Cores
The word washed over the infection like a wave, shaking it down to its tiny, round particles and forcing them to a standstill.
The previously faltering Lumen glimmers now recuperated their strength, consuming the unresponsive platelets and soon starting to multiply in a glowing orgy of life.
For twenty, thundering heartbeats, Alice stared at the one-sided slaughter of the festering mold, unable to react to the green specks of light feasting on its still-living rot, slowly losing ground as the final echoes of power slowly dissolved in the mole-rat’s system.
Until silence returned.
As soon as the last lingering hum of that arcane word had faded, the mold stirred anew, its tendrils soon resuming their burrowing in the remaining flesh of the monster, each tiny particle eager to make up for the lost time as they infected the few remaining healthy organs, now completely sapped of energy and will to fight.
A few moments later, the young biomancer severed her connection to the decomposing carcass of the dead mole-rat, her hand clutching her head in a useless attempt to reduce the hammering headache in her nape, the pain seemingly trying to split her cranium open.
Her core was empty, completely and undeniably empty as she took a few stumbling steps on the cold metal floor before laying down on it and curling up on herself, her prosthesis painfully pushing against her stomach.
She ignored the sound of liquid metal washing over the corpse behind her, coating the dead creature to prevent the disease from spreading.
She had failed in healing it, another life she had taken for the sake of the cure. This time, however, it had been worth it.
Over the pounding of blood in her ears and the mind-numbing pain, Alice heard the wire of the Queen vibrate and produce a string of words in her complex language.
“💧︎♏︎♓︎ injured Alice? 💧︎♏︎♓︎ ⬧︎⧫︎♋︎⧫︎♋︎ ♓︎■︎♐︎♏︎⧫︎⧫︎♋︎⧫︎♋︎?” she asked.
The words were hard to understand in her condition, they felt twisted and jumbled up together. Only after many painful seconds of deciphering the complex code did she manage to get the gist of the question and stammer out a very short affirmative before forcing herself into her own body to escape from the shower of pain and tiredness.
Minutes passed, then an hour, then more.
Even after Alice’s headache had finally abated, her torment didn’t end. Her muscles had decided to take over the pain management and had sent a wave of cramps throughout her body that had made her cry out in pain when she first tried to stand up from the cold metal.
Trembling on the ground as she was, the young woman took a long time to notice the soft prodding on her side. When she finally turned, Alice found herself staring at the frankly horrifying visage of Skitter hovering just a few centimeters away from her own, his pedipalps gently moving on each other with a barely audible noise of grating metal that still made her wince in discomfort.
“What do you want?” she asked, trying to keep her voice down and her movements to a minimum.
Skitter clicked once, sending yet another spike of pain throughout her brain before turning to one side and gently lowering his body until it was almost touching the ground, his limbs bent awkwardly to support the unusual position.
Alice stared uncomprehendingly for a few seconds before she finally understood the gesture.
With only an instant of hesitation, she placed her arm around the bulbous abdomen of the spider who, almost immediately, rose on his eight legs and started carefully moving towards the soft futon that laid just a few meters away, his body supporting the weight of her own.
“Thank you, Skitter” she weakly muttered as she dropped on the thick, silken mattress, sinking her still-throbbing head in the smooth cloth.
What I wouldn’t do for an aspirin.
That was the last thought before sleep took over once again, her body completely exhausted despite having been awake for only a few hours.
The moment she found herself in the dark room of her mind, two brilliant lines of white radiance erupted from the void, curling and twisting in the air until, an instant later, they turned into blazing words that would have probably blinded her eyes if she still had access to them.
You have reached Level 18 in the Biomancer of Symbiosis Class.
You have developed the Word of Power Terminus. You may draw from your well to activate it.
A fuzzy feeling of satisfaction washed over the girl as she inspected her rewards.
I knew it! And this one feels fricking powerful, even if it managed to use the entire reservoir of the sound core. I’ll need to check it when I wake up… I’m only thankful I’ve already formed a coating of my own powers on the hearing receptors, otherwise I’d have probably been unable to use the Enhanced Hearing skill until it recharged. I wonder how long it will take.
She kept musing as she floated around the void room, her mind going over the experience in the body of the mole-rat.
I definitely didn’t know you could simply use an external core in that way. It was so different from the gradual use! So sudden and forceful. Definitely good in a pinch though… or when you are mad I guess.
She stopped playing with the new words, a frown appearing in her mind-shape.
I have been mad quite a lot in the last few days. Maath was a bit of a bitch during our ‘conversation’ but she is right… I’ve been risking myself for nothing.
I guess I’ll admit she was right… and I must tell her about the molt! I forgot about it with all the experiments and raging and almost dying. Thank god she hasn’t started it yet.
Now let’s see if I can fall asleep in here. Maybe I’ll finally be able to dream?
----------------------------------------
“Nope” she groaned when she jolted awake the next day, her consciousness back into her body after ineffectually trying to sleep while asleep.
To her relief, the painful headache had completely faded during her slumber and, at the same time, the gentle warmth of her power had slowly trickled back into the magical reservoir, filling it up to a bit more than half its capacity. Alice felt the flexible barrier barely straining as it kept the energy sealed into the core.
The young woman got up on her feet and briefly inspected her body, observing the blue bruises on her chest and left thigh; their shape was slowly becoming less defined as their purple and blue outline started fading into an ugly greenish yellow that blurred the line between healthy and healing skin.
Alice winced when she noticed the many small and round bruises of a purplish color that stood out over the pale skin of her ribs, stomach and right arm.
Should have removed the prosthesis. she thought before sending another wave of healing throughout her body. She was still feeling sore, tired and aching even as she her system worked to seal all the wounds and broken capillaries in her skin.
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Done with her brief healing session, she finally looked towards the ‘throne’ of the spidery ruler.
Maath was already laying on her usual spot, busy sinking her massive fangs into the second one of a small number of cocoons that was piled on the ground in front of her; using her venom and enzymes to turn the prey’s insides into digestible goop.
She limped forward, wincing every time she took a step but finally managing to stand just below the Queen’s gaze.
“I see you have awoken. We thought you had been infected by the Illness.” said the matriarch with a click of displeasure after lowering the now dried out husk of a cow-sized beetle.
“Nope. I overused my powers and it backfired,” she replied, only registering the displeased sounds of the spider a couple of seconds later and hurriedly continuing to avoid another lecture, “but I managed to obtain a possible solution for the disease!” she exclaimed, watching the sharp limb of the Queen stop on its route towards the wire.
She proceeded to slowly recount her trip throughout the mole-rat’s system, explaining the way the mutated tissue had kept fighting as long as it had access to the magical energy of the core and how the pure glimmers, empowered by the warmth of her magic, had consumed the mold.
“Basically, I have discovered that I can use my power to reinforce the Lumen and also render the mold temporarily inert.” She concluded, her mind savoring the new Word of Power nestled into her consciousness.
“Inert?” asked Maath quizzically.
“Not moving. It won’t grow for a bit of time, the more energy I use for the word the longer it will keep still probably.”
“And how did you manage this ♓︎❍︎◻︎❒︎♏︎⬧︎♋︎?” the Queen prodded.
“Well you see… my powers had already been depleted when I was still trying to purge the illness from the creature so I basically harnessed the power of one of the cores in my possession and everything clicked together” she smiled, her hand briefly caressing the necklace that contained the pea-sized sound core she had harvested from the shrieker’s throat so many weeks before.
“Which cores?” Maath now asked, her hind legs pushing her body slightly forward to better see the young woman below her.
Only in that moment did Alice realize that she had never showed the matriarch the two magical reservoirs, always keeping them hidden on her body.
She hesitated for just an instant before shrugging and removing the prosthesis, showing the larger, shadowy core to the Queen.
“This one comes from the brood of the Soundless as you call it. The thing that was puppeteering the Jumping Spiders back in Skitter’s nest.” She explained, watching the fist-sized orb get reflected in the platinum eyes of the ruler.
Maath suddenly extended her frontal spike which started quickly lengthening as it moved, soon becoming as thin as one of Alice’s arms. The girl stood stock still as the Queen of Spear Spiders gently touched the inky sphere, a soft ping of metal against crystal reverberating in the silence of the glade.
A couple of seconds later, the ruler moved away the leg and let the girl place the core back into her chelae before speaking anew.
“Quite old and very clear. Less potent than some I’ve consumed but with an incredibly calm energy. If the Soundless’ child hadn’t thought you a mere nuisance you would have died. I compliment you for your courage nonetheless, this core would have been a great boon for any one of my daughters” she explained to the open-mouthed girl before motioning her for the second one.
“W-well uh… Aside from that one, which is the biggest, I have also obtained another from the creature I first managed to mutate with the Lumen. It’s a lot smaller but it has helped me a lot and it’s the one I used yesterday. It’s still recharging I think.” she said as she hurriedly untied the pendant and grasped for the tiny marble beneath it.
A small knot of anxiety formed in her belly when, instead of the smooth surface of the grey core, she felt the sensation of fine sand on her digits.
She immediately scrambled to inspect the carved bone that should have been housing the little sphere, staring dumbfoundedly at the pinch of translucent glass sand that instead remained within the small divot.
The core was gone, consumed when it had released its energy to empower her spell.
“Fuck. This is gonna complicate things.” she murmured dejectedly a few minutes later as she let the small particles of the core into the Lumen-filled basin, hoping it could help them regrow their numbers.
“I would have tried one more time with the other core but I can’t risk losing it for nothing. I guess it’s simply time to go all or nothing Maath.” She told the listening Queen.
It was time to explain her the plan she had finally managed to come up with as her body slept.
She decided to commence from the easiest part.
“First thing first, I’ll need as many glimmers as possible to increase our chances of success. The more I can control the easier it will be for me to cure you.” She explained, “the colony will need to spare all they can for the breeding process. Any residue, carcass or prey that isn’t necessary will need to be given to the Lumen. I’ll also need a bigger pool and a lot of water.”
The massive spider didn’t take long to decide, a single click of assent echoed in the clearing before she spoke once more.
“It will be done. I will talk to my daughters to move the water and food.” she proclaimed “In the meanwhile—” her single frontal leg left the wire and gently sank into the metal floor as if it was made of water. A few wavelets rippled throughout her carapace, progressing along her leg and then into the glade itself until, with a sound of splashing water, a massive circular pool appeared where the elevated bowl of the Lumen had once been, its water now sloshing at its center.
“Well… okay. That’s good” she stammered out before regaining her composure; she still wasn’t used to those sudden displays of the Queen’s incredible powers but she forced herself to go on.
“Next, you will not be able to eat your molt like Chillushrith did—” She tried to explain, soon noticing the way Maath had bristled upon hearing her request.
“Nonsense” she stated, her leg almost grating on the silver wire, “Eating the molt reinforces us. It completes the circle of rebirth. We consume our mistakes to make ourselves stronger in the future.”
Maath’s words felt almost religious when they escaped the thread, leaving the girl scrambling for a convincing argument.
“Maybe it is so normally, but right now the molt is infected like the rest of your body and it will kill you faster if you consume it. We’ll need to starve you as much as possible to reduce the spread and strength of the disease and eating the molt will make it useless!” she tried to squash the annoyance bubbling in her throat, making the Queen hostile was not only fruitless, but stupid; she repeated many times in her mind.
“Are you sure of what you are saying?” Maath finally asked after a long pause, small spikes now jutting from her joints, showing her displeasure and agitation.
Alice watched them warily before replying earnestly “I am. The molt is infected and it’s very likely the disease will get worse if you consume it.”
“Then… I will follow your instructions.” she promised after a beat, the exoskeleton returning to it’s normally smooth appearance as the large spider let herself sink back into the silken cushion with a pained hiss “The molt will be soon. I can feel its calling.” Maath dreamily added after another pause.
“That’s good. If it’s the same effect I noticed with Chillushrith then your softened armor during the molting process will allow me to waste less energy to pierce through your defenses. I’ll need as much energy as I can get. In fact…” she hesitated, her eyes on the prosthesis housing her remaining core.
Alice took a deep breath, her hand balling up into a fist once again before she went on.
“I will also need cores. As many and as large as possible. You will probably need to send your Thinkers to get them. Without them I will probably be unable to do much, even with the glimmers.” She told her, getting ready to argue on the amount she would need.
I can’t risk having to do this twice. I want to get out of here and to do that, I need a guide to the outside.
The biomancer’s words seemed to take a moment to insinuate in the matriarch train of thoughts but when they did, the massive spider’s palps stilled as she fixated on her.
Her leg hesitated a few times on the wire before vibrating a single answer.
“No” she simply said.
Alice, already thinking of an acceptable minimum, reeled at the unexpected answer; her entire plan hinged on those cores and she would surely fail without them. She had been expecting some reticence on the expense and difficulty of the task but not an absolute denial.
“Why? You need them! I don’t have enough energy to control the glimmers and heal you!” she exclaimed, trying to explain the importance of that part of the plan.
The Queen, however, did not seem fazed, her body completely still as she silently listened to the girl’s heated counterarguments. Only when Alice was done talking did she speak again, the words slowly coming out of the silvery thread in a long and halting speech.
“In my life, I have always taken my decisions objectively. I have sacrificed countless lives for myself and my daughters because it was for the greater good of the colony. Now, however, that same objectivity prevents me from letting those sacrifices happen again. I’m dying and my daughters’ and my kindred’s lives aren’t worthy of sacrifice for a mere chance of survival. You have shown me the way you form those cores in captured prey. We will procure you with the materials to do it again and again.” she promised.
“But that will take too much time! You have seen how long it took for the mole-rat to change and for me to heal it! If the molt comes soon there won’t be enough cores for an effective attempt!” she exclaimed disbelievingly, her annoyance at the stubborn Queen growing more and more.
“Then it will only be a matter of waiting for the next molt, or the one after. I’ve survived for a long time, even as my body was ravaged I kept on living. I can wait for more.” Maath stubbornly replied, causing Alice’s disbelief to turn into anger and anxiety.
“But the infection will get worse! And even if it doesn’t that still means months of waiting! I cannot remain here for such a long time, not when you told me about other beings like me! of sunlight and plants! You can’t keep me here!” Alice shouted, panicking at the sole thought of living for months or years in that dark and gloomy place with only spiders for company and death waiting on every corner.
The Queen, however, remained unfazed.
“We can’t but once away from our Nest you will be alone. If you remain here, instead, we will provide you with anything you desire and allow you to get stronger and heal yourself. No daughter of mine will risk her life on those expeditions. Such is my Will.”
Alice slumped, her hope for an escape from the cave system suddenly crushed by the realization that Maath didn’t want her to leave the Nest.
She would need to get out with her own strengths.
Neither the stubborn Queen nor the incensed Biomancer heard the soft plinking of thin legs disappearing in the crystal forest behind them.
*****
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