Episode: 6.17

--- Wormy ---

Prosperity carried him as she made her way through Fox’s forest and towards the cave entrance to his tunnels, or rather his hive’s tunnels.

The tunnels he, and the closest thing he has to a mother, were currently walking through had been dug over the years by a mix of Prosperity’s powers, and the semi-sentient dreams that inhabited her wonderland.

“The hive is out in force today.” Prosperity commented, watching as all around them his fellow minions worked, reinforcing the tunnels, harvesting new resources, and building new structures, making sure that they could provide whatever support they could.

“We’ve got a few projects in the works.” He admitted, mildly hoping she wouldn’t ask too much about them.

And while Prosperity didn’t ask about those projects, she did send him a concerned look. “You know you guys don’t have to work so hard, right?”

(Yes, we do.) “A working bee, is a happy bee.” He told her in a purposely sage-like manner.

Prosperity, his mother, gave him a look before sighing and scratching him behind his antenna in that way that sent good vibes throughout the shared portion of the hive mind, causing any of the insect dreams currently connected to dance in delight. “And I appreciate everything you guys do.”

That meant more to the Hive than she realized.

As they continued through the tunnels, he offered the occasional insectoid gesture to his fellow minions, little things Prosperity couldn’t quite translate thanks to her more mammalian brain, that let him signify his encouragement to the workers doing their best to be useful.

(We aren’t good for much, but we can do this much at least.) That was something the insect dreams realized early on.

Structures and minions weaved in the wonderland offered all sorts of small abilities or resource generation that Prosperity could use to weave new dreams, modify existing dreams, or change the laws of her own reality.

That said, the structures and minions of the Dream-Insects, provided the smallest of powers or powers that were completely useless in Prosperity’s day to day life, such as madness induced bonuses to farming or digging. Even the upgrades to the dream creatures themselves were borderline useless in most situations, the insect upgrades revolving around making honey, or faster construction of things their mother could weave in seconds.

His faction knew full well of their (weaknesses) when compared to the Forest faction who could increase stealth, enhanced night vision, or even cast illusions, or even worse to the Decay faction who offered poison resistance, regeneration, and (freaking) life steal.

Regardless of all that however, his faction was also the one to take most thorough advantage of the one rule all factions could use: So long as they did it themselves, they could build whatever they wanted.

Simply put, despite receiving the fewest direct upgrade out of all of the Dream factions, the insects were the ones with the most structures, some of which were buried so deep in the tunnels, Prosperity and the other factions weren’t even aware of them!

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Something his fellow insects applauded him for organizing in advance.

Still they did well enough for themselves, that he had no intention of reminding his mother she promised them an upgrade, namely because the insect faction took pride in their self-sufficiency.

Truthfully, he’d only brought up upgrades so that the other Dreams would get something.

(Someone has to keep this place running…)

From the side of his eyes, he noticed Ness silently drop from the tunnel ceiling, the dream assassin having taken advantage of his smaller form to catch up via one of the side tunnels normally inaccessible to those of a larger persuasion.

He gave his most respected brother a nod, before receiving one of his own in turn.

(At least one of the others gets it…)

It was something of a point of argument between him and his fellow Dreams, how they all sought fun, fun, fun, while he sought to work as hard as he could.

Not that he blamed the other Dreams for their desire to play, that is what mother wanted for each of them, to do what made them happy. He just wished they understood that working, being helpful, doing that little bit to keep them all safe and healthy, was what made him happy, made him (useful…)

“Ah, glad you could catch up Ness.” Prosperity nodded to the imp, before offering to hold his hand.

Ness grumbled in his hoarse voice before taking her hand, and guiding mother through the underground she instinctively understood. “Of course, mum, it’s my job.”

Unlike the rest of his family, Ness understood why they existed and why mother brought them into being, even if she didn’t quite get it herself.

For instance the imp was meant to be Prosperity’s ‘muscle’ since no matter how strong she was she lacked the finishing power that Ariel previously brought to the table, something neither he nor Fox eyes were able to truly make up for in those early days.

While Ness may’ve not been the best at managing his domain, at the very least he did his best to keep everyone safe, and that was something Wormy could respect.

Just as Ness respected his efforts to build structures to support Prosperity in ways their mother couldn’t quite understand, even going so far as to be the only other Dream Boss to ask how to build support dreams for his own faction.

Prosperity gave him an exasperated smile. “You know there’s more to life than being my bodyguard.”

“Maybe,” Ness admitted with a nod, “but as long as I’m around it’s my job to keep you safe.”

Wormy couldn’t help but frown at that statement, knowing full well Ness wouldn’t normally say that out loud, especially not with anyone other than Wormy present.

(“We work in the shadows, so the rest don’t have to worry.”) It was a mentality they both agreed with, and the reason neither of them bugged the rest with their issues building up the wonderland’s defenses and support.

Wormy let out a sigh, as Prosperity offered Ness a smile, appreciating the imp’s sentiment, but not understanding the reason behind it, since she couldn’t properly read their emotions.

(Darn it, he’s still upset mum got into a fight without us…) Which was something they’d only picked up because her ‘Butterflies’ technically fell under Wormy’s domain, and thanks to the Madness’s love of technicalities, meant he was aware of anything the butterflies found after being dismissed. Including the fact that Prosperity got into a fight with several Malice Creeps, without summoning any of them to her side.

A detail he fully intended to get onto her for when there was no risk of any other dream overhearing, because while he loved her, he refused to let her make stupid mistakes.

Idly, one of his legs scratched at a scar on his chest.

He shook his head and let his eyes drift to nearby holes in the tunnel, taking the time to spot some of the few warrior insects hiding in case of… invaders, the first sign they were nearing the border between dream domains.

Ever so subtly the walls greenery and glowing mushrooms began to replace the dirt and web covered walls that brought him comfort, a faint fog trickling underfoot as it brought a change in the air, an odd sort of moisture that somehow reeked of both growth and decay.

They were no longer in his tunnels.