Of the many species residing on the Exo Planet E2073, 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 to carve a way out of this place since it was a whole lot easier than whatever was happening right now.
[Stop moving will you?]
"I'm trying, but your new legs aren't making your heavy ass any lighter!"
Hurriedly balancing himself as Eva lay on his back kicking at the ceiling with her new legs, the metal shuddered slightly under the force as it bent outwards, allowing more and more light to stream inwards.
Having turned off all of the other light sources as to save power, the only light they had was the light from the outside, and having peaked through the holes, Ester knew exactly where this light was coming from.
[Hiyah!] Letting out a final mechanical yell, Eva kicked against the ceiling with both of her legs causing the metal plating to fly off of the Driller and slam into the ceiling of the cave, nearly causing Ester to stumble from the force.
[Got it!] Yelling out her success, Ester grunted as he unceremoniously dumped Eva onto the pile of shirts she had previously used to plug the holes in the wall eliciting a surprised mechanical hiss.
Collapsing among the shirts, Eva stared at Ester with a pair of dewy eyes vaguely hidden by similarly yellow goggles. [How rough Ester, is this how you treat all the pretty ladies you meet?]
"You know as well as I do that those pretty ladies are most likely to kill me, so get off of your flat ass and help me bring our things outside." Finishing his words with a kick to Eva's tootsie roll, she laughed at his words before getting up to help him to carry their things outside.
It was difficult considering that the engine was as heavy as it looked, but once the two of them got that out of the way, it was just a matter of tossing everything they lifted up onto the cave floor.
As for worrying that they might be damaged?
Well that wasn't something that they didn't have to worry about thanks to their light source.
Kin Moss
Shorthand for Kinetic moss, it was a peculiar plant species that evolved due to the increasing density of falling objects landing on the planets surface, converting the kinetic energy for it to use.
It's just really convenient that the energy that it's unable to convert was transformed into light.
In the case currently, the Kin Moss were glowing as bright as a persons prospects outside of this damned planet.
That is to say it was bright enough to see.
Flinching as a burst of light struck his retinas as the engine slammed into the ground with a soft thump, Ester cursed underneath his breath as he helped Eva up.
Grunting as he pulled her up, Eva looked around with bright and curious eyes as she looked all around the purple colored cave, her steps light as she leapt down and landed softly onto the patches of ripped up Kin Moss.
[So this is the outside world?] Placing her hands on her hips and looking round, her eyes lingering on the front half of the Driller dented but not covered in plastic, she commented. [Looks sad.]
"Well now you know how I feel everyday." Sarcastically replying to Eva, Ester bent down and hefted the Engine up with his back. "Now- *Huff -Why don't you help me with this?"
[Yeah yeah, no need for the Sarcasm] She waved off his sarcasm.
[-mister I will be the Architect of your doom] Eva added almost as an afterthought, picking up the Engine with the whir of leg pneumatics heaving against the sudden strain, Eva helped Ester shove the engine block onto the trolley.
"I'm leaving your ass to die the first chance I get." Ester glared at Eva, a subtle flush appearing on his face as Eva waggled her eyebrows.
[Aw... Is someone embarrassed?]
"Yes. Now stop it."
[No]
"Why"
[Just because.]
"I hate you"
[I love you to Mister -] "GAH!" Ester suddenly blew up as Eva brought the words which would remain his bane. "Shut up!"
[-Of your dooommmm...] Eva being Eva gave absolutely zero damns about his feelings.
"Gah..." Slamming his hands into his face, Ester sincerely wished for the ability to turn back time and prevent himself from getting caught carried away in the wave of emotions that had appeared when it came to him that 50 years worth of innocents were being condemned to a death that could've been solved by a simple execution.
'Aaaannd back to reality.' Slapping the sides of his neck at the recollection, Ester breathed in slowly and composed himself in the same motions.
[dooooommm]
That was until Eva's quiet voice hissed into his ears
'And my inner peace is ruined'
Feeling a vein pop onto his forehead as he grabbed the cart by its handles, the wheels of the cart silently rolled over the Kin moss, leaving a trail of purple light in its wake.
In a similar fashion, every step that they took left behind purple shoe shaped light on the Kin moss, an almost ethereal glow surrounding them as they walked, the after effects of what was most possibly the entire planet moving having activated all of the Kin moss currently growing in the cave.
It was less bright than the weight of the Trolley cart rolling over it and their every step, but it served to create an almost ethereal atmosphere that nearly made Ester reluctant to leave.
Nearly.
Rubbing his stomach and feeling the cold touch of metal over the fabric where a dark pit of hunger lay gnawing at his flesh and wondering if the Kin Moss could be purified of its toxic properties, Eva shook him by the shoulder
[Ester] Eva's mechanical voice echoed into his ears.
"Yeah?" Looking up from the ground, Eva nodded towards the exit of the cave in front of them.
[Is it normal for it to look like that?]
Tilting his head, Ester frowned as his eyes rested on the entrance that was glowing a distinct orange in comparison to the purple innards of the cave that they were in.
Frowning slightly, Ester perused his memories for what might have been the cause for this before snapping his fingers with a small spark escaping in between "Ah"
[Ah what?] Tilting her head suspiciously, Eva fiddled with her belt nervously, the Respirator still humming quietly on her chest. [Is it something that I need to worry 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 as they neared the exit "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?
Since there was no way that they would be able to see the sun from beyond the thick coverage of clouds covering the sky like some sort of impenetrable shell, they had another way of determining the time of day.
And it was thanks to a little something called the star bug.
A peculiar little insect that fed on the starlight shining above their skies while also having an incredibly short lifespan of just a day
Needing to feed on the Aether rich starlight to survive, the Star bugs rarely flew below the clouds where they were unable to feed and thus, they usually stayed above the thick clouds and laid their eggs on their mates where they would hatch and break into a colony of brand new star bugs that would populate the skies.
And this is where things get interesting.
Even the most prolific of animal populations needed territory equivalent to it so that they could survive.
It was here where most of the old star bugs would die, letting the new star bugs live in their place.
What happened to the corpses of the old star bugs?
Well 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.
'If the starry night sky that the exiles talked about are this pretty, then I guess they aren't delusional as I thought.'
Staring silently at the crying dawn, golden stars fell down to the 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, but after she lost her legs to that Explosion, Eva would've never had the chance to see 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
It really made you think about the future
---
2 DAYS SINCE THE PLANET STARTED TOWARDS DESTRUCTION BY VOID
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2 More chaps on Sunday since I have an IELTS test tmrw
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