Defection spoke first, unsure of what to say exactly, it mumbled words that might have been, "Have you completely disposed of your senses?"
Mildew laughed or sneezed at this then stretched its paltry frame. "What my futile friend meant to betray was... what exactly caused you to reveal yourself so suddenly and to such crippled individuals? What disease attracts you and drags you here? What type of depressing sap has besieged the gap in your skull? Speak it now ... do you understand me, insect man, or are you dumb with dissolve?"
I understood. Far from my eyes an expression gathered at my fingertips and began to silently poke at a plate of puffy ash. Looking south for distraction, I spotted a keen hook near my elbow. My arm circled first, choosing and submitting a tender muscle to bleed.
I spoke back to Mildew detached, "Man is insect... as you correctly noted... therefore should it not be assumed that no affliction has ever crossed my skin that wasn't always there... just beneath some crusty shell."
Defection began shoveling fistfuls of empty heat into its lanky cage. Crumbs of ash slipped from twisted lips like crying holy water, anointing the floor with changeling spit.
This repulsed me to no end. If I had legs I would walk away now. As I sweat, my teeth begin to shatter in line, so I swallow each bit as they break. Mildew must not see me panic. I must be calm.
"I see you found the hook there..." Mildew shoved at my bleeding arm. "That was a test, you know, a way to prove your gross discomfort to I. Someone sane or at least awake would have held up the hook and said, "It appears to have lost its bait, does this belong to either of you?"... but you knew... you are true predator... real buggy... you needed its rusty side in you, and used trickery to conceal your moves... but I see the running rolling blood now. First there was the odor...the freshness gave you away... and now red pools adorn my table. You are a young bug too... but tell me, just what kind of insect are you?"
I cast a crossed eye at Defection but spoke to Mildew, "Can this mammal hear us? Why do you let it stay here?"
"Defection can't hear us... it stays for the food only. When all the ash is devoured, it will leave with Time... you see Time up there, don't you... they come and go together. I don't invite them at all... I would prefer darkness and empty dishes but this place provides for its patients. If Defection wants food and a light to heat it under... then it's here... and if I were to wish for... let's say... another broken invertebrate to talk to... maybe to relieve my mind of Defection's noisy slurp and slur... well then... you are here."
"You have no spine or bones to speak of at all?" I was humbled... but rambled on, "To be born as you were, in ambush of another, creeping, not breathing, breeding yourself in sheets, all lines pale and corrosive... you are dream to me! I would bow to you as king... that is, if I had a waist to lean or knees to bend, I would do so now."
"So... you recognize Mildew as the idol of idols... I am three in one and one of many... that is my train, nearly forgotten in the new slang of mortal barbarians."
"I am honored to be here........" there goes my last tooth, all sneering gums now. My necks knotted field cramps in conflict with my speech. I mean to continue with, "... and I would be glad to fill this silence." but my ugly lava chops won't release correctly. Instead they unseal, "...undied be god to feel this science." Mildew won't get it... I know it.
"What was that? What did you say?"
I whined inside. Defection stopped chewing. Time stopped swinging.
"Fool roach." One of them yawned. But Mildew knew the truth and asked me.
"Have you been eating your teeth? Are you that naive? Don't you know that bones must be extracted and not consumed? How much human still resides within you? Too much it seems... what shall we do Defection?"
My cheeks were now bulging with blood but my lips were sealed, keeping it all in.
Defection's words echoed before it even said them, "EAT HIM!"
Mildew smirked, "You want MORE ash to chug? Are you sure you have the room?"
"EAT HIM! MAKE HIM ASH! I HAVE ROOM!"
Time was swaying again, faster, glowing amusement, shocking my eyes into foam. I am blind... but I hear.
"Alas... what else can be done..." that I know is Mildew.
"Find another bug...one with symmetry." that I assume is Time."
ROAST HIM AND FEED ME!" ..... that’s Defection.
The last words I ever hear come from Mildew. He talks deep into me... sinking, "They all wear such good disguises now... it's not so easy to locate the sickness anymore... the spirits just don't pass it on. At one time it was fully unreal... "Insect Eternal", my subjects would say... but now they've all passed on and left me behind... in ruins... with eaters of dust. I have said enough now. Defection, you will gorge on his ashes... Time will watch... and I... I will listen.
the end