We arrived. I felt it as soon as we crested a steep slope. A central tower almost a hundred meters high rose up at the highest point of Pax’s gently arched back. It looked like a simple bony outgrowth, almost a claw, but gnarled and twisted. Many of the higher-ranked symbionts idled about the tower’s base: panthers, raptors, pterosyls, and dozens of creatures I couldn’t identify. There was even a silphid, a much larger one than I saw at the dissections, all knobbed carapace and arachnid arms. Oquail slowed down and brought me closer to a side of the tower that almost looked like it had a human face carved into it. But the pattern shifted like liquid mercury tinted with the color of bone. From The Death of Pax by Santiago Belluco. An anthology ‘Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation’. Published by Upper Rubber Boot Books. Artwork was created in Artbreeder & upscaled in Topaz Gigapixel Ai 1024x1024 pix. mp4