Bloodwalker

Chapter 29: Garden Catastrophe

Trigger Warning/s: garden creatures

Pre-chapter notes: none

Art: Laura Ganis on ArtStation. She creates many incredible 3D graphics and they're all so beautiful, including this piece. I had a great time looking through her gallery. She is also a doctor. Her work is intricate, beautiful, and she has one of the most comforting styles I've ever seen. I hope you can check her out!

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Before you know it, the weekend is over, and you awaken rudely to a number of things - in succession: the reach of the sun through your badly-curtained windows; the warbling of songbirds; and the cry of babies from your neighbours upstairs. You had attempted to recreate the blood wings multiple times, but the resultant failure you had experienced left a bitter taste in your mouth - present even now.

Routine is everything to you - it is grounding, a solid and stable anchor and chain, a ballast tank at the bottom of a ship. But in the moment, nothing can lift your mood, not even as you go through the motions of having breakfast, of cleaning your teeth, or of donning your school attire. With your confidence in your quirk sundered by failure, you feel like a neophyte again - a villain in the stages of infancy.

Still, you know that results are never immediate. You'll try again tonight. You'll try again tomorrow. After all, how many times had you been knocked down while training with the Adjudicator, the way a tree is felled by a saw? But somehow, this frustration feels different. Worse.

With a twist of the doorknob, you step outside and the smell of petrichor envelops you again. All weekend it had rained, but now, no longer; all's left are the remnants of its visit, small reminders that are barely comforting. Slight movement on the pavement catches your trained eyes which snap towards it, the same way a hawk keenly spots its prey hidden in between long grasses. Thrashing pink forms lie haphazardly scattered, and you instantly know what they are.

You've never witnessed the aftermath of rain, but you suppose today will be the day that you do. Because there are worms. Everywhere. All over the front pathway and on the tops of the grass, like confetti on a lawn. These creatures are the subject of your curious stare as you bend down to get a closer look at the moist sheen covering their skin, the tiny ridges on their desperate, writhing bodies.

Why are there so many worms here? Are they looking for the rain?

You didn't learn about this in your master's lessons. Quickly pulling out your phone, you fire off a quick text to your dear friend, Yoarashi.

Good morning, Yoarashi-san. Why are there so many worms above ground after rain?

An instant ping back tells you of his reply. You can envision him now, furiously typing away his response with a massive grin on his face.

Good morning, Chiyo-chan! Worms move better on wet soil, so they are migrating! However, a lot of them accidentally go on the road or the pavement, and they die because it is too dry. Also, would you like to have dinner at my place tonight at 7? My mother wants to meet you!

You quickly type back your response.

Thank you. Okay.

Another ping.

Great! I'll come to your place to get you first.

Glossing over the fact that you've just agreed to have dinner at your friend's place for the first time, you stare a little harder at the worms, as if they'll disappear from your sight if you blink. How interesting. You've never witnessed a worm migration before. And there are so many of them on the pavement...