Without deceit, I cannot say the procedure was worth the pain, at least not entirely.
It continued for what felt like hours.
I felt slimy tendrils crawling along my bones, anchoring themselves, driving in through the marrow. That part burned. But when they began following my nerves up along my shoulder, under my clavicle, weaving around and around, before crawling up my neck? That part. Was. Horrific. Beyond the fear of losing myself, of losing my sapience, that Emboru had lied to me and that I would soon join the ranks of the infested. Beyond the pain. It brought back memories of powerlessness and torture that I would rather forget. My tongue felt fat, and I could have sworn I tasted bitter plastic.
When the tendril reached the base of my skull, whiteness overcame my vision. My hearing degenerated into a buzzing mass of insects. Phantom sensations swept across me, and I found my emotional stability deteriorating.
I cried and wept and thrashed, until I was completely restrained.
And then it was over. Not that I knew it at the time. I next awoke some time later in Emboru’s study, with Emboru studying several texts at once, using the eyes of her thralls.
When I awoke, I was laid atop a fibrous cot. My head throbbed, and my shoulder felt sore. The phantom pains from my missing arm had grown worse, or so I thought, before I remembered the arm.
With weak limbs, I checked my neck first.
The collar had been removed. I was unsealed.
“Illusion…” I muttered, letting a light form above me. I made it too bright, and near blinded myself. Decreasing the intensity of it, I managed to lift my head. My left arm. I tried flexing it. It twitched. I felt the tug along my arm. I tried lifting it. I really did. But other than a twitch, a pathetic one at that, there was no reaction.
Why did the arm not respond?
I thought back to my agreement with Emboru. I had never specified the quality of the arm I would receive, but I had not thought it was necessary. If I had been given a lame arm, for all that pain, I would be livid.
Trying to sit up, I found myself struggling to do so.
It was then I noticed the grime upon my skin. The feeling of sleeplessness, of old sweat. Had I been feverish, I wonder.
I glance up to Emboru. I can feel her attention upon me, even though she lacks eyes. “It does not appear to be working,” I said, hoping to keep the bitterness from my voice. Of course, I failed. Because while my voice sounded neutral enough, I could not control the subtler tells from my body. Such as scent.
If it was due to my collar becoming unsealed or not, I am unsure. However, understanding Emboru came easier than before.
Deciding that I had no real choice in protesting Emboru’s request, I laid back down, resting my sore abdominals.
After some time passed, Emboru continued the discussion.
“Not as much as I would like.”
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“Anything relevant to my side of the bargain?” I asked with a wince, as the tendrils from my arm twitched, seemingly all the way down towards my ribs. I tried ignoring the extent of its growth, especially as there was naught I could do for it.
I had an idea who Emboru was referring to. “Princess Marissa, yes. But the Inquisitor? No.”
“And not the princess?”
Conflict? That might be useful to extort, if I needed to manipulate royalty in some way. Although, I would likely be unable to go so far as one already established by the court’s intrigues and manipulations could.
I will, will I?
I supposed that made sense, they would have attempted a more direct solution first.
“How were you detected?” I asked, hoping to learn which security measures I needed to bypass.
After a pause, Emboru confessed,
I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. What methods could be used to sniff out the infested? Then I realized that there were plenty of methods. From the clicking of their limbs, to the sight of the tendrils, to their graceless stumbling. I would have hoped Emboru tried something more stealthy, but I could always find out exactly what they tried later.
“Will your camp be safe here, should I need to retreat?” I asked, thinking about possible bases of operations in worst case scenarios. “The hunters know of your location, afterall.”
Emboru waffled.
I continued thinking on what Emboru had said for a while. My arm, if discovered, was certainly a dead give-away. It left me wondering whyever Emboru had granted me the arm in the first place. Ultimately, it must have been for the control it gave them. What was the equivalent of a phrase could result in the limb claiming my life and turning me into one of the infested.
Thinking on the arm, I once again attempted to move it, flexing my bicep, and whatever the equivalent of the tendrils would have been. This time, the arm twitched a bit more, actually curling.
Notably, there were no sounds to couple with its motion.
“What will be its limits?” I asked, once again.
“Will it make those clicks and pops that the rest of your–the mucary make?”
“What?”
Emboru failed to answer.
The next few days were spent planning, recovering, and limit testing. After a week passed, I was heading southward in the company of several infested humans and vultures, serving as a guard of sorts.
Trackless Tracks I (3/9) (+2)
Area Coverage (2/9) (+1)
Featherlight (7/9) (+1)
Blessings: Rank (1/9)
* Body: 65
* Mind: 75
* Spirit: 49
Talents:
* Athleticism (3/9):
* Climbing I (1/9)
* Featherlight (7/9) (+1)
* Stealth I (5/9)
* Trackless Tracks I (3/9) (+2)
* Area Coverage (2/9) (+1)
* Alchemical Immunity (ineligible for growth)
* Eschiver (3/9)
* Evasion (6/9)
Spells:
* Illusion I (5/9)
* Touch (6/9)
* Closed
* Closed
Gifts:
* Obsession (3/9)
* Closed (0/9)
* Closed (0/9)