Chapter 82: Chapter 78: Alisha

As Amelia carried Alisha towards Lia, she kept a close watch on the woman’s mental state. She was once again attempting to partition her thoughts and emotions, something that made Amelia very upset. For one, it was silly; why would you lock away happiness? For two, sealing away emotions was a fate Amelia would only wish upon the worst people, and doing it to yourself disgusted Amelia to no end.

Amelia wasn’t going to let that stand. So, she watched carefully, waiting for the most opportune time to strike. When she found it, she brought the ring up to her mouth and whispered softly into it. “Keep doing what you’re doing.” She commanded.

It was a simple but startlingly effective tactic; if numbing her emotions was the goal, then making that very same act intensify those emotions was a surefire way to mess it up. And it worked just as well as Amelia hoped it would; Alisha’s mind was thrown into chaos by the command, and eventually she gave up her efforts altogether. She left some parts of her mind sealed, most notably loyalty, but the seal was as flimsy as a house of cards. If her attention lapsed for even a second, her sealing would burst apart, and her emotions would be left to run rampant.

And it was something Amelia intended to make happen as soon as possible. She wasn’t going to be leaving a rebel like this in their camp, not when she could hurt Lia or Rose. Fortunately, Amelia had the perfect opportunity to give her the final push. She reached up and knocked on Lia’s door, looking down at Alisha with a grin. “Resist if you can.” She whispered. “It will make your surrender all the sweeter, both for you, and for me.”

The command would add yet another strain on Alisha’s already taxed mind, but Amelia wouldn’t leave it there. As she started to hear shuffling from within, she gave Alisha one last reminder of her position. “And if you so much as hurt a hair on their heads, you will lose your free will privileges.” She hissed. “I will personally see that your mind is shattered beyond all recognition, and you become as much a husk as the slime I converted you with.”

A cold bolt of fear passed through Alisha’s mind, so Amelia leaned down for the final blow, the carrot to the stick she had just used. “And remember, should you serve us well, not only will you have power the likes of which you could only dream of before, you will be happier than you ever thought possible. The sooner you give in, the sooner you can reap your reward.”

She straightened back up as the person on the other side, Lia, if the footsteps were any indicator, reached the door and opened it. “Lia, I’m done! The plan worked, and we even got the kingdom’s best magic items!” She said, beaming and holding up Alisha for Lia to see. “We’ll only need one or two more pushes and she’ll be completely and totally in our corner, even more than anyone else we convert! It’s the biggest win we could have asked for!”

She could feel Alisha’s mind rankle at the idea, but she could also sense that somewhere, deep in her subconscious, Alisha knew she had been defeated. Turning her attention back to Lia, she was surprised to see that Lia wasn’t smiling like Amelia had expected. Had…had she picked up on the fact that Alisha was not, in fact, just the magic items, and was a person as well? Amelia was planning to tell her, yes, but not until after she had thoroughly broken Alisha’s rebellious spirit, and Lia finding out now would throw a wrench in Amelia’s plans.

“Amelia…” Lia said carefully, “come inside, it’s best to have this conversation in private.”

“Okay?” Amelia said, confused. She stepped inside, and Lia shut the door behind her, before leading Amelia over to the couches.

“What is that?” Lia asked, motioning at Alisha.

“Huh? It’s the magic items. I condensed them all into one, so you won’t have to carry ten around at all times. Just put the ring on, and say the name of the item you want, and it’ll transform into it for you! Later on, once we get stronger, it’ll even be able to give the effects of all ten at once!”

A sense of anticipation arose in Alisha’s mind, her thoughts abuzz at the possibility of gaining such immense strength, and, to Amelia’s great satisfaction, the thought of using that strength for Lia.

“That’s a member of the swarm.” Lia said flatly.

Amelia blinked in surprise, pulling herself back into the conversation. “How did you know?”

“I don’t actively use it much, but my swarm management Skill is getting pretty up there in levels these days.” Lia explained. “I can feel that the ring is a member of the swarm.”

“Well, yeah.” Amelia said. “It was the easiest way to merge the items. That means they’re bound, just like Ophelia and I, but it’s a long term gain thing, you know?”

Lia sighed deeply. “Amelia, I know she’s Alisha. I can feel her emotions, and non-sapient swarm members don’t have those. What happened to the spymaster plan?”

“It’s still on. She can operate like Ophelia, so she’ll have one of her other bodies take care of that while her main focus is here on strengthening you.”

That statement sent twin sensations of delight and indignation through Alisha, but Amelia gleefully noted that the delight was stronger.

“She’s…so confused.” Lia said softly. “This is…much stronger than what we agreed on.”

Amelia frowned, tilting her head to the side in confusion. “It’s not, though?” She said. “You agreed to let me make her feel happiness when she obeys. This should be a normal amount, right?”

Lia was silent for a long moment. “I…see. I think we had a disconnect in what you thought was a normal amount and what I thought was a normal amount. I…I guess that’s my fault for not explaining clearly, but in the future, run the exact details of this sort of thing by me, okay?”

Amelia looked downward, an odd sadness coming over her, somehow related to what she had done. It was like she wished she had never done that, but it wasn’t quite regret, it was more like…like she didn’t want others to see or know what she did. “I’m sorry.” She said. “I should have realized I’m different, it’s not your fault.”

“Amelia, no.” Lia said sharply. “You’re doing your best to understand emotions right now. This is entirely my fault for assuming your sense of scale would be the same as mine. I’m not angry at you, and the only thing I’m disappointed about is the fact that you hid her identity from me. Why did you do that?”

“I…was afraid you wouldn’t use her if you knew that she was originally Alisha.” Amelia said, and then, telepathically, continued. And I needed it to be that way for the final push. I’ve ingrained into her that she’s an object now, and if you wear her, use her as an object, it should overload the last of her resistance and complete her rebirth. You can undo the whole object thing after, but this was the fastest way I could think of. I was going to explain after it was done, and she would be fine to know that this was the intention.

Lia sighed again. “I understand.” She reached over to the table and picked up Alisha. “Alisha, I’m going to wear you, okay? If you don’t want me to, speak now.”

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“Alisha, I’m going to wear you, okay?” Lia said, grabbing Alisha. “If you don’t want me to, speak now.”

A rush of giddy excitement filled Alisha. Ever since she had been made aware of her position as the Queen’s equipment, a simmering desire had been cooking in the back of her mind, one that was finally coming to fruition.

Her pride rebelled against the sensation, and the two feelings grappled against each other. So caught up in her mental battle was she that she didn’t even process the fact that the Queen had spoken, didn’t realize she was being moved until she had been slid onto the Queen’s finger.

Immediately, another surge of pride appeared, but not the vain kind she was fighting against; it was pride in being in her rightful place, at helping the rightful ruler of this world in a way that no one else could. Seeing her chance, she used that pride to break down the locks in her mind that she had foolishly built, each lock destroyed strengthening her until she was, finally, able to to beat down her repugnant vanity.

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She quivered in joy as the last major pocket of resistance broke, that same vanity transforming itself and helping her truly accept her place in the world. She would be the Queen’s most trustworthy tool, one that would help in battle and in politics, one that wasn’t afraid to dirty her hands so the Queen could keep hers clean.

Yes, she would be underneath her three mistresses, but that was fine; relatively speaking, her power and influence would increase tenfold, so it wasn’t like she was debasing herself for nothing. Not that she was even debasing herself in the first place; it was the natural order of things for her mistresses to be the peak of the world, so in a way she was in the most powerful position anyone could possibly be in. She hadn’t minded being ‘below’ the gods before, and while the situation was slightly different here, the underlying principle was the same.

With that in mind, she took a moment to scour her mind for any last remnants of rebellion, those bits of her screaming that this was not how things were supposed to be, squashing any she found with the characteristic lack of mercy she showed all her enemies. And, by the time she was finished, the high from being worn had started to settle, and, to her delight, none of those pesky pockets of rebellion reared their ugly heads.

“All done?” Amelia asked.

“Yes, Mistress.” Alisha replied. “You were right, I don’t know why I was resisting so much.”

“Good.” Amelia said. She cast a quick spell, and a piece of paper appeared in her hand. “This is a list of the artifacts that make up Alisha now.” Amelia said, handing the paper to Lia. “Look them over and familiarize yourself with their effects; they’re yours now, and you need to know how to use them.”

Lia accepted the paper, then paused, looking down at Alisha. “And that’s fine with you, Alisha?” She asked. “You don’t mind if I have you change into whatever I need at the moment?”

“Nothing would make me happier!” Alisha said enthusiastically. “I’m going to do my best to get more proficient in transforming, so you won’t be limited to the original shapes of the artifacts, and you can just wear me as your clothes, and no one will ever know! I’m an item now, so you don’t need to worry about “wearing a person” or anything like that, too! Or…if having me be your clothes makes you embarrassed, I can be some accessory or something, so you don’t have to worry about that! I’ll probably still have to be in the shape of a weapon if you want to use one of those effects, but I can always just create a separate body to be your sword.”

“I…will put some thought into the form I would like you to take, then.” Lia said.

“Good. I’m going to go get Alisha’s extra body sent back to Aura, but it’ll go smoother if I have her main body with me while I do.” Amelia announced. “May I see her? I’ll bring her back in a few minutes.”

Lia took Alisha off, much to Alisha’s disappointment, and handed Alisha to Amelia. “Here you go.” She said. “Don’t do any more mental manipulation without asking, okay?”

“I promise I won’t change her mind, or anyone else’s without asking you or Rose first.” Amelia said.

“Good.” Lia said. “I’ll read over this and make some decisions, okay?”

Amelia gave her a nod, then took Alisha back out of the room, towards where her other body was waiting. Once they were back where Alisha’s spare body was waiting, Amelia set Alisha’s real body down on a side table, then sat in a chair next to her. “Alright, look.” Amelia said. “I’ve been reading your mind on a surface level this entire time.” She said. “So, I’m seeing that you finally came to your senses.”

Alisha nodded her spare body’s head vigorously.

“But, you see, I’m not exactly the trusting type.” Amelia continued. “So, here’s how this is going to go down: I’m going to do a deep, very invasive search of your mind to be sure you’ve really changed. It’s going to take a couple of minutes, and it’s going to hurt, but if you pass, I am officially turning you over to Lia forever. You will be both her property and her bodyguard, and if you’re extra good, I’ll convince her to wear you as her regular clothes, too. Are we in agreement?”

If Alisha’s main body had a heart, it would be thumping in her chest. The offer was so wildly generous that she didn’t even have to think about it. “Please, go right ahead!” Alisha said. “And if you do see anything untrustworthy, please, help me erase it! I know the Queen said not to change my mind, but surely you can help me without directly doing that, right?”

Amelia grinned. “Of course. Now, hold still…”

An almost unbearable pain assaulted Alisha’s mind, one that left even her nearly thoughtless, paralyzed by the sensation. It lasted for what seemed like an age, then vanished as if it was never there. “You’re all good, not even a hint of rebellion left in you.” Amelia said. “Welcome to the swarm. Is there anything else you need before I send your body back?”

Alisha beamed with her extra body. “Am I free to convert others to our cause?” She asked. “I will do so in a way that will be completely unobtrusive, of course.”

Amelia nodded. “We’re giving you full discretion on that. And, actually, we’ll have a list of professions we’re in need of soon, if you could start looking for people whose disappearances wouldn’t be noticed, that would be fantastic. Oh, and also, there are no men in the swarm, so don’t go carelessly converting men in positions of power – explaining their sudden sex change will be difficult to do without giving us away.”

Alisha nodded, a calculating smile rising to her lips. “Every woman even remotely in a position of power in Aura will be converted by the month’s end, and most outlying villages can be entirely converted without any issue.” She said. Yes, joining up with the swarm had been the right call; she was now able to not only remove over half of her rivals, but sway them to her side, and her power over Aura would be more firmly entrenched than ever.

Of course, it was a temporary holding, and one she would gladly give over to the Queen if asked, but she would probably be able to gain a position of duchess of the soon-to-be Aura Duchy. After all, the Queen would hold dominion over the entire world, and even the Ruby Emperor had split the world into sections where aristocrats held sway; micromanaging everything was beneath people such as they.

“Yes, the Aura Duchy has a nice ring to it.” Amelia said. “Depending on how well you perform, I will gladly convince Lia and Rose to make you the duchess of it, perhaps even expand your territory, if you do exceptionally well.” Amelia’s grin changed to a look of smug pride. “By the way, you know your other mistress? You haven’t met her yet, but she is the reincarnation of the Ruby Emperor himself, sent to us by the gods in support of our cause. She had a low opinion of your scheme, but I’m sure she would be more than happy to teach you what she knows.”

Alisha stared at Amelia in shock. If she was saying it, it had to be true, but the Ruby Emperor? It was no wonder her plans had been seen through so easily, if she was helping them. And to have the opportunity to be in her presence, learn at her feet? It was something she would have paid a princely sum for, even as she had been before. Yes, the benefits of this position kept becoming clearer and clearer, and she couldn’t wait to see where things went.

“No more questions for now.” Alisha said. “If I think of more, may I have permission to ask?”

“Please do.” Amelia said. “I’m sending your other body back now, and I’m going to remove your senses from your main one for the time being. I need to have a private conversation with Lia, and I can’t have you listen in. Besides, I’m sure you need a little bit of time to focus on your way back to your room.”

“Of course.” Alisha said. “Please do so any time you feel the need to have a private talk.”

All of a sudden, she had no feedback from her main body whatsoever, her extra body felt a wrenching sensation, and she found herself back in her secret room. She grinned, stretching out a hand and materializing the Rings of Balance on it before letting them melt back into her skin. She may not have gained the type of power she wanted or expected when she made this deal, but what she had gained was far, far greater. And she wasn’t going to waste a moment in applying the great gift she had been given; she was going to revolutionize this country, and she was going to do it fast.