B 3 C 24: THE VOICES SAY EMPTY AND HOLLOW AND THUD

Screw this. I assume draconic form by starting my secondary evolution tether and dropping it. I said I’d murder the everliving crap out of anyone that started trouble when I was trying to recuperate from all this craziness. I fully equip myself in Valkyrie gear except for Gae Buidhe of course.

I shout a warning, “Anyone who wants to live, get the hell out of here now! That includes all of you! You too Linti. I can’t take this nonsense anymore. Everything around me is going to die.”

Linti takes a look at my face to gauge my seriousness, and she ever so slightly pales at the anger that’s flooding my expression. I begin summoning dozens of umbral duplicates of sharp objects from my inventory aimed at the oncoming horde, and they pause in their tracks. I march through a gap I’d left in my offenses and begin freezing everything, including the first several rows of critterkin ahead of me. I even manage to snag Mata in my ice storm before he manages to somehow blink away further behind his assembled army. Grr.

I pause for a moment, I hadn’t really given my allies a chance to flee before I started moving ahead. Glancing around though, it seems to just be me and my floating armaments now. Linti is zipping around at the rear edge of my ice, making sure everyone else gets to safety.

I call out, “Following Mataalii will lead to your death. I’m sick of people not believing and not understanding that it takes everything in my power to hold back from murdering every living soul that threatens my family. Here’s the proof of what letting out a tiny fraction of my rage earns you!”

I unleash hell upon the most heavily equipped front line of offenders as my Umbral Shot armaments rocket forward, piercing wave after wave of critterkin that chose to follow Mataalii. Come on Reggie, don’t do this, they’re all going to die. They’re a threat to my family, they have to die! You know that isn’t true. Come on. Look at this, your Umbral Shots tore through every single one that didn’t flee off to the side. It’s a massacre. If there were a thousand people in that contingent, there can’t be more than three hundred left alive.

Then those three hundred should understand that they had better never threaten the Shellcracker clan, ever again! Come on Reggie. We can turn this around. I know it’s tiring, but we earned the skill for a reason. It now only costs from our own timeline, our own infinite timeline.

Grr. Huffing a sigh, I admit, you’re right, we’re right. It was sort of nice to vent, but this was an atrocity. I can hardly believe I feel relieved at having done this, even just venting in what will end up being a doomed timeline. I’m almost sickened at myself, almost. All those poor derezzed souls. Yeah, okay, I am sickened at myself. After a moment of vindication it leaves me feeling empty inside. Tell my past self that it feels empty, miserably so. Like the sight of one of my inner circle thudding into the ground, beginning to derez. This was unnecessarily violent. It wasn’t a victory, it was a hollow shameless violent act.

Linti wanted a chance to learn how to use her powers creatively, right? How about we take a really good look at what we just did. Let’s give Linti a chance to dig into our mind. Neurons and Synapses and electrical impulses are a big part of thought and memory. Between her powers, and mine, we should be able to create a projection of this mess. Fine, past me, right around a split second after we stop Linti from melting herself, look at these logs and tell Linti to ride around in your skull electrically. Remember, it’s empty, hollow, imagine the thud as a body hits the ground when losing any of us. My brain has a minor BSOD at that arrangement of words, but that should help emphasize my point to past me all the more.

I gulp back tears as I order, “Please, don’t ever, ever try to save me from lava! It can’t hurt me. I would, I’d. I’d bring you back to life to kill you myself if you died to lava for me. Got it?” I barely maintain my composure, though my voice cracks several times as I make my request of Linti.

Before Linti can respond, I hear a message from future me to read our logs. Future me wants me to make another request of Linti, “Hunter, I need you to try something new with your powers. You’re used to becoming electricity, and even controlling it. Try to form yourself into as thin a stream of electrons as possible and reach into my head to view the memory I’m playing back right now. Once you’ve got it, we’ll work some lightning, ice, and fire together to make a holographic image of it.”

I heave a sigh, knowing that I was about to massacre most of this population in front of me without giving them a single moment to explain or negotiate. They can’t even understand me when I yell at them, since they’re not in my party. Linti works as best she can, trying something entirely new with her powers. It’s uncomfortable to say the least, and I can feel my lightning resist climbing as she basically fries my brain bit by bit when she makes mistakes. It only takes a few moments, but the agony I endure as she tries to put together the mental map of what I’m envisioning feels like it lasts for weeks.

When I’m fairly certain Linti has the imagery needed, I use my inventory magic to create something akin to a slide projector. Using Umbral Shot duplication, and ice from a compacted FFS of the water in my inventory as a lens, I bring this projector to life. I have Linti use her lightning to engrave miniature ice slides of what she was able to deduce from riding around in my head. Finally, I start a low heat, bright flame behind the slides to project the imagery ahead of us. Linti handles rotating out the slides to keep the picture moving along in a loop, showing the devastation I caused in a fraction of a second.

I take on my draconic form in front of the oncoming horde, hoping that radical changes of shape lend credence to my words. Even if they can’t understand me, they should be able to understand the sound of a threatening voice.

I call out, “This is the future I just lived. I came back in time to stop myself from killing all of you. Throw down your weapons now, and leave this area so that I can speak with my brother, or die. I’m only going to give you five seconds before I begin to prove this future will come to pass.”

Linti echoes every word, but indicates that I’m the time traveler, not her. That works too. That makes more sense than just hoping they somehow get the implications of my tone of voice.

I begin summoning Umbral Shot duplicates of weapons from my inventory. Since I don’t have telekinesis, pausing their velocity for several seconds is the best I can do. It takes almost all of my concentration to keep it temporarily halted. I siphon off the atomic heat mostly in a direct line to Mataalii, catching him in frost for a moment before he manages to bamph away. I glare at the critterkin ahead of me with fury as I begin counting aloud, “Five, Four, Three…” Linti repeats my count.

There’s a massive clatter as a large swathe of the critterkins near me drop their weapons and begin to scatter off north and south, out of the direct line of fire of my upcoming westward aimed attack. I continue, as does Linti, “Two, one…” The majority of the rest of Mataalii’s forces scatter, some still carrying their weapons.

We finish, “Zero.” My attack launches into a mostly empty battlefield, slaughtering only a dozen or so defiant camelfolk and pigfolk, and a handful of apelike beings. I sigh, knowing I shouldn’t have killed anyone, but they had to know it wasn’t an empty threat, that it wasn’t some illusion of power. I gaze about, searching for Mataalii, but he’s nowhere to be found.

I yell, “The battle is over, come out! Face me Mat!” There’s no response or sighting of Mataalii.

I’m worried that he’ll try to get at me by harming our family. He wasn’t above flooding our whole home with lava, as far as I can tell, so I doubt he cares whether they live or die anymore. How can he be so cruel? Wasn’t his desire to protect our family his main reason for hating me? Still, I don’t think he’s dumb enough to attack them now, when Linti and I are here and have used almost nothing to end this entire farce.

SIghing, I cry out for peace, “Alright, come back whoever is leading this mess. Mat’s gone, he abandoned you. Let’s talk this out.”

Linti gives me a strange look of confusion with one raised eyebrow as if to ask, “Really?” She then whistles appreciatively, then hoarse whispers, “Holy crap, what the everliving hell Shellcracker? You were still holding back!”

I blush with a nervous smile and scratch the back of my head, chagrined, as I re-initiate a tether around my heart. Envisioning my cherubic form, I drop the tether part way through to transform to the image I have of Reggie Shellcracker.

I stand closer to the jaguar huntress and whisper, “Sometime later when we’re alone, I’ll try to let you ride around inside me so that I can show you my memories of the Night of All Burn, that’s probably the only time I wasn’t really holding back. Or I can let you ride for memories of the cragbeast queen.”

I hear Luni snickering across my mental wavelength, so she’s somewhere nearby. What’s even so funny right now? Oh, phrasing. How do you even have concepts of that phrase's meaning!? I love you Lu, you butt.

I telepathically send to Luni, “Can you or some of the others come over here, so we can talk this nonsense out? I need to know that these idiots aren’t going to follow Mat if he tries to rile them up again, and that they’re not going to attack regardless.”

Thankfully, between Luni, Linti, and Teuila zipping around to corral everyone who participated in the armed march, we’re able to gather what seems to be all of their survivors to talk things through. I’d only slain a handful of them, but I’m still ashamed of even that.

Regardless of my shame, the impact of my ‘statement’ netted the desired result. None of them want to risk attacking a group where a single person can wipe out a battlefield. I spared them from having to go up against hundreds of meat-starved human mages who each could wipe out small villages worth of people at a time. There was never any chance for them to take revenge on the humans, let alone to somehow take control of the Lavaborn Alliance. They’re not willing to rejoin the family party though, obviously. Luni manages to convince them to travel west, to see if they can meet up with the crew of the Undine. Maybe the secret settlement that Morgan and the crew ferried critterkin to can handle their numbers. Hopefully.

Saddened, emotionally drained, mentally exhausted, and with a slightly aching head due to Linti’s lightning ride, I amble away from this mess, back towards camp. I need to apprise Sir Reginald of the situation, and I desperately want to see Laomati and Agwai.

Finding Sir Reginald is easy enough, as he’s organizing a squadron to equip blunt weaponry to subdue and chase off the invasion that’s already been dispersed. I thank him for his diligence in maintaining peace, and the avoidance of unnecessary violence. He hadn’t realized I had already returned, he also hadn’t realized I already handled the situation. I do inform him that the critterkin will be marching west instead of harassing us ever again, if they stick true to their word. I also note however, that Mataalii is the true threat. He possesses magics that I don’t fully understand yet, that even he might be growing into. With how he moves, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to track him down to put an end to his nonsense. I suggest that, while I prefer peace, if Mataalii should attack, that the human mages fight as if it were life or death, because Mataalii will not hesitate to kill.

After our talk, Sir Reginald breaks off to treat his rallied troops to a seated meal. I sigh wearily as I watch them march towards one of the shops the Lavaborn Alliance currently has running. I know he wouldn’t, but he could turn that little contingent around and start slaughtering critterkin, or my family. I’m starting to understand why some people might become tyrants out of the fear of others’ powers. Still, I’d rather put my faith in trust, and avoid needlessly killing. I guess I have it far easier than any tyrant. If someone breaks my trust, I can rewind time and break them first. That affords me the luxury of at least trying to be trusting and peaceful.

Still, I got lucky. I probably won’t live long enough to rewind time if I’m caught by surprise by a mortal blow ever again. Exhaling a bated breath that I didn’t realize I was holding, I try to picture what I want for all of us, and what my next steps should be. Right, right, I was going to see Agwai and Laomati. I wonder how ‘Naia and M-Squared are holding up. Do they know that the attack just now was perpetrated by Mat? Do they know he’s the reason the cat family had to join the Lavaborn Alliance? I’m sure Lu probably handled telling them.

I spy Olioli chewing on the heel of a soldier’s boot, which she’s still wearing. This woman just looks at Olioli like he’s the most confusing, yet precious thing in the world. The interaction brings a smile to my face. For the most part, there’s a fair amount of segregation between our camps, and I don’t know if that’s good or bad for peace in the long run. Still, little things like this restore my faith in the community we’re trying to build. Oh hey, there’s Jazharn, it looks like she’s trying to befriend Dream of Days. I remember being told Dream hates pretty much everyone. I wonder if it’s because hyaenidae are not quite cats or dogs, yet she’s in a family of cats. Jazharn keeps casting little spells, knowing her specialty, that worries me quite a bit, so I approach the pair.

I cautiously greet them, “Hi Jaz, hi Dream. How’re things going?”

Dream rolls her eyes at my approach and my greeting. Jaz points down at the ground as she casts another spell. Looking at where Jaz’s fingers are pointed, I realize the spells she was casting were to etch art into the ground near Dream. It’s actually beautiful work, she’d get along well with some of the Naga sculptors I think.

Jazharn exclaims, “Ah, Billie, or um, is it Reggie? Regardless, just the little mage I was looking for! Do you, um, suppose you could tell this pretty lady here that I fancy her? Or do you think I should write it down? I also sort of fancy either of those twins, but they seem like a package deal, and, well, I don’t know how much you know about human romance, but, yeah. Also, I think they’re on intimate terms with pretty much everyone, so I wouldn’t really know where I stood. But this one here, I see her standing in the center of the others sometimes, orating I suppose. Even though I can’t understand her, she seems so eloquent. I also adore her spotted coat, and, oh my. I’m sorry, I’m rambling, please stop me.”

I purse my lips to stifle my laughter. This amazing mage, one of the most impressive casters in the entire human army, is fumbling her attempts to flirt with some of my extended family. And what’s more, she’s asking me for vaguely human romantic advice and interference. Catching myself before I spoil the moment, I ask, “Dream, were you aware that Jaz here fancies you? She thinks that you’re an eloquent orator, and have a gorgeous coat. I’m fairly certain she also thinks your eyes sparkle just before you roll them in exasperation, right Jaz?”

Jazharn blushes, catching the fact that I’m acting as her wingperson, and nods enthusiastically. Dream actually barks with laughter, but it isn’t mocking or hostile laughter. She gazes down at the drawings in the dirt, and back up at Jazharn, and looks back and forth several times. Her constant expression is always one of displeasure, I think that’s simply the form of her face. It’s still a lovely face, but I think the term in fakeworld would be something like, “resting angry face.”

Dream finally, somewhat brusquely, says, “Tell her I think she’s a great artist, and I’m flattered. Also ask her if she’d like to go on a walk with me. Yeah?”

Smiling wide I relay to Jaz, “Dream is asking you on a bit of a date, she’d like to go for a walk with you. There, she’s offering you her arm. I hope you two have a wonderful evening.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Jazharn begins to ask, “Wait, but aren’t you coming with? How will I, um, oh. Thank you Billie, or Reggie, or whomever you are.”

This is the kind of interaction that warms my heart and kindles the flames of faith that what I’m doing is the right course. I smile brightly as Jazharn and Dream meander away arm in arm.

Six pokes me in the arm and asks, “Did you just get Dream to smile?”

Laughingly I reply, “Not me, not me at all, that was all Jazharn. Jaz likes you and Blossom too, but humans have this thing about not sharing affection with more than one person. It’s good to see you Six. Everyone doing okay around here?”

Six Wind rubs the back of his head as he replies, “Yeah, it was kind of quiet, until, you know, a few minutes ago. It was a little tense for a few days, especially with Linti being as, well, you know how she can be. As intense as she is. I think we’re all in a pretty good place right now. I don’t know if you know, but we were nomadic before we found The Hollow, Linti basically ordered us to set up near it, back in the day. Before then, we had to constantly stay on the move to avoid reptile patrols and stuff. Eventually we marked our own territory, and well, you know the rest.”

I sigh as I nod understandingly. Six continues, “But, yeah, so it really isn’t anything new for us to be on the move again. Still, I kind of liked living in one spot. Do you think we’ll find a home any time soon?”

Phew, that’s the question, isn’t it? I blow a breath through puffed cheeks as I consider, “That’s a tough question. It’s my hope that we do, obviously. I’ve also apparently got some mysterious quest that requires seeing the fairies anyway, so maybe they’ll be helpful in our finding a new home. Mat’s still out there too though. I think he’s running out of options to try to get to me without coming for a direct fight. He knows how outmatched he is right now, so I’m worried that the next time we see him he’ll have practiced whatever powers he hasn’t mastered yet. Speaking of, thanks for the chat Six, I need to see Linti again before I talk to Ag and Lao, have you seen any of the three?”

Six points off behind my shoulder, and I see Linti escorting Agwai and Laomati away from a shop as a critterkin that I don’t know takes a turn operating it to relieve them. I squeeze Six Wind for a quick tight hug in gratitude as I jog towards the trio I need to speak with. I wave a polite goodbye to him over my shoulder as I approach my own tribe’s matron that I have missed so dearly.

Shyly I mumble, “Hi Lao, hi Ag, um, if you have a second, in a second after I talk to Lightning here, I’d really love to catch up.”

Lao and Ag immediately smother me in hugs from either side, chuckling and nodding affirmatives. I blush as Linti starts laughing at my predicament, but I enjoy the affection nonetheless. I happily nuzzle between the two as they embrace each other over the top of me. Does this make me an otter sandwich, or a Reggie sandwich? Whatever, it’s funny either way.

Clearing my throat, I ask Linti, from my ridiculous position sandwiched between the two leaders of our otter tribe, “Linti, um, you wanted to train together. You suggested sleeping together to be sure we got up at the same time. I’m not saying you have to, but I’d be honored if you joined us. Would you want to maybe try that out? Or, barring that, could I take you up on that maybe tomorrow night?”

Linti hems and haws as I gaze into her eyes hopefully, “Ack, stop it with the eyes Shellcracker. You’re worse than the twins! Fine, fine, fine, just this once. Jeeze. You little snuggle-starved goon. You’re half my height right now though, so I don’t know how much I could enjoy it. I don’t like the idea of having a kitten to look after, especially when that kitten is going to be my mentor.”

Ag and Lao are biting their lips trying to hold in their laughter, and also their obvious joy at the addition to our family’s cuddle pile. I think I have a solution for Linti’s worry though. Grinning, I nudge Agwai and Laomati slightly to the side as I tether my own heart. I self-actualize my appearance to be slightly more masculine in my arms but more femme-leaning everywhere else. I also envision myself taller than Linti, with the slightest hint of a mammalian furry tail, and it works.

Linti avoids meeting my gaze for a moment and clears her throat, “Oh, uh, yeah, cool. That’s a thing that you can do. Neat. Might maybe come in handy if you need to reach a high shelf or something.”

I double over with belly laughter at how nonchalantly Linti is trying to play this, Ag and Lao join in in the laughter. Now that I’m taller than her, I wrap an arm around her neck from behind and noogie her with my free fist as payback for earlier. Tears of laughter coat my eyelashes as I roughhouse with Linti for a few minutes, as she returns the hijinks. Ag and Lao watch us with too-precious expressions of elation and it causes both Linti and me to burst into further laughter.

Finally having subdued Linti’s embarrassment, or whatever she was going through, I ask of Lao, “Lao, Ag, I guess Linti too, I need to share some really important things. Can we sit somewhere in private for a bit?”

As we settle into a private spot, I catch Ag, Lao, and Linti up on everything that happened. There’s a bit of dismay at my injuries, especially the neck wound caused by Linti, or my self-broken legs, but the most worrisome response is when I mention that I died, I don’t bother explaining quite how it happened though. I don’t want Ag and Lao to worry that Linti might kill me when we train. I talk about the temple of time, and how powerful I can become with decades of training, with only access to my current suite of skills. I talk about the seeming reincarnation of the will of Staff Ninja.

I talk about falling into a more intimate love with Lil over the course of thousands of years of shared accelerated thinkspace over several decades of training. Since we had no contact with anyone else, our bond was our only source of joy during the endless bloody training, so of course it grew over time. Ag and Lao nod in a sagely appreciation of my story, as if it was simply a matter of fact that such things could happen, would happen, or did happen. Linti frequently simply whistles an extended low note in appreciation.

I finish, “So, what do you all think I should do about this book situation? One of them had Lil’s memories! They steal time from anyone else, and only impart like one or two words during that time. We left it in the temple. I think it’s safe there with TQ. I left the other two books as well, I think one I got from Octorochi, and the other I got from destroying the prideful rock where we fought Octorochi.”

Linti interrupts me, “Wait, wait, Octo is eight. Did you kill the serpent of the swamps?”

I reply, “Well, it was a team effort for the first one, though Teuila did all the damage and heavy lifting, other than that last little bit of foolishness of mine. The second one, yeah I killed that one on my own, it had less heads though.”

Linti just punches me in the shoulder with enough force to bowl me over, “Get out of town! That’s why it’s been gone for months and months! Seriously? Were you two a part of the fight?”

Agwai shakes their head, but Lao chuckles nervously as she replies, “Not so much the battle, though I did stare down the serpent a moment for my precious loves to have a chance to organize. Then as Reggie lay dying, I did my best to keep them safe and breathing long enough for their natural healing to help them recover.”

Linti just shakes her head incredulously as she raises a hand to her brow before she runs that hand across the top of her head. She mutters, “Shellcrackers, crazy lot of you, one and all. Okay, yeah, fine, I’ll sleep sounder if my whole family gets their tails into your sleeping pile. Jeeze. You uh, need me for anything else Shellcracker? If not, I’m going to go corral my fam and give them the news. We’re officially Shellcrackers now, safer that way.”

I shake my head in answer to Linti’s question about needing her at the moment. Agwai and Laomati each let out an SFS, the Shellcracker Family Squee, as our family expands once more.

I resume my question for the pair that I basically consider to be my elders, or parents, “So, I’m sort of lost. It sounds like one way or another, we’re headed for the fairies. When there, should I immediately pursue this book quest? Do you think, between everyone in the Lavaborn Alliance, you all can handle finding some way to negotiate the creation of a settlement in their lands? Should I focus on that instead of TQ’s book quest?”

Agwai begins to make a joke about lost books and library fines, but Lao shushes them playfully and interrupts. Although how Ag even has a concept of library fines mystifies me. Lao responds, “Dear one, as I’ve told you before, it seems as if you alone sit at the loom of fate, its tapestry is nearly entirely yours to command. But if that feels like too much burden to bear, perhaps yes, we could manage to speak well enough to negotiate such a thing. After all, you’ve discovered things about our world that it seems no one else knew at the time. We have much to offer, and all of us, the fairies included, have little to lose by hearing us out.”

I exhale a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding as I’m flooded with relief. At first when Lao started to respond, I thought she was going to suggest that I handle everything personally. I’ve never even been the one to successfully negotiate any sort of peace, someone else has always stepped up for me. Lao would probably say it’s because of choices I made that others saw fit to put their faith in me and take that leap in my stead. She basically did say more or less exactly that about the Night of All Burn. I guess she’s kind of right. Sometimes I’m pretty hard on myself.

After our too-serious catching up on my side of the tale, Ag and Lao begin to catch me up on the family. They share much the same news as Lu shared with me earlier, but it’s refreshing to hear them chatter happily, interrupting or finishing each other’s sentences and the like.

When we’re about to retire, my inner circle catches up to me and expresses a sort of joking dismay at my larger form. Teuila lets a hint of jealousy shine through, until she asks me how I managed to alter my form in a way that I wanted. In moments, Teuila stands before me as a version of her Valkyrie form that’s so much more human than any form I’ve seen any of us critterkin take, that I’m at a loss for words. Instead of equipment, she has a dress that’s similar to the one she’d picked out from Bettie’s shop so long ago. It seems to be perhaps a wool that’s dyed chocolate, with a layer of cherry red beneath it that shows through only in leather-laced slits that expose the secondary layer of the skirt. Beneath this dress she’s wearing a shoulderless knit sweater. Te’s hair is much more voluminous, and hangs to each side of her face, framing it in a lovely fashion. Teuila is always beautiful to me, always, but she’s stunningly drop-dead gorgeous at the moment. Her outfit radiates style, class, and charm.

Luni, not to be outdone, shows off that she too can self tether, surprising all of us. Similarly to Te, Lu is so human in this humaform evolutionary stage, that it’s only a soft layer of fur, tiny snout for a nose, tail, and ears that betray that she’s an otter. She’s wearing what I think is called a kigurumi, basically pajamas, and the pajamas look like a cartoonish dragon. Lil is both elated at Lu’s choice of apparel, and grumbling in mock jealousy, since Lil’s shape-shifting skill isn’t quite powerful enough to assume a humanoid form in this evolutionary stage yet.

Lil still tries, and they actually manage to grow a pair of gangly legs in their spheriform stage. It looks utterly ridiculous, exactly how one would imagine it to look if there were a head walking around on two legs. We all try not to laugh as we take turns snuggling Lil to reassure them that we don’t need them to have limbs, we love them all the same. Lil gives up and de-transforms the legs for now, resuming their usual spherical shape.

Linti arrives with the rest of her family, minus Dreams of Days, in tow. I begin to ask where Dream is, but I remember she had a date with Jaz, and that the cats are extremely affectionate, even to new people. I don’t think I have to worry about Dream’s whereabouts. I wonder if they’ll be writing each other little notes to communicate, or maybe inventing a sign language that’s all their own.

Linti however does a double take when she sees my inner circle, “What in the, who in the. Shellcrackers? How in the? You know what, never mind. Jeeze. Crazy family, the whole lot of ‘em.”

Lil, Lu, Te, and I burst out laughing as we follow everyone into the tent that Fawn had commandeered. Winter and a few of the cats pull pillows off to the side to sleep on their own, but for the most part, we have the largest, most glorious cuddle pile in the history of my entire life thus far. I use my FFS to make sure we have a constant cool breeze in the jungle night’s otherwise warm air, especially with so many warm bodies all in various states of spooning or limbs-entwined cuddling, or simple hand-holding within arm’s reach. Lu has Lil in her dragon-mouthed hoodie of her pajamas, and that’s adorable.

Linti pulls my arms tighter around her, and there’s a mild electrical tingle that races up my arm to end in my brain. It seems to be a message from Linti, “This is kind of nice Shellcracker, no one will believe you if you share that I admitted this. But still, thanks pal.”

Apparently she’s already putting her imagination to use. It’s not quite telepathy, since she can’t get a read on me without shocking the everliving crap out of me, and I can’t reply privately to her, but she can plant messages in brains now. That’s a ton of progress out of nowhere. I happily squeeze Linti while Te strokes my hair from behind.

This, this is my entire purpose in life, to make sure we can safely enjoy this as many nights as possible. That’s my final thought as I drift off to sleep with Linti as my little spoon, and Teuila fighting Fawn to be my big spoon, each taking about half of my body, Fawn entangled with my legs.

Linti wakes up earlier than everyone else, and she nimbly extricates me from all the limbs wrapped around me without waking anyone else somehow. Even though I’m normally groggy when I wake up after a rest, I feel so refreshed, invigorated, and excited to tackle the day. The front of the Lavaborn Alliance will make it to Point B today, it will take a few days for the rear of the march to catch up though. From there, when everyone has gathered, it’ll be up to the scouts, and probably my inner circle, to either find an unsettled area that can sustain us, or to negotiate with the fairies.

Linti and I race to The Hollow to start hunting for the day. Obviously she beats me there by a landslide. Still, as we show off our powers and talents to each other, it’s a brand new experience. I don’t even mind being in this six foot tall form when I’m next to Linti. We can fight back to back, raising hell and razing ground. I was so used to being like two and a half to three and a half feet tall, that I never even thought I might make a taller form my default form. It doesn’t take anything to maintain this secondary evolution stage. It might slow my mana regeneration rate somewhat, but not by any noticeable amount.

I quip, “Hey Hunter, try to envision a tiny spark of lightning, imagine that it has a timer of say ten seconds, after which it will flare to life and explode in a shower of more violent, powerful arcs of lightning.”

It only takes Linti two tries before it works. She queries, “How the hell did you come up with that one Shellcracker?”

To my chagrin, I reply, “I didn’t, that’s the move that killed me in the tournament.”

Linti whistles appreciatively, “Oooh, let me just make sure I don’t ever point this at you, huh? Don’t need you freaking out on me. I heard about your panic attacks and stuff. If you ever, I dunno, wanna talk about them or anything, we can kill some stuff together while you vent. Or not, whatever.”

I chuckle as I notice more similarities between Linti and Teuila. Both of them have unique approaches to expressing themselves which are either muted, or hidden slightly behind a facade of their actual strength. That is to say, they’re both strong, that part isn’t a facade, the facade that’s put up is that they don’t really care or want to express their emotions. They definitely do actually want their emotions seen and acknowledged though.

I reply, “Thanks Hunter, I generally don’t have an attack unless I think about Day One.”

Awe crap. Even though The Hollow is nearly empty of insects, I thud into the ground, from the JT flight I was taking, and crash before some sort of enormous beetle. It digs its pincers into my soft sides between gaps in my Valkyrie armor. My breath comes in ragged gasps that feel like they’re sucking air through a straw filled with molasses, even though I’m pulling in massive amounts of air as I hyperventilate. My vision is so tunneled I can only see part of one inner mandible of the beast about to devour me. My tinnitus is so loud that I can’t hear what Linti is calling out to me. On top of my tinnitus, my heartbeat is pounding so loudly in my ears that I fear it will deafen me.

I’m vaguely aware that the creature injuring me is blasted into derezzing by Linti, but I’m trapped reliving nightmares. Every surface around me opens in approximations of fanged maws, I’m sent tumbling from one mouth to another as I’m chewed and spat out by the earthen jaws. Eventually I come to, seated against a wall, with Linti sitting next to me, her right hand on my left shoulder.

Linti notices my expression change and asks, “So uh, I’m guessing don’t say those words? You okay Shellcracker? That seems like a deadly weakness. I’m sorry, no, that’s not the word, vulnerability that could be exploited. You’re anything but weak. Everyone has something or other. Well, except me.”

At her final assertion that she doesn’t have anything I start to guffaw as I cough and steady my breathing to normal levels.

I retort, “You’ve got nothing, you’re positive about that? How would you feel about being a few kilometers up, or trapped underwater right now?”

Linti shudders as she replies, “Okay, okay, point taken. You good?”

I nod, “Aye, thanks for saving me Linti. I don’t know how long I was out for. Sometimes it’s only a fraction of a second, sometimes it’s quite a while. It hasn’t gotten me killed yet, thankfully. It has definitely come close though. I’m sorry about the water crack. That was a pretty mean tease. I almost lost you there, and it was my own fault. I would have reset time though, I swear it. I’d never let myself kill you.”

Linti takes my left hand in her right paw, “Hey, whatever, it’s alright, y’know, it’s fine Shellcracker. ‘Sides, we, y’know, it was kinda fun.”

I raise an eyebrow, “Drowning was kind of fun?”

She bashes her shoulder into mine, “Not that ya doofus, after.”

Catching on, I blush, remembering how she gripped my hair and, yeah. She’s got an eyebrow raised at me now. Oh, I think that means she wants to know how I felt about it. I wonder if the two of us develop her powers well enough, if we might end up having a virtual psychic link with quantum entangled electrons or something. I feel like maybe she could be part of my inner circle. The ones that I’d allow myself to, hm, yeah. I’m just going to redact the memories I make from now until we get to Point B. This is private, and I don’t want to embarrass Linti by letting anyone read the logs of what we do between moments of training in The Hollow.