Faded Rainbows

Symphonyville

Now that Trollex had some time to himself, he decided to dive to the bottom of the river. After he had learned to swim through currents in the deep ocean, a slow moving river was easy, even with an injured arm.

He jumped a bit when he felt his hair wriggle, Beat slipping out to look at him. Trollex gasped softly. "Lil buddy, you look horrible..."

It was true, Beat look exhausted, his color now closer to yellow than green, and his glow faded considerably. "Trollex, I think I need to go back home..."

Trollex nodded, reaching out to gently pat the fishes head. "Go on Beat, I'll be ok. Besides, it's not like I'm going to wander out of a kelp forest and get caught up in a current." He gave the other a knowing look.

Beat's eyes widened. "W-What? How did you know about that...? Wait, don't tell me..." He pointed at Trollex, clearly shocked. "It was you! That little Techno troll that saved me back then! I thought for sure you were fish food, how'd you get back?"

He laughed softly, sitting on the riverbed. "I swam back, once I figured out which way was up anyway." He looked down at the sand that was swept away with the current. "I had a dream when I was asleep. A memory, really... Something I guess I'd forgotten." He looked at Beat. "Is Darkness a living thing?"

The little fish gave the other a quizzical look. "No? It's just missing light, right?"

Trollex closed his eyes, remembering some of the times he felt like the Darkness was calling to him. "Hmm, right... Just a lack of..." He needed more time to think this through. "Beat, do you want me to bring you home?"

The fish shook his head. "Nah, it's alright. I can use the river to get back. I don't want you to have to travel all that way just to come back out alone later. Besides, you're half way done already! You got back three of your colors!"

That seemed to bring Trollex to a rather startling discovery. He looked down at the stripes on his good arm. "One, two... Beat, I have seven colors to me... I have three, but what about the other four? Sure, there's still Classical, rock and Techno, but... that still leaves one color..."

Beat hummed in thought. "True... Well, for now let's focus on what's working. Promise you'll send me a message every now and then, alright? You know I worry..."

The young king smiled softly and nodded. "I will, promise. You travel safe, ok Beat? I'll be really mad if you get hurt!"

"Says the troll in a sling!" The two shared a friendly laugh, and then bid each other goodbye for now.

As Beat swam away, he couldn't help but think back to what Trollex had said about the dark. "Could he be right...? Nah can't be. It was probably just some nightmares from when he was younger..."

As the little fish swam through the river, he was unaware of something reaching for him from the darkness of the river bed.

Trollex sighed, closing his eyes as he rested on the river bed. He could feel the cool soothing his aching shoulder, and realized that it didn't hurt nearly as much as before. He figured he could chance it. He flexed his fingers on his injured arm experimentally, and dubbed himself healed enough to remove the sling.

He was careful about it at least, taking the time to fiddle with the knots until they came loose. He moved his arm slowly, wincing a little as he heard a clicking sound from the joint. He couldn't lift his arm quite as high as the other, but it was passable.

Once he had gotten the rest he needed, he swam for the surface and dragged himself onto shore. It was a little ironic, to activate flow, he had to be dry, but his tribe needed to keep hydrated out of water. Maybe they could use spray bottles for trips to land...?