Nihilea
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Chapter 196: Egeria
🕑 Added 2024-10-25 20:38:04 +0000 UTCChapter 196: Egeria
Astrid had answered the call, partly to come to Emma’s assistance, but also as an escape from her pursuers, who had proven both numerous and persistent. Accordingly, she returned in anticipation of a fight, should any of them still linger at the spot where she vanished: though she also hoped that the main force had dispersed to go looking elsewhere. As it turned out, Astrid was half right. If anything, there were more people than before, and there was a fight, just not one involving her in any way. Nobody even noticed her reappearance, though Astrid that could be forgiven.
[Oh dear.]
She’d left behind a cramped attic not long ago, only to come beneath the open sky in a makeshift fortress, amidst newly raised walls of rock and stone, manned by half a dozen Warlocks and twenty times that many soldiers, all of them fighting desperately to hold back an endless tide of wild demons. A thick miasma of death and decay had already taken hold, to her benefit; it seeped into her tired flesh and weakened soul, replenishing both with the enemies of the fallen. Raising a hand with renewed vigour, suddenly filled with confidence even with her main weapon gone, Astrid rejoined the fight, this time on the same side as her erstwhile pursuers.
—
Mr. Fox popped back up, falling headfirst into a bale of straw. He wasn’t much of a vegetarian, so this was less than pleasant, but he was also too tired to complain or pull himself free. Every inch of him ached, and there was a deep emptiness inside him, one quite distinct from physical hunger or thirst, though he suffered from both of those as well, after his recent activities.
[You’ve never had to push yourself like that before, so it’s to be expected. Every Class is capable of front line combat, when necessary, but some will inevitably feel the strain more than others.]
Before Mr. Fox could reply, he felt strong hands wrap around him, pulling him out of the hay and into a tight hug. He sank into Anna’s warm embrace - the spluttered as she emptied a bottle of water on his face while the peanut gallery laughed at him.
“That’ll teach you to lick me when I’m asleep,” Anna remarked, turning him around in her arms so they could speak face to face. “Now, how about some food, then we can talk about where you vanished off to for over a month?”
Food sounded good to him, though a long talk definitely didn’t. Mr. Fox was already starting to think of excuses when his brain finally processed what he’d heard.
“What do you mean I’ve been gone for a month?”
—
Saint found herself lying on her back on an island of catnip, wrapped within the coils of a serpent that blotted out the horizon, one with a human woman at its head. Above him, twelve blue stars shone weakly overhead, bathing the entire world in neon light.
“Oh, I’m dreaming,” Saint decided, rolling over to take a bite from the plentiful plants on the floor. “Itadakimasu!”
“You’re supposed to say that before eating, not after,” the woman corrected him, though she smiled as she said it, so Saint supposed she couldn’t be too mad about it.
“Oh, my bad. Want some?” Saint tapped the ground, channelling enough magic to grow a sprig of catnip into a tree in its own right. “It’s good, and there’s plenty to go around.”
Granted, she wasn’t sure if catnip had any effect on reptiles, but it couldn’t hurt to offer, right?
“I’m good, thank you.”
Her smile remained, wider now, as the woman knelt down to pet Saint behind the ears, drawing a soft pur.
“I take it you don’t know who I am?”
“Not in the slightest,” Saint admitted between bouts of purring. “Though that feels really nice. I’m starting to think this might not be a dream anymore.”
“It is and it isn’t. You’re still asleep, yes, which is why I’m taking advantage of Hypnos’ generosity to contact you, but this is also very real. I’d have done it sooner, I’ve tried a few times before already, but it was only recently that you could hear me at all, and only now does my projection come through clearly. Finally, you’ve settled fully into your existence as a being of myth, and we can talk about matters of childcare.”
“Eh?” Saint blinked at that, even pausing mid-bite. “Am I pregnant? I haven’t seen any tomcats this cycle, wait, is this a Druid thing? Kittens?”
[She’s not talking about children in the literal sense. This is Echidna, mother of serpents.]
“Oh!” Saint heaved a sigh of relief at Edith’s interruption. “You mean the Hydra!”
“Indeed,” Echidna laughed softly. “Apologies for the misunderstanding, I thought the usurper would have explained already. Some time ago, I put out a request for someone to raise the latest clutch of hydra. Most of them went to the usual carers, but a few had unusual affinities that were hard to work with. Eventually, in the absence of qualified takers, I put out a System request, offering a reward for those who managed to raise them to maturity, and now I’m here to pay up.”
“Emma did mention a quest,” Saint recalled. “Used it to pawn off the job of actually raising him, though she never mentioned who it came from. So, what did I win?”
“This.”
Faster than Saint could react, Echidna surged forward, her teeth sharpening into blades as one of them stabbed her in the side, leaving a shallow hole as it withdrew.
“Ow!” Saint complained, rolling over to take a better look at the wound, one that was already closing, leaving behind a dark patch in the shape of a serpent’s fan. “How is that a reward? Am I being pranked? Did Edith put you up to this?”
“Every being of legend will hold some level of authority over the world. Of all that I have accrued, my strongest and most known is Motherhood, but I also wield a number of others, and have now granted you a fragment of one: Poison.”
[Item received - Droplet of Lerna: Your Poison abilities are 300% more effective.]
“Oooh, I can kill so many people with this!” Saint cooed, her anger forgotten in an instant. “Thanks!”
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AN: We're officially in the aftermath section now. Just a few more chapters until 'Book 1' comes to an end, after 200,000 words. I can barely believe it.
