Cicada.

A new parable. For paid subscribers.

Choose this day whom you will serve.

— Joshua 24:15

The soil held him.

Pressure on every side. Where the soil pressed, his body ended. Where his body ended, the world began. He had no word for boundary. He had no word for anything. Just the pressure, the dark, and the rhythm that had always been.

Feed. Rest. Feed. Rest.

Root fiber across his mandibles. Pale…