From the mont that I had been created, I had known what I was. I was Paradox. I was the sole creation of the Great Core. I was special.
This...thing had tried to strip that away from . It had tried to make forget who I was. It had tried to take the place of my Creator.
That could not - could never - be forgiven.
[SUBMIT]
Another powerful thought-hiss smashed into , and my resolve wavered for the briefest of monts. It would be easy to obey, sothing whispered to . I had always been alone, but I didnt have to be. All I had to do was submit, and I would never be alone again. Uncountable hordes of brothers and sisters would walk alongside , created from Tiamats powerful blood.
I would never be alone again. Just submit.
{REFUSAL/RAGE/HATE}
Hatred flowed through , like fire-water in my veins, setting alight and ripping my mind from Tiamats subtle control. But even so, I knew that it would find its way again. [Chains of the Creator] had forged links of chains in between us, binding us together. Even now, I could feel the Mother of Monsters passively pressing against my mind. Even without any conscious direction on her part, her presence alone was a dangerous intruder at the edges of my thoughts.
It pressed inwards, trying to peel away the layers of my resolve, to tear away what was until only she remained.
Until the Great Core had disappeared.
[SUBM-]
Another thought-hiss invaded my mind. I cut it off before it could harm further, drowning Tiamats demand for obedience in sheer, spitting rage.
{REFUSAL/RAGE/HATE}
A sense of exhaustion, a match to the fatigue that had already pervaded my scale-flesh in the physical world, began to creep into the edges of my consciousness. Even with my hatred at the would-be usurper, I was growing weaker - and I knew that the Mother of Monsters could eventually press harder.
I could feel her, far off in the distance. [Chains of the Creator] was more than a thod of control; the usurper hadnt lied about that, at least. I could feel her. A constant tugging on my thoughts that pointed in her direction, that told which way I needed to go to et the Mother of Monsters.
She was unimaginably far; the journey would have required more slithers than I had made in my entire life. She rested sowhere deep, deep within the heart of the World Dungeon, where mana flowed free and chaotic.
It was only that distance that protected . I was too far away; her demands for obedience, while still overwhelmingly powerful, lost most of their bite in the effort required to reach . I was sure that my own thought-hisses were the sa, the wrath that I felt dimd by distance.
But if she was closer...sowhere in the world outside my mind, in the world of dulled sensations and drowned-out sounds, my scale-flesh began to shake. Sothing ghosted across my head-scales, familiar yet too removed for to truly recognize. Whatever it was, it helped - just a little. I heard a few noises prickle at my ears, drowned out and unintelligible, paired alongside the familiar touch across my scale-flesh.
...been out for a while...think sothings wrong?
Even if there is, theres not much we can do. It wouldnt be the first ti sothing like this has happened...you rember after the Fla Dungeon?
The sensations, dulled as they were, grounded . Cald .
Not much, but enough.
I gathered myself. I would need protection, I knew. A place to hide, a place that the would-be usurper could never overco, even when I was tired. Even when I was weak.
I needed a nest.
I needed my nest.
A small cavern grew in my mind, a room ford of familiar walls and soothing wall-cracks. A place to hide, a place to be safe.
[SUBMIT]
Tiamats demanding thought-hiss crashed into the walls of the nest, quieter than before. Muted. Distant. Sothing - fingers? - rubbed circles on my scale-flesh.
...Councils getting worried. We wont have enough food to go around, not unless so of the refugees are forced to go to a different city. Theres too many of them, and we relied too much on Verdant Grove to keep ourselves fed.
...for other options, yet? Theres always
...a temporary solution at best. Sothing will have to be done, and it will probably co down to us, whether we try to retrieve the Core ourselves or seek out other options. Be ready.
I didnt respond to Tiamats demands, not anymore. Sending a thought-hiss across the connection was draining, and creating my nest required all of my energy. I would give it that energy.
The nest of my birth deserved nothing less. At the center of the tiny nest in my mind, a pedestal grew. A thought-hiss invaded the nest, slipping through the wall-cracks.
[SUBMIT]
It was quieter now, forced to cut away at its massive size in order to fit through the wall-cracks of the nest. I brushed it aside with little more than a brief ntal flinch, little more than a flash of rage. I focused on my task.
I rembered my past. I rembered the gleaming light that shone down upon , a constant comfort amidst the dangers of the bad-things. I rembered the warmth that had filled my scale-flesh.
The nest, our nest, filled with light.
The Great Core ford upon its pedestal. The sacred fast-spots and the annoying-but-still-sacred-slow-spots gathered themselves in the room, drifting freely and shifting at the Great Cores whims. I was ho.
I was safe.
[SUBMIT]
The Mother of Monsters thought-hiss slipped through the wall-cracks again; with the defenses that I had built in my mind, it took barely any effort to brush the command away.
And then, safe at last, I let my thoughts drift.
Fingers - yes, those were fingers - rubbed against my scale-flesh again. I felt my body lean into the touch, and they pressed a little harder.
...little guy. Starting to wake up? The Councils getting a bit restless, what with how many refugees made it here safely thanks to you. They keep complaining about having to cut down on the size of their als.
That was...one of my Coreless - not-Needle? - hissing softly. I heard that odd noise that the Coreless sotis made, the one they forced air through their nostrils and then bared their teeth.
You know, so of the survivors are calling you their Little Guardian. The kids, especially. The escape from Verdant Grove was hard on them. A lot of them lost their families, and I think that they needed sothing to cling to. Sothing to keep the fear and sadness away.
I know that you might not even be able to hear , and wouldnt understand anyway even if you could, but...you did a good thing. A great thing. Im proud of you, Little Guardian.
We all are.
The hisses slowly fell away, drowned out as exhaustion pulled back into the world of my own mind. I idly pushed back against the latest of Tiamats invasions, sensing her rage and frustration sowhere behind the walls of my nest.
Her thought-hisses were barely noticeable anymore, but I could still feel our connection. I could still sense where she was, to a degree. I was sure that she could do the sa.
She would co for eventually, in her quest to usurp the Great Core. Maybe not right away; she was too deep within the World Dungeon for that, and the connection that we had told that she had too much pride to co after herself. Not as her first option.
The Blood of Tiamat, her twisted creations, would co after first. They would try to weaken enough for Tiamats influence to take hold. They would fail in that.
Maybe they would manage to kill , occasionally. Maybe more than once.
I would co back. The Great Cores power would provide the path to victory. It always did. It had already begun, with the first of the Coreless.
Tiamat could create an army of minions, ford from drops of her blood.
I could form my own.
And when I finally grew strong enough, when I gathered an army of Coreless converts and a vast amount of blessings, it would be that ca for her.
The Great Core would cut down the would-be usurper.
With that wonderful thought, I woke up at last.
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