B 3 C 18: DREAM INTERLUDE, AND NAGA SOCIETY PART ONE

There are certainly a lot of those creatures in my dreams, feh, no matter I suppose. The tavern maid reminded me of the loss of Eights. Like I told her, he was my only friend. I didn’t tell her he was a hound. One day he just went blank, catatonic, as if his mind or soul were sucked away from him. Sometimes I regret how lonely this business is. Born into it though, nothing I can do about that now. My job is death, and I’m good at my job.

I can’t afford to get distracted by things like pretty little flirts and their kind words. Feh, hero indeed. I have to murder my way through the ranks of this Celestial Emperor until I get every last snippet of information on their inner sanctum possible. Starting with the worst of the corrupt nobles, then moving on to military leaders if I don’t learn enough. The order doesn’t truly matter, it’s not that I’m afraid of one target over the other, if anything, the nobles tend to be more well guarded. It doesn’t matter how well trained a military agent is when their neck is slit in their sleep. I just expect to be able to find information more flagrantly disregarded in noble domiciles. They tend to get sloppier. Military folk are regimented, precise, almost religious in their actions, always disposing of information properly after committing it to memory.

Speaking of memory, why’d she have to go and say anything? Now I can’t stop thinking about Eights. He and I were abandoned mutts in Vale Valley, no idea where we came from, but we came from there together. We took petty jobs back then, mostly just espionage over stupid things. Who is in whose will, that kind of nonsense. Sometimes we’d get a request to bump someone else off ahead of the line in a will, things like that. They were all ruthless bastards, their deaths didn’t even register. I have to get my head back in the job, I’ll go dunk it in the horse trough for a bit.

Lil’s raucous laughter is what I wake up to. I flex my reptilian jaw and yawn wide, blinking away sleepy tears. I clasp my chin in one taloned hand slowly rotate my head, popping my neck in several places.

Still barely able to focus, I blink rapidly in Lil’s direction, asking, “What is it this time Lil?”

Lil’s exuberance shines through as they relay the ending of another of my dreams, “You were shoving your head in horsewater at the end! Hehe.”

I roll my eyes but I allow myself to laugh along with Lil a bit anyway. Today is going to be rough. We’ve got to sneak close, engage stealth, and zip straight to the temple. Hopefully it doesn’t have heavy or locked doors. I’m tempted to ask Lil to ride in my inventory so that they’re not at risk, as well as better hidden. That could be disastrous though, last time was nightmarish.

Lil chimes in along my thought wave, “Oh hey pard, speaking of that, check what I can do!”

Lil’s form fritzes, and when it’s done fritzing, poofs a short distance to one side. I’m worried for a minute that we have to find another solution to heal up Lil’s fritzing problem, but they’re just grinning at me like a lunatic.

Squinting at Lil, I cautiously ask, “Can you? You can control it?”

Lil just beams at me with pride, sounding a happy laugh of glee.

Huh, that could come in handy someday. Well, regardless, I don’t want to put Lil in my inventory if I can avoid it.

I make a rambling request of Lil, “Lil, if it looks like we’re about to be spotted, I’ll try to summon an umbral copy of you nearby if we can find some cover, to make it look like the umbral you was whatever was sneaking around. Are you down for that? Do you think you can control a copy when you’re not in my inventory?”

Lil delivers an expected response, “Hm, only one way to find out pal, why don’t we try it out?”

I nod, “I guess we could give it a shot right now, then rest for a few seconds. Better than trying and failing in the middle of a dangerous situation.”

I flick myself into the air with JT using inventory magic to check around our tree, then above the canopy. When there doesn’t appear to be any danger nearby, I allow myself to land in a slow glide. To make sure all of the variables are going to be the same, I pick up Lil in their shrunken sphere form, engage my stealth power, and summon an umbral copy of Umbralil.

At first I’m slightly worried, Lil seems like they are seizing up in the crook of my arm, and the Umbralil copy doesn’t move. Just as I’m about to panic, Lil vibrates with the stress of concentration, and Umbralil begins to gallop circles around us. After a minute, Lil is able to make the Umbralil take to the air and glide around. After another minute, Lil is able to pump Umbralil’s wings in unison. During the last minute that Umbralil is active, Lil is able to have the copy do barrel rolls and loop de loops.

Lil, sensing my worry, explains, “It took a bit to feel the muscles. When I was floating in your inventory, they were like my only sensation. Out here, it’s like, they don’t match my muscles, so I have to think about each muscle to move, but I can do it, now that I know how to think.”

I hug Lil tight and pepper their skull with kisses and congratulatory noogies. I’m proud of my little buddy. Two new abilities that they got working while I was busy trying to learn how to change colors to talk to people who could just talk normally the whole time. Still, I did gain a kind of semi translucent invisibility, it’s far too draining to utilize much more than going swiftly in a straight line from one point to another though.

Alright, that umbral copy is about to disappear, I want to try something. I claim it to my inventory when it only has a few seconds left of lifespan. I then drop my active camouflage. Let’s see what happens when I summon that Umbralil copy without making a copy of it. I draw it forth from my inventory, it’s far cheaper than making an US copy.

It continues to persist past the original five minute timer by lasting ten more seconds, and still remains. I raise a scaled brow at Lil, they get my signal to try controlling it, and they’re successful! I’m not sure how useful it’s going to be, since it takes basically all their concentration. Maybe if I had made the copies of Umbralil with my danger wrap on Lil or something, the wrap could guide their reflexes.

I suppose if Lil practices enough, they might be able to multitask their brain to the point where they can control a copy while acting at normal reaction speed themselves. We’ll have to make that part of their training regimen with Teuila when we get back to the family if Lil is interested in using this new combination ability of ours. For now I’ll claim this copy back to my inventory again. Later we’ll need to do tests like, how far out it can be away from Lil while still being controlled, sensory input, and the like.

Alright Lil buddy, hang on, I’m going to get us above the canopy near the Naga city then engage stealth. Flying at my maximum safe speed without injury, the journey only takes maybe a couple of hours at the most. When I arrive, I’m floored. My brain screams the term Mesoamerican from the fake world in my memories. There is a cubic pyramid at the center of the city, like, it’s made out of cubes and it’s stepped rather than slant-surfaced. The entire temple is either alabaster or marble, so are all of the pillars and wall faces that I can see. The temple is magnificent. It’s massive, reaching just barely up to the canopy, but easily taking up four times as much width as height. Every few steps there is a small plateau, and these plateaus host cubbies beneath the next step in line. They’re filled with what look like reading desks, candelabras, occasionally even Nagas holding books.

The city has lamps that appear to be gas powered by methane or natural gas from some kind of central reservoir somewhere. I think they have irrigation, public utilities, and plumbing! There’s a forgeworks at the far end of the city, and various metalworks and other crafting shops as well. There’s a glass-blowery, and either a florist or alchemist supply shop, I’m not quite certain which, maybe both. They seem to trade in minted tin coins from what we can tell through Lil’s senses. I could probably find a way to make them in my inventory, but I’d rather not scam the Naga economy.

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There look to be several arenas, or perhaps sports gathering structures. The Nagas have a whole district dedicated for residential dwellings. Their masonry is exquisite, and it’s no wonder. Whenever any building is done, a mage with petrakinesis or terrakinesis comes by to erect the walls or etch the engraved murals that adorn every face of every building. A single mage lights or snuffs all of the lamps in the city simultaneously as needed via a pair of precision firebolts that zip to each lamp in rapid succession. There are hundreds of Nagas, and they all seem to possess spells and wells of mana similar in depth to mine. I don’t see any spheriform or feraform serpents or anything though. I feel like their base and only form is humaform. I don’t see young or elderly, so I’m not sure if they spawn, or are hatched, or birthed, or what.

Still, the chameleon elder told me to sneak into the temple and prove myself within, before trying to ingratiate myself into Naga society. So we’re going to do exactly that, before I get sidetracked for a whole day and end up getting us caught. I engage my AC, Active Camouflage, and JT myself towards the only spot that leads to an interior of the pyramid structure, the very top.

Lil and I look like little more than a heat ripple in the air, but still I could swear some of the naga are looking my way. Crap! My aura! Reggie you idiot, ugh, Lil, I could definitely have used a reminder that everyone else in the world can see auras.

Lil telepathically responds, chagrined, “Sorry Reggie Pal, it didn’t even occur to me to mention it, ‘cause, well, y’know, I can see them, so I thought you had a plan. I forgot you couldn’t. Sorry pal.”

Someone reaches into my mind with a sultry, commanding voice, “Reggie, Lil? Those are names I haven’t heard in quite some time.”

Crap crap crap crap, best case, that’s Dehlia, worst case, we’re screwed. We need to get into the temple to prove ourselves quickly. The chameleon elder was adamant about this. Hold tight Lil, this is going to hurt.

I risk a single near sonic level acceleration towards the temple’s entrance at the upper level, simultaneously I perform a US of Umbralil heading in the reverse direction. Hopefully it looked like Umbralil just sonic boomed in over head and they’re what the aura is all about. Take over the piloting of Umbralil please Lil, thanks. Just fly them in half of a wide spiral and then back north until the five minute duration is up, please. Hopefully it looks like they’re leaving the aura trail that we came from.

The voice returns to my mind, perturbed, “Really, you aren’t going to respond to me? You’re headed straight into the temple and its proving grounds? How reckless can you be? Is another friend on death’s door? You are such an odd little creature.”

I don’t know how to respond without line of sight. I’m pretty sure that’s Dehlia, maybe, hopefully. I hope that she’s the strongest psychic here, or can only hear my thoughts because we’ve connected before. I really hope I’m not broadcasting my brainwaves to every Naga in the city. I also hope that thought about connecting previously doesn’t sound vulgar. Please don’t be upset. I’m sorry, I hope you know I’m not ignoring you! I’ve become a dragon type something or other, I’ve physically changed my subtype, and I want to earn a chance to talk to some of your people. Please forgive my intrusion!

The voice, which I’m almost certain belongs to Dehlia, begins, “You could–” but they’re cut off as our flight path takes us into the temple interior.

I sort of wish I had roller skates, or a skateboard, so that I could zip around with JT movement while on the ground. Maybe if I live through this, and don’t piss off the Nagas, I could commission something on wheels. I’m tempted to turn back around and try to find Dehlia to talk to, but even if she’s willing to vouch for us at the moment, the other Nagas may simply slay me for intruding. Or they might kill us when we plead our case for peace since we’re bringing thousands of softskins near their territories. Hopefully whatever happens below will earn us some forgiveness.

Maybe being able to prove we’re friends with the chameleons will earn us some forgiveness? We do technically have the entire chameleon village partied with us as a sub party under Lil. I’ve got the whole SCRAP, Lil has Chamelefolk Village, Luni has Luna, Teuila is the only one in my inner circle that doesn’t currently have a sub party. Hm, I hope Magnus isn’t upset that I don’t include him in my inner circle. Focus Reggie!

Oh heavens that’s the third Naga I’ve passed as I’m zipping along the right hand walls, thankfully they’re mostly too confused by the mass of aura plowing by to react. I’m down two levels, and there’s a giant ritual chamber or prayer chamber in here. There’s a big bowl on a pedestal in the center, and for a moment, I’m worried that they’ll be doing ‘of blood’ sacrifices with me soon enough, until I realize the contents are some sort of sap. It seems like they roll and harden amber or some other kind of sap into balls. Does that mean they have rubber bouncy balls? Do they play modern sports?

This society is more cultured and varied than the human city we visited! Artists that wield magic to share their gift with everyone on every wall in the city, mages with magnificent precision, leisure, entertainment, industry, housing, learning centers, and more! I wonder how they feel about cuddles? Probably not as big about it as mammals, although I could see them having tail piles to save on pillows.

There were about half a dozen Nagas in what I thought was a ritual chamber. The one that might have literally been some sort of rubber workshop. I’m four levels deep at this point, and getting extremely winded trying to keep up my Active Camouflage skill while running. Oh no, in both hallways ahead, the Nagas are standing two abreast. There’s no room to run by them on either side.

I don’t want to hurt them, and I definitely don’t want to alarm them enough that they rally everyone to seek out intruders. So fighting, and summoning a distraction are both out. There might be enough space to go over them. This is going to hurt. I JT myself prone against the ceiling and rocket myself along it above the heads of the guards in the right hand corridor.

There are more and more of these pairs of guards in various hallways, but at least I can get by them without too much difficulty. I need a cubby to recover my mana though, or should I be siphoning heat from the atmosphere? Will I hurt the Nagas by bringing down the ambient temperature? Maybe I can at least staunch the flow of outward mana bleed for the Active Camouflage. It’s taking a physical toll though too, exercising micro muscles across every inch of my body to send vibrations beneath my iridophores to bend light, and atop my chromatophores to match the colorations of my surroundings. Those muscles are in a constant state of vibratory tension and it’s like I’ve run seven marathons in a row without stopping for food or drink. My stomach rumbles loudly as I’m jetting over and past another pair of guards, they look up and see the aura trail, but then poke fun at each other, seemingly about the other one being hungry.

The air is actually a lower temperature down here, I’m what, six levels down at this point? Eight? Lil do you remember how far we’ve been running?

Lil sleepily replies, yawning, “Yahhhhhn, sorry pard, haven’t been keeping track.”

It’s fine buddy. If we can find this secret entrance, I think we’ll be safe enough to take a break. It sounds like the Nagas either know about it, and won’t go in there, or don’t know about it.

Lil retorts, “If they know about it, but won’t go in there, doesn’t that mean it’s dangerous for them, and probably us?”

I gulp, and hesitate in my run for only a moment. A bad moment, as I’m standing at an intersection, with a guard staring right at the now accumulating aura trail. They begin sniffing the air and flicking their tongue about. Oh no, I didn’t think about scent, I haven’t had Luni bring the soapstone. Lil, do I still smell good?

Lil licks me and nods in my arms. I can barely stifle my laughter as I jet away from the now-curious guard. At this point, I’m making a lot of noise as I’m huffing and panting with every stride. Some walls are now rough hewn stone, rather than worked or magically shaped, so I feel like we’ve made it to ground level, or below. The secret entrance is likely on this floor. My panting is drawing too much attention however, so I try to wait around a corner from a pair of guards.

Telepathically I cry out to Lil, “Lil buddy, my muscles are seizing, it’s like every bit of me is on fire from holding onto Active Camo for so long. But like, fire before I had huge thermal resist. It hurts so much. All of these micro muscles in every tiniest morsel of my body are aflame with overexertion. Can you gaze around these few corners, and see if there’s a spot that they either stay away from, or a lot of their aura passes conspicuously?”

Lil nods, and hops out of my arms to peek around several corners, inconspicuously due to their current tiny size. When Lil returns, their telepathic answer isn’t what I’d hoped for, but better than I expected. “Neither of those buddy, but I can do you one better, that hall over there? Up over one pair of guards, then take the next turn, and there’s a really fishy dead end with some statues.”

Alright, thanks buddy. Up and over we go, and zipping into the dead end. The statues are unexpected as well. They’re hourglasses, but the three support struts are, well, One appears to be a serpent, one appears to be a human, and the third I imagine can only be an elf. Its slender frame and sharp features along with pointy ears and immaculate brow seems unlikely to represent anything else. The serpent’s tail on the right statue juts out ever so slightly more at the base. Really? Could it possibly be that simple? I look down and notice that the stonework below my feet is circular, whereas everywhere else was either cubic, or magically flat. I’m pretty sure there are movies with this exact scenario.

I pull down gently on the right tail, there’s a soft rumbling, some grinding of stone, and I’m rotated along with the floor and statues to the other side of the wall.