Swarming Sovereignty

Lia shut the book, face burning red. She had known the book was steamy, but she hadn’t expected it to be that steamy; it had pictures! Perhaps…perhaps it was better for her to dive into things slowly; she had barely any experience with sexual things before, and this was far beyond anything she had experienced with her old boyfriend, Liam.

She had never let anything get far with him, preferring to wait until they had both finished their education, but…well, she had never gotten a chance to finish school, so things never progressed. She wondered about him for a moment before she realized that her family was here now, and she could just ask what had happened with him.

So, she got up and sought out Robin. Her parents were out clearing one of the dorms, Olivia had never paid much attention to Liam, or romance in general, and Maria had been rather preoccupied with her book the last time Lia had seen her, so that left only Robin if she wanted answers now.

“Hey, Robin, you have a minute to talk?” Lia asked, knocking on the door to Robin’s room. “I’ve got a couple of questions for you.”

“Huh?” Robin called out, clearly startled. “Um, yeah, give me a minute.”

Lia waited patiently as Robin shuffled around in her room for a bit, then, finally, came to the door. “Sorry about that.” Robin breathed. “What’s up?”

“Nothing much, I was just thinking, and realized I never asked about Liam. Do you know how he’s doing nowadays?”

Robin made a face. “Oh. Him.” She spat. “Yeah, unfortunately he’s doing just fine.”

Lia frowned. “Did something happen between you two?”

“No, he just showed his true colors after you died. He had a new girlfriend literally two days after you died. He didn’t even come to your funeral. And he had the gall to hit on Maria a year or two ago, after virtually no contact that entire time. He’s awful and we all distanced ourselves from him.”

“Oh.” Lia said. “I…didn’t know.”

“None of us did. You’re…not thinking about getting back together with him, right?”

“No.” Lia said quickly. “I was just curious. I’m very happy with Rose, and I hadn’t really even thought about him until now. Now that I’ve heard about how he acted…well, I’ll have to think about how to treat him when he’s converted, but it’s not going to be anything like how people are treated now. He’ll be a ‘normal’ member of the swarm at best.”

“Well, that’s good to hear.” Robin said. “Um…anything else or can I get back to it?”

“Sure, but what were you doing in there, anyway?” Lia asked curiously.

“Nothing, good talk, bye!” Robin blurted out, then shut the door on Lia.

Lia just chuckled and headed back to her room. She still had some time while she waited for the conversions to finish, and while the book she had been reading was a bit much, she had others. And, if she began feeling bold again…well, she’d just have to see.

Lia had just worked up the courage to return to her book when she got a notification informing her that the first of the new conversions had finished, followed shortly by another for the second.  She took a moment to check her stores of Blood Money, found that she had just over two thousand, then set off for where she had left the cocoons.

When she got there, she found that the two new monsters were just sitting there, waiting for instructions. One looked much like Lia’s mother, but the other was…different. She had four arms and bee wings, but instead of the carapace that bee-kobolds had, her skin was a thick, leathery black material, like the worms from the library.

As she approached them, they looked up at her expectantly. “Alright…” She muttered, placing a hand on each of their heads. “Be enlightened.”

The two monsters in front of her sort of...stopped for a moment before looking up at her. They weren’t moving before, but even without movement or…anything at all happening, there was the feeling of a pause, a moment where the world just felt still before, suddenly, things were different.

“Would you two like names?” Lia asked.

“Yes, my Queen.” The bee-kobold mage slayer said. Her partner, the chimeric-kobold nobody, just nodded.

“Then you will be Dahlia,” Lia said, withdrawing her hands from their heads and pointing at the nobody, “and you will be Camellia.”

“What would you have us do?” Camellia asked. “We are at your command.”

“How much do you two remember of your past lives?” Lia asked. “You are both reincarnated souls, great explorers I was told.”

The two thought about that for a moment, then Dahlia shook her head. “I don’t remember much, I’m afraid.”

“Nor do I.” Camellia said. “My apologies.”

“I was expecting it, don’t worry.” Lia said. “It was the same way for everyone else, too.”

“Then there are others like us?” Dahlia asked.

“Yes, several.” Lia confirmed. “You’ll meet them later. For now, does the name “Spine of the World” spark any feelings within you?”

Both of their eyes lit up at that name. “Drive.” Dahlia said.

“Whatever it is, it motivates me.” Camellia added.

“Good.” Lia said. “We are in a dungeon that seems to be located within the Spine. To jog your memories, the Spine of the World is a series of mountain ranges that separates the settled land from the unsettled land. And this unsettled land happens to include some extraordinarily scary monsters.

“So, we’re in a bit of a pickle. As much as the Spine keeps us safe, it also traps us in here, and we need to be expanding. The more we can expand, the stronger we get, and the more we can prepare for when we are, eventually, discovered. But, given the dangerous nature of the spine, we’ve been hesitant to send people to do the exploring.

“And that’s where you two come in. It is my understanding that you were people who wanted to explore the Spine, knowing the risks. I won’t force either of you, but…knowing that it might well end in your deaths, would you two be willing to do the exploring for us?”

“Absolutely.” Dahlia said.

“I would like nothing more.” Camellia concurred. “Just point us to the exit.”

 “Not so fast.” Lia said, smiling faintly. “Before we let you two loose, you’re going to need to do some training inside the dungeon. I want you two to be thoroughly used to your new bodies and abilities before you explore such a dangerous place. But…well, Rose needs to be here to fully clear you, so until then just mess around with your abilities. Everything should come naturally, but…better safe than sorry.”

“If that is what you wish, then I have no complaints.” Dahlia said.

“That…is acceptable.” Camellia said reluctantly. “As much as I would prefer to be out there immediately, I see the wisdom in that.”

“Good.” Lia replied. “I’ll let Rose know you’re here, and once she gets back, we can get started.”

“No need.” Rose said, walking up to them. “I assume you’re asking about some sort of training or something?”

“Oh, Rose, good timing.” Lia said. “Yeah, I was wondering if you’d just give them a quick look-over and make sure they’re up to scratch before we send them out.”

“I was planning on it.” Rose said. “Would you care to watch?”

Lia hesitated, thinking on that for a moment. “No, not now.” She said. “I was in the middle of some, uh, research, and I need to get back to that.”

“Research? What sort?” Rose asked.

“Um…about how, uh, relationship stuff between girls works. I’ll let you know more when I’ve figured out more myself.”

Rose raised an eyebrow. “I see, that is important, carry on then.”

Lia, blushing fiercely, turned away. “Yeah, thanks.” She said, then rushed back off to her room. That settled it; she was going to see this book through, no matter how spicy it got. She owed it to Rose, if nothing else.

“I believe that should be adequate.” Rose said, twirling her spear before dismissing the weapon. Dahlia wasn’t that familiar with spears, but she was pretty sure that twirling a spear like that was a lot harder than it looked. She hadn’t been able to get a good grasp of Rose’s abilities through their brief clash, but she could tell that there was something different about her.

“If you don’t mind my asking, the Queen mentioned that there are other reincarnated individuals among our number.” Dahlia said. “Would you be one of them?”

“Yup.” Rose said, sitting down into seemingly empty air only to be caught by a large flower that grew out of nowhere. “Aside from Lia’s family, save for her mother, and one other person, everyone here is reincarnated.”

“Do you remember who you were?” Dahlia asked.

Rose shrugged. “Some. It’s still coming back to me, but I was the Ruby Emperor in my past life.”

Dahlia frowned. “Sorry, the name doesn’t mean much to me.”

Camellia, on the other hand, seemed to recognize that. “Oh.” She said quietly. “That would explain things. I…don’t remember the exact details, but I know that’s a really important name.”

“You two are likely big names yourself.” Rose said. “And don’t feel bad about not knowing the name, Dahlia. There’s a very real chance you lived long before I did. Anyway, how are you two feeling, and how are your reserves of Mana and Stamina?”

“I should be fully topped up in a few minutes, and I’ve got more than enough energy to get going now.” Camellia said.

“I am in the same situation.” Dahlia added. “Would you please show us to the exit?”

Rose stood up, and the flower she was sitting on vanished. “I suppose so. If you would follow me, I’ll explain everything in detail as we walk.”

And she did. Dahlia and Camellia received quite a bit of information on the situation they had found themselves reincarnated into, everything from what background on the Queen and this dungeon to their eventual goal of world domination. Even with the ten or so minute walk to the portal, they still ended up waiting around for another five or ten while Rose finished her explanation.

And, after what seemed like forever, she finished. “For the time being, I think we’ll have you two working semi-autonomously from Chrys, but make sure to report your findings to her. If she’s not around when you get back, report to either Lia, her parents, or me, and then give her the report when she gets back. Once we figure out exactly how dangerous this area of the Spine is, we’ll reassess our assignments and figure out if we can risk sending the less-stealthy out.”

“Understood.” Camellia said. “Do you need anything else from us before we begin?”

Rose tapped her chin thoughtfully. “No, I believe that is all. Report back within six hours or we will consider you lost.”

“We’ll be back before then.” Dahlia said, walking towards the portal. “You won’t be disappointed.”

She stepped through the portal, Camellia close behind. She was met with a chill that creeped in through her armor, but it wasn’t to the point where she couldn’t deal with it. Still, that was something to take note of – she’d have to requisition some warmer clothing for anyone exploring this region.

It also meant that she’d have to cut her expedition a little shorter than she would have liked, but that wasn’t a big issue for a first foray into the place; it was better to err on the side of caution when she didn’t know much about what it was like.

“I’m going to head off on my own.” Camellia said. “I know splitting up is generally a bad idea, but our capabilities are different enough that I feel it’s warranted. I’m significantly more mobile than you are, and if we’re being stealthy anyway, then a smaller group is harder to spot.”

“I…suppose that’s fair.” Dahlia admitted. “Be careful out there.”

“Same to you.” And then…Camellia was gone, only the very muted sound of her footsteps indicating that she was only invisible and not somewhere else entirely.

It took Dahlia until reaching the mouth of the cave to realize that she hadn’t asked in which direction Camellia would be exploring, and by then she was…probably gone. Even if she wasn’t, Dahlia didn’t want to make too much noise, just in case something was around to hear her. If only she could tell where Camellia wa–

Dahlia blinked. She had been informed of this new method of getting Skills, but it was an entirely different thing to see it in action. She’d have to pay attention to the things she did now, so she didn’t completely ruin her Skill spread. It was…frustrating, in a weird way; her options were so much more diverse, and the condition for obtaining a new Skill was so vague that it felt like getting any sort of combination that worked well together was going to be rough. Though…from the sound of it, it seemed that she would be getting more Skills in total, so hopefully it wouldn’t be too big of an issue in the long run.

But she would have to worry about that later. At the moment, she needed to get to exploring, and she couldn’t be more excited. Ally Sensor confirmed that Camellia wasn’t around, so she was free to take in the view and pick a direction to go from there.

And the view was stunning, from the snow-capped peaks of mountains in the distance to the veritable ocean of forest that laid in front of her. She took in a deep breath, enjoying the clear mountain air, then took stock of her options. Unlike Camellia, she didn’t have any built-in abilities that would make her vanish, so she had to consider her other tools.

She was technically capable of burrowing into the earth in a pinch, but that was a last resort; she didn’t have any extra senses that would let her know where she was going, so there was a real risk of getting lost if she tried to use it as movement, and not to create a temporary hiding spot.

She could fly, but, like burrowing, she wasn’t exactly good at it. Her wings almost felt like an afterthought, and she couldn’t make any precision movements with them. They were really loud, to boot, so those also went into the “last resort” category. Though…it was probably worth practicing flight anyway, in hopes of getting some Skill that would make it better. But that was something to do in the relative safety of the dungeon, not in a place like this.

So…she was basically stuck doing things the old-fashioned way, but that suited her just fine; it just meant that she’d have to be extra careful not to draw the attention of any monsters. She was much more suited to combat than Camellia, but there was no guarantee any monster she encountered would be even close to her power level.

A familiar excitement bubbled up within her as she began to move, carefully descending the slope in front of her. There was a vast plot of uncharted territory in front of her, and she couldn’t wait to see what it had in store.

Fighterman481

For quite a bit I was undecided on how I wanted Lia's ex-boyfriend to be. He was either going to be an absolute scumbag or a genuinely nice guy, and I decided to go with scumbag, since I thought that would be more interesting to work with later down the line.

I also don't know if I mentioned bee-kobold wings before. If I didn't, I did now, so...yeah. They're not great wings, and certainly not stealthy wings, but they're better than no wings.

Anyway, that's all I really have to say, next time we're going to see a bit more of the Spine, so look forward to it!

And, as always, thanks for reading!