“They're slime spores,” Grimalkin said dispassionately.

Wren, who was lulled from his panic state by Grimalkin's cool demeanor said, “So what kind are they?”

“The kind Grimshadow torturers keep,” Grimalkin replied.

“Are they dangerous?” Lilly said, not quite as calm as Wren.

“Yes, very,” Grimalkin said as he gazed at a black smudge that had worked it's way under his sleeve.

“Aaand!!??,” Lilly and Wren said at the same time.

“And what? We're walking dead. It's only a mater of time now,” Grimalkin said just as calmly as before.

Apparently he's not nearly as mentally healthy as I thought!?

Grimalkin continued, “These spores have already attached to us. Part of them are working their way inside. The wellness room would remove them from us but we'll be paralyzed before we make it that far. Once we're immobile and the spores have fed enough, they'll signal the parent body to reabsorb them along with us, eaten alive,” he sighed and gave Wren a sad smile before continuing, “At least I'll die by my brother's side. It is sad we didn't have more time.”

Before his eyes, Wren saw Lilly and Jaden slump in the tree. Grimalkin didn't seem overly affected yet and Wren felt perfectly fine despite noticing a smudge underneath a sock top with spacial calculation.

“We don't give up till it's over Little Gray. Help me put Lilly and Jaden on the spectral transport. How much longer can you hold out? Walk and talk!” Wren burst into action.

Terror, scout out front, along the path. Scare what you can and attack what you can't... loudly.

“I don't know. The torturer that used them on my leg, told me that they were swarm types. Once infected, they drew others, ending with drawing the parent body. They let it eat my legs before using a silver powder to drive off the parent body. They didn't bother with the ones on my arms but they were careful not to get any on my torso, neck and head-”

“Get it off your chest if you need to talk buddy, but keep moving.” Wren said as he noticed Grimalkin slowing down.

“It will be as you say. Then they-” As Grimalkin continued the gory details he could remember, a spark of subdued rage kindled in his eyes. Since it seemed to give him the strength to keep trudging on, Wren let him keep talking as he divided his attention to the task of checking ahead and seeing what his mendicant skill set could help with.

The build up of black smudges were far more concentrated on the way they came so Wren had no choice but to try to reach their original goal, hoping to find a solution along the way. He knew that the Safe Zone could give them shelter and help them recover from the ordeal if they could reach it but even with the little he found from the archive informing him that shelter allowance time renewed, he didn't know if Grimalkin would be let in. For whatever reason, safe zones were dodgy about natives.

Okay, so I automatically stop the invasion of slime roots in my own body and they grow slow enough that as long as someone isn't covered in spores they're not in that much danger. Too many and dehydration through blood loss could be a problem. Over concentration of paralytic agent can be a problem too. I could solve this problem if I could stop but if I do the little bastards will gang up.

Let's start with unsummoning Terror and pulling out Sylph. A small gust once in a great will keep the majority away. The parent body has carpet bombed this whole aria, more the closer to the river you get I guess. The only threat, besides maybe the parent body itself is hostile vegetation. Staying on the path and avoiding overhanging trees should keep me safe enough from that, I hope.

Now I gotta choose. Spectral transport is essential and Sylph is my best option for keeping the majority of these little shits from jumping on board but what do I do with option three? If I summon another tulpa I can only do burst actions of healing or eradicating but if I don't summon another tulpa to help deal with new ones they will eventually overpower my ability to keep equilibrium and Grimalkin's starting to get a little woozy on his feet. Shiiiit!!!

Lets move the rest of the biology stuff to the back of the queue and pull forward my call mark's experiences and start scanning it for inspiration...

Discovered: 8 enchantment models-still processing

Discovered: Elemental augmentation of Spectral models- Spectral summon models converted to tulpas may combine with elemental sprites that have been converted to tulpas for unique effects. Still processing.

Discovered: Embodiment- Host may temporarily fuse with elemental and aspect tulpas for unique enhancements

Caution: Prolonged or frequent embodiment of elements may force evolutionary changes

Warning: Prolonged or frequent embodiment of aspects may influence base personality traits and force evolutionary changes

Alright, alright! I can work with thi-

Grimalkin could finally go no further and collapsed. Before becoming silent he said, “Leave me and live. I now know what happiness... is...real fam..i..ly.”

“Don't think so short stack. Don't give up yet. You know me, pulling miracles out of my ass like tissue out of a Kleenex box,” Wren said as he mustered up a smile, projecting confidence he didn't feel.

Swallowing down the useless despair trying to rear it's ugly head, Wren thought furiously for solutions as he piggybacked Grimalkin.

How I wish I had access to fire right now...Whoa, a lot of strong somethings just collectively mentally pinged me. Fire...is...bad, will kill!? Oh, that's fair... Just focus on what can be done.

With one final whirlwind gust, Wren dismissed Sylph. Bringing out Tartarus, he immediately tried to fuse it with spectral transport. It went without a hitch but the effect wasn't as universally helpful as Wren had hoped. A faint gravitational force formed a repulsing sphere around the floating disk, just strong enough to keep the little black smudges from being able to drop or jump onto it.

Too bad it didn't increase the carrying capacity. It's thought responsiveness is better, smoother. Feels like it could move faster too. Sweet, it only counts as one summoned entity and aside from a doubled base upkeep it's pretty energy efficient for what it adds. Alright, swinging it around me in circles isn't helping solve the bigger problem here. I need to get to safety. I may be stronger than I was but I'm still slower carrying Little Gray and I might need to be hands free if any other problems come up.

Summoning up Spectral servant, Wren tried imbuing it with earth. It looked like a golem after taking up some rock and mud from the surrounding area, momentarily amusing Wren as it spit out the black smudges like watermelon seeds. After a bit of experimentation he found that the golem could actually swallow Grimalkin into it's form. From Wren's perspective, it looked like Grimalkin was wearing muddy stone armor.

Alright, that leaves me. What can I use that's useful... Terror? No, I don't think these things even have awareness to feel fear. Lustitia? No... chance... in... hell! Yeah, the fact you can volunteer yourself doesn't make me feel any safer. Tell you what. If I encounter an enemy I need to fuck to death then I'll call on you. That makes you happy!? Glad you're easy to please... Water might work. Wind? No, too energy inefficient. Light?...Light! It's pretty energy heavy too but it's standby mode isn't any worse than the others and I bet it'll look pretty cool too. Don't care if that's childish.

“Unleash the power of the sun!” Wren shouted as he pulled Solas into himself.

Did I just feel a faint tremor of amusement through Lilly's connection!? They can still hear me?Gawd, now I feel like a dumb-ass... This feels weird. As it's spreading through me, I don't feel stronger but I do feel more alert, wired even. My body is more responsive to my thoughts and my thoughts are forming faster. I'm faster! This form can convert small amounts of EE into stamina. Healbot! Untiring healbot! I can convert EE into AE! I can convert, ooh bad. A whole percent of EE only made less than a hundredth of a percent of LE and SE doesn't even register. Still, this body is an EE converter even if it can't use it directly for anything other than what I already could. Too hyper, calm down.

Yeah, little black dots that were on me, dropped off and others won't approach more than a couple feet away. Oh shit!? Are they merging now? Run away! Why is mud man so slow?

Wren thought at Jaden and Lilly, “Don't know if this will work but if you guys are able, can you channel me some magic juice. Keeping this up is expensive and I might need to keep this up for the next hour or two. I'll try to smack the smudges as I go but I have to do it shooter style because of active power limitations.”

From Jaden, Wren felt a small but steady trickle of AE open up but from Lilly's connection he felt something akin to a cheap, leaky water gun squirting at him.

Bless her heart. She's trying...

***

Over a half an hour or so, Wren kept the status quo without any real change to their situation aside from getting everyone independently mobile again. Once Grimalkin was back in control of himself again, and after a little trial and error, the golem suit could reflex react to Grimalkin's movements. This alleviated Wren's need to consciously control it, allowing for a bit more concentration towards the young couple. Once free of paralysis, they were still helplessly in need of the modified spectral transportation to keep free of hitchhikers. Three skilled and lethal combatants, they were reduced to little more than spectators as the most fragile among them literally illuminated the path to their destination.

Holding the embodiment for so long was starting to show it's affects as well. The gratitude and concern, as well as their frustration to help, filled Wren with a sense of overwhelming compassion. His eyes misted up as he resisted the urge to embrace them and sooth their worries. Knowing that his actions were keeping them safe gave him a sense of accomplishment and serenity.

Discovered: Addition- Tier I Aspect Tulpa Liberalitas- A complex tulpa with minor spiritual and elemental influence [note: possesses the ability to act autonomously, not recommended while in a state of low SE or EE percentages

Alright. That's cool and all but now that it's got my attention, I don't like feeling like I took a double dose of depression meds. Time for a switch out but to what? This isn't a time to be playing around. Let's stick with what works.

Attempting to save a bit of consumption on resummoning, Wren released Solas from the merge, taking a great deal of his new found altruism with it. As he sent it into spectral transport he released void from merge. The brief moment when light and void were in tandem within the spectral tulpa, Wren's mind shook under a split second of strain as 3.5 mind showed him a spectacular bend in reality around it accompanied by a low hum that everyone felt more than heard. Wren felt a faint echo of that hum as void merged with him for the half second it took for Tartarus to pull in the faint remnants of Solas' presence from Wren's body. He made a mental note to ruminate on that later as he analyzed his new embodiment and Solas' affect on spectral transportation as he continued walking.

On an emotional level that was like jumping into ice water after being merged with Solas. After the shock wears off it gives a sense of numbness. The positive is that, unlike Solas, my bonds are more anchor that keeps me from becoming emotionally detached rather than serving to further amplify intensity.

“Wren, you look... black,” Lilly said, undisguised curiosity on her face.

“Is that a problem white bread?” Wren said.

“Um, no but just for a second you looked more like a cut-out, like a window to a place I don't think I'd like to go to.”

“If my assumption isn't wrong, Lilly, we've already been there. You, me and Troy have passed through there twice in fact. It's just the space between places.”

With a reluctant nod Lilly sunk back into silence as Wren continued to walk in contemplation while Jaden meditated and Grimalkin focused on moving smoothly with the golem.

It may not be as neat as that moment I felt like I was a living part of a wormhole but being all space bendy is cool in it's own right. I wonder how strong I'll have to be before I can merge with Solas and Tartarus at the same time. Getting back on topic though, I can make my self lighter and heavier with greater energy expenditure. I'm sure there's some interesting applications to that. With Tartarus, rather than being a power plant, I feel economic. Thoughts aren't faster but they're more fluid, same with movement. I might not be able to replenish stamina but I hardly use any. As for the spectral transport, I think Solas turned it into a jittery bug zapper. I wond-

Wren was jerked from introspection when Jaden asked, “Brother Wren, do you think you could do for me what you're doing for Grimalkin but maybe with water instead? We're not that far from our destination, I believe, and It would be nice to stretch my legs.”

Grimalkin responded quickly with, “I'm in agreement.”

I didn't really think about it but having to constantly control muscle movement with precision would be taxing. Guess he was starting to get pretty wore out. Why do you have to be so stubborn, Little Gray. How do I get him to open up a bit more without hurting his feelings? Hows this?

“In the future, if you're getting fatigued, make sure to say something. In fact, that goes for being hungry, thirsty or needing to relieve yourself. You never know when I'll need you to help bail my ass out of trouble and you don't want to do that with an empty belly or a full bladder,”

“It will be as you say,” Grimalkin replied with a small smile visible through the mouth portion of the golem that was now covered in black ichor.

“I can give it a shot, Jaden. While I'm at it, I'll increase the wattage on the bug zapper so everyone can take a potty break but make it quick.”

Wren recalled Gnome and shoved Undine in spectral servant while everyone did their business.

“Thank the Lord for that, Wren. I felt close to bursting but I'd rather embarrass myself than end up like I was before” Lilly whispered to Wren before climbing back on the floating disk.

Jaden walked up to the vaguely humanoid water construct and touched it with his eyes closed.

Attention: An ally is attempting to gain control of a tulpa currently maintained by you. Since the sprite portion of it's existence is fully integrated with you there is no risk of permanent loss. You may unsummon and resummon at any time to resume control.

Nice to know for a lot of reasons. He took on the burden of it's maintenance, while he was at it, but it still counts towards my power splitting. Wow, on him it acts like a liquid power suit. The outside of it is tough enough to keep the little black smudges out, no problem. I wonder if that's his influence or if it's like that normally.

“Hey Jaden, was the outer skin of the construct that strong before you took it over?” Wren said

“No, I would say it had the toughness equal to leather armor before. It's real advantage lies in shock absorption, brother Wren... Beloved, remind me to ask father if there's a way to duplicate this with my power alone. It is more than useful.”

“No bother, dearest,” Lilly chirped.

“Little Gray, we need to-” Wren stopped mid sentence as a wave black goop flopped over Lilly and Grimalkin.

Wren dropped a full percent of AE into the floating construct for an instant blast. The resulting backlash of light and heat flipped the rubbery sludge back on itself like a tent flap, slapped by an angry hand. The air filled with the scent of singed flesh and rot.

“Run,” Wren said.

Jaden, who was frozen for a moment in mid wail, turned to follow as the spectral transportation darted to Wren's side. A momentary glance towards the luminescent disc by the two, revealed Lilly stowing away a slightly singed, mossy cloak. Even as they ran, the feeling of relief reverberated through the connection between Jaden and Wren. The only consequences of Wren's desperation move was a bit of frizzy hair and overexposed skin thanks to Lilly's quick thinking and reflexes.

“We're being surrounded. Something is actively controlling those...things,” Lilly anxiously intimated.

Wren and Jaden started speaking at the same time.

In an impressive display of listening skills Lilly said, “No, Wren. I only felt it the moment the circle around us closed and I have no idea on the hows or whys of it. That's not how my blessing works, love. What I do know, is that we have less than a minute to figure out what to do before we're swallowed by this...this creeping death.

“Could this be my fault? Could what they did to me have made me a focus for this? Would my death solve this problem?” Grimalikin said. A spark of madness danced in his eyes as he drew a dagger and placed it at his throat.

Yeah, definitely not as alright as I had originally thought.

“Don't you dare Little Gray-” Wren spat as he gave Jaden a warning look, feeling a sense of morbid hope bloom through his connection. He finished, “Even if what you said is true, the trap is sprung and killing yourself won't change anything. Give me a second everybody.”

No little black dots anywhere. Alright let's recall Solas and the transport. Damn it. If I was just one person lighter there's all kinds of things I could do. Do I have to let Little Gray die after all? No, and why the hell would I even think that!? Focus! Jaden feels like he has another plan. He thinks he can save himself and Lilly but he needs me.

“Spit it out Jaden. It might actually save us all,” Wren said a little shortly.

“I, I don't...” Jaden dithered.

“ Save it. I'm not mad but if you can do, whatever it is, with what you've got right now then I'll take responsibility for me and Little Gray. How sure are you that it'll work, Jaden?”

“Alright. Sorry for thinking it but if I use your servitor's strength to augment my own, I can make it to the destination with Lilly using underground flows.”

Wren strengthened spectral servant's construct as he said, “ Don't be sorry, be focused and be prepared. I've strengthened the construct but it might start breaking apart after a certain distance away from me...Little Gray, start climbing that tree. Once you reach the top, strip and bundle everything up.”

“It will be as you say,” Grimalkin hopped to obey the strange and unexplained order.

Determined to ignore Lilly's silent accusations at Jaden and himself, Wren thought at Jaden as he began climbing the tree , “For what it's worth, I actually commend your decisiveness. Unable to chose who to save, I'd risk losing us all. Mad love and respect, brother.”

Before wrapping up the upset but compliant Lilly, Jaden gave Wren a solemn nod. A barrier that existed between the two men, that neither knew existed, dissolved at that moment. A sense of transition between grudging to full acceptance of Wren's presence, in his and his beloved's life, from Jaden mingled with Wren's own understanding acceptance of Jaden's priorities and reverberated through their shared bond as The lovers seeped into the ground like so much spilled water.

Focusing on the task at hand, Wren began to climb the tree in earnest as he gazed up to the sight of Grimalkin, crouched and steadily balanced on an uppermost branch, every scrap of clothes and weaponry neatly bundled in his right hand. Looking down at Wren with an expression of innocent confusion and anticipation on his face, a spray of leaves teasingly but not entirely concealing his unintentional eroticism, made a devastatingly moving scene. Though it only lasted for the briefest of moments, quickly buried and made dull by his embodiment, Wren felt like hiding his face in shame. For the first time in his life, Wren had been aroused by a man. That deeply unwanted admittance did more damage to Wren's sense of self identity than even the loss of his original body and two months of Troy's careful grinding of Wren's emotional walls combined.

As Wren joined Grimalkin on a sister branch he began a juggle of multiple tasks. Careful not to overdo his limits, he dropped out of embodiment and unsummoned Tartarus. He stored away Grimalkin's bundle of clothes and weapons as he summoned spectral transportation. As he merged Sylph with the construct he surveyed the eerie sight below. A lake of black sludge decorated by multitudes of flora and partially digested animal carcasses was closing in.

We'll have to deal with this problem at some point. If it's not on the way back then it will be after I help all the people underground to the surface. Who knows what state I'll be in then... Ah, spectral servant just collapsed. Now, Undine's returned. Couldn't come at a better time...Lilly's fine, if anxious, and Jaden just feels really tired. That's a load off.

Wren nudged Grimalkin onto the flight capable disk as he handed him an egg with his original set of clothes he came with, as he merged back with Tartarus and summoned Solas.

“This is just in case. I'm going to leave you with a task to do if I fail.” The look of dawning understanding and horror warring with the deeply set conditioning of blind obedience warring on Grimalkin's face, left Wren deeply touched as he continued, “Give the egg to Troy and the cloths from my original world are for you. Can't have my little brother running naked through the woods can I? Wish I could give you more to hold on to but the flying version of this construct is already dangerously close to capacity.

“Stay hovering over this tree till I'm fully covered and if you sense no movement or activity from me for more than a full breath takes, I want you to say 'detour' and hang on till the disk lands. Oh and one more thing.”

Wren grabbed Grimalkin and pulled him through the space bending field, one hand on the small of Grimalkin's back and one on the back of his head, hugging him tightly and giving him a hard kiss. He didn't even spare the shocked young man a little tongue.

“ That's something brothers shouldn't really do but I'll be damned if I'm possibly gonna die without even kissing someone...Tell Jaden he better at least try to save some people for me. Feel free to forget all of this if I live. As a matter of fact, I'm begging you to forget all this if I survive.” Wren felt a distorted sort of pride for getting a 'rise' out of Grimalkin, even though he believed what he had done was all kinds of wrong.

Did I really just do that? Just blame it on adrenaline. Can't believe I just french kissed a guy I look at as my little brother. A little brother who almost gave me a boner? Oh, just stuff it for once, Lustitia. Hear what Liberalitas said? What I did right there, was fucked up. Oh, sorry mam. What I did was potentially harmful to his fragile psyche... Kind of disappointing I could hardly feel anything through this damn merge though.

Wren connected to the mark of faith and drew every last bit of it with the directive to help him succeed and survive this threat. And as the lake of greenery shrouded tar blob began closing in on the tree, Wren sent a thought along with a wisp of LE through the call mark that he had never used before. “I can't bring you out but if there's anything you can do to help me get through this you might want to try or else I'm not gonna be able to help you get at the Kyter Pulse. Sorry buddy. Not trying to extort you, just tellin it like it is.” A feeling of frustrated irritation pressed back at him.

Ten feet away from the tree, the inner edges of the blob had raised up to nearly half the tree's height. Wren registered the thought that it vaguely resembled a living La Brea Tar Pit before looking over and waving at Grimalkin. He let go of the tree and kicked off of it backwards. The large puddle-like entity stopped it's upward momentum to follow Wren down.

“Live, brother Wren, or I'll go looking for you in the Shadowlands once I'm done wi-” The rest of Grimalkin's words were lost in an all encompassing hum.

Wren had forcefully pushed Solas into the merge with Tartarus the very moment he made contact with the sludge. He barely had enough time to begin consciously pulling the sludge through himself, much less register what it felt like to be a living opening to the void before an intense headache spurred by a massive brain aneurysm claimed his consciousness.