By Luca Nobleman
Glowing moss lined stone walls, lighting the winding path as Harmony and Phezz delved deeper into the deadly caverns of Molitoz. Harmony loosed a melody, pure and sweet, to galvanize the local animals who thronged around her. The woodland creatures were entranced by her song, and she hoped they would guide her in their search.
Her heart pounded as she examined her surroundings. When Miriel, the Codifier and director of the Timekeepers, had recruited Harmony and Phezz for the mission, she warned them of Molitoz’s frightening history. Lichen-cloaked skeletal remains of the long-extinct curio lay scattered about, the luminous overgrowth barely hiding the claw-etched stone scored by ancient inhabitants as they encountered a monster eons ago—the same Horror that Astrotech had hired the Timekeepers to find.
Now Miriel waited in their ship above the asteroid, expecting exactitude and fearlessness from her agents. As loyal as she was, Harmony wasn’t sure she could be completely fearless. That’s probably why Miriel chose Phezz to come.
“How’d this monster escape?” Phezz interrupted her singing.
Still weird. Phezz might look like an overgrown squirrel, but he never seems affected by my song. Is it that he’s sentient or just calloused from watching the destruction of his planet?
Harmony opened her mouth to answer—but forgot the question. Her short-term memory had not been the same since childhood, taken by the same accident that left her with the gift of Mindspeak—the ability to communicate with animals.
Triggered by the memory lapse, her implant, the Cybernetic Programmable Intelligence, kicked in, answering for her. Harmony’s melodious voice shifted into monotone, overlaid with a sophisticated accent. “Astrotech Inc. woke the Horror after breaking open its lair while mining.”
Phezz didn’t even flinch. He seemed used to her alternate voice by now.
The CPI continued. “Only after the death of twenty-nine employees did the corrupt corporation halt mining until the beast was stopped.”
“Sickening.” Phezz shook his head.
“But seventeen attempts by five separate interplanetary extermination companies have been fruitless,” Harmony’s CPI explained. “They never found it. That’s where the Timekeepers come in. You’ve defeated Titans before, and I hope to convince these creatures to show us where the Horror lies. It’s likely I can communicate with it.”
“Is that what Miriel told you?” Phezz cocked an eyebrow.
Harmony took back control from the CPI. “Just because Miriel can Mindspeak like me doesn’t mean—”
A sudden deep roar echoed in the distance.
“What is that?” Phezz growled.
Harmony gripped her necklace, a Caerulum crystal made entirely of solidified soul—the soul of the planet she and Phezz currently journeyed through. However, Molitoz was not technically a planet. It was an asteroid in the Sal’En’Trep belt orbiting the red dwarf star Camtori-5. The same solar system that Phezz’s homeworld once orbited.
Harmony whistled to the opel at the head of the pack—their guide to the Horror’s home. The elk-like creature with glowing antlers stopped, rotating its head.
“How much farther?” Harmony sang the words into a beautiful motif.
It yipped a curt response.
“What is it saying?” Phezz gripped his antler knives as he shot glances around the dark cave.
“It said we’re close.”
“You trust these creatures?”
“Well, they haven’t killed us yet.”
“Exactly!” Phezz remarked. “What if it works for the Horror? Finding it food? Now you’ve collected all these critters. We look like a walking buffet.”
“I think they’re sweet.” Harmony leaned forward to pet the silky hide of the opel.
After a few more turns through the labyrinth, the opel led the group to an enormous cavern filled with trees growing upside down from the high ceiling.
The opel stopped and called out into the foliage.
A dark mist tumbled from the ceiling, settling upon the opel.
As though imbued with ancient energy, the once regal elk-like creature morphed before their eyes. Its fur grew longer and thicker as its body quadrupled in size. The opel’s limbs contorted, claws jutting out, replacing its hooves.
Phezz recoiled into a fighting stance.
In moments, the opel had transformed into a towering antlered sloth with glowing blue eyes and a bear-like snout atop razor-sharp teeth. The opel was the Horror.
A voice boomed all around them, echoing as though a chorus of ghosts spoke simultaneously. “Why dost thou seek me!?”
Phezz cocked an eyebrow, glancing at Harmony, his eyes dark with misgiving. Perhaps he couldn’t understand the Horror like she did.
Harmony cleared her throat, then stopped. She forgot the answer. Thankfully, her CPI kicked in again, replying for her. “Oh, Great and Wise One, I have with me the last remnant of your planet’s soul taken from your world by Astrotech. We have come to return it.”
The Horror scoffed. “Incorrect!” It pointed a deadly claw at Phezz. “The curio knowest the true reason you have come!”
“Curio?” Harmony voiced, without her CPI this time. “He’s no curio, Wise One. Phezznibbet here is the last of the Xintixa.”
Phezz’s eyes widened. “Cu’ Rio se lanti?”
Harmony scrunched her nose. What?
A sudden chirping resonated from behind the Horror. The monster heaved its mighty weight, moving to expose something hidden in the shadows.
From the darkness emerged a creature nearly three feet tall with a bushy tail and glowing lichen woven into its red fur—an overgrown squirrel. A Xintixa? Harmony gasped as more of the same crept from the shadows of the trees.
“Cu’ Rio se lanti,” Phezz whispered. “The ancient Lost Ones. The ancestors who came to our planet from a meteorite eons ago.”
“Suay cos librapri suay cos nuostro,” the ancient Xintixa chirped.
“I’m not sure what she’s saying,” Phezz sputtered, glancing wide-eyed at Harmony.
Peace settled over Harmony as she realized Phezz was no longer the only remaining Xintixa in the galaxy. She almost felt Miriel smiling down from their ship above.
Harmony grinned, centering her Mindspeak power. “She said: Welcome, Friend. Welcome, Family.”
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Good job incorporating past “multiverse” characters into this one! I also thought the “Mindspeak” device was a nice touch,
Thanks so much, Stoney! It’s been a great season with great characters. I couldn’t help incorporating some others. I’m excited about your story at the end of the month!
Great adventure. Clever way to handle Harmony’s memory loss. I enjoyed seeing her beside Phezz. You developed a great duo.
Thanks, JM! She was a super fun character to write. Thanks for giving us the opportunity to bring her to life in our own ways! Enjoyed your version of her! Especially since it was how you originally imagined her I bet.
This was an amazing story! I love how you added in Phezz as well, he’s such a natural companion for Harmony. I also love how you explained her short term memory loss!
Thanks for your kind words, Joyce! Phezz naturally fit the part as a sidekick to Harmony. All the characters have been so great this season that it’s hard not to include them in future stories. Thanks for reading!
My favorite lines: “Now you’ve collected all these critters. We look like a walking buffet.” Nice! Loved the cameos with Miriel and Phezz!
Thanks, Deborah! That was my favorite line as well. Yeah, Phezz and Miriel are hard to keep out of stories. Amazing characters we have to work with. Great story yesterday! Loved the sister connection you weaved.