Los antiguos relataban historias de fantasía sobre criaturas humanoides mezcladas con animales. Su aspecto era una maravilla de la genética, quizás, o una aberración errante de la creación. Descendían del cielo abierto cada temporada, y su contacto con los antiguos era casi exiguo ya que su falta del uso del lenguaje dificultaba una verdadera relación entre las dos razas.

Aunque las diferencias estaban bien remarcadas, no era imposible tampoco la posibilidad de una sociedad. Los antiguos tuvieron que acostumbrarse a la apariencia extraña de estas criaturas voladoras. Sus patas que asemejaban a manos humanos tenían un aspecto grotesco; eran seis de ellas y solo dos eran más largas que las otras.

Las partes del resto de su cuerpo eran una combinación de insecto-humano. Sus alas de anisópteros, las cuales, brillaban con destellos de colores que podían distinguirse a kilómetros de distancia. Sus ojos saltones, rojos y multifacéticos eran ideales para hacerte desvanecer del espanto, pocos los miraban fijamente ya que no podían contener la mirada por corto rato.

Su apariencia era reluciente, porque estaba cubierta por una capa celuloide verde esmeralda, aparentemente dura como la piedra pero en realidad era frágil como el cartón. Sus piernas eran retorcidas y casi no las usaban mucho, ellos se trasladaban de un lado a otro levitando gracias a sus alas, era imposible concebir para los antiguos procesar el hecho de que tales seres poseyeran piernas.

Sus antenas, las pinzas de sus bocas, sus tenazas; parecían estar hechos del mismo filamento genético, según los relatos de los antiguos que tocaron dichas partes, aseguraban que al tocarlas, sentían como si manosearan un cumulo de hojas secas; carrasposas, insensibles al tacto y húmedas, con una sensación poco agradable.

Era inverosímil para los antiguos creer que seres tan anormales pudieran cohabitar en este ambiente tan hostil. La zona donde subsistían era un desierto árido abrumado frecuentemente por tormentas de arena. Los antiguos en su adaptabilidad y nociones propias de supervivencia, lograron ajustarse al entorno donde residían, recibiendo con resolución a los peligros acechantes.

Sin embargo, aquella raza humanoide con aspecto de insecto, tan deleznables al ataque de un reptiloide rojo o de una briosa tempestad, podía extinguirse en un chasquido si aquellos azares emergían para someterles. No poseían siquiera un sistema de defensa que les permitiera por lo menos huir sin ser destruidos, era como estar en presencia de una desgracia para la vida.

No obstante, no todo en aquellas extrañas y frágiles identidades era por certeza perdido. Ellos poseían una habilidad, que de por sí, los antiguos desde el principio habían pasado por alto, quizás por la conmoción o porque solo estaban acostumbrados a la fuerza bruta.

Aunque no eran perspicaces para la supervivencia, su inteligencia participaba más que todo en la idealización de edificaciones complejas. Aunque no manejaban un lenguaje verbal compuesto, desarrollaron una escritura perfecta, en el sentido que poseía todos los elementos para ser considerada un modo de comunicación. Y aunque no ostentaban un sistema de defensa efectivo, tenían la capacidad de volar a grandes alturas y enfrentar grandes vientos, a pesar de que a simple vista se pensaba imposible, ya que sus delicados cuerpos parecían romperse, era increíble verlos soportar tan frías y húmedas ráfagas.

Los antiguos aprendieron todo lo que pudieron de ellos, desde sus habilidades para desarrollar complejas edificaciones hasta la creación de códices útiles para la formulación e instauración de sistemas diversificados. Aunque fue de gran ayuda para ellos tenerlos de aliados, sabían que su estirpe no era sedentaria y mucho menos en aquel árido lugar.

La raza de los humanoides insectos se marchó definitivamente, ya que no estaba en su naturaleza permanecer en un solo sitio mucho tiempo, porque podrían desfallecer. Fue lamentable su partida, sin embargo, habían formado una sociedad nueva a través de los antiguos, quienes prosiguieron inmortalizando sus aprendizajes tallando en cada pilar los conocimientos dados por los seres del cielo.

ENGLISH VERSION

The Stretch

The ancients told fantasy stories about humanoid creatures mixed with animals. Their appearance was a marvel of genetics, perhaps, or a wandering aberration of creation. They descended from the open sky every season, and their contact with the ancients was almost meager as their lack of use of language made a true relationship between the two races difficult.

Though the differences were well marked, the possibility of a society was not impossible. The ancients had to get used to the strange appearance of these flying creatures. Their legs, which resembled human hands, were grotesque in appearance; there were six of them and only two were longer than the others.

The rest of their body parts were a combination of insect and human. Their anisopterous wings, which glowed with flashes of color that could be seen from miles away, were a combination of insect and human. Their bulging, red, multi-faceted eyes were ideal for making you fade from fear, few stared at them as they could not hold their gaze for a short time.

Her appearance was shiny, because she was covered by an emerald green celluloid layer, apparently hard as stone but actually fragile as cardboard. Their legs were twisted and they hardly used them at all, they moved about levitating thanks to their wings, it was impossible for the ancients to conceive of processing the fact that such beings possessed legs.

Their antennae, the pincers of their mouths, their pincers; they seemed to be made of the same genetic filament, according to the accounts of the ancients who touched these parts, asserting that when they touched them, they felt as if they were touching a bunch of dry leaves; they were hawkish, insensitive to touch and wet, with an unpleasant sensation.

It was implausible for the ancients to believe that such abnormal beings could cohabit in such a hostile environment. The area in which they subsisted was an arid desert often overwhelmed by sandstorms. The ancients, in their adaptability and notions of survival, were able to adjust to the environment in which they lived, resolutely welcoming the dangers that lay ahead.

However, that insect-like humanoid race, so contemptible to the attack of a red reptilian or a fiery storm, could be extinguished in a snap if those hazards emerged to subdue them. They did not even have a defence system that would allow them to escape without being destroyed; it was like being in the presence of a disgrace to life.

However, not everything in those strange and fragile identities was for sure lost. They possessed an ability, one that the ancients had overlooked from the beginning, perhaps because of the shock or because they were only used to brute force.

Although they were not keen on survival, their intelligence was more involved in the idealization of complex buildings. Although they did not handle a compound verbal language, they developed perfect writing, in the sense that it possessed all the elements to be considered a mode of communication. And although they did not have an effective defense system, they had the capacity to fly at great heights and face great winds, even though at first sight it was thought impossible, since their delicate bodies seemed to break, it was incredible to see them withstand such cold and humid gusts.

The ancients learned everything they could from them, from their skills in developing complex buildings to creating codices useful for the formulation and implementation of diversified systems. Although it was of great help to them to have them as allies, they knew that their lineage was not sedentary, much less in that arid place.

The race of the insect humanoids left for good, since it was not in their nature to remain in one place for long, because they could faint. Their departure was regrettable, however, they had formed a new society through the old ones, who continued to immortalize their learning by carving into each pillar the knowledge given by the beings of heaven.