IMPERIUM INSECTUM

“And that’s everything that happened in a nutshell.”

“Woah!” Sally exclaimed. “All of that was under the house?”

“Yep, I can't believe just how deep this house goes. It took me nearly 15 minutes of just walking upstairs to get back up here.” I took another sip of the tea that Sally had prepared for me.

“Ahh, I needed this..”

We were relaxing in the dining/kitchen space of the house. And in the kitchen, we could smell  Apollinairis cooking something absolutely amazing.

“Why aren't you helping her?” I asked sally

“I wanted to, but she insisted she wanted to do it herself.”

“I see………Apollinaris, is something wrong?”

She let out a deep sigh. “Nothing much…..”

Oh-oh, I've seen this before; she's mad; what did I do?

“Ehhh, apollinaris, are you sure everything’s all right?”

She slammed her wooden spoon on the counter.

“Sally, can you leave for a few minutes? I wanna talk to diva alone!”

I quickly looked to my left, and she was gone. I'll have to punish her for leaving me to dry.

“Diva……”

I snapped my head back to her. “Y…y..yes?”

“Do you hate me?”

“Wha- no, I don’t-“

“Then why do you keep doing this!”

She turned around, and her eyes were red with tears

“You nearly died AGAIN. What if you did die down there, huh? How would we even know!? Me and Sally have no idea how to even GET DOWN THERE!”

I ducked to the SIDE as a wooden spoon flew past my head. She started crying heavily. I slowly got off the chair and gave her a hug. Her boiling-hot tears went down my armour.

“I’m sorry…I wasn’t thinking….you’re right. If I had died down there…. I was being too selfish.”

“I'm not saying don’t go and fight, but please, can you stop going alone. I am here, Sally is here. I’m not sure about Sally, but I can also fight. We could have helped down there..”

I pulled her in close. Damn, I can't believe I was making her feel like this. How could I….

“I’m sorry. Truly…. I didn’t…”

“It's fine; just don’t do it again.”.

“Okay, I promise.”

She wiped away her tears and then gave me a smooch on the cheeks. I milled as I moved back towards where I was sitting.

She’s right. I can't keep going alone with everything; I need backup and support. Ideally, that would be my children, but that's not possible right now, so that leaves Sally and Apollinaris. Or, realistically, just Sally. As Apollinaris is pregnant. The problem is that she hasn’t really got any combat capabilities. However, that isn't to say she can't get any. And besides, I need to check if my theory is right about the system.

“Apollinaris. Can I have a lot more food? I have something planned.”

She looked at me confused, before nodding and dumping a whole load more into a plate.

She then quickly grabbed both bowls and moved over to me.

“Woah, this looks amazing.”

“Yes, it is!” I snapped my head around to see Sally looking over my shoulder. I frowned at her, causing her to back away.

“S…sorry, mother.”

I sighed. “It's fine; don’t do it again.”

She joined us at the table as Apollinaris brought more food over.

“That reminds me, Sally, do you have the letter?” Apollinaris asked

“Yes!.” She fumbled through her mail. She disappeared again for a few moments before coming back with a gold envelope in her hand.

“It came whilst you were gone, mother.”

Sally gave it to me. It was addressed in my name. If I had to guess, it's either from the ashdowns or Andre. Since Nobody else Should know where I live. I cracked open the letter and read it.

You are cordially invited to an audience with Andre Nikitin and Titus Cosman at the Oldest House At 9:00 pm on Thursday. Transport will be sent to your residence to pick you up at the appropriate time.

Sincerely, Mihaela Murga- chief secretary.

I crushed the letter into a ball. “I hate them.”

“What was it?” Apollinaris asked.

“A letter from those two and the way it's written… it feels like I'm being ordered to attend. I hate it. They said they want to meet me this coming Thursday, so around 8 days from now.”

“Isn't this what you wanted?”

“Yes. But that doesn’t make it any less annoying. I know Andre and I have our own agreement, so I would like to think he is just playing along like he did at the ball.”

“And about Andre” Apollinaris asked. “Are you really going to look for who bombed the ashdowns?”

“If I stumble into anything, I'll let him know. But I won't actively look for evidence. The only reason I agreed to that was that it was an easy term to agree to, and I’m slightly curious who did it. However, if by chance I do find them, I'll make sure they suffer for what they did to you. Now, enough about pointless things, we have 8 days to prepare and get ready. Sally, when you are done, go to your room. There is something I want to do.”

Her face immediately blushed,  “It’s not that. Now hurry up. I want to get started as soon as possible.”

After that, the three of us quickly finished our meal. Sally was the first to finish and headed upstairs, followed by Apollinairis, then me.

“Wow, I can't believe you ate that much. Where do you put it?”

I shrugged as I wiped my mouth. All in all, her meal gave me around 15,000 biomass. Just enough to convert Sally. “That was great,” I said, standing up. Just as I was about to leave, a hand grabbed mine.

“ are you going to...”

I groaned. “Not you as well. It's not going to be like that. It's different.” I turned around and patted her on the head. “Do you want me to stay and help tidy up?” She shook her head. “No, I got this…..Thank you,” I quickly pulled her into a hug before heading upstairs.

Now, before I convert her, what do I want her to be specifically? Do I want her to just be a weapon good for fighting and nothing else? No, it would be a waste of her other skills. Right now, she has put herself into the role of a maid; with that in mind, do I make her more like my nurse’s?......No, that doesn’t feel right. As valuable as nurses are, I don’t need more of them at the moment… maybe a mix of both, jack of all trades. Yeah, I think that would be useful now. But the problem with a jack of all trades is whilst they can do everything, they won't be particularly good at it. Decision, decisions, decisions.

I arrived at the front of her door. I think, for now, making her a jack of all trades will be the best plan going forward. She will be good at a lot of things but not everything. And if she unlocks the system like I think, then she will still become pretty powerful.

I cracked open the door and was immediately hit with the smell of her Pussy. I looked down towards the bed, where she was completely naked except wearing a thin black piece of underwear. And judging by the wetness I could see, lying there wasn’t the only thing she was doing.

“I told you that wasn’t happening,” I said as I closed the door behind us

Her face went red with embarrassment. “Sorry,” she said. I moved to the foot of the bed and looked down at her

“Sally, tell me, do you trust me.”

“Of course, mother. How could I not? You've given me so much.”

I smiled. “good.”

I flicked through the menu to the conversion process

 

I selected yes, and suddenly, heat ignited in my pincers, causing them to shoot out of my body.

“Mother….” She said with fear in her voice.

“ReLahhhhhhx.” I said, taking a few steps to the bed. “You said you trust me, didn’t you?”

I staggered closer to Sally. The heat was incredible. I felt like I was gonna burn up. I looked towards her and felt the world around me go dim everywhere except around her. In an instant, I grabbed Sally’s arm and pulled her up to her feet.

“Mother! What's going on! I don’t-“

“Shhhhhhhhh. This will bring us closer as a family”.

I quickly pulled her into an embrace and let my instincts take over. I felt my pincers spread open as wide as they could.

“Don’t worry, my daughter. You will be reborn anew.”

In a single motion, my pincers swung down and into her body. She screamed in pain, but I smothered it in a kiss. Suddenly, I felt boiling hot fluid gush down my pincers into her body.

She screamed into my mouth again as the burning hot fluid filled her body and burned away the blood in her body. I opened my eyes to see the blood vessels under her skin turn pitch black. Her body stiffened in my embrace as I slowly pulled out my pincers. And laid her mostly naked body on the bed. Her eyes had completely glassed over.

“Are you still there, my daughter.” She didn’t respond. I smiled as I lay down on the bed next to her. My fingers gently went through her hair. “Don’t worry. Mother will be with you all the way.” I placed my forehead against hers, and suddenly my vision went black.

 

I looked around. I was floating in a large, dark, empty void. In front of me was her body floating in a vast emptiness. Well, I say it was her body, but more of a copy of it.

I looked at her head, and suddenly, a system menu popped up showing me all sorts of customisation. From horns to antennae all the way up to different sorts of eyes. Every customisation option had its own pros and cons.

<This is amazing.>

I kept scrolling down the head menu until I saw another menu called brain alterations. Does this mean I can even change how her brain works? I looked into the submenu and was disappointed that it only allowed me to alter her memory. Guess I can't have everything. Let's see what I can change.

 

Now, this is interesting. Sally is loyal to me at the moment, but that is only because her mind is broken like glass. There is always the risk that she may come to her senses and betray me. With these options, I will just be finishing a job I already started. I selected memory manipulation. I would rather not lose the work I've already put in, and besides, she is the only person who knows where the mysterious underground is.

Once I pressed the option, I could hear a squelching sound, which caused me to cringe slightly. I shook away the feeling.

<Come on. Let's get this over with.>

A few moments later…..

<I think it's done.>

I looked over her with pride. She was completely different now after all the changes I made. I looked to the left, where there was a list of all the changes.

 

 

I Looked over her new form with pride as I pressed the confirmation button.

<Hehehe, I can't wait to see it in the flesh>

 

So even that will change…. I'll have to let Apollinaris know first before I convert her.

Suddenly, The inky black void swirled and faded around me until suddenly I was back in Sally's bed, facing a large grey wall. I raised and put my hand against it. It  was warm and soft to the touch

<This isn't…>

I shot out of bed to get a better look.

<Sally?>

In front of me was a large grey cocoon. And by large, I mean large. It was almost as big as the bed! I placed my hand against it. It was warm, stupidly warm. But also, I could feel something else, a connection to it.

I placed my forehead against it, and I could feel a stream of thoughts come through from Sally. She was scared.

<Don’t worry. I'll be here when you wake up>

With those words, the thoughts stopped. I stepped away and out of the room. I have 8 days. I  have to get ready as much as I can.