The first thing that I do is have my entire group freeze in place. It is quickly becoming dusk and the first thing predators look for in the dark is movement. I don’t know how I know this, it is simply programmed into me. Seconds pass and no further arrows appear. Seconds become minutes and nothing changes beyond the final set of the sun as we wait.

Eventually, I see movement on the roof that I lost my Grey on. Another Grey crouches on the same roof but the immobile and faintly translucent the Copto might as well be invisible in the dark outlined against the clouded grey night sky. The other Coptos under my control would not be so lucky, I have seconds before whatever is on that roof spots my Yellows. I feel the Violet pushing against my mind grasping for something. I relax and allow it to reach in. He reads the sensations that I am gaining from the Greys. A few seconds pass and the figure on the roof suddenly pulls out a longbow and in one smooth motion knocks an arrow taking aim at one of of my nearby Yellows which is hidden on the wrong side of a tree with its side exposed

Before I can react and move the Yellow three bolts of force spring from the Violet’s position in quick succession. The first impacts the roof at the feet of the assailant, the second slams into a green dome that to springs up around the figure, but the third punches through the dome shattering it and slams into the abdomen of the figure. Smoke rises from a gaping hole in the assailant's abdomen for a second before it slouches forwards and slides off the roof. It hits the ground bonelessly and lays still, a small amount of smoke continuing to rise from the new corpse.

For a few more minutes everything is still. Finally, I have the Yellow that just had its life spared creep across the grass to look at the shadowy mound made by our deceased assailant. The assailant has landed face down its long black hair covering most of its figure other than its legs and feet.

My lucky Yellow rolls over the body. It is a female as far as I can determine, based off of its lack of developed cartilage on the front of its neck. Her eyes are wide open and staring with yellow irises into nothing. Her skin is thin-looking and a pale color similar to birch trees. Her cheeks are high and sharp a feature further accented by her ears, which are pointed.

She is wearing a bronze chest plate and greaves similar to the ones worn by the host of deer riders. Her hair is devoid of bells, perhaps to increase stealth. Her armor has a fist-sized hole punched through it on the right side. Smoke has stopped rising from the wound.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

* What did you hit her with?*

* Heated force, it is fast, quiet, and deadly. Good for times like this.*

I mentally nod. Since no one else seems to be investigating I make a command decision. Coptos are not completely divorced from the world. To continue functioning Coptos must have at least a teaspoons worth of essence a week or we become weak and begin to devour our own essence. A Copto who starves will after a month cease to function, collapsing into a small pile of disconnected essence and smoke. This Fey in front of us may seem to be made of flesh and blood, but her make up is no more of the Mundane than my pseudo-chitin is.

Three more Yellows and one Red slink from their hiding place to surround the corpse. The Violet messages me.

* Wait! save an eye!*

I simply reply with a mental nod, I am past questioning my Violet. I give the Coptos the command and slip out of their minds. The Yellows don’t need my guidance on this, while they are useful for all kinds of purposes this is what they are fundamentally created for, recycling.

I watch the surroundings with my Greys as the Red tears the armor off the Fey like removing aluminum foil. The Red then plucks out one of the Fey’s eyes before return to a hiding spot. The Yellows fall upon the Fey like wolves, each bite cutting through skin, flesh, and bone. After each bite the Yellows pause for a second, mouths hanging slightly open while their mandibles clean their teeth of any stuck essence and push the whole chunk further back into their maw. Then the Yellows close their jaws, make a swallowing motion and return for another bite. The process is fast and in less than five minutes the Fey is gone. As the Yellows start to move back into their hiding places the Violet steps out and motions to me. I follow as he leads us over to where the torn remnants of the armor lay. He mentally connects to me.

* you can read the lines of magic in this thing, perhaps you can remove them?*

Of course! While the armor is no doubt partially essence based most of it is probably made of Mundane metal that made its way into the other side, rendering the whole thing undigestible. Yet the magic that enchants the armor must pass through pure essence, pure essence that can be torn out.

* I will try*

I bring a Yellow and a Red over and look at the armor through the vision I used during Copto construction. Most of the magic in the armor has been spent either defending its occupant or when it was torn apart but a few lines of power still flicker in the wreckage. Under my mental guidance, the Red uses its claws to scrape out the lines of power until they die completely. The essence is fed into the Yellow. It is not as bountiful a haul as the Fey herself but it will allow us to stretch our resources even further.

Now it is time to keep moving.