My Coreless did not sleep comfortably that night; they shifted around in fits and spurts, a certain degree of [restlessness] in each nearby [Little Guardians Totem]. In a way, that was good. It ant that they understood the threat that Tiamat presented - or so I hoped. It was sotis difficult to tell; for all I really knew, the [restlessness] that caused them to roll and roil in their sleep was just that. Restlessness.
The ground wasnt exactly comfortable, after all.
I missed the warmth of bundled skins that I had back at the many-nest, but my Coreless had it much worse. I could at least coil myself on the softest places I could find, whether that was one of the Coreless themselves - though not this ti, as their [restlessness] seed to have prompted them to sleep covered in ore-flesh - or atop one of their larger skin-mouths.
In the end, I let the lull of sleep pull away, only briefly waking every ti the Coreless roused each other to change who kept watch.
When I awoke, it was to the verdant glow of the thought-light - a welco reprieve from the general furor that had held fast during the night.
Lesser Core Skill: [Little Guardians Focus IV] Increased.
[Little Guardians Focus V] Acquired.
The days that followed managed to cut down on my Coreless ever-present [disquiet]. It was still there, but it was more muted, with other emotions beginning to force it away in monts of distraction.
My own distractions ca as well, intermittent bursts of the thought-light that ca without my conscious control as [Little Guardians Focus] continued to grow with the help of the many-nests nurous Coreless. I wasnt sure what exactly caused it; maybe it was just the presence of Coreless around it, maybe it was a reflection of the faith my Coreless held in the Great Core, or maybe it was sothing else.
Whatever the reason, it was a welco distraction.
Lesser Core Skill: [Little Guardians Focus V] Increased.
[Little Guardians Focus VI] Acquired.
Soon enough, the first of my Coreless found a distraction for themselves as well; I took a mont to skim across the connections to their Totems, luxuriating in the thought-taste of sothing different. It was an odd pleasure; similar to how my scale-flesh could feel as if it were being rubbed raw by a repetitive sensation, only to feel markedly better when sothing else took its place.
It was bracing, like falling into soothing mana-water to escape an overbearing heat.
[excitent]
We slipped into a new cavern. Our journey so far had brought us through a series of large-tunnels, my Coreless unable to travel through the small-tunnels that might have hastened us along. Many were dim and dark, the glow-caps that grew on their edges far from enough to provide proper illumination. Of course, it was never completely dark; each of us wore skins of ore-flesh, and each of us glowed with the mana that infused them.
It was enough to see by, for the most part.
Barely.
This new cavern nearly burned at the eyes with the amount of light it gave off. Just like with the cavern that was ho to the accursed, defeated Aridae, it seed to be almost a central hub. I could see a number of tunnels, both large and small, that split off at the edges and led elsewhere. anwhile, just like in the cavern of the Aridae, a vast expanse of glow-caps coated the ground.
They lit the air with a brilliant glow, clusters of light that drew the eye - but none drew the eye more than the pool of mana-water near its center. A vast assortnt of vegetation grew at its edges, as if drinking from the pools depths.
They probably were.
Oh, thank the Skies. I was starting to get worried that you had the route wrong, Rowan. My canteen ran out this morning, the-female-who-was-not-Needle stated, turning her attention to the newest mber of our party. As I was perched on her shoulder, I suppose that I turned as well. There was a light hint of [amusent] to her tone, almost...playful? Teasing.
The Unrepentant One turned towards us and quirked an eyebrow at that, giving off a faint hint of [annoyance] as his hand brushed lightly against his [Little Guardians Totem], still resting on the outside of his ore-flesh. And mine, too. Dont think I didnt notice you switching them out earlier.
The-female-who-was-not-Needle raised one of the more oddly shaped skin-mouths in her hand, holding it up for The Unrepentant Ones inspection before shaking it about slightly. It sloshed slightly, and I noticed the scent-taste of mana-water that spilled out.
Nope, Ive still got so of yours. Well, not yours. This ones mine now, she said with a playful baring of her teeth, raising the mana-water to her lips and taking a long draught.
He let out a long exhale before turning away. I caught a slight lifting at the corner of his lips, though. Without the touch of his [Little Guardians Totem], though, I couldnt know what that ant with complete certainty.
For a little while, I worried about the potential for problems between my Coreless. I needed them to work together, if we were to face Tiamat.
I neednt have worried. Another group of Tiamats creations ca for us before we left the cavern, and were quickly defeated by the Great Cores Coreless.
I only had to heal a few wounds before I sent another taunting thought-hiss towards Tiamat.
So, theres one thing that Im confused about, the-female-who-was-not-Needle said not long afterwards, as we traveled through yet another large-tunnel. If these things that have been attacking us are connected to Tiamat, shouldnt they be...more dangerous than they are? I an, Im not complaining or anything. Im more than happy to keep living. I like living. Its confusing, though.
Hm. I thought the sa, honestly. The tale that I read ntioned monsters that could shatter stone and beat back armies. Im sure that so of that could be an exaggeration for the sake of storytelling, but I would assu theres a degree of truth involved. Still, both the Hexablades and the others - I suppose theyll need a na, as well - look to be in pretty bad shape even before any fighting. Like theyre falling apart. Might be making them weaker, I suppose.
There were a few responses to that, coming from each of them in turn, all sounding like so vague form of enthusiastic agreent.
Whatever it was that he said, it did sothing to put the rest of my Coreless more at ease. I felt the shifting of their emotions like it was a physical thing, lifting a weight from my scales. Most of the [restlessness] and [disquiet] faded, while [resolve] remained.
I was thankful to see a hint of [confidence] and [hope] when I dove a little deeper.
Lesser Core Skill: [Little Guardians Focus VI] Increased.
[Little Guardians Focus VII] Acquired.
Not long after [Little Guardians Focus] advanced itself again, we reached our destination. Though I couldnt understand the Coreless jabbers, I could read the emotions that surged through the links between us - their growing [anticipation], their burgeoning [curiosity]. I could notice the slight hurry to their steps, the way their fingers occasionally found their way to the ore-flesh at their sides, brushing against them as if to make sure they were still there.
Most importantly, though, I had caught the scent-taste of a Core quite a while ago - and when I found that my Coreless were heading straight for it, I realized that they knew it was there as well.
It had an odd taste to it. It was darkwood and glow-caps. It was wall-roots and mana-water. At the sa ti, it was much more than that, an amalgamation of scent-tastes that were disparate and common all at once - different, in their wild variation, but similar in one simple way.
I felt my mouth-flesh salivate with each and every step of my Coreless, the scent-taste of nature itself heavy on my tongue.
Lively.
Powerful.
Tempting.
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