Captain of the Guard, Lindell

I really do hate illusions, and mind magic. There are ways to counter it, but that usually means knowing it is coming in the first place. The really good ones, were showing you exactly what you wanted to see. Like a whole bunch of trees that were cleared by a very large spider. I let out a deep sigh, while Mimi did her thing. The campfire roaring nicely, though it was strangely warm here. I knew monsters could use magic depending on their race. I knew some beasts could, but spiders and other bugs? That shouldn't be possible. Yet, I doubt Mimi would lie about something like that. I could see the big ass spider she killed doing magic, but she said it controlled the little ones to do it.

Rubbing my temple, I heard Mimi cry out in pain. I quickly got up to see what was going on. Peeking inside the cave, I saw her writhing on the ground clawing at the back of her head. She was stifling the pain, from what I could tell. I wasn't a healer, so there wasn't much I could do. Then I heard the sickening sound as new stingers practically exploded out of her head. At least she seemed a little better, though the tips were a pale yellow from what I could make out. I decided to just go sit by the fire until she was done.

I took a second to look at all the spiders that seemed to move about the trees. With the big one gone, they probably couldn't really do magic anymore. Though if they could, that made this place more dangerous. Especially if Mimi was the one controlling them, or whatever now. It meant she was smarter than I already thought she was. Basically admitting to knowing how to use mind magic. Still, I didn't want to believe that she was playing mind games with me. The way she jerked away, the way she seemed to relax when I move a little further from her. If all of it was an act, I'd have to kill her on the spot. A monster like that, shouldn't be allowed to sink it's teeth into the city.

I poked the fire a little, listening with my magic. I could hear the spiders skittering in their web cocoons, homes, whatever. I could hear that past the trees, everything was unnaturally quiet. I noticed it last night as well, while Mimi slept. The forest was growing more quiet by the day, and that was never a good sign. Was it a horde? A small army of fiends? Thoughts similar to this ran through my head, but it wasn't my job to report it. Everyone with magic and precognition would warn the city if something especially nasty was coming. If that were the case, the crystal Vivian gave me, would vibrate and I'd head there.

I took out a few rations, prodding towards the area with the silence. Still finding nothing, so whatever it was just wasn't close enough to make sounds I could hear yet. Mimi made a scratching sound on the cave entrance. I turned back towards her, tilting my head as she hid a little behind the mouth. "Hey Captain? I'm going to eat more of the spider. Is that okay?"

I looked at the half eaten thing, then back at her and nodded. I half wanted her to start calling me Wyatt again, but just turned to deal with warming my rations. I could hear her eating the thing, and I decided not to look. Decades in a city where eating bugs was seen as taboo, let alone spiders. It wore on me, and I just couldn't bring myself to watch her eat something that large. Even if Lum'kai was made out of smashed bugs, it was just a cultural thing.

Rubbing the back of my head, I turned to look at her when she stopped eating. Then I saw her doing something with her hands and some string that came from her mouth? I squinted a little, and her ears flicked. She turned towards me, then spread her wings to hide what she was doing. She was probably embarrassed or something. Though it was nice to see her wings were growing in rather quickly. I kind of hated seeing the tear I made on them during our spat.

I thought about what to write in the report. She is clearly capable of fighting, and protecting herself. Her fighting style is rather unique in that she doesn't seem to mind losing parts of her during a fight. Her talent allows her to get stronger after she kills something and eats it. She can apparently gain talents through doing this as well. Which means she can be killed by just letting her eat people with talents. Not a terrible thing, and it makes her super easy to deal with. As long as she plans on eating those she kills. Which, judging by how she's going at it with the spider, and taking breaks. Pretty sure she's not the type to believe in wasting anything.

I scratched my head a little more, I honestly had no idea what to put in the report besides that. She went against my orders, but that was to save a group of recruits. Pretty much everything I could put in there, just made her seem perfectly fine for living in the city, let alone the kingdom. She could probably be used to help frontier settlements, but that would have to be her choice. If there was one bad thing I could put down, it was just how much she could eat. I looked back at the spider to find its leftovers being wrapped up in silk. I looked away, wait a minute...

Looking back at Mimi, I saw her wiping her face happily with one hand. Five bundles of silk keeping spider legs, and other bits in one place. I was completely lost, when I remembered she evolved by eating. "Mimi?"

She seemed to stiffen when I called her, but turned to me, "Yes, Wyatt?"

"What did you gain from eating the spider?" I looked at the silk bundles and back at her.

She tilted her head, "A few things? I can make my own silk now, and I don't get stuck in webs anymore. Oh! I got new stingers." She seemed rather happy about them, showing off the pale, yellow tipped things. She looked at them then frowned a little, before going back to a smile.

"What do the stingers do exactly? Is there anything else you gained?" I tried to keep my voice gentle for her.

"I don't know yet, I have to test them on something to find out what they do. They aren't the same as the others though, so I don't think they'll explode." She reached for one of the spider legs. She set her stinger into it, and I saw the muscles flex a little. Then absolutely nothing happened. "It's a liquid, and it apparently doesn't work on the dead."

I just nodded, "I see, we might have to find something to test it on then." She smiled back at me, before turning away. "How strong is your silk? Did you grow stronger?"

"Physically? I did not really grow stronger. I can lift as much as the muscles of the strongest thing I ate, I think. Which means I'm about as strong as a fiend still. As for what I got from the spider, yes it did make me a little stronger. I'm trying to think of how to use my threads now, besides wrapping things up and making clothes. My silk will probably get stronger if I eat something with stronger thread. Right now it's weaker than the spider I ate, since I can't make as much as quickly. It also makes me really hungry, but I can probably restrain people with it. The ability to not get caught or stuck in spider webs was probably the most helpful thing I got. Since it makes it easier for me to slip out of such without breaking it. I can also eat silk now, so that's a nice bonus."

She looked at the stuff she wrapped up, "Are you planning on making some specialty clothes to keep warm? We won't be making an outpost here for some time. Though I'll say it is a good idea. Are you in control of the spiders around us? Can you do magic through them?"

"I control the spiders, but I can't use their magic. I may not have control over the spider with the talent that allowed other connected do such, or any number of reasons really." Mimi seemed to hide herself with her wings. Probably taking my advice about the custom clothes.

"That's fine, as long as you aren't lying to me about anything. Are you becoming more comfortable around me now? You are using bigger words." I watched her carefully.

Mimi nodded, "Yes, I am still afraid of you to some extent. Though I am becoming more whole with both sides merging again. I can speak your native language once more. Though I realize that would be a bad idea, since you probably want to keep that for when Alice herself talks to you. I'll see what I can do about the spiders doing magic. Though right now, I do not understand it. There are many things I do not know, but I do know I do not want to see what happens if I were to lie to you. I'll be good Wyatt."

I smiled bitterly at her words, before starting to eat my meal. "There are still plenty of hours in the day. My magic is telling me that the forest is quiet for some reason. I don't think it's a terrible thing, but I want to know the reason why. We can search a lot of ground if you're okay with flying. I can try to keep some warmth around you."

She turned towards me tilting her head, "You can do that?"

I nodded, "Yeah, it's not that hard actually. It's how I usually stay warm. I just keep the air swirling around me, with the heat from my body. I don't do it a lot in the city, but it's easy enough. I didn't do it last night, cause I wanted to feel numb."

Mimi turned away, her forearms and wrists covered in silk. "I see... We can try that, and we'll see how it goes. Though are you okay with us doing that tomorrow? I want to make sure the connection I have with the spiders, that it will not sever if we move too far. With the big spider gone, I doubt I'll be able to reconnect if it's broken."

"That's fine, tomorrow will be our third day. We can do it after the sun warms the area a little. It should make everything easier, and we won't have to set up camp again. Are you sure you don't want any Lum'kai?" I tried to tease her a little, just to get a little closer.

She shuddered, "No thanks, it tastes so bad."

I laughed at that, "It's fine, more for me and all that again. What are we going to do for the rest of the day though?" I was curious to see if she had anything planned.

"If possible, I'd like to connect with all the spiders I can while we are here. To test those connections, and maybe take a few trees apart to build a small base. I have no idea how long all of this will take, so I'm going in order of what I feel is important. If you want, you can check on the patrols and tell them about the silence in the forest. It is rather quiet, and I feel something dangerous is coming."

I looked back at her mid bite, "Something dangerous? What do you mean?"

She kept her back to me, while continuing with her outfit. Kneeling down, and moving her hands. "Just something I learned to pick up on. I watch the wind, the movements of everything I can. It's a lot of information to process, but it tells me a lot. Most things that come here are eaten, with all the tracks suddenly stopping. Very few actually making it this far. I'm not able to pick up as much without my scouts finding scents and stuff. Though the spiders are on edge. I don't know if it's because they lost their leader, or if it's something in the air. They are nervous, and I am nervous. Not because of them, but because something just feels off. Is it a front of frost coming towards us? Maybe rain? I won't know until I can smell it, see it, or understand it a little better."

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"I don't understand, what does that have to do with the feeling? Are you certain it's not the spiders overreacting cause you're their leader now?" I talked softly towards her, wanting to understand her a little more.

She shook her head, "No, I can understand that and quiet those emotions. It's like when the ground starts to shake. I can feel it coming before it hits. An instinct of some kind."

"Precognition, a lot of mind mages have that. Where they perceive things before they happen. Even the whispering wolves we domesticated start to whimper when they feel some force of nature acting. The horses, minotaur and most beasts really. They sense something coming, when others do not. Do you think it's an earthquake?" I looked at her, a little worried.

Mimi shook her head, "No, something else. Something causing most of the creatures to run away from it. The bugs hunker down, the beasts run away from trouble. Even monsters go into hiding. I have hidden in my cave and other places to avoid something moving. Though I feel like I can stop whatever this is, if I am prepared."

"That's why you want to get the spiders figured out and sorted? To use their magic to help you?" I finished the last bite of my meal, looking at her.

"They can back me up later. Maybe even fool what is coming. Though I won't be counting on such. I am not running, because I feel a hunger gnawing inside me. Whatever is coming, I can eat it and grow stronger. It is a hard fight, but I want to fight it. My hive will be put in danger if I do not stop. That is all there is to it, but I need to see it to prepare properly. All I can do is find the source, track it, and strike when I am ready. Everything else is just being patient." She seemed to finish what she was doing.

"Alright, I'll get some wood and stuff from the trees. It won't be fresh lumber since we can't really process it or anything. Though I doubt you'll care too much. Do what you have to do and I'll hear you out." I needed to check with a patrol just in case. Mimi didn't sound unsure about something coming. The city had to know at the very least. Though we could just be extremely nervous for no reason.

She turned to me, silk covering her body in a sort of dress that clung to her. It covered every part of her that didn't have chitin on it. I was glad to see some modesty was coming over her. Then I scratched my chin, "Why aren't you in your combat form all the time? Isn't it better to keep all of you covered at all times?"

She tilted her head, then laughed a little, "It doesn't make me hungry to keep it in one place. Though if I keep it stretched out over me for too long. It starts to dry out."

I raised a brow at her, "It... dries out? The chitin that covers you in your combat form?"

She nodded, "Yeah, I gained it from eating a lot of slimes, and swallowing their cores. I really enjoy eating the slimes when everything starts to warm up. The ones growing in meadows taste the best."

"The one's growing in the meadows? You mean you have been outside the forest before? Your combat form is made of slime?" I was rather confused.

She seemed to look down as if wondering the same thing herself. "That kind of makes sense actually. I didn't have a combat form until I ate enough slimes. I just always thought it was a part of me when it came out from where my chitin and flesh meet. Like blood I could just control. I don't remember where the meadows were though, so I have no idea if that was outside the forest or not. Like I said, I was teleported around."

I swallowed hard, then just let out a sigh. "Forget about it, we have other stuff to do. I'm just glad you're covering up more now."

"Yeah, I'll be climbing trees if you need me. All that stuff with spiders I said earlier. Let me know how it goes with the patrols, I guess." She seemed to smile a little at me, before folding her wings around herself.

I nodded, and set out to find whatever patrols I could. Only managing to talk to two of them, they all basically said that nothing was odd. Though they were all astonished to hear about magic spiders and that Hugh was defeated. Some of the group were less than thrilled, since they wanted to try taming him. All I could do was shrug it off and head back once it started to get dark. With my talent it was easy enough to cut a few trees with blades of wind from my pipe. I made it back to camp to find Mimi had kept the fire going nicely enough. She seemed to be mediating, as she sat beside the fire itself.

----------------------------------------

Alice

I was glad Wyatt trusted me enough to leave me alone by this point. With him gone, I was now able to actively focus on these spiders. To shift through Gray Beard's memories properly. To actually try something new, and untested. I had the spiders skitter around those that were disconnected when Gray Beard tried to pull away from me. Rather easy, given that most of were literally just sitting there. I first wanted to see if I could use the other spiders to establish connections with more of their kind.

While I had been able to do this with bugs in the past, by brushing my antenna over them. There was a problem with the connection being severed whenever they got too far. Thus I decided to send another few spiders outside their area to see if this remained true. Oddly enough, the links with them appeared stronger than they were before. Testing this, and tracing everything. I realized that Gray Beard's talent was still active in his body. Even though his mind was taken from it, and his body was slowly shutting down and dying. The talent itself lingered.

Since it was probably the only thing actively keeping all the links with the spiders going. I had to try moving it to another spider for now. It was mentally exhausting, but I managed to move the talent with symbiosis. Which confirmed a few things for me. One was that spiders and bugs can have talents. Which likely meant that snakes, and other beasts can have such as well. Another is that the entity with the talent has to realize they have such for it to be useful to some extent.

Even going through Gray Beard's memories, he didn't realize he actually had a talent until he was leading a hundred spiders. It kicked in when he was being attacked by another spider for food. Which he then took over, and since it worked. He just kept adding more and more. It wasn't until he had around five hundred spiders under him that he could think properly. Though that was the result of his talent, rather than actual skill or understanding. Something that came about from stress in a situation. Much like Hugh's talent came from the stress of molting and being vulnerable.

Which meant that stress was the key to unlocking talents, if they were inside an entity. Even with all that going on, it appeared that talents were extremely rare when it came to bugs and such. Even with the thousands here there were maybe three talents? Which was outrageous compared to the millions of bugs devoured by my hive and myself. Hugh's eternal molting was no more, Gray Beard's hive mind was in another spider, which left whatever was allowing these spiders to do magic. Unless spiders for whatever reason were just able to do magic without an issue.

That would be bitter to swallow, but somehow acceptable. Given that the spiders couldn't do magic without Gray Beard guiding them. Even the memories showed that it was most definitely instinct that guided him there. The same instinct that guided him while using his talent. He bundled spiders into groups with a certain 'feeling' about them. Using these memories as a guide, I gently moved over the groups to sense this 'feeling.' Much to my surprise it was there. Looking around, I realized this was going to require all of my attention. Grabbing what I could for the fire, I got it to a nice blaze. Then I sat beside it, in the pose the old one taught me for such things.

The world around me simply faded away, as I was one with my hive. I moved about all the minds, that shone like countless stars. Memories, and pure white color. Then as I moved in search of the feeling, the stars started to glimmer. Every so faintly becoming tinged with this color or that. I came to realize that no single spider was capable of casting magic on it's own. That through the effort of Gray Beard's talent, he was able to direct the others to casting magic. The hive mind made them one, and because of that they acted as one unit. The talent itself doing all the heavy lifting while Gray Beard pondered and tested things through it.

Gray Beard wanted to be safe, and he wanted the powers of the humans that came through the forest on patrols. He had observed them doing magic, and wondered how it was done. With all the minds under him by that point. The talent merely interpreted that desire, and used the mental capacity it was given to find a solution. The spider itself was merely greedy, while the talent accommodated him. Because of his desires, the talent came up with a solution that ultimately worked. Which frustrated me, because Gray Beard literally had no idea how it all actually worked.

It also meant that the talent likely 'forgot' everything when I transferred it to another spider. I could feel the connections with the spiders starting to wane. Though they grew stronger when I ordered the specific spider to establish more permanent connections. Which helped to confirm what I just figured out. The real issue now, was that the talent could be ordered through a spider waiting to receive orders. One that couldn't think for itself. Which was a huge vulnerability if Entomancers could just order that same spider to attack. It even held the potential risk to establish itself as my hive and carry that order to all of us.

I sent the order for the spider to come to me. I needed to eat it, and stop such from potentially happening. I opened my eyes to find Wyatt feeding the fire. I jumped a little, as he looked at me. "Everything alright?"

I nodded, "Yes Wyatt. I just need to take care of something. I didn't know you would be so quick."

He scoffed a little, "Hardly, I was searching for hours, and only found two patrols. It's really light and relaxed as far as that goes. Which means Vivian is doing something important. She trusts me to keep the city safe from the outside."

I got up, and started to move where the spider with the talent was. "I see, I'll talk to you some more when I get back."

"Oh? Okay. I'll be here when you get back. Don't forget to wipe." He laughed a little, before tending to the fire some more.

I half wanted to say something, but stopped myself and just accepted it. He gave me a perfect excuse to go where he couldn't see. I ordered other spiders to carry the spider with the talent. Not wanting to establish some kind of feedback where I order the spider to come to me. Which could make all of them come to me since we are one. I shook my head, realizing the talent itself was already starting to exert itself. The spider was tossed from above, into my outstretched hand.

It landed softly enough, unmoving without any orders to guide it. I sent it one last command, in that it was to give me it's talent. Making certain it was this specific spider. Then I ate it, while feeling the process of that talent coming to me. The same thing happened once more as it did with Hugh. I suddenly understood the talent. I was able to use Symbiosis to move it to others. Then I was finally able to feed it to Devourer. This time however, something different happened.

The talent known as Devourer ate the hive mind. Which meant it was a talent capable of eating other talents. Another thing I learned is that when it ate a talent it grew more powerful. The base parts of Hive Mind was given to me to help augment my connections in the way I wanted. All of the positives, and none of the negatives. Meaning that I could potentially eat every talent I came across, and make myself stronger through it.

I suddenly felt as though I was being watched. A foreign voice came into my mind, |"You have destroyed two talents. You shall now be observed by the heralds of various gods and deities. Destroying a third shall result in you being branded a heretic, with the appropriate gods taking action. You may ask a pastor to determine which gods you have offended, and may seek to repent through the appropriate means. Have a pleasant evening."| The voice was a monotone choir with many different voices speaking in different languages. The force of such, making me fall to my knees as I heard what it wanted me to hear.

I was left panting, before taking deep breaths to calm myself. Whatever that was, I needed to stay on agreeable terms with it for now. It wasn't something I could hope to fight. I took a moment to steady myself, before reconfirming that my connections with the spiders were not severed. My hive was fine, as they had not been touched by the voice. I set the spiders to work on relearning the magic they forgot. While I tried to feel if my hive had such ability as well. Sadly, they did not seem to have such yet. Though it was likely, I needed to eat something with the potential for magic. That, or it might start spreading with Gray Beard, after he is reborn. I got my status update from Beru about the hive, before finding Wyatt resting beside the fire.

He looked at me and smiled, "Hope you feel better, we'll be soaring through the sky tomorrow. Anything that attacks us, we'll kill and you can eat. You'll probably look cooler with feather wings or anything else."

I covered myself with my wings, frowning a little, "That's a bit rude, but it's okay. Just take the flying slow with me until I feel comfortable. It's just too quiet tonight." I took a seat next to the fire, opposing him. We started to talk about what I remembered from Alice's memories. It was still far too soon to tell him I lied about being Alice last night. Though we were managing to get a little closer. Wyatt already said he was happy to join my hive, so there was no reason to fight with him. Still, as we talked and rested. The night simply remained silent, which was far too odd.