Drip-Fed Pt. 08

'With Noir, I basically have to get to a dungeon,' the tiger girl thought when she had rinsed herself off and got dressed again. Her cat ears turned constantly, scanning for the tiniest noise of human feet. She still was rather close to the city, so caution was key to her survival. Nothing unusual reached her, however.

By the end of the day, she would hopefully be so far away that nobody save the Inquisition or the Sharpshooter, should the Hunter's Mark be on her, be able to find her. "If the trio zealot, dumb and dumber tries to find me, I'll stab them all," she giggled to herself in a grim manner, a giggle that vanished pretty quickly, as Reysha tightened her belt.

Done putting on her new garb, she stood there, uncharacteristically quiet and with a completely neutral expression. Then, with a sudden shriek, she ripped the short sword out of its sheath and began banging it against the wall of the cave. Again and again, metal clashed against rock, singular sparks flying off, vanishing as quickly as they appeared.

"WHY DO YOU HAVE TO KEEP RUINING MY LIFE?!" the redhead screamed, imagining Mehily's face against that grey surface. Her ears were turned backwards, laying flat against her head. Every hair on her tail was standing on end, the relatively short limb itself curved in a question mark like shape. "YOU ABSOLUTE CUNT!"

Reysha stopped as suddenly as she had started, looking briefly at the sword in her hand, now bent out of shape. Without a second thought, she threw it into the pond she had bathed in and the sheath soon followed. More out of reflex than anything, she moved a hand up to her face and wiped a way a drop that was running down her cheeks. That it was a tear didn't cross her mind until she realized that she had her claws out, accidentally cutting herself over the cheekbone.

"Piece of shit," she growled, sniffing. She didn't even remember the last time she cried. Then she began laughing again, loud and at an unnervingly shrill tone that made some birds outside the cave decide that there were better trees around. 'I'm gonna murder her,' Reysha decided, climbing out of the cave and going into the forest. Running at full speed, she only cared about one thing.

Not the surroundings, not the trees or stones in her way. Not the up and down of the surroundings or the ever more dense-growing forest. Not even the Forester Dragon that stomped with its massive body close to her, ripping out entire trees with its massive maw.

She needed power. The power to kill every last member of the Inquisition. Then the power to kill Gabrame. To free Aclysia and get off this deep-root damned 'Safe Leaf'. 'I don't fucking care how I get,' the already somewhat insane and grief-driven Rogue thought. 'Years of grinding inside that fucking dungeon, a cursed weapon, a pact with some dark power, I'll take whatever the fuck I must to get my revenge.'

And just as she had finished that thought, a house suddenly appeared in front of her.

The charming little house stood in the middle of a well-kept opening in the forest. The green grass was short, although it didn't look like it got cut but rather just stayed at a certain length out of respect for the owner. Via paths of flat stones, the house was connected to a pond of fresh water and several rows of fertile, brown earth on which herbs grew.

Herbs that an old man in brown robes was currently watering. Watering way too much, as he had turned towards the flash and was looking at Reysha with open-mouthed surprise, holding the can at a slanted angle and continuously causing water to sprinkle out of the metal neck.

Reysha's first response wasn't to snap back, as it should have and likely would have been under other circumstances. Instead, she slowly stepped closer to the fence. "You... you can help me!" she stated. There was no other reason why she would have been brought here. She still remembered what this man had said about the conditions to find this place. That someone needed to desire something he could provide.

What his malicious alter-ego had said, as became apparent rather quickly. "Don't come any closer!" he shouted, dropping the watering can and stumbling backwards. Gizmo wasn't afraid of her, they both were very much aware of that. "Don't give him any chances!"

Reysha listened, instincts and reason both screaming at her, stopping two steps away from that metal fence that surrounded the house. It was a nasty looking thing. Raw metal, blank and unrusting, covered in runes, with thorn-like protrusions that pointed inwards. The intent behind it was quite clearly to keep things in rather than out.

"Okay, okay," she raised her hands, indicating that she had no intention to take one more step. The man still bore the signs of the recent rejuvenation. His blue eyes shimmered with guilt as he gathered himself, his spotty skin wrinkly and his movements slow. If it hadn't been for Hemle, he may have died of old age now. Although that was a difficult prophesy to make, as Apotho would always cling to life, far beyond the reasonable expectations of a body.

"I do remember you... you were with Apexus when... it happened," Gizmo stated and sat down on a log of wood. The depression on the top was smooth and looked like it was made for someone with an ellipsis shaped behind, rather than a normal human. Nevertheless, it was the only seating the old man had. Grabbing a cane that was more decoration than actually needed, he asked, "How is he?"

Reysha clenched her jaws. "Dead," she told him outright and then told the entire story.

By the end, Gizmo's head was resting against the folded hands over the grip of his cane. "And yet again, the world devours a good being that did nothing and leaves me behind," he whispered, barely loud enough for Reysha to hear. "I hoped he would return, you know? One day come back here, so that I may teach him what else he needs to know and then... kill me."

Letting out a mocking laugh, Reysha only stopped when Gizmo raised his eyes and looked at her directly, confused wrinkles on his forehead. "You're being for serious?" Reysha asked. "How the fuck would he have done that? You could just suck the life right out of him."

"No, that's just it," Gizmo responded, shaking his head. "Apotho... I couldn't do that. If I could, he would have done so at some point during his stay here. His alien nature made Apexus one of the beings that the life leech could not affect. Different lifeforms have different life forces that need to be extracted differently. Humanoids are not the easiest, but the most common, which is why Apotho is so good at it."

"...Fantastic, you and your mage Classes have brilliant problems," Reysha hissed, reminded of what she actually wanted. "Not that I care. You'll help me take revenge."

Gizmo tensed for a few moments, shifting in his seat and then lowering his head again, so that she couldn't see his eyes. "Why would I do that, girl?" he asked in a dismissive fashion. "It wouldn't bring back the one who is meant to kill me."

"Because the fucking Church has Aclysia and you still care about her, right?!" Reysha growled, remembering how the metal fairy had been dragged away under constant sobs and mindless protests. "Apexus would want her free, so you'll help for his sake, you old wrinkly sack of shit."

There were moments of silence, Gizmo shifting in his seat some more. The knuckles went white as gripped his cane harder. "Yes," he responded angrily, adding after a few moments, "...Apexus will be avenged. I can help you with that." Very slowly, he raised his head again, blue eyes staring with the helplessness of a sealed man, hands now hiding his mouth. "Listen carefully, Ragressian, in the depths of the underground, carved into the stone under the Church of the Thirty-Three, north of Haralry, they have sealed an item of great power. It may seem inconspicuous, like a large, twenty-sided die, but you will find it hard to miss once you find the correct room. Once you remove it from the contraption its part of, you will have your revenge."

Reysha listened carefully, for anything she knew that might be a lie, but she found nothing. The eyes remained blue throughout all of it, for all she knew that meant Gizmo was in control. Even if he wasn't, she didn't care anymore. She was already determined to do whatever allowed her to get her revenge and she was just in the right mood to take a shortcut and fuck the Church in the process.

"So, I just have to sneak into one of the most secure places in the leaf and steal some dumbass artefact thing," she summarized, looking at the fence. Her gut told her that this could easily end quite poorly. It didn't take a genius to know that he could lie to her. It wouldn't have been the first time.

However, she was drowning in the current state of the world. The adventurers in Haralry were monsters, the Church was filled with snakes and the people of this leaf would only ever think that another freak abomination had been killed, rather than the sapient creature the slime had been.

None of them had ever cared about her happiness, her safety, why should she now return the favour? Even if it consumed her, that was a price she was willing to pay as long as she took everyone else with her.

"Fine, I'll do it," she stated and even though the man didn't move, Reysha thought she could see a smile behind his folded hands. "You'll have to tell me more about the layout."

"Dude, get up!" Delgue shouted, hammering against the door. "Did you actually get a cold? You know that that's a real achievement when you live on an eternal summer paradise, right?" He stopped for a moment in his constant knocking. To rest his hand, as it wasn't the most pleasant motion to make with a metal gauntlet on, and to give him the opportunity to answer. There was none, so he took the handle and began shaking it when he found the door locked. Just to make some noise. "Seriously, man, we have to guard the west district today, that's safe enough that you can do it even with a cold! Don't let me do that entire walk on my own, it's super boring!"

There was a noise behind the door, a loud rustling. Delgue recognized that noise quite easily, it was one every guardsman encountered on some days. An armour stand toppling over. Now he was actually trying to open the door out of worry.

"Are you okay?" he asked out of genuine concern. "Hello, are you there or do I need to break open this door and drag you to the healers?"

"...Yes," a surprisingly deep voice answered from the other voice. It was hard to make out through the door, but a proper cold could distort people's voices quite a bit, so Delgue wasn't too weirded out by this.

Relieved, he answered as a joke, "Yes you're there or yes you need me to break in?"

"Former," the quick answer came from the other side, accompanied by the scraping sounds of armour being dragged over the floor.

From experience, most of it hungover (which was a fairly similar state to a bad cold), Delgue knew how long it would take to get the armour assembled again. "Dude, you can just let me in, I'll help you," he offered. "If the cap' asks, we both overslept."

"Thanks, but not needed," the voice from the other side responded. After just a few more seconds, the door suddenly opened and the guardsman stepped out, wearing his full armour. The blue eyes were barely visible behind the gap in the visor. "I... re- I AM ready for guarding... friend."

"...Did the cold get to you really badly or something?" Delgue asked, looking at his comrade up and down. The armour fit perfectly. Filch was a tall, if somewhat lanky dude and, although the armour was serialized, it was fit to every guardsman that had more than two years of service. Still, for how quickly he must have put it on, it sat almost a bit too well. "You sound kinda guilty."

His opposite had nothing to say to that, only hanging his head in shame. The situation remained like this for a few, awkward moments, while Delgue waited for his friend to banter back.

In the end, he just laughed it off. "Wow, don't let this get to you that much," the luckless guard stated and punched his comrade's shoulder in a friendly fashion. It felt a bit weird, as if he wasn't entirely solid under that armour. 'Better be very careful with him today,' Delgue thought, 'that must be a serious sickness.' "Okay, seriously, we're getting you to the healers," he said with a supportive smile, extending his hand in a helpful fashion.

Hesitatingly, the fully armoured male took it. They walked together, very slowly. It felt as if every single step needed to be taken consciously, with limbs not designed for the task. "Thank you," he told Delgue, his voice still sorrow-struck.

"Bloody hell, dude, calm down," Delgue pat him on the back with another laugh, equally concerned and meant to calm them both, "you're so sick you almost sound like a different person."

The guard stopped mid-step for a moment. A moment during which the light from a nearby window fell perfectly into the eye slit of the armour, illuminating the blue eyes. Although the armoured male continued moving, Delgue did not. He had just clearly seen it. A slit pupil widening from the sudden increase of light.

'I must be... no, that can't be,' the luckless guard thought and scolded himself. He had to also be affected with something. Nevertheless, his mother had always said something that had guided him well in his career as a guardsman. Trust but verify. 'Don't take this the wrong way, buddy,' Delgue thought and suddenly moved in.

Although the armoured male tried to sway away from the assault on his helmet, it was already too late. The luckless guard had his finger under the edge of helmet and pulled up. His heart stopped, sunk like a heavy stone, when he saw the first bits of skin.

The helmet came off completely and Delgue let out a mixture of sounds. A panicked scream, a call for help and the gargling someone about to throw up all combined at the sight of the head under the helmet. Both of them were frozen, although for different reasons.

Dark blue slime surrounded a human skull like a layer of translucent skin. Sunlight reflected on its smooth surface, only interrupted by a pair of half-formed fox-ears and two sorry-looking cat eyes. There was no nose or human ears whatsoever and the mouth was nothing but a lipless, slit that parted slightly, along with the overly sharp teeth that didn't seem properly attached to the jaw whatsoever. "I'm so sorry," Apexus said one more time. "Certain he was a good person..."

"MONSTER!" Delgue finally managed to scream, hastily grabbing his sword. The slime simply fell over, dodging the angry and panicked strike. The sound of rattling armour and more shouts from the luckless guard causing everyone else in the barracks to be alerted.

People stuck their heads out or simply stormed to help, many frozen the moment they came onto the scene. Delgue whirled around, trying to find his footing, only to witness the creature peeling out of the plate armour like an insect out of its old hide. Human bones, dislodged to allow Apexus to crawl out through the relatively small neck opening, flowed out along with the slime. With the first ribs, folded over one another, came the emerald wings.

The feather seemed to explode in volume, once they were no longer cramped into the armour, and grew even bigger with each passing moment. Delgue saw in those wings a weakspot. He moved in to hack at them, but was thrown back by the very same Growths, as they beat once in a large defensive gesture.

More like an ape than a human, Apexus' bones assembled on the other side, his wings continuously beating to keep the ever-growing number of guardsmen at bay. People shouted for spears, a much more effective weapon in this situation, while Apexus now sprinted on all fours towards the window, whose light that had given him away. It was wide open, like on all days that weren't rainy, and so he could simple leap out and beat his wings. The new shape was unfamiliar to fly with, but he stayed in the air anyway, gaining height as people chucked spears at him and hastily fired arrows.

Although two of them hit, they simply sunk into the slime without dealing any damage. Then Apexus soared over the garrison's walls. His makeshift limbs became part of his body again, arms fusing into torso, legs melding together.

Apexus lived.

After the jolt of pain, Apexus had sensed nothing.

And that was an alien feeling indeed. No sight, no sound, not even the tiniest vibration reached Apexus. All he was, was a bundle of thoughts within his core. 'Is this the afterlife?' the slime had wondered at the eternal darkness. The concept of a life after death had been strange to him and now, it was downright terrorizing. Left alone to brood in his thoughts, with no way to know what had happened after the arrow had ended him.

After having been able to perceive time passing for so long, this darkness seemed eternal to the slime. His thoughts swirled from the start of his journey to this very point over and over again. With nothing else to do and nothing to look forward to, all Apexus could do was wonder where he had gone wrong.

There were a lot of mistakes along the path.

The first one had been to pick the pheromone duct. In the moment, that had seemed useful, but it had been based on the ultimately faulty information that ants were some kind of super predator that dominated the overworld. Without it, he would have never found Reysha, however.

'Reysha... I hope she won't take this too hard,' Apexus thought, wondering how much the tiger girl had truly appreciated him. It had always been a bit hard to read her, between the slimes own inexperience with people and the redhead's unsteady behaviour.

The second mistake would likely have been to awaken Aclysia when he did. Without any understanding of the humanoid tongue, or that speech existed in the first place, he had painted a pretty large target on his back. For his beloved metal fairy, Apexus just wished that she kept him in mind fondly. Selfishly, he would have loved if she stayed attached to him forever, but for her sake he hoped that she got over him quickly. It couldn't be pleasant for her to be bound to the earth for feelings that were only bringing her grief now.

Funnily enough, trusting Gizmo hadn't been a mistake. The old man had taught Apexus a number of things and the reveal of his alter-ego came at a cost not to Apexus, but to his assailants. If there was a further mistake, the biggest one perhaps, it was to let the group of adventurers around Mehily go.

However, as often as it had been discussed previously and no matter how often Apexus played out that scenario with shifting actions on his part, he couldn't help but feel that he had made the right decision. Maybe he was illogically rationalizing things. It was certainly true that there were a number of paths that he could have taken that were safer. On all of them, however, he would have needed to become a character of ruthlessness at best and cruel sadism at worst.

He wouldn't want to be that. Nor would he want to force Reysha and Aclysia to live with such a person. Particularly the metal fairy, delicate in her morals. Would she even have presented the wish to stay to Hashahin if Apexus turned out to be such a monster?

That question was where his brooding was suddenly interrupted by a feeling. Not a particularly pleasant one, it had to be said. It was as if the utmost layer of skin was peeled of him with a washing cloth. Which, as Apexus realized when it happened again, was exactly what was happening. The sense towards vibrations, the only one the slime possessed naturally, appeared and disappeared again as his nucleus got polished.

It took a couple of repeats, but eventually the slime figured out what was happening in detail. He wasn't dead. He was bodyless. The hunter had removed the core from his slime without destroying it and now Apexus was stuck within the single important organ he had. An organ that, sensing it was clearly oversized for the amount of slime surrounding it, was now trying to dissolve to supply that body mass.