"My liege, these intruders have breached our home. Give us the word and we shall attack." One of the bugs says to Jin, lighting up on the wall before him. The blue light draws the attention of the three girls, each with their own look.
"C-Can you make them glow again?" Tiaris hesitantly asks as she looks at the darkened room. Jin nervously thinks of what to say.
"D-Don't attack them! They're my friends!" Jim blurts out with tightly shut eyes. The three girls all flinch at his yelling. The words he said hits their ears with a haunting realization.
"A-Attack us?" Emerald says, her demeanor broken as the a bug chitters nearby. Lamb clamps her eyes shut and holds onto Tiaris for her dear life. Tiaris gently holds her sister, patting her brown hair as she looks at Jin nervously.
"I apologize, my liege. We didn't know that these were your friends." One bug says as others chitter in agreement. Seemingly random blue lights flicker.
"Come down here, guys. Let me show you." Jin calmly says to the three. Tiaris is the first to start moving down the ramp into the soft cave sand.
"N-No!" Lamb says meekly before grabbing onto Emerald instead. Emerald lets her latch on as she watches Tiaris with wide eyes.
"You're gonna owe me a lot of chores if my dress gets dirty." Tiaris says as she steps over the ring of water toward the middle island. Jin looks at her dress already worn and torn.
"How much dirtier could it get?" Jin asks. Tiaris raises her fist at him, but he nervously laughs as he raises his arms in surrender. "Okay, Okay. I'll do all your chores for a week!" Jin says quickly as Tiaris calms down.
"If we come down there, will these bugs not attack?" Emerald calls out hesitantly. Lamb looks up at her in a worried shock. She clings to Emerald desperately.
"Of course. They aren't gonna attack you guys anymore. I told them you guys are not intruders." Jin says with a thumbs up and a smile. Emerald takes a deep breath then starts to head down, dragging Lamb with her.
"Oh please, no bugs. No bugs..." Lamb mutters. Emerald pets her head softly as they descend. Once they reach the bottom, Emerald pries Lamb's arms off her and lets her go back to holding Tiaris, who welcomes her with open arms and a soft giggle.
Jin hops over the water, standing beside Emerald for a moment before she hops across onto the center island.
"Okay. I'll go talk to them." Jin says with a cheeky laugh. He walks over to one of the dark walls and crouches, speaking in a low voice.
The three girls all look around. Tiaris and Lamb looking at the faint bioluminescence of the purple blooming flower, Lamb reaches out to poke it before Tiaris slaps her hand away. Meanwhile, Emerald looks at Jin cautiously, her eyes remaining sharp as she watches the boy whisper and laugh and the glowing blue in front of him.
"But my liege, no human can be trusted to keep this secret! They are followers of false gods!" One bug near Jin's crouched knee says.
"But these are just my sisters and their friend." Jin counters with pleading eyes. The bugs go silent for a moment, as if considering the offer.
"My brethren, we must obey our liege, there is no need for discussion here!" One glowing blue finally says out. Nearby bugs glow in agreement.
"So, you'll do it?" Jin asks hopefully.
"Yes, my liege. Feast your eyes on our best swarm dances." Another bug to his left says confidently.
Jin sets the bluefly on his finger back down on the ground, allowing them to start coordinating. Jin gets up and hops back over to the three standing in the single ray of light.
"Guys! Guys! They agreed to show you something cool!" Jin says with a wide smile. Tiaris looks up joyfully and comes over to the edge of the island to look at Jin.
"What is it? What is it?" She says while jumping up and down. Lamb gets up as well, though much more nervously. She comes up to hold onto Emerald's blouse.
"Just watch." Jin then turns to look at the ceiling and walls. The others follow his gaze upward. Silence fills the cave as a low chitter and chirp hums.
Sounds of buzzing and fluttering are heard as the bugs all fly in the darkness. After a moment, blue lights start to sparkle through the dark.
At first they look like blue stars in a night sky, but they quickly become more than that. They start to swirl and shift in ways that paints pictures and tells tales. At this point, all of them were watching in awe, even Jin, who had seen this performance before.
The lights move and shift like a faint glowing stream of blue. The lights twist and turn, as a river would. From there, the blueflies continue to entertain the children with more blue light depictions.
The sun was coming down by the time the three girls were convinced through conversation and beautiful shows.
After that, Jin stuck around to speak with the bugs while the three girls left. Much to Lamb's dismay, Tiaris dragged her out as Emerald grinned and waved to Jin.
Jin, who still didn't know that Emerald was a girl, watched them all leave with a small grin of his own.
The cave was silent for seemingly forever as Jin waited for his friends to give their final message.
"My liege," one bug started with a soft blue glow. Jin looked down for a moment, tears threatening to spill.
"My liege, we must tell you this," another pleaded with him. Jin sniffled but wiped his eyes and looked at the blueflies.
"T-Tell me. I'm ready." Jin says calmly.
"Then let us begin with our final story. We have told you many other things through this year. Some of it will be forgotten, some of it will be of no use, but this one, if you've only room for one then let it be this, my liege." One bug speaks.