IMPERIUM INSECTUM

Some time earlier….

“And that’s the last one…”

I looked towards the nurse who had been helping me clean some leftover dishes.

“Thank you.”

The nurse turned towards me and gave me a small bow before leaving. Honestly, I wish we could talk to each other properly; not having to rely on awkward hand gestures and movements would be nice. Then again, I have no idea what we would even talk about. But it would be nice to hear what they think about everything. I wonder… Do they gossip amongst themselves? If they do what, what would they talk about?

I Left the kitchen and headed upstairs. Where I noticed one of the nurses cleaning an old chest of drawers. It seems when they are not looking after the children, they are cleaning. Good, because lord knows Diva doesn’t clean up after herself. I let out a deep sigh. I shouldn’t be surprised, but she is royalty, I guess. I made my over to the nurse and picked up a nearby rag.

“mind if I give you a hand?”

I went to start work on another set of drawers when, out of nowhere, the nurse put its hand out in front of me.

“It's fine. I can-“

The nurse shook its head as it gracefully took the rag out of my hand.

“no, really I can-“

He shook his head again and got back to work. “*sigh* Message received.” I turned around and continued going upstairs. Man, this sucks. Don’t get me wrong, I like the nurses; they take care of everything and anything, but it is because they are so good It leaves me with nothing else to do here. I miss the days when it was just Diva and I.

I put the incident with the nurse behind me and made my way past Sally’s door. My feet ground to a halt as I looked at her door. I guess I should check on her condition. I walked a few steps back and pushed against her door. “Sally? You awake?” I said as her door gently swung open to reveal a large grey, still intact cacoon.

“Of course not….” I walked over and sat beside it. “How you feeling….In there. Hopefully, everything is nice inside there. I ask because Diva says she’s gonna do it to me one day. Well, she asked, and I said yes.”

I pressed my back against the soft cacoon. It was very warm to the touch.

“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit scared about it, ya know? I know it sounds stupid because I told her it was what I wanted. But now that it's so close to happening. I guess you could say I'm a little bit scared. The idea of changing so much is kinda frightening. Will I still be me when it's done? Diva says I'm overthinking it, but how could I not? Diva herself went through the same thing, but I imagine it was a lot different for her. I don’t know if you know this, but Diva used to be a human, A man From another world! It sounds crazy, I know, but it explained so much. How clueless she was about everything and how the simplest things, like magic, used to amaze her. hahaha I miss those days. Don’t get me wrong, Diva was still the uncaring psychopath she is now, but I did enjoy the times back then.”

I leaned my head back against the cocoon to let the warmth fill me. “What the hell am I doing? Like those times weren't just a couple of weeks ago.” I slowly stood up and left the cocoon alone. “Wake up soon, yeah?” I closed the door behind me and walked back towards the master bedroom. Maybe I should take a nap, which might help clear my mind a little. I entered the room and slipped into a pair of loose-fitting pyjamas before sliding into bed. I hope Divas is okay.

******

“Is that the place?”

We quietly climbed over the compound wall and into the large garden.

“Yep. Our intel tells us the targets inside.” I replied

“Which one are we after?”

“The short one with a mushroom on top of her head.”

“What? You can't be serious.”

I nodded as the other 8 lept over the wall. “We will know when we see her, according to the client. Additionally, The client has clarified that we shouldn’t engage the master of the house.”

“Why? Are they strong?”

“I don’t know or care. Can you stop asking stupid questions and do your job.”

“Alright, alright, calm yer tits, boss.”

He planted his hands on the ground, and a dim blue light washed over all 8 of us before disappearing. I looked at my hands, and they were partly see-through.

“Cloak up. We have 10 minutes before it runs out.”

“good work newbie. Alright, people, let’s hurry. Time is money.”

We all sprinted across the garden and made it into the house in no time. The plan was to cover all possible exits and then close in on the target. One target, all alone in this mansion. This is easy money.

*****

My eyes slowly crept open to see a familiar room. “That was a good nap.” I stretched my arm, causing a satisfying crack. “Seems like diva isn’t here yet.” I sighed as I slipped out of bed and into a pair of PJs. Once settled, I exited the room and into the main upstairs hall towards the large central stairs. As I walked down the hallway, I couldn’t help but feel that something was off. I don’t know how to describe it, but the house suddenly felt…Hostile.

On top of that, it was quiet, Like stupidly quiet. The house is usually quiet most of the time, but never like this. Usually, you would hear some sort of movement, whether it’s the nurses cleaning or Diva playing with her children. No matter what, there would be something, but now nothing, Dead silence. Have all the nurses asleep? I don’t think so. Usually, one of them stays awake to ensure the kids are okay and that one is ready to serve Diva. What going on

“hello!? Diva!? Anyone!?” no response. Something seriously isn’t right here. I made my way into the kitchen. Where everything was completely normal as I had left it… Maybe they have just gone to sleep, and I’m just imagining things?. I held my head as I walked towards the kitchen pantry.

“Maybe a little snack or something will calm my ner-AGHHAA!”

Suddenly, something large and heavy barged into me, sending me flying across the hallway and knocking me onto the floor. I found myself halfway across the kitchen. I snapped my head back to where I was to see a nurse standing there.

“What The? Why did you-“

<Screee> The nurse managed to eke out before suddenly going silent.

“What…Are you okay?”

No response. No nod, no movement, nothing except a green trickle of fluid going down its body.

“No…” I whimpered as the trickle grew into a torrent of green blood splashing onto the white marble floor, and then, with one smooth motion, the nurse suddenly fell over onto the ground, causing its head to roll towards me.

“What the hell is that?!” A voice yelled, coming out of thin air.

“WHAT! Who said that? COME OUT!” I scanned around the kitchen, but I couldn’t see anything or anyone.

“Well, I guess the cat is out of the bag now.”

Suddenly, a man dressed in all black came phased into view. “

“Are you apollinaris?”

Without warning, I summoned a ball of earth and flung it towards the man, but he easily dodged it.

“I'll take that as- HEY GET BACK HERE!”

Nope. I was on my feet and running. Thankfully, that guy wasn’t very bright. I took a right and bolted up the stairs. “STOP RUNNING BITCH. OR ILL MAKE THIS HURT!”

I could hear the man's footsteps on the stairs just as I reached the top. Just who are these people? They are here for me, but why? GahhhAAA, what's going on!

I dashed down the hallway and towards my room if I could. I need to get to my room. There, I will be safe. There, I will be-

“Where do you think you're going?” I Snapped my head around me only to see nothing. What the-

“In front of you.”

I snapped my head around, and there he stood with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Hahaha, good timing. You would have lost your head if you didn't stop running.”

“What do you mean!” I yelled. The man chuckled. “Take a closer look.” Suddenly, something very incredibly thin flashed in front of my eyes.

 “Is that….. wire?”

“Glass silver wire. To be specific,” He said smugly. “I made it myself.”

I gently put my finger on it, causing a slight wave of pain as it easily cut into my flesh.

“Careful…It's sharp,” He said with that stupid, smug voice. Fine! If I can't go forward, then I'll just-

“I wouldn’t try going backwards. If I was you.”

I looked behind me, and there it was, the same thin wire that was blocking my path. I looked around and saw it covered every single inch of the upstairs passageway.

“it's rare that I get to use this much wire,” He said, chuckling to himself.

“Who are you!? What do you want?” I yelled. I need to buy time to escape.

“Who I am is not important. All you need to know is that You have to come with us.”

“Says who?!”

“Someone who doesn’t like you very much.”

Someone who doesn’t like me? Could it be the city of spirits? Did they send these guys after me? Why?! Why can't they just leave me alone!? First they take my mother, now this shit! NO! I REFUSE TO GO BACK. Green mana erupted from my hands.

“If you think I will go back easily. I won't.” I got ready to fire a spell when suddenly, more and more black figures phased into existence.

“You didn’t think I came alone, did I?” He said, chuckling. “not so brave are-“

*SMACK*

A loud, resonating slap went through the room as the man went flying through the room.

“you fucking idiot”, A deeper Rage filled voice rang out. “This was supposed to be a clandestine operation, you fucking retard”

I looked behind me to see if I could escape, only to see 5 other men had phased into existence. Fuck! I need to escape.

“S…..Sorry boss. I was about to grab her when this “thing” Pushed her out of the way!”

“That “thing” You killed was a nurse. And you made a big mistake killing him.”

“Explain.” The deeper voice said.

It was my turn to laugh. “Just wait until my girlfriend gets home. None of you are leaving here alive...”

The boss glared towards the man before letting out a sigh. “all of you. Grab her and go! I don’t want to be here longer than I need to.”

“Shit!” I yelled as  The other figures started advancing fuck, I need to do something. But what coul- AHA, that’s it!

I started shaking my head furiously, like when I had that fight at school. I shook my head more and more, releasing more and more spores into the air. The brown cloud slowly turned green into a thick, blinding cloud.

“What *cough* the? What *cough* going on.” The room filled with the sounds of heavy coughing. Good, they are busy, but now what? I can't just do this forever, and besides, it won't be long until they figure out a way to get past this. Think. Could I fight them? No. There are too many, and besides, I'm not that good a fighter. Magic? That is possibly true, but I don’t know what they are capable of. Running away? Nope, I'm still surrounded by that stupid wire. Dammit, what can I- “WOAHAGHHHHAAAAAAA" I screamed as my feet suddenly left the ground.

“GET YOUR HANDS OFF, MMEEEE!” I screamed as the kidnapper threw me onto their back and started running wrapped there. DAMMIT! I let my guard down and got captured. Fuck! Diva, I’m sorry. I swung my fist on their back, but the person easily shrugged it off like it wasn’t happening. Dammit, why did they have to be so strong!. They quickly bolted across the hallway and slowly lept down the large set of stairs. “Just where are you taking me!” I yelled as The kidnapper bolted down one of the hallways and into the library before quickly ducking into a nearby store cupboard.

Once we were inside, they closed the door, plunging us into pitch-black darkness.

“Are you okay?”

“Put me down! I’ll die before I go back to the city.”

“Apollinaris, relax. It's me.”

I paused. This voice…It can't be. The kidnapper gently put me down onto the ground.

“Sally,” I said with disbelief. “Is that you?”

“Yes”

The darkness hid most of her body, making everything impossible to see Except for her eyes. There were 3 glowing red circles in each of the 2 eyes.

“I'm sorry. I couldn’t tell you… taller.”

“It's fine. A lot felt different after Mother gave me her gift like she always promised too. I’m still--"

“DAMMIT WHERE IS SHE” a familiar voice rang out through the walls.

“We shall discuss my changes later; as for now, we have much bigger issues at hand,” she whispered.

“They killed one of the nurses.”

“I know. And they will pay for it. Anyone who dares hurt my siblings will suffer unimaginably for it…..”

Sally put her ears against the door and listened.

“There is only one.” She said, still whispering. “Stay here.”

“What are you going to do?”

She turned back to me, her eyes cold as ice. “Kill them all.” And with that, she exited the cupboard.