Runt of the Litter - Tales from Alirast

What an odd little creature.

Also, a foolish little creature.

Edax Magicae. It loathed the name that its fellow mortals had given it. As if all it was, was some mindless consuming beast. But this foolish little creature had done the unthinkable.

It had connected its fragile singular mind with Edax's own six minds.

Each mind surrounded the newcomer and stared oddly at it. To the creature's defense, it didn't recoil in fear or terror but instead was trying to speak. A harsh language that made no sense at all.

Edax opened one mind up with a stream of thought, and the creature recoiled in pain. Could it not understand its mother tongue? Surely, one of the thousands of traits or abilities could help with this.

A few mental toggles later, and Edax was thinking several times faster with every mind than it had been before, giving it more time to find a solution.

It had been a century or more since someone had spoken to it. The prison it sat in kept it in silence.

Ah-ha! That was what the language was called!

It opened its mind again and spoke in the tongue of the Infernals. The creature didn't recoil at this language but also didn't seem to understand.

Another failure then.

A few brief moments in its mind space later, it tried a third time.

<Orc:>"Is this a language that you know?"

Recognition flashed in the creature's eyes. Edax stared at her and waited for a response, as precious seconds passed by the little creature seemed distressed.

Oh!

Oh, of course! I have to let it speak to me.

Another mind opened itself up to the little creature.

"Is this enough?"

-=====-

Trillia wasn't really afraid. For whatever reason, the creature didn't seem hostile towards her.

It was immediately evident upon connecting her mind with one of its minds the problem that Rubious spoke of. It was like standing between two mirrors and staring into one, except it happened in every direction. It was impossible to orient herself within her own mental space.

The first time it spoke it felt like a dagger being dragged across her brain, but it didn't feel malevolent. More like a curious giant unaware of how strong it was.

Finally, it spoke to her in an orc dialect that wasn't entirely different from the dialect they spoke on the plains.

"Is this a language that you know?"

"Yes! Yes, it is." Trillia gave her best mental smile and tried to send thoughts and concepts of happiness and peace to its myriad of minds.

A few long seconds dragged on as the two stared at one another.

Then it felt like she was drowning in memories. Thousands upon thousands of memories flooded through her mind as another of its minds opened up to her. If this were the physical world she wasn't sure if she'd be able to stand under the weight.

"Is this enough?"

Enough what? Was it trying to crush her? Trillia shook her head weakly and pushed panic through the link. The memories stopped.

She breathed a little easier and looked around at the six heads that were each staring at her curiously.

"I don't understand. Can you not understand me?" She was speaking orcish back at it, but it didn't seem to understand. Or couldn't hear her, perhaps.

"You are so very fragile. Why would you ever connect with me? You don't seem to want to kill me. Your eyes showed pity and empathy, not fury like the others."

Trillia turned herself around to look at the head that was speaking. It was the mind connected to her own. She was starting to realize that each of the heads had its own thoughts, its own memories. Some of the memories she saw were from the perspective of the artifacts it had consumed.

"The idea of you being trapped seemed cruel." Once more, she tried to speak to it. This time, gesturing as she did.

Another much smaller stream of memories flooded through her.

"What are you trying to show me?" She snarled the words out as the memories threatened to overwhelm her again.

"I do not want to show you anything. I am trying to let you speak to me, but every time I do, it seems to hurt you."

Her eyes widened slightly as it finally responded. "Wait! I can handle the memories! You can hear me now! Why am I seeing your past?"

"You are not. It is the remnants of all the artifacts that I have destroyed. They are reaching out to your mind for freedom. For just as I am imprisoned, so too are the sentient minds of those I have devoured."

That was a worrying thought.

"Why do you devour them?"

"Because they hurt me. That which hurts me must be eaten to stop the hurt."

Trillia put a hand to her head, trying to think about why it might be happening.

A memory of a young warrior with a shining blade in hand passed through her mind. A second later, she watched herself fall into one of the creature's many mouths, and the corpse of the young man lay battered and bloody at the hydra's feet.

"If something could kill you, would you prefer that to imprisonment?"

"No. Who would rather die than live? What an odd, fragile little mind you are."

"But...you can't move or do anything."

"Eventually, those that imprison me will die or move on. Then I will be free again."

What? Trillia questioned if she had even heard that right. "It is a god that has you imprisoned."

"Yes, the mighty ones often move on and get bored. This one will be no different."

Suddenly, it dawned on the little orc that she had absolutely no idea how old the creature was. She only knew that it was imprisoned in the dwarven citadel. She had wrongfully assumed that it was Rubious and the Generals who had imprisoned it. Or perhaps they had been the ones to do so this time.

"I see." As she looked up into the eyes, she suddenly felt tiny. It felt like she was being hunted in some way.

"I hope that you find peace at some point. I will let you go back to your rest." With that, she tried to pull her mind away and back to her body.

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...
...

Panic began to well up in her body as she found her mind surrounded on all sides with no evident escape.

"It's been so very long since I have had a conversation. Perhaps you could stay awhile longer."

More panic bubbled up within. "The people outside need me. I can come back and talk to you sometimes if you'd like. But I must go now."

"No, no. They haven't realized you've entered my mind yet. To them, only a few seconds have passed. Our minds are linked, so you view time as I do."

That wasn't the answer she was hoping for. If the creature thought it could outwait the patience of a dwarven god, she had no interest in knowing how long it thought a while longer would be.

"I see. That is helpful. How about a trade?"

She felt another pulse of curiosity from all of the minds.

"If you let me continue my work now, I can perhaps bring you something that you want from the outside world."

The many minds seemed to turn inward and peer at her, pondering her offer.

"The red lady tugs at my mind. She urges me to accept that deal. Why is that? How does she know you've offered me a deal? Can your mind escape this place?"

It didn't know to call it a title, but it certainly seemed to recognize the power. Trillia's own mind raced for a solution.

"It's a way to ensure that I cannot break my promise, that's all." She hoped the creature didn't think enough of her to consider that she might be lying.

"Ahhh, yes. The red lady calls that a Geas. For such a fragile mind to offer me a geas, your work must be quite important."

An idea flickered into existence at the creature's words.

"It is. Can I show you a memory of my own? So that you can know what I am facing?"

After a moment of pondering, one of the many minds opened itself up just a tiny bit to her.

"It may be scary, sorry." With that, she flooded it with images of the Eldritch. Of Blossom's fate and of Trillia's training. Constantly pushing the idea and image of the eldritch into it, hoping to startle it enough that it loosened its grip on her.

"Ahhh. One of the Forgotten. Yes, that is quite important."

Trillia's memories stopped and were replaced with startled surprise. "You know of them?"

"Yes, of course. They hurt quite a lot. Even when they are devoured, they still hurt for years after. I do not recommend eating them."

But this thing wasn't a deity. How did it kill an eldritch?

She recalled one of its traits.

Devourer of Divinity.

"Would you be willing to eat another one if it meant being free now?"

The minds pondered her words again.

"No. The pain now isn't nearly as bad. It only hurts when people like you get close. The pain from a Forgotten One is forever seared into my minds. I do not wish to eat another one. Besides, if a Forgotten One is truly coming, then I won't have to wait long to be free."

"But what if it kills you?"

She felt a wave of bewilderment wash over her.

"I cannot be killed. Except by the red lady or the many arms of the anvil."

The red lady had to be Dawn. She didn't know who the other figure was. Was this creature truly impervious to even deities?

"What about the axle?"

"The mother is stern, the light doesn't care, and the giant is kind to me. They have no interest in harming me, nor could they. The Red Lady is stronger than they are."

Panic once more found its way into her mind. She had no idea how to convince the creature to just let her go. This was a mistake she wouldn't soon repeat.

...

Probably.

"Are there other creatures like you? Old creatures that have fought the Forgotten Ones before?"

"Oh yes, many of us. Buried deep within the ground and locked in eternal prison or torment."

"Why did you get locked up?"

"I stopped the things that were hurting me."

She wanted to scream at the damn thing to just give her a clear answer. But it didn't think like she did.

Given how just trying to let her communicate had nearly crushed her mind, it was no doubt doing its best not to crush her.

"How do these things hurt you? I have artifacts of my own, but I do not wish to hurt you."

For the first time since coming here, one of the minds drew closer. The same pressure came from it that came from deities.

"You have a trait that warns you of danger, yes?"

Trillia nodded, thinking of Primordial Hunter.

"It is similar to what I experience. But when an artifact is close, it feels like tiny little daggers stabbing me in my many minds. It calls for me to devour it. So I do, to silence the demands and the pain. I try to scream and scare. But artifacts give fragile little creatures more confidence than they deserve."

"So just being near them hurts. I understand. What should I call you?"

Once more, the creature seemed confused at her question. "Your kind calls me Edax Magicae."

"But is that your name?"

"Does it matter?"

"To me."

Another long pause after the exchange as the minds pulled back to stare at her.

"My kind referred to me as Lotan, son of Tiamat."

"Thank you, Lotan. I will be honest. I am scared, I don't want to die or be devoured. I would very much so like to be able to leave your mind." She had given up trying to outthink or trick the creature.

"I did not mean to terrify you. It serves no purpose to speak with someone who is only doing so by force. I am sad that our conversation was so brief. I shall cherish it while I wait for my freedom." She felt the pressure from its minds lessen for a brief moment before they came back.

"I have been rude. What do your people call you?"

Trillia did her best to send respect and reverence across the bond. "Trillia Demonsbane Fairtrade."

"An important sounding name for someone with an important mission. I do hope you will return someday, Trillia Demonsbane Fairtrade. Goodbye."

Trillia found herself lying on the ground, surrounded by her friends. Alliyah was channeling some sort of magic that flooded the room with mana, but it had seemingly done nothing.

"Damn creature! We must find a way to kill it, Rubious. It is obviously too dangerous."

"No!" Trillia shouted at them. Alliyah spun to look at her.

"Trillia, you've had fits of screaming for the past five minutes. Your health pool was dropping and refilling. It was torturing you!"

"No." Trillia forced herself to stand up as she looked up at Lotan.

"It just doesn't know its own strength."

The entire room stared at her as if she were a fool. Perhaps she was. Perhaps Lotan was manipulating her.

"It's name is Lotan. Not Edax Magicae."

Everyone paused and looked between her and the hydra, whose eyes seemed to sparkle with recognition at the name.

"By all the gods, you damn fool of an orc, you went into its fucking mind?!" The dwarven god was uncharacteristically foul-mouthed. "After I said its mind was impossible?!"

"I am not your servant!" Trillia snapped at him with a renewed fury in her gut. "You have kept it trapped in place for how many years?! Decades?! Centuries?!"

"It wiped out two dozen clerics! You're damn right I locked it up! Only because I couldn't kill it!"

Trillia growled and shook her head. "Damn you! How many years?!"

The dwarven god took a deep breath and calmed himself down. "Three hundred years ago. It came up from the depths during the Beast Wars."

"How many times during those three centuries did you speak to it? Ask it why it attacked?"

"I tried several times. But I cannot reach its mind as a deity, and the two people I had make attempts died. I won't risk more dwarven lives for a beast."

Trillia looked at the hydra, then at Rubious, and finally at Alliyah. "It's in pain. Anytime artifacts are close to it, it feels pain. Its traits call out to it to seek out the artifacts and destroy them. Tell me, Lord Hammerstone. If I were torturing your clerics, what would you do to me?"

"Ask your god to come and fetch you before I was forced to have my followers end you."

"And if one of your Holy Order found me before you did? Do you think they'd contact you or solve the problem?"

The dwarf sighed and shook his head. "I see what correlations you're trying to make. But it's not the same thing."

"Because it's not a dwarf?"

"Enough!" Alliyah snapped, and Trillia flinched at the sound. "I won't have you insu-"

"No! Damnit all, no! Three hundred fucking years! It's been in constant pain and imprisoned for three hundred years!"

Amara grabbed her shoulder. "Trillia. Let's just take a break, shall we?"

Trillia looked up at Amara with tears in her eyes. None of them cared. Was she in the wrong? It had killed people, but it was in pain. It was just trying to escape that pain.

Three centuries of imprisonment.

Shivers ran down her spine. "Lord Hammerstone, I apologize for my outburst. If you'd humor me, I'd like to speak with you about this again."

The dwarf gave her an odd look but nodded. "I don't think you will sway my opinion. But very well, I am willing to discuss it with you again."

Trillia looked up at Lotan, the creature's eyes seemed to radiate a warmth and happiness that it hadn't had before. "Could I be a burden...just. Just one more time?"

Alliyah stepped in front of her. "Rubious is being patient because I vouched for you. I vouched for you because I have a great deal of faith in my son, my dearest friend, and in you. Is this really a topic you wish to push?"

She brought her arm up to wipe away the tears in frustration. "It is."

Alliyah frowned.

"What is it?"

"Once the magic is in place, there are people who stand guard, right?"

"Of course."

"Just ask them not to have artifacts on their person. That's it."

"And what happens if it escapes?" Alliyah offered, but something in her tone didn't seem convinced of her own words.

"You mean the indestructible giant hydra that can devour artifacts? I'd imagine if it escapes, it will be a problem, yes. One that isn't going to be solved by having artifacts next to it, wielded by people who can't harm it."

Rubious opened his mouth to speak but stopped. "Huh...I never really thought about it that way. Fine, I'll humor the request for now, but make no mistake, Lady Fairtrade. You are rapidly wearing out your welcome."

Trillia bowed to him. "And I am sorry for that, Lord Hammerstone. I hope that even if I am banished from your lands, you do not hold my foolish and reckless actions against my fellow pact-bound or against Lord Arlyss."

That seemed to catch the dwarf off-guard. "Damnit all. Just...fuck off to your room for the day. Let's get this seal done, then you and I can discuss this again tomorrow with your god present."

Trillia nodded and turned to leave.

Something in her gut felt off, though. Why had she wanted to defend Lotan so vehemently? What was it about the creature that made her lash out? Had it manipulated her? She mindlessly followed the guide that led her back to her room before collapsing in bed. Oddly exhausted.