Just as water holds greater value than gold for a thirsty man, so too does silence in a world filled with incessant noise. Cultivate your silence, contemplate deep thoughts, and you will be able to hear more. To observe without distraction.
- The Living Sword by Fen Vaigorus circa 520 AC.
Continuing onwards at a rapid clip, uncaring of stealth, or the better part of caution, I made my way, ever upwards, with the clank and jangle of metal echoing my footsteps. No adversary presented itself to me, giving me time to review recent events. The last encounter with the giant scorpion worried me. Perhaps more than it should have. Not that it was a close call, or anything of that matter, rather, it was my lack of self-control.
It was not ingrained reflex, born from conflict, or intense training that had moved my arm to block the giant scorpion's stinger, rather it had been something else. My arm had moved of its own volition, admittedly to defend me, angling my shield perfectly, blocking the scorpion's attack completely. However, it was still most worrying nonetheless. Was I willing to cede a little control in order to have an automatic means of defense? Where would it end? Was I slowly being taken over?
The voices soothed me. Promising that all was well. I always had ultimate control, whether it was with my magic or my fate. It was important to think positively, especially in dire circumstances. Perhaps I should just think of this as an upgrade of sorts. The Mimic, after all, had no will of its own, so the voices now told me, whispering their assurances. However, it still functioned at a very basic level with its instincts for self-preservation very much intact. It was still programmed on an instinctual level to protect itself, and by extension, me.
Wanting to confirm the promise of the voices, I moved my shield arm, making sure that I had complete control. Summoning and dismissing my shield multiple times, I reaffirmed that it was indeed I who was ultimately in control. Like always, it was a disturbing sight, to see tendrils of matter grow out of my arm before forming a construction of thick wood and hard metal. Was it my imagination, or did the shield look a little more hefty, a little more solid in its constructions?
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I tried to initiate mental communication with the Mimic, the alien creature that had bonded with me. I expected an attack of some sort, but was instead met only with silence. No words or alien impressions assaulted my senses, no communication. Though the power and convenience it brought were welcome, it was a relief to not have another voice to contend with in the halls of my mind. So relieved was I that my feet stopped their onward progression, and I had to shake myself out of the fugue that had settled onto me.
The thing was dead, truly dead, in the way that counted most, at least. I had confirmed what the voices had told me, the thing was basically in a vegetative state. Therefore, it was mine to control, and not the other way round. Who knows what it planned for me, had we joined together in mental communion? Which led me to consider, if we had indeed bonded, would I have remained essentially me? Was that not, in a way, a form of death? With so many things pulling me this way and that, I counted this as a victory. An act of defiance against Iasis herself, and, by proxy, the gods of this world.
Resuming my onward march, I was determined to not be sidetracked and defeated by negative thoughts and to focus on my singular goal of getting out of here. Philosophizing on the nature of self and so forth could wait until after I had returned to surface lands, the Bright, as the recently departed Zala had quaintly put it.
More of the lichen had grown here, and the purples in the walls were being overrun with the greens of it. The type of creature I began to encounter started to change. Instead of them all being universally blind, some of them had large disc-like eyes that glowed in the dark. For some reason, I decided to take this as a positive sign that I was getting closer to my goal, the surface.
The wind, the guide that had picked up Zala’s torch, was growing stronger too, another positive sign. In the overall ledger of my current circumstance, accounts were slowly being balanced toward the black.