Ch. 17-439 - More Knowledge in the Dark (2/2)

Without further ado, she headed for the center, surveying the area and measuring it against Pact and Fey awareness, sensing the subtle levels of corruption that came from very long-term exposure to unnatural forces.

She was a random current of water, moving through depths that had never seen more than the occasional bio-luminescence of deep-dwelling fish, or perhaps the bursting colors of cooling lava being vented from the newest stretches of the suboceanic rifts. Unless she actually ran into something deliberately, nothing would know she was coming or had passed by.

She ran into the psi-active krill about two miles from the edge of the rift proper.

She’d been warned to look for them, and was aware that a lot of Elder Evils preferred mutation of lesser life forms, using biomagic as their preferred tools. The risks that such things could rebel was generally ignored or looked past, right up until they evolved enough to realize they were slaves and rose up against their masters.

The Great Race and their peers’ idiotic use of the shoggoth only attested to how fixed in their ways the Elder Races could be. Despite rebelling countless times over the eons, they were so damn useful the Great Race repeatedly convinced themselves that this time it would be different, and made more of them. It would take millennia, but eventually the shoggoth would hit that spark of self-awareness, and then they would rise up against the decadent remnants of their makers, bringing them down.

After seeing a partial list of the things shoggoth could do, she had to admit that she’d probably use them, too. She’d simply put a mandatory destruction shelf-life on them before they could rebel.

Or, you know, maybe recruit them into a community as equals, like The Mick’s daft plan.

Well, no, that had been totally crazy. Doing had so totally flip-flopped everyone’s view of shoggoth. She still considered it an incredible risk over time, as the things were still psychically vulnerable to things that knew how to control them... but, those populations that had adopted a shoggoth were also doing silly things like giving them Astral Ward Rings to prevent mind-control and long-distance detonation.

The infectious madness of Hope and the Good...

Not like her. She hadn’t even told Master Fred she was his mother and little sister.

She had been there at the ceremony that had scarred him, hunting their Patron, who had shown up and inflicted those Hellscars as punishment for rebelling against his Pact. When Heavenbound Hall had attacked, she had escaped through the fire pit, exactly like their Patron Remarriu had, and several of the senior Cultists.

She had made a point of Consuming those latter when the erinyes got away, and so she had ended up with the souls of Fred’s mother and sister.

They were decent people, if fairly normal in almost all ways. In particular, she knew much more of Fred’s life than he did now, and since both women, sans the torture of the Hungry Kiss Cult and getting Consumed, had been reasonably mentally healthy women, she had kept over ninety percent of them intact when she had absorbed them.

She had fully expected him to die when he was dragged away by the Heavenbound. She had been startled by the maternal and sisterly delight when she ran into him in Chicago the first time, and their relationship had slowly evolved over time from wariness to at least some level of trust.

She had been astounded that he’d held off Consuming anyone for so long, and despite the fact they could touch and she definitely knew how to flirt and seduce a man, he had never displayed any interest in her, going about his job the hard way... but it kept him Heavenbound, and safe from being Consumed by her, although the reverse wasn’t true.

She still wondered how he could resist taking her. She was perfect for his Cohort; all she had would be his, and she would finally get to feel the benefits of a Heavenbound Pact...

She still might. Who knew what the future might bring?

Getting Legion to take up the job of Consuming Warlocks hadn’t been that hard, nor had it been difficult to start a physical relationship after that. The escapade with the Hu Hsaio had been the turning point, as their multiple family bonds hid the deeper bonds she had inherited from his family, and she could engage in maternal and sisterly love without any inhibitions, stacking it on top of all the others.

All those layers of desire and love and friendship and whatnot were a tremendous vulnerability to her... from a certain point of view. She knew that there was almost nothing she would not do for Legion, and she was certainly willing to give up her own life to become part of Legion if need be.

On the other hand, she knew what a truly massive hole this plugged in her psyche. The people she had Consumed had loved many, many people, but she had not dared to do the same, as things with awareness of such could have preyed on her that way.

Now that hole was plugged with someone she could absolutely trust, who believed in her in ways she didn’t believe in herself, layers of emotional bonds that would be Hell itself to try and turn against one another... and that someone was actually far more powerful than she was.

Mmmm, Legion hit ALL her buttons. That damn nereid attractiveness was like the airy topping on the perfect dessert and feast, too. At this rate, she might have to go off-planet to find one for herself. That Aura of being unable to be harmed by anything sexually attracted to you was just too sweet, and the electric things it did to the blood for one’s partners was just too useful.

She definitely had to get a nereid for herself. Sirines were nice and gave her perfect skin, but weren’t quite the same...

She hadn’t allowed herself to think these things in some time, because of those bonds to Legion. She smiled to herself, noted that some time out of contact was refreshing despite how addictive their emotional ties were, helping wrangle out some contradictions in her own psyche. She put it on the schedule as something to do on a regular basis, despite everything.