Nyx

Nyx felt the pull on her spirit, that signaled she was being called. She remembered immediately that her master had said he wished to talk with her. Hoping he wasn’t displeased; she opened her eyes to find herself in his void space. Realizing there was no danger here, she swapped her arms and armor for her tree climber soft hides.

There wasn’t much to see in this place, so spotting lord Benjamin seated in his meditation chair was easy. Stepping forward, she bowed her head. Glancing around as inconspicuously as she could; and discovering that Ice wasn’t in attendance, a small thrill went through her at the realization she was alone with lord Benjamin.

“Master,” she said as she reached the lowest point of her bow.

“Raise your head, Nyx.” Her master said, still seated. “You don’t need to show me such deference all the time, alright?”

She stood straight again, catching the slight movement in his wolves’ eyes as they tracked back to her face. There was a part of her mind that drew back in terror. His eyes were those of a predator. Simultaneously, a blush wanted to creep up her face at his gaze. She knew neither thought belonged to her, but was incapable of distinguishing their sources.

“Take a seat.” lord Benjamin said, waving his hand and materializing a chair on the other side of the table. She recognized the dual essence he had used, and how easy the creation had come to him. Even for her old master, that wouldn’t have been such a simple task.

“As you say master,” she replied. Settling into the chair, spine straight.

He sighed then, and she noticed the weariness that had crept over his face. he had been holding the exhaustion at bay, but as she seated herself, he relaxed. Had the battle been so taxing on him, was it her fault? Questions she would have never thought of were creeping into her head, at the same time her analytical mind replayed the battle, knowing that she couldn’t have done any better.

“Listen, Nyx.” He said after a long pause, “I’ll be honest with you here. I added too many memories when I remade you. I hoped to correct what I’ve done, but really don’t know how. So, I’m going to try, and see what happens. I need you to help direct me. Can you do that?”

He sat quietly after asking the question, waiting for her to think it through. She would have answered right away, except she felt he didn’t want an immediate response. she would do what he asked, of course. There was no question of her doing otherwise, but for his sake she pretended to think about it before nodding her head.

“Of course, master, how shall I direct you?” she said after an appropriate pause.

“I was hoping you would think about it longer than three seconds, Nyx.” He said with another sigh. “But, alright. I’m going to bring up a diagram of your pattern, and stimulate what I believe to be memories. I want you to explain to me what you feel as I do, we will adjust them until you can maintain your calm. Understand?”

No, she didn’t. that wasn’t the correct answer however, so she nodded her head and smiled at him. The twitch in the corner of his eye let her know she might have replied too quickly again, but he only nodded and drew more dual essence to himself. She knew he was pulling from his core; she couldn’t see it but she’d had a core once, and knew the signs.

When the twisted strands of power entered her form, she felt as if the entirety of herself was being dragged out and examined. Following the direction of his intent gaze upwards, she saw an intensely complicated pattern in a large dome around them. the pattern was glowing softly with intermingled starlight and darkness, and was extending from her body. It was like the shadow created when she put her hand between the light and a wall, only three dimensional.

“Alright Nyx, I can mostly see what I’m looking for. I will be using this as a learning exercise as well, so please, answer me truthfully.” He said, looking back down and into her eyes. She didn’t know what he saw in them, but he seemed satisfied because he continued. “Let’s begin.”

The strands of power that entered her body, and projected her being on the dome stayed in place. Lord Benjamin created new twisted strands of energy in addition to those, and moved them to the dome above. It was an impressive feat, the way he manipulated so much essence simultaneously. She wanted to complement him on his control, she opened her mouth to do just that, when his essence threads contacted a small cluster of interwoven lines.

Her already opened mouth let out a snarl of rage instead of the complement she had planned. It was all she could do to remain in her seat, she wanted to charge the small thing before her. How dare it dig into its sides with its puny claws? She would stomp it to death, and crunch its corpse. The feeling suddenly cut off, as the strands were drawn away from the cluster. Nyx found herself on her feet and reaching across the table, not having remembered moving.

“Master,” she said in horror. “Please, forgive me. I… I don’t…”

“Don’t apologize Nyx, this is an experiment. We are learning as we go, now please sit down and explain to me how you felt.” He said, waving her apology away and her into her seat with the gesture.

“Of course, lord Benjamin.” She said retaking her seat. “I felt anger, rage. I was upset that you would dare…forgive this master but…that you would dare dig your puny claws into me. I wanted to crush you beneath my feet.” She answered honestly, knowing that lying wouldn’t help him learn whatever it was he wanted to know.

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“Interesting, that was the influence of the dire boar. I battled and defeated him a while ago now. I think, that isn’t required emotional input. I’ll just…”

She watched in fascination as he slowly cut away at the complicated pattern. A part of her understood that he was effectively operating on her brain, but she was his creature to do with as he willed. So, it didn’t matter if he cut bits of her away. A small part of her mind rebelled at that notion, she was no one’s creature.

“Alright, now lets just try that again, shall we?” Extending the thread back into the cluster he flooded it with essence once again.

Nyx felt a slight influx of anger, but it wasn’t a problem. She was able to maintain her calm, and told him so. Next, he moved onto another section of her pattern. When he flooded his essence into this section of interconnected knots, she felt the desire to climb trees and search for nuts. To prepare, because winter was coming and the king, in his massive tree wouldn’t protect him if he couldn’t provide his share of food.

“Really?” Lord Benjamin said when she explained that to him. “That was from a squirrel, or tree climber. So, the big one was their king huh. I hadn’t realized before, makes sense though I suppose…” he trailed off, cutting that part of the pattern away as unneeded. Who was he to decide what was needed inside her mind?

She frowned, where had that come from? A cold, emotionless feeling had welled up in her as she experienced the thought, but it was gone now so she shook it off.

“How about this one?” he asked, prodding another cluster.

The need to protect the workers filled its mind. They were smaller and weaker than itself, and the queen had tasked it with their protection. It was to die if that meant the colony was fed. She explained the feelings to him as best she could, again watching as he cut into the unneeded thoughts. What was the point of this, wasn’t she good enough for him?

The next cluster brought to mind the darting speed and ferocity she had felt when she moved through the kobolds, slicing them into nothingness. They were nothing but food to her, she would remove them from her path and make the hive stronger at the same time.

“I see, that would be the blue king. I think we should hold onto most of that, but you don’t need to be concerned with the hive. Let me just try and... there let’s try that.” He said making an adjustment and reintroducing the essence flow.

“I still felt the speed and ferocity, but the desire to strengthen the hive was gone.” She said in a more neutral tone. It wasn’t right, what he was doing. Cutting away the parts of her that he didn’t need, and only keeping the parts that made her useful to him. She wasn’t his creature, to be tortured on his whim.

She caught the slight flicker in his eyes at her tone, had he noticed she wasn’t playing devoted slave girl anymore. So what, she was answering his questions.

“Alright Nyx, do you need a break or shall we continue?” he asked her, almost like he cared.

“No, I’m fine…master.” She said, almost forgetting to be polite that time. Her emotions were slowly congealing back into the still lake her mind used to reside in. she wasn’t used to bowing to others; she was bowed to where she used to belong, where she truly belonged.

“How about this one then?” he said bringing up another memory cluster, this one also pertained to the hive. However, unlike the blue king it placed her in the defensive role. Staying behind, guarding the eggs.

Once she told him about it, he made a few adjustments. Bringing the defensive instincts up slightly, but lowering the motherly inclinations. She wasn’t upset anymore; she was becoming herself again. when he repeated the stimulation, she acted as close to how she had before as she could manage, it was hard. Trying to remember feelings, from the almost frozen stillness in her mind. If she could fool him however, just one or two more and she might have a chance to break free of his control.

“Alright, Nyx. You are doing wonderfully.” He complemented her, as if she could believe anything he said. Her name wasn’t even Nyx, not that she could remember what it was. “There are just two more, then we can stop.”

Two more, she would act when he activated the last one. He would be focused and she could strike, just one more would free her mind further. When he stimulated the cluster, he felt his loyalty to pack and his mother and alpha. Ice was the elemental daughter of the Erlking’s mount. It was his Honor to die for her.

He didn’t remove much of this one, again leaving the feelings of loyalty. Only removing the actual memories, letting her think clearly with her own mind. She stirred in her chair, anticipation for the kill making her restless. The calm was there, but it had been tampered with too much for her to fully embrace anymore.

As the fool reached his essence threads into the last cluster, she struck. Materializing her obsidian blade and diving over the table. She hadn’t managed to catch him unaware, and he wrapped one arm around her body as he pushed the other into the clustered pattern. Her hand wavered as the stimulation enveloped her body.

He felt his loyalty to the chief, the desire to follow orders and step up when needed. The love of is clan sister and the urge to protect her. He was the chief’s right hand, his enforcer. When someone came for the chief, they had to get through him first. when the chief needed someone dead, he was the goblin for the job.

Nyx ground her teeth together, fighting the feelings of loyalty to this man. He wasn’t her chief; she could overcome this protective compulsion. He still had one hand in the air, manipulating the cluster overhead. Now was her chance, he only held her with one arm. She could end him now, as she raised her blade another thread flew out of his palm and connected with another cluster.

Damn, he had suspected her. Holding one memory cluster back in case she made a move. She tried to resist but was swept away, as warm fingers of heat moved inside her mind. A fluttering started in her stomach; and she remembered his hands around her, and the feeling of clan and kin. The desire to belong, the need to be a part of a family that would always care for her. She wasn’t prepared for these feelings and gasped, as the already churning stillness of her mind roiled. She had squeezed her eyes shut when the feelings overwhelmed her, but now she opened them wide.

What greeted her gaze, were Benjamin’s strange new eyes. Staring at her from only inches away. She was captivated by the blue they had become; the warmth that they had contained once before, when she had been this close.

“I am going to slowly back down the intensity,” he said, startling her with his voice. “I’d like you to tell me when you nearly return to the calm feeling, ok?” he asked.

She blinked several times, trying to understand what he wanted from her. It was made further difficult when she realized that they had fallen to the ground when she leapt over the table. She now straddled him, and he was holding her tightly. Her breath caught at the closeness of their bodies.

“Did you Hear me Nyx?” He asked more urgently.

She could now tell he was struggling to hold the threads. She nodded rapidly, wishing to help him however she could. He released his hold on her and several more essence threads shot up into the already adjusted clusters. Dismissing her sword, Nyx clung to him while her emotions boiled inside her.