Chapter 23:

25 Days After Spring’s Beginning

287 Days After The Ra’tok Attack Amia Village

Kalleo, Va’ura Hive

Rua Desert, Rhia Territory

This time when I wake up, I am not drowning. For a second, I savor the feeling of waking up after what feels like a good night’s sleep.

Yet, there is an occupying wariness, which I would have to guess is from my lack of my mind actually sleeping.

Stretching, and yawning, I enjoy the feeling of my muscles moving. An idea hits me before I start sitting up.

Well, it did say it improved my agility.

Tightening my muscles, I curl up into a ball on my back.

Then I release, my hands shooting out behind me and pushing against the reed mat. I can feel my back muscles working in tandem, brining my body into a slowly curving arc. My feet shoot out in front of me and I sail through the air.

Then I land on the stone ground, my legs absorbing the impact and dispersing it throughout my body and the floor.

I crouch down from my jump off the bed, a grin spreading across my face.

Woah! I look back at the bed, the reed mat and blanket have gone flying off. I had literally just leaped out of bed.

I stretch sideways, enjoying the feeling of my muscles’ elasticity. This is incredible!

Standing up, I look around the room, intent on getting my things. A slow realization starts kicking in as I look at the spartan room. I don’t have anything. It was all either burned in the crash or is still on the Sky Fisher.

I feel the need to check my money pouch, but I don’t even have that. All I literally have is the clothes on my back.

There is a knot in my stomach, as I look at my black wrapped hand. That was my life savings.

I’ve lost everything. My village, my way of life, my money and so much more. Yet I have gained more than I ever had before.

I have gained strength, something for a cripple that should be impossible. I have made a world, and defeated monsters straight from my nightmares. But was the price for it all trully worth it?

I shake my head of these thoughts. It would do me no good to start back down a spiral of self doubt and misery. The past was in the past, and there is no changing that, no matter how much I want to.

I look around at the spartan room, trying to drag myself from my ever present thoughts. The shadows are deep, and it is still dimly lit from the jar of glowing blue fungus.

I wonder…

I close my eyes, focusing on the idea of being able to see in the dark. I gather the recovered katra, which still is not too much, and guide it to my eyes through my broken channels.

I can feel it coating my eyes, and I impress on it what I want, to see in darkness. Adapt.

I feel sharp spikes of pain in my eyes, wincing, I press my palms into my eye sockets. I can feel something shifting in my eyes, and then the pain fades.

Blinking my watering eyes, I stare at the room again.

Now the blue jar of fungus looks like a miniature star of blue light. But when I focus away from it and onto the corner of the room, I can see a faint darkness.

A smile spreads across my face as I look around the room. I can see in the dark now.

The katra burn is not nearly as intense as that first Adaptation I had done. It was a slow drain on what I had already recovered, but comparing the katra I had left with my core isn’t very accurate.

If I had to guess, now that I have reached the Steel realm and been using my cycling method, my core’s katra capacity is near or at a Truesteel’s capacity. That cyclone in the center of my core drilled ever deeper, making a well to be filled with katra.

I had about one fourth of my core filled, and if I had to guess, I could keep this Adaption up for at most several hours.

I glance at the bright jar, then look away from it. And I now have a sensitivity to light.

Walking to the door, I pull it open and glance outside.

Kamar is sitting against the wall, scanning over what looks to be a scroll. He looks up, his spectacles perched on his face glinting in the blue light. “Ah, it was getting close to the time to wake you. Good that you’re already up.”

I close the door behind me with a thunk, looking at the Asper as he climbs to his feet. “Why were you going to wake me? I thought we wouldn’t be leaving till tomorrow.”

Kamar grunts as he rolls the scroll up, taking off his glasses and putting them into a hidden pocket in his clothes. “It wouldn’t be a good idea to travel in the day for how far we are going, and the Thri-kreen are impatient to get rid of us. So, we are leaving as soon as the sun sets, in the cool of the night. We’ll take the ship to Parasan, should be able to get there by the next day.”

I furrow my brow, as I follow the asper down the hall. “Ship? What ship?”

Does he mean an airship? I didn’t see one, and I don’t think the Thri-kreen would have one.

Kamar chuckles, “I forget sometimes that you come from a village on the outskirts of the Empire. I mean Sandship, the Thri-kreen have one.”

I open my mouth to ask him what a Sandship is, but am interrupted by the two Thri-kreen guards that were guarding the entrance to the hall.

One holds out a hand in front of Kamar, hissing and chittering loudly. The guard points to me and motions for me to follow.

I glance at Kamar, who shrugs and says. “If I had to guess, he wants you to follow him.”

Looking at the quickly bounding away Thri-kreen, I start following him, wondering, What is this about.

I look over my shoulder, and watch as the other Thri-kreen leads Kamar away in a different direction.

Following the Thri-kreen guard through the many turns and hallways of the pyramid, we walk down into its depths and eventually to the Tarrasque scale plated door of the Queen’s room.

That musty smell wafts from the door as the two purple sashed guards open it.

I hesitate, Why does the Queen want to speak with me?

Looking nervously at the two purple sashed guards, and the red one, I try to decide if it would be worth running. No, if the spirit fruits are any indication, these guys are at least in the Silver Realm, and even so, I can’t escape from a temple full of Thri-kreen.

My right hands curls into a fist as I step into the now lighted up room of the Queen. Wish I had a spear or dagger.

I walk up to the edge of the cliff, kneeling. I peer over the edge, and can’t help making a face as I discover the source of that strong stench.

Hundreds of eggs lay in clutches on the bottom of the cliff, sprawled out across the floor. Pillars spread out evenly around the room, their strange pulsing blue veins glowing brightly in my new dark vision.

I watch as the dark shape of the Queen Thri-kreen drags herself up the cliff, eventually bringing herself over the edge. Her compound eyes stare at me, her mandibles twitching.

Bowing my head, I wait for a second, expecting to hear her voice in my head.

Oddly, there is nothing. But there is a strange buzzing in the back of my mind.

Focusing on it, I find a connection trying to form. Though, for some reason it is unable, as if running into a wall.

I reach out and grab the thread, connecting to it.

The Queen’s powerful voice fills my mind, ‘You have changed, human. Your mind has formidable defenses now.’

She’s talking about my new trait, isn’t she? My Immutable Will. Does this mean that technically her way of communicating counts as something to do with the mind?

I bow my head a little deeper, saying, “This one is sorry your Highness, he still unused to his newly acquired abilities.”

There is a buzzing from the thin thread, and if I had to guess, it was laughter. ‘Worry not, human. I am not offended, thought I will give you a warning.’

My brow furrows at this. “A warning, your Highness?”

She shifts her massive frame, leaning forwards little more. Her face is now barely a foot from my head, and I can smell her breath, which smells of rotten meat. ‘Yes, a warning. While your mind may not be accessible easily, it can be accessed by those strong enough. If you give someone permission to form a Mind Link, it is a two way road. They can easily attack your mind.’

I feel the urge to cut our connection right then and there, but resist it. This was both a threat, and a warning. “This one thanks you, your Majesty, for your kind warning.”

There is that buzzing laughter again. ‘Flattery and subservience will only get you so far, human. But enough of this talk, it is not the reason I have asked your presence.’

Despite everything in my body screaming not to, I look up. I stare at the Queen’s giant triangle head, into her compound eyes.

‘You intrigue me, human. I can see you have clearly changed, even if I cannot see your katra. There is something about you that interests me. I have never seen a human undergo metamorphosis, even if reaching, as you like to call it, the Steel Realm.’

I balk a little. Of course she would have spies in the rooms, it’s only natural.

I can see an amused and dangerous glint in her eyes, ‘Yes, I see you have already figured it out. But we digress, I have an offer.’

She pauses, shifting her massive frame a little closer to stare me directly in the eyes. I can see the reflected glow of my Gray eyes in her compound eyes.

‘I would like you to stay with us, and we shall unravel your strange powers. I will help you reach Realms that you could never even imagine, and understand your power far more indepthly than you ever could.’

I tense, thinking carefully over this offer.

It is tempting, to become stronger so soon. To start to understand my strange katra aspect and the abilities I have gained. But there are surely strings attached to this deal. Plus…

I look warily at the queen, Doesn’t the female mantis eat the male after they have mated?

“With all due respect, your Highness, this one would like to accept your offer, but cannot with more information. Forgive him for his bluntness, but what are the strings attached?”

There is that strange buzzing laughter from the Queen, and she shifts back a little. In a bemused tone, she says, ‘You are smarter than you let on, human. To answer you question, though, there are… certain requirements. I would have you swear full loyalty and allegiance to the Va’ura Hive and Myself. You would do as I bid, and I will give you power and knowledge. Your friend, on the other hand, would have to leave.’

I stew in my thoughts for a second. I already swore an oath to the Talri Clan, and they think I’m dead, and basically kicked me out, so it might as well be null…

I bow my head again, deeply this time. “This one thanks you for your offer, but he feels he is unworthy, and also has no desire to be tied down to one place. This one also has many things he must do. He apologises for he cannot accept your offer.”

There is a humming from the Queen’s thread, and she chitters, rubbing her mandibles together.

I tense, getting ready to burst into action. My best bet is to go for her eyes, if I can form my gauntlet in time, I should be able to at least hurt her a bit. I will die bravely.

She speaks, filling the tense void of silence, ‘Very well, human. Perhaps it is for the best, my Hive is not very accepting of outsiders, especially humans. That is all, you may take your leave now.’

She shifts her bulk back over the edge of the cliff, our Mind Link severed. She vanishes over the edge, going back to tending to her eggs.

I wait a few more seconds, holding my breath. Then I let it out in a sigh, standing up.

I turn around and walk back to the exit of the room. Yes, perhaps it is for the better.

The image of Karla’s terrified face fills my mind, her screams and pleas echoing in my ears.

I steel my will, walking out of the hatchery. I’ll get vengeance.