Serpents Dream On Butterfly Wings

   The words and vision Gaia had given Khaos in their shared dream stuck with her long after she awoke. Her Mother would not have shown her this silhouette without reason; the task of guiding this mysterious soul was no easy feat if she did not know whose soul it was. Memories of them were hazy, any attempt to isolate the vision and focus on details only resulted in headaches before the visage fogged over once again. The form she could recall was adorned with large butterfly-like wings and two uneven horns. The only reason she knew it humanoid was because it stood on two legs; otherwise, it would appear to be an insect to her mind's eye.
   No name or face ever manifested, whenever she tried, she felt this painful loneliness; this deep melancholy permeating through. So prevalent of an emotion it was that it pierced through the fog straight into her heart. It hurt so much to feel that each time she could not stop the tears cascading down her cheeks. Was this how they felt? How did they live with such heartbreaking pain... At times like these, Khaos regretted how her heart felt for all her siblings. It hurt too much to bare.

   But Gaia had given her this task; to heal them, guide them, she would not let her down.

   She would look from above through the crowd every Festival of Lights, hoping to spot the Lockette from her dream. There was no guarantee, not all came to the festival but it was the biggest gathering of her kind year round and always in the same place, so the likelihood rose. A few years passed with no luck, no sightings at all. Even if they could not know their features, the emotions that radiated and their distinct silhouette stuck with Khaos, she was confident that those alone was what she could pick them out by.

Fennel's Glade, as she came to know it, was what she called home for a long time as she recovered. Even now, when she had long since moved away, she still finds herself sometimes wandering into this hidden realm when lost in thought. She suspected that was how it worked, opening itself to those in need, but Fennel never tells his secret. Other than the festival, this was her other best option to find this stranger.
   One night, a few before the Festival, her aimless meandering through woodland in serpent form brought her on to the lily glade aglow with moonlight. A welcome sight to her troubled mind as always, but what was in its centre was the only thing she could focus on. Perched on her knees, cupping a lily blossom with such tenderness, was the Lockette she had been waiting for all these years. Large gossamer wings spread behind her, shimmering in the moonlight. Soft beats from those intricate drapes scattering loose petals all around. She looked almost like a giant butterfly, with her large dark eyes and uneven horns; like antennae. Even from here, she could see the trails of tears coating her cheeks. Her long fingers delicate in caressing the otherworldly petals.
   This realm had worked its wonders once more. It had used its power to guide the hurting to its comforting embrace. Before she could be lost in this creature's beauty, they turned their head and locked eyes with Khaos, still a serpent. In her surprise, she had neither reverted her form nor shifted her body to refract light away.

   "A...Sky Serpent?..." The figure spoke in a frail tone of voice. In response, Khaos shifted herself so the keyhole on her chest was visible. A soft gasp in recognition "...A Lockette..." In vain, they tried to clear their face of tears and sit up straight, all it did was smear the dark stain before more filled the space. They were not sobbing, in fact, they spoke quite clearly if a little feeble, almost as if crying like this was their natural state. The serpent carefully cleared the space between, as not to disturb the flowers at her feet and to not startle the visitor from afar, till they were within a metres distance.

   Khaos could not speak in this form, not verbally. She considered a mental link with the stranger but did not wish to scare her. Silent and staring for what felt like ages, mesmerised by each other's differences till Khaos broke the contact by bowing her head. Deeming the situation safe enough to begin her transformation; the silken mane of her serpent form morphed into her long flowing hair, limbs elongating and face shifting, becoming humanoid. The dark Lockette watched in awe as she became something more akin to a Lockette as she knew them and they locked eyes once more.

   "I-I am sorry, I never introduced myself... My name is Saturn, I apologise for intruding on your residence, it was just..." she looked out over the field of flowers "I felt so calm here, it is truly beautiful. I could not help myself."

   "No need to apologise, I understand, this place has a draw to it. Though this realm is not my own, it does belong to that of a dear friend of mine." Khaos took a glance at the skies to see if a certain unicorn was spying on his handiwork. "He opens this place to people who are hurting. I too found myself here to heal after a weary battle, I was here so long these lilies grew from my joints..." accentuating her sentence by plucking one gently from its roots. "I think they feed on pain and suffering, not out of malice, but almost as if..." clawed fingers pull a sheer petal free and let it loose to the gentle breeze "...they eat it from your soul to free you, and use it to grow. Turn pain into something beautiful..." another petal. "At least, I like to think so." She lets the rest of the bloom float away. "Apologies, I have been known by many names you may recognise, but these days I choose Khaos."

   "I do not think I know of any of your other names, modern folktales are currently lost on me, so I know no Sky Serpents. I've been doing my best to read up on what I missed, I read about the war... Was that the battle that lead you here?" Khaos raised her eyebrow.

   "Yes...It was. Most Lockette know about or took part in the war, especially elders. May I enquire how you missed it? Pardon my bluntness but your saura does not feel particularly young." Saturn's doe eyes grew even wider with fearful apprehension.

   "I-I am sorry I...I did not mean to encroach on your pain I..." She put an end to her stammering with a sigh. "You are right, I came from an age long before the war. Lockettes like me were not accepted in any society, human or Lockette" a flick of her long wings, a glace at her horns. Mutations. "I made it my life goal to research the stars, to be of use to someone by utilising my time and knowledge to further others. I learned all I could here on the ground and I used my powers to attempt spacewalking." Saturn was purposefully not making eye contact with Khaos, in shame perhaps? "A walk turned into daily living. I learnt much of the cosmos and creation, but it took a part of me with it. I felt hollow... So empty all the time. As if I traded the parts of my soul for every piece of knowledge I attained... I was reminded of my original dream and returned to Earth... only to find all I had known had advanced so far past my old memories, that both I and my promise were long forgotten by all but me." She fidgetted with her fingers, biting her lip. Khaos wasn't sure but it seemed the ever-flowing tears from her eyes grew stronger. Her shaking hands shot up in an attempt to stiffen the flow, only once again being thwarted by a force she had no control of.
   "That empty space was filled so suddenly, as soon as my feet made contact with the Earth. I felt unknown years' worth of what I was missing flood into my soul. My body could not hold it... I have not stopped crying since." A slight, sad chuckle punctuated her words. "It worries or frightens all who see me. It may sound strange to say but... I was glad it was my crying that upset them more than my shell. Society has truly moved on without me, for the better." She looked at her hands, tips now smeared with ink. "...You did not need to hear my sob story... I do not know what came over me..." She stood to leave. "This may not be your domain, but I have encroached long enough. I do not mean to darken this haven." Khaos had a sense she was avoiding this topic from going too deep.

   Khaos could see why Gaia wanted her to help Saturn, it was her duty to guide lost souls after all. One of her beloved children had gone years without the energy of the Earth to heal her heart. She could not bare to know how the star-speckled Lockette survived the pain she only briefly shared through her visions, and for so long. To have missed the turns in society, the rises and falls, the war, the resurgence of the Heartlands... Saturn was gone from Mother's light for centuries. 

   "What do you wish to do, now that you are back?" The sentence stopped Saturn in her tracks, she had not made it far, but still. "Reading about what you missed surely only makes that guilt you feel stronger?" A visible wince in response. Khaos rose to her feet. Not once did Saturn turn back to face her but her body language told Khaos all she needed to know. Her shoulders hunched forward in an attempt to soothe herself, hands clutching the hem of her chiffon skirt.

   "What is your new dream?"

   With that, the final straw, those words slammed down on Saturn's shoulders like the weight of the cosmos that she so loved and feared. Wracking sobs shook her dainty shell as she fell to her knees, hands now wiping furiously yet in vain at tears that will never cease. Khaos joined her, iridescent hand into inky palm, holding smeared cheek. Beautiful glimmering eyes met her own. They had seen so much, now swimming in sadness.

   "Why don't we find it... Together?"