Monster Girl Uprising

They had just finished gathering all the mid-cure people into one place for easier transport back to the ship when, as one, their cures finished. Fortunately, Maia had been waiting near Anya, in case the woman got violent after her cure.

Still, Maia found herself surprised when she looked at Anya for the first time. Maia instinctively recognized her as an ‘automaton’, but her appearance resembled a doll more than anything. Her skin was unnaturally smooth and unblemished, her elbows and knees had been replaced with odd ball-like things, and her body was divided into several distinct segments anywhere a major body part would connect to another.

She turned to face Maia, an expressionless look on her face. “So, you are the new Mistress, now?” She asked.

Maia paused. “I am the queen of this new nation, but I’m not sure I would call myself a mistress. At least…probably not in the way Katrina was your mistress.”

“Then who is?” Anya asked.

“Um…you?” Maia ventured. “You’re in charge of your own life now. As long as you’re not going to fight against us, you can do whatever you want and we won’t complain.”

“What if I don’t want to do anything?”

“Then do nothing.” Galiena said, walking up to them and casting a pitying look at Anya. “You can sit in the ship’s hold until you find something you want.”

“I understand.” Anya said, standing up. “If you need me, I will be in the ship’s hold.”

“Don’t you want a bed or something?” Maia asked. “We can probably arrange that.”

“I won’t be sleeping, why would I need a bed?”

“A chair, then?” Maia offered.

“Unnecessary.” Anya replied. “I will be perfectly fine with the ship’s floor. I will feel more stable anyway.”

Alexis walked over at that moment, watching Anya guardedly. Galiena turned to her, giving her a smile. “Excellent timing, Alexis. Please escort Anya to the cargo hold of the ship. She will be sitting on the floor until she finds something she wishes to do.”

Alexis frowned. “Should we be leaving her unguarded?”

“She will not be an issue.” Galiena replied confidently. “At least not for a few weeks.”

“How can you be sure?” Maia asked.

“I have seen this before.” Galiena explained. “If a person’s mind is thoroughly broken, their sense of self completely eroded by magic, this is what happens when they are cured. The cure may fix physical maladies, but it is purposefully light on fixing mental damage; it only does the minimum required to undo the curse.

“As such, people like this will require rehabilitation before they are capable of acting on their own. For Anya, we will likely want to send people down during free time to work on helping her. Once that is finished, it would likely be prudent for Maia to redo the cure process, so she may receive a form that more properly reflects who she and what she wants.”

“Is that alright with you, Anya?” Maia asked.

“Why would it not be?”

“You don’t feel offended that Galiena essentially called you broken?” Alexis asked.

“It seems correct.” Anya said. “Even if it wasn’t, why would I take offense at her words? That would just mean that my efforts are not enough.”

“Right…well, follow me, I’ll get you situated, I guess.” Alexis sighed.

Maia watched the two go, a frown on her face. “Is this…common?” She asked.

“More than we would like, but in the grand scheme of things, no.” Galiena replied. “To break a mind so thoroughly is something only extremely powerful mages or very wealthy people can do. Still, you can expect to find one or two of these sorts with every major city we take.”

Sylvie touched down next to them. “Was that Anya with Alexis?” She asked. “What’s the deal with her?”

“She’s…” Maia trailed off, not sure how to word it. “Empty.” She finally decided.

“Empty?” Sylvie asked, frowning.

“It would seem that being under Katrina’s control her entire life left her unable to think or act for herself.” Galiena explained. “She will require significant rehabilitation before she is able to function as a person. Luckily, since she is an automaton, as long as she does not do much, she will require very little sustenance, so we should not need to worry about her starving to death if left unattended.”

“Is it really that bad?” Maia asked.

“It is that bad.” Galiena confirmed. “She is likely to be the worst case I have yet to see, and that was a known problem before; while they would not starve to death, people in this state would often go for days on end without eating or drinking before going on their own. After the first couple of times, we realized what was happening and had to implement stricter monitoring procedures. I expect we will need similar with Anya.”

“There’s no way Katrina micromanaged her to that extent.” Sylvie argued. “She sounds like someone who gets bored easily, she wouldn’t spend all day watching over Anya’s needs.”

“No, she would not.” Galiena confirmed. “She is, however, extremely controlling, and that goes double for the Corrupted. According to the cured Corrupted, she was known to give her most favored exacting schedules; they were required to spend exact amounts of time per day eating, sleeping, working out, and pursuing pleasure. Even their diets were strictly controlled. I imagine Anya was given much the same treatment. And, of course, the Corrupted would never dream of disobeying her commands, so she never had to check in on them.”

“I don’t understand.” Sylvie said. “What does that even get her? Why bother?”

“They are supposed to be exemplars of this new world of hers.” Galiena replied. “My suspicion is that this schedule closely mirrors Katrina’s own schedule; she believes herself to be the perfect being, and as her most chosen subordinates, they should be as close to perfection as possible.”

“Alexis never mentioned anything about that.” Maia pointed out, frowning.

“Alexis was never meant to be anything more than a puppet, someone to delay us and tug at Minerva’s heartstrings. If Katrina had been serious about keeping Alexis as a pawn, she would have given her the order to retreat if it even looked like she might be captured. Katrina is likely nurturing her true tools as we speak.”

“Well, whatever the case, let’s give the standard deal to the rest of these women, then get going.” Maia said. “We don’t have much time to waste.”

---

Some hours later, Maia sat down at a long table in Corina’s ship, where the rest of the group had gathered to discuss their plans for the grace period. In the intervening time, Maia had helped get the rest of the cured people situated and the ship had taken off. Most of the witches had been like the last ones they had cured, and seemed content to stay on the ship as helpers, but, of the lot, two were similar to Anya, having been ‘broken’ by whatever horrible treatment they had been subjected to.

Fortunately, their cases didn’t seem anywhere near as severe; one of them was already showing hints of emotion, and both at least wanted a bed instead of being content to sit on the floor. Galiena estimated that, with proper care, those two would be able to do the bare minimum needed to function on their own within two months.

But they were to be only a footnote in the meeting; as horrible as their situations were, they didn’t have the time to look into them in-depth at the moment. So, once the last of the ‘main group’, now including Corina, sat down, Maia cleared her throat and began to speak. “Alright, so…these next couple of months.” She began awkwardly. “What’s our plan? Alexis, Galiena, I’m hoping you two in particular have ideas for our direction.”

“I would like to gather up the women we left in that fort.” Alexis volunteered. “Our group is capable, but there are only so many of us, and I think we’re better suited to being something of an elite task force than a main army unit.”

“If we have time, I think we should get my troops and the villagers as well.” Sylvie said. “And, if possible, we should make the Deepwood our main base of operations. It’s the best possible natural defense, and we seem to be immune to the worst of it.”

“I don’t know about making it our base of operations.” Maia said hesitantly. “Now that I’ve met her, I’m pretty sure Katrina is the one who made it. She’s the only one aside from the goddesses who has the power to do that, and her power leading us astray felt remarkably similar to it. I think we might open ourselves to unexpected attacks if we do that. Galiena, you know better than us what she’s capable of, is that reasonable or am I being paranoid?”

Galiena thought on that for a moment. “It is a possibility, but I will need to inspect the Deepwood myself to be sure.” She said. “It might well be that she made the Deepwood to hide all traces of monster girl civilization as thoroughly as possible without completely destroying the area. She claims omniscience and omnipotence, but the goddesses say she ultimately lost the war in which she claimed the goddesses’ worlds, so she cannot be either omniscient or omnipotent.

“On the other hand, during the brief time I was there I did feel her power; if it is simply ambient energy left over from the creation of the Deepwood, then it is likely relatively safe for us there. If not, then making our base there would be the height of folly.”

“Let’s assume that we’ll have to make our base outside of the Deepwood, then.” Alexis suggested. “If we can, it’ll be a pleasant surprise. If not, then we won’t be set back too much.”

“Um…will we have enough time to do…anything after we gather these people?” Violet asked. “It took us quite a while just to get here.”

“We shouldn’t need long.” Alexis replied. “Whichever we choose, we’ll be able to make use of existing fortifications; the fort my soldiers are holed up in, or the remnants of the old monster girl civilization. Then, before the grace period is up, we would make our first strike and try to make expansions as aggressively as possible so we’re not overwhelmed by sheer numbers.”

“And if people don’t choose to fight with us?” Elise asked. “I’m coming to realize that not everyone is as tough as the people from my village.”

“You can say that again.” Minerva snorted. “But I have a solution; I believe it would be best if my family was made the first target. Yes, I know I’m biased, but there are good reasons for this even outside of my own wants. Not only do we command a significant force, but my parents are good people, and would certainly be willing to lend their aid.”

“It seems like an excellent first target.” Maia replied. “Assuming we don’t make our capital in the Deepwood, that is; then we’ll have to worry about the distance and whether or not we can properly support them.”

“I think distance isn’t as big an obstacle as you’re fearing.” Steph said. “I’m not a career soldier or anything, but they’re a ducal family close to the throne. They’ll have their own armies, which would all get cured at the same time as them. With the strength bonus they would get from becoming monster girls, they would likely be able to hold the area from an outside invasion. Um…that is how it works, right, Galiena? If we cure them we cure all their holdings and armies too?”

“Yes, and it is how we started our war the first time.” Galiena replied. “That being said, it would be prudent to be in a position where we can support our first conquest immediately. We are likely to be hit very hard in the early stages of this war.”

“Maybe we should just abandon the idea of using the Deepwood as our first base.” Elise suggested. “I’d rather have the backing of a good army we can be almost sure will fight with us. And, besides, there’s no guarantee that Katrina won’t…suddenly make it stop being the way it is, or protect her armies or erase our protection from the magic or something.”

“Provided the Deepwood’s magic is residual, those would be large expenses, likely done in the later stages of the war.” Galiena said. “The Corrupted will likely be immune to it altogether, but we could rely on its protection otherwise. And, even if the magic is lifted, such heavily wooded terrain greatly favors monster girls, as we do not need the siege weapons of other armies, and are generally much more mobile.”

“They are possibilities, then?” Lily asked. “Especially erasing our protection, were that to happen we would essentially lose on the spot. It might be better to just avoid it altogether, then.”

Maia frowned. “Come to think of it, the goddesses mentioned to me their shrines in there were to suppress the Deepwood. That would imply that it’s relatively active magic, right?”

“Yes.” Galiena said instantly. “It would be wise for us to refrain from making it our capital, then.”

Corina scratched her chin thoughtfully. “So…we’ll be makin’ our capital wherever Minerva’s parents are, right?” She asked.

“That seems our best option.” Maia said. “At least for now. We might want to consider moving it later.”

“I was thinking it should be a port city.” Corina said. “There are lots o’ us who’ll be wanting water, and I reckon our navies’ll be better than theirs.”

“Katrina and her Corrupted are excellent at conscripting monsters to do their bidding.” Galiena said. “The sea is filled with extremely dangerous monsters, and by leaving our base of operations so close to it, we risk attack from them. It would be unwise.”

“Oh.” Corina said, deflating a bit. “Never mind.”

“So…it sounds like we have something of a plan, then?” Alexis said. “Some of us will gather Maia’s villagers and Sylvie’s soldiers, the rest will gather my soldiers, and then we proceed and capture Kaius to use as our main seat of power for now?”

“That’s where my parents’ main residence is.” Minerva added quickly.

“Sounds like it.” Maia said. “So…who’s with who?”

“Alexis and I should each be with the groups gathering the soldiers who were under our command, I think.” Sylvie said. “And we’ll want Corina to help transport the villagers and my soldiers.”

“Aye.” Corina agreed.

“I would like to stick with Galiena, to receive a bit of stealth training.” Violet said.

“And I to continue with my own studies.” Minerva added.

“I’ll stay with Maia.” Elise said firmly.

“And I’ll help pick up the villagers.” Emily said. “That should help convince them to move, if they need help convincing.”

“I believe I should check the Deepwood, regardless of whether we ultimately use the ruins within for anything.” Galiena said. “And I would especially like to view one of these shrines the goddesses are using. I may not be an expert, but given some time I can likely help determine what sort of things we can expect from it.”

“I’ll be staying around Alexis’s fort, but I’ll be doing business in the nearby towns.” Amy said. “I’ll try to pick up whatever we’re lacking.”

“I can be her bodyguard.” Lily volunteered.

“That just leaves me and Maia.” Steph said. “I think I’ll go wherever she doesn’t, just to make sure both groups have a healer.”

“I don’t know where I should go.” Maia admitted. “Alexis, any thoughts?”

“I think you should stay with me.” Alexis said. “I can help train you in battle tactics and sparring with the soldiers will help you gain experience in battle against people. Plus, in the event something unexpected happens, having you behind fortifications already would be a great help.”

“Alright, I’ll go with that, then.” Maia said. “Galiena, I’ll write up instructions on how to find the shrine I know about.”

“I’ll fly ahead once we get there.” Sylvie volunteered. “I can make fast time and get people preparing to move.”

“What about Anya and the other two?” Amy asked. “I assume we’re keeping them in the fort?”

“That would be for the best.” Galiena confirmed. “Travel is not always kind to them.”

“I think that’s everyone sorted, right?” Alexis asked. “Any other ideas for what we should do to prepare? And remember, we have a couple weeks before those of us heading for the fort get off the boat, so we’ll have time to change plans as needed.”

There weren’t, so the group scattered, everyone off to their preferred way of resting. It had been a very long day, but…they finally had something of a guaranteed reprieve, and they were going to make the most of it.