Chapter Seven.

The journey to Lord Haethram’s ‘abode’ took us almost two days. I know this because I was bored out of my mind for the majority of the trip. My attempts to question him were either immediately rebuffed with dry sarcasm or outright ignored if the question was deemed ‘unworthy’ by the self-professed scholar. The scenery (after we'd left the cavern) was just a drab series of dark tunnels and the occasional mushroom.

To make matters infinitely worse, the [Blightlings] woke up shortly after we left the cavern a couple of hours in. They were… not enthused by our current situation.

I cannot adequately express my condolences to every parent with an unruly child in public that I’d previously condemned in my mind. Having to deal with six energetic, unhappy, scared, and bored little murderhobos trapped in an enclosed space for more than forty hours is a nightmare experience that I will be attempting to block out like childhood trauma as soon as possible.

Surprisingly, Skritter actually handled it the worst. I couldn’t be too hard on him as he blamed himself for us all getting caught, and my explanations that a being of Veris’s power would have had no trouble finding/capturing us no matter what didn’t help his mood. He alternated between hissing loudly at Veris and pacing anxiously around the perimeter of the bubble we were trapped in. The fact that his ‘threats’ were completely ignored by our captor probably egged him on more than anything else.

The rest of my minions just acted like hyper kids in a bubble; alternately getting super excited over something we passed by (no I have no idea what that was, no we can’t go back and look, no I still don’t have any chew toys hidden here Gnaw), trying to literally bounce off the walls and huddling together for a nap in my puddle.

Aren't these supposed to be my obedient little minions? Grumbling to myself, I knew if I actually gave the order for them to be still they'd obey unconditionally. It'd just be nice if they were… calmer about things on their own.

Our arrival at Veris’s home was a bit anticlimactic. I’d expected from his clothing that we were going to some kind of quasi-victorian underground mansion or a magical castle. Instead, we came out of the tunnel into a fairly large cave, about the size of a football stadium with indeterminate light giving the place a harsh cast. The cave was a rough ellipse shape and the surface was oddly regular like we’d gone from a natural cave tunnel to a cave made by a low-budget video game developers. A few stalagmites/stalactites were scattered around but they had the same artificial quality.

Dominating the center of the cavern was a structure I can only describe as ‘brutalist’. About three stories tall, it looked like someone had dropped an oversize cinderblock on its side and carved out a few small windows at regular lengths. There was a doorway in the exact center of the longer side that would have done a nuclear bunker proud, a titanic monstrosity of steel and crude hinges with no discernable mechanism to open it.

My overall impression was the entire cave had been made almost off-handedly and by someone ruthlessly pragmatic. Like they had a checkbox of ‘things a house/cave should have’ and then gone through it as quickly as possible so they could move on to more important things.

I think Veris sensed my incredulity, and for once it seemed to fluster him. We paused and he began to speak defensively.

“Well it’s no Draethmari palace but it’s perfectly serviceable. This is my private laboratory! I’ve not needed to entertain guests before is all. I’m certain you’ll find the amenities far superior to the dirty floor of a hostile cave.” He kept grumbling quietly to himself as we flew to the big door.

“Have to make some embellishments… How would Addy put it... Cursed woman, she’ll be insufferable if she ever learns I had to use her advice on home decor down here.”

Wait, ‘private laboratory’, poor aesthetics, complaining about the wife? My god, this was a literal man-cave. Maybe it was the craziness of the last few days or the release of tension that the trip here was finally over, but I couldn’t stop shaking with laughter at that. I guess some things are a universal constant?

When Veris (correctly) intuited the cause of my laughter, he bristled. Narrowing his eyes at me, he launched into a blustery tirade. “It is most impolitic to insult one’s host in such a way! Why, if I’d the gall to behave such in my youth, I’d have been--” He continued for several minutes on the declining nature of today’s youth before abruptly deflating and looking at the ‘house’ with a sigh.

“I suppose you’re right to be unimpressed. Damn, she will be insufferable about this.”

At a gesture from his hand, the rock around the cave’s only entrance twisted together, sealing the place shut.

“Now I shall release you. You and your [Blightlings] I believe you call them? —Are free to wander the cave as you like. I’ve some... Ah… personal matters to attend to for a time and then we shall resume our earlier discussion. The attendants will bring you all some dinner shortly, I suggest you not try their patience overmuch.”

With that, the bubble containing us dissolved in a disorienting flash and he zipped through the air towards his house. Good thing too (probably for us) because no sooner had the bubble vanished than Skritter was rocketing at where Veris had been floating previously. His challenging snarls went unheeded once again as the massive metal door opened surprisingly fast and slammed shut as Veris went through.

That's enough, Skritter. I sent through the link. We're not strong enough to take him on, the best case if you actually manage to catch up to him is you get frozen again. Worst case, we all get immolated.

He sulked unhappily but quickly returned to the group. The rest of the [Blightlings] had stuck close to me, momentarily unsure but I could feel their burning curiosity about the new cave.

Go ahead guys, scout away. Just stay clear of the house for now. This forced me to clarify what a house was to the inexperienced minions, who of course wanted to investigate the only interesting feature of the cave.

A few minutes of half-hearted exploration later they'd mapped out the cave in all its disappointing regularity and returned. I wasn't really sure what to do next, Veris had made sure to toss food into the bubble at regular intervals but I didn't have resources available to burn practicing shape-shifting or make new [Blightlings].

My musing came to an abrupt end when the door swung back open and Veris's 'assistants' came out with dinner. If I still had a jaw, it would have dropped straight to the floor on seeing them.

A pair of steampunk androids were guiding a cart that walked on six pneumatic legs, each step making tiny hissing and popping sounds coming from the joints. The androids looked like oversized mannequins at first glance, featureless faces made from a grey porcelain-like shell covering most of their two-and-a-half meter bodies. The edges and seams were burnished brass, with intricate gears, springs, and pulleys visible at the joints.

I was so busy geeking out over how stupidly cool they looked that I almost didn't notice the impressive pile of monster corpses piled on the cart they were bringing us. Though a lot of different creatures were represented in the pile, a surprising majority were an odd frog-looking creature just over a meter tall. This brought me to my first real moral dilemma since coming here because the frog-looking things were wearing clothes.

Super primitive yeah (all they wore were dirty loincloths and simple bone jewelry) but this was my first example of something obviously intelligent in the Hollows other than Veris. So I found the idea of being expected to eat them more than a little disturbing.

The [Blightlings] all picked up on my unease, so we kept our distance even after the androids had finished dumping the cat and returned to the house.

"I assure you it's all perfectly safe to eat."

We all whipped around at the sudden voice to find Veris seated directly behind us at a fancy dinner table that definitely hadn't been there before. He was sipping something hot from a porcelain cup and another android was serving him a platter loaded with sandwiches. Skritter darted between us, puffing himself up and hissing menacingly.

"Scrappy fellow, isn't he? If I'd wanted to kill you or poison you, I'd hardly have needed to wait until now. Nor, with you completely within my power, would I need to bother with the deception. Come now, eat up!"

He made a shooing motion with his hand and started eating one of his sandwiches.

I reached out to him tentatively with the link and he arched an eyebrow before gesturing at me to continue.

"The… frog things. I don't think I should eat them, they look intelligent."

Veris choked and sputtered before belting out a surprised chuckle.

"You continue to surprise me!" he paused to wipe his mouth with a handkerchief from the android before continuing. "Of all the qualms I'd expected from dining with a [Blight Pit], a moral objection to intelligent prey was not one."

A few moments passed as he gathered his thoughts before speaking again.

"The frogmen- or Urrken as they call themselves- would barely qualify for the term 'intelligent'. They are a primitive and savage race that begin their lives as cannibalistic tadpoles, aggressive to absurdity, and equally deprived of the human capacity for empathy. I have no doubt they would have eaten themselves into extinction long ago had the Hollows not provided them a surplus of both food and threats to keep them united. " The words were punctuated by a dismissive wave of his hand.

"Even if we were to stoop so low as to consider the Urrken's own culture, eating the dead is not considered taboo. Moreover," His gaze sharpened on my current blobby form. "I know from my earlier tests that you are a shape-shifter. One reliant on consumption to acquire new patterns.”

He raised one hand and articulated it slowly.

“There are things that will be expected of someone entering most polite societies. Things like hands. Faces. Speech. It will be almost impossible to acquire these things from an unintelligent creature, and while I consider myself a pragmatist I admit to having my own moral qualms about finding another human being to feed you. If you wish to ever advance yourself as a beast and resume our earlier conversation, you will be required to achieve this baseline of function.”

Without another word, he closed himself off from the link and resumed eating his sandwiches. I was left to consider what he said. He was right about needing things; my lack of ability to communicate would be a huge problem if I ran into people without Veris’s ability to tap into my link. Most would probably just assume I was the monster I appeared to be and try to kill me on the spot.

Also, hands would be very nice. It seems like such a shallow basis for such a major decision, but I missed my old body. Tendrils were ok for grabbing things but they had a certain fluidity to their movement that threw me off all the time. I made my decision.

Steeling myself, I approached the monster pile with my minions in tow. My squeamishness wasn’t helped by how damn delicious all the bodies smelled. None of them looked decayed or rotten (not that it would have mattered) and the pile was easily more food than everything I’d eaten on this world combined.

The familiar tug of the [Blight Pit]’s eating mechanism pulled at my consciousness, and for the first time since my very first meal, I let myself take a back seat in my own body to the ravenous hunger clawing within.

Coming to a few minutes later, I took a bit to get my bearings. I felt… heavy in a way I never had before. Not a speck of the monster pile was to be seen. No bloodstains, no bits, and pieces, nothing. My shock continued as I looked to find my [Blightlings] had all formed ‘evolution pods’ just like Skritter! Although… perhaps it wasn’t accurate to say everything was eaten, as two of the pods each had a small pile of bone jewelry stacked underneath.

My attention on the pods must have triggered something, because in a moment both pods popped open, and I got my first look at the new, improved Pollo and Gnaw.

Attention.

Minion [Blightling] has evolved into a new type.

Type: [Blightling Scavenger]

Evolved form specializing in acquiring and utilizing resources. Trades lethality and defense for greatly increased manual dexterity increased resin production and resin durability. Can be summoned directly for increased cost if requirements met.

A form taken by [Blightlings] eager to experiment and craft for the glory of the great pit. Or amass an enormous pile of new toys.

They’d grown, a lot. Easily half a meter tall at the shoulder now, they’d taken a number of features from the frogmen into their current makeup. Their six limbs had all transformed from insectile chitin to amphibian skin, the paws all changing to long, slightly webbed frog fingers. Upper faces remained mostly rodent-like, but the mandibles had been replaced by an oversized frog mouth. They’d also gotten a bit… paunchy.

The overall effect was that they’d gone from mutant rat-bugs to mutant frog-rat-bugs. Toss up whether that was an improvement.

The first thing they did on awakening was not to greet me or their (still enclosed) siblings but to wallow in their respective piles of ‘treasure’. Pollo examining each piece of jewelry like they were priceless art, his elongated fingers probing delicately at them. Gnaw did his level best to shove the entire pile into his mouth, which I noticed (and can never un-see) contained some deeply disturbing molar teeth perfect for grinding.

Quickly the rest of the [Blightlings] followed, hatching from their respective pods in rapid order with a new surprise from them as well. Spook had followed in Skritter’s footsteps, transforming himself into a [Blightling Hunter] and assuming the latter’s menacing shape with a notable increase in size. Theo and Itchy though had also managed to take up a new form.

Attention.

Minion [Blightling] has evolved into a new type.

Type: [Blightling Warrior]

Evolved form specializing in direct combat. Trades dexterity for defensive and offensive enhancement. Can be summoned directly for increased cost if requirements met.

A form for [Blightlings] who will defend their home, and would see themselves as an unbreakable shield against all enemies.

The notification wasn’t kidding when it talked about ‘offensive and defensive enhancement’, the new [Blightling Warriors] are built like tanks. Maybe it was just the amount of food available this time, but they both shot up to be just bigger than the two scavengers at over half a meter. They had both also taken much more inspiration from the crab we’d eaten part of a few days ago.

Their posture had turned from a default like a rat’s to semi-upright, and the bits of chitin on them previously had expanded dramatically, covering most of their bodies in a layer of jet-black articulating armor. Like the [Blightling Hunter] their arms had shifted, but instead of the [Hunter]’s mantis claws the forearms had become an impressive set of crab pincers. The pincers widened out almost like shields towards the back, and I could see that if they locked themselves up together they’d be almost completely protected by their new armor.

Altogether, the transformations of my minions were awesome and I couldn’t wait to see what they could really do.

“Fascinating, adaptive evolution on such a rapid scale is quite unprecedented. I dare say if I’d left you all in my garden you’d have depopulated the place in a few short months, and what monsters you’d be at the end of it.”

Gah! How is he so sneaky!? Oh right, magic. I couldn’t help but sigh to myself as Veris appeared next to us, the strange orb from earlier reappearing to scan the minions.

“Such marked improvements! And obviously specialized roles, we’ll have to document this. Number 23! Make note.”

The android behind him let out a harsh buzz that had the evolved [Blightlings] scrambling over to me defensively. Veris let out a short tut-tut.

“Come now, it’s only my assistant. No need for alarm.” Turning himself to the one remaining pod that had ballooned to over a meter tall. “Looks like the scrappy one isn’t quite ‘fully cooked’ shall we say. I do believe he’ll be an impressive sight to behold!” I had to agree with his assessment.

“And now for you, my dear monstrosity. I’d say you’ve gotten more than enough ‘patterns’ to form yourself a more civilized shape. Your enthusiasm was most surprising, given your earlier reluctance.” His voice was deadpan.

I winced at the jab, but irritatingly he was right. Time to see what I can do.

The puddle composing my body hadn’t grown in size as much as I’d thought it would. Instead, I had a very noticeable increase in density and viscosity. And I was more the consistency of warm tar instead of a real liquid. This completely threw my entire ‘biomass’ calculating system out the window (what does this cruel universe have against math?) and left my puddle sitting around three and a half meters across, though I was noticeably thicker in the center now.

What I didn’t anticipate was how much better this density increase would be for shape-shifting. I felt right away that I could transform into a copy of the frogmen, but I wanted to push myself and see how close I could get to something more… human.

Using the [Blightlings] as a mirror, I started the process. To an… interesting result.

Keeping the frogmen’s legs and arms, I used the torso from the monster bat as the closest to a human. This made my limbs disproportionately long (and my overall height close to three meters) but was closest to a human shape out of everything I had available. Skin became a dull onyx instead of the oily sheen my transformations had been previously. The body solved fairly easily, I moved on to the head.

Oh boy, talk about a difficulty spike.

I couldn’t just mix’n’match entirely as I did for the body, I had to try and get individual features to swap out while maintaining at least a semblance of proportion. Had to use the bat for lips, frog for mouth shape but shrunk it just a bit (I was going to use frog the whole way, but it turns out frogs don’t actually have lips, go figure) which left me with almost no chin, but I’d fix that later. On the nose, I used the same combo, frog for structure and bat (I might be leaning on these two a bit, but hey you try to cobble a person out of animal parts!) to keep from forming a ‘muzzle’ while still having something there on my face.

For the eyes, I went straight bat, placed roughly where a human’s would be. Even though they’d be purely aesthetic, my appearance was going to be weird enough without adding a frog’s side-eyes. Nothing I did would make a pupil, so they were left a glossy and empty black.

With the ears, I had a tough choice to make. Keep with bat, or try the rat? In the end, I made my decision based purely on the fact that bat-ears looked way cooler than rat ears. And with that, I was done.

The finished product may have looked like yet another horrible mutant in the line of monsters produced by my [Blightling]’s various transformations, a bizarre combo of frog-bat-man, but I’d never felt more strangely human. I wished I had tear ducts because it just felt amazing to have something close to a regular body again. And then I did.

Requirements met.

Sub-trait [Mortal Shell] becomes [Advanced Mortal Shell].

Reduced biomass cost to transform. Increased control during transformation. Can shape some internal organs based on prior patterns. Number of organs limited by mental ability.

You have gone beyond what the worm’s abilities you stole once were. Who knows where this ability will take you? Be cautious; does the one with any face they want, still have one of their own?

I felt at my face with my new hands as tears, really just more of my own black biomass, streamed down for the first time. Pulling at my chest, air filling lungs that hadn’t existed a few moments ago I barely croaked out my first words.

“Hello… world…”

A slow clap came from Veris, seated once again at the table he’d brought out earlier.

“Now, we can begin.”