"Losing a few points of karma is no big deal," Shimmering Steel scoffs with a wave of her hand.

This bitch didn't even know about the emperor's spycam. What else have they been keeping from her?

"Nearly 210,000 karma. Not a few points," I point out and she doubles over, gagging. "The emperor has had to intervene on several occasions, and you keep pushing," I hiss, fists clenched and silk sparking. "The triplets can barely maintain hunan form anymore, because it relies on my will, not theirs."

She blinks, turning to the triplets without straightening. Maru glares at me, Adonia looks like they're about to be sick, and Heran, eyes closed, head tipped to the side, chuckles nervously.

"You can't maintain hunan forms?" She asks them directly.

"One of the reasons I'm sick all the time is because they've been using my cultivation and my karma and my will. They work hard and stop getting stronger when I die, don't they?" I ask quietly, realizing that they don't just push, but that they were constantly draining me and pushing when I was too weak to stop them.

-Stop being so dramatic,- Adonia buzz burbles. -You don't die, you go into stasis.- He crosses his arms and looks away defiantly.

-Heehee. The void bug that mutated to cheat death ♪ ,- the emperor cackles and I collect the fountain of energy. -A phoenix moth!-

"Knock it off," I deflate. It feels like bug me is clinging to my back. I'm a heavy bish. "They're never going to take it seriously because they have no idea how much it costs. They just pile up garbage, and, tada! Replacing my cultivation with garbage and wondering why I'm getting worst..."

I go to leave and Maru steps in front of me. I don't know what they intended to say, but when they open their mouth I punch them in it with an imperial phoenix aura powered fist. They pop, splattering like a paint filled balloon, and I keep walking.

-*Persephone, I'll need help,*- I turn to look and she's staring at me in horror. -*I don't know if you already have all the information, but, if you don't, Heran might be able to fill you in.*-

I wrap the stunned death moth in a Wimble bubble, and myself in a wind bubble, and launch myself into the sky, dragging her behind me.

I'm angry and disgusted. I honestly have no idea what Maru was going to say, but Adonia had done so much worse without getting hit. I call Adonia to me, wavering as hunger and exhaustion start tearing at my vision.

When he materializes I slash him diagonally, letting the goop that is him rain down. I'm not going to make it to Modesty's much less be able to go on a shopping trip.

I need food and rest.

I can't even warn Persephone as I drop the bubbles. They flicker and disperse, I can't even collect the energies. We drop next. Or at least I do.

Persephone screams, trying to catch me. I swear, put in a request to auto refresh her permissions, then jump us into storage. I pass out as she screams and the world goes red and gold.

I wake up growling and screaming, clawing my way across a concrete floor. I groan, my head bouncing lightly as I go limp. Hungry. What happened? Well, why was I screaming?

I pull a shrub out of my bank, stomach twinging before I tear into it.

"There!"

Modesty?

I hear shouting and pounding footsteps and I don't bother to raise my head. Anyone who tries anything is getting eaten.

"Sandy!" I grunt and keep eating. "... Are you awake?"

"Unfortunately,". I grumble, my stomach roars in response.

Oh. Right.

I shove the shrub in the front of my robes, my front eye mouth immediately eating while shouting threats. The fuck happened? I pull out another bush and take a bite. It doesn't taste great and I wave it at Modesty.

"Back, please."

"Oh! Right."

I don't fight it as Modesty starts tugging my shirts to the side. I blink, see him shoving the shrub at me, and start eating when it's in range.

"Didn't have enough food during the exam," I mumble and he starts stroking my hair. "That feels nice."

The sound of people shouting variations of "it's dangerous!" reduce in volume and frequency, but don't die out completely. I sigh, too tired to be confused.

"I'll be back," he says gently before I hear him sprint away.

"Where's Seph?" I raise my antenna and wave them around, gathering tons of information, but still no Seph.

I'm still tired, but I'm more hungry after my nap. Wait. How are they in my storage? I feel Golden Toilet walk on my grave, stop, and take a shit.

A dose of adrenaline and I'm on my feet. I spin trying to get a bearing. There's Modesty. Where's everyone else? I feel Shimmering Steel and dismiss her. My mouths bellow, startling me, and I curse as I pull more plants out of the bank.

My mouths curse back and I get into an argument with myself. Which is why I'm screaming threats and insults at myself when Modesty races over with a fabric bundle.

I spin, lunging at him and tearing the thrifty packaging apart to get to the bundles of herbs and food within. I start cramming my mouths, Modesty still pinned beneath me, and he carefully shifts me to the side so I'm no longer straddling him.

"Tch," I see him shake his head out of the corner of my eye. "They were worried that we wouldn't be able to get you to take your medicine."

"Medicine for what?" I ask shoving all the bundles of plant matter and various hunan foods into all of my various mouths.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"You didn't drop a cultivation level, but you've been like a corpse for a year." Modesty tosses a couple of loose items into my front eye mouth. Feeding the fire. "You fell and no one knows what happened to Persephone." He hesitates, stumbling over her name. Is it that unusual?

"You'd attacked Maru and Adonia, then she disappeared, and you became unresponsive," Modesty pauses to accept another bundle from someone who stares at me.

"What happened? I woke up screaming, and this kid is starting at me like he can't believe I exist," I say loudly out the side of my mouth while making full eye contact with the kid in question. Modesty sighs and shoves food into my mouth eye, his hand partially disappearing inside of me. "Oy!"

"Keep eating so you can recover," he admonishes me, and I'm impressed that I don't start eating until his hand is clear. "We need you if we're going to find Persephone."

"Speaking of children..." I wait until he's looking and take a bite of a hot bun with my eyebrows raised, holding the expression as I chew.

"I don't know whether to laugh or be horrified first," he says breathing, holding his breath and going very still.

"I don't know if I ate Persephone, but did you have your kid yet?"

He sighs, shifting to face slightly away. I keep eating, slowing down as the silence drags on before it clicks.

"Is he --," I point to the teen that had brought a bag of food and still hasn't stopped staring at me.

"Absolutely not!" Modesty bellows, making a chopping motion with his hand that sends the child sprinting away. "It's been a year! Be serious!"

I stare blankly at him, taking a bite and chewing slowly.

"I'm 6, sterile with four kids, some weird mutation that doesn't let me die, and shit luck that doesn't let me rest," I swallow and take another bite, chewing it slowly. "How is this not serious?"

I slowly glare at him as he laughs. Head back, eyes squinting, just letting it out at my pain.

"Ass."

"Sorry, sorry," he waves his hand, reduced to snickers and chuckles. He takes a deep breath, half his mouth pulling up in a sad, wry smile. "There are herbs for such things. We found a midwife in time to stop a child from taking root..."

"Ooh," I cram the rest of the food in mouth, clapping lightly and bouncing on my heels as someone races over with another bag. "Why was I screaming?"

Modesty thanks the delivery boy then swings around with a glare. He violently assaults the bag, throwing the edges back before sucking his teeth, his head snapping to the side. I slowly reach forward, grabbing a piece of food in each hand before withdrawing.

"They had your body stored to absorb stray energy and some idiots tried to harvest you. You ate their seals, but were too weak to catch them. I was just asking about you when I heard your screams."

"My corpse was stored in a warehouse so that they could use me like a filter?" I say slowly, my appetite ramping up at the idea of slaughter and the subsequent leftovers. "And someone tried to cut pieces off..."

"Mm," Modesty nods, frowning and glaring lightly. I wonder if he's staring at a memory or going over a check list. "Adonia... The triplets... Heran is the only one that looks vaguely human."

Modesty sighs and I picture a dog-sized tube of goo with a motorized cookie cutter for a mouth in a white spotted pink bikini. I laugh. Picturing a shrieking goop tube with a business suit on makes me laugh harder. When Modesty asks what's so funny I explain through my other mouths, alternating as I chew, still laughing uninterrupted. He looks amused and irritated, making me laugh harder, and then upgrades to exasperated. Sad, mad, exasperated, entertained and annoyed. Bingo!

"You can stop explaining," he sighs, hanging his head. I've got a system so I can share now. On purpose.

"Whose idea was it to use me, while I'm in critical condition, because I can always do more work?" I ask as carefully as I can. Don't want to eat the messenger.

Modesty grimaces, skin on his face tightening, lips pulling back from gums and teeth, body tensing, fists clenching and I figure it's so bad that I really shouldn't trust anyone in Thousand Valleys.

"Imma check something real quick," I say, stuffing the foods I have in my mouth and grabbing armfuls to take with me.

I walk into my void space, collecting a fine mist of sacred phoenix while shoving another bundle of herbs in my face and various other things in my chest and back.

I remember my antenna being super twitchy, well, all of me being super twitchy, but now I'm pretty still as I spin to see what might have changed. That was a warehouse. This is my warehouse.

"And never the two shall meet," I mumble before I spread my senses up, not just out.

Persephone wails, flying down at me from where she'd hidden in the rafters, probably forced up there by the imperial cloud.

"I was out for a year," I say as I squat, trying to see what's still available and what she's willing to eat. "Some of this is medicine. They were using my body as a filter in a warehouse.

"Someone tried to harvest me. Modesty told me and brought foods, but they won't say who did it."

Persephone doesn't say anything. Hasn't said anything. She's stopped wailing, but now she's just clinging to me, shaking and sniffling.

"I--. The emperor was here. What'd he say?" I ask, trying to figure out what in the hells I should do now.

"You stopped moving, and then there was fire everywhere, and he said he had to leave so I'd be safe, but he approved the request for you, but I don't know what that means," she tries to explain, voice hitting uncomfortably high ranges, but she's got some of the information I needed.

"I need to give approval for things to stay in my space without dying or being kicked. I tried to start it, I guess he finished it," I sigh, slumping with eyes closed, holding her tightly. "Thank you..."

"Your void is in stasis unless you're in here," Persephone pauses, taking a deep shuddering breath. "I was only here half an hour. The Emperor kept checking on me --."

"Fucking how?" Where the fuck are his permissions?

-*'Cause I outrank you, beh! When you have your own empire, you get to decide what I do when I'm in it. Until then...*- he chimes in cheerfully.

"Oh, you beautiful bastard, thank you!" I sag in relief, collapsing onto the floor.

-*Thought about setting up auto collect when I talked through you, but your buddies are... They're dicks. You need better friends,*- he says offhandedly and I wonder what he saw. -*Some pretty standard stuff, actually.*-

"Couldn't you request my body or something?" I ask.

If the emperor demanded my body, and could check up through me --. Wait. How in the hells did they try to harvest me? I guess the emperor has other stuff to keep track of, but why'd I wake up?

"Hello?"

They haven't answered my question. Did they change focus or is this one of those "figure it out for yourself" things?

-*The life of a cultivator is full of danger where your safety is never guaranteed,*- the emperor says sagely. -*Now get better, get your shit, and get over here!*-

This guy--.

-*Have lots of adventures on the way, 'kay, bye~ ♪, *- he titters and I know he's gone. Or at least sitting back to enjoy the show. -*Don't suck!*-

"Ah! Food, rewards, then GTFO," I say outloud, cramming my face with things Persephone sets off to the side. "Let's get out of here and find some guards."

Persephone lets out a small sound of disappointment or acknowledgment. Or apprehension. We have to run the gauntlet of entitled family and heartless employers.

"Lemme check the logs real quick..." I mumble, eyes narrowing in a glare. Persephone whimpers and I sigh. "I'm pissed and sickened at the same time. Not a nice feeling..."

When I get to the log book I make sure I'm sitting comfortably, then look back and double check that I ate all the food, Persephone nibbling on a single sprig of something, and then I look around to see if I can see anything out of place in the chaos.

"Stop stalling," Persephone screeches, and I nearly tip out of the chair.

I blush in embarrassment and turn to the thick three ring binder.