Chapter 22 Arianna
Ammit and I pass the trials together. I asked if she can go back in my tummy. Judging by the way she shook her head, she can, but doesn't want to, so I'm not forcing her. I just smile and pat her head. Not wanting to traumatize her, but later I stop and tell her.
"If it gets too dangerous, I want you to hide in there, only until the danger is gone."
She can agree to that. We happily conquer this place, that seems disproportionate to the size of the castle I saw.
Ammit just glues herself to my shoulders, her hair wrapping around her and me. I can feel the increase in energy, thanks to all the eating we do. Finally, my mind starts to be less blurry, thanks to all that energy, reminding me of Barabas when he absorbed Marcus...
She can eat anything edible, or more like, digest what is biological. And I can feel the sweet and sour taste in my mouth, when we eat good stuff.
This could be very addictive. I stop again and tell her some things or self-rule about eating.
"First, eating is fine, but destruction can't exceed creation. Like now, we eat everything here , it's fine , but we can only come back after a lot of years. Otherwise, no more food, ever, if we don't leave a few to repopulate."
"Two, don't eat good people, family, friends and innocents. If you find bad criminals, it's fine. Otherwise, no more fun. People will want your head and after a while, no more food either."
That is, pretty much, all I care about, so those are the rules. I actually don't care what she eats, as long as she is happy. She doesn't understand much, but remembers the words.
Although, she is a blank slate. My power, which now constitutes half of her, contains my instinct and comprehension, letting her understand a lot better than a newborn. It's enough for me to smile.
I doubt her mother, or father... whatever that was, knew or cared about any rules. It was not even intelligent enough to avoid the beam that Mind sent. Its mind must have been on a whole other dimension than ours, only hungry for the energy I acquired, not preventing anybody from sensing me... Dumb, but very unexpected....
We eat a lot of different things, just to test things. Most of the vegetation gives vitality in small amounts. Meat, or exoskeletons, give raw energy and vitality, in larger amounts. Some minerals remain, while plants take a lot more time to do it.
We tried minerals, but it really tastes like rocks, or metal. So far only organic matter fits our palette, but we could technically eat rocks, it's just mostly useless. Also, when Ammit is not in my stomach, my digestive ability is very poor, or normal... I would digest in 30 days what she can in one bite. Still, she is connected to me, so the energy is both ours.
So far, she can eat anything that contains just a little less energy than me. Which is a lot... We can't check it now, but she can probably swallow a few deers whole, heck, two Barabas or the ten-foot-tall boar....
My power is a lot, and I mean, a lot more condensed than before, while I only had traces left before eating the millions of insects... Except it's like stuck in a traffic jam.
This place is like a dimension, or at least space is bent, for sure. Every time that we pass a door, we enter a new space. I keep having to fight more animals, monsters, golems...
I'm still regaining my power, so we take it slower and slower. The puzzles become more complex, and my mood becomes more sour. I'm not in the best state of mind for solving puzzles right now. I shout.
"Whoever is playing with me, got five seconds to let us out of here, or we will eat the whole place. I just woke up from something bad, and it's useless to test me now..."
No answer. So I tell Ammit to start trying to eat the gate threshold instead. I could feel something from this place, like space magic, or something...
"Ok ok, you're no fun... Just pass the next room and you'll clear the dungeon."
Said a small voice.
(I'm not here to play, dammit!)
We enter the next door.
What greets us is a stupid gundam golem. Right now I got no power. Except being able to move fast and think fast to avoid all he throws at me. I can't beat that thing, except... eating it...
"If you don't want to lose that thing, you better stop that!"
"Fufufu! Try it if you can~. This is the best of the low-grade warrior class. Besides, I prepared this for you and been waiting to do this for a good while, giggle. It's made of a unique material, gathered by the fairies..."
"I SAID! I'M NOT IN THE MOOD!"
There is a slight red glow in my eyes when I say this. Repressed, and now Wrath's rage...
A ball of light appears in front of both our mouths, causing a little pain from the effort, and forces a vacuum, sucking in the hunk of precious metals.
The thing didn't even have the time to do the classic power up before we rip it in pieces and swallow it whole.
"BBURRRRRPPP!!!"
"Ouch! My tummy hurt."
Ammit: "Papa. Hurt."
Pa...pa.. gulp..
Well... I did not hold back there and the thing scraped a bit on its way in. One thing it made clear to her, is what hurts and feels good, empathy and what not...
That is when she started talking, albeit only words. And I am so happy when she said papa. She's mine and a cosmic monster's daughter, Hahaha. Her first word is, "PAPA YEAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
.... Cough...
"Sorry Ammit, I got a little angry there, come in my belly for a while, you'll feel better after."
I open my mouth and the little girl dives in, hehehe. Of course, I hold a tear back, cause having black goo running in your throat and nose/sinuses is not so pleasant.
(I have to tell her, not to use the nose...)
At least, I feel much better now. Having a ball of heavy metal, compressed in my stomach, was quite the experience. I can't break down stuff like her, it just gets compressed in there. I will have to learn how it works...
"Ouch... She's moving in there."
She is actually expanding my stomach space. I feel her making her way inside my body and start dumping in there. Which is weird, she never pooped, or excreted anything, for all I know... Even after all that food...
I realize she is actually coating some of my bones with these materials. My calves and forearms get coated. I ask her mentally to make some retractable claws in between my toes and knuckles. Seem like she is truly my daughter lol...
I try a katana that came out of my hand, but I feels like there is not much metal left in me, so I rather use the thin claws.
When we get more good stuff and become proficient, she will be able to create some cool shit! From a being of hunger and destruction, it's quite good! Amy's duality thing worked well.
The material comes out, lustrous, obsidian black. It seems tougher and heavier than when it was in its last form. The 5 meter tall golem ended up in four limbs and 12 claws.
She literally fuses it on a cellular level, and she's still a baby. Amazing!! I need a bit more of this thing, it's quite good. I can cut through rocks like butter.
I spit Ammit back out, feeling much better already.
"Thank you Ammit! This is amazing! Now I have a weapon!"
Shy hehe.
I pat her, then I pick her back up on my shoulders, and now it's time to meet this maker, hehehe.
We enter a large room, that to me looks like a throne room, and walk like 5 mins, to get to the end. Yeah, it's a throne room, with a grandiose giant throne, and a little fairy, lying down on it.
She is not even a foot tall, blond and emerald eyes, just like Tenka, which suited my tastes very much. Very cute little thing, which is probably is as old as "mom". Given the lethal godlike vibe they both give me...
After a bit of awkward silence, ignoring me, I speak first.
"Hello, I'm Sam, and this is Ammit. Elnora sent me here, asked me to give you this, and said you had a task for me?"
I hand the plant over, which protected itself all along, not needing my help...
Elnora: "Arianna, dear, please cooperate with my son, he will help you."
I realize the pot I was holding is a piece of Elnora herself, or at least something connected to her. My face is burning in shame when I realize her and Red are probably watching me from the start. lucky I did not say old out loud.
"Elnora!"
I look at her red-faced, but before I can scold her.
Arianna: "Waaaaaaaaa... sniff... Waaaaaaaaa... sniveling... Wh... wh... why does your son have to destroy everything that I love, waaaaa..."
She wails and beats the cushion under her. Not even dust would rise, if there was any. I contain my stupid laughter and say.
"Cough... Look, I'm sorry about cheating, but like I said, I can't even use most of my power right now and my mood was bad, so I apologize to you."
Arianna glares at me. The power she exudes makes me shrivel. Ammit dives into my mouth.
Elnora: "Ermm. There was something that I wanted her to tell you herself. I didn't want to offend my friend but..."
Arianna: "You killed my sister!"
My eyeballs almost drop out of their sockets. I point at my chest.
"Me? How? When?"
Elnora: "Now, now, Ari! I told you, it's not his fault!"
Arianna: "You told me that, but all my head hears is that sis left with you and never came back! You were using our toy to look at your boy with her, AND SHE NEVER CAME BACK!"
"WAAAAAAAA...."
The whole place shakes. I shout.
"Please listen... I'm sorry this happened to your sister. I promise to find her for you. This should be your task, right?"
She lowers her wailings to sniffling level, dries her mini crystalline tears. After pondering for a bit, she says.
Arianna: "N.... no, there is another thing that I need from you first."
The wall to my left opens up to a large tapestry. It depicts a story, and the more you look closely, the more details you see for a specific time and events.
My curiosity gets the better of me. With no power in me, almost like a dry well, even after all the insects we ate, I still want to look with power perception. I force myself a bit.... After a sec of stomach burn, cause of Ammit's protest, as she feel my pain..."Sorry Ammit," I manage to touch the thing with my aura/inner power.
The strand I touched was related to a bird, it seems.
I see his entire life, from birth to death, years, in 1st person view.
Lucky, my thoughts are still my own, while the actions are not, or I would be a bird when I wake up...
A second life comes, but before I see anything, I'm back in my body, sweaty like hell. My aura receding inside my body.
If Ammit was not there, I would have puked. It was disgusting... eating worms and puking them to my babies...
Arianna: "Giggle. Curious are we. Be careful not to lose your mind~."
I suppress my urge to scoff and gently say.
"You say that now, but I could have died just now. If I wasn't in a weakened state, I don't know how many lives that I would have lived."
Arianna: "Stop crying, you big baby. MmmLlll"
She pulls her tongue out.
(She's the cry baby... Breath.. and remember what Elnora said.)
-Giggles-X10
Ari's cheeks redden a bit, after the giggles, from the path the castle and continue her speech.
Arianna: "This is the power of my domain. It relates to destiny/fate. This is the past, which shape the future. The toy..."
Elnora cuts in: "Please! Don't let him think, that a legacy treasure is a toy!"
Ari: "Yes, the Sword of Destiny is the to... cough... Tool passed down from my ancestors, to affect the future. Of course, there is a price to use it. For most people it would be useless. The only ones able to use it are my race."
"Are you sure? shit that sound dangerous to leave around. I get that it must be hard to know its purpose, even if you have enough energy to use it, but still. Does somebody else have it now?"
Ari: "No no, the sword is a living thing. It won't let destiny be altered to wanton destruction, or excessive construction either, only equivalent exchange and balance. Plus, you need to be accepted by the sword, even among my people, not many can have the privilege to wield it, my sister being the last one. The sword knows the past and can peer in the future, choosing a master itself. Besides, to you, it looks like a needle."
(Why do I find useless O.P. stuff? She said I evolved too fast, but this is insane. Why would I want to alter the world like this and what do you even exchange for it? Stupid.)
Ari: "This is the task I'm giving you, find the sword first, then find my sister. All this happened because of you, after all."
She says that while looking at the pot in my hands, periodically.
"I have a question."
(Hehehe, you think I'm gonna leave here before I suck something out of you, like intel and food, at least...)
"What's the name of this world? Is it a planet, or something else?"
-Stomach grumbles-
Of course, I asked Ammit to do it loud... She comes out. Looks at me with puppy eyes and says.
Ammit: "Papa hungry."
I look at Arianna. She sighs and snaps her fingers. We directly appear in a dinner hall, with lots of huge opened windows, climbing all the way to the ceiling, making it a glass wall. Outside, there are millions of multicolored flowers, growing under crystals.
Ari: "The fairies want to make you two a meal, to thank you for your entertainment earlier. The songs were good and they want more..."
The small balls of light from before, come through the windows and one by one, drop micro pieces of pollen and nectar.
Under Ammit's ecstatic eyes, a big golden ball, as big as her head, is laid out. On mine, it is smaller, but big enough to fit my mouthful.
Still, looking at the fairy light being reflected in her wide, black and blue eyes, makes me forget my hunger. Besides, she needs it more than me.
I just pick mine, say thank you and dump it in my mouth.
~~~~~~~(Angels sing)~~~~~~~
(It's soooo good! Like honey and flowers, but super powered!)
I just realized I have a tear at the corner of my eye. Ammit is looking at me, for a second, then at her portion. The first time, she hesitates to try some food!
This is good, self-control! She could taste it through me and got the idea, this is going to be the best thing in her life, for now, at least. She gulps.
"You're so good!! I am proud of you. This is all for now, but one day, we will come back and get some more. This is made to be enjoyed by our friends, to slowly savor it."
She takes it and puts it in her mouth whole, but slowly. Then chews. She closes her eyes and hums with a smile. Once it is over, tears stream down her face.
Ammit: "Waaaaa!!!"
She starts crying, she doesn't know why, but I do...
I take her into my arms and rub her back, while mine get drenched.
"This is just the shock of having such positive feelings for the first time, like a high. Remember this, Ammit, these are not tears because you are sad. They are tears because you felt so good, that now you know the pain, the pain of not feeling good like this all the time. To feel emotions, you need to adapt to their two faces. These are tears of happiness. Don't be like your mother and destroy everything just to feel more of it. If you do this, you will lose this feeling and never get it back, because you got used to it, so we cannot eat things like this every day..."
She falls asleep while I talk. This stuff was very good. It affected ME at an emotional level, too. Is it, the fairies' power?
...
After making a flute with Ammit's powers, which I can also use crudely, like growing my nails, the way I want them, or stopping them entirely...
Anyway, I play some music, in the strange light and ambiance, feeling light in tousand of pillow, glowing crystals overhead.
I improvise for a few hours, under my crowd of little stars, and fall asleep too.