NOVEL NEXT Chapter 25: Yoink (Part 6)
Year 11, Day 27
Amidst the Trees, Burning like a Star
Lumin couldn't keep their mind focused on the task of turning Light Qi into Fire Qi, the very fact that they were turning and transforming their Qi while at the same it gave them something to focus on, it also made them greatly frustrated and irritated.
They wanted to explode!
They did not see this, but there were cracks going through their scarlet red form that resembled a red dwarf star. Their Qi was lashing out aggressively at everything, like a sun storm, these long tentacles of red Qi slapped away their only visible targets: Ants. And look, it was really easy to kill as many as they could because they didn't want to hurt anyone else, so they focused their single minded rage deeply into the beings they could see and categorize as enemies. Their rational mind was being slowly consumed by the desire to destroy and devour, to kill and keep killing as long as they can keep going. Their hands closed, Qi gathered on their palm and a beam of pure Light-Fire Qi blasted through the air, rippling the air particles as it went, and upon impact on the ground a five feet by five feet sphere of flames exploded out. They kept shooting various beams of light and fire at once, the battlefield being consumed by their destructive attacks as laughter echoed- They were laughing, and they didn't even notice it.
"Lumin." Suddenly, an unnatural calmness overtook their senses, making them freeze and completely stop. Their body refused to move as a tightness overtook their body - These vines of green Qi wrapped around their red vibrant body, they didn't burn off like they thought they would, but their form kept burning and trying to break them free. "Lumin." Once again, that voice called them - where did they even hear that voice again? Their face completely broke, cracks flowing through their form as the red started to blaze brighter. That was until they felt a simple hand touch their cheek: "Are you done, little one?" Their father's hand burned with the heat, a small smile on his also cracked and slightly damaged form: "Good morning, sunshine." Lumin's form slowly started to lose brightness, their mind being suddenly overcome with this drowsiness and the need to sleep and rest: "Or rather, good night."
Root took over his child's body, holding Lumin's unconscious body as he looked down - there were a lot of dead ants! He smiled softly to himself, his children were becoming stronger and stronger each and every day. "Well, resources are resources." With a simple thought of his mind, the roots of the trees broke from the ground as he controlled them. The broken and destroyed ground started to shift, the flames fizzled out as their heat and power was turned into a gentle breeze and into a drop of dew that fell upon the ground, splashing and wetting the trees and growing greenery. It was surprisingly easy to change the world around him to his whims and wishes, everything came really easy to him…
He still feels like this ease is somehow unnaturally granted to him, but he likes it enough not to feel bad about using it, or feel like it's a… Was the term Freudian Bargain? A deal with the devil, let's say. It feels more like a gift, freely given in hopes he'll use it for good. And hey, there's nothing better than keeping yourself and your children alive! "Ah you reckless little one." Root softly held Lumin's body as he kept undoing Lumin's work. His hands trailed the air in a simple movement, his Qi flowed like a river and like a tide it washed over the broken and burnt trees, healing them like they were never even damaged. Their cracked forms just twisted into beautiful and weird looking shapes, some trees forming ramps, others twisting and bending like they were lying down and rising up once again to reach for the heavens with their leaves.
Root just floated towards his main body, his Spirit Qi was burning faster and it was getting harder to keep his spirit form, even more so as Spirit Qi flowed out of the cracks on his Spirit form. 'Also, healing Lumin is going to take a little while…' The damage Lumin took was self-inflicted. Meaning, Lumin's spirit was bending and breaking under the pressure of trying to control and convert a lot of Qi at the same time, making them look like they were about to explode and enter supernova. "Maybe I should-" Root stopped, freezing on his spot. He felt, the moment he started healing the damage, the Fire and Light Qi that was expelled by Lumin's actions took root upon the ground as his own Nature Qi came to try and cure the wound of the forest, making the Fire and Light Qi almost fuse to the earth and bloom into these various beautiful softly glowing pale yellow to red and orange flowers. "Huh." Root observed as from the bark of trees and the leaves, blades of grass, bushes of berries, and even on roots of other trees- these small, beautiful, and bright flora started to bloom and grow. Fungi of yellow, red, and orange coloration took form on the bark of trees, the aforementioned flowers grew out of the ground and amidst the blades of grass, while the bushes and even other fruit trees started to grow these glowing fruits and berries.
It was like the Light and Fire were given life and form amidst the florest.
"I shall call this place… Firelight Grove." Root hummed to himself as the forest also began to humm, the trees almost seemed to change under the guidance of Root's authorities over Nature, Change, and Spirit, growing and receiving a greater Light Qi and Fire Qi affinity than other plants would have: "I will have to send a Seedling with a Fire and Light Qi Cultivation Root soon, this place could become a good spot for the future sect members with that affinity." He soon flew away, pondering… Should he alter the world around him to fit better his whims? Well, he already kinda does that, so he might as well embrace it right? 'I'd need to be strategic about it, can't be too harsh… The Firelight Grove can be a place to collect Fire and Light Qi plant resources for Alchemy, while I plan for the future sections.' Separating his territory into different sections where each section has a specific attuned Qi is a good idea, seeing as the center of his future Kingdom will be him. And surrounding him, his children.
"Ah…" Root sighed softly: "Much to come."
Beneath the ground, Royalty Rooms.
"Mother." The prince held onto his large piece of sharp rock shaped like a spear, his insectoid eyes gazing upon his mother, the largest and strongest of them all: "Our troops, they are being destroyed as we speak." He came into this world knowing three undeniable truths that came deep, from his very soul:
The first truth is that no one is the strongest. The moment he hatched, he had to kill and devour his competition, his own siblings, for the title of Prince. For with this title came power, responsibility, and prestige amongst their kind. The Queen had about 1000 candidates for a prince, they all killed and devoured their siblings, and he did so the moment he was born. He was injured and witnessed the death of those he considered stronger than him by those considered weak, not because they fought with all they had, but because they were underestimated by their enemy. Arrogance was key to death and destruction, that was his first known truth.
The second truth came right after the first truth, that as there are those stronger than you and that arrogance kills, he also learned that hope is but something that prolongs your suffering. Holding onto hope, is the same as if you took hold onto a thin spider web to crawl out of hell… Each moment you hold onto the spider's web and crawl your pathetic way upwards, praying that the web doesn't snap, you keep on trying, hoping, and just trying to move on. So, what happens when you're just a step out of hell and a hand barely touching the gates of heaven and the spider web snaps? You fall. You fall both into hell and into despair, despair you could've avoided if you had never even hanged into that thin spider's web. He learned that lesson when he looked above to his mother right after he killed and ate his last sibling, earning himself the title of Prince, and she just looked… disappointed.
He had lost a leg in the competition, and she looked down on him because of that. He had hoped she would be proud, he hoped she would at least tell him she was proud or that she was happy that he gave his all- And then again, he was foolish for even hoping something would happen beyond him being given the title of Prince and basically being shoved into the world to go and gather food for his mother and queen.
The third and easiest lesson he learned was that like the moon and sun, the truth cannot be forever hidden. He tried to keep it from his mother, but it seems he cannot: "Your children, mother, have been killed, massacred, slaughtered, maimed… The forest fights back with fervor and hatred, the very trees seem to attacks us, mother, and they seem to-"
"Foolish." His queen said, her giant body flashing a bright scarlet red as her Demonic Qi flowed out: "I do not care for the fodder, I do not care for the weak, I care only for the food you have to bring me… If my heir, my little princess does not receive enough food, she'll come into this world tainted, tarnished, broken like you and your weak siblings." With disgust in her words and hatred in her eyes, the queen slammed her antennas against the rocky roof above her head, and as she did so, her Qi rippled upon the surface of the rock. "I sense their death and I say this-" She stopped for a moment, her many hands going to where her stomach would be, her mandibles opening in a screeching scream: "-the princess is coming!"
There was no worse time than this. They were at war and his mother and Queen had entered a laying period, where the majority of her Qi would go to nourish the newly born life, and her Pale Star Core nearly empty. The process was slow and painful for the Queen, seeing as she had to rip pieces of her own body and eat it to quench the thirst and hunger that her newly born heir consumed from her body. All nutrients and Qi went into a single egg.
It was a deep crimson glowing orb that ripped through her body like a falling star, the being within already at the Core Formation cultivation realm even before being born, out of the large amount of nutrients and Qi the Queen used for this egg. The Prince and all other Royal Ants - those ants who acquired a more humanoid shape as their Cultivation reached a higher realm - watched as their mother and Queen gave birth to their new Princess and future leader. The little egg had the size of a fully grown larva, but carried this pulsating energy that overflowed all around: "Queen…" They all were in awe… The egg softly was held by one of their Queen's arms, about 60% of her body was eaten and consumed, almost all of her Qi had been used to reinforce this egg and grant it a natural defensive shell that would protect the egg from all attacks!
"Ah… the heir." Their Queen held onto the egg, a serene expression on her face: "Your name shall be-"
"Yoink." Before any of them could even react, a hand pushed through the boundaries of space, making a hole on the fabric of reality for a split moment, touching the egg, and pulling it through the portal that was opened.
In a split second, everyone stopped.
"..."
"Is Yoink a good name?"
