The Hollow Moth: Reincarnated as a Caterpillar

The forest settles after they leave—roots untensing, air quieting in that way it does when eyes are no longer upon prey. I step out from the treeline, petals drifting in my wake, the hush of leaves following me like attendants.

Vithoth's massive head lowers, eyes glowing like lanterns through the dark canopy. "Huh. Thought ye had meetings with yer sister."

"I did." My voice carries smoothly, like wind through reeds. "I did indeed meet my darling sisters. Though there was promising info I heard from them."

Vithoth's barked chuckle rolls out like an old drum. "That damn mutt, eh? Clever dog. Been avoidin' us stronger flora, only strikin' at the weaker ones."

I let a smile curl at my lips, thin as a thorn. "Clever, yes. But clever things tend to leave patterns. And patterns can be broken."

The petals around me stir, waiting. The hunt is never over.

"Vithoth," I say, letting my steps fall quiet across the moss, eyes narrowing up at his vast frame. "You fought it before. Is there anything more you can tell about this monster?"

The great ent exhales, a sound like wind sighing through hollow wood. His eyes dim, then flare again.

"There's nothin' more I can tell, lil' missy, 'cept the way it fought." His voice drops lower, weightier. "Clever, aye… but there was somethin' more in it. More than hunger. More than survival. It fought with… hatred. A grudge carved deep."

I feel my petals still in the air, listening.

"And the way it looked…" Vithoth's head tilts, bark groaning. "Unlike any beast I've known. At least for a monster of its kind. Felt… unnatural. Wrong in its makin'."

"Are you saying it's been artificially created?" I ask, petals circling tighter, my voice sharp.

Old Vithoth's glowing eyes narrow. "Aye. It felt less like fightin' a monster… more like a heteromorph. An undead heteromorph."

Heteromorphs… mortals or creatures bent on the will of Syrrath, born through sheer will to evolve, to expand, to live, or to survive. That law is iron—monsters already walk aligned with Syrrath.

I lift my gaze back to him. "But for a monster to turn into a heteromorph? That should be impossible, Vithoth. Monsters already walk Syrrath's path. There's no way for them to get a redundant shift, unless…" My petals shiver, whispering the word. "…they were pushed. Forced into evolution."

"Aye." Vithoth's voice comes deep, grim, like earth closing over a grave. "Hence why I said it feels unnatural, lil' missy."

"We don't have any proof yet that humans caused this," I say, my petals folding inward, tone cool but certain.

Vithoth's eyes glimmer down at me, his voice like roots grinding in the dark. "Then what you gonna do, lil' missy?"

"Huh. What else?" I let a smile slip, sharp as a thorn. "Finding the monster, of course. According to my darling sisters, looking at the pattern of its strikes, there are two possible places it might wander next."

I pace slowly, blossoms trailing after me like drifting embers. "Either the edge between the northern side, where the new intelligent floras are integrating…" My voice dips lower. "…or toward the northwest side of my garden, where we cultivate our saplings."

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The forest itself seems to hush at the word saplings.

I let my petals fan out, their edges glowing faintly as though the forest itself leans toward my words.

"I'm going to put it down, Vithoth. It's been terrorizing our places for too long." My voice hardens, every syllable deliberate. "And if there's even a hint—a shadow—of humans being involved in this…"

I pause, let the silence bite, then drive each word like a thorn into bark.

"I'm. Going. To. Make. Them. Pay."

Vithoth lets out a creaking laugh, branches shaking. "Whoa there, lil' missy. You're scarin' even old peeps like me."

I incline my head, lips curving faintly. "Apologies for that, Vithoth." The petals around me still, then drift lazily again. "Anyway—how do our guests fare?"

The ent's eyes soften, glow dimming to a calmer hue. "They hold themselves well enough. Strange bunch, aye, but they carry bite in their bark. That cocoon lass especially—her mother's blood runs cold and sharp in her."

I hum at that, petals curling tighter, thoughts already threading ahead to what's coming.

Vithoth shifts, the groan of his bark carrying through the roots underfoot. "Aye… I felt it too. The way she spoke, the way she carried herself—it wasn't the same as the others. Monsters don't usually hold that kind of sharpness in 'em. Not unless Syrrath's will burned somethin' fierce in their core."

I tilt my head, lips curving faintly. "Or unless something else burned there first."

His glowing eyes drop lower to me, slow and knowing. "Yer thinkin' there's more to her than the Queen's blood?"

"Perhaps," I answer, not quite smiling. "And that's exactly why I'm keeping my eyes on her."

"What about the doppelganger variant?" I ask, letting my petals drift in a slow orbit as I look up at the old ent.

Vithoth's massive head tilts, bark creaking under the strain. His eyes narrow, glow steady. "That lad… aye, there's somethin' peculiar 'bout him. Somethin' I can't rightly explain, even with all my years."

The air feels heavier as he says it, the forest around us whispering with unsettled roots. "He's not like the other shifters that passed through my woods. Too still in his flesh, too old in his eyes. Like he's wearin' skin he half-remembers."

I arch a brow at that, folding my arms across my chest. "Stranger and stranger. A cocoon that feels too human, and a mimic who feels too… something else."

Vithoth rumbles low, his words drawn out like the groan of a tree in the wind. "Whatever he is, lil' missy, he ain't simple."

"Then there's the dog," I say, a small laugh leaving me as my petals drift lazily. "Happy-go-lucky, enthusiastic, eager. I did feel a little bad for strangling her until she passed out."

Vithoth's eyes soften at that, the green-gold glow warm rather than stern. "A fiery pup. Reckless, but loyal. The world could use more that bite."

"She fought the vines like her lungs could bargain with them," I admit, tilting my head, amused despite myself. "If she'd had one more heartbeat, she might've chewed through."

Vithoth's gaze drifts, green-gold eyes fixed on the distance. "Those bunches… they'll make it far, I'd say."

"Wait, Vithoth," I say, petals curling tighter. "The way you're gazing—don't tell me that's where they're heading."

Vithoth rumbles low, his voice like roots dragging through stone. "Aye… that's where they took off."

I drag a hand down my face, petals shivering around me. "Of course it is. That's the direction where the monster could be."

The old ent shifts, his antlered branches scraping the canopy. "Then either fate's playin' a cruel joke, or Syrrath's nudgin' their path."

"Cruel joke sounds more likely," I mutter, arms folding. "They've barely set foot in this zone and are already heading straight into its teeth."

Vithoth's eyes glow brighter. "Yet teeth cut both ways, lil' missy. I reckon that cocoon and her lot might bite back harder than you think."

"Ah well," I say, letting the petals drift loose again, "if they do encounter the monster, maybe they're the help we needed all along."

Vithoth lets out a long groan that could almost be a laugh. "Wouldn't that be somethin'. Outsiders carryin' the thorn we couldn't plant."

"They're reckless enough to stumble into it," I reply, half-smiling. "And stubborn enough not to die quickly."

"Aye," he says, eyes dimming to a steady glow. "That might be just the kind of help we get—whether we asked or not."

"Whether we asked or not," I echo, watching the last traces of their trail vanish into the deeper wood. The petals coil tight around me, and I let them scatter again with a thought.

"Then let's see what they stir up, Vithoth."

The old ent lowers his head in a slow nod, roots settling deeper into the earth.

End of Interlude