Oetum
Infinite piles of man-made objects grow and shrink in size . Black imps collect them one by one, as if they were ants. The place is filled with a humid stench; a mix of rust, burnt plastic and gasoline, yet you get used to it. The trash dunes tower over any significant life, them being so high that it's impossible to tell which is the tallest. Any object that is not organic can be collected here: broken toys, wedding rings, bicycles, packages, bottles, old smartphones, and many more useless objects from thousands of years ago. The smell is unbearable, yet trillions call this place their "home". One by one, these beings come and go, come and go. And so...
"What are you doing?"
A slightly smaller and more dishevelled imp approaches someone who is in the process of collecting a very worn-out metallic table. The disturbed imp is larger, and intimidating just like the others. It turns around and looks down on the scrawny flea with its singular eye that covers most of his face. The dim and pale orange glow coming from his large eyeball emanates upon the small one, and makes him uneasy. Silence between the two grows for a couple of seconds. The larger creature observes just how ugly that black cockroach looks, and instantly recognises him, amongst thousands that he knows.
"Do not upset Him, Oetum." says the larger imp in an almost robotic tone and then walks away. Ah, that kind of response… Oetum stares back at the imp that's just walked away and instantly turns around when others see him from above, around and below.
The short imp looks up at the monstrous pile of objects in front of him. He collects an oily half-rusted wrench. Big, big mistake... The moment he takes it out and proudly looks at it, admiring its quality, the enormous pile that the wrench came from shakes and objects start falling from the top. At first, he tries to push it back into the pile, so the objects would not fall, but that just worsens it. Oetum makes a run for it, so no sharp things fall and crush him, but to no use. The objects collapse on him and other imps, causing many of them, including the larger imp from earlier, to die. Just the usual accident, a few deaths, many injuries, and others surviving.
It feels heavy. 3 tons weighing on from all sides, sharp and metallic. Oetum tries to dig his way out, but he can't even move his wings, they've been impaled by the same wrench he was trying to take from the pile. It's all jagged and static, so the imp accepts fate. This is what the end must feel like - constant weight. Drifting in and out of consciousness, the imp could feel the piles vibrating from others working as they always do, but also some sort of rumbling from underneath, one that squeezed further and split his deformer, one of the two antennae that help with morphing the same trash. If it is somewhere to be buried, this must have been the most fitting conclusion.
As time passes, and objects are taken one by one, an imp finds the dishevelled one in an even worse state. His antennae are heavily damaged, his eye looks much sharper, and his tail seems to be dysfunctional.
"Looks like this one's alive. Wings and deformers damaged. Seems more defective than usual. He'll be gone in about six sections… It's Oetum, I don't know if he even has a place or not anymore."
Oetum, confused and scared, looks up to see an imp, larger than him, just like the others.. He flinches and musters to himself, after having endured a 2-month coma:
"I'm not dead?"
"Do not upset Him, Oetum" says the larger imp in an almost robotic tone and then walks away, along with two others.
Oetum gets up. All of that… All of that just to be treated like that. He would have rather stayed buried than to see these faces. Catching his balance on shaky feet, and full of emotion he yells:
"FUCK YOU!"
Right after screaming at the top of his communicators, Oetum faints and opens his eye one more time. He places his fingers over his chest, breathing heavily, intaking the strong air of the area. Then, he slowly rises back to his feet, glaring at the ones who've exhumed him.
All of the imps surrounding him turn around for a split second, staring at him, then get back to work, some flying up to their homes with the objects they've collected.
Oetum, panicking, does not understand what's happened to him.
"Ugh.. I feel strange" he thinks to himself. Suddenly, he feels nauseous and an intense wave of energy injects him; "Oh well! Better get back to work!" he says out loud in an almost scared tone.
It seems that Oetum is very good at making the imps turn around because they all say, in their dead voices:
"Do not upset Him, Oetum."
Birth
Oetum loiters around the piles of objects, avoiding the other imps in his way. He stumbles upon a newer-looking shovel. The moment he tries picking it up, he instantly gets pulled down. No matter how many times he grunts, he just can't seem to lift it. Too heavy.
He scours through the floor with his tail for a lighter thing to bring with him. "Aha!" Oetum has found an amazing catch! A... cyanide bottle… As he looks through some more objects, he concludes that the bottle is the best choice. He prepares his wings for takeoff by stretching them like a bat. And so he leaves the mounds. As he takes off, flapping his wings against the breeze from above, he gets a tight grip on the bottle, with his tail around its neck.
Suddenly, Oetum realises, with a strong vertigo that would make anyone faint: "What am I doing..?"
He looks at his surroundings, and sees thousands of other imps flying above, below, and around him. He is suddenly very afraid of falling. Looking up is not any better. Oetum is going home.
Upside down buildings, larger than skyscrapers loom over the insignificantly small creatures, carrying these things to their homes. The wind keeps getting stronger, and it blows from all directions. As the little one flies upwards, he feels a strain on his tail... Maybe the bottle was too heavy after all. It's slowly slipping out.
"Shit!"
Oetum rushes to the closest hole in one of the buildings. There is nothing except a cylindrical altar. Above the cavity of the home, there is no steel rectangle.
"It doesn't seem to have a nametag... Phew..."
He sits at the edge of the empty apartment and glances at the bottle next to him. He picks it up and places it in between his antennae, to shrink it. The object starts to morph, and grows limbs, eyes, and a mouth. When Oetum notices, he instantly throws it away in terror, but the object manages to save itself by grabbing his tail. As it is undeveloped, it struggles to even yell. It possesses a fierce face , with buggy eyes and a deformed mouth. It is an abomination. Oetum tries to shake off the bottle, but it tightens its grip, and pulls itself up to his abdomen. It mindlessly grabs the imp's tail, instinctively holding the end of it. Oetum retaliates by trying to fly away, but the object flies along with him, still grabbing it with an unnaturally strong grip. As the poor bottle notices the drop being so large that the ground can't be seen, it holds onto dear life. Oetum screams in fear, while delivering kicks from above.
An imp from below notices the commotion as he also heads home with his own object.
"What is going on?" it asks emotionlessly.
"Ohhh, haha! See this weird thing? Never seen something like that... He will definitely be happy with this catch!" says Oetum, while being swung around mid-air by the bottle.
"We do not speak of that."
"O-hokay then! Goodbye Urmek!"
"Goodbye, Oetum." says Urmek in a less monotone voice.
The imp flies away.
. . . "Darn it, get off already!!!"
Oetum tries to shake the bottle off, but to no use. He flies up to his apartment as fast as he can, and crash-lands.
The bottle is unconscious. It seems that it has fainted. After a quick pause, Oetum, regaining his senses, stares at the object.
"What are you... How did I... " says Oetum with guilt.
The imp hides the bottle behind the altar and goes outside for a quick breather.
"I guess I'll have to find another one..."
Oetum leaves, letting the cyanide bottle stay there.
After some time, it wakes up in an anxious and discomforted state.
"?" the bottle thinks to itself. It starts looking around the place. It's just as empty as the other one, except for there not being any scratches on the floor. The object stares at the weird thing he was leaning against - the altar. It appears to be cylindrical and quite short. It also has writings on the sides that resemble glowing squiggles.
The bottle, trying to make sense of things, comes to the conclusion that it is fucked.
It looks around some more.. hole in the wall, empty place. It is suddenly hit with something new: loneliness.
Infinite piles of man-made objects. Black imps collect them one by one, as if they were ants. The place is fuller yet bleak. Come and go, come and go. And so…
"What are you doing?"
"Leave me alone." Oetum says in a peeved tone. He seems to be looking for another object.
Oetum suddenly looks back, to see a larger imp, stupid just like the others. Although he can't remember anything clearly, spite grows inside the dishevelled imp.
"So, are you just going to stand there?"
The larger imp, hearing Oetum's hostile remarks, stares at him for a while and leaves.
"Ugh, what even was that…" the dishevelled imp thinks to himself. "I should head back, I've already- ACK"
Oetum suddenly feels a sharp pain in his chest. It traverses over to his hands, feet, and tail. He looks around to see others staring at him. It's impossible to tell what the others are thinking or how they're feeling. Oetum glances upwards, feeling an extreme new emotion that can't be described. His breathing becomes heavy and he turns over to find an object. He grabs a notebook and flies back up. He cannot think straight. All that's going on in his mind is the fact that he might've hit his head a little too hard. "Thankfully that young idiot Urmek couldn't tell if the object was an anomaly or not. It's normal!"
Oetum finds himself in front of his apartment. He looks
up to make sure to double check and horror creeps into his soul. His name isn't on the nametag. There is no inscription whatsoever, nothing.
"Oh, so this isn't mine…" says Oetum, trying to comfort himself with a lie.
He suddenly hears clicking behind the altar. He heads over to inspect it, while holding the notebook he grabbed like a shield. Finding the bottle shivering and begging him not to hurt it fills him with dread.
"This… this can't be mine…"
Oetum collapses to the floor, causing the bottle to flinch and stumble to the other side of the altar. Oetum starts laughing, as a feeling of helplessness washes over him. He can't help but laugh. The bottle, terrified of the imp, decides to keep its distance.
An hour passes. Oetum pathetically lies down, doing nothing. The object, although still somewhat wary of Oetum's presence, appreciates the feeling of being with someone. Five hours pass. Oetum is sick and tired of everything, so he goes to the edge of the apartment, ready to end it, since it's all useless no matter what he does now…
He, again, is hit with that indescribable feeling from earlier.
He's scared of death, just like the others.
He's an imp, just like the others.
He's useful, he can surely be just like the others.
He's tired.
Oetum rushes over to the bottle and hugs it.
"You will be… Axu. That is your name."
The bottle has no idea what the imp is saying and is trying to fight back, but after a while, it gets used to Oetum hugging it, feeling comfortable in his embrace.
Oetum hands the notebook to the bottle and leaves. He flies up to Urmek's apartment unannounced. He has no clue what he's doing anymore.
"Yo, Urmek!"
Urmek stares back at Oetum speechlessly. An awkward feeling sets in.
"Oetum?" the imp asks in a monotone voice, just to be sure that it's him.
"Yep! I'm Oetum! Who else would come visit you?"
Urmek decides to not reply. He's placed a rusted spring on top of the altar. He looks back and walks over to Oetum.
"Have you been busy? I haven't seen you in a while.
"Oh… I have been. Working on and on! I've made sure not to upset at all."
"Okay. How much time do you have left?"
Oetum stops for a brief moment to come up with a believable time.
"19 whole sections! What about you?"
"53. Oetum, do you feel no fear for what'll happen if you keep up this pace?"
"Ah… I'm very scared. As scared as you!"
"Good." Urmek pauses. "Why are you here?"
"Well… I don't know."
Oetum knows he can't tell Urmek that he got injured, despite his already worn out appearance. Only bad would come out of that news…"I'm going back to work," says Oetum.
"I'll go with you."
The bottle is still looking through the apartment and wondering what everything is. Everything is getting boring, and Axu yearns for attention. Although still new, it starts to take its first steps. One… another one… And back on the wet floor after a clumsy fall. It notices how flimsy its limbs are. In discomfort, it lets out a "ughhhhh…" and collapses on the floor again after getting up. Axu notices the popcorn texture of the dark ceiling that he can't reach.
"..." The silence in the room, even if interrupted by the flapping of the imps flying outside, is enough to drive anyone insane. The bottle decides to climb the altar and test its movement a little. So far it has learned to hold things, walk, and climb altars… great.
What else does it see? The scratches left by Oetum from before have started to go away like carvings in the sand washed away by waves. What else, what else… It finds the sight from outside most frightening, yet entertaining. Axu can't help but look in awe at the upside down buildings, and at the imps entering the cavities in which they reside. Some are leaving their dens, one by one, as if they were ants. Each second gets more static, as Axu starts to feel more acquainted with its surroundings. Just in case, it hides behind the altar so it doesn't get caught. After some more time goes, it starts analysing its sharp teeth, sanded body, thin limbs, hands, feet…
Collecting
"You look wrong." says Urmek to Oetum as they descend while flapping their wings. They arrive at the tallest nearby mountain, where it's the most crowded. After taking in that remark, Oetum holds back his impulse of bashing Urmek's head into one of the objects in the pile. The monotony which Urmek and others exude, let alone their appearance, makes the imps really hard to spot apart. Oetum is a so-called "exception" because he is deformed, in comparison to other workers. No exceptions have survived any longer than Oetum has. He does know that he, technically, is already dead, yet he cannot accept it.
"Urmek…"
"Yes?"
"..." Oetum tosses aside the idea of communicating with Urmek, as it'll feed his desire to kill him even more.
Urmek, observing that the scrawny imp has called out his name without continuing, declares coldly:
"When you start talking, you keep talking."
"I'm just thinking…"
"You're what?"
Oetum groans in frustration:
"I don't know."
Urmek stays silent for a while, before continuing:
"What object are you getting?"
Oetum doesn't respond. He ponders for a while before answering: "There have been a lot of bottles recently."
"Well, that's how plastic is. There used to be a lot of them out there until we, vittae, came to be."
"We what?"
"Forget it…"
Oetum goes and reluctantly picks up another bottle. This time, the bottle looks much newer. At a second glance, it's an alcohol burner. Surprisingly, although it has a few scratches, it's been kept in good condition.
"You usually never see those…" says Oetum with apathy. He scoops the bottle in his arms, and it's about 2/3rds the size of him. Urmek doesn't care about the other imp's discovery and scours for a good object to take. He looks around and selects an aluminium pan. Because of how uncomfortable it is to hold, missing half of its handle and having a bullet sized-hole on the bottom, Urmek places his antennae around the object, and it starts to morph, until it becomes a small ring, the diameter of Urmek's arm, which is now much easier to grab. He asks Oetum if he's going to deform his object, but Oetum shakes his head, telling him that it's perfect for him to hold.
"Really?" asks Urmek, "... okay. Wait, let me see your bottle."
Oetum jolts at Urmek's command but hands it over unreluctantly.
Urmek, looking at the object, monotonously remarks: "It's an alcohol burner." He then moves his antennae back and forth slowly in a robotic motion. "This one's about 3 sections worth.". Oetum is not sure whether or not to be ecstatic or disappointed at that remark. On one hand, he's got a great compound object, but on the other - he doesn't need to collect objects anymore. He suddenly spasms as he thinks about Axu, the bottle. Maybe… Maybe if he tries it again, the value of the object will rise… He might actually have a chance to go back. He can be useful again! Yes! It's the right call! He'll send both objects onto the altar, and he'll be granted a nametag again. He won't be considered dead by Him anymore. How great!
Oetum, coming to this realisation, clicks his needle-like black hands together and looks at his companion and happily exclaims "Urmek! I feel so strange!"
Urmek stares at him, not understanding the emotion he's feeling. It doesn't exist anymore, so seeing Oetum behave in such a strange way…
"Do not upset Him, Oetum."
Oetum suddenly stops and holds back the urge of throwing the bottle at Urmek. He grunts at him out of spite.
Urmek, feeling his hostility, just says"Oetum.".
Both of them glare at each other and after a pause, Urmek says "Stop stalling." A few seconds pass and the both of them get to flying. Oetum's damaged wings have started to take a toll on his ability to keep calm. He's in a lot of pain, and every single flap, his wings feel like they're swelling and on the verge or ripping apart, but he keeps going. He is certain that if the objects have limbs, eyes, whatever… If they are alive, that could mean that they value a lot more. Oetum cycles around that idea, which distracts him from the pain pulsating in his wings. His train of thought runs into a slight curiosity:
"Urmek, why did you follow me?"
"I didn't. You came to me. I was about to go on to my next session."
"Ah… Well, you could've gone alone." says Oetum, slightly hurt.
"When you came into my den, you interrupted me. I was just about to go back to work."
"Alright…"
"Should I come help you carry the object up to your place?" asks Urmek.
"What?!" Oetum is slightly shocked. "Why… Why do that? Ahahaha…" He becomes afraid of Urmek noticing the fact that Axu is sentient, unlike last time… Even worse, he might notice the fact that his den is nameless…
"I don't know." responds Urmek mid-air. Out of nowhere, Urmek says "I think you are the only one who's like this, Oetum. Others like you die very quickly, but somehow you're alive. I wouldn't mind things being less monotonous."
Oetum is too busy holding back the pain and thinking about the sacrifices until snaps out of it. Hearing Urmek's sincerity shocks him, and the only thing he can worryly say back is: "Are you an idiot? Do not upset Him, Urmek."
Urmek stares at Oetum and speeds up his flight. He reaches his apartment without responding. So does Oetum, but at a slower pace.
Home. It's what Oetum would call it. Home. He places the alcohol burner onto the cold ground and sits down on the dark floor, leaving a shallow exhale. "Hello there." is the only thing he can say to the bottle. Realising that the bottle doesn't understand him, he starts talking to it more.
"Well, at least I got something to talk to."
Axu gets up from the altar and walks over to the other bottle in the room.
"I really hope this works." says Oetum in denial, looking at his creation inspecting the alcohol burner. "I never really wondered what happened to others when they came to an end of names. Maybe if I sacrifice one of these alive, I could get my name back…"
Oetum paces around the altar in circles while rearranging his communicators.
"Wait a minute… Axu was there just a bit ago… He didn't disappear?"
Oetum sits on the object he was orbiting and looks around, pondering what to do. His hope is so close yet so far. He forces onto himself the belief that there must be a way for him to regain his place.
"I really don't want others to find this out. I must do this."
Oetum thinks of an unorthodox idea that might actually work in his perspective; He could go to a neighbouring place and offer an object there. If it gets transmitted, things could actually pan out the way he wants them to. In other words:
"I could use the altar from someone with a name!"
Because of his punctured wings, Oetum calculates that the best choice would be to use the den from below.
And so, Oetum stalks the neighbouring den from the edge of his apartment, while Axu plays around with the cork of the other bottle.
He sees that no one is there and so decides to scoop up Axu and descend to the apartment below; Gismnk's den. Before doing so, Oetum places the notebook onto the altar and grabs Axu's neck with his tail. Axu,startled, starts throwing his limbs around while hissing and holding a tight grip onto the other bottle. Oetum, feeling the pull on his tail, starts yelling. "HEY, STOP MOVING AROUND YOU IMBECILE!" And so he loses balance and falls, along with the two bottles.
Falling at a fast rate, the imp manages to grab onto Gismnk's name tag. He then swings himself, using Axu as a pendulum, accidentally ripping off the plate from the building. He manages to enter the den, but with a thud, and some clunking from Axu and the spirit lamp. The bright glow from the altar vanishes into a pale dim light.
"Huh? What? Wait wait wait wait..." He looks up, over the edge, and spots that from this den, the name tag too, is missing. "What the hell happened there?" thinks Oetum to himself, unaware that he was the cause of that happening.
"I could've sworn there was a name here. Who lived here, again?... Ugh. I guess I'll have to head to another den." Looking at Axu, he angrily hits him with his tail. The bottle hisses back and runs behind the altar of this place.
"Well, I might as well see what's going on here." The imp walks over to the transmission pod and notices the object on the altar; a green, grimy cassette tape with an unintelligible sanded label. Oetum glares at the object and picks it up with no hesitation. With an accidental press of a button, the back compartment of the object opens, and a yellow sheet of glossy paper slides out. The imp ignores it because he's focused on the object he's holding. And so, he puts the back compartment where it used to be and takes the object as well. "You stay there behind the altar. This weird thing is much lighter, so I'll take it down to another place." Without a trace of shame, the imp thinks: "I might as well take it, it's not anyone else's.", holding the object in his arms.
And so he abandons Axu, with the lifeless alcohol burner in the new den.
After the prick has departed, Axu looks on the opposite side of the altar, spotting the weird paper left on the floor. He stumbles over to it, using the altar as a support for walking. He looks at it, just to find the portrait of a… creature. A creature with long black hair, grey skin and blue eyes; a human. It looked nothing like the imps that Axu has seen in his lifetime, yet he felt… connected to it. The expression on said creature was one of a kind. Rage.
The paper had these indecipherable words, in an ancient language: "Keep this tape hidden. Do not destroy at all costs." The rest of the ink is smeared, and it ends in a rip that covers a third of the original paper. Axu puts the photo in his mouth to feel its texture. It has no coarseness, unlike the notebook he tore to shreds in Oetum's den. The bottle regurgitates the chewed up photo and spits the remains out, all now smaller chewed up-bits of the original picture.
Finally, after finding the right place, he storms into there and throws the other object off of the altar, instantly replacing it with the one he stole. He remembers to bring it back to life, so he quickly tests his ability on the cassette tape he's placed. With deep concentration and desperation, he keeps repeating "Please work, please work, please work…"
Life. Oetum, concentrating on the object he placed over his antennae, notices legs growing out from the bottom. Right as he realizes that, he stops holding the object and places it onto the foreign altar right before it has the chance to grow its second pair of limbs. He takes the other object in the room, the one he took off the altar, and wonders why the owner of the den would bring such a terrible object; a plate of rusty metal. He pays no mind to it and flinches when he finds himself with the cassette tape grabbing onto him using its legs. He grabs the rust plate to push it back onto the altar. "I need to leave as fast as I can. Otherwise, the object won't be transmitted… Might as well take whatever this is with me. I might need it." And so, Oetum grabs the rust plate to bring back just in case.
Encounter
The imps scatter in the sky from the trash mounds as they always do, that's what Axu noticed while waiting for an uncountable amount of time. The bottle is, to say the least, hellishly bored.
Despites its waiting for something to happen, all it does is take glances at the other bottle and then at the imps' flying circuits from time to time. It noticed that the imps flying up to their apartments are flying on the sides of them, not directly at the entrances, maybe to avoid the ones descending.
The weirdest thing Axu's noticed up until now is the huge thick structure which seemingly is a large building like the others, except it digs right through the trash. It has a huge spiral which looks like a whole cyan circle, because of the amount of loops carved with it, though Axu's eyes are way too bad to see the minuscule writing which resembles the glyphs and symbols on the altar. The den is boring on the other hand. The only entertaining thing Axu is looking at in this place is the spirit lamp and the rope and liquid sloshing around when he interacts with it. It's a toy, so it means actual entertainment. He brings it behind the same place where he spat out the photograph; next to the weird triangular symbol at the back of the altar which connects to the spiral on top of it, which interestingly enough has only one loop.
"…" Oetum still hasn't come back. Axu wonders if this could be an occurrence that would happen any more. He's afraid of the imp arriving once again, but he just can't shake off his need for attention. Isolation is only subdued by distraction.
Home. It's what Gismnk would've called it. Home. The large imp who has a striking resemblance to everyone else has a threatening aura to Axu, who's still hidden in plain sight. That certain imp has come into "his" den with two other imps accompanying. Looks like Gismnk was too caught up with delivering his object to notice what his companions have: there is no nametag…
One of the two turns to the other, pointing with his tail to the strange creatures behind the altar. With a quick nod, the two grab Gismnk by the wings and start ripping them off. Startled, the imp lets out a shriek. "What are you two doing? Let go of me."
"Do not upset him Gismnk. The transporter is dim. You have no nametag. You won't deceive anyone." One of them says as they keep pulling his wings apart. Because of their sturdy structure, the process is difficult.
"..." stunned, the imp looks at the altar without light and sees Axu. "I've… I've never brought that thing! WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING? LET ME GO! THIS ISN'T MY CREVICE!" Gismnk coils his tail around the two and stabs one of his deformers in the imp on the left's eye. With a flash, the imp's head explodes. The other imp backs off. "Do not upset Him, Gismnk. Do not upset Him, Gismnk. Gismnk, you are acting irrationally." it says while having an increasingly more alarmed tone.
Gismnk's glowing orange visor is completely covered in the other imp's substance. A substance that's found mostly on the bottom of the trash piles. Blood.
Axu looks confused by what's transpiring ahead of him. The danger he's feeling has sunk in so deep to the point that it has become… usual. Expecting for the dead imp to stand back, he braces himself, holding the alcohol burner in front of him. Gismnk looks at Axu, trembling in fear fury.
Oetum has arrived. He looks in shock at the body in the center of the room with its splattered eyeball and Gismnk's ripped wings. "What? What happened here?"
Gismnk turns to Oetum but gets attacked by the other imp instantly, being restrained, while Axu calmly sits and watches. Oetum backs off and asks again, more alarmed. "Gismnk, why are you doing something so upsetting?!"
"I AM NOT GISMNK ANYMORE! MY NAME IS GONE!"
"I know that! Then die if that's the case! We all know what happens to the nameless!"
Gismnk pauses, distraught. "No, it has to be… whatever that monstrosity is's fault. It's not fair, it's not fair!!"
"Listen, when I entered your place before, it didn't have a name tag either."
Gismnk glares at Oetum, piecing together everything.
"YOU!"
He charges toward the imp but struggles to move.
Oetum, instead of backing off, gets peeved. "Don't attack me, you moron! You did something to warrant your name disappearing!" He yells. Being asinine doesn't even begin to describe him.
"I WAS GONE FOR ONE COLLECTION. YOU TOOK MY NAME OFF, DIDN'T YOU?! You're worse than a life-ender."
Oetum remains quiet. "No, I didn't! I went into this den knowing it had no name!"
Gismnk pauses and then starts chuckling. He tackles the other imp, grabbing Axu with his tail in a shaky uneven motion. Oetum panics when he sees an object that might restore his purpose be used so carelessly. Axu panics and bites at Gismnk's tail. With no time to waste, Oetum stumbles and slashes at Gismnk's head with the rusted plate. Gismnk's head falls off.
Irnet pushes his headless body off and flies away, covered in imp liquid.
Time passes and Oetum is still in Gismnk's den. No… No… this place still has bodies in it. The altars can't work with the presence of imps. It's sacred. But it's no use, since the place doesn't glow. Oetum is getting more and more puzzled by the minute. He doesn't know how to proceed from here. All he can do is pray that the cassette has been sent. If it had not… he'd have to just make more objects and place them elsewhere. Axu starts licking the blood that pooled on the cold sandy ground.
Irnet returns to the den with 8 more imps. "What are you still doing here, Oetum?" We came here for cleanup.
Oetum finds Urmek between the imps Irnet has called. He instantly recognized the two objects he had with him. He's seen them before, after all.
"Why did you still not send them? We've collected the alcohol burner, yet you're here with it, not at your den. Not to mention that other object you have with you. And you're hoarding another one." He points at the rusted bloody plate. "So what happened here? Irnet, you said there was a commotion"
Irnet stammers out a response "Gismnk, Trotmu and I were coming back from our group collection. Gismnk was the last to send an object to his den. But it was nameless, so we followed proper protocol to discard him."
"Okay." He calculates silently. "Gismnk must have had a reason to lose the name. As for the bottles Oetum has…" he turns to face the imps behind. "Clean up once the communication stops."
Oetum stares at him in panic, before exclaiming "I! I am at fault for hoarding, yes! I'll transfer them right away!"
An imp from the cleanup crew interrupts robotically "We'll cooperate." Urmek turns around to face him and criticises him. "Do not upset Him. I was not done." He looks back at Oetum, who freezes in an instant with a violent chill in his tail and wings. He can't be exposed. He can't. He'll get back by himself, actually! How rude of them!
"Hell no! I've collected these objects! I won't let you touch them. Do what Urmek says. I'll take them to my place all by myself!"
"But why aren't you hoarding the objects at your place, but in Gismnk's den? Are you hiding something?"
Urmek interferes: "You may clean this den. I'll follow him myself."
"Oh no… no, no, no! Damn it! WHAT THE FUCK!? I've gone so far to get to this point! They're going to find out and then… No, they won't find out." Oetum thinks.
Axu retreats behind Oetum, who was trembling in fear. To think of a way to get out… Swiftly, the imp snatches the alcohol burner, pretending to pick up Axu as well. "Let's go" he says.
Urmek realises Oetum's plan and looks at him with dismay, trying to stop him. "Oetum!" He grabs the menace by his arm, wanting to remove the spirit lamp. It is too late, though.
Concentrating, Oetum places the object in between his broken deformers.
Life. While looking at the other imps surrounding him, he sees no soul, but he wants all of his objects to possess the thing they all lack - value. He doesn't want to look at Urmek, who was shaking him and wanted him to let go. As he morphs his third creation, everything fades away. What was the purpose of looking at the same thing all the time? - he thinks and looks away from all of the glowing eyes staring at him, focusing on the creation. Casting his vision downwards, he sees a blood-stained sheet of glossy paper, chewed up and presenting a triumphant face… or was it angry? He's never seen such a thing before, apart from some packaging with odd cartoons which were worn down by time. No, this was still… something new… Feeling drawn to it, something shuddered in him. That part of him is missing - so it was replaced by fear. An intense fear like no other. He has no idea why looking at those large eyes and that mouth is making him feel like that, but he can't look away from it. The bottle he was holding gains the same face of the woman in the picture bits. It grows limbs and squelches as it gains an organic form. This, this will bring him back into normal life. This is true value. Of course, despite thinking those things, all Oetum is doing first and foremost is stalling.
The others look in shock. For their emotionless monotony, Oetum is surprised to see them running away from the spirit bottle. They all rush out of Gismnk's den with blood-soaked feet, flying to their dens and ignoring the reason they came. Urmek remains, clearly entertained.
"I warned you not to do it. You did well, though."
Oetum is completely baffled. It must have been the face scaring them away. Axu walks away from Oetum, walking to the alcohol burner that was now placed on the bloody floor. "obaooo!" the newborn bottle babbles. So much for that "value". "Hnee," Axu replies, trying to form speech, admiring it.
"Let's go then," says Urmek. "So you're unaware of the face… I see."
"Huh?!"
"Let's go to your den."
The bottles keep making noises in a faux-conversation in the silence following Urmek's words. Oetum is against going with him and being caught, even though he was acting idiotically suspicious.
"I'll take this one," Urmek continues, pointing at the alcohol burner. That plate will also do well. You pick the other bottle.
"But!"
"We're going to your den. This place is suspicious enough."
Suspicious? What in the world is Urmek doing? Oetum, still uncomfortable, refuses to accept his help. He's never even heard that combination of words coming from anyone before. Urmek looks at Oetum, slightly alerted. He yanks Oetum by his wing, which hurts the imp quite a bit.
"We're going."
Oetum picks up the rusted plate, pointing it at his eyeball.
"Okay, FINE!" He huffs desperately.
"Even if you can't be seen, taking my life will ruin your chances at getting your name back." He says quietly, sighing.
Oetum drops the plate and it hits Gismnk's head on the floor. Out of instinct, he winds up to yell at him, but Urmek shuts him up.
"Let's go."
Oetum wants to scream at him and ask how he knows that he's nameless, but he's not that dumb to stir another commotion and let everyone know. He stays quiet, remaining skeptical.
The sentient spirit bottle clings to Urmek as he picks it up. He eyes it with longing, which can't be seen from the outside. He takes the plate after kicking the dead imp's head aside, wrapping his tail around the metal. Oetum grabs Axu, who's resisting and wants to go to the spirit lamp.
"hirrr! opum!" Axu hisses Oetum's name, which startles the imp. "Shut up, Axu."
With the objects, they fly up one floor and arrive at Oetum's den. Urmek places down the spirit bottle gently and looks in Oetum's direction. The odd imp sits on the altar, analyzing Axu.
Oetum, after looking around on the outside of the den, gets in Urmek's face and asks at a lower volume: "How the hell did you know I have no name?! Why aren't you following protocol? I thought… I don't know who you are anymore!" He backs away, to not provoke Urmek any more. After all, he's the one who knows his secret. If he turns on Oetum, that'll be the end.
"I haven't seen you in a long while. I presumed you either died or were stuck. I saw you with the inanima and figured out what was happening. You can get your name back, don't worry. Lucky for you, all other vittae are morons, they don't know of your situation." He pauses. "You didn't kill yourself, so that means your brain has deteriorated from that function. That was what made me doubt the lack of a name. Anyways-"
"Wait, wait…" Oetum remains baffled, feeling an immense confusion but also relief.
Urmek continues. "We vittae die easily. The ones who lose their name, they die. Only the strong persist. You didn't die yet, so you've been strong."
He gets up from the altar and starts pacing around the den in a circle.
"What made me fully realise you had no name was that you didn't know of the face. We all know about it."
"Rrgh… Urmek…"
"I'll make it quick. The face on that inanima is of a human, approximately. That human was seen on the most recent trash coming from the big pillar on sector 1523. When vittae gathered there, to retrieve all of the objects, they exploded… Exploded means destroyed, basically. A large part of the pillar opened up and collapsed. Many died. Of course, the news spread even to our sector, 28307. So, that human, that face - it means danger. It's warned everywhere to stay away from it. It happened a while ago, so if you don't know that, it means you must've been buried under the stuff for a while…"
Oetum remains speechless.
"Everyone may know about the face, but I'm the only one who knows about the inanimae. The objects you gave life are called that. A vitta in your state wouldn't be able to make any modifications to an object in the first place, but you are a really rare instance. So rare, in fact, that you are the first I've met to have this defect. These objects will definitely fetch for a name retrieval."
Oetum, processing all of that, suddenly lights up. His delusion of coming back might actually be possible!
"I've seen a few inanimae," he continues, "but they tend to run away and burrow underground, so they're hard to reach. I've managed to communicate with them after trial and error, and that really made me realize who I am." He looks at his wings and then punches the altar. "I hate this place. I want to eradicate this fucking world for them."
Oetum distances himself from Urmek, along with the two bottles. "Wait, do you not like having a name and working?! What is wrong with you? That's what life means! Do not upset Him, Urmek!"
Urmek backs Oetum against the wall, his voice slightly manic. "Oetum, do you know who He is anyway?! He doesn't exist! It's just how we vittae are, making something up so that others don't hurt us! Vittae are the worst. They're more lifeless than the trash they collect! I like having a name and working, but I don't know why! Can't there be more?!"
Oetum, feeling threatened, doesn't listen to Urmek, and snaps instead, forgetting to remain on Urmek's good side. "IF YOU KEEP BLABBERING, HE'LL GET ANGRY! I NEED MY NAME BACK, YOU BASTARD!"
Realizing he was yelling, he instantly mellows down. Urmek feels an impulse to kill and grabs the plate, but just as quickly, he places it back down. He can't sacrifice his only source of entertainment. As terrible as Oetum was, it was still better than the others.
The spirit bottle and Axu stare at the two imps… vittae.
"Let's get it back… First of all, can you turn this into something too?" He hands the plate to Oetum.
Oetum grabs it and thinks for a moment. He places it in between his deformers, and his mind drifts to why Urmek is acting so unnatural. Thus, the plate became unnatural. Sprouting legs, a mouth, big round eyes that looked like Urmek's, and eyebrows he remembered seeing in the blood-soaked picture… Life. Urmek and the two inanimae look intrigued as the process commences, but Oetum runs out of the stamina needed to keep going. Only the legs appeared.
"Well, this is quite interesting." He knocks on the conscious plate, which cries out gibberish. "It's much sturdier now. We're good to go."
"Wait!" says Oetum, breathing heavily. "I have another one of those… that I've made! It's in a different den, though."
Realizing the gravity of those words, Urmek instantly asks "Where is it?
"Uhhh… I left it at Tloenir's den, I think."
Urmek hurriedly jumps off the edge of the den, leaving the vitta with its 3 creations alone. He dives through the air, avoiding the other imps in his way. He starts laughing, finding the situation exhilarating. Finally, FINALLY! There's more to life now! He enters the den in a rush and
Talking to life (a farewell)
Of course, Oetum was also worried about the presence of the cassette tape. He had to make sure that the object would've been gone, but he was afraid that its absence might mean that someone else had taken it out… Those were thoughts that occurred while he was in his abode, accompanied by three infants who were completely oblivious to the situation. The plate walked up shakily to the other two bottles and faceplanted on the floor. Oetum looked at it and wondered if the inanimae's sentience were just instinct. A shard of him couldn't not feel guilty for being so robotic like the others. He wasn't that different from the others, he revelled. Urmek's previous words… What the hell made him think that? Oetum thinks of the way he acted before and after the coma, the excruciating pain that mellowed down and went into his psyche, why did he start feeling so much fear, so much love? He had no concept of it, of course. It wasn't love for work either, despite it validating his reason for existing. He loved the inanimae. He was prideful in the things he created. As narcissistic as it was, the joy he saw in his objects came naturally. Oetum was delusional with the idea of the value of them, because he was the one who gave them life. Or was it because they lived?
He had no idea what the reason for transmitting objects with the altar was in the first place. He just knew that he needed to do it, and that it's what He wanted… Urmek's ideas started combining with his, and he hated it.
A minute passes. The imp looks at the altar and wonders what the squiggles signify. The three objects follow suit. He looks at them and sighs.
"These absolute idiots. Why are they copying me?" he mutters. An idea comes to his mind: "Axu!"
Hearing his name, Axu looks at the imp. So it wasn't a fluke. The bottle really said his name back then. How interesting.
Oetum scoots over to the inanimae. "You two don't have names yet. It'll be useful to know how to talk to you for the time being." He looks at the spirit bottle. "Hmm… Gyane. I don't know exactly why, but it fits." Turning to the rusted plate, the name "Urmek" came to him, but he realised the issue in naming him that. "Urmek, Ruke, Ruko, Rugo! Rugo's going to be your name."
He looks at the three and repeats the respective names "Rugo, Axu, Gyane. Rugo, Axu, Gyane."
The shreds of the notebook he left on the altar before infiltrating Gismnk's den are still there, sheets wavy from Axu's drool wetting them. Thinking what else he could make, Oetum analyzes it and remembers when he found out his name was gone, and instantly stormed out to make himself believe he was hallucinating. Heavily, he gets up to check whether or not Urmek is coming back. His mind drifts to the cassette tape and he feels a surge of fear. He doesn't really want to give the objects onto the altar. Damn it, he shouldn't have given them names!
"It's useless now." Nobody will kill him if he regains his name. What Urmek said validated his paranoid thinking.
Slowly, he sits down, starting to talk to the inanimae looking at the altar, explaining what his life was like until now, even the shaky memory of events before the collapse. Of course, the objects have no idea what he was yapping on about, but don't mind the sudden tenderness. He starts explaining the world, so that they'll hopefully remember it on the other side.
Urmek arrives, out of breath. There is a large gash on the side of his torso. He's bleeding out heavily.
"OETUM! HIDE EVERYTHING!" Urmek unfolds his wings, revealing the cassette tape. "I can't explain what's happening! Even I don't understand! BUT THEY'RE AFTER US!"
Oetum gets up on shaky legs and grabs all four inanimae, shoving them onto the altar in a rush. What the hell?
"I WENT TO THE OTHER SIDE AND RETURNED! THEY SHOULDN'T GO THERE! ANYTHING BUT THAT! DON'T PUT THEM THERE, PLEASE!"
Oetum freezes. "What the hell do you mean 'you went there?' We can't go beyond the transmitters!"
Urmek, in frustration, rushes to push the objects off, but the altar starts glowing again, a blinding cyan light. The markings emanate rays that render both vittae unable to see. Oetum panics and has no idea why everything went to nothingness. He's scared of losing his value. He wasn't ready to loe this life.
"OETUM, QUICK! WE NEED TO-