Rennuid thinks about words, their weight, and what can remain unsaid in the face of implication. And he learns something new about his friend.

this skips ahead in the timeline a bit, until after Allegory's death by GllChk's hand.

I'll post a timeline one day...

This story is a transcribed version of a comic, so if it seems oddly bare in places -- that's why!

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Over and over,
I kept wondering if GllChk knew.
About me, and the beast he had slain.
That I was its--

...He had to, right?
The lurid things it had said to me, in front of him. The disgusting things I had said to him, before.


The truth waited in the air,
always clouding my thoughts.

He would often look at me with a question in his pupilless eyes.

"Sorry. I'm.. just a bit out of it."
I'd always wave him away.
I was afraid to even mention it, for fear of what he'd say.


"I'll try not to fall behind again," I would promise.

"Take your time if you need it," he'd soothe.


So I kept my thoughts to myself.


It became like a dance. Inexorably, the words would draw closer to voice, welling up to the back of my teeth. Desperate, to meet the air.

Inevitably, I would fall back, the trepidation a vice on my throat. My courage - or audacity, as I felt it to be - would all drawn away. Until the next time.


...Of course, not everything I bit back were things that ever ought to be said. I had some... bad days.

Days I would awaken from terrible, prosaic dreams, made of muddled memories..

..days where the first words boiling on my tongue were, "Why?"
"Why couldn't you leave us alone?"

The two of us, we were happy.



In those weak moments, on those bad days, what I wanted back was the sanctity of the lie.

And on those bad days... I found that I yearned for him to KNOW more than ever.

What I craved, then, was not so much air, but.. for GllChk to understand exactly what he had taken from me. A sort of revenge, I suppose.


Still, I remained resolute in my silence,

though always I watched for a sign- any sign-

that maybe
he was aware.



...But even my vengeful moods don't tend to last, because GllChk - he's a hard person to just hate like that.

...today he stopped, and turned to me.

"Rennuid - are you quite alright?"

"Yeah-- No." I wheezed, and almost doubled over-- the pain I had been ignoring in my side made itself known more plaintively, at the thought of rest. "I think I have a stitch."
"Then let's stop a while."

We found a hillside with a tree, for shade, and I harbored at its trunk from the light wind. GllChk pulled and worked at his armor until he had stripped down a comfortable amount, bare exoskeleton exposed on his chest and many arms. He pulled out the book he always had, and I shuffled around for my canteen, kettle, and tea leaves.

Time passed us in companionable silence.

"Oh. I drank it all already." The dregs were already touching my tongue, at the bottom of the tin cup. I must have lost track of time. I looked up at GllChk -- still reading his book.

"What are you reading, by the way? I've seen that one in your hand a few times."

"Well... it's a storybook.
It's the sort one tells to a child... some stories I grew up with." He turned a page.
"Oh. That's pleasant."
"Hehah. Not what you expected?"
"No."
"You're candid today!"

"Ah," I gasped, suddenly nervous-- was I TOO candid?
But GllChk had a chuckle in his voice, and said, "Don't worry. I like it."

He said things like that all the time. Sometimes.. it pained at me greater than it soothed. I have a weak heart. When someone shows me too much kindness... it aches.

"What did you think it was?" he asked, after a moment.

"Umm." I fiddled with the edge of my robe, shyly. "I know the script, but not the words... I'm not sure what I expected."

"Well.. it's always been my dream." GllChk.. dipped his head, almost seeming abashed, himself.

"In the stories, I wanted to see what was true, and what was still left." He turned a page.
"That urge is what drives me. It wasn't so simple, getting this far.. ..But my journeys now are the result-- far away from home, chasing faerie tales, old bones... this book, it's how I decided where to go next."

I looked at the cover with new eyes, hearing that. I could espy on its worn binding a dragon, and a knight; a many-limbed Precursor, by the looks of it, just like GllChk.

"So our mysterious destinations..."
"Are my old bedtime stories, yes."
"That's charming, honestly."


But when I thought a little deeper, I realized what else that meant.


"Hey, GllChk. In your book, uh.. Are there stories about it?"


I knew that there had to be. How else would he have found us?

How else could he have known, even from our first meeting, that something was wrong?

He stared down at his precious book for what felt like an eternity. Until finally he said,

"Yes. There are a few.
..I could read one, if that's what you'd want."

"No. Don't."

The warm sunshine, now, felt entirely stifling.

"I guess I only want to know one thing."

I couldn't suppress the question most heavy on my mind.

So hoarse it couldn't hiss, so raw it couldn't be a whisper, I finally,

finally asked,
"Was there anyone else like me?"


#thegodwedarenotspeakof #tgod #gllchkthefair #fantasy #fantasyfiction #rennuidtathviel #iwonderedifheknew
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