The Contradictite

It all started when Damon tried to make tea. The water from the tap hissed, but not due to high pressure. The hiss was more serpentine, more alive, as if the water was angry at having to come out of the tap. He turned it off quickly before filling the kettle from a few bottles of water instead. He more or less forgot about it until he started rinsing out his mug when he was done with his tea. The sink hissed again. Still, he wanted to rinse out his mug, so I gritted his teeth and braved the hissing spray of water. The water steamed as it hit his mug, but he managed to rinse it out. However, before putting the mug on the drying rack, he noticed it had a strange smell. It smelled like burning sulfur. He dried the mug off with a dish towel then put it on the drying rack, and made a mental note to say something to Bette about it later that day. He looked around on the internet briefly, searching why his water smells like sulfur, or why it might be hissing, or steaming. When he was done, he

Aurora found Zephyrillium hiding in a tree. She flew over to him and sat next to him on the branch. At first he didn’t notice her as he peered between the gaps in the maple leaves, but when he saw her leaning over and looking, he only pressed his finger to his lips. “What are you watching?” she whispered to him after an uncomfortable silence. He glared at her and shushed her again, but after yet another uncomfortable silence, once he realized that she wasn’t going to leave, he whispered back, “Humans.” He pushed aside some leaves and with a narrow finger pointed down at a pair of humans walking along the path below the tree. “I’m observing them.” Aurora watched the two humans go. One carried a large stick, and the other one looked at a map. “How could anybody get by without wings?” she wondered aloud. Zephyrillium readied to shush her again, but stopped. Aurora’s attention was now entirely on the humans. He cleared his throat. “I think they’re used to it,” he said. “I’ve been observing