We don't like to admit that something we hate so much is something we can't survive without. It's terribly uncomfortable stuff, the atmosphere in this world. Our
parts spend their lives tucked in holes in the
wall to avoid touching it, and in order to move through it must carry a coating of
rock animals to reduce the discomfort to a tolerable level.
The Singer used to tell of a world that has no atmosphere in it, only a substance they called "light". They said that the light would come into our world, where the atmosphere
eats it, turning it into the
food cloud. If we were ever to doubt anything the Singer spoke of, it would be this. A world free of what irritates us, full of what feeds us? Did they invent it to tease us with?
It was only recently that we were able to reach the world of light, and what we learned is what we wish we didn't know.
- The light has so little substance that it's impossible to move in it. Therefore the atmosphere is what enables us to explore our world.
- The swarm's parts could barely touch the light with their tongues, and it had no flavor and didn't stick. Therefore the atmosphere is what changes it into something we can eat.
- The first time a swarm pulled itself onto one of the many hard border sections, its parts experienced dizziness and weakness that only faded when it returned. Therefore the atmosphere is what allows our parts' bodies to continue to function at all.
Just now we have realized the strangest and hardest truth of all. It's undeniable that the
plains adjoining the
heat seam are changing, however slowly. We've witnessed enough growth to understand that our flat wall, the round world border sections, and the sharp plains peaks aren't different forms at all, but the same forms in different stages. The peaks rise sharp, they break into the world of light, and they fall back into our world as flat walls.
What happens to those sharp peaks? We can only conclude that light eats rock. We've seen enough peaks break through and enough border sections sink to be certain. If the atmosphere did not hide them again, the light would eat them into nothing. The atmosphere that we can't stand the feel of...is the only reason that the wall exists to protect us from it.
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