Ch. 2.30 | An Errand Complete
PoV: Sanya
If she had a mouth, she would have grinned mischievously.
So what if she could not take it over, what if she did not have to? . . . What if she could do something else to regain control?
She had access to the entity's mind, after all. What if she could remove the parts she did not want, or reduce its mind enough that she could take control over it?
She infiltrated the part of the eldritch parasite mind controlling its limbs. She was but an ant walking amongst a giant, not even able to be noticed. She was but a small itch against something so vast and currently occupied.
Now . . .
She wrenched control of one limb. Merely one of dozens.
She began to manually construct [Organic Consumption] . . .
. . . and then cast it on herself.
The purple, Spatial mana gathered into formation, and then locked into place.
She tried to set the target to the consciousness beside her.
Emphasis on “tried.”
Could this even work? She felt silly, pointing the eldritch limb back at the body—herself?—and hoping it would hit her mind.
Ah, wait, maybe it could. The mind was a physical thing. So, could she destroy certain parts of it?
She was desperate and fresh out of ideas. She wanted to be free. She wanted control.
She did not want any more citizens of Speleothem to die.
Please work please work please work.
The eldritch entity writhed in pain as the spell cast. It screeched. Its noise echoed through the cavern and caused loose rock to fall down from the ceiling.
Sanya felt like an internal organ had just burst. That . . . was definitely not good. Yet, maybe it was, actually? Because she hurt the eldritch entity?
Yes! Maybe?
Sanya cast [Organic Consumption] again.
The mana went into the eldritch's body and sundered whatever organ functioned as a brain for a second time.
Sanya mentally sorted which parts she would keep and which parts to target. Maybe it functioned like human minds, where physical parts roughly corresponded with certain functions.
. . . Roughly.
Sanya went after a lot of things—its sense of self, and such. Its goals and wants and allegiances.
She thought it was a good idea to save the memories—of other worlds, of spells, as well as the knowledge on how to function.
She would make the mind small enough for her to take control, to meld it with her own.
After far too many [Organic Consumptions], the entity stopped moving and consuming.
Because Sanya did not want to right now.
She subsumed what was left of the mind for her own, now tattered, like a torn canvas. It was weak and vulnerable.
Without a will of its own, for Sanya had destroyed that, she easily took control of the mind for herself.
While this happened, she was vaguely aware of still being barraged by spells from various mages. The Temporal mages and soldiers of Speleothem took the opportunity of Sanya not moving to attack her.
There was no pain, for their attacks could not pierce her.
So, she continued to take stock of her new mind.
She was still Sanya, but now she was so much more. She could call upon an endless memory, or recall an eldritch spell. She could move her limbs and her body freely, and had an innate understanding for how her body worked and all her abilities.
She had taken over an infiltrator-herald. An eldritch entity that could slip into the world far more easily than other entities, as a small piece, and slowly grow. It could help integrate itself into any local magic system, find the magic that specialized in space, and then manipulate it. She would rend the barrier between worlds, and would herald the rest of her kind.
She knew how to open portals—by directing Spatial magic into a concentrated spot and overwhelming it.
While the entity's weakness had stopped itself from opening gaps in the world to teleport or visit the barrier, it had fully hatched, and now Sanya had that power.
Eldritch entities were not a defined form, they could shape themselves how they wanted to fit them better, and at will.
Ah.
Very nice.
Sanya tore open a portal in front of her and moved through it, appearing into that dark empty plane where the barrier between worlds sat.
Much better. She could rest here, away from Speleothem and all the people trying to attack her (with good reason, at least).
Then, Sanya morphed herself back into the form she had before—human.
Except she wasn't human anymore—or rather, just human. She still had her human mind, and everything. Although, besides that, maybe she had shed the rest of her humanity? Did she only need a human mind to be considered human? How much human mind did she need to have to be considered human? She had, like, half an eldritch brain now. Nope! She was not philoso . . . philosophizing? Was that a word? Anyway! She wasn't doing whatever that was right now.
Anyway, human or not, this was close enough.
Unfortunately, she was entirely ephemeral and gray. She did not need to shape anything between her legs, because whatever form it took would be useless, senseless meat. Neither would she need a chest . . . although she wanted one, because it was comfortable, and to help convey to others that she was a woman. Yup! This eldritch entity was going to take on a human gender!
Hey, wasn't Mai going to do the whole chest-forming thing for Sanya, once she learned how?
Sanya gave herself hair on her head, or, well, something that mostly resembled it, anyway. She skipped out on hair on the rest of her body. It was even more ephemeral than the rest of her body, like ghostly strands. At least it behaved like human hair (because she made it so).
She formed toes, fingers, and nails. She formed every joint she could think of. Ears, eyes, and a face, which resembled her before, but a bit more feminine. More tolerable than what she had before. Subtle, but different in the ways that mattered.
She would let Mai do the rest.
Did Sanya even have flesh? Would Mai be able to use her spells on Sanya? Ah, well. One thing to find out in the future.
Sanya did not have her scars along her arms anymore. A bit of her past, however dark, was gone.
Sanya shrugged it off. At least she could display her arms now if she wanted to. Speaking of arms, she kept the normal two. Although she could summon the detached, ghostly limbs if she wanted to.
Done! Finished! She was back to being a human, kind-of . . .
Best not to think about that too hard or maybe she'd start panicking again.
Sanya was about to return back to Speleothem when she realized she was naked.
Oops?
Aww, her witch hat got destroyed too. She didn't have seven sets of that like her Spatial mage robes.
“[Pocket Repository],” her voice was the same as before. Barely trained, hiding far too many hints of her gross, masculine origin.
Sanya winced.
Then almost panicked as she realized the entity had no knowledge of how to shape its voice.
Aw. Can't have everything, I guess.
Sanya retrieved one of her Spatial mage robes and donned it. Then she used eldritch magic to tear a hole in the world and return to Speleothem.
Surely tearing that hole would not be weakening the barrier or the leylines or whatever, right? . . .
Okay, maybe she should stick to Spatial teleportations for now . . . She may have just cast the equivalent of opening up another portal.
Oh.
It was only temporary.
The portal she used began to mend. It closed off entirely for others’ use, but still left a weakness in reality that would slowly end.
Sanya paused, taking in the scene.
Building facades had collapsed along the cavern floor, as if smashed in by giant boulders. Streets were ruined, torn into like jagged claws had raked across them. Strings of llumifruits had disappeared along the streets, lamp posts fallen over. Dozens of bodies were strewn across, shriveled and gray, as if all water had been drained from them. It was mostly the clothes left over that showed humans had been there.
Mages and soldiers alike ran around and tried to clean up as much as they could. Hauling off bodies as families mourned and cried over the dead.
That was me. Sanya realized.
I did that.
She frowned, and the gaping maw in her chest returned, making her feel numb and horrible.
Sanya turned towards the edge of the cavern and headed up the levels towards the tailor-clothier that had her clothes.
What could she do to make it up to Speleothem? Anything at all?
Die. The word echoed in the deepest darkest recesses of her mind.
Sanya pushed it down.
Maybe she could donate money or something. She had . . . a lot? Some? Maybe she could ask Aisha to gift them money—for repair and a gesture of good will and everything.
Sanya pushed open the door to the tailor and walked in. She stepped up to the counter and waited.
“I'll be with you in a second!” The tailor announced from the back.
Sanya idly glanced around the shop, looking at all the clothes on display. In a short minute, the tailor emerged from the back room, behind the counter.
“May I help you?” Her “you” trailed off at the end. “S-sanya?”
She nodded. “That's me.”
“W-what happened to you? You look both prettier and worse at the same time—why is your skin like that?”
Sanya winced. “How much do you know about . . . everything?”
“Just a second. Let me go get your clothes,” the tailor went into the back again and then returned with a pile of clothes in her hands. She set them on the counter. “Here you go. I believe you already paid? . . .”
“Thank you,” Sanya said, nodding. She opened her [Pocket Repository] and handed the tailor a handful of extra silver coins.
“You don't have to . . .” She took the coins. “Um. About, uh, ‘everything’, I just heard that the Voidwitch and some other mage have parasites. And unless they die, then we're all dead to dangerous monsters? . . . Just a minute ago some large monster crashed through here—well, lower—until it disappeared. It made me scared like no other . . .”
“Oh. You don't—uhhh . . . I'm . . . I'm . . . the Voidwitch. My skin and everything is a result of the parasite.”
“Oh. Oh,” the tailor said. “Ah . . . I kind-of have to . . . report you? . . . I mean, like . . . Things. It's complicated. I'm . . . please leave?”
Considering every city except Calderae and Hope wanted her dead, yeah, that made sense. An enemy or whatever could not exactly stay in the city. It probably wasn't exactly a good look for anyone to be seen hanging around her, either.
Not to mention anyone who was told whatever anti-Sanya propaganda by Zulfaqar or the librarian or whoever did this would want to stay around Sanya for long. She probably was alienated or made to seem like her own monster. The skin color certainly did not help with that.
“Yes. Right. I'll get going. Sorry,” Sanya placed all her clothes into her [Pocket Repository] and then cast, “[Globetrot Anchor - Calderae].”
Where she found herself outside Calderae, where she had set her Anchor. The city was off in the distance. A road to Sanya's side led towards it.
Not that this walk mattered much in the grand scheme of things, but it would have been convenient to set an Anchor in the hall. Mai and . . . and Zahira had been the one with anchors directly to the hall.