Sam examined the Mother with his All-Seeing Gaze; her aura was crystal clear with no hostility nor deception present in her demeanor. Of course, she could’ve been a master at hiding her thoughts, or, perhaps, she didn’t know how to express the way she felt using a blue avian’s body. Sam shifted his attention to his familiars; although they had spent years with him, the passage of time had eroded his memories of them, making his memories of them foggy like characters in a book he had read years ago and was recently reading again.
“Sam,” Vercedei said, but the twin-headed snake’s head didn’t get to say more before Sam interrupted the creature.
“I’m not the same Sam you once knew,” he said. “If there’s anything I’ve learned by living all those lives—even if the Mother may have manipulated my fates in each of them—it was the ability to think for myself. I’ve had a lot of time to ruminate, and I’ve gotten very good at making my own decisions.”
“Then, you should know it’s important to take our feelings into consideration since we’re the ones who’re closest to you in this life,” Vercedei said.
“I’ve learned a lot about toxic relationships as well,” Sam said, staring the snake in the eyes. “I’ve left plenty of them too.”
“So, you’ve become a self-respecting individual,” Vercedei said, the twin-headed snake resting as its blue head spoke. It obediently lay against Sam’s palm and forearm, letting itself be held without a struggle. “In those trillions of lives you’ve experienced, were you ever selfish?”
“I was,” Sam said.
“Did you enjoy experiencing the selfish life?”
“I did,” Sam said.
“Why don’t you enjoy living a selfish life this time around as well?” Vercedei asked. “Think of this as another one of the trillion lives you have to go through. When this one is over, another will start, so it doesn’t matter what happens to Oterra.”
“The lives I’ve experienced are all interconnected,” Sam said. “If anything, that’s what the Mother was trying to show me. The actions I’ve committed in one life, I experienced them in another: the good and the bad. I’d rather not experience my next life as a war-torn refugee struggling to survive the apocalypse.”
“I have a question,” Dirt said, the metallic koala’s voice strained from Sam’s ongoing attempt to throw it off. “Are you tired of living, Sam?”
Sam raised an eyebrow and looked down at the koala. “Is that a threat?”
“No,” Dirt said as it stopped attempting to hug Sam’s leg off. “It’s not a threat, but a genuine question. You’ve experienced trillions of lives, so how much time has passed? Years upon years, decades upon decades, centuries upon centuries, hasn’t time worn you down by now? You’ve experienced everything life has to offer, so what more are you living for?”
“There were a few times I was tired of living,” Sam said as his gaze turned dull. “I lived as people who’d rather be dead than alive, and I did end my own life a few times.” Sam narrowed his eyes at the metallic koala. “However, that doesn’t mean I’m going to give up now and surrender myself to the whims of others. There’s still plenty left in the world for me to experience especially with a body this powerful.” Although he had lived as a blue avian more than a few times, they were lacking compared to him now since he had unlocked more external chakras.
“You can become even stronger with my help,” the Mother said as she hovered in the air and circled around Sam with Paula’s body, maintaining a respectful distance from him. “In all the lives you’ve lived, you’ve only spent your time in this dimension. Wouldn’t you like to see the world from my perspective, one of a higher-dimensional being’s?”
“Honestly,” Sam said, “your offer is really tempting.” Sam’s familiars all turned to look at him. “But it’d be really ungrateful of me to abandon my familiars after everything they’ve done for me.” He locked eyes with the Mother, Paula’s gleaming yellow eyes staring back at him. “Sure, they’re abusive, locking away my freedoms and senses, only helping me to help themselves, but I can’t deny the fact I wouldn’t be where I am today without them.”
“Even though you were only talentless and pitiable because Raindu stole your talent?” the Mother asked. “Doesn’t it upset you to know your familiars pushed you into a hole only to act like your savior when they helped you out?”
Sam shrugged. “Thanks to you, I’ve learned a lot, and amongst the things I’ve learned, it’s forgiveness,” he said and glared at his familiars. “But just because I’ve forgiven them doesn’t mean I plan on maintaining the status quo. If they want to stick around me, then they’ll have to deal with being under my command, not the other way around.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Dirt said.
“Neither do I,” Nwaps said, the tapeworm agreeing with the metallic koala whilst still suspended in the air by Sam’s telekinesis.
“Unfortunately, Sam has other options while we don’t,” Vercedei said. “He’s actually using the Mother as leverage against us, unbelievable.”
“The Mother did say she knew how to deal with us,” Raindu said, “and it looks like her method is working.”
“Like magic,” Birdbrained said and squawked, adjusting its position atop Sam’s head, “the Mother transformed Sam from a doormat into a person.”
Sam visualized a hand appearing beside the eagle above his head. Then, he imagined swatting Birdbrained with it. The eagle let out a squawk as it leaned back in a clumsy attempt to dodge the telekinetic strike, but it wasn’t agile enough—or at all—to avoid the attack, and the eagle’s squawk abruptly ended with a whump as it was struck off Sam’s head like a golf ball on a tee. “I’ve trained a lot of animals during my lives, and I remembered how to make them behave.”
“Through physical abuse?” Birdbrained asked as it spread its wings. The eagle didn’t manage to right itself before striking the ground, bouncing once and tumbling to a halt, ending with its legs pointed straight at the ceiling.
“It’s not like you haven’t hurt me before,” Sam said and shrugged, remember the times he didn’t have a hard hat to protect himself from the eagle’s needlessly sharp claws. “Fair is fair, and if you want me to treat you better, then you have to treat me better as well.”
“It’s good you’re getting a firm handle on your familiars,” the Mother said as she watched Birdbrained climb to its feet and glare up at Sam with an aggrieved expression. “How about this, Sam? You’ve experienced all Oterra has to offer, but if you seek more experiences, why don’t I send you to another plane? That way, you can stay together with your familiars, and I won’t have to worry about preventing them from destroying this area.”
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Sam looked down at his familiars. “Does it have to be Oterra?” he asked.
“It has to be as thriving as Oterra is,” Vercedei said. “We didn’t pick this plane for no reason; it has the perfect environment. It’s going to be difficult to find another place with as many resources as this.”
“I’ve invested a lot in Oterra too,” Birdbrained said. “My minions have spread all throughout the land, and if we go to a new place, I won’t feel as comfortable as I do now.”
“Couldn’t you send your graylings to the new plane?” Sam asked.
“What about our followers?” Vercedei asked. “We worked so hard to get them, and I don’t believe the Mother will let us bring them along. She needs them on Oterra.”
“That’s true,” the Mother said, “but isn’t it simple for your ragtag gang of animals to gain followers? It hasn’t been that long since you descended to my plane, and you’ve already corrupted so many minds. If you don’t leave, I really will have to destroy the surface of Oterra and start anew.”
“Why stop at the surface?” Sam asked. “Aren’t you worried about this fellow’s graylings?” With his telekinesis, Sam lifted Birdbrained off the ground before pointing at the flailing eagle.
“Why would you ask her that?” Birdbrained blinked at Sam. “Don’t tell me you’re seriously considering her offer. She won’t really send you to a place as good as Oterra; we’ll be stranded in the middle of nowhere if you let her transport us. You’re making a terrible decision.”
“I don’t mind,” Sam said and shook his head. “At least, it’ll be a decision that I’m making.”
“You don’t mind, but we do,” Vercedei said. “You might’ve had so much fun living as so many different peoples, creatures, and things, so you don’t care what happens to you next since it’ll simply be a new experience for you, but we lived through the long periods of boredom whilst looking for habitable planes, and it’s not fun. Your decision to go impacts all of us, so you should take our feelings into consideration as well.”
Sam shrugged. “You didn’t seem to care about what I wanted,” he said. “Now, you can feel as I’ve felt.”
“You’re very petty for someone who’s supposedly learned forgiveness,” Dirt said while grumbling. It was still enduring the negative effects Sam was transmitting into it through his thigh. “Why not let bygones be bygones if you’re going to claim you’re a whole new person?”
“Because some people don’t learn until they’ve faced consequences,” Sam said. “If I yield even a little, all of you will take advantage of me. All of you need me more than I need you, and our relationship with each other should reflect that.” A frown appeared on Sam’s face as his All-Seeing Gaze detected every human within the capital heading in his current direction. “Are you sure you want to do this, Nwaps?”
“I don’t,” Nwaps said, “but what other choice have you left me?”
Sam exhaled and narrowed his eyes at Nwaps. Then, the tapeworm let out a squeal as it was compressed and crushed into a small sphere the size of a marble by Sam’s telekinesis.
“You killed Nwaps!” Vercedei shouted as Sam released his telekinesis on the golden tapeworm. It dropped to the ground like a marble, but instead of bouncing, it landed with a splat.
“Part of them,” Sam said. “You know how Nwaps is; as long as it’s alive inside of one host, it won’t die.” Sam looked down at the golden ball. Despite having its body squished into a ball much smaller than its original size, no liquids had been excreted. “What choice did Nwaps leave me? If it’s going to control the people its infected when it had told me it wouldn’t, how can I trust it in the future? Personally, I’d rather not have the ability to control the minds of everyone around me. It’s a distasteful ability, and if everyone I interacted with was just Nwaps in one form or another, how boring would that be?”
“I don’t think you realize what you just did,” Vercedei said.
Sam shrugged. “When wounds fester for too long, it’s obviously going to be much more difficult and painful to cure than if they had been prevented in the first place,” he said. “I know terrible things might happen because of what I just did to Nwaps, but the more I put it off, the harder it’ll get, so why wouldn’t I get rid of Nwaps now?”
“But why get rid of Nwaps in the first place?” Joe asked, the sloth’s question dragging on and on.
Sam answered before Joe could finish speaking. “Nwaps’ ability isn’t one I want nor do I want to be associated with someone who uses an ability like that,” Sam said. He recalled the time he spent as an ant in one of the lives he had experienced. He had been infected by a parasitic fungus, one that took over his mind and body, and it was one of the worst lives he had lived, being able to see, hear, and feel the things the parasite was doing with him but unable to stop it. “You could call it a personal distaste.”
“You’re going to get rid of Nwaps because you don’t like them?” Vercedei asked.
“You better watch out,” Raindu said, eyeing the twin-headed snake, “or Sam is going to get rid of you next.”
“It’s not like Nwaps is dead,” Sam said and rolled his eyes. “They’re coming for me right now with everyone they’ve infected.” Sam turned towards the Mother and flashed a smile at her. “Are you willing to help me remove tapeworms from people who’ve turned into hosts?”
“Although I do think it’s simpler and less messy to erase everyone’s who’s been infected, I’m willing to help,” the Mother said. “Why wouldn’t I? You’re offering to clean up the mess you made on Oterra, and if you’re willing to do that, I’ll offer whatever aid you need.”
“Call the blue avians over,” Sam said. “It’ll be faster if I work with them.” Since he had confirmed the tapeworm could be removed through some simple telekinesis, it’d be helpful to have hundreds of individuals proficient with telekinesis aiding him.
“We’re working with the blue avians now?” Big Fish asked.
“We’re working with the blue avians to boot out one of our own,” Dirt said. The koala slowly released its grip on Sam and made its way down his leg before sitting atop Manga’s back, causing the wooly pig to let out a grunt as its knees buckled. The koala snorted. “Don’t exaggerate. I’m not that heavy.”
Sam thought the koala that had completely immobilized him due to its density was in fact pretty heavy. He lifted his leg, the one the koala had bruised, and shook it out before sending a healing vibration down to his thigh from his Muladhara. His feet left the wooly pig’s back as his body rose into the air, Sam manipulating himself with telekinesis. Sam took in a deep breath and exhaled before crossing his legs in the air as if he were sitting on the ground. It felt good to regain his mobility, and he wondered why he hadn’t done it earlier. He had simply accepted his fate, and it wasn’t until the Mother had blessed—or cursed, depending on one’s perspective—him with living trillions of lives to realize he didn’t have to.
“We helped you,” Dirt said. “We unlocked your chakras, and now that you’ve gained all the benefits you could from us, you’re going to treat us badly?” The koala crossed its arms and stuck out its legs whilst pouting. “We weren’t even asking for much, just some space to occupy on your body.”
“I’ve carried you with me long enough,” Sam said, “and I’m going to negotiate a good deal for you with the Mother, so I think I’ll be repaying you fairly for the help you’ve given me.”
“Ungrateful,” the koala muttered.
Sam stared at the koala. Perhaps Dirt really did think Sam carrying the heavy animal around on his leg wasn’t that big of a deal. “I’ll let you hug my thigh from time to time,” he said. “How about that?”
“You’d better,” Dirt said, the koala’s face easing up.
“I will,” Sam said. “So, work with me in subduing these people under Nwaps’ control.” He turned towards the Mother. “Are the blue avians coming?”
“If you’ll drop your illusion,” the Mother said. “They’re lost right now.”
“Werchbite,” Sam said, turning towards the twin-headed snake, looking at its purple head. “Drop it.”
“Ask nicely,” Werchbite said. “Don’t speak to me like I’m a dog. You can speak to Vercedei like that, not me.”
The snake’s blue head gave Werchbite an annoyed look. “You should speak nicely to me as well,” Vercedei said to Sam. “We’re equals, aren’t we?”
“I’m a little more equal than you,” Sam said, “at least, in this relationship.” He smiled at the snake’s purple head. “Please, release your illusion, Werchbite. Thank you.”
“That’s better,” Werchbite said and lifted their head into the air. A few seconds later, a swarm of blue avians appeared overhead.
“We’re really helping them fight one of their own?” a blue avian asked, their voice entering Sam’s and his familiars’ minds. “Wow, the Mother is awesome!”
“Shush,” another blue avian said. “What if they haven’t realized it yet, and you foil the Mother’s plan? Also, don’t be so happy when Paula gave themself up to become a vessel. You have to be somber.”
“Right, right,” the blue avian said. “Somber. I understand.”
“These were the people chasing us?” Big Fish asked. “No wonder why we never got caught.”