57. Elected
There were a few things Celia had managed to figure out about the plant 'people'. The first was that she couldn't for the life of her understand a word they said. Which was, obviously, because they very clearly spoke a completely different language than she. But knowing that didn't make trying to communicate with them any easier.
Which was the second thing she learned. And that was that they wanted to communicate with her. Stranger still was the enthusiasm they displayed toward the task. Jumping about and waving their arms, shouting more unfamiliar words at her, and even drawing a message into the ground for her. Which she still could not read.
Uth eth gol, it read. The same phrase they had shouted at her when they first saw her.
Maybe we should try communicating back. Discipline suggested.
Vice immediately countered with an idea of her own. Though it was far less helpful.
Maybe we should look for their food. She said. And the words provoked an embarrassingly loud growl from their shared stomach.
Unexpectedly, it aroused a reaction out of the small assembly of miniature plant creatures. Who all seemed to share a sudden epiphany. Trailed after by the whole lot of them beginning to dance away in one giant line. They sung too.
The bizarre and abrupt reaction they had to the aggressive purring of her middle inspired Celia as well. Everyone knew what a hungry - or greedy in her case - stomach sounded like. And sharing a good meal was often the best sort of first impression any civilization could make. Therefore, she heavily suspected that food was soon to be on the menu.
She hoped, though, that it wouldn't be too small. As she suspected her idea of a decent portion probably differed from theirs. And more than likely by a lot.
Not that she was gonna turn down a free meal, however. Actually, Celia was ninety-nine percent certain she lacked the physical ability to do so. As ever since becoming a Feastling proper her sense of taste and smell had risen to unprecedented heights, and were continuing to do so. It was getting so bad at this point, that she was partially tempted to take a bite out of one of the nearby trees.
A weakness Vice immediately tried to take advantage of. Whispering gluttonous thoughts into her ear.
Celia was embarrassed by how effective they were. Yet she still resisted the urge, pushing it to the back of her mind with discipline's help.
We can eat later. The strongest of her three psyches urged. Words serving as a thin bulwark against her avaricious stomach. A stomach that continued to noisily rebel as they walked, growing louder and more vicious still in its temperament.
Which earned Celia more than a few wary glances from the procession ahead of her.
In an attempt to quiet her gut before it could shame her further, she placed a hand on the spherical dome and began to rub it. Circular motions soothing its wrath.
For now at least. But, as they drew closer to their destination, further into the swamp, her nose picked up on several notable scents. The first was food. The tantalizing aroma wafting through the wind and towards them, calling her like a siren called sailors. Next was the odor of stagnant water and more of the living plant people. And last there was the fragrance of mud stained paws, and bone crushing teeth. A predator lurking.
Deeper still was the stench of fear that choked the air. It tasted like defeat and misery intertwined with dying hope.
Celia felt some inhumane part of her delight at its tickling touch upon her nose. She couldn't find the strength to bury the feeling. So she endured. Vigilant of her own self as they grew closer.
And then, in what scarcely felt like a minute, they had arrived. A tiny village lit by fire and made up of green huts, populated by yet more of the tiny plant people. Their forms like particularly short children made of moss. If said children were barely shaped like people to begin with.
Bulbous and bush like, they turned. Staring at her with the same sense of wonder the first of their people had. Which only held Celia's attention for a second. Before her eye settled on the only other individual present.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Sitting in a chair made of stone and the bodies of some of the plant people was another Beyondling. Scared, shaped like a blue frog with thin rods of metal erupting out of his arms. Eyes swirling portals of darkness that bled fear itself. And Celia was scared to admit how much she liked that. How it spiked her appetite and awoke something deep inside her.
Instead she stared at the bewildered stranger. His eyes meeting hers as a moment of silence passed in between. The tiny 'villagers' watching the two giants with bated breath.
And then the stranger spoke.
"Girl boss brought?" He said, and it sounded like a question.
Which, granted, was fair. Celia was a foot taller than she was whenever he last saw her. Had grown an additional pair of arms and a horn. She was also-
"Wide." He said, tone carrying a slight sense of awe.
Celia tried not to be annoyed and focused on what brought her here in the first place.
Him.
"Yes, yes I know. But I need to ask you a favor. I'm going to kill E-10, wanna help?"
Again there was a beat of silence. Though shorter lived then before, and broken by the second giant laughing. Guffawing. And doing so with such intensity that he fell back and out of his seat.
Promptly triggering all the little moss bushes to turn toward her in fear. A terror taking them that would be hard to miss even if she couldn't literally taste it. Which was weird that she could.
We're becoming something else. Both her other selves spoke in unison.
And the small horde of loving moss couldn't care less. Slowly they gathered and kneeled before her. Like an army before a queen. And as they did so, the stranger's laughter died down. Followed by him looking over his toppled chair and at the bizarre scene on display.
Oddly silent as the village continued doing whatever it was they were doing. Punctuated by the biggest of them rising first and declaring something to the rest of his people.
"Muka' muka' Melathi!"
His people who began cheering the moment he was finished. They then flocked over to Celia's feet, jumping up and down with far too much enthusiasm for her liking. They were also just, in general, too close. And Celia instinctively backed away, turning a pleading look to the frog just a few feet away from her.
And instead of finding him watching as he had been before, he was crawling. Slowly and silently trying to escape whatever this was. Celia couldn't let that pass.
So, she opened up a portal above him and willed a tendril or two of hers to reach and grab him. The great limbs wrapping around his arms and legs and lifting him into the air. Which, again, elicited a frenzy amongst the crowd. More stirred than all of them however was their leader who started chanting what sounded like absolute gibberish to her ears.
Gibberish she ignored as she, very carefully stepped over her small army of onlookers and over to the frog. Staring him in the eyes as she approached.
"You didn't answer my question." She stated in as simple terms as possible. Stopping less than an inch away from him, chest accidentally pressing up against his, and casting him into her shadow.
He radiated an aura of fear after that. Her simple question terrifying him for reasons she couldn't understand. A cold sweat pouring down his brow as he stared up at her.
"Girl understand am weak? Why want?" He said with a shivering gulp.
He's scared of us. Vice whispered into her ear.
Yes, because we're huge compared to him and far too close. Discipline added, along with a mental image of Celia stepping back and giving their 'potential new recruit' a bit of space.
Which she did, after a moment or two more spent drinking in the taste of fear wafting off of him. Which she found far harder than it should've been.
Vice on the other hand found it to be quite enjoyable.
Naughty girl. She whispered.
"Hm. Well I don't think any of us are strong enough to take on E-10 on our own. But all of us together might just be abl-"
"Tried that. Failed. Why try again?"
"Because E-10 is weakened this time. Too weak to even come out of his den. That's why, and so we've only got a limited amount of time to get this done, so I would really appreciate it if you-"
"How many other got?"
Celia paused. Pushed down the irritation she felt. And restrained herself from punching the frog faced Beyondling into one of the trees behind him.
"Well, you would be the firs-"
"Refuse. Not die stupid."
Celia snapped. The grip of her tentacles tightening on his limbs. A rage taking hold of her as she held herself higher, straighter. One pair of arms crossed in front of her chest, and the other gripping her hips with barely restrained violence.
"SHUT UP! Do you know what I've been through in the past few days? Do you know how much my life has changed? I don't wanna be doing this either, but if you wanna get out of this forest we're gonna have to work together, okay!
"I know he kicked our butts last time but he's not doing so hot himself right now. So you're gonna help me kill him so I can get out of this dumb forest and go home, or you can help by being my next meal! Am I understood?"
Stiffly the frog nodded. A hint of terror in his eyes as he glanced down at Celia's 'enhanced' figure. Which she blushed at, but ignored. Tentacles releasing the frog and letting him fall to the ground a second after.
Where he immediately cowered at her withering gaze, looking anywhere else but at her.
Like a puppy that had just been scolded for peeing on the floor.
Well I doubt many people threaten to eat their puppy. Discipline chided. Words biting at what bit of rationale Celia had left, and breathing life into the part of her that wanted to apologize.
A part of herself that she ignored as a realization came to her. A simple, somewhat frightening realization. That Beyondlings, for all their strength and ability, were little more than animals mostly driven by emotion.
She wondered then, that if she kept changing - growing at the rate that she was - if she would become little more than a particularly smart beast as well.