Chapter Text
Cold was perhaps the only word that could describe the world. Cold, wet and miserable. The chill bit into her long green fur as she awoke.
The sun tried it's best to warm the world, to bring heat to this desolate and broken land, but it failed.
The Saint uncurled from the ball she had formed of herself, and stood up, stretching her limbs and breathing in some of the air.
It was cold, but her well adapted body meant it was warm enough for her to not immediately feel as if she was stabbed in the chest by an icicle.
The Saint looked around her.
Machinery surrounded her. It reached up into the sky with it's rusted limbs, as disks covered each and every surface.
The Saint found that she was in some form of pit, as the old metal rose up all around her.
She began her newest journey by climbing onto an enormous metal tube and flicking her tongue at some rusted poles.
The Saint pulled herself up and then climb onto some more poles.
She continued this for a while, ascending up and up until she reached a ledge with a pipe in the ground.
The snowfall was already starting to pick up, her steps already being covered in a new blanket of snow.
The Saint dove into the pipe.
She emerged onto a small ledge over a drop off, and felt a distant yet familiar pulse.
The pull of something not quite alive and not quite dead. The desire that wasn't quite her own to meet with a shard of the undead.
The Saint sighed. Sure it was her duty, but she just reincarnated. Just woke up from her death.
She climbed up some poles around her, climbed up and over more old and rusted machinery. She found a pearl already, right along the icy ground.
The Saint grabbed it, dusted off the endless snow and ice that coated everything around her and swallowed it. The pearl would be useful incase she encountered any scavengers.
Now safely stored in her stomach pouch, the Saint grabbed some nearby rubble too.
Though a sin to inflict hurt on others, the Saint needed a way to defend herself so she wasn't immediately sent back to IT a mere ten minutes after reincarnating.
IT wouldn't be so happy about that.
So, Saint was forced to inflict some slight harm upon those who wished her ill, even if most of those were simply hungry creatures.
She hissed slightly as she walked around a pole plant and down into another pit in the machinery.
It was unfair to her that predators were forced to constantly reincarnate simply because they ate meat and not plants.
Saint shook her head.
There was no use in thinking this way.
She had a dozen conversations with IT, and each time her ideas were shut-down for being "wrong" or "foolish".
Was it too much to let the predators find peace?
According to IT; yes.
Saint shook her head again, harder this time.
The snow was falling faster, she needed to find the echo.
Taking a glance around to ensure no beasts would hunt her, the Saint sat down on the cold, rusted metal and curled her tail before her.
She closed her already nearly closed eyes and focused, detaching her mind from her body.
Saint honed her mind on a life force that shouldn't be in the south-west. She then focused on the path she would take.
It took a moment to let her mind memorize the route, and then a few more for it to reattach to her body, but when she was done, Saint knew the way to her first shard of the unliving.
Saint stood and began her trek by going right, diving into a pipe and entering an enclosed area with vegetation all around her.
There was raised ledge in the middle of the room with a small field of cherrybomb plants, and a few bluefruits making above too.
Saint flicked her tongue out and grabbed both of them, dropping the rocks she held to begin eating.
The sweet syrup within was delectable, and the tough outershell provided a perfect cup to drink from. When she was done, Saint also ate the shell, as it contained plenty of useful proteins and vitamins.
After cleaning her paws, Saint walked over to the small field of cherrybombs and plucked one from it's stem for herself.
Her eyes focused in on a certain detail though.
Pawprints. Just like her's.
They treaded beside the grove, and whoever this lynx was, they too had taken a cherrybomb for themself, since Saint found a leftover stalk just like the one she just made.
Interesting.
Though Saint was far beyond any of her kind she met these cycles, having a travelling companion was always fun.
Even inspite of the inevitable breakup when she had to do her duty, reveal what she was, or had to ascend.
Even inspite of the hurt it caused her watching each and every single one of them turn their backs on her.
Even inspite of the hurt she felt now, as she treaded this world alone.
Saint pushed her cloud of thoughts away and took one of the stones she had left behind, then left through a pipe on the other side of the room.
When she left, Saint felt the piece of the undead again. It called to her, though she felt another presence, a more familiar and welcome one.
Saint opened her amber eyes and looked across the pit she was sitting near.
There, delicately swaying in the wind, was a karmaflower. It's golden petals and leaves glowed with a warm and welcoming yellow.
Saint stood again and climbed up and across a set of poles above her.
She delicately balanced herself as she lightly treaded across the rusted metal, ready to flick her tongue at a moments notice.
When Saint crossed the pole that thankfully was not so deteriorated as to collapse under even her meager weight, she leapt down and onto this ledge, grabbing the karmaflower with her tongue and eating it.
Saint felt her mind clear, her heart lighten. She felt herself being centered again. Away from the echo, away from her past, away from IT.
Just herself.
Saint breathed in and continued her journey.
She went down into the pit, climbed down rusted poles and went into yet another pipe.
This pipe connected to somewhere quite a distance away from where she currently was, as it took her several seconds to pass through.
When Saint was finally let out, she almost fell out of the pipe, and was forced to grab a pole.
The first thing she noticed was the smell.
Though faint, she was surrounded by the scent of yellow lizard.
Saint sighed and let herself slide down the pole, landing on the ground with a slight roll to cushion her fall.
Even despite the short distance between the pipe and the floor, the smell of yellow lizard felt like it tripled. This meant that Saint was probably approaching their den, which made her very glad she took the cherrybomb earlier.
Standing up, Saint dusted off her fur from the rust and debris and took in her surroundings. If she was about to confront some yellows, knowing what was around her beforepaw was a good idea.
Saint was in a small room, that went down, then across then back up. A few pipes were scattered around, as well as long, intestine-like tubing that was probably used by the local iterator long ago.
Glowing green symbols were scattered on the upper walls and ceiling, as well as more tubes and piping.
A pair of scavenger lanterns were also present, which had been stabbed on stakes and then stabbed into the ground.
Saint approached these lanterns and sat beneath them, letting the warmth soak into her fur as she began meditating again.
The pull was still there, the echo singing to her still. Saint focused her mind again, planning her route with more accuracy.
She was very close to the echo now, very close indeed.
Just a little longer and she would arrive and learn their wisdom.
Saint opened her eyes and stood, passing through the room and to the other side, climbing up the pole and taking a deep, calming breath.
The yellows would be right on the other side of this pipe and, if she was lucky, be bunched up too. This would let her throw just her cherrybomb to confuse and irritate them, then quickly dash to the pipe she needed to go through.
Saint climbed up into the pipe.
She was deposited on a metal outcropping in a long, rusted tunnel. Wires and chains zigzagged across the ceiling as foliage clung to the corners and grew in little patches scattered across the area.
The smell of yellow lizard was strongest here, as well as some batfly and scavenger too. The smell of iron and snow was also present.
Saint could already hear the dull thuds and scrapes from the yellow lizards moving around, but she didn't see them. Yet.
She quickly sped forwards, using her tongue to grapple over gaps in the machinery and climb up a ladder with a pipe entrance hidden between the vines.
Saint looked to where she had heard the yellow lizards.
Nothing.
She sighed in relief and climbed into the pipe.
Only to be overwhelmed by the echo's presence.
Time slowed down, Saint's movements appearing as if she was wading through honey. Her mind felt all at once painful and numb, her senses dulled as she watched her body climb up of it's own accord.
"Ah, another presence joins us so," the entity rumbled, it's voice more a wave of feeling than a sound of speech; a thought given weight.
Saint felt her worries, her fears, her doubts, hopes, joys and dreams all melt away under the power of the entity which should not be.
"I did not expect another to commune with me, and yet here a second beholds my form," the entity rumbled again, it's thoughts replacing Saint's.
She thought of voices now, a hundred thousand speeches all overpowering eachother in her mind.
She heard the voices of iterators, in their electronic buzzes and zaps, and she heard the voices of even those long before the iterators. She heard the voices of those who had yet to be, too. Heard clicks and whistles and mutterings of civilizations that would exist long after this world had frozen over and melted yet again.
"I did not expect for two surges of history to collide this way," the entity spoke again. "But perhaps 'tis the way the waves flow."
Saint climbed to the top, and watched the writhing entity swirl around in the distorted, darkened air.
It's gold-tipped limbs fluttered in a wind that did not exist, it's long head, plated in golden diamonds, gently glanced to her.
"I have listened to history repeat itself a hundred times." The entity opened it's arms, and Saint watched as white light consumed the area around her.
"And yet here I am, surprised."
Saint opened her eyes.
Her head throbbed, as usual after meeting echos.
What was decidedly strange was that she hadn't been sent anywhere. She was still in the area where she met the echo.
Odd. But not concerning.
Saint still had time to explore. The wind had yet to pick up beyond a gentle whistle, the snow still falling as a light dusting over a true blanket.
But she was cold, and decided to go heat up near the scavenger lanterns until she could make a new plan.
She climbed down again, down and down until she went through the pipe to the yellow lizards.
The smell was still overwhelming, and the vines kept Saint hidden as she climbed down the ladder and watched the lizards.
Four of them were present, wandering about and sniffing whatever directly on top of where Saint needed to go.
They were too spread out for the cherrybomb to be effective.
Saint thought for a moment, and came up with a plan. A bit dangerous, but it would work.
She silently climbed down the ladder and away from the lizards, perching herself on an outcropping of metal.
She quietly prepared her cherrybomb as she gathered her courage.
"HEY YOU!" She cried out as loudly as she could.
The four yellows instantly looked to her, and the alpha of the pack started commanding it's underlings.
The lizards all advanced on her as one, and Saint couldn't help but feel a little fear as they surrounded her position.
She waited until just the right moment, then threw her cherrybomb at the floor.
The resultant cracks and pops disoriented the yellows and caused them to hiss in confusion, giving Saint the opening she needed to desperately fling her long tongue at the ceiling and grapple over to the pipe she needed.
She dove in and blindly ran to the scavenger lanterns, only to headbutt something fuzzy and tumble to the floor.
"Ow, what the fuck!" They cried out in pain.
Saint rubbed her head. It throbbed with even more pain.
"Sorry, I was escaping some yellows and–" Saint looked up and saw… herself?
They looked exaclty like her.
Same green fur, same large ears, same three dots.
The only difference was that he was smaller.
"I… didn't see where I was going," She muttered, too shocked to say anything else.
The other lynx simply stared at her. He had the same amber eyes.
"Who are you?" He asked, shocked and scared.
"I'm… the Saint," She responded, terrified and confused.
"Well that's impossible," He said, just as confused as she was.
"I'm the Saint."