NOVEL NEXT 56. Book 1 Epilogue: Drinking Buddy
The day after receiving the wasps, I finally accepted something. I was powerless. And even worse, I was overthinking under the mistaken assumption that I was not. If, and that was an 'if' and not a 'since', Ayn was trying to get me killed then I couldn't do anything against her at the moment without having an enforcer get rid of me in a way that didn't involve killing me. Or maybe even that with the enforcer taking the wrath of the gods themself. And if she was not and Medea was mistaken, or worse, unintentionally sabotaging me because of the limiter then I was playing right into the limiter's hands.
Decision paralysis was something I suffered from when it came to long term problems like this but this time I couldn't even think of a vague plan different from what I was already doing, that is to say, waiting and growing my strength. No matter how I looked at it, I couldn't do anything about it that I already wasn't. I mean, I should still be wary around the High Councillor and try not to let her know that I was suspicious of her but that went without saying.
So instead of worrying about all that, I focused on what I could do and if I was safe in the now. I would probably be allowed to go home in just a few more days now that I wasn't regressing anything more than inner musculature. Something that even I could fix now that the dysmorphia was… well, it was not gone but it was something I didn't even notice most of the time. I couldn't walk without stumbling or worse, trying to put weight on my joints the wrong way around and spraining them every so often but other than those, I was just waiting for Mitria so that they could check my body one last time and give me the all clear.
Until then, I had nothing to do but explore and discover all the idiosyncrasies of the newest additions to my swarm. For that reason, I had Medea hunt for whatever test subjects it could find within the borders of the city. Unfortunately that meant things like feral stinking dogs.
The small mammal spasmed and went still. Paralyzed by the wasp, it could only suffer as the wasp dug a tiny hole around the wound it had already inflicted. It wouldn't be long but I didn't have to prolong the suffering. I gently cut off the flow of oxygen to the creature's brain until it fainted. I wasn't pointlessly cruel.
The wasp wiggled and burrowed into the creature to deposit an egg before perishing. I sensed rather than watched as the now dead wasp was consumed by a larva that had hatched almost immediately. Absorbing it into my swarm, I took over its senses but otherwise let it follow its natural life cycle. The larva moved like a parasitic worm, guided by the flow of blood and more until it eventually found a nerve ending and followed it all the way up to the base of the dog's brain. There, it did something that was just a blur to my biomantic senses and the next clear thing I could make out resembled the inner structure of the flesh container the wasps came in.
The wasp with its brain case blown open had a hard arboreal network that looked like an alien nervous system growing out of it that altered the cells around it to create those weird birthing pods. The dog looked normal from the outside but I knew that its mind was entirely gone, subsumed by the wasp. Tiny holes formed along its hide and from the now porous canine, could emerge, when wanted, larger wasps under the queen's control, and by extension, mine.
Using mana, I accelerated the process until I could create a wasp pregnant with another queen. Finally, I used that queen to infest a spider scorpion. Multiple skills were telling me it would fail but I had to see how exactly it would fail. Everything happened like it had with the dog until the formation of the secondary nervous system. Then it went wrong. The pods never formed: instead flesh heated up and bloated as tumors grew with wild abandon. And finally, the liquids inside bubbled and boiled and the spider-scorpion exploded, drenching me in stuff.
Needless to say, I didn't try that again.
Selene tugged at my senses and I switched over to see Fahria finally doing something else after so long. For a moment, she shone bright, like fire remembering that its destiny is to burn, before the sparks subsided and some kind of soot-like sediment was left swirling in the air. The soot swirled around her, never touching and yet never straying too far as it almost reluctantly drifted to the floor as Fahria opened her eyes languidly. She locked eyes with the moth's gleaming orbs, but I knew she was looking straight through.
"Did you really keep Selene around to keep watch for weeks?" I nodded by bobbing the moth-raven-thing's head and she stared, a complicated expression on her face. An awkward heartbeat later, she spoke.
"Seriously?"
Crap. I hadn't realized how weird it must be. I commandeered Selene to the soot on the ground spelled out a message.
"I've been keeping an eye on everyone."
"Right. Of course, you have been." She pushed herself upright with a faint groan, sweat and ash clinging to her like armor worn too long. Wow, way to be a weirdo! No wonder I hadn't had any humans swearing their eternal loyalty to me yet. No wait, Fahria knew I was keeping tabs on everyone. She was messing with me. I fluttered in annoyance until she grinned. Note to self: have more mouthpiece units.
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"Relax. Now shoo, let me clean up. I reek."
She pointedly lingered for a second longer than she had to and I flew out of the window. The rest of the swarm now long gone from the place.
It was a hot sticky afternoon and I was back in my shitty apartment for one last time to pack up whatever stuff I had left. I had to pay the landlord extra to have entry but I had enough money so whatever. Honestly, I couldn't even blame him considering how bad things were. The Five Jackals gang was gone, framed for the debacle with Kalist and killed almost down to the last human and there was an actual gang war outside but I had made it in without getting caught in the crossfire. According to Tiamim, the conflict that the missing Red Powder was promising was finally upon us and I was painfully aware that maybe, just maybe, the council selling the Powder itself was staving off worse turmoil. In any case, Kalist had ruined that and now there was drying blood on the pavement.
Slime culling was once again cancelled and if I hadn't still been off duty, I would probably be working to contain or eliminate the most destructive classers. A distant explosion made the room shake. I was not on a timer here but staying any longer than necessary was stupid. I still had the cheap articles of clothing that I had bought so long ago, the odd aetherite crystal that had been left behind, the box where I kept Medea's spawn, soaps and things, and even more knick-knacks that had survived Medea's pilfering missions.
About ten minutes later, I was regretting coming in the middle of the day. The heat was actually uncomfortable to the point that I was using the beating of Medea's wings to keep myself cool.
Then came knocking on the door. I opened it, expecting the landlord to demand that I hurry up. Instead, a familiar face greeted me.
"Good afternoon, Miss Any— gah, screw this. Can I come in?" A very disheveled and drunk Fim asked, clutching a bottle in one hand. Great, potentially unstable intoxicated guy in a miniature warzone. Exactly what I needed. At least Medea was around.
"I see you survived."
He snorted.
"As if council bullshit can end me. Vinny used to call us cockroaches, you know? Both her and I. Anyways, do you want a drink?" He held out the bottle. I shook my head.
"I'd rather not. I have things to do. Why are you here, anyways?"
"Suit yourself. A little bird told me that you were back and I wanted to see if you were still that hideous thing. Not sure if you remember but you saved me back then, that night." I didn't but I nodded nonetheless.
"Thanks? Look, I appreciate it but I'm not here to stay. I'm just packing my things up to leave."
"Perfect! I'm leaving too. Can I help you pack? We can talk while doing it."
"Sure. Just don't steal my shit."
"Hah, I'm a crook and a filthy criminal but even I have standards. Low standards but single crystals coated in spider-scorpion gunk is below even that. And if you had anything better to steal, it wouldn't in this hovel."
We worked as the sun crept across the sky and the heat steadily rose. It was mostly about Vinny. Stories about how Fim and Vinny were part of a gang of orphans as children and their escapades. I didn't care that much but Vinny was dead because of me, even if Fim didn't know and the least I could do was pay attention to the life of the woman that I had helped murder. Apparently Vinny was downright vicious if someone threatened anyone she cared about. Eventually we were done and I was ready to forever say goodbye to the place that had been my home for the last several months. But before that, I had one last thing to do.
"Look, Fim. I appreciate you checking up on me and helping me but why are you really here? You didn't need to stay around if it was only what you said." I asked finally once it became apparent that Fim wasn't going to volunteer the information willingly. If anything, he looked lost.
"Fine." He sighed and then continued. "I'm the last Jackal left. I don't care about that. Good riddance. I also don't have anything else to lose and the guild wants me dead to tie everything up. We all know the story about Kalist and the gang is bullshit. I could jump into the Nyrum and no one would care. I even considered it but here I am."
"I don't think I'm really the best person to talk to about this stuff. I'm not that clos—" He interrupted me.
"But I'm also the last person who remembers Vinny, as the woman she was. And she liked you, maybe not much but she actually did things from behind the scenes to make your stay as comfortable as possible. And I figured tha—" He trailed off, a strange inscrutable look in his eyes.
"That you would share the memory with someone else who still had a connection?"
"Yes! That. Fuck, I'm sorry if that's too heavy or something but frankly, deal with it. People die. I'd rather someone remember her who is not being hunted by the guilders for bullshit."
"I get it. So what will you do now? Speaking as someone you shared so much with."
"About that," He sighed again. Looking more tired than ever before. "Well, it is chaos out there and that means that there are opportunities. I might die but I have nothing to lose but everything to gain. I don't know what I can really do when not held back by anything but I want to see. I know you work for the guild so this is me coming to say goodbye." Then Fim's demeanour changed, his movements animated by a renewed vigor as his voice slipped into that familiar slimy faux-sauve tone he used before, well, everything. "So, I bid you farewell, Miss Anya. We might meet again if we don't die on the way. And when we do, it will be on the opposite sides. We might even fight, for real. So, try to make sure you are capable of throwing at least one good attack when the time comes. Have a wonderful day."
And Fim walked out.
Strangely enough, that night I automatically mastered my class with no further effort on my part. That meant I could finally start over with Mitria's list of manaless surgery and medicine classes.