“Now that we’ve shown Unalia there are consequences to their actions, we’ll be heading back. The last thing we want is a long, drawn out war, led by a bunch of nutcases,” the commander said to Isabelle in one of the remaining Fauxmoa buildings. He sighed. “But I expect that’s what’s going to happen, eventually.”

“It’s unfortunate, but true,” Isabelle said.

“So, will you be coming with us?” the commander asked.

“Yes. I’ll separate after crossing the mountains,” Isabelle said.

“I never asked, but where exactly do you and your kind live? I assume it’s within Orelia’s border since you were asking for rights to ‘your territory’ there. Or am I mistaken?” the commander asked.

“No, that’s correct. After my… altercation, I moved to Orelia. Within the forest near the village of Neel, in fact,” Isabelle said.

“The village of Neel?” The commander looked thoughtful for a moment. “Never heard of it.”

“It’s quite small,” Isabelle said.

“Ah. That makes sense, then. Once I hear back on your territory questions from the higher ups, I’ll send someone to inform you,” the commander said.

“That would be most appreciated,” Isabelle said. The commander’s face changed into a look of seriousness.

“Would you happen to know about an incident earlier involving a man named Henry?” the commander asked.

“Henry?” Isabelle asked.

“Yes. He was reported as dead earlier. According to the report, your creatures killed him,” the commander plainly stated.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit! Isabelle thought.

“It’s possible if they were provoked. Otherwise they would be harmless,” Isabelle said. The commander looked thoughtful for a moment.

“I see. I’ll have to question them further,” he said.

Once the commander finished his conversation with Isabelle, the army marched out. Isabelle followed closely behind with her creatures. Going back was much quicker, since they didn’t need to stop except to rest. After a few weeks, Isabelle and her two thousand creatures had separated from the Orelian army with Fae and had nearly made it home.

“I’m so excited to finally get back home!” Fae exclaimed while walking with Isabelle. “My uncle is probably worrying about me.”

“I’m excited to get back as well. I want to see the progress my creatures have made first-hand,” Isabelle said.

“I’d love to come over sometime and see it too,” Fae said.

“I feel like you’d be scared. It’s mostly a bunch of big tunnels,” Isabelle replied.

“I won’t be scared if I have my lantern with me!” Fae excitedly said.

“Alright, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. It’s kind of scary unless you’re used to it.” Isabelle smirked at Fae.

Isabelle and Fae finally made it to the outskirts of Neel. They didn’t go any further to prevent any chaos that might occur due to Isabelle’s creatures.

“Make sure to give your uncle a big hug when you get home,” Isabelle said to Fae.

“I will! Thank you, Isabelle,” Fae said. “Bye!” Her, Bo, and Eva left and walked home. When they finally reached home, Fae knocked on the door. A few moments later her uncle appeared at the door.

“Fae! You’re alright!” Bara said with a huge smile on his face. “I was so worried.”

“Hi uncle!” Fae replied.

“Come in, don’t just stand out there,” Bara said and slid over so his niece could walk inside. Fae walked inside and took a seat. They had a lot to talk about, she was sure he would want to hear all about her adventure.

When Isabelle finally reached home she was not too shocked by the state of things. She had been keeping track even from all the way in Fauxmoa. Her home had grown immensely. In the time she was gone the black goo had grown hundreds of feet, possibly more. Underground, many new tunnel networks had been built to house all of the new creatures and the thousands of eggs.

She stood in front of the towering hive that stood deep within the forest. In the time she had been gone itt had risen above the tall treetops.

“Home,” she said and walked into the enormous doorway that led inside. As she entered, she ran her hand along the wall. It felt warm and alive to the touch, as if all of it was part of one living thing. She walked deeper into the tunnels of the hive, where a large room was prepared for her. She had designed it in her downtime while she was away.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

She reached the room and stood at the open doorway in front of her, peering inside of the empty room. It was huge, but empty. She hadn’t really had much time to design it, and it was time consuming enough to dig this out even with the help of her creatures. By now, the walls and ceiling were as black as the void of space as they had been overgrown with the black goo, which had hardened to provide structural protection.

Isabelle stood in the room, pondering.

I need some furniture… she thought. Maybe I can make my own? As an experiment, she attempted to claw off a piece of the hardened black goo from the wall with little success, before remembering that last time she dug into the the hardened black wall she had to focus. She focused her mind and will on the task in front of her again and successfully clawed off a piece of the wall.

She moved to the middle of the empty chamber and sat down. Using her enormous, powerful hands, she tried to mold the hard substance into a ball but couldn’t. Her hands became sore from the effort, it wouldn’t even flex. It was much too hard. She stopped trying and focused her mind and tried again. She could easily roll it into a ball.

“That felt… a little too easy,” she suspiciously said.

Then she rolled it into a solid tube and stuck it to the ground.

“Yeah!” she exclaimed, happy with her progress. The solid tube bent over and sunk to the ground in an upside down U and Isabelle’s face soured. “Ugh.” She bent it back up and imagined it hardening while holding it in place. To her surprise, it hardened in place and stuck to the floor.

Over a week later and after much practice, Isabelle felt satisfied with her work. Satisfied enough to show it off. As the sun was setting in the sky, she walked out of the entrance of the towering structure that served as an entrance to the many, many tunnels below, and went in the direction of Fae’s village. By the time she arrived at the edge of the town, the sky had darkened overhead. She leaned her heavy body against a large tree trunk and her mind entered Bo’s body.

Isabelle’s perspective changed and she saw Fae sleeping on her straw bed, her limbs splayed out over the small bed. Eva was not in the room. She poked the sleeping girl with her arm, but all Fae did was roll over. Isabelle leaned over more and pushed her harder while making a low chittering sound.

“Errrrr, stop it,” Fae mumbled. Isabelle kept pushing her. “Whaat?” Fae said. Isabelle opened the door and stepped into the hallway, chittering. “Do you want me to follow you? Can’t you go yourself?” Isabelle chittered some more and Fae stubbornly got up making a low grumbling. She put on some shoes and followed her pet outside in her plain, thin cotton clothes.

“Fae!” Isabelle said as Bo and Fae approached her.

“Oh, hi Isabelle,” Fae replied while staring in Isabelle’s general direction. “I was wondering why Bo was being so weird.”

“Sorry, I know it's late,” Isabelle said. “I was just wondering whether you wanted to come visit.”

“Sure… but tomorrow,” Fae said while rubbing her eye with her hand. “It’s way too late now. Plus, I can’t see anything. You don’t even look like a blob, just blackness.”

“Oh, right, sorry about that. I should have brought a torch so you could see.”

“I told my uncle about you so next time just by the house,” Fae said.

“Right. Sure. I just didn’t want to scare him, people tend to react… negatively around me, as you know.”

Fae groggily chuckled, “yeah.” She paused for a moment, her mind in a stupor. “I’m going back to bed. You can sleep in the living room.” Fae turned around and started to slowly walk back. “Uh, I’m a little lost. I need some help.” Isabelle rushed up to her and grabbed her tiny human arm.

“This way,” she said as she led Fae back home through the dark forest.

Dawn broke and the light caused Fae to rustle on the straw mattress she laid on as she slowly awakened. She felt her hand touch something warm and opened her eyes — it was Isabelle. Fae turned her head and looked around the room to see that she was still in the living room, where she was taking Isabelle to get some rest.

I must have fallen asleep in here last night, she thought, slightly embarrassed. Fae slowly got up, being careful not to wake up the sleeping Isabelle, and gently walked back to her room to check on her pets.She ran into her uncle in the hallway on the way there.

“Good morning. I saw your friend in there, I’m guessing that’s the one you were talking about before?” her uncle asked. Fae’s face flushed red from embarrassment.

“Uh, yeah. That’s her. Her name’s Isabelle,” she told her uncle.

“Right. Isabelle.” Her uncle walked off.

Half an hour later, Isabelle woke up and saw that Fae was missing. She looked around the room but couldn’t spot her. Instead, she saw a man. As they locked eyes, he spoke.

“Good morning. You’re Isabelle, right?” the man asked.

“Yes.. I’m Isabelle. Are you Fae’s uncle?” Isabelle asked. It took him a moment to reply as he deciphered Isabelle’s strange speech.

“Yes, I am. My name’s Bara,” he replied. “I’ve heard a little about you from her. I’ve gotta say, I didn’t know if I believed it but seeing you in person puts my doubts to rest.” Isabelle smiled.

“My impression tends to have an impact on people,” she said.

“I want to thank you for keeping my daughter safe when she went off to fight. You have my gratitude,” he said with as much gratitude in his voice as he could reasonably muster.

“You don’t have to thank me, I was only trying to ensure everyone was kept safe.” Isabelle was beaming with a radiant smile. “How could I get to Fae’s room?”

“Just down the hall and it’ll be the closed door,” Bara said.

“Thank you!” Isabelle said as she stood up and followed his simple instructions.

Fae heard a knock on her door and assumed Isabelle had woken up.

“Come in,” she replied. The door creaked open and in walked Isabelle, ducking to get under the door frame.

“Hey, good morning,” Isabelle said.

“Good morning. You’re up early,” Fae said.

“Yeah, I know. I’m not very tired,” Isabelle said. “I met your uncle. He’s a cool guy.”

“He is,” Fae said with a smile. Isabelle began poking around the room, inspecting the various creatures in jars and things. “You’ve got quite a collection here.”

“I’ve been collecting ever since I was a kid!” Fae proudly said. “I have a lot of different creatures. Once I feed them, I’ll be ready to go. I just have to tell my uncle and pack some things.” Fae cared for her creatures and went to tell her uncle—who was outside in the shed—after she was finished.

“Uncle, I’m going to go visit Isabelle’s. Is that okay?” Fae asked.

“That’s fine. Just be safe and make sure to take enough with you. How long do you think you’ll be gone?” he said.

“Probably a few days.”

“Alright, have fun Fae!”

“Thanks, uncle! I will,” Fae said as she turned and left to get her things packed. After she packed her things in her hefty pack and hoisted it on her back, she left with Isabelle.