Chapter 26: Ego Death (1/2)

”Chill out!” my body laughs against my will. ”Her memory's pretty good, there’s a lot here to sift through. Oh, fuck. She’s…”

My instinct takes over, fear surging through me. Can’t let it say “Necromancy.” The little black slimy soul has notes of springiness underneath, orange and bouncy. I barely note this in the split second before ripping it from its body. Whatever its words were die with it. I stumble ever so slightly as my body suddenly becomes mine once again.

“...Really pissed off!” I finish, smiling as best I can.

My heart starts to hammer in my chest as I feel something dead and wet leak around my spine, flowing through flesh as if it was syrup. Every con I’ve run with Rowan flashes through my mind. Exude confidence, or die.

For the second time today, I had woken up to Penelope's words, healing me as she screeched at Remus. He disagreed, and I slowly but surely came to the dread realization that out of all the things I’d been terrified of, it was the mind control slimes that turned out real. I can’t believe it! I wasn’t too paranoid after all, but they always had a fucking excuse.

The moment I’d realized that, I had tried to move, only to find out that I could not. My body moved on its own, vision flicking around and taking in all sorts of sights. I heard my breath in my ears, the smell of grass on the side of the road, yet I controlled nothing. Every little twitch and habit I’d taken for granted was attempted and failed, my body moving only to some arcane will. A waking nightmare had consumed me, yet despite the horror I had done my best to wait and watch before trying to murder my possessor.

That didn’t last very long. Now, here I am, surrounded by enemies that can kill me with a thought. No time to worry about blasphemy. If I mess up here, I might die. It’s time to leverage all my advantages. I have a corpse and a spirit. Internally, I take slime-Vita's soul and force it into a splinter of my own. Then I push the combined soul into the slime corpse in my neck and...

And it doesn't stick! Damnit, it's not working! It just feels… off. Like the body isn’t a body. I may as well be trying to put a soul into soup. Stupid slimes! Bah, okay, so that plan won’t work. Focus on surviving the next minute. Remus is glaring at me.

“Who cares?” he says. “You decide everything the host does when you’re in control. I can't believe I have to insist that my own spawn stay on task rather than sass me.”

His spawn? So the slime I just killed was slime-Remus's kid. Great. Whatever, I can lean into the sass angle.

”Sorry daddy, but I am a teenager now. I'm contractually obligated to give you shit. If you wanted me to be deferential you should have put me in the body of a slave.”

Remus's eye twitches.

”Woah, kidding,” I say, grinning as best I can. ”The extra sense is just really distracting. I'm blabbing while I figure it out.”

”Ignore the extra sense,” Remus— well, Remus-slime— demands. ”Come on, we talked about this. Did Vita break our cover? How much did she know about us? Who else are we going to have to clean up? Does she know about anyone else that might be a danger to us?”

Oh thank fuck, I can answer all that.

”Right, right,” I say. ”Uh... no, she didn't break our cover. Didn't know much of anything. She had suspicions but wasn't sure. I'm... not finding anyone else in her memory that can do what she does, or anything like it.”

All technically true. Remus takes a deep breath, starting to relax.

”Okay. Good. Then... we're safe for now, right?”

”I suppose so,” Penelope... no, the Penelope-slime answers. She doesn't sound happy about it, but she's also using my teammate's body as a puppet so I’m not certain how much I care.

”Thank the Watcher,” Remus-slime sighs, his body sagging. ”Okay. Then here's what we do. Vita, Penelope, you head back to the guild and 'confirm' that we met the biomancer specialist and had ourselves removed. I have something else to take care of, but I'll rejoin you later. Can you handle a couple weeks on your own?”

”I suppose we have no other choice,” the Penelope-slime says, scowling.

”Not if we want everyone to live through this, no,” Remus-slime says seriously. ”One last thing before we separate, though. I found out what we are.”

Penelope... no, the thing controlling Penelope perked up at that, eyes wide. They’re called the “Nawra,” apparently. Odd name, since it sounds like… well, a person’s name.

”Yes,” Remus says after a brief conversation. “Not that you should be repeating that anywhere that you can be heard, but... yes. It’s nice to have a name. Penelope, Vita, control your food intake. If your real body gets too large, you'll divide.”

”Aww, don't you want grandkids, dad?” I ask.

He smiles. Oh, I don't like how he smiles.

”Not yet.”

I swallow. I need to kill him now, before it's too late. I take every soul I have left, other than the Vita-slime I just killed, and move them to my mouth. I swallow every soul at once in a massive pile, power flowing through me like never before.

”Well then. I'll see you around, pops,” I say, holding my hand out to shake.

He takes my hand, still smiling. His grip is firm. I send my magic up his arm, grasping at his soul, yanking with all my unholy might. It slides off like rain from an eyelash. My power surges inside Remus's body, clawing and scratching, but to no avail. The slime's soul is so large, I cannot even start to grasp it.

Remus lets go of my hand, shaking out his own.

”I think you might have zapped me a little, there,” he comments, seeming unconcerned.

Once again, I hide the scream within my mind behind a smile.

”Sorry, pops. Still getting used to the body.”

He nods.

”Understandable. You're what, ten hours old? You'll get the hang of being Vita before you return to town, don't worry.”

Oh good, I murdered a fucking baby. I'll just add that to the list of sins, I guess. Damnit, I'm really not strong enough?

”Now is there anything else you two need before I head out?” the Remus-slime asks.

”Nope,” I tell him. ”I'm good, pops.”

There's nothing I can do now. Remus is too strong. But if he leaves, I might be able to save Penelope, then get backup to deal with whatever the hell Remuslime is planning. The slimes, thankfully, are oblivious to my internal monologue. Remus's body nods.

”We won't let our kind continue to rot as dogs. Not when we can be people.”

I smile, as if agreeing with the sentiment. Penelope just stares, expressionless. Interesting. Remuslime nods to us both, then runs off.

Penelope sighs— damnit, I mean Penelope-slime sighs— then turns and starts plodding back to town. I follow, keeping mental track of Remuslime (fuck, he's fast) and ensuring he's long gone before I say anything.

”So...” I start, ”how's the secret agent stuff been so far?”

She shrugs.

”Exciting. Depressing. Confusing. Not being sapient was certainly less complicated.”

I blink.

”Not being sapient?”

”Yes, as in... oh, that's right. You budded off of Remus. He and I had bodies before this. Animals. They couldn't really think, and neither did we. I think we'll revert to that if we're not inside a human for too long. We started to lose our memories of being dogs after a few hours outside a body.”

”Oh. Yeah, Remus might have mentioned something like that,” I lie. ”That really sucks.”

Penelope snorts. No, wait, her slime snorts.

”It's certainly not ideal. My first act as a person is to hold another person hostage in her own body. I'm barely a figment of her, yet she's the one haunting me. I can't imagine Vita will be any easier on you. Well, the real Vita, I mean. Not you.”

I smile a little. ”This is surreal as fuck,” the slime-Vita had said. I feel that for sure.

”Oh?” I ask. ”What makes you say she'll be hard on me? We’re in power, right?”