Neshalia hits the display screen like a bug on a windshield with blood spraying in all directions. She slides down the display, a loud cracking sound coming from her wings as she hits the floor. Ty immediately stands up, screams, and grabs his knee. He quickly becomes quiet as he peers in terror first at his father and then at Neshalia's broken body. He quivers uncontrollably, looking down at his father's bleeding nose and elbow.
His father moans loudly and gazes up at his son, who is frozen in terror. “I am hurt severely, my son, but I will survive, most assuredly. Go ahead and care for her. I know you want to.”
Ty hobbles quickly over to Neshalia's broken, popped-open body and kneels beside her. His mouth drops open; numerous crystalline fibers with a dim, flickering glow fill the ruptures, lighting the multicolored, slimy gel oozing from the breaches like the slow rinsing of a painter’s palette. Neshalia slides her hand along the floor towards Ty and Ty grabs it. “It is time my child—the art of my lifeform must now slowly fade.”
Tears shoot from his eyes and he screams, “No! No! It's not fair! My mummy died. You cannot die too.”
“You are the most beautiful of us, Ty. Do not be sad. Do you remember the first time I gave you the beam of knowledge?”
“Yes, Nan-ma. I was so scared. I didn’t know what I was, why I was, and if I would continue to live. I was so confused. You gave me a reason to live. You told me what my purpose is. And you loved me—the first love I felt from any Saeshell—the first love from my own kind other than my dad.”
“Look at you Ty; no Saeshell as young as you has developed such a clear sense of purpose. With such an early start, your Saeshell abilities, when you are fully developed, we be so amazing. I am sorry I will not be here to explain and admire each of your talents as they sprout from you, the most loving of all Saeshells.
“No! No! I will die without you, Nan-ma. You haven't taught me. You haven't taught me yet!”
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