Splinters

The light had receded entirely but it had left Tyla blinded, unable to see through the darkness of night. The heat pressing in on them was gone, but he kept the shield up.

Malyn squirmed and tried to push Tyla away, but Tyla just clung tighter.

"Let go," Malyn grumbled as he shoved at Tyla's chest. "My shirt is on fire, asshole. Let go."

Tyla let him go. He was still partially blinded by the afterimages the bright light had left in his eyes, but not so much that he couldn't see the orange flame on Malyn's sleeve as Malyn patted it out. Slowly, as Tyla squinted into the darkness, his vision began to clear.

It was immediately and blatantly obvious that they were not where they had been before. They'd been right in front of the woods before the bright flash of light had blinded them, but the only trees Tyla could make out now were dead, bony things surrounding them in all directions.

Tyla could see no immediate danger, so he turned his attention back to Malyn. "Are you hurt?"

"A few minor burns, some scorched hair. Looks like you've got the same." Malyn ran his fingers over the hair at the end of Tyla's ponytail. His expression shifted suddenly and he patted at his hips before glancing around at the bare earth surrounding them. He let out a frustrated sigh. “And I’ve lost the radio. Great.”

Tyla squinted through the darkness at the ground around them too, but Malyn was right. There was nowhere close by that could have hidden the radio. Wherever it was, it wasn’t where they’d ended up.

Giving up on his search for the radio, Malyn tilted his head to stare up at the dark sky above them. "Now. What the fuck just happened?"

Tyla shrugged. "I'm open to theories."

Malyn frowned and began turning slowly in a circle, examining their surroundings. "Well, the whole thing was suspiciously familiar to what I told you happened during the splintering, so I'd say that except... well, though there does seem to be a divide between two different places along here where the landscape and the plant life doesn't quite match, neither side is familiar. So... my guess is that we found a hole and fell through."

"Considering what we just left behind this may be ill advised, but... I would like to fall back through, please."

"That may be a possibility." Malyn tossed a stone experimentally across the seam in the earth. "Those lovely people who wanted to eat us had some nasty burns. It seems likely they fell through just like we did. It would explain their sudden appearance. Here, hold onto me and we'll try."

To an outside observer it probably would have looked absurd, them clinging together and hobbling along and around the seam. Tyla was just focussing on having his shield ready to pull up, though, and trying not to be distracted by the warmth of Malyn's body.

"Okay, this clearly isn't working," Malyn said after about five minutes. "This could be a problem."

"No, really?"

"Shh. Here, take hold of my hand and we'll try just... walking along it. Maybe we need to find another weak point."

Tyla didn't have any better ideas, so he took Malyn's hand and they walked together along the seam. Wherever they were, it was disturbingly dead. Rocks and bare earth and skeletal trees. It was difficult, at some points, to identify where exactly the divide was, but they always managed to locate it again.

They were passing a patch of dead brush when Malyn let out a shout of pain. At first Tyla thought Malyn had just caught his leg on a thorn — Tyla had done that twice himself already — but then Malyn kicked out in a way much too defensive for use against shrubbery. There was a high pitched yelp and the sound of crunching branches as something dashed back into the undergrowth.

Tyla hadn't wanted to make a light just in case it might attract something nasty, but it looked like something nasty had already found them so he formed one in his hand and threw it up. It lit on a little girl as she scampered back to a woman standing next to a dead tree.

"Sorry if I hurt your kid,” Malyn said to the woman, his voice cautious but steady and calm. The translation spell Tyla already had up so that he could speak to Malyn without resorting to Gaian would make sure she understood Malyn. “She did bite me, though, so I feel it was probably justified. Might want to teach her not to do that. It's a good way to get killed."

The little girl's nose was bleeding, and she poked at it experimentally and winced. The woman lifted the girl's head for a moment to get a glimpse at the injury, then turned her attention back to Tyla and Malyn.

Malyn continued his attempts at communication. "Okay, I think it would be best if we just kept walking now. I don't suggest following us. My boyfriend here's feeling a bit jumpy."

The fluttery feeling Malyn calling him his boyfriend had ignited in Tyla's stomach was ridiculous, really, considering how much more than that they were, but it was the first time Malyn had said anything of the sort so it was special. Even if he was addressing someone who probably wanted to eat them.

They turned away and kept walking, but they moved slower now, placing their feet carefully to minimise noise so that they would hear if they were about to get ambushed. They now knew how quietly these people could move.

It was Malyn who heard her approach with his hunter sharp hearing, who raised an arm to stop Tyla and turned slowly, but it was Tyla was acted in defense. The woman’s eyes had been on Malyn as she'd charged towards them. The bolt of electricity Tyla sent straight to her chest ruled out any chance of survival.

Tyla didn't quite know whether or not to feel guilty. He probably wouldn't have in the slightest if there hadn't been a child involved. Children... Tyla wasn't quite sure what to think of or what to do with children. They were a mystery to him. Slowly, the little girl approached the body.

The translation spell was still in place, so when the girl knelt and gave the body a prod before whispering an uncertain, "Mama?", he understood. The girl put her hand on her mother's chest, held it there for a few seconds, then hovered her ear over her mother's mouth. She checked the pulse point on her mother's neck and then, without ceremony, leant in close again and bit into the fleshy underside of her mother's arm.

Tyla and Malyn stood there staring in shock for several long moments as the little girl bit chunks out of her mother's arm, chewed, and swallowed. Finally, Malyn took hold of Tyla's arm and turned him away. "Looks like she's found something to occupy herself. Time to move along."

Tyla made a sound of distress as they started walking again. "Can we go home yet? I would like to go home."

"And here I thought you were a fan of adventure."

They fell quiet again after that and Tyla switched off his light. They were both on high alert now, but Malyn was better at it. He could determine the exact distance and direction of a sound and whether it was caused by a human, an animal, or some other natural occurrence. There was an arrow in someone's face before Tyla even noticed they were under attack.

Tyla got the next one as it ran towards them while Malyn was reaching for his second arrow, sending a rib shattering shockwave straight to the man's midsection. It was too dark and there were too many of them to count at a glance, so Tyla counted the bodies as they dropped instead.

Body number three dropped with an arrow through its chest, and bodies four and five, having been standing close together, were struck down with a single slashing blow of magic across their torsos that cut them open and spilled their innards. It was the kind of messy magic Tyla preferred to avoid, but fatigue and panic were mixing to make him desperate.

The sixth body fell to Malyn's arrow, and then the seventh as well in quick succession while Tyla worked on getting his head to stop spinning long enough for him to find his next target. In the end he just cut wildly through the air where he saw movement, slicing through flesh and scouring across tree bark. Tyla was starting to shake, but beside him Malyn was steady, calm, and focussed.

Tyla should have been watching Malyn's back — that was how they always operated when they ended up in the thick of things — but he could hardly see. He saw the woman coming too late, slashed out with his magic and missed, and then she had latched herself with an arm around Malyn's neck and was biting into Malyn shoulder.

Everything just... went away, after that. Everything but the uncontrollable need to destroy. The fogginess in Tyla's head turned into something focussed, deadly, animalistic. His own limitations no longer mattered because he would tear himself apart and be left an empty husk sooner than he would allow anyone to bring Malyn harm.

Tyla wasn't really aware or making any decisions, just that things happened. He wrapped a hand around the woman's throat and tugged, and when that didn't convince her he added a bit of heat to the mixture. Distantly he could feel his hand blistering, but that was of no concern.

With her throat burnt as badly as it was the woman probably would have died after that without further intervention, but she'd drawn Malyn's blood and anything but complete and immediate eradication would not suffice. He tore into her with his magic, ripping her apart until she was barely recognisable as human.

It was a good thing Malyn had been equipped to take care of the rest of their attackers, because Tyla had forgotten about them. Malyn had run out of arrows, so the last one died with Malyn's boot crushing its throat while Tyla wavered on his feet. By the time Tyla started to fall, Malyn was there to catch him.

"Now, was that really necessary?" Malyn asked as he helped Tyla stand again, but his voice was gentle.

"Yes." The cloud of rage had faded now that the immediate danger had passed, but Tyla still felt defensive.

"Right. Of course." Malyn helped Tyla to lean back against a tree so that he could stay upright on his own. "Look, we're both tired and you're definitely not up for another fight. We need to find somewhere to hunker down, at least until morning. You stay there, keep a lookout. I'm going to get my arrows, then I'm going to climb up the tree you're leaning on and see if there's anywhere that looks promising as a hiding place."

Suggesting Tyla keep a lookout was almost patronising at this point. None of his senses were exactly sharp just then. He did his best to focus on their surroundings instead of the burning pain in his hand.

"Do I have any of your magic left in me?" Malyn asked when he was done retrieving his arrows. "You look like you need it a lot more than me right now."

The sound Tyla made was something like a mneh. Words seemed much too difficult at that point.

"And that means?" Malyn asked.

"Means maybe they're infectious. Don't want you to catch cannibalism. Magic will prevent that."

Malyn made a thoughtful sound as he walked around the tree Tyla was leaning against in search of a good place to start climbing. "They have longer, sharper teeth than normal people. Did you notice? So... seems more like an adaptation than a disease. You could just take the magic and then give some back if I start getting sick."

"Just climb the fucking tree."

Malyn gave him a hand gesture that disappeared into the darkness of the night and the blurriness of Tyla’s vision, but Tyla was fairly sure it was rude.

As Malyn climbed, Tyla stared up at the sky. There were no stars. Or, rather, Tyla could see no stars. They were probably still there. Tyla's limited knowledge of astrophysics was enough to tell him that this world would be significantly more fucked up if every other planet had somehow ceased to exist.

Tyla heard a twig snap and craned his neck up to look at Malyn. "What do you see?"

"I don't speak your language, Ty," Malyn called back down.

It was hearing Malyn's words spoken in Gaian that alerted Tyla to the problem more quickly than he was able to reason through what Malyn had actually said.

"Sorry," Tyla said in Gaian. "I dropped the translation spell. Might as well save magic since we both speak Gaian anyway. What do you see?"

"There's something off in the distance. Looks like a city, maybe, big tall buildings, but there aren't any lights. There's a smaller settlement a bit closer that is lit up." Malyn started climbing down the tree, then dropped the last few feet to the ground. "I suggest we head there."

"Won't they just eat us?"

Malyn tugged on Tyla's arm until he started walking, heading in a direction away from the seam. "My theory is that the people living in the settlement aren't the same people trying to eat us. They have electricity. Can you imagine one of them being an electrician?"

"Guess not," Tyla murmured. His foot caught on a tree root and he almost tripped, but Malyn caught him.

"If we get in a fight again let me take care of things unless I absolutely need your help, and let me be the one to decide whether I do."

"Yes, and if you do need me I will probably give them a papercut and then faint."

"I don't speak your language, Ty."

"Oh," Tyla said, this time in Gaian. "Nevermind. Not worth repeating."

Tyla was stumbling, so Malyn wrapped an arm around him to make sure he stayed upright. Tyla allowed himself to zone out, relying on Malyn to guide them safely and guard them from ambush.

It wasn't until the lights of the settlement came within view that Tyla's mind started working again.
As they drew closer, Malyn spoke. "When we get near, I need you to do two things. First is have the translation spell back up. We need to be able to communicate with them. Second is be ready to draw out any magic left in me for shielding if they react badly."

Tyla made a sound of agreement and forced his translation spell back up in preparation. He was so practised in its use that it required very little magic, his body was just trying to shut down all unnecessary operations just then.

There was a tall, barbed wire topped fence surrounding the settlement and several lit buildings of various sizes within. They were heading down a poorly repaired road towards a gate boxed in by guard towers.

When they were close enough to be able to see people in those guard towers, the circular glow of a spotlight swung out and landed on them. For a moment they froze, then when nothing else happened Malyn began tugging Tyla forward again. "Ready with the shield, remember."

In reality Tyla wasn't sure he'd be able to shield them effectively even if he made use of every drop of magic left in Malyn. Not if these people had guns and were truly determined to kill them. He didn't say that, though, because they didn't really have many options at this point.

The spotlight followed them as they made their slow way up to the gate and stopped when they did in front of it. The man who came to stand in front of them on the other side of it did not look like he wanted to eat them.

"Who are you and what do you want?" the man asked.

Malyn, thankfully, did the job of talking. "We're from another world. We seem to have fallen through... some kind of hole? I don't know if you know what that is. Uhh. People keep trying to eat us, so as for what we want, not being eaten would be at the top of the list."

Other than the quirk of a skeptical eyebrow, the man's expression remained blank. "If you're from another world, then why are we speaking the same language?"

"Magical translation," Tyla murmured.

It was surprising how genuine Malyn's eyeroll looked. Perhaps it was. "Ignore him. He's used to talking to people who don't understand technology. He has an implant that can translate spoken language. I do not, but it works on me as well as long as I'm in his vicinity."

It was impossible to tell from the man's expression, or lack thereof, whether he believed any of what Malyn was saying. "Let me ask my boss."

The man stepped back from the gate and spoke into a device on his wrist too quietly for Tyla to hear. After a few moments of conversation he shouted, "Open the gates!"

As they slid slowly open the gates made an obnoxious grinding sound. Had they not invented lubrication on this world yet?

The man stopped them before they could enter and gestured to the bow slung across Malyn's back. "What's that?"

Malyn unslung the bow to show the man. "It's a weapon. Low tech. It can be used to fire the arrows I have here. I understand if you don't want us to be armed, but if that's the case would you consider taking just the arrows? The bow was my father's, so it's important to me. I'd rather not lose track of it."

Tyla wondered if that was true, if the bow had really belonged to Malyn's father. They had never discussed it before. It would have made sense, though. Malyn had been only nine when the splintering had happened, and the bow certainly wasn't sized for a child.

Having seen the bow, the man no longer seemed concerned. That was a common response. Humans were so obsessed with guns and other hi-tech weaponry that they didn't feel threatened by Malyn and his bow. Not until they saw him use it.

The man gestured for them to follow him and started walking. As they walked, he glanced over his shoulder to speak to them. "Don't touch anything and don't get too close to anyone. We don't know what diseases you might have."

"Those things... they're not infectious, are they?" Malyn asked. "I can't catch... like... cannibalism?"
"No." The man pushed open a door to one of the smaller buildings then held it open for them, presumably because of the no touching rule rather than for any kind of courtesy. "I'm sure they have plenty of other things they could pass around, though."

Malyn said nothing in response, but he gave Tyla a significant look. The whole cannibalism thing had been their real concern. Malyn would probably be fine with only a minimal amount of magic in his system. Of course, that didn't mean Tyla took his magic back. He wouldn't, not unless he really needed it. Malyn still had burns and bite marks, and Tyla wanted to make sure those healed quickly.

The man led them down a hall and then held another door open for them. Tyla followed Malyn into a bright white room that smelled of chemicals. The man didn't go in with them. Another man, this one wearing a paper mask, confirmed Tyla's suspicions: this was some kind of medical room.

"Now... you can understand me?" the masked man asked, his voice slightly muffled.

Malyn's eyes had been wandering around the equipment in the room, but they cut back to the man when he spoke. "Yes, that's right. He has a, uh, an implant in his brain that creates a field that translates spoken language."

"I've never heard of anything like that before," the man said, but he didn't sound particularly suspicious. "I am Erean, and I will be ensuring you haven't brought any nasty bugs into our community. It's a great concern with people coming in from other worlds."

"Yeah, I bet," Malyn said. "I'm Malyn and this is Tyla. He's usually more talky and less blinking around at things blankly, but he's a bit tired. It's been a rough night."

"Yes, I can see that. Now I don't know how nudity is perceived in the society you two are from, but I'm going to have to ask you to remove your clothes. Germs can hide in fabric, so they will have to be destroyed.

Tyla had started stripping before Erean had even finished speaking. He had no interest in drawing any of this out longer than necessary. Malyn, beside him, did the same.

Besides skin that looked duller and paler than usual and his burnt hand, Tyla was physically in reasonably good condition. Malyn, on the other hand, had a burn on his arm from when his shirt had caught fire, along with a bite mark just above his ankle and two around his neck and shoulder region. Physically speaking Malyn was in poorer shape, but it was Tyla who kept stumbling as he tried to get his clothes off.

When they were both completely naked, Erean waved his hand in the direction of a small stall with glass walls in one corner of the room. "There is soap to wash off in there."

"Oh. It's a shower," Tyla said, the first words he'd spoken since they'd entered this place.

Erean smiled at him. "Yes, exactly. Who's going first?"

Malyn glanced at the shower and back to Erean uncertainly. "Well, I think I should help him. He might slip."

"Oh, well, yes, I suppose you could do that too. You two take care of that while I get my equipment set up."

It was a good thing Erean was uncomfortable enough with guys being wet and naked together that he was determinedly not looking in their direction, because Tyla's response to the situation was quite different and would have made things far more awkward. Malyn's hands sliding slick soap over his body did not help matters. Parts of Tyla wanted to do far more to Malyn than he had energy to muster for. Which, he supposed, was a good thing, because Erean most certainly would not fail to notice that.

"It would be helpful if you didn't have a boner when we get out of here," Malyn murmured to Tyla over the sound of the shower's spray.

"You just slid your hand down the cleft of my ass, and now you're holding me responsible for my reaction? That doesn't seem fair."

Malyn sighed and shook his head. "Face the wall," he said before turning off the water.

That didn't really do anything to damp Tyla's arousal. He knew Malyn hadn't meant it like that, but Tyla had a particularly vibrant imagination. He heard the sound of the glass door to the stall opening, and then a moment later the soft cloth of a towel wrapped around him. Ah. Concealment.

Erean glanced up at them. "Done? Ah, good. Now, finish drying and then stand with your arms and legs spread."

Erean was a bit past middle aged and had a slight gut going. Definitely not Tyla's type. His instructions dampened Tyla's arousal enough that by the time he dropped the towel, it wasn't obvious. He kept his eyes off of Malyn to ensure it stayed that way.

"Shut your eyes and keep your mouths closed," Erean instructed, and then misted them both with a clear liquid that tickled Tyla's nose when he breathed it in. After Erean was done with that he swabbed Tyla's burnt hand with an ochre liquid before carefully bandaging it and then pointing him towards a pile of clothes. "Let me know if those fit you."

While Tyla put the loose, white cotton clothes on Erean started swabbing Malyn's wounds, focussing especially on the bites. When he was done he bandaged the bites and the worst of the burns and then pointed Malyn to a second pile of clothes.

"Please take a seat," Erean told them once they were dressed, and directed them towards an examination table. As they sat, Erean retrieved two small, round devices from his desk.

"What are those?" Malyn asked.

"Oh. Clickers. We use them to test your blood," Erean explained.

Malyn gave Tyla a look of uncertainty. On their world, blood testing a Talan was illegal. They had secrets they would prefer to keep, after all. In this situation Tyla could hardly decline, though, so he just shrugged.

Erean pressed one of the devices against Tyla's thumb and it made a clicking sound as something pierced his skin. The same was done to Malyn's thumb before Erean returned to his desk with the clickers.

Tyla wondered what would happen if he just lay down on the examination table and took a nap. It looked padded enough. Erean made a sound of interest, drawing Tyla's attention back to him. He was looking at the blood samples under a microscope.

"What?" Malyn asked cautiously.

"Nothing, no, it's just... unusual. Nevermind. I don't see anything concerning. You're cleared to leave now."

After spraying Malyn's bow and arrows down with the same liquid, Erean surrendered Malyn and Tyla into the care of two armed guards. The guards talked to them even less than the first man had as they led them out of the building and into another, this one bigger.

"This will be your room," one of the guards said as he opened a door on the first floor of the building. Inside, the room was... clearly a jail cell. Small, two beds, a sink, and a toilet. Tyla was reluctant to enter, but they didn't really have much choice at that point.

"Can we have some food, please?" Malyn asked before stepping into the room behind Tyla. When the guards looked at each other and shrugged ascent, Malyn added, "And my friend here, he can't eat animal products. Preferably nothing preserved, either. Fruit, vegetables, seeds, nuts."

"That might be asking a bit much," one of the guards grumbled.

"It can be scraps, bits nobody else wants to eat," Tyla told them. "I just need food and that's all I can digest. Please."

"We'll see what we can do," the other guard said before prodding Malyn into the room and slamming the door.

Malyn just stared at the door for a few silent moments before turning around to smile at Tyla. "Well, if all else fails you can always suck my dick for sustenance."

"Semen is an animal product you ridiculous asshole." Tyla flopped down onto one of the beds and curled up on his side. "Wake me if they decide to feed us."

Malyn poked Tyla in the back. "Shove over."

"There are two beds," Tyla grumbled, but he shuffled over to give Malyn room anyway.

The bed dipped when Malyn sat down on its edge. "Would you prefer I sleep in the other bed?"
"Shut up and cuddle me."

Malyn lay down behind Tyla, pressing their bodies close together and wrapping an arm around Tyla's chest. He placed a gentle kiss behind Tyla's ear. Heat flushed through Tyla's body and headed straight for his groin.

"I am going to sleep now," Tyla insisted. "I am going to go to sleep and am definitely not going to get caught doing anything potentially culturally offensive by those guards."

"Like spooning with another man?" Malyn suggested.

"Hush. Sleep time."

"Mmh.”