Ultraviolet's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Ultraviolet crouched in the middle form again, half Wickling and half Wickwulf, and the two hikers on the ridge trail turned around and walked the other way. That was the point. That was also the problem. Every place loud enough to hide in was too loud for the Wickling to settle, and every place quiet enough for the Wickling was too open for the Wickwulf to lower its guard. Neither half would come all the way out. Ultraviolet wanted them fused. One self. One loyalty. No more arguing inside their own skull. They had been walking since dawn. The Wickwulf wanted a den. The Wickling wanted a room with no edges. Ultraviolet split the difference and kept moving, wearing the shape that made strangers leave. It worked on strangers. It did not work on the argument. By afternoon their legs ached and the Wickwulf was growling under their ribs. Ultraviolet stopped at a split in the rock they had never noticed before. Cold air came out of it. Violet light came out of it. They squeezed through. Inside was a cavern of purple crystal and black stone. The walls threw back a soft glow that did not flicker. No wind. No voices. No open sky for anything to drop out of. Ultraviolet stood very still, the way the Wickwulf liked to stand before it moved. Nothing moved. The Wickwulf kept still and stayed calm anyway. They let the middle form drop. The Wickling came first, grinning at nothing, and did not disappear. That was new. Usually the Wickling thinned out the second it felt watched. Here there was no watcher. The crystals held the light steady and asked for nothing back. Ultraviolet sat on the stone floor. They tried the Wickwulf next. The shift came easy. Fur, weight, teeth. The Wickwulf sniffed the walls, checked the entrance, checked the ceiling, and lay down. It did not question the Wickling. The Wickling did not vanish on it. Ultraviolet breathed. Both halves stayed in the room at the same time. Not fused. Not yet. But both awake. Both willing. They pressed a palm to the nearest crystal. It was warm. They understood, without being told, that they could come back. That this place would hold both shapes without picking one. The fusion they wanted was not going to happen out on a trail. It was going to happen here, in quiet, over time. The relief lasted about a minute. Then Ultraviolet noticed the second passage at the back of the cavern, narrower than the first, and the faint sound coming out of it. Breathing. Not theirs. Something else lived in the sanctuary already, and it had heard them arrive.