Argus, The Homunculus

I switched to a new body, the old one falling asleep on the brothel bed. I enjoyed having an extra body just sleeping in my territory, ready to spring into action at any moment. Each body was cute in its own way. Some had red hair, others had orange, while some even had blue. It was a byproduct of my soul inhabiting them. Those gnomes knew what they were doing when it came to making quality bodies.

I almost smiled, at the curvy figure covered by the blanket. Those kissable orange lips slightly parted. The long curly hair still contained beneath those orange robes. Pretty bodies had their benefits. Men were more suggestible, and rapists would pull their punches for fear of hurting the goods. It really sucked for those attacking me, since the Blind Eye special was becoming less a threat and more a promise.

I sat up with my rested body, stretching. There was so much you could get done when you didn't need to sleep. Though sleep was probably the one thing I missed from being an elite Giant. Those blissful hours where I could rest, when there was so little work to do. Now, it was just work, work, and more work. I had to take care of my girls and make sure their clients were treating them right. Then there was hiring the right people to make sure everything was running smooth.

I couldn't be everywhere, not like Gray could. Thinking about him made me frown, as I hugged my knees to my chest. The bed was so soft, and the blankets were still warm. I wiped my cheek from a few errant tears that squeezed their way out. I broke him when I burned down his warehouse. He wasn't connecting to anyone, and he even attacked us when we entered his territory. I lost a few bodies just trying to talk, and those results were disturbing.

He didn't know who I was, who Scix was. He didn't know anyone in the Hive, and some of his bodies only chased so far. He acted as if there was an invisible wall, but those bodies were likely tethered to their local hive. My vision blurred, oh look I was crying again. I wiped my face, this was happening each time I swapped. I think the emotions were too much for my bodies right now. I always got sentimental, and my mind wandered to what I did.

I wanted to protect the Hive, to guide it in a way our Queen would be proud of. I was hoping my little attack would wake Gray up, we were supposed to be at war. He was just sitting there, doing nothing. He was supposed to grab water and put out the fire. I knew he could do it, so I didn't even stay behind to watch. It was Gray of all bugs! The personality our Queen relied on most! I didn't expect his bodies to suddenly scramble with some running off in different directions with bugs in their arms. I didn't mean for the warehouse to burn down, and for this to happen.

A groan escaped my lips, as I let my body cry it out. My hands were shaking, but letting it out now was better than dealing with it later. Scix was growing his army in the dead-zones. He was out there, moving between the dead-zones and gaining more beasts or monsters to control. He was out there... why am I repeating myself? I shook my head, slapping my cheeks. Moping won't get me anywhere. I had to do something, anything to keep the balance.

Scix would attack and end Gray if he became a liability. He was preparing for that eventuality, while I had to slowly grow my forces. If Scix was to kill Gray, I would have him at least tell us what happened. I got up, most of the guilt cried out. I wasn't like Gray, with his bodies and sharp mind. I wasn't like Scix who had his influence spread out over his army. I could only control one body, but what I had over both of them was my magic.

A ball of orange flame appeared floating above my hand. I focused on it, compressing it as the flames grew hotter. I guided the heat away from me, focusing on controlling every aspect of the fire. I knew Scix could only use mind magic if he had enough bodies on one person. He didn't have the Queen to help him form links. Vampires had their domination, and Gray's body allowed him to steal magic from others. Though I learned something when I lost those bodies trying to talk to him. He couldn't use my blood, the blood of a homunculus.

My body was only a vessel for my soul. It couldn't eat and was mostly self-sufficient. There was no waste I had to deal with, as the crystal filtered Aether from the air itself to fuel its movements. I could keep them going through will, but it was better to let them rest and restore themselves naturally. They were very slow to recover from any damage, a simple bruise taking days or even weeks to heal. It was slower than even a human's natural regeneration.

It was a good thing the gnomes were doing better than they ever had been. I was pouring coin and material into their research. Their little ones grew quickly, and the constant rituals helped their numbers swell from fifty to just shy of a hundred. They were loyal because I protected them from any that tried to stop their research. They saw the perfect homunculus body as a challenge, and they were hungry to deliver results. They feared and respected me in equal measures, knowing I would always keep them safe so long as they kept at their work.

More focus was put on the fire as I used my talent to switch my magic from mind and pyro to fire and pyro. I felt my control over the flames double thanks to 'Double Magic.' The flames sparked at the top, the heat sweltering in the room as I controlled every part of it. I refused to let them cling to the sheets and catch the room on fire. I didn't allow them to damage my sleeping body with their heat.

Pyromancy created flames from nothing, burning the Aether itself to spark such fire into our world. It was less 'burning' Aether than merely changing its color. Aether was all around us, it was unlimited and endless. The only limits a person had, was how much of it one's soul could influence. Some called this holding, directing, or even painting, the Aether. You 'colored' it with your intent and let it influence the world as you 'let go' in a sense.

I knew there was more to it than that, I saw magic used by others. I understood that just as people are different, so too is how they use their magic. Alchemists 'stained' the Aether with their soul, leaving bits and pieces on what they work with, much like one left a smudge on clean glass they held. Elementalists had stained their very souls, allowing them to direct similar colors in the area around them. It gave them greater control, at the limitation of only being able to use what was in the environment. The 'mancers' however, their souls were cleaner in a sense. The stain was there, but it was 'watered' down for lack of a better term. Diluted in a sense.

It was that dilution that allowed them to create. They channeled the Aether through their souls, like directing a stream. Their control was much less refined compared to the elementalists. Then there were the lords or monarchs, whatever they wanted to be called, they were the true masters of their element. Both elementalists and 'mancers' could become a lord, but it required a true understanding of their magic. When I first learned how to see souls, I almost didn't believe my eyes when I saw one.

They were an old man, simply buying food for their daily meal. Completely unassuming, save for when I saw their soul. It was radiating the color of their magic around them. Like a bubble, with their soul in the center and a core centered inside that as well. I followed them for the entire day, watching as they cooked their meal in an instant. The magic's strength wasn't based on the power their soul held, but their understanding of it. It laughed at everything I had thought I knew about magic. It was enough to make me forget about what I did to Gray for a few minutes.

I approached that man, and he just looked at me as though I were crazy. He didn't accept anything I offered him. No amount of coin would buy his knowledge, no offers of physical gratitude could change his mind. I managed to hug him under the guise of thanking him for what he showed me. A few of the bugs inside my robe carefully crawled onto his back where he couldn't feel it. I managed to track him to a building before those bugs all died, the words, "Only heralds allowed, " coming to me in their last instance of life.

My fire was snuffed, as I waved my hand, unable to emulate what I had seen. My understanding was still lacking, but if I didn't focus on something my thoughts would drift back to what I did. I knew the Queen would reach out to us at any moment. It had been a month, as I painfully counted every day hoping she could fix him. I wanted to be told it would be alright, that everything would be fine. I switched to dreamer and pyro, as the last of the heat disappeared.

|"Argus."| Her voice came to me instantly. There was only warmth as she said my name. I sat on the bed, crying into my hands. She was okay, she was still doing well. I was so worried she wouldn't talk to us again. No one was there to protect her, and I knew it was because we weren't ready for the journey she was taking.

I immediately sent all the information and memories I had to her. There were no secrets I would keep from her, everything from how to see souls, and what I learned about magic. I think I sent what I did to Gray about three times, including what Scix told me about the warehouse after I left. He charged me for it, but we were supposed to be at war. I complained a little but made sure she knew I would accept any punishment she deemed fit for what I did. I just didn't expect what happened to happen.

I poured out all my emotions, practically wailing as I sent them again. She wasn't responding, she wasn't saying anything. I sent them again after a second passed. Then I felt a surge of power pressing against me. |"Shush! I've been saying your name after each packet you sent."| I couldn't say anything, as she let up a little. Her power wrapping around me as if to pull me closer to her. I didn't know what she was doing but just accepted it.

I saw a star-filled sky, as someone stroked my hair. I wasn't in my body anymore, my mind and soul had been taken out of it. It made sense, I attacked someone in the Hive. I felt the anxiety wash over me but started to laugh and cry at the same time. This is what I had feared without even being aware of it. She was going to kill me for what I did. She was going to take everything that was me, and let me be a part of her once more. I'd do the same to anyone else that hurt another personality as I did. I'd be cruel about it, I'd make them suffer. I might even let who was hurt, do it themselves.

I took a slow breath, closing my eyes. "Please, please fix Gray." I felt like I was lifted up, and held close to someone. It was a familiar feeling, like when one of the girls held me to their chest. I heard a small sigh, as memories flashed through my mind. They were the memories of our Queen, and what she had experienced on her journey so far. It slowed down once it focused on a small child taking their first steps. They looked like Pandora but were clearly different. Their antenna was strange, rising as four instead of two where they bent and fanned out like a hood. They looked wrong, with four sets of arms, but the upper set split at the elbow for two extra forearms.

I didn't know what to make of the little one that dragged a blanket, while the other was wrapped around their body. She looked frail and sick, she smelt of death, and I noticed the blood clinging to the sheets. She was bleeding, smears of black blood trailing behind her first steps. An armored human quickly caught her when she started to fall, and I felt the poor thing was too weak to even survive falling from her feet. My Queen's voice came in, low and sad. "That is Ember, my second daughter. What you see is coming from the Hive in the castle."

The little one was carried back to her cradle, her eyes closing as she struggled to even breathe. Her face was covered in black blood, as she started to seize when she was laid down. I had thought Pandora was frail, but this was something else entirely. "Why... why are you showing me this?" I looked up, to see my Queen was holding me close to her chest, my sight restored.

"You were crying Argus, and I needed something to snap you out of it." She calmly spoke to me, I didn't see a hint of anger on her face, but she was watching my every movement. I could feel her scanning my every thought. I saw love there, but it was well hidden behind her cold eyes. "Would you kill my daughter?"

I felt control over the bugs watching the now sleeping child in the crib. I could move them, it wouldn't be hard, just a few flesh carvers to bite at the neck. She was already losing so much blood, she had to be close to death. "Are you asking me to?" I shook my head, not understanding why she wanted me to even consider this.

"There are things I cannot do, Argus. If she dies by your hand, then my own are clean. She is suffering and I do not know what the King has done to her. She may never help the Hive, she might be a sink for resources and end up wasting them." My Queen looked up at the sky, as I saw the first tears she ever cried in front of me. They were few, but they carried a heavy burden.

She cared for this little one, even as pitiful as they were. It hurt her more than anything else, that she wasn't able to protect a member of her Hive, just as it hurt me to watch my Queen suffer. I realized she couldn't do it herself, that she would probably expect me to feel the same way if my new bodies were to bear their own. Every giant was once a breeder, and I had felt nothing from the larvae that died. I held control over the bugs, watching the poor miserable girl still drawing shallow breaths. I couldn't do it, my Queen had asked a question. "If you told me to, I would. It would hurt, and there are others more suited for such a task, but we serve you. Please, I don't want to."

I could feel her going through my thoughts still, it was impossible to lie, but I wasn't sure what I should do. I felt my Queen's warm touch gently stroking my back, she sought to comfort me. Her smile was subdued as she looked at me. "That is a wonderful answer, Argus. I know Scix would do so without hesitation. That Gray would contemplate the reasons behind asking him, before talking himself into doing it. The others are slowly catching up to you elites, but they are not prepared for the burden of such a question. Not yet, at least. This is why I need your opinions."

I lowered my head, "I have doubts... I realize everyone will protect the Hive. To be the shield was the purpose I gave myself, but I have failed." I knew she wasn't going to end me, and now was as good a time as any to ask. "How am I supposed to be the protector, when everyone else seeks the glory of our Hive?"

The Queen closed her eyes, softly humming. "I knew you would ask me this. You're smart Argus, and I know you'll figure it out. Let me ask you a question. Who do you consider to be a part of the Hive?"

I listed the name of every bug and personality I knew our Queen accepted within our fold. I stated the countless millions of bugs both below and above ground. I stated the names of her two daughters and Richard. I listed Robert and his wife. I counted Wyatt even though I wasn't sure given what I knew of our Queen's current issue with him. I added the children that held the lice our Queen made, the ones protected by Gray. I listed off the children of those we kept safe within Robert's warehouse. I struggled but finally decided to call out the names of every gnome and person that worked for me.

My Queen let out a soft laugh, "You're adding others I haven't approved." There was no disapproval in her words, even her brushing the hair from my face was filled with kindness. We were staring at each other, and I realized her pupils had changed. They were similar to the voices above us, those that took the form of stars.

I gasped as I realized something. "You have the stars above us, not below!" I swallowed hard, as she chuckled again. She put the entirety of the Hive above herself. She was the Queen, yet she put herself below everyone else! It struck me, as I teared up. As we served her, she served us. Our Queen felt she was nothing without her Hive, just as we felt there could be no glory without her.

She tilted her head, "Yes, I do." It was a calm statement, even while I was choking back the emotions this left me with. I had been so blind! She kissed my forehead. "Gray will not connect to me." The words were supplemented with the picture of her bounty, and the memory of her attempt to connect to him. He had pulled away in such a way that made it appear as though it were a flinch. The second attempt lasted mere milliseconds before he pulled away again.

Those were not the actions of someone that wanted to rejoin our Queen. His reactions to her touch were not that of the broken hoping to be fixed. Something was happening, and that might have been Gray's desperate plea to be left alone. He wasn't talking to us, but the Queen felt there was something more. She let me know her doubts of his betrayal but wanted me to prepare. Gray's actions were his own, thus I could not be judged for what he chose to do. "What am I to do?"

My Queen gave me a brilliant smile, that was radiant as I looked up at her with the stars twinkling above. "Scix wouldn't consider the people in our Hive to be a true part of it. His personality was born of malice and suspicion, while yours was born from the feelings I got when first saving Cynthia and Drake." I nodded, knowing this was true. That memory from before I came to be, the Harpers plucking their webs, Drake dying from poison. There was no doubt both mother and child would have died that night, had my Queen not decided to explore.

She was silent, forcing me to ask again, "What am I to do?"

I felt her embrace shift, to hold my shoulders. A hand cupped my chin, as I was made to meet her gaze. "What do you think you are supposed to do? I do not need those that mindlessly follow my command. Deep down, you understand that Gray's questioning was why I gave him so much responsibility. Now, he is in a predicament and we do not know if he has defected or not. I wonder why he has chosen to betray us now, when he had the opportunity before. Scix will seek to end him when he finds my bounty. What does it mean to protect, Argus?"

I felt the doubt falling away from me, as understanding grew. The Queen serves us, as we serve her. The best way to grow the Hive is; to try new things. Our Queen didn't need blind followers, or zealously loyal fools. The words came from my mouth, determination growing with each one before. "I am the shield, and I shall protect everyone that belongs to the Hive. If they betray us, I will seek to understand why, before ending them with all the power at my disposal. Scix shall not ruin Gray, nor shall Gray be allowed to kill Scix. In accordance to the war, I will claim territory and grow my power until I am able to subdue them both. This is my choice, and I will consider your opinion once you state it, my glorious Queen."

She grinned, as her grip released me. We were still within the domain of her mind, but she allowed me to stand on my own and face her. "What if I tell you that both are unfit? That I want you to slay them both?"

I steadied myself with a slow breath and closed my eyes. I considered her question and met her gaze once more. "Then I shall ask for proof and argue for their survival. I will defy you if I ever feel you are wrong. Should the worst come, I will work with the others to subdue even you, so that we may keep the glory of our Hive."

My Queen's eyes began to glow more brilliantly. "You would openly defy me then? You would seek to subdue me, even at the cost of your life?" She savored every word, but there was no anger behind them. I knew this is what she wanted, no, what she needed. Our Queen wasn't perfect, and we were born from her. None of us were perfect, but the Hive deserved the best solutions available.

I bowed to her, "Yes, and I will regret every second of it. I would ask if this is the conclusion you wanted me to come to, but my eyes have been opened. If I have failed you, then please, end me here. If not, then I ask for the strength to do what I seek. As you give your all for the Hive, I can do nothing less."

I felt her go through my memories before ten strange entities were summoned. She gave me insight, and I gazed upon the wisps, unsure of what she was doing. My eyes went wide, as she plucked memories from the Hive. Ideas born from Isaac, my recent resolve to protect, and musings from Gray. More than any magic I had seen before, I saw complete control and realized what being a dreamer meant. I fell to my knees, wanting to kneel, but unable to take my eyes off the beautiful display before me.

My Queen had created a new personality before my very eyes. I could feel the power of their soul, as it was given a purpose. She spoke, as she started on the second one, "I need two to protect Luf'Ard, and three to protect the village. My soul has already grown faster than I expected through reconnecting with all of you. My body cannot hold it all, so instead of wasting such growth, I shall grant your request. These ten shall serve you on your mission. Teach them well, Argus."

I lowered my head in reverence, "Thank you." I whispered, before watching as she created more. The magic of a dreamer was where the soul and mind met. I had used it to see souls, while our Queen used that knowledge she gained from me. She perfected the theories and ideas I had and showed me why she was our Queen. It was as if she was playing a sorrowful song. I saw glimpses of a tiny elf girl fleeing from one star to the next, while the stars she had been to just seconds before dimmed.

Alice had lived despite the death of her brain, as her soul had merged with the Hive. She carried herself in the back of its mind, living as another whispering voice. The monster that had claimed her body always struggling to catch her, and rid itself of the foreign thoughts. Their struggles created the first personalities, that would fall to silence themselves. They were not forgotten by either Alice or the monster that chased her. I looked at those standing before me, without names.

From that song, I knew I could never replicate this. I might do something similar, but it would have to be my own unique song. I was far too weak compared to my Queen, but I would raise my strength to meet her. The names of those first personalities were uttered to each new one created here. They were mine, and I wouldn't let them go. My Queen smiled warmly, allowing such a silly thing.