Nex was trying to concentrate, but her true desires still found their way to the surface.
Kill!
Eat!
Corrupt!
Slaughter!
Devourer!
More!
More!
MORE!
Holding back was one of the few things she actively tried to cultivate for the last few hundred years. She found it immensely frustrating in the beginning, often finding herself drifting in space totally alone when she came down from her immense bloodlust.
Causing the total destruction of Telin Village was getting close to the end of her patience.
EAT MORE!
EAT IT ALL!
CONSUME THE COSMOS!
“Alright, alright… any more than this and all the effort I took to get here would be for nothing.” Nex took some deep breaths as she spoke to herself.
With the last ounce of her concentration, Nex concentrated all her body towards the center of the village. Wave upon wave of the murky mass surged forth and compressed into itself. All that was left after several minutes of this was a large pitch-black pool that shimmered in the setting sun.
An arm burst forth from the sinister depths of the pool and grabbed on to the edge. Like a dolphin emerging from the waves, Nex jumped from the pool and landed softly.
The scene would be unsettling to any human.
There was essentially nothing.
No homes, no workshops, no carts, no crimson fields, and no smiling villagers.
The only thing resembling the remains of Telin village was sparse pools of cooled blood and the final monument to their grave sins.
Nex gazed upon the Hold as she walked towards it. There were signs of useless attempts to break in all around it. Cracks from the swinging of farm tools and bloodied handprints were easily spotted near the entrance. Surprisingly, the building managed to survive the wave of death relatively unscathed.
Nex gripped the iron bars securing the entrance and easily bent them, stepping into the dusty building.
A musty smell wafted through the air as she took in her surroundings. The entrance of the building was fairly innocuous, considering all the rumored immoral behavior that was said to take place here. A large room narrowed into a hallway that appeared to lead further into the Hold. Dimly lit crystals were mounted along the walls throughout and bathed the area in a faintly yellow-tinged glow.
Stepping out of the passageway, Nex found herself in an even larger room that seemed to be the usual living space for the Hounds. Several large and long tables were placed in parallel in the center of the room. At the head of these was a sort of lectern or speaking platform for Alexander, no doubt, to use. On either side of the room were more doors that lead to sets of bunk beds that were dormitories for the other dead members.
Behind the lectern, was a grander and more ornate looking door and a trapdoor that assumedly, led deeper into the depths of the building.
Nex was starting to wonder if any of those that were captured by the group were still being held in the building. It was eerily quiet so far during her search. Hopefully there were still some research subjects to be found deeper inside.
“Worst case scenario, I could try and find that golden pig and buy a slave from him. But I’d rather not have to associate with someone so disgusting.” Nex thought to herself as she forced open the trapdoor leading downstairs.
As the door was finally ripped from its hinges, Nex was assaulted by a nauseating stench emanating from the darkness below. A pungent odor of copper, rotten eggs, shit, and salt, all seemed to swirl together and billow from below. Never had Nex regretted possessing a human sense of smell more than this moment, as she forced herself to stop from gagging.
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After freeing herself from the torment by disconnecting her biomass from her nose, she regretfully started her descent.
The passage containing the stone staircase was noticeably darker than the upper floor was. While there were some of the same crystals on the walls, the output of light was low enough that Nex had to use the advanced senses of her biomass to keep from falling. Her true body lacked eyes or any kind of external sensory organ, like eyes or ears, but instead honed a way of ‘feeling’ around her by animalistic instinct.
She learned early on in her long life that sometimes the ‘smarter’ way of doing something wasn’t always the most efficient one.
Nex was pulled out of her thoughts once she finally reached the bottom of the stairs. What she observed was an even larger stone room in the shape of a large rectangle that radiated a feeling of wealth and luxury. Vividly red carpets ran along the walkways, the furniture was all constructed of fine leathers, several gold-framed paintings dotted the stone brick walls, and many elegantly carved sculptures decorated the space.
All of it surrounded three different sized stages or platforms that were no less opulent than the rest of the room. They were carved out of the same white stone as the sculptures, but were decorated with carvings of kotal leaves with gold trim. Nearby these stages were also another three doors that seemed to be better reinforced than the others Nex had found so far.
As she continued to leisurely walk across the room, Nex stopped as she heard a faint sound from beyond one of the doors. It was only for a moment, the rattling of chains and the rubbing of metal on stone, but it was enough. Nex sped up her steps towards the furthest door as a rare feeling of anticipation gripped her. She was driven to find the perfect research subject.
Someone, or something, that had beyond basic knowledge about this world but also would also be completely subservient to her future demands. What would she name it? Just servant? Slave? Floppy II? No, that one was definitely no good. No one likes an unoriginal and uninspired sequel after all.
She pushed the seemingly stupid thoughts from her head as she finally approached the door. With a loud bang, that echoed far and wide, Nex unceremoniously tossed the crumpled pile of metal behind her.
The square room was smaller than the entrance and littered with numerous dirty cells. Dried blood and muck stained the walls and floors, but none of it drew Nex’s attention. No, she was focused on the sole person that was sitting on the floor of the furthest cell. As the person heard Nex’s approach, they got up and turned to face her.
“Samara!! I can’t believe it!” The freshly awakened Mina cried out in her mind.
Nex didn’t understand why, but she froze upon linking eyes with the girl Mina called Samara.
Her skin was covered with all manner of scars, but seemed to be much more tan than everyone else Nex had seen in the village. While the woman’s body showed the signs of being subjected to wanton violence, her cerulean blue eyes still held a piercing gaze and her dark hair seemed to shine under the crystals in the room. A black leather collar, covered with familiar symbols, was attached to her neck and the humiliating outfit she was wearing. When she met Nex’s gaze her eyes widened so much it would be no surprise if they somehow fell out of her skull. But Nex was no better off.
Upon staring at Samara, Nex was struck by a series of physical stimuli she had never experienced. Heat rose through her body, causing her pale skin to blush uncontrollably. The heart beating in her chest greatly sped up, its thumping seemed to ring out in her head. The thought that she wanted to be as physically close as possible to the scarred woman rippled through her mind. These unknown reactions caused her to freeze in front of the equally surprised Samara.
Finally, fearing some kind of poison or magical ability, Nex snapped out of it and cautiously stepped back from Samara’s cell. She quickly used one of her abilities.
“Identify.” She whispered. Nex scrutinized the screen.
Name: Samara
Level: 25
Class: Tribal Ranger (Enslaved)
Titles: Unbreakable
_________________________
HP: 800 MP: 50
Fortitude: 500 Movement: 700
Presence: 300 Versatility: 400
Intellect: 400 Fate: 0
Triggering identify seemed to be enough to pull Mina out of her stupor, as she called out to Nex.
“Dearest Nex.. Do you mind if I handle this?” She called out hesitantly.
“Do you know this beau..I mean you know her?” Catching herself, Nex called out in her mind.
“Hmm? Something like that. Just let me talk to her for a bit. She would be a major boon for our travels.” Mina replied in a smug voice. Nex was sure that if she looked inside her metaphysical space she’d be smirking.
“Take care of it.” Nex replied curtly with a grunt as she gave control to Mina.
Their mental conversation seemed to give Samara enough time to decide that what was in front of her wasn’t a hallucination and she struggled to get the words out.
“What… but…thought… told me you were dead. How are you here? And different..” Samara glanced at her white hair and spoke the words with a painful expression. Her voice was deeper than usual and she seemed to speak the local language with some difficulty.
“I’m sorry Sam, I never wanted to leave you here alone. But I’m so happy that you made it.” Replied Mina, wearing a painful smile and with tears in her eyes.
“What happened to Mina?” She asked after the two managed to calm down.
“Well you were wrong about me not dying. You can rest assured, I managed to get to land a good right hook on that prick’s nose! You should have seen it. So yeah, I died. But thanks to the help from my new friend a part of me was saved.” Explained Mina.
“New friend? A part of you? Mina, what the hell are you talking about?” Replied Samara with an incredulous expression.
“Well it’s…” Mina started to reply but was quickly cut off.
“You’ve had more than enough time to reminisce, let me finish so we can get out of here already.” Nex huffed as she pulled back control from Mina.
“Look, S-Samara was it? I am called Nex. While coming to this world from afar I needed a vessel so I could blend in with the rest of the humans. I managed to find Mina’s body after I thought she had already died, but now there is a part of her that is inside me.” Nex explained.
Samara, noticing the difference in attitude and demeanor, scrutinized Nex while baring a look that screamed “I don’t believe you”.
“These bars need to be removed so it’s perfect timing anyways.” Huffed Nex.
Raising her two hands, a pair of inky black tentacles sprang forth from her back and gripped the bars of the cell. Without much effort, the iron bars were ripped from the cell and disappeared into the biomass, which then dissolved into Nex’s back.
Samara looked at the act with a look of terror on her face, as she fell onto her ass and backed up in her cell.
“Might as well have been made of paper.” Nex gloated with a snort and her hands on her hips.