For the rest of the evolutionary energy, I use it to further enhance my Might, with the dregs being pushed into Toughness.
When I awake, I’m still a sack of meat, but once again, I have grown much larger, towering over my initial size. With my preparations complete, it’s time to get back down into the endless plains of battle. The weakest demons are now almost not worth the time it takes to eat them, the second stage not much better. It’s the others like me that I seek out, and our battles are mighty, crushing many beneath us as we fight.
The divergent paths are showing more sharply at this stage, and some of my foes fight with bewildering magic, blasting me with fire, dazzling me with attacks on my mind or launching beams of pure energy from their extremities. Others are tough, hard as rocks and heal rapidly, wounds closing before my eyes. Yet some are huge, as I am, powerful arms covered in barbs, claws, spikes, even mouths or suckers that attempt to drain my blood. I beat them all by being swifter, more brutal, more cunning. In each case, I become intoxicated by their fear and despair, and I continue to hear it.
[Demonic Convergence has reached Level 3.]
[Demonic Convergence has reached Level 4.]
[Demonic Convergence has reached Level 5.]
Then I advance it, curiosity alone demands it.
[Demonic Convergence of Slaughter has reached Level 2.]
[Demonic Convergence of Slaughter has reached Level 3.]
[Demonic Conv…]
I stalk the plains like a conquering king, only giving way when I spot any who are higher above than I, but those are few and far between. As my victories pile up and my strength accrues, my confidence grows, rapidly striking at my foes one after another.
I’ve barely slept, barely rested at all, and Level 20 soon comes. Again, I wait. The rewards for those who are patient cannot be denied, and I gather my power until I reach my perfect strength.
Again, things are different. I’ve reached the end of the larval stage, it seems, as none of my options include those terms. Instead, it’s time to pick a more advanced form.
[Pupal Demon of Slaughter.]
Was this the purpose of the Demonic Convergence? Perhaps it’s related to my evolution in some way? Regardless, this was always the option I would choose. It’s suited perfectly to my style and I relish in the new form I’ll take. No longer a graceless blob, I will change, becoming a scythe-armed nightmare with lithe limbs, able to stand on strange, double-jointed legs. This is more like it!
I pick over each of the details with care, ensuring my choices will harmonise and work together to better become a part of my perfect strength. Only then do I confirm my choices, ready for the embrace of the dark to swallow me as my body undergoes its metamorphosis.
Only, that doesn’t happen. Instead, I’m pulled from my body, my mind dragged down to a different place, a place of endless, torrential red, where the fires burn black and hot enough to scorch my very soul. There I see a being so large I can’t comprehend it, and for the first time in so many years, fear grips my whole being.
This creature towers over me like a human towers over an ant, a nightmarish representation of the demon larva, covered with eyes and mouths and seated on a vast throne. The throne shifts, and with horror I realise the chair itself is part of the creature’s body. Slowly, the creature stirs, the air itself thickening like blood, pressing me to the floor like a worm.
[Ahhhhhh. Another has come, after so long.]
The voice shreds my Will and fills my head with echoes of gibbering whispers and despair-filled screams as one of its eyes opens to focus on my tiny, huddled form. How could anything this powerful exist? What is this world?
[Yessssss. Tell me, pitiful one. How does it feel to kneel before your God?]
31. Awakening
The voices are back again. In fact, I’d say they’re even stronger than before. There’s so damn many! When hundreds of thousands of voices are whispering at you, it’s no longer a quiet sound, it’s a roar, powerful enough to drown out my own thoughts if I’m not careful. Each entity, each soul, is like a single drop of water, a coalesced portion of Will that slips through the ether and into the Vestibule in a way I don’t understand. From there, they sink deep into my consciousness, running together and gathering momentum until a raging torrent is formed, a whirlpool of thoughts, feelings, and desires that threatens to sweep me away.
But I’m not afraid. Even in this half-dream, half-awake state, I understand a simple truth: my family will not harm me. In all of their wishes, hopes, and ambitions, there are none who desire for me to come to harm. Their support surrounds me like a storm, and also a blanket. As I gradually return to wakefulness, I start to wonder what it was that caused this change.
Is this simply the clarity of the new Vestibule? Is it transmitting the Will of the Colony to me the same as it always did, but stronger? Or is the new addition, the Communal Spirit Nave, to blame? I thought all it would do is magnify the regeneration I received from the energy the Vestibule provides. Perhaps it also has the effect of magnifying the slivers of the Colony’s Will? I’m not sure, and even if I were, there isn’t much I could do to change the situation. This is something I’m determined to grow used to, so that’s what I’m going to do. No more running away.
The senses of my body come back to me piece by piece, and with the return of these more mundane sensations, the whispers begin to fade to the background, receding until nothing remains but a dull roar that bleeds into my soul.
“WAPPACHAAA!” I’m up!
With my exclamation, I spring to life and my waiting pets react to my awakening in their own manner. Tiny sees that I’ve risen and falls onto his backside, already preparing to settle into a seemingly long-anticipated nap. Before I can even finish shaking the lethargy out of my legs, he’s snoring loudly in the corner. Lazy ape.
For her part, Crinis is much happier to see me.
[Master! You’ve awoken!]
[I sure have. How’ve things been whilst I was gone?]
[Very quiet. None have disturbed your rest.]
[Any word from outside the nest? No problems with the wave?]
[I have not heard, Master. As far as I’m aware, there have been no major developments, but if there were, it’s unlikely we would be told. We wouldn’t leave your side no matter what was occurring.]
I guess that makes sense. I did order them to watch over me after all. No longer restricted to keeping watch over me, Crinis all too happily detaches her dark shadowy form from the wall where she’d been clinging and latches onto my carapace, blobbing around my abdomen like a rubbery coating of pure shadow.
[I’m a bit bigger than before. What do you think, Crinis?]
[I can sense your power has greatly increased, Master. Surely, there are no scum who would dare to despoil your greatness now.]
I highly doubt that, but I don’t need to rile her up.
[Hey, Invidia, how’re things?]
The floating eyeball has watched all the goings on with his lidless eye from near the entrance to the chamber. At my words, he dips and bobbles in the air before his vast mind reaches back to mine.
[Thingssss are good. Your transsssformation is complete. I sennsssse your mind is no longer quite sssso weak.]