Why have you ignored me? I immediately shot at her.

She laid down on a bed covered in soft fabrics. As had become the norm, her body bore numerous ritual markings and she wore thin yet extravagant garb that denoted importance within the civilized world. She took her time making herself comfortable and my agitation grew.

“Be calm. I will answer your question,” she said. Now that my focus was squarely on her, I could sense the thin weave of mana in her speech. Yet, unlike with the men in the previous chamber, her words did little to soothe my ire; they made it worse.

Are you attempting to command me? I laced my thoughts with the ire seething within me. Her scowl assured that she understood her misstep.

“I do not wish to command you. I—,” she said but I cut her off.

If it is not your intent, cease speaking like a human.

“I will not,” she said glaring at me. My physical form roiled within my flesh puppet. I could not remember ever feeling so much agitation.

Foolishness. Speech is inefficient compared to our method. I felt this should have been obvious but made the point anyway.

“You are right but language has great potential. The words carry intent and can be combined to express complexity. It is like our structures,” she responded.

I considered her argument. The comparison to our astral structures was a stretch though I could understand the implication. Language could become something more than what it was when combined with mana in the right way. Still, humans had nowhere near the skill necessary to pull something like that off.

It is a waste of time, I sent dismissing the idea. She regarded me with hungry eyes.

“I will help the children realize the potential. You should speak as well; you could guide them.”

I see no reason to do that.

Based on her facial expression, she didn’t like that answer. I cared little for her desires, and her behavior over the past few thousand years had illustrated how nonsensical she could be. She was silent for a few seconds as she ran her hands over her pregnant stomach.

“You guided Enlil. You even taught him to generate mana with his soul,” she said, her eyes boring into me; not my flesh puppet but my actual body.

Unrelated. I sent. Your firstborn was an anomaly. I merely wished to test his capability with mana. I have not made contact with him in centuries because I no longer have any interest.

“You would lie to me?”

Her face twisted in anger. In the Astral, her body radiated frustration and a small amount of hostility yet she made no move to act. Regardless of her intent, I distanced myself from her and sent mana into my defensive structures. The motion did not go unnoticed by her. The anger on her face turned to a pained expression and she sighed letting herself fall back onto the pillows behind her.

What is wrong with you? I fidgeted in my flesh puppet. You are mingling too closely with these apes.

“You believe you are the only one who watches?” She said, her voice low and full of accusation. “You condemn my sentiment but you are not so different. I know you are responsible for the rise of that pharaoh who unified the western lands. Enki also tells me the two rivers move in unexplained ways on occasion and always in times of drought to increase crop growth; the same rivers you frequent. I may focus on my children but I am not blind. I have even sensed your mana signature in the far east and more recently, in the west. What could have warranted such a large mana expenditure that I could sense it from so far away? No doubt you were meddling in more human affairs. Do not ask what is wrong with me when you do not even have awareness of yourself!”

Her voice grew louder with every word until she was practically screaming at me. Ignoring her emotional outburst, I reflected on her words. Going over my actions in the last millennia, I found that I had indeed increased my interaction with humans. I had even taken to sharing my observations on human patterns with some like the aforementioned pharaoh. I had also begun tracking my fleshcraft subjects after their initial transformation. Their development and integration, or lack thereof, into their respective civilizations were fascinating. Some had even formed sub-societies to support their collective goals.

Perhaps I do have a continued interest in humans but I did not lie. I asserted. While there had been a deficiency in my self-awareness, the thoughts had not been incorrect. I give to humans for the sake of furthering my understanding and mastery of mana. You merely give and give yet you have gained nothing. You are beginning to stagnate in your progression. What reason could you have to continue with this?

She shook her head but I was certain of my sentiment this time. I made sure to impress my desire for an answer into the imparted thoughts. It was time we sorted this nonsense out.

“Does a mother need a reason to sacrifice for her children?” she asked, both aloud and through the Astral. Her eyes were sad.

My thoughts stopped for a moment. Not because of any emotion but because I honestly had trouble digesting what she said. It made no sense and halted my mind like the psychic wall of stupidity.

I regained my composure with a start causing my flesh puppet to flail its arms due to my mana briefly surging. I extended my astral awareness toward her and probed at her structures. She offered no resistance, almost encouraging me, as I combed over the innumerable structures within her astral form searching for any deficiencies. However, my search turned up nothing serious enough to warrant the complete idiocy she had spouted.

Stolen novel; please report.

Among animals, females often went to great lengths on behalf of their children but there was an obvious reason for that. Eventually, the mothers would die and a biological imperative pushed them to ensure the passage of their genes. I had even played with this instinct a few times and it wasn’t absolute. Some animals had no such imperative toward their offspring and others could be pushed to ignore it with the right stimuli.

However, this made no sense for astral beings like us. We were immortal creatures in the physical realm and I wasn’t sure we could truly be destroyed in the Astral. Consumed, perhaps, but destroyed? Unlikely. Even if forcefully integrated into another astral being, we would continue to exist in some form. I had no concrete proof of this because my companion and I were the only astral beings in our sector of the Astral but my knowledge of structures and mana made me confident in the conclusion. While some could extend their lives with mana, most died like any other human and those with extended lifespans still died from bodily or spiritual destruction, an inevitability in the Physical.

All in all, her sacrifice was for a race of creatures who likely wouldn’t survive a fraction of her lifespan. If she was cultivating the humans to consume them for their mana, I would have understood and even praised her foresight because I had considered doing as much with the advent of sorcery. I had even begun teaching my fleshwarped subjects rudimentary methods of mana generation and cultivation to make them more appealing prey.

I only abandoned that course of action because I didn’t wish to anger my companion by preying on her children and I concluded that I’d be better off generating mana myself rather than shifting focus to build entirely new structures for consumption.

My companion, on the other hand, could have made it work because of her focus on matter consumption: after all, I suspected mana-charged matter converted to pure mana much more efficiently than the alternative. Unfortunately, none of that mattered because her astral communication convinced me that such an action would be antithetical to her being.

“Have you ever wondered about others of our kind?” she asked, breaking the silence. The question had come out of nowhere breaking my chain of thought.

I haven’t. Why? Until that point, I had never even considered the existence of other astral beings. We were the only ones of our kind and it had been that way since time immemorial. As far as I was concerned, we were unique entities.

“I glimpsed others, entities like us, in my dreams,” she said. She looked at me with fear in her eyes. “Some were so vast and ancient; I could not comprehend their depth. They did not see me but as we continue to grow, it will only be a matter of time.”

I understood her concern. Other astral beings presented an unforeseen complication. Once they noticed us, their arrival would be swift and potentially messy if they were hostile. Not to mention, we had no idea how interactions with other astral beings would function. My companion and I communicated with ease due to our astral bodies commingling with one another so frequently during our development. An older, more advanced astral being might have difficulties understanding us and vice-versa.

I paused my consideration of foreign astral beings, realizing that I had glossed over something she had said.

“You said you saw others of our kind in your dreams?” I asked. I had heard of dreams from humans in the past. They saw things in their sleep that ranged from mundane to fantastical. My physical form had never required me to sleep so I had no experience with such things. More importantly, the contents of dreams were, by and large, untrue fabrications of the mind. My skepticism must have been apparent in my astral self because she addressed my concerns on the validity of her claim.

“I know what you may think but we do not dream like humans. It is a matter of our maturation, not our physical forms,” she said. “In a few hundred years, you will see. Our awareness in the Astral is… expanded. I don’t know why but I am certain that what I saw was no figment.”

I pondered the implications of her words for a few minutes, the room settling in silence. My companion waited rubbing her stomach with trembling hands and humming a tune, perhaps to calm herself. The hum soothed my nerves as well. The sound harmonized with my thoughts helping me focus. Admittedly, my weakness for art applied even more so when it came to music.

I decided to investigate this “dream” function of our existence when I had the chance. Using my rate of advancement as a measure, I estimated my maturation in a few hundred years. and compared that to my companion’s progression.

So you’ve been able to dream since the birth of your firstborn? I asked through our connection. She kept her eyes fixed downward and nodded. The pieces of the mysterious behavior clicked together. You are trying to prepare humans for the arrival of other astral beings. That’s why you are diverting so much of your focus and mana to this nonsense.

“It is not nonsense!” she snapped. “They will be defenseless without the ability to wield mana and interact with others like us. I have seen what you do… How you twist and brutalize creatures for your curiosity. Yet, even in your cruelty, you show restraint. You may claim no attachment to them but we both know it is untrue. How will they fare when one of our kind without our sentiment sets their sights on our home? How will my children defend themselves if I do not prepare them?”

Contrary to her last outburst, each word became softer as she spoke until the last was barely a whisper. If it weren’t for the mana infused with her words amplifying my ability to perceive them, I might not have even understood her. Regardless, her outburst left me unfazed.

You were foolish. I said. My thoughts were clear and detailed on this matter; I had had much time to think after all. You would have been better served by continuing your advancement and protecting the humans yourself if this was your goal. As is, you’ve only made things worse for yourself and your ‘children’. Humans will not advance quickly enough to protect themselves and in doing this, you have stunted your growth. If these ‘others’’ do come, you will be weak and the humans will only serve as prey to be consumed.”

“But you will be strong,” she said, her voice still low. “I’ve watched your advancement. Eventually, you would have surpassed me; my focus on preparing the children only hastened the inevitable.”

And what of it? I asked, not hiding my surprise. I had always assumed by her advancement rate that matter to mana conversion was as viable as personal mana generation and cultivation if not more so because of its simplicity. However, her words hinted otherwise. Over the millennia, I had begun to suspect that I could make my method the superior one but I was far from sure. Maybe her method had some kind of weakness?

“You can protect our home. You can protect us all,” she said. Her eyes spoke volumes and for a moment, I was transfixed. Never before had I witnessed such depth in a creature's eyes. There was resolve and something else there, something that foreshadowed a turning point.

I regarded her for several seconds before I came to a decision.

Abandon this endeavor and return your focus to your advancement. I turned around and walked away from her. As I left the room, I sent one final communication. These humans are animals like all the others and like their brethren, they too will fall in time. I will not condone this waste of time and mana nor will I be your barrier when your foolishness leads you to ruin.

With that, I left the building and the negative emotion radiating from me was enough to cause every human in my path to step aside lest they become the target of my ire.