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The metamorphic rock had white streaks in it, and it was smooth and cold on top. The smoothness stopped when it dipped over the sharp edge strong enough to cut dead skin. Beta watched in horror as a Tenti standing beside him let his feet lean over the edge of the cliff like it was nothing, plummeting toward the water like it was nothing, and resurfacing—red faced—like it was nothing.

Well to Beta, it was something. All the power in the universe still couldn’t teach him how to swim.

“Bollocks,” the Perna muttered, turning back to Matrix standing a few feet away from the cliff’s edge, still with shirt. “Yeah, sorry mate. Not happening.”

Matrix couldn’t help but smile, enjoying every moment of it. “I think you just need some encouragement,” he said, taking a few steps forward.

“I think I just need to leave, actually. Like right bloody now.”

“Come on,” Matrix flung his hand in the air, sending a wave of air in Beta’s direction. But, he still stood tall, and Matrix furrowed his eyebrows. “You weren’t affected by that?”

“I’m not letting anything push me off this cliff mate, nothing,” Beta said, standing his ground.

Matrix squinted. “Okay,” he responded, putting his hands on his hips. Matrix flung his hand out again, and this time it didn’t affect Beta…

It affected his shirt.

Beta felt the tearing, loose fabric moved up his spine. The panic rose with it, and those thoughts bubbled into his brain, consuming his every—

And right before his shirt, his panic, and his memories surfaced completely, Beta turned around and jumped, but not before Matrix caught a glimpse of what the Perna tried to hide so badly. He was falling in tune with the water from the waterfall, the liquid mist flowing over his face as he plummeted. He—for the first time in months, years—screamed in fear as he watched the shocked, yet happy faces beneath him.

Then, he hit water.

It felt like an endless bed of daggers piercing through his skin as he sunk under. In death he wasn’t breathing anymore, but unfortunately that still didn’t mean he could breathe under water. It wasn’t suffocating; it was an extreme, deadly version of claustrophobia. The right reserved to the Tenties, which was just another thing Beta really didn’t understand.

When he realized he couldn’t breathe, he decided that maybe his many talents didn’t include swimming should have come up before something like this happened.

He swung at the water, trying to get back to the surface. People swam toward him as he searched the bubbly, misty water for his shirt. He spotted the black stain in the water, and the way it twitched led him to believe it wasn’t just another Tenti tail. Beta tried to get near the floating grey cloth. Unfortunately, he couldn’t stand that brain imploding pain anymore.

He fought to get back to the surface, and once he did he opened his eyes and squeezed the water out. The relief didn’t last long.

“WHOOOO!” Beta looked up just in time to see Matrix falling toward the water...directly over him. Beta went under again, his head aching from the impact of Matrix’s pelvis against his skull. Tenties swam around him still, abusung him with their tails. He was tired, dizzy, and felt lifeless. As his eyes began to close, he saw a figure before him, one that didn’t come with the intent to kill.

He struggled to keep his eyes open when the figure pulled him out of the depths.

He coughed up the water lodged in his throat. Beta looked up to thank the person, but by then he only caught a glimpse of them. He looked around to see Tenties, but not the one he was looking for.

That’s when Beta spotted his shirt again. He grabbed it with a shaky hand, but it was already shredded by the time he put it on. At that point, he thought he was going to catch hypothermia. Moving to keep warm, Beta trekked deeper into the woods, trying to catch up with them.

Matrix’s smile diminished when he realized there was no one watching him. He swam away from the others and looked around for Beta. That’s when he caught a glimpse of the young blood disappear into the unknown, or unknown to him. “Dammit,” Matrix hissed, crawling out of the water.

Beta searched, but he couldn’t find the guy anywhere. A guy…that’s all he knew. It was a guy.

He stopped once he felt a sharp pain in his foot. Quickly after, Beta fell to the ground. He lifted up his pale, bare foot. Blood was already seeping out of the wound. But by the time Beta wiped the blood off, the cut was completely healed, and the foot looked fresh again.

“Great,” Beta uttered. “Just great.”

He heard a rustling in the woods around him and he stood back up. He continued walking; the bright forests seemed to beckon him closer. Those fists clenched automatically, knowing the types of creatures that lived there.

The leaves crunched under his feet as he got closer. He went slower now, like the energy began to leave his body. Without warning, a hand landed on his shoulder and he stiffened. All Beta could do was stand there, and remember what he had been told.

Orange eyes, death by suicide, shapeshifter, wi—

Matrix.

He let go of Beta and gave him time to recover from the shock. “You scared the hell out of me.”

“What did I tell you? This isn’t our territory,” Matrix said, grabbing Beta’s arm and pulling him back to the waterfall, but Beta jerked his hand away rather easily.

“No.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“I can’t even swim, who cares?”

Matrix’s whole face gave off a shocked expression before retreating back to stoic. “Why didn’t you just tell me you couldn’t swim?!”

“Oh, I’m sorry! I was a little distracted when you pushed me to jump off a bloody waterfall!” Matrix was about to yell back when they both heard a cracking sound in the distance. They turned at the same time to see a tangle of white feathers.

Matrix stopped breathing for a moment as he took in the sweet, distant scent.

“He’s here,” Beta whispered. But just as Beta had said that, the flurry of white feathers was already gone.

“Or he was,” Matrix muttered, exhaling as his muscles relaxed. “Come on, being here makes me light headed.”

They went back to the waterfall, got their stuff, and left, Beta clutching his shirt to his skin desperately. Matrix thought the party was getting a bit too wild, which was strange as early as it was and as simple as the Tenties were.

While they walked back, a question popped into Matrix’s head. “Why do you try so hard to hide your body, anyway?”

Beta looked up at Matrix and shrugged. “I have an embarrassing tattoo, let’s just say that.” He paused before adding, “Plus it’s not exactly the ‘best’ body.”

Matrix squinted, tilting his head suggestively. “I think we can both agree it’s more than that.”

“Even if it was, it doesn’t matter anymore.”

Matrix just nodded and smirked, continuing their long walk home. And during that walk, Beta spoke. “Okay, now I have a personal question.”

Matrix sighed. “What.”

“When you…consume someone, do they still come back here?”

Matrix glanced at him. “Plato imports harmless dead bodies for us to eat.” Matrix held a hand up before Beta could jump in. “And before you ask, no I don’t know what that means. It’s just what they say.” He sighed. “However, if I were to eat a real dead body, the acid in my stomach would probably ‘take care’ of whatever was left of them. Just like regular digestion, kind of. Like, if someone boiled you in a bucket of acid, you wouldn’t come back either. You’d just rot away in the depths of your mind, or so I’ve been told. I honestly couldn’t imagine…” It was then that Matrix stopped walking, thinking about a reality where he didn’t have the luxury of ‘safe food’ to eat. The dawning of his reliance on Plato’s system, whatever that system may be, made him realize how right Beta was.

It was unfair.

“So, if the remains can’t be found, then they don’t come back?” Beta asked.

Matrix took a breath in, shutting his eyes briefly. “If the life can’t be found…then there’s nothing to come back to.” Matrix turned away from Beta and continued walking without another word said.