Of the many species residing on the Trash planet, the Klatul is a rare example of Symbiosis in this harsh trash planet filled with selfish intentions and strife.
By themselves, the Klatul is a head sized beard with a hooked beak half the size of its already small body and are ordinarily nothing more than a nuisance due of their pack tendencies and unique behaviors that sharpen their beaks to dangerous levels.
With a Grunger that they perform symbiosis with on the other hand, the Klatul transforms so much that it is debatable whether or not they should be even considered the same species.
And if it weren't for the fact that dead Grunger Symbiotic Klatuls were basically identical to their cousins save the metal coated beaks, they might've been considered entirely different species.
But back to when the Klatuls first formed a symbiotic relationship with Grungers.
When roosting on the Grunger's metallic shell, they have the opportunity to interact with the Secretions that the Grunger produces.
A unique chemical compound that was surprisingly inert when it comes to organics but was hellishly sticky to metals.
And when paired with the Klatuls unique set of behavioral instincts, the unique combination creates a steel beaked bird that could tear even through the hardest of shells.
And the sharpness and size of those beaks only increase with age the more that they linger on the Grunger, protecting the Grunger while gaining more and more effective tools to hunt prey with.
Which was why Ester sincerely wished that they had a Klatul beak for a drill bit instead of whatever was causing it to create that demonic sound.
Sitting behind Eva as she channeled her will into the Driller to drill a way out of here with the drill bit placed atop the driller's drill, the drill bit screeched and screamed as it gnawed noisily at the surrounding rock.
Banish the thought of something being attracted to the noise, it was more likely that everything would be running the void away from it.
Void below, if the two of them didn't know what the cause of the unheavenly noise and couldn't escape it, they probably would've run away as well.
But as luck would have it, through the two still intact cameras of the previous fourteen they were able to tell that they were underground thanks to the grace of the Gate of the Ground to Space Array.
And as much as he wanted to toot his own horn about his own strength, Ester really wasn't confident about digging his way through several hundreds of pounds of concrete and steel without it collapsing onto his head.
So tearing apart his eardrums it was.
Feeling the already thin layers of sanity get worn even thinner by the omnipresent teeth grinding sound of the Driller screeching with pain and agony, after what felt like forever, the Driller lurched forwards without any resistance.
Instantly letting go of her channel connection and letting the Drill bit come to a screeching halt, through pure inertia, they felt the machine underneath their feet continue on for a few meters before slowing down to a halt thanks to the existence known as Physics.
Rubbing his head which was already pounding thanks to that sound that couldn't be called anything other than just pure noise, Ester cracked open his eyes to the sight of an Eva
Now that he thought about it, it probably was worse for her, having to keep her compusure while the Driller was still making that unholy noise.
Realizing that thought silently, Ester lightly tapped her head with the edge of his palm.
*Fwump.
"I'm going out to check the state of the Driller's drillbit, stay here and watch the cams for anything dangerous will you?"
[Adjuaoskwal...] Giving a garbled mess of glitches as her reply and a hiss of air that sounded distinctly tired, he nodded his head and silently made his way out of the Driller.
She seemed to be having fun trying to pull her shaky mind back together.
Stepping into the air lock and hearing all of the air disappear around him, he checked how well the oxygen tanks were right before his respirators kicked in as it came in contact with the polluted unclean air of the outside world.
Hopping off of the side of the driller due to a distinct lack of footing, when he looked up, Ester couldn't help but stare.
'What in the thirteen Architects...'
The skies of the Trash planet were often ones of poisoned rolling clouds that could shift from hues of polluted smokey grey to bloody rust red and toxic waste green depending on the weather.
Usually, the best weather people could hope for underneath the near freezing temperatures was one where trash rain occurred.
Because if the Dumpers were choosing this place to dump the trash for the day, that usually meant that there were none of those hyper natural storms in the surrounding twenty hundred kilometer radius.
But what was this new breed of hyper natural storm in the distance...?
Staring at the unnaturally clear horizons cleared of the heavy haze that he had learned to associate with the presence of pollution and carcinogens, Ester narrowed his eyes underneath cracked lenses.
Picking out details from the distant horizons devoid of the thick rolling clouds that he was oh so used to, the thick rolling clouds continued to thin near the edges as they transformed into strips of black wind that funneled inwards and downwards.
'Is that a tornado...?'
Staring at the massive tornado that was still visible even with what seemed like thousands of kilometers between them, Ester gulped down his saliva.
'I really hope that doesn't come our way.'
Slowly tearing his eyes away from the rolling black tornado as if it would suddenly appear besides him if he didn't look at it, Ester finally evaluated his surroundings in ernest, now present in mind and body together.
'Architects above.' Ester rubbed the back of his neck. 'Everything everywhere's broken.'
With the land underneath his feet torn apart and tossed around wherever was convenient, deep yawning chasms opened up in the earth below his feet, revealing the skeletal remains of vehicles previously dumped onto this planet.
Briefly scanning the side of a truck advertising the benefits of their brand new caffeinated drink, Ester's eyes finally turned to stare at the Driller.
And he didn't exactly like what he saw.
'Fucking hell...'
It looked just like his surroundings.
Dents carrying dents, large pockets of the metal exoskeleton had been indented to allow small and large rocks alike to be carried along the machine.
But that wasn't the worst of it.
No no no.
That award went to the front of the Driller that had just a while ago been screaming bloody murder.
'I half expected it to be bad but this is beyond bad.'
Rubbing the back of his neck as he stared helplessly at the front end of the Driller, the drill bit and drill itself weren't looking to hot.
Correction, it looked as if someone had taken a large bite out of the Drill before realizing that they didn't like the taste of drill bit, using thousand kelvin flames to melt the metal right off of the Driller right before they began to use it as a punching bag.
And that's not to say the recent escape from underneath a gate hadn't damaged it even further.
Staring at the Driller that was in all shapes of disrepair, the air lock behind him hissed with funneled air as a certain someone finally exited it.
Leaping off of the side and landing against the ground with a metallic thud, he turned his head to greet the ever beautiful Eva.
[So this is the outside world you keep on scaving in?] She gave a cursory look around, momentarily focusing on the large crackling tornado in the distance before commenting. [It looks just like you.]
Correction, she was the ever ugly Eva.
"Well now you know how I feel everyday when I look at you." Ester sarcastically fired back, moving to take out the bunch of rocks illegally using their Driller as a home for themselves.
"Now why don't you- Hup - Pull your own weight and help me with these rocks?"
[What if I say I don't want to?]
"What if I say I'll steal your legs when you sleep?"
[You won't actually do that you coward.] She waved off his sarcasm.
[-mister I will be the Architect of your doom] Eva added with an indistinguishably familiar lilt of teasing in her voice.
"Ugh..." Ester groaned loudly, throwing one of the smaller rocks at Eva. "When are you going to drop that?"
[Aw...] Eva let out an amused hiss of air escape her throat as she blocked the small rock, retaiating with a rock of her own. [Is someone embarrassed?]
"No." Ester caught the rock, throwing it right back at Eva. "Now stop it."
[No] She missed the catch, opting to use one of the many rocks illegally occupying the side fo the Driller as the newest weapon.
"Why" Doing the same when he failed to catch the rock, Eva tilted her head with amusement.
[You said you aren't embarassed about it right? So it doesn't matter if I call you Mister I'll be the Architect of your doom or Ester the one eyed menace right?]
Ester groaned loudly as Eva dredged up memories he would rather stay hidden. "I hate you"
[I love you to Master Destroyer of-] "GAH!" Hurriedly waving his hands as he felt a terrifying premonition from the corner of his mind, he shouted at Eva. "Shut up!"
Eva being Eva however gave absolutely zero fucks as she continued uninterrupted. [-Omegacorp and savior of the trash planet.]
"Ugh..." Feeling his mind get torn asunder of the shame of his dark history being dredged up by someone he once trusted, Ester tried to think up of the best way to get back at her.
That was until Eva's serious voice echoed into his ears.
How he knew that it was serious Ester didn't know, but he could just tell.
[Ester]
"What's the prob."
[Is it normal for the sky to look like that?]
Tilting his head, Ester frowned as his eyes rested on the thick rolling clouds above him.
It took a while to find what Eva was so concerned about, but when his eyes finally rested on the thin glow of orange gold that slowly grew brighter with every breath, Ester smilled a smile hidden underneath his mask. Feeling his tension ebb away like the tide at dawn.
"Oh that? You don't have to worry about that in the slightest."
[What?] Tilting her head suspiciously, Eva fiddled with her belt nervously, the Respirator still humming quietly on her chest. [Are you fraggin kidding me? That doesn't seem like something we need to be worried about?]
"Nope, nothing like that." Shaking his head, Eva narrowed her eyes with more suspicion.
[Are you sure? That sounds suspicious as hell to me.]
Ester shook his head again while smirking underneath his respirator mask. The orange glow brightening as he did. "If anything, you'll enjoy this"
[Press X to doubt... Oh]
A simple exclamation made up of one syllable and two letters.
But the sentiment carried in his exclamation was anything but simple in nature.
[The sky...]
From the day that he was first born, Ester was brought up with the knowledge on how unique the skies of the Trash Planet were.
It was something that the Exiled said every single day.
All the time, they talked about how the sky wasn't supposed to be covered in so many clouds, how they could see the stars on cloudless nights.
And get this, they always said that the clouds always disappeared after raining water.
Imagine that. A sky without clouds that could potentially rain trash juice, acid, radioactive waters or liquid metal? Just clouds that rained down plain old water.
And they disappeared after raining.
In the sky above their heads, the Exiled said that they didn't have to worry about sudden showers.
And because of the sparse cloud coverage, they also said that they were able to see something called a sun that allowed them to determine night from day.
Here on the trash planet though?
The thick rolling clouds permanently etched their presence into the skies, only momentarily disturbed when the Dumpers pierced them to drop trash onto the inhabitants of the planet beneath before the stars were covered up again.
Add the fact that acid, toxic waste, liquid metal and liquid bacteria also fell from the sky whenever the skies felt like it, it seemed as if the skies were the domain of depression and pain.
But it wasn't all bad thanks to a few little guys who had adapted to the constantly cloudy conditions.
Star bugs.
Crystalline insects as thin as a micropressed sheet of metal that fed on the Aether rich starlight much unlike the other insects on the ground below.
Utilizing their incredibly lightweight bodies to float above the thick clouds, when a starbug neared the end of its lifespan, it gathered all of the starlight hitting its wings into eggs that it would then lay onto its fellow hermaphrodites.
When a Starbug does this, if the age doesn't get to them first, the starvation will.
And since gravity was still a thing...
They turned into the sight that the two siblings related to everything but blood were beholding.
The sky was crying.
And it was crying gold.
Flickers of gold flaking down from the sky as the Star bugs burned the rest of their remaining energy in the brightest moments of their lives, Ester's goggles reflected the sky glittering with the flickering embers of Star bug corpses.
It seemed gruesome to be enjoying the sight of Star Bug corpses falling from the sky, but in this planet where ugliness was rampant everywhere one looked, the Colony of Star bugs was a rare sight of beauty amongst the canvas of ugliness.
Staring silently at the crying dawn, the reminders that stars existed fell down to the trash coated earth.
Fluttering Star bug wings slowly falling down from the sky, the paper thin wings twisted and turned around and around in the air before they finally touched the ground.
It seemed to resemble the snow that some of the more hairy exiled talk about.
Holding the remnants of the Star bug with his finger tips, the diamond patterned wings pulsed with a final flash of golden light before it dimmed forever.
When the light of the wing finally dimmed, Ester finally tore his eyes away from the wing before looking at Eva's side profile.
With a pair of grey eyes seemingly hypnotized by the beautiful sky, she didn't even acknowledge the not insignificant amount of Star bug wings on her body.
It made sense though.
'I don't think she's ever seen a Colony of Star bugs before.'
It was already a rare event for Eva to leave their little underground hovel back in the past, but after she lost her legs to that Explosion, Eva would've never had the chance to see the Crying Sky.
So this was the first time she's ever seen the crying sky.
Seemingly locked in a staring contest with the Crying sky, Eva let out a series of quite breaths as she admired the beautiful sight in front of her.
And as witness to this sight, Ester couldn't help but think about her admiring eyes,
'They are much prettier than the dying star bugs.'
Thinking that, the Star bugs continued to fall from the sky, lighting up the dark clouds with their final spark.
The sky was crying.
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2 DAYS SINCE PROJECT VOID BUFFER BEGAN
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2 More chaps on Sunday since I have an IELTS test tmrw
Tree
[Rewrite]