The Light in Aquala

They had covered another half a mile when they heard a beautiful sound, soft and almost musical, coming from somewhere beside the trail up ahead and to their right. They started looking in the direction of the song, squinting their eyes as they peered through the thick leaves.

"Listen." whispered Mara, as the song stopped and then started up again, this time fading and being replaced by a soft chirp coming from beneath a broad-leafed fern.

Mara crouched, pushing the fern leaves aside gently. Inside a hollow near the base of a tree was a creature she had seen many times before: a small, round-bodied creature with long ears and bright eyes, known to the villagers as a Leafy Hopper. They were common throughout the island, nocturnal foragers that fed on fallen fruit and small insects.

But this one was different.

Its fur, which should have been a soft brown mottled with darker patches, was instead a glowing Neon yellow. It cast a warm light all around it, looking up at Mara and Lena with intelligent eyes.

Mara knelt down and held very still. "Hello, little one."

The creature tilted its head, its ears twitching. Its glow shifted to a brilliant green which then changed into the same vibrant turquoise as the other creatures and flowers they had seen earlier in the night. The colors rippled across its body like waves, then changed into a blue-green and stayed that color.

Lena leaned in beside her sister. "Is it changing to match you?"

"I think so." Mara watched as the blue-green deepened, becoming the exact shade of her own Neon signature. "It seems to be affected by my Neon glow which is replacing the other Neon colors."

The creature chirped again, and Lena leaned in closer. Its colors shifted into the warm Neon orange that matched Lena's signature.

Mara reached slowly for her instrument. "I need to record this." The creature watched her, its bright eyes following her movements. When she brought the instrument close, it didn't retreat. Instead, it hopped closer, as if curious about the device.

"You are a brave little one," Mara said gently with a smile on her face. The creature chirped again, and changed colors once more. But this time the colors didn't just ripple across its body, they formed a pattern of blue-green and orange Neon bands that arranged themselves in a sequence Mara had seen before.

Her breath caught. "Lena. Look at this." Lena leaned closer, her face lighting up in surprise. "This is unbelievable. Not only does it still have our Neon glows, but the colors are actually forming patterns."

"This pattern is the same pattern that I recorded around Aquala last night." Mara whispered.

Lena stared at the creature, then at her sister. "You're saying this creature is showing you the same pattern you saw at Aquala?"

"I don't know what it means." Mara shook her head slowly, her scientific mind racing. "But I know what I'm seeing."

The creature held the pattern for several seconds, then its colors faded back to the original color that it had when they first found it. It chirped once more, hopped out of the hollow, and disappeared into the darkness beneath the huge ferns.

"The changes are ahead of us now, not just behind us. We need to get back to the village and tell everyone what we've seen." Lena whispered.

Mara nodded slowly. “I think I have a theory. I don't think we're the only ones who know about the pattern. I think it’s a message."

"From who?" questioned Lena, with a nervous tremor in her voice.

"I don't know." Mara tucked her instrument away, her hands trembling slightly. "But I think we're about to find out."