Re: Butterfly (Reincarnated as a Butterfly)

As Adon zipped through the air, the spiders' telepathic voices only seemed to draw further away.

I don't know what's doing this, Samson sent in a frenzied tone. Something has ahold of mama, and it had me for a second, too. I grabbed hold of her as soon as I got close to her in the air, and whatever it was let me go. But not her.

Sammy, if it let you go, you should jump off! Goldie shouted telepathically. Get back to the cliffside so Adon only has to worry about one of us!

Now you're flying together anyway, Adon sent quickly, before an argument could break out. There's no reason to separate. That would cause more problems than it would solve. Whatever has you guys clearly wanted both of you, so it would probably attack Sammy again even if he was separated from you, Goldie.

Then he was simply whizzing after the spiders, pushing mana into his wings to fly more quickly—whatever was doing this must have been able to pull at a much higher speed than Adon could naturally fly.

Is this Telekinesis it's using on them? Adon wondered. His own Telekinesis probably was not powerful enough to pull something at this speed, though he had not fully tested it out yet, only having employed the upgraded version in the last fight back at the cave that had collapsed. Adon couldn't tell whether Telekinesis was being used with his senses.

To him, the spiders just appeared to be flying downward through the air. Only the fact that there was also sideways movement made it obvious that they were not simply falling.

If it's not Telekinesis, the enemy must be invisible or something, Adon thought. Since that was something he could do himself, he had no doubt there were enemies who could do so—though he wasn't certain if that would fool the different kinds of vision he had access to. But I don't even sense a brain anywhere near Samson and Goldie… just them.

There was a complex plan of some sort at work here, but Adon could not make any sense of it from just the pieces he was being presented with. He just knew that something had gone to a lot of trouble to remain hidden from him. He suspected it was the same being that had been responsible for the disappearance of the two knights from the cave earlier.

But if I'm right, it's changed up its methodology a lot. Attacking out in the open instead of in a dark cave is really different. And before, it waited for me to be out of the way. I thought that was because it was worried I would sense it with Telepathy.

He extended his telepathic sense forward, toward the cliff face in front of him, probing to see if there was something lurking just inside the tunnels there. Perhaps the Telekinesis user was still hiding in the darkness, where it seemed most comfortable.

This stretched Adon's telepathic range a bit, so he pushed the circle of telepathic perception forward and allowed his observation of the others behind him to lapse a bit. He would have lost contact with the Princess and her party in another thirty seconds or so anyway, once he was fully outside of range. This way, he could check for the presence of the enemy that he and the spiders were probably about to face. If Adon knew the monster's position, it would help him begin to develop a plan of attack.

Unfortunately, he didn't sense anything new in the tunnels, but Adon's attention did hit on something on the outside of the cliff that he had not noticed before. Now he recognized what the spiders were being pulled towards. The potential enemies registered in his Telepathy, though he knew he could not make direct contact with their minds. Two dozen Gold-Digging Ants milled about, walking up and down the cliffside. Samson and Goldie appeared to be on a direct collision course.

Adon inched closer to the spiders, his mana-fueled wings beginning to close the distance as they shot toward the opposite wall of the canyon they had been pulled into. He could tell he would not make it to the spiders before they crashed into the ants, which were now just thirty feet away from the spiders, while Adon was twenty feet away from them. Perhaps if Adon had transformed into a heavier winged creature, like an eagle or an owl. But there were limits to how quickly Adon's lighter and smaller body could hurtle downward, and the force that had the spiders was simply faster.

Goldie, you see what you're moving toward? he sent.

Yes, Adon, and I have a plan for them, she replied.

Will it draw more ants? he asked.

I do not think so, she sent, but you can get us back to the group before that happens anyway, right?

She was unmistakably nervous. Goldie knew how much damage an army of ants could do from firsthand observations back in the garden. These gold-plated ants were probably an order of magnitude more dangerous, along with being orders of magnitude larger, than the ants they knew already. Especially if a larger segment of the force got mobilized than they had yet confronted.

Try not to do anything too crazy, Adon replied. I don't want us to be forced to flee too quickly. The one who's pulling you might be over here by these ants. If they don't attack you on their own, it would be better if we don't fight them.

You're going to try and find the monster with Telepathy, then, bro? Samson asked, immediately picking up on Adon's train of thought.

You've got it, Adon replied. He didn't mention that he was already doing that, and it wasn't working. Let Samson and Goldie focus on immediate survival. He would figure out how to find the enemy.

He continued flapping hard, trying to catch up to the spiders, but as he had suspected before, he was too late to get there before they struck the cliff. The force pulling them slammed them against the stone face beside the ants.

To Adon's surprise, though, it did not stop there. Instead, the spiders began to be pulled downward along the cliff.

The ants weren't the plan after all?

He had time for a moment of confusion before he noticed that the dragging motion was slowing down.

The spiders skidded to a halt among some large rocks embedded in the cliffside, still in the midst of the ants after all.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Then the monsters were upon them, and Adon's view of his friends was blocked by a pile-up of golden insect bodies.

Goldie, Samson, are you guys all right in there? Adon sent, beginning to be afraid. He was almost to their position, but a part of him was worried that it might already be too late.

We are fine, Goldie replied immediately. The space between the rocks where we have fallen is too small for—ahhh!

Adon, help! Samson transmitted. We need you now! The ants are trying to crush her between the rocks. I don't know how long she can hold out…

And Adon could hear it now, as he had drawn very close to the ant dogpile that obstructed his friends from view. He was only a few feet away, but there was a problem.

The ants are basically anti-magic, he thought. How do I…?

Then he knew the solution. Just as he heard the sound of a cracking exoskeleton coming from underneath the ants, Adon activated Telekinesis and started yanking.

The great thing about these ants was that, as Adon had seen earlier, they did not have the strongest grip on solid surfaces. It was weaker than for their smaller counterparts.

With a series of small yanks, he started simply pulling them off the cliff face one at a time and letting them drop to the ground below. He already knew the fall was fatal from this height, and more importantly, he was worried about Goldie. There were so many ants pressing in from all around her.

More sounds of cracking exoskeleton could be heard. Goldie remained stoically—or terrifyingly—silent, but Samson cried out.

Adon, where the fuck are you?!

The butterfly was pulling the ants off of their positions on the cliff briskly, one at a time, but it didn't seem to be happening fast enough.

I'm pulling them off, he found space to transmit. Try to stall the rocks crushing her!

We're already reinforcing with mana, Samson shot back, but the ants are a lot bigger than mama, and there are too many of them. I can see her body's already cracked in a bunch of places, and—

Stay calm, Sammy, Goldie interjected. Adon has this under control. I can feel the weight getting a little lighter.

Adon thought Goldie was being a bit overly optimistic or maybe even lying. The pressure on the rocks that the ants were pressing in all around her could not be lightening up too much; Adon had only plucked away a handful of ants, and he still could not even see Goldie and Samson underneath the layers of metallic and chitinous flesh.

The butterfly managed to pluck off two ants at a time, and a floodgate seemed to open as he fully utilized the power of his upgraded Telekinesis for the first time. Three at a time, four at a time—and suddenly, he could see a flash of the hourglass on Goldie's back.

Yes! he thought for a moment, before she was covered up by ants again.

Adon ripped away the ants that had just moved to obstruct Goldie's view, and then, seeing it would take longer to get rid of the rest of them, he made a snap decision.

He grabbed hold of Goldie's body with Telekinesis—Samson was right on top of it—and pulled hard. There was a horrible scraping sound, as the exoskeleton broke and tore on the rocks that squeezed it from all sides. Adon was unpleasantly aware that he was increasing Goldie's injuries, but he had no other option.

Finally, she popped free, and Adon was able to focus Telekinesis entirely on her and Samson to place them gently onto his back.

When she had landed in her place, Adon felt something sticky and gooey on his exoskeleton.

You're hurt, he sent.

I am safe now, Goldie replied. Thank you, Adon.

It looks bad to me, mama, Samson sent, his voice more boyish than Adon ever remembered hearing it in this lifetime.

Looks worse than it is, Goldie transmitted somewhat breathlessly. Nothing that shedding a layer of skin and getting a little rest will not cure.

Maybe, Samson replied, his tone a little closer to normal.

Well, I'm taking us back, Adon replied. We'll make sure you're well taken care of the next few days. Lots of us have healing magic here, after all.

Normally, Goldie probably would have denied needing it, but she remained quiet in response to Adon's words, conserving her mental energy. That silence seemed to Adon to speak volumes, and he jetted back to the party as quickly as he could to hopefully get Goldie the healing she seemed to need—or at least the healing that would absolutely help her recover more quickly.

There was no violence in between the spiders landing on his back and him flying back to the rest to the knights. Thankfully, the Gold-Digging Ants had no ranged attacks.

Adon, Goldie, and Samson enjoyed a minute of simple peace.

As the butterfly drew closer to the group again, he reconfigured his telepathic circle again into the shape of an actual circle around his body. He had tried to locate the enemy who had pulled Goldie and Samson in, and Telepathy had apparently been inadequate to the task. Maybe it was more likely that the enemy had managed to pull the spiders in from a distance greater than Adon's telepathic range.

Either way, Adon was not in a good position to attempt to continue the search now. He was simply grateful that Goldie and Samson had survived this attempt on their lives.

It was when Adon got within telepathic range of the remainder of the party that he recognized something was very wrong. The mood drifting up from the group was tense, and unless he was very much mistaken, two consciousnesses were suddenly missing from the party.

Damn it, Samson and Goldie being taken was just meant as a distraction for me?! Adon thought. Or what else happened? I don't understand…

He and the spiders landed at the cliff's edge. Adon was geared up to start asking questions—or even simply plucking answers from people's minds. But he was not prepared for what happened next.

"There he is!" shouted one of the Dessian knights. "There is the traitor! He has reappeared by the cliff!"

"Grab him, and we will put him to the question," said William in an icy voice, his brow furrowed and jaw clenched in an expression of cold fury. "Above all, we have to know why, and what else he was planning."

"With pleasure," growled another Dessian knight. The body of warriors began to move toward the cliff's edge, their body language transparently threatening.

"S-stop!" Rosslyn exclaimed, putting her hands up and placing her body between the other members of her party and the arthropods. "We need to talk about this first!"

Adon looked into her mind. He could sense that her mental state had been shaken, and considering the way the emotional temperature all around them was now rapidly rising, he needed to know why.

With Telepathy, the problem became clear in an instant.

Rosslyn had just seen Adon zip over and shove two of the party's knights into one of the many pits that lined the ground—likely sending them tumbling to their deaths, whether by the fall or by the monsters that lived below ground.