Chapter 68: An Uneventful Day (Patreon)

Hi there! I just wanted to let you all know that I still, honestly, cannot thank you all enough for supporting me! I hope this chapter makes up for that in some fashion, I know it isn't too exciting but I still think that we need to see a bit more Sela, and now next chapter can finally lead into some real, honest Aby action!

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Sela couldn’t, in all honestly, call much of her day after the Mapper fiasco very productive. She also couldn’t call it very exciting. In fact, most other Nereids would have gone so far as to call it boring, but most other Nereids wouldn’t have found the same enjoyment out of simply… hanging out with the various creatures in Aby’s halls as she did. And to Sela, while other Nereids were entitled to their opinion, they were all incorrect.

That was exactly what Sela had done, too, simply enjoying the company of whatever creatures she had managed to wind up nearby while their floors were empty, before needing to depart because outside sapients simply could not help themselves and not ruin things, apparently. With that said, she still managed to have fun in spite of the interruptions; as she was making her way back to her and Abys’ room she maintained a close eye on a very shifty mass of what might possibly be considered an animal. That was another thing she had noticed that day, apparently her new friend on floor twenty decided that, despite being a boss of that floor, it would rather follow the Nereid.

Granted, she didn’t mind that too much, more company was never a bad thing, this was her philosophy on most things. No, what she didn’t understand was why exactly it felt the need to hide from her, very successfully, the entire time. It acted almost guilty when she finally noticed it, and what was worse, the thing was incredibly good at hiding. She hadn’t even realized until well after making her way to the twelfth floor, and even then it was only the almighty crunch that made her jump and whip her head around, staring at the fuzzy, sharp-beaked snake cracking open a coconut crab by the water’s edge with its muscled coils. If that weren’t enough, after realizing that the crab was still weakly struggling it squeezed its body inside that fracture with a boneless grace that an octopus would envy.

Sela and the drake she had been leaning against were both watching the show now, more out of morbid fascination than anything else, and there were a few more twitches, spasms, and jolts before the creature mercifully dissolved into light and then nothingness, leaving behind the black putty that had congealed inside it, slowly becoming an exact replica of that very crab. The doppelgänger didn’t keep that form for very long, though, before extra flesh spilled out of the joints and holes in the carapace, the mottled brown becoming a pale blue, and of course, tufts of white fur it seemed so fond of started sprouting like grass.

Sela had sighed in resignation then, watching as the crab-thing struggled between going up to its favorite person now that she knew it was there, and trying to hide again. The presence of a very, very large drake certainly didn’t help matters, but when Sela cocked her head to the side, waved a hand, and cooed for it to come join them, it complied. Of course, the awkward, scurrying gait was made worse by the fact that somewhere along the way it decided that headless snakes made for better movement than legs over sand, and it took far longer than it should have to cover the distance, already looking completely different than it had when it began the journey.

Still, Sela couldn’t help but find a stingray covered in fur cute, and even the beak it had on a much too thick tail didn’t change this. It was, if nothing else, the most normal she’d seen it voluntarily become in some time, and it still enjoyed the petting, scratching, and general attention Sela gave, and now it was able to purr, raising a question Sela would not ask. Things got a little jumpy for a bit, though, when the drake decided to also investigate the curious thing. 

Leaning over to the edge of the water, it took a very close look at the fuzzy disk and its now three beaked tails, it was roughly a meter without them, and closer to two when they were counted, but it was still at best comparable to the tip of his snout to his neck. The thing itself just watched passively, its own eyes bubbling to the surface of its back before sinking back into the flesh, but when the drake snorted arrogantly, it retaliated.

Whether it was because of some perceived slight, or petulant dislike, or even just twisted desire to show off, two of its three tails launched upwards at the drake, who was too surprised to do much more than watch as one of the beaked appendages grabbed hold of the flesh of his cheek and the other digging into the side of his nose. Obviously, this hurt the poor thing, and he very quickly pulled his head back, but not before the deceptively sharp mouths carved out chunks of meat from him. 

Sela was already well aware of the drake’s nature, already spurred into action the moment she saw the doppelgänger lash out, trying to force her diminutive frame between the two before either of them felt the need to go after each other again. The drake, for his part, was understandably incensed, but the wounds were immediately closed by a very diligent core, and he had to admit, in some part of his mind, that compared to having any of his crystals removed, that was downright pleasant. 

He was still mad, though. The only thing keeping him from seeking a chunk of his own was Sela, who had her back towards him as she glared at the doppelgänger as it once more melted into goo, warbling and warping. At first, both of them were worried about what, exactly, was on its way, now that the shapeshifter had just gotten a chunk of a very big drake, but when that ball of ink stayed roughly the same size, or even condensed slightly even as defining features started being carved into it, they both felt a bit of relief.

In the end, Sela was forced to keep from laughing as a drake opened its eyes and looked back at her, it a perfect clone of the absolutely massive one behind her, apart from the fact that it was hardly a meter long. A second glance, however, also showed that the doppel-drake was also missing the crystal affliction which plagued the genuine article, which was curious. The drake himself, meanwhile, seemed upset with the sheer insolence of the being before him, wondering just why the Partner of the Creator was so fond of it, and why the Creator itself forbid its destruction.

Still, that didn’t matter too much to Sela, who finally huffed now that the mini-drake was staring at her, then spoke.

“Are you finally done now? I don’t know why you did that, but it was very rude. I’d force you to apologize, but you can’t speak. I’d make you let him bite back, but it’d kill you. So I don’t know what to do. I’m not going to pet you for a while though, you lost that.” She scolded, before turning around to the injured party and rubbing his nose some.

“I’m sorry big guy, you didn’t deserve that at all. Are you okay?” The drake nodded, most of his outright anger already gone, replaced by brooding and loathing towards the impetuous creature that had already waddled back over, nuzzling against his ankle with a slowly deflating copy of his own face, apparently as some sort of gesture of peace. It took everything he had to not flick him aside and send him hurtling into a wall, but he managed, for the Partner.

Some semblance of peace was reasserted not long after that, though, and for a while the three could simply enjoy a bit of time, mostly the drake and Sela, since the doppelgänger had once more wandered off, making snacks of yet more creatures on the floor. In the end, it wasn’t even the promise of invasion that forced Sela to continue her sightseeing, but rather the drake’s own antsy nature. Eventually, the peace and quiet of the floor became simply too much for him to bear, so he nudged Sela one final time, being gentle so as not to bury her in the sand she was resting on, then walked off.

The Nereid couldn’t help but smile wryly as, just moments later, the floor itself shook slightly in response to a violent roar, and then a little bit harder when the drake found some unwilling playmate to try and smash. Sela could only motion for the doppelgänger to follow her and leave, which it did eagerly and disturbingly. It seemed to enjoy working a bit of drake into most of its forms, now, similarly to what it did with the Mapper.

She waited for the quadrupedal squid to arrive by her side, its furred mane billowing in the water as the thick, muscled legs moved in just the wrong ways to make what could have been a menacing creature, in the right light or lack thereof, look stunted and odd. It looked hopefully up at her, the many new eyes it had acquired from its excursion only making its pitiful gaze look that much sadder, and Sela couldn’t help but give it a bit of attention, watching as it writhed in joy.

That was not long before she decided to head back to the core room, but she wanted to take a risk and detour to the eleventh floor, to see how the kobolds were faring. The answer was simple enough: not well. That was a bit of an exaggeration, but the tribe had gone into complete lockdown, Aby had even given them some assistance and turned their little alcove into a largely hidden pocket on the floor, they could come in and out but it was hard to spot through corals and seaweed and algae, and they’d gotten some assistance in the form of rifle shrimp. More specifically, there was now a branch of the original colony tunneled within their section of cave as an added protection. 

The Kelpie wasn’t afforded the same luxuries, though, so the first members of the tribe Sela had seen were the ever-neurotic horse, and his equally exasperated rider, only growing more stained as the two of them spent more time together. By now she was closer to an aggressively inky black than the sandy yellow, and even her scales seemed to lose much of their definition, sagging and drooping rather than shining and interlocking.

Sela greeted them all the same, her usual cheer a bit subdued thanks to the reservations she had about the horse. She did, however, have a very brief conversation with his rider, which revealed that the final clutch of eggs was due to hatch within days, and she had been tentatively invited to watch the event. She was, however, gently but firmly told that trying to enter their tribe was a poor idea at the moment, partially thanks to the lack of water which she could use to move, but also because the hovel was in the process of being turned into a very primitive village, and that without Aby’s help during the day, it would take a while longer to build and excavate than they’d like, not to mention actually expanding the reinforced stone walls.

She was a bit disappointed she wouldn’t be able to see them that day, nor would she be able to fulfill her desire for conversation with the kelpie rider. It would also be a wise decision to leave in general, anyways, if the way that the kelpie and the doppelgänger were eyeing each other down was any indication. It wasn’t a sadistic desire to maul on the kelpie’s part, nor was it the desire to subsume and become on the doppelgänger’s, but something about the sheer curiosity in both their gazes was making Sela very uneasy. She had no idea the ways two shapeshifting mounds of flesh would greet each other, but her instincts were telling her that today was not the day to find out, and so she gave a curt goodbye to the rider, and a very pointed glance at the chimeric mass, and they were off.

That brought them to where they were then, a peculiar duo working their way back into a dark, cold abyss through a tunnel of sand and lime, when the closest thing to an all clear signal was given on Aby’s part. It abruptly changed, from its total dominion over all things Dungeon, its awareness washed inwards like a roaring tsunami, the sheer amount of mind being sucked inwards to a single individual was always incredible, and it seemed that each and every day only brought with it more, of what Sela wasn’t sure, but Aby still seemed to be growing. She let herself smile, it was always nice when the Core could clear out its halls in a timely manner, rather than needing to stay and focus on a single individual for the entire night it should be resting. After all, it meant that it could be just the two of them, and as she looked downwards, she gave a small smile and spoke.

“Welcome back, Aby. Was your day alright?” Normally the Nereid didn’t expect too much out of the core, and tonight wasn’t unusual by any stretch.

“Hi Sela, I’m good.” The Fae nodded, once more starting to their room to decide what she should actually do for the day.