met Cedar’s gaze with dozens of disturbing purple eyes, then it snarled, showing multiple rows of sharp black teeth.

Then, it lurched forward to attack.

That is how the plague began.

That is how the warlash monstrosities were born.

That is how the world ended…

… two-thousand years ago