Chapter 9: Flesh War

I hissed at the thought-light. A greater being? What greater being? The flame-gaze bad-thing?

I was betrayed. Even worse, the Great Core was betrayed. I had assumed that the thought-light understood that there was no greater being than the Great Core; as the Great Core’s creation, surely I was greater than the flame-gaze bad-thing. I would need to show the thought-light that it was mistaken.

The flame-gaze bad-thing slowly pulled its giant head from the boiling water, its thirst slaked at last. I jolted, my flesh-scales trembling as I slithered away to hide behind the nearest glow-cap stalk.

I decided to prove my greatness later. Someday, though, I would bring the flame-gaze bad-thing to its knees and prove the thought-light wrong. For now, we would be allies of circumstances, brought together under the banner of the Great Core’s war against the blasphemous Aridae.

I could feel a strange tingling on my head-scales, nestled just behind the Great Core’s likeness that rested upon my scale-flesh. It swirled and eddied, shifting like the mana-water itself. With a brief moment of concentration, I forced it to twist around with greater speed, growing in intensity. A moment later, I stopped, already growing weary.

The trembling of stone pulled my attention away from the minor mana core that I had gained. The flame-gaze bad-thing was retreating from the pool of mana-water, on its way back to the tunnel from which it had emerged. I followed behind it, slithering in its shadow. All the while, I could hear the Aridae above me, skittering and chittering as they clambered across the network of shimmering threads above me. I forced myself to ignore them, focusing instead on the strange feeling on my head-scales. With my earlier weariness in mind, I kept my efforts to a minimum, mostly just watching as the mana within swirled on its own.

I couldn’t afford to tire myself out with the hated Aridae so close by.

Soon, the forest of glow-caps was behind us, their purple light growing slightly dimmer from the distance. Even so, the orange light of the flame-gaze bad-thing’s eye was more than enough to see by, allowing me to slither away into a nearby small-tunnel just as we reached the edge of the cavern.

I followed its twists and turns, searching for a safe area in which to practice my newfound skill. My tongue flicked in the air; the taste of old blood pushed me towards a passage to my right, away from the warning scents on the other side. Soon, the small-tunnel emptied out into a new room - though calling it a room was a bit of a stretch.

It was closer to a tiny space to the side of the small-tunnel, connected by a faint wall-crack that I squeezed my scale-flesh through laboriously. A few twists and writhes later, and I was in. It was dark, inside. The faint glow of the small-tunnel became even fainter, slipping through the tiny wall-crack in tiny slits that only barely broke the blackness.

It was a far slither from the room of my birth, the greatest of all rooms: the room of the Great Core’s domain. There, it was light. There, it was bright. There, it was home.

This was not light. It was not bright. Nor was it home.

Still, it was enough for now.

I coiled upon myself, lightly chewing upon my tail to soothe the burns created by the boiling mana-water. My insides tingled lightly, itching as the burns began to ease and disappear. It wasn’t an instant process, but it was far from slow.

Of course it was. I was the greatest of the Great Core’s creations. Greater than the Aridae. Greater than the flame-gaze bad-thing. Greater than the blasphemous thought-light.

I hissed angrily at the thought, letting go of my tail as my tongue flicked out lightly.

I froze.

There was something outside.

I coiled upon myself, both making myself smaller and continuing to soothe my injuries. If it came down to a fight, I would need to be in the best of conditions. It wasn’t long before I could hear a steady snuffling from the small-tunnel, mixed with the scrambling gaits of numerous bad-things.

I recognized the scent, now.

It was a horde of rot-flesh bad-things.

It wasn’t a scent that I could forget. They tasted of rotting corpses, of decaying flesh and decomposing meat. I had tried to eat one, once. It had been left behind by the other bad-things. I had been curious.

The rest of the day had been spent slumped over and hallucinating.

It was awful.

Despite that, I was curious. I still remembered what the thought-light had shown me when I consumed the infant Aridae.

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I wasn’t sure what it meant, yet. I was eager to find out - maybe even eager enough to eat a rot-flesh bad-thing. Maybe.

I would try, at least.

Still, it wasn’t as simple as that. Individually, the rot-flesh bad-things were not terribly dangerous. At least, not compared to other bad-things. Despite that, they had their advantages. They moved in swarms, falling upon enemies with their small teeth and tiny claws. The rot-flesh itself also helped, weakening the bad-things that made the mistake of consuming one of the members of the swarm. It was a strange method, sacrificing one of their own to take down an enemy.

It was surprisingly effective.

With that in mind, I was doubtful of my plan to consume one of the rot-flesh bad-things. I wanted to become stronger. I needed to become stronger if I was going to punish the blasphemous Aridae.

I didn’t want to be eaten by rot-flesh bad-things.

I waited for the noise to die down before I moved. They had scurried down the small-tunnel, headed in the direction of the mana-water cavern. I was in luck; whether or not I chose to eat one, their presence might give me the chance to ambush one of the smaller of the Aridae. Unlike the flame-gaze bad-thing, they weren’t enough of a threat to keep the Aridae confined to the ceiling. They would attack the invaders. I would be ready.

I slithered through the small-tunnel, trailing the stink of rot-flesh that moved towards the cavern ahead. Soon, the light of the cavern grew brighter.

I saw something familiar; something that I had seen many times while guarding the Great Core.

I saw a war raging on.

The rot-flesh bad-things had clustered together, swarming over one another in a mindless frenzy. Numerous Aridae perched at the tops of the glow-cap heads, looking down at the disgusting beasts. Each of them threatened and postured, trying to intimidate the other group into submission.

Despite that, I was sure the Aridae were nervous. Rot-flesh bad-things were a mindless breed, from what I had seen. They didn’t care about the others of the swarm; they would easily throw away a life if it meant that the remaining swarm could consume the enemy. For the Aridae, that might have been the worst sort of enemy, barring one with overwhelming strength like the flame-gaze bad-thing.

Their slow-venom was effective, I would admit. Yet, an Aridae could only sink its fangs into one enemy at a time. Each time that it did so, it would risk the swarm of rot-flesh bad-things falling upon it. They would rend and tear, reducing the Aridae to scraps of flesh in moments.

Of course, that only applied to the smaller of the Aridae.

The Aridae mother slowly descended from the ceiling, dropping down on a shimmering white thread. Her presence seemed to boost the resolve of her children, in much the same way that presence of the Great Core boosted my own. She was their champion, their protector. Their creator.

The Aridae mother touched down, her many legs piercing the head of the giant glow-cap upon which she stood. Below her, the rot-flesh bad-things continued to swarm. They clambered and climbed over one another, creating a flowing ladder of flesh and fur.

One of them reached the top.

Then another.

Another.

They swarmed atop the canopy of the glow-cap forest, falling upon the nearest Aridae. It was small; it was young. It stood little chance. The young Aridae sunk its fangs into the nearest rot-flesh bad-thing. It stabbed a foreleg into another. Then, it was over.

The swarm pulled away. Little was left behind.

The mother Aridae rubbed her fangs together. They rustled. Her children did the same.

They charged.

The war had begun.

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