by Pirateaba
“By playing chess?”
“Yes. By playing chess. But questions were asked of the Workers as they played.”
“Which ones?”
“I…do not know, milady. Klbkch and I were positioned outside the room until called for.”
It had been a point Ksmvr had argued hotly against, but he had been overruled by Klbkch. His Queen paused, but did not ask him why.
“Then the results?”
She already knew, so why ask? But Ksmvr obediently reported.
“Of the twenty five workers, four became Individual, choosing names and asserting their independence and loyalty to the Hive. The others…all became Aberration.”
Ksmvr still remembered slicing Workers apart. It didn’t bother him, but even here, Klbkch had surpassed him. The other Antinium had danced a deadly trail of death through the rampart former Workers, while Ksmvr had stuck to the established protocols.
“One in eight? That is very acceptable. Why was that process not continued with the others?”
“I—believe it was due to the effect of meeting the Human known as Erin Solstice, my Queen. After the four Individuals were separated and the other Aberrations destroyed, Klbkch made the assessment that this process was a success. He gathered more Workers and some Soldiers and attempted to repeat the process.”
“And?”
“The rate of those who did not encounter Erin Solstice was—one in a one hundred and sixty three. No Soldiers became Individual, but few became Aberration either.”
They had been especially hard to put down. Ksmvr still had a cracked bit of exoskeleton on one leg and his side where he had been struck.
The sound that came from his Queen was a deep sigh, but one tinged by an emotion Ksmvr could not identify. He waited, tense, alert for the next question.
“So it seems Klbkchhzeim was correct. Erin Solstice is needed, for now, at least. But of the five Individuals you have observed. Their loyalty?”
“Of the five, the first, Pawn, is the most independent. He also assumes a position of command among them, but remains receptive to orders from Klbkch. The others do likewise, and none have acted in any unusual manner.”
Aside from the fact that they were taking on responsibilities and roles no other Antinium had ever taken on before. Ksmvr did not mention the way in which Pawn spoke to him, or the painful games of chess they had played.
“Good. Continue.”
Ksmvr bowed his head. It took him a second to realized he’d been dismissed.
—-
The Queen of the Antinium watched and felt Ksmvr go, and sighed when she was sure he was gone from earshot.
“Inconvenient.”
That was the only word for it. Ksmvr was simply not Klbkch, and that was as regrettable as it was inevitable. Perhaps the new Prognugator would rise to the station, or perhaps he would not. In the mean time it was simply another annoyance on top of the Queen’s plate of annoyances.
But the Individuals could be replicated. They could be made anew, even if the cost was prohibitively high at the moment. And even that could be surpassed, if necessary. Erin Solstice was important, but not vital.
That was good. It meant that the Antinium could continue the experiment. It meant that they were not reliant on uncontrollable variables like Humans or other species. It meant…
It meant the time of change was upon them again.
Such a thought sparked excitement even in the languid Queen’s body. Again. Soon, perhaps, the Antinium might change again. And then the other Queens would know she had been right.
It might seem odd for rivalry and argument to form among the Antinium, but it had been discovered long ago that without such, the Antinium would stagnate. The Queen had endured the ridicule and scorn of her fellow Queens for long years, but now she would be proven right. The Great Queen would know of her success soon.
Maybe then she would allow the Queen the other types long denied to her Hive, and provide her with both plans and resources that they might be grown. Or perhaps it was time she created one herself. With the resources and bodies she would be given once her work had been deemed a success, the Queen would be able to improve her hive a thousandfold.
“And maybe then…”
The Queen sighed, relaxing back onto the soft bed that had been made to hold her vast weight. Until that day, she must continue to labor. More than once, the Queen had thought of creating yet another Prognugator, or even another Queen, but that had been outlawed both by the Great Queen and the pact made with Liscor. And yet, she was in sore need of another assistant.
Perhaps one of the Individuals might serve? It was part of the reason they were necessary, after all. Pawn had levels in [Tactician] – perhaps not as high as the Queen’s, but then again, perhaps so. The new Antinium leveled up far quicker than Klbkch or the Queen.
And she needed help. She left the above world to Ksmvr and Klbkch, despite her misgivings, so she could better lead her Hive below. The above world was not the Queen’s concern at the moment. She could not turn her attention to lesser matters. For if she were distracted by the concerns of the surface, who would lead her army against the threat from below?
The Antinium had long known of the dungeon underneath Liscor. The Ruins had been only a small part; in their tunneling, the Antinium had uncovered nearly all of the vast ruins. But entering them? Another matter entirely. It was all they could do some days to hold the line.
The Queen settled back against one stone wall and reached out to the rest of her Hive, assessing, commanding. Today’s casualty report: fifty two Workers and eighty six Soldiers slain. Five tunnels breached; fortifications in (242, -42, -4951) were in desperate need of repairs.
She thought as she went over the Workers slowly clearing bodies and hauling the rest to be turned into the easily storable and highly nutritious paste she loathed so much. The surface was inconvenient, but also necessary.
Gold-rank adventurers would soon be entering the city. Was it time to reveal the extent of the ruins? That process was underway, but could be sped up or halted with the Antinum’s help or lack thereof.
Soon. The Queen sat and pondered her hive and the dungeon beneath. It mattered little if it was Antinium or other species who fought their way to the center of the dungeon. But the Antinium must have the artifacts that lurked inside the true treasure rooms. It must be retrieved, but if the guardians were to be freed in the process—
Skinner was the least of their worries. The Antinium had killed nineteen Flesh Worms in the tunnels so far, even if none of them had built up so much flesh as he had, or the gems of [Terror]. No, the real threat was deeper, darker.
The Queen sat on her throne and turned her attention back to her long war in the depths. They had sworn to protect Liscor, that they might grow. The Antinium would do so, and then they would reap their harvest and the world would change with them.
—-
Ceria Springwalker hated the image everyone had of half-Elves. Everyone—mostly Humans, but all species really—had this image of half-Elves as these eternally happy beings who loved to frolic in flowers and hug trees.
Ceria didn’t like flowers, and the only time she hugged trees were to climb up them to escape from bears. She was a city girl, not some crazed nature freak.
Even so, she had to admit there was a grain of truth to the myths. She had an affinity with plants that few other species did. So it made sense Erin would ask her for help planting flowers. It just wasn’t fun for Ceria.
“Here. Space them out a bit more so they can absorb more nutrition.”
Ceria directed Erin as the two young women labored over the pots on the table. They were filled with soil, and Ceria had already made sure they had a good spot in the sun. More than that, she didn’t really know. She might be good with flowers, but she had no idea what to do with these ones.
The flowers that had caused Erin to think she was a tiny person for the better part of an hour were golden and soft to the touch. They were also a tri
ck; Ceria had been expecting gold, but she fully realized that had been stupid of her. And of Erin, but the half-Elf didn’t want to make the Human feel worse than she was already.
Not that Erin looked too upset. The girl was actually humming as she chattered to Ceria about the possible uses of the odd flowers. She was calling them Alice Flowers, for a reason Ceria couldn’t understand. But Ceria did agree the flowers were probably as valuable as gold.
They were…magical. And not; Ceria could sense the same odd feeling from these flowers that she got from the Frost Faeries. It was a tingling in the back of her mind, a stirring in her soul.
Were they valuable or not? Certainly, an [Alchemist] might pay a lot for them if they weren’t common somewhere else, but Ceria just didn’t know. It still seemed a bit pitiful, given that it was payment for all of Erin’s hard work.
And yet, Erin had leveled up four times from that one night! Ceria couldn’t believe it. And her skills! [Wondrous Fare] and [Inn’s Aura]? Ceria knew that some [Chefs] earned [Magical Cooking], but she’d never heard of Erin’s skill.
That settled it. Erin Solstice was no ordinary human, any more than Ryoka was. Ceria glanced over at the other girl. Ryoka was as tight-mouthed as a clam, and twice as tough to crack open, but Erin was far more easygoing and open. She was smiling as she gently patted the flowers into the soil.
“Erin. You um, don’t seem like you’re too normal.”
The girl paused, and frowned at Ceria.
“Thanks? Or wait, is that an insult?”
Ceria laughed and stood up from her pot, dusting off her hands.
“Hardly. You’re unlike any Human I’ve ever met, and I’ve met a few. You and Ryoka are completely unique though; where do the two of you hail from?”
The half-Elf moved to sit at a table as Erin frowned at her pot. The girl replied absently.
“Oh, I come from another world. Ryoka does too.”
Ceria kept walking and then tripped over the chair she’d been going to sit on. She crashed to the ground face-first, breaking her fall with both hands.
“Ceria!”
Erin dropped the flower she was holding, but Ceria was on her feet in and instant. The half-Elf gaped at Erin.
“You what? Wait, you and Ryoka?”
The girl looked panicked.
“Didn’t I say? I thought I told you! Wait—I told Krshia and Klbkch but—I thought Ryoka told you!”
She clapped a hand to her head.
“Oh no. Ryoka’s going to be so mad at me!”
—-
Ceria sat in a chair and let her head spin for a while. Erin hovered around her anxiously.
“I mean, it isn’t that big a deal, right? There’s no way back—not that I know of, and Ryoka and I don’t know anything special. I think. I mean, technology is really different where I come from, but I can’t build anything like Ryoka’s iPhone.”
“I can’t believe it. I just—”
The half-Elf broke off, shaking her head. The trouble was, she could believe it. It would be far easier to call Erin crazy, but it made sense, especially with everything Ceria had observed about Ryoka.
No wonder the other girl was so cagey. And here was Erin, as oblivious of the dangers as an owl on a summer’s day. Ceria sighed. Someone had to protect the girl. It should probably be her.
“I guess we’ve got more to talk about.”
“I guess. But we’ve got a lot to talk about anyways, right? Like these flowers—and those new skills I’ve got!”
“The skills. Right.”
At this point, the skills were one of the last things on Ceria’s mind, but the half-Elf reluctantly focused on Erin.
“Obviously the [Wondrous Fare] skill has to do with you making food for the faeries. I’m not sure about [Inn’s Aura], but it might just make your inn more attractive or something.”
“Ooh, that could be helpful. But what about [Wondrous Fare]? Does that mean I can make food only for faeries or that it’s somehow…magical?”
“Why don’t you try to make something and see what the skill does?”
“Right! Right…”
Erin nodded a few times and disappeared into the kitchen. Ceria sighed, and Erin poked her head back out.
“Wait one second. I’ll make you some crepes, and then we can talk okay? Magical crepes.”
Ceria nodded weakly. She had no idea what a crepe was, but she prayed it would take Erin some time. Her head still hurt.
And then the door opened and Ceria’s headache doubled. Pisces walked in. She knew it was him because she couldn’t see anything, yet she heard the footsteps.
“Pisces. Don’t tell me you’ve gotten in trouble with the Watch again?”
“Hardly. I’m just here to avoid unwanted attention.”
Pisces reappeared in an instant, and Ceria sighed. This was not a good time for him to show up…which was why she should have expected him.
Somehow he could always pop up at the worst possible moment. She was only glad he hadn’t heard Erin’s accidental admission. Ceria would be the first to admit Pisces wasn’t evil so much as annoying, but he had a habit of causing trouble. If he learned about where Erin was from—
“What interesting flowers. Are they magical?”
Trust Pisces to focus on the magic in the room first. Ceria sighed.
“Take your hands away from those. If you steal one, Erin will hurt you. They’re a gift from the Winter Sprites.”
Pisces immediately snatched his hand away and backed up.
“Those things? I thought even Miss Erin would know to leave them well alone.”
“Well, she didn’t, and they paid her in flowers.”
“Ah. Well, perhaps I will just have something to eat. Is that food I smell?”
Ceria closed her eyes as Pisces strode into the kitchen. She heard a shout, and the mage hurried back out.
“Go away! I’m cooking! And Ceria, these crepes don’t feel magical!”
“Perhaps I should try one to be s—”
Pisces ducked as a ladle flew out of the kitchen. He sniffed loudly.
“That was dangerous. I am a customer.”
“Not paying!”
“Must you hold that against me? Well, soon enough I will have sufficient funds to pay for my meals. I have enrolled in the Adventurer’s Guild.”
That made Ceria sit up in her seat. Pisces, an adventurer? It was almost as much of a surprise as Erin’s admission. She eyed him. He must have been very hungry to be so desperate.
“You can’t be serious. You’ll die on your first mission.”
He sneered at her.
“If you can do it, Springwalker, I see no reason why I can’t do the same. Of course, with my undead I will be able to accomplish much even by myself. Unless you’d care to join my party…?”
“Fat chance. And stop stealing food or Erin will hurt you. And if she doesn’t do it, I will.”
Pisces was pointing a finger into the kitchen, and Ceria knew he was using a minor levitation spell. He scowled, and Erin yelped as the crepe he’d been levitating dropped back down.
“Pisces!”
He raised his hands as the girl stormed out.
“Oh—should I mention this?—there appears to be a girl freezing to death in the snow a few miles north of here. I thought you might be interested.”
“What?”
Erin stared at him as Pisces explained. Ceria narrowed her eyes at her…acquaintance. Friend was far too strong a word.
“How do you know that? And why are you telling Erin? I’d have thought you’d want the girl to die.”
“I would, but Selys insisted I tell Erin. She believes Erin will rescue the girl.”
“Well—of course! She’s out there with no coat? How could they do that?”
Erin stared at Pisces and then rushed into the kitchen. Ceria heard scraping, and then Erin stormed out of the kitchen with a plate of crepes in hand. She shoved it on the table and turned to Ceria.
“I’v
e got to go! I’ll be back in a little bit Ceria.”
“What? Erin, listen. That girl is a thief. She was exiled from Liscor for a reason. You can’t just—”
Erin stared at Ceria. There was something disconcerting about the young woman’s gaze. She was normally so amiable, but now her stare was serious and unwavering.
“No one deserves to die in the cold. No one.”
She turned.
“Toren! Where is he? Nevermind—”
She ran back into the kitchen and reemerged with a coat. Then Erin dashed out the door.
Pisces watched her go and shook his head.
“Too kind by far, that girl. For a child from another world, she is rather careless.”
Ceria stared at Pisces. He smirked at her, and then frowned when he realized she wasn’t taken aback.
“Ah. You know.”
“How do you know?”
“A certain conversation on that device of Ryoka Griffin’s. It was troublesome to copy the [Message] spell as I recreated it, but…”
Pisces shrugged. Ceria remembered him bragging about that bit of magic as they’d exited the ruins. She narrowed her eyes.
“And now you’ve just sent that girl off to rescue a dangerous thief.”
“Not dangerous so much as annoying at this point, I believe. Her magical items are gone.”
Ceria stood up, sighing. She walked over to Pisces and smacked him with her skeletal hand. He yelped as she glared at him.
“Idiot.”
“Come with me. Once we go and make sure Erin doesn’t get mobbed by those damn Gnolls and Drakes, we’ll talk. About you being an adventurer as much as anything else. I’m reforming the Horns of Hammerad.”
Both his eyebrows shot up. He looked at her skeletal hand, and then blinked twice when he realized it had been the one to strike him.
“Well. That is a new development. But you have no wand. And unlike me, you don’t have any Skills in that area.”
Ceria smiled grimly, and raised her skeletal hand.
“Oh, I can do magic. And Yvlon is—well, she’s got scars but she’s still got both arms. And so do I.”