Ripper

Night was upon the world as Ripper woke from his chrysalis. Integrating the mind of the Bramble Weaver Alpha was a worthwhile addition to his understanding. So much was left unsaid with the way Mathew communicated. It was as though he didn't feel the Hive at all, even though he was the nexus of it.

Information from their victim filled many gaps in Ripper's understanding. Eyes and vision were a novel concept, for Ripper viewed the world by sensing matter. Either a long distance through the air or a short space through thick materials.

Colors were beautiful and moved Ripper's heart as much as anything could. From comparing experiences, Ripper was confident that others were more emotional creatures.

The mother system clarified that this wasn't something that made other minds flawed or wrong. Ripper knowing about it would make it a better weapon, but it was not Ripper's place to be superior about it. Ripper didn't need the rule to see how much willpower those who felt emotions could wield. The downsides were just the price for those who were not born with a purpose. Ripper knew what it was created for.

Ripper felt a mild concern- no, that wasn't right. Pity is what Ripper felt for those trapped within the directionless struggle to find meaning.

Connected to the Hive, Ripper knew that Mathew wished to be left alone. There was nuance there. Mathew didn't mind an important interruption and wouldn't want Ripper or any bodyguard to keep others away.

Then Ripper would act on Mathew's wishes. Calling through the Hive, both Bone Weavers dutifully responded. They knew their place just as Ripper knew its own. This was good.

Now Ripper just had to relearn how to move. Its last effort at moving had been a killing success, but the barbed muscles were not nearly as complex as Ripper's new body.

Despite Ripper's best efforts, most of the Alpha Bramble Weaver's body could not be salvaged. Some ideas were still incorporated into Ripper's form. Joints hinged and popped as they were used for the first time. Each joint was tested for a full range of movement. Minor adjustments were made as real-life testing proved more valuable than thoughts alone.

Now the real test.

Crusty dried flakes broke off and fell around Ripper as it pushed off the ground. Ripper took time adjusting to balancing, the memories from four legged animals were not sufficient. Some of it was the adjustment to the hip that would allow Ripper to stand and move with more mobility than Mathew enjoyed. A greater part, it admitted, is the lack of experience.

So Ripper practiced. After stationary balance came moving while balanced. Then rotating a whole leg at a time. By the time the Bone Weavers arrived, Ripper was taking its first unsteady steps. Adjusting to new bodies was where members of the Hive excelled. The bone weavers chirped encouragement through the Hive. Despite Ripper's present inadequacies, they recognized their superior. By the time they arrived at the path which Mathew had cut into the overgrowth, Ripper could run as freely as the other bone beasts.

Next, Ripper realigned its hip to stand as Mathew does. Each step chewed up less distance. For the options that were taken away, more were presented. Moving the new and improved hands that Ripper designed was a mild delight. Fine and gross movements happened just as it had imagined.

Testing these hands further, Ripper grabbed a log-like vine leftover from Mathew's plant-based massacre. Choking up on the grip, Ripper swung the log like a sword. It was only a test no need to be too precise yet. Mathew once dreamed of spinning around a stick called a quarterstaff. Ripper attempted to perform those dream moves.

The first several rotations were excellent until the vine smashed against Ripper's humanoid pseudo-head. Just as well, now was not the time to fully practice this new form. Little of the expected violence was going to need precise accuracy.

As they operated across the edge of their Territory, Ripper conducted its relatively weak well of digestion magic. Beating back the overgrowth, Ripper refreshed the message carved into the face of the world that their Alpha had arrived. Using the same technique that Mathew used. Some conversion running to refill digestion, the rest eating the plants away.

Progress was slow but steady. Ripper was the last in their patrol formation. Each of the Bone Weavers was assigned to sniff out poachers.

Twice they tracked down a poacher's trial only to find the track ended at the border of the Territory. They were only children and none of them yet understand how fresh a trail needed to be to produce value. Finally, they came across a pungent odor that even Ripper's dead sense of smell could identify.

Little surprise, it came from the neighboring Bramble Weavers. Ending Mathew's primary irritation is what a good Hive would do. The trail led them to a fissure in the ground. It was a tight fit for Ripper, while the Bone Weavers could press against both sides of the rock wall to make their way down.

Scraping across the striated wall guided them as surely as any scent trail. A manufactured cave broke off the side of the fissure. The Bone Weavers had trepidation about continuing into the dark, so Ripper led the way. In the cave, a handful of Bramble Weavers crouched, watching the entryway that emitted scraping sounds. There were also plants of some sort it was evident that the Bramble Weavers were trying to harvest carefully.

All the little twitches in their ears and head told Ripper they were utterly blind. Lifting all its claws, Ripper pressed muscle pads down into the rock. The noise it now made was barely a whisper. With the others scraping their way slowly into the cave, Ripper had all the noisy cover one could ask for.

Ripper opened its palm and readied the spike inside it. Growths of cartilage applied tension as the spike was drawn back. A quiet ticking noise could be heard as the ratcheting mechanism dialed back. In position, Ripper spoke through the Hive commanding the Bone Weavers to bark.

Wurp. Wurp.

Their distorted noise provided cover for the attack. Ripper's bone spike drove into the back of its skull, severing the spine in one go. Easing the fresh corpse to the ground, Ripper continued.

After the second assassination, their behavior changed. The smell of blood and voided excretion systems. With cold detachment, Ripper cataloged its deficiency in predicting combat.

Catching another as they all ran for the door, Ripper forced the corrosive digestion magic into the monster's lungs. It would not die quickly, but it was eliminated as a threat. Ripper wouldn't have used the precious magic for it, but the Bone Weavers hadn't been tested yet and Ripper didn't want to leave them alone.

Sensing their bumbling retreat in the dark with clear precision, Ripper got close but merely subdued one of the three escapees. It was time to watch what the rest of the Hive was capable of.

The conflict was two vs. two in the dark. Monstrous blows went both ways. As the converted fought the origin of their template, the differences became progressively apparent. Monsters of bone traded better against the hide and fur protected Bramble Weavers.

At first, the resolution seemed apparent, but still, Ripper watched. There were always improvements to be born.

A bite sunk into one of the four front legs of the Bone Weaver. Skittering between the plates, the fang landed in the soft flesh of a joint. Chattering in pain, the Bone Weaver retaliated against the stationary head. Several blows broke the occipital lobe, dangling the monster's eye against its cheek. The following rain of blows ended the threat. That was another good reason to avoid having eyes. Over reliance on them bread weakness on top of having a strategic target.

The remaining two vs. one fight was a quick wrap up. They dragged the captive to the surface in a three limb crawl, Ripper reached through the Hive to check the condition of the poisoned one... A.R.T.

Ripper felt odd about the Hive having names. The feeling of wrongness that the system couldn't tolerate was evaporated. Mathew named A.R.T. then, so it would be.

The last living poacher fought in Ripper's grip again. Ripper really didn't want to break any more limbs. Another coordinated effort through the Hive, and Soldier Boy sank its fangs into the Bramble Weaver. They watched as the new poison started to run its course.

From Ripper's sense, the monster's flesh got thicker. The effect radiated from the bite down each blood vessel until Ripper's sense could no longer penetrate the matter. The Hive showed what Soldier Boy and A.R.T. saw. Past the green fur the skin was turning to stone... no bone.

Ripper released the monster to scamper back to its Territory. Sending it back as a message to stay away may or may not work, but it was one of Mathew's ideas, so Ripper would try it.

Consume. Ripper messaged them after dragging up the remaining corpses.

They sent back the feeling of hunger and helpless subservience. Stretching its sense, Ripper looked into the A.R.T.'s mouth. To Ripper's surprise, it ended in a barbed bone plate. Not a throat. They breathed through oversized noses. The rest of their body had nothing to digest with. Instead they saved weight and optimized their form to killing alone.

This was why they were lesser members of the Hive. They could not eat on their own.

Tapping into Mathew's perk, Ripper transferred its reserves to them. Finally, Ripper felt like it could take the initiative on a problem. So far, everything had originated as one of Mathew's thoughts or feelings. Feeding the Hive was a burden Ripper could fix before Mathew even knew about it.

After feeding the patrol beasts and consuming all the slain invaders, Ripper continued their circuit. Refreshing the clear cut path and leading the squad back to the Hive proper. The Hub.

One more task was pressing to get started. Upon inspection of A.R.T.'s injured paw, Ripper decided it would not be a part of this mission. Even undamaged, taking Soldier Boy down to the womb of the Spire was still quite tricky. There were no clear paths for the landbound to follow. Several of the jagged fissures would permit travel part of the way down, but not all the way to the bottom as Ripper's interpretation of Mathew's plan required.

Ripper went first, trailblazing a path. Equipped to sense any cracks and layers invisible to the eye, it was a task Ripper was uniquely suited to. None of the rock faces shifted or failed to hold their weight. Some needed to be carved out to allow for efficient climbing.

Seeing the trail left behind by the infant Night Stalker, Ripper angled the path to make use of it.

After settling on the stable surface, Riper directed Soldier Boy to produce its bramble seed. Dark and light flashed back and forth in the return message, confusing Ripper. Again Ripper made its demand.

Clearer this time, the progression of days played out. Ripper should have picked that up. Mathew shared many days with Ripper after all. Learning how those with vision thought of the world would make Riper a better weapon.

Waiting days before getting started did not fit Mathew's flame of ambition. These projects needed to be done yesterday. Ripper began channeling digestion magic into Soldier Boy. The beast quaked with pain but stood resolute. It was tricky to figure out how the application of power worked immediately.

The injuries seemed minimal when Ripper drew conversion and the template for the Bone Weavers from Mathew into its purpose. Reserves rapidly began to warp into the seed Soldier Boy grew in its chest.

By the time Ripper had a good grasp on that application of magic, Soldier Boy's chest split open, and a ball like shell dropped out. Closing its chest the Bone Weaver prodded the seed with its nose. The seed split open right away and drove a white root into the hard stone of the Spire.

Ripper was drawn back. Is that a powerful living weapon?

Soldier Boy sent over that it was only with stone and ground. A specialized tool.

Worry about being immediately substituted for a better model of weapon eased away by both the system's influence and the clear facts.

Feeding more and more reserves into the plant, it extended a vine around the wall of the hole. Soldier Boy guided the spiral growth as Ripper directed.

The plant grew in segments of pale shells that would split like a molting crustation. Allowing another segment to grow from the end like a spike before it too would molt. Some segments would extend out needle sharp thorns or razor like ridges. Other segments would branch, creating new runners to fill the air or roots to anchor them to the land.

Ripper channeled reserves until it was worried about burdening Mathew's supply. The twist of vine didn't even make it a tenth of the way to the surface, but without taking the foundation all the way to the bottom of the Spire, such a tall tower would fall. The magnitude of the project was part of the reason Ripper needed it to begin right way.

It would be seen for miles and dominate the sky. Just as Mathew wished it.