Chapter 295: The Ore-Flesh Beast
The faithful cavorted around me, lost in celebration, while I simply watched from my place on the-female-who-was-not-Needle’s shoulder. The other disciples were nearby, scattered throughout the crowd and attending to the Great Core’s faithful in their own ways. Needle was teaching a few interested tiny Coreless how to use small needle-spitters, their diminutive muscles straining with the force required to pull the strings back. The Unrepentant One pitted himself against a few of the stronger faithful, competing over who could carry the largest rocks. Will was checking in on those who organized the others, making noises at them one by one. The Grateful One had hardly managed to walk a step without one of the newest tiny Coreless grasping onto her limbs, eventually ending in an evershifting pile of little ones atop her.
It was hard to know what to focus on.
In the past, when there weren’t so many [Little Guardian’s Totem]s and the faithful to wear them, I had been able to check in on each and every flare of emotion that crossed the connection to me - or, at the very least, the strongest of them.
Now, there were more strong emotions than I knew what to do with in a single moment. The connections stretched out wide, spanning this many-nest and the two previous, each with their own faithful to draw my attention.
It was glorious - and overwhelming.
I wouldn’t change it for anything.
I couldn’t help but think back to the time when I was the only follower of the Great Core, a tiny snake alone behind our wall-cracks. Then, the weakest of bad-things could have threatened us both. Now, the Great Core’s glory was known far and wide, with more faithful than I could have ever imagined possible.
Faithful that were far more powerful than I ever would have imagined, too. The Great Core was truly the Greatest of all Cores.
I hissed with satisfaction, curling contentedly across not-Needle’s shoulder. Her hand reached up to brush against my scales, miraculously finding a spot that had just begun to itch.