Taog eventually ended up in the courtyard of the villa. There he found Estrith, swinging her harpoon. He watched her for a bit, before the Dobhar stopped and turned to him.

“You there, Imperial, stop skulking about. If you have something to say, then say it.”

Taog frowned.

“So it’s back to Imperial, huh?”

Estrith scoffed.

“You are not acting like a warrior worth acknowledging.”

Taog glared at her.

“You don’t know a thing about me.”

Estrith shrugged.

“I know that you are here, wandering about achieving nothing, as your companion suffers. And that tells me all that I wish to know.”

Something in Taog snapped. He growled at her.

“Aesdes curse you, Dobhar! Ateia’s the most important person in the world to me! Don’t you dare question that! If I could help her I would, but I can’t do anything! I’ve never been able to! So go ahead! Insult me for being weak and helpless! I’ve heard it all before! It’s real easy to act cocky when you’re strong and powerful and have everything you want, huh?! Why don’t you try being weak and alone and surrounded by enemies all your life?!”

There were a blur of motion and Taog fell to the ground. Estrith stomped her foot on his chest and thrust her harpoon in his face.

“Take care with your words, Imperial. I do not know where you came from, nor do I care. But you do not know me either, do not presume to speak of my circumstances.”

She stepped off him, walking back to the courtyard.

“Besides, you are mistaken. I do not care that you are weak, most Imperials are. I insult you because you do nothing to change that.”

Taog grit his teeth and mumbled under his breath as he stood back up.

“You say that like it’s so easy. You think I don’t want to be strong?”

Estrith stopped, still facing away. She took a deep breath, and spoke slowly.

“I have but one dream: to become worthy of My King, who saved me and showed me what a true warrior is like. And I have failed utterly at that task. I am too weak to be a match for him, I cannot catch up to his strength no matter how hard I train or how hard I fight. And I have squandered every opportunity he has given me to prove otherwise. Even now, I cannot fulfill his command to guard the Queen of the Dobhar. Sometimes I wonder…if that is why he has sent me away.”

She trembled slightly, and gripped her harpoon hard.

“But I will not give up. I will never give up. As long as he does not command me to stop, as long as even a speck of hope remains, I will do everything I am able to change. If I cannot become worthy of him, then I will strive to fulfill his will. If I cannot fulfill his will, then I will strive to support him as I can. And if I cannot even do that, then I will stand in the way of his enemies, and slow their advance with my corpse. Because he is My King, and I will give him all that I have, no matter how little that might be.”

She turned around, and made eye contact with Taog.

“What exactly are you doing on behalf of the 'most important person in your life,' Taog Sutharlan? What efforts have you attempted to change this situation that you say you hate? Failure is not what makes you prey. The difference between hunter and prey is that the hunter strives, the prey merely survives.”

With that, she went back to her training. Taog grit his teeth and stormed off.

But as he walked, her words rang in his ears.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

In the monster hangar, 01R and 00B sparred. 01R launched into the air with his repulsors…but his trajectory was all too obvious. 00B swatted him out of the air with ease. 00B grunted.

It was one of his few wins…yet it brought him no joy. He growled at 01R. 01R shook his head.

“I…am sorry-apologetic, 00B. I find-realize I am…distracted.”

B made a short grunt. He glanced around the room at the other monsters observing. All of them were fidgeting or looking down.

The events of the past day had been…shocking, to say the least.

The Great Mother herself had been deceived by a mere squishy thing…and then they all found themselves in a Realm of Mana of all things. But just as they were all coming to grips with the situation, the Great Mother had escaped, and promptly wiped out the squishy things that dared to oppose her.

And then they found the evil squishy thing on the verge of death, and the Great Mother saved her, appointing her the newest little sister.

And yet…the New Little Sister was in pain. And apparently, even the Great Mother did not understand why. All of them could feel her concentrating, attempting to determine what to do. All of them could feel her concern for the newest member of their family.

So what were they supposed to feel now? Should they curse their weakness, that they were unable to protect the Great Mother from the accursed squishy things? Should they feel awe and wonder at the impossible deeds of the Great Mother? Should they feel helpless, knowing that they cannot match up to their Great Mother’s might? Should they feel anger towards the evil squishy thing who does not appreciate the Great Mother’s gift? Or should they join the Great Mother in concern for the New Little Sister's pain?

None of them knew how they felt, nor what they should do.

But…for 00B, a memory played through his own squishy parts.

“There there, it’s all over now. You did great, you know?”

The evil squishy thing…the New Little Sister, had been by his side after other evil squishy things subjected him to unfathomable pain and humiliation. While his heart still burned at the arrogance of an evil squishy thing acting overly familiar with a member of the Great Mother’s family…he could not help but admit that her actions had soothed his anguish at the time.

B stood up, and decided what he would do. He cried out, calling the Great Mother. He requested that she deploy him.

The New Little Sister was in pain, and alone. And no member of their family should struggle alone.

“Acknowledged. New objective for NSLICE-00B: guard NSLICE-Ateia.”

The next moment, 00B found himself Transferred to a room outside. The New Little Sister jumped at his appearance. There was another squishy thing in the room, 00B growled at it. It raised its hands and took a step back. 00B turned back to the New Little Sister.

“00B?”

B called out softly in response,and walked over to her. He gently patted her shoulder with his paw.

The other squishy thing in the room smiled.

“It seems someone is worried about you.”

B was going to growl at her again, but the New Little Sister’s squishy eye filled with moisture and then she embraced him. 00B fought off the urge to swat her away. She was family now, and she needed him to protect her, so he would forgive her over-familiarity.

B would protect his family, as the Great Mother had commanded.

A young Ateia stood at the door of her house in Turannia. She looked up.

Her father walked away and down the street, his back turned to her. An even younger Taog, sniffing and rubbing his eyes. Ateia got up and started running.

“Father, don’t leave us!”

But even as she ran, they moved further and further away from her. A golden and silver river flowed beneath her feet, pulling her back no matter how fast she ran.

Then Lar and his stupid gang came and grabbed Taog, pulling him away from her.

Ateia reached for him but she fell into the river. She heard beeping noises and faint voices…

“Are you sure about this, Doctor?”

“Do not question me! All our simulations show exoskeletons are insufficient to match a nonstandard, a full replacement is necessary. Begin the procedure.”

She heard the grinding of metal upon bone and felt a hot pain in her arms and legs. She tried to scream but no sound left her mouth.

And then the light faded. She looked up and saw the Herald of Twilight standing above her, cackling as he lifted a dagger.

“NO!”

Ateia screamed as the dagger plunged into her once more…

Ateia screamed as she awoke with a start. 00B placed a paw on her trembling head. She spun to face him, and then grabbed hold of him, focusing her thoughts on the touch of his fur.

It had been over a day, or so she thought. She wasn’t entirely sure. With the woman and 00B’s help, Ateia had started to adjust to her new senses. Every footstep no longer turned into a groundquake. Each spoken word no longer rang like thunder in her ears. She could actually think again.

And that…was not a blessing.

Because now…her thoughts constantly turned back to that night, when evil madmen stabbed her. When every inch of her body burned from that dark ritual.

All because of who her parents were.

And that wasn’t all. She was getting flickers, glimpses of…something else. She was in other people’s bodies, seeing things that had never happened to her. And…she had figured out what they were.

For some reason, she was seeing other people’s memories. She knew…because she had identified one of Taog’s when she saw a memory she had been present for.

The memories of a given person grew more frequent when she turned her thoughts to them. And not one of the memories were pleasant.

Ateia’s eyes filled with tears once more as she tightened her grip around 00B.

“Why is this happening?”

B grunted softly, and moved closer to her. She grabbed hold of him.

Fortunately, 00B didn’t have that many memories, so she could get a small reprieve by focusing on him. 00B gently patted her with his paw.

And so Ateia fell back into a fitful sleep once more…