A Banner Torn (Book 1 Complete)

The Slime:

The slime was condensed into a tight ball in the clearing, sensing the approach of the two young humans long before they entered the clearing. Vibrations through soil and air. Heat signatures growing stronger. Sound waves of their breathing, their footsteps crushing fallen leaves. The slime registered these sensations not as separate inputs but as a complete understanding of their arrival.

When they entered the clearing, its outer membrane rippled with recognition.

"You will be going into dangerous tunnels soon," it resonated, projecting sound from its entire surface. "Uncertain of your readiness for this action."

The slime observed as the boys settled themselves on the fallen log that had become their customary seat during these lessons. Their body temperatures elevated slightly from the walk, hearts pumping blood at accelerated rates, gradually slowing as they rested.

Its mass shifted slightly, adapting to the uneven ground beneath it.

"Training never stops. Only changes form. Danger brings different lessons than flow playing."

The smaller one, Kaelid, leaned forward. "What kind of lessons?"

"Patience. Observation. The art of stillness."

The slime extended a tendril, directing their attention to where a fox had paused at the clearing's edge, its rust-colored coat vivid against the backdrop of early autumn foliage.

"Watch how it moves. How it stalks prey without detection. How it uses the environment rather than fighting against it."

The fox picked its way through fallen leaves, each step placed with deliberate precision. It paused occasionally, head tilted as if listening to something beneath the carpet of decaying vegetation, then would pounce suddenly, driving its muzzle downward to emerge with a small rodent trapped in its jaws.

"Autumn hunting," the slime observed. "Different from summer hunting. Not better or worse. Simply adapted to conditions."

The taller boy, Rannek, shifted position. His vocal cords tensed, preparing to speak.

"It's kind of strange that we just call you 'the slime', or 'blob' all the time. It feels... wrong somehow."

The smaller one nodded. "It would be like you calling us 'human' every time you talk to us."

This concept had not occurred to the slime before. Names were a human convention, unnecessary for its kind who recognized each other through core resonance patterns rather than arbitrary designations.

"This one is indifferent to titles," it responded after processing their concern. "Though if categorization helps, this one considers itself [curious-teaching] as primary function."

The boys exchanged glances, their facial muscles contracting in what the slime had learned indicated positive emotional states.

"Curious-teaching," the smaller one repeated, making sounds with his mouth that approximated but did not capture the resonance pattern the slime had produced. "What about Curio? Could we call you that?"

The slime considered. The designation was meaningless but would facilitate communication efficiency.

"This one acquiesces if it makes interaction easier. We shall be known as Curio for now"

"Curio it is then," the taller one declared with satisfaction.

Curio continued the lesson, using the autumn forest as a living textbook. Learning from the slime was always like this, not sitting inside on hard benches copying runes like in village lessons, but out here where everything was alive and interesting.

Rannek nudged the smaller one's shoulder and pointed to where a squirrel was frantically burying acorns, preparing for the winter months ahead. "He's in a hurry," Rannek whispered.

"Smart creature," Curio's voice came from their left, though its main body hadn't moved. "Preparing for scarcity while abundance remains. This one does similar actions, preparing for hibernation, storing energy guarding against the cold cycle"

The lesson continued as they learned to spot signs of life preparing for the changing seasons. It showed the boy's how to recognize air holes created by burrowing creatures, the subtle differences in tree bark that indicated where animals had been feeding, and the almost invisible tracks that told stories of nocturnal journeys.

As the day wore on and the sun began to sink lower in the sky, it gathered itself into a more compact form.

"There is something this one would like to give you," it said, using a tone that immediately made both boys pay attention. "As we grow and gain knowledge our cores tones grow as well, and sometimes form into separate stones, separate selves internally. We are now 4"

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"Does that mean you could split into 4 slimes permanently?" Kaelid asked fascinated.

"Split is possible, and each new self would remember this self, but not well since only 1 stone does not allow as much thought or knowledge." It shifted to the side.

"All would be the same self at split and if remerged would have just been the same self in 4 places. If Wandering and separate learning, then separate selves would develop. They would be less than this one. We do not wish to split now"

"But nucleation… imperfect this cycle, also produced these."

From within its glistening body, Curio produced two small objects, shimmering shards that caught the fading light and reflected it in rainbow patterns across the fallen leaves. They were clearly pieces of the same crystalline material as Curio's core stones, but smaller, no larger than their thumbnails.

Leaning closer to examine the shards without touching them, wondered aloud, "What are those?"

"Core stone fragments," Curio explained. "Not complete stones, those would be other selves, other slimes. These are... smaller. Simpler. Empty of memory but capable of connection. We could deposit these in some nursery site and in many cycles from now sentience may spark."

"But we wanted to return favor of gift like you brought to us."

Rannek's eyes widened. "They're pieces of you."

"In a manner of speaking," Curio agreed. "They are of this one, but not this one's self. Think of them as... an empty cup, or one of your books, just with no writing in it. To hold what we learn together. Able to share what they have observed"

Curio extended two tendrils, offering one shard to each of the boys. "Take them. Hold them in your palms. Your resonance will cause them to resonate as well, feel for it"

Hesitantly, Kaelid reached out first, followed by Rannek. Both accepted the tiny crystals. "It's warm" Kaelid said holding the shard up to his face. The shard seemed to pulse with a subtle energy that was felt more than seen. Rannek did the same, his face showing the same mixture of wonder and uncertainty.

"What do we do with them?" The question came from the older one, barely above a whisper.

"For now, simply hold," Curio instructed. "Feel their resonance with your own energy. Later if they can resonate with you, we can try more"

Both boys cradled a shard in their open palms. At first, nothing seemed to happen beyond the pleasant warmth coming from the crystals. Then, Kaelid gradually noticed the shard beginning to glow with a soft blue light. Rannek's did the same, the light casting strange shadows across his face in the dimming forest.

"They're getting warmer," Rannek observed, sounding a little worried. "Is that supposed… supposed to happen? "

Before he could finish, both shards pulsed in time with their heartbeats. Rannek instinctively tried to drop his shard, startled by the glow, but it was stuck to his palm.

"No, this one did not predict this reaction…"

The glowing enveloped their hands and spread up their arms and onto their chest, as if the crystal were melting into their skin. Kaelid made to gasp in surprise, Rannek experiencing the same thing. The slime rushed forward to take the shards in case there was some danger it didn't know of.

Before it could snatch the shards that were stuck to their palms, they sank into the boys' skin and disappeared.

The light faded quickly, and the shards were gone. The slime was completely still, as shocked as the boys.

Kaelid:

"What... what just happened?" he asked, looking at Curio for an explanation, heart hammering against ribs.

The slime's mass rippled with an unfamiliar sensation eventually categorized as surprise and worry. An emotional response it rarely experienced and had difficulty processing efficiently.

"Unexpected," it resonated, vibrations carrying what human vocal patterns that kept shifting like the slime didn't know what to think or how to say it. "This one intended the shards to be worn or carried only. External repositories for shared knowledge. But they have... bonded with you…. This shouldn't be possible…"

Rannek rubbed his palm where the shard had disappeared looking worried. "Is that bad? Will they hurt us?"

"No," the slime assured, after a moment of hesitation, though its resonance pattern contained harmonics of uncertainty unusual for its normal confident vibrations. "Not harm. But change... perhaps. The shards were empty, containing no memories or self. They were meant to be... carried. Not merged."

Kaelid pressed his hand against his chest, where he could feel a warmth pulsing with his heart. "So what does this mean? What will they do?"

The slime's mass shifted in what constituted its physical manifestation of contemplation. Processing possibilities, calculating potential outcomes, searching its extensive knowledge base for precedent.

"This one cannot be certain. Such bonding with humans is... unprecedented in this one's experience. The shards may serve as connection. Ways to share learning. They may do nothing Humans don't have core stones."

"The implications of this development required extensive processing. These fragments of our essence had become part of the you." Curio Shifting side to side nervously. "The potential consequences exceeded its experience or predictions. In another slime they would grow and learn eventually becoming new full stones, new selves."

"Will we... change?" the taller one asked, vocal patterns indicating elevated stress levels. "Become more like slimes?"

"Unlikely," the slime replied, though with incomplete certainty. "The shards are too small, but this one has no knowledge of your kind ever bonding with a core stone before. We will have to see what your new selves become. They will grow and learn to be human rather than learn to be like this one."

"Like when slimes merge. You are you. New learning adds to the self, since they were blank then you are starting as you and learning from here."

As darkness fell over the clearing, he sat with them in silence, Kaelid tried to make sense of what had just happened. He felt a mix of excitement and fear. He imagined Rannek might feel the same. They had gotten used to learning from Curio, but this physical presence was completely different.

For Curio, it seemed to be something just as surprising. The shimmering mass of its body kept changing colors slightly as it sat there, something he had noticed it did when it was thinking hard about something.

"Autumn deepens. Winter approaches soon," Curio finally said, breaking the silence. "With it, change for all. These shards... they are now part of your change. We will learn their meaning together."

"We will sleep during the cold cycle, and when warmth returns, we shall see how you have grown"

He and Rannek both nodded, understanding that Curio was saying their regular training would pause during the coldest part of winter. They gathered their things, preparing to return to the village before night made the forest path too dark to follow safely.

Walking back home, he occasionally pressed a hand to his chest where the warmth of Curio's gift continued to pulse in rhythm with his heartbeat. It felt like the beginning of something important, though he couldn't imagine what. The crystal shard had become part of him, a tiny piece of something ancient and strange now merged with his own body.

What would happen? Would it change him? Would he still be him? The questions swirled like leaves in Kaelid's head.