The Mook Maker

Arke could feel it, the electrifying feeling of newfound power forcefully coursing through her veins. It rose, it built, filled her to bursting, and finally…  

 

The exhilarating influx of power momentarily overwhelmed her with an ecstatic, blinding, high and left her with a visceral need to stretch herself and push her abilities. She crouched, muscles tensing with potential, and then screeched as she surged with motion and took to the skies.

 

Essence drawn from the arcane fruit had reshaped, improved her body, and expanded her abilities, just as the Master had always wished, and now she was going to use that strength to further his goals. 

 

Thousands of her cousins sang it in unison - she could sense them - and it was her task to guide them. Other Alphas were already sending their kin to the fray, but the Defilers proved  unfit for capturing humans, unlike Arke’s sisters. 

 

She would deliver Master the city he wished. 

 

The host was massing. Their ability to bring all of their combined might to bear limited only by the ability of Warpstalkers and Displacers to transport everyone over the vast distances quickly enough. 

 

However, there was no need for everyone to come, just to corral the humans to the open ground where they could be stunned with ease, without roofs and other barriers to hide them.

 

The Fleshspeakers were the messengers of the Master's will, and they executed that will. 

 

Soon, the humans would finally understand. 

 

Ignorant, rudimentary creatures.

 

She would make them heel, one way or another - Master’s orders must be obeyed. 

 

She was His voice; she was the Overseer, to shape flesh and mind. 

 

With mighty beats of her wings, she was gaining altitude, directing her sisters in their sweeps low above the streets to catch glimpse of the stragglers and othersstill hiding within the houses, or those which took the chance to dash out the moment the Fleshspeaker passed.

 

Below her, the city humans referred to as Chunnan were drowning in disorder as the foolish humans ran back and forth like the puny pests they were, skittering in the dirt, heedless of the plans of greater power. 

 

Some tried to flee, to hide, and would be eventually stunned and captured, others tried to fight. 

 

Even though her kin’s number had increased considerably since she was born, with nearly two dozens added to their number during this very pacification effort, nothing could change the fact this part of the land was still human territory, infested with the rudimentary creatures untouched by her Master’s corrective measures. 

 

The city was the heart of it, with many thousands of inhabitants concentrated in the single densely populated spot, much larger than any other villages and settlements the host had passed through.

 

There were more buildings than some other settlements had people, which would prove to be an obstacle for a mere one hundred and seventy-eight of her sisters to overcome, as every house, every alley and every cranny needed to be searched to sniff out all the humans lurking within this putrid den, festering with ignorance. 

 

The Fleshspeakers were still too few to put all the rioters down in one massive sweep, and even with a dozen of humans overwhelmed by the single psychic screams, a dozen more continued to move, even some dizzy from the attack, while others sought shelter. 

 

The mob that had gathered on the city’s wide main street was dispersed, and the most of them easiest to neutralise, but the more disorderly the humans became, the harder they were to catch. Larger groups of people were easier targets, toppling over each other like the bowling pins, but all required the Fleshspeaker to perceive the humans.  

 

Even fires had to be put down by her Purifier cousins, who started them to smoke the useless creatures out of their hiding to the open, otherwise the mostly wooden city would be soon burned down to the ash. 

 

Master wanted this city.

 

Instead, the flesh drones, a roach hound as Arke’s Master called them, have to be sent to search the houses, one by one, allowing her sisters and her cousins to capture them. The paralysing venom Angela had obtained was proving to be far too useful, as the psychic screams were to be directed on the creature the Fleshspeaker had seen, even if through the eyes of the drones she controlled. 

 

Still, it was rather tiresome. 

 

It would be much easier if everyone obeyed the Master from the start.

 

Arke started to understand why some of her cousins were so disgusted with the humans so much.

 

They did nothing but cause problems, seemingly without rhyme or reason. 

 

Subjugating the thousands of them in a matter of hours was a nearly insurmountable task to complete. 

 

Yet, she couldn’t fault her beloved Master for ordering so. 

 

Who wouldn’t want to control all that chaos?

 

Arke directed some of her kin to the city gates, in equal measures, while others would patrol the length of the perimeter fortification of ones who would try to scale them. 

The narrow passages of the gates, intended to funnel the traffic, would also allow the psychic attacks to hit the largest groups at once, trapping everyone within the city walls to be eventually sniffed out by the hound drones once the access points were cut out.

 

There were still too few of them to handle so many humans, and Arke had to ask the host to bring in the carrier and mining drones as well, to confine the humans where they could be stunned.

 

It was easier to chase or lure them out than catch their speech or cries, even with Fleshspeaker’s superior hearing. There was still far too much background noise for that at the moment. 

 

Arke decided to follow the wall herself, as the host dispersed from the portals above the palace and the city’s centre, respectively, and already took the posts. 

 

The Eastern gate was already covered. 

 

Helmy and Mia already cut off one of the escape routes, their new mounts allowing them to run down the scum with ease. 

 

It was still a disappointment Arke never managed to make horses capable of climbing the walls, but it was an issue sure to be resolved at a later date. 

 

Reining in humans was a hard task, but someone would have to do it. They caused the Master far too many problems as they were. 

 

It was disappointing she had no time to experiment, even the less than Angela, Irene and Michelle had within their respective areas, let alone the new, very promising berries the Corruptors had devised to tame the unruly human. 

 

Brave’s idea, with Lily’s help, was truly ingenious. Her mind touched the host, and the two in question answered. Sadly, there was no time and place to exchange ideas about the better method to tame the resisting humans. 

 

It was a way that would ease the workload on Fleshspeakers. 

 

Request for Irene and her seven sisters to return was rejected. They were busy here; she replied. Just give humans higher dosages for now.  

 

Arke envied it a little - but Master had no time to review Arke’s horse design any more than the new calming produce distributed in the mining town. There was a larger predicament to resolve. 

 

Why couldn't humans just listen when the other human explained everything to them? 

 

If Arke hadn’t seen the human brain before, she would have thought that the creatures were simply incapable of even basic cooperation without the host directing them, however so far it seemed they instead were simply malicious, bound to spite the Master’s kindness for no apparent reason. 

 

Never mind. The city would soon be reshaped according to a far better design. 

 

It was her purpose. 

 

Still, the new creations seemed to shock the humans, and the imagery of humans stomping over each other amused Arke greatly, and she could feel Helmy enjoying herself as her new improved horse stomped the humans down as it galloped through the streets. 

 

She would mend the bones later if those pests stepped on each other in their futile attempt to run. 

 

Yet, the humans weren’t supposed to die here. 

 

It would be a terrible waste of the material for the Fleshspeakers to work with, even if the Master didn’t express the desire to keep the humans alive. They would make better drones than lesser animals, or into much more obedient equipment once their minds were properly moulded. 

 

Yet, some still dared to throw the stones at Master, even if he let the other human to explain his plan to them in the words they would certainly understand, simply infuriated her - it would, however, take a while to catch the specific person guilty of the assault. There were too many minds to sift through. 

 

There was one. At least one more disruptive than the species itself, among them, but even with the greater power she has been given, Arke failed to fully influence minds unless she established physical contact with the soon-to-be-drone. 

 

Her screech held the power to overwhelm the mind and the body, overloading their nervous system, but failed to properly rearrange the tissues so it could serve the host. 

 

So the chaos still reigned. 

 

The host was restless, as now Angela and Irene received the arcane fruits, ready to rejoin the hunt, interrupting the idle thoughts that suddenly preoccupied her thoughts when the area she focused on was relatively peaceful.

 

There were enough of her cousins coming to completely block the eastern gate of the city,  with only a couple of Fleshspeakers to perform the stun. 

 

The humans would not pass through there - and they likely realised as much too, judging from the few her sisters took control of, yet no proof of the discord agent has arisen. 

 

Arke turned and headed south. 

 

Others flocked to the north.

 

Michelle received her infusion of power, her joy equal to one of Arke’s experiences, was infectious, with Iris and Eris waiting for their turn in growth. It was sad Arke could not help the Mutators with their job. 

 

She knew that the resource was something at the edge of their own consciousness, limiting them to be processed through the Master’s light, for the Mutators to channel within the consumable product. 

 

The mystery of it permeated even the hassle of the fight, as she sensed the Master's mind worrying about it, and the limited possibilities he possessed. 

 

Arke believed she could make the product too, weave it into the flesh, but not the resource itself, a nebulous limit that escaped both herself, Kirke, and Master himself

 

Master desired to make all of them stronger, alas he could not. 

 

Perhaps it would be worthwhile to ask Narita to drain the entire city, to find out whether a small percentage of the energy would condense into the elusive resources. 

 

Master wanted to make all of Arke’s sister and all her cousins stronger, and the fact he could not pain him greatly. 

 

Arke the Overseer found her mind was wandering off again, away from the task at hand, to the creativity she craved to exercise. 

 

All of her sisters, and her cousins, deserved to feel that exhilarating sensation her evolution had brought her, and they, in turn, would give the Master the world reshaped in his image. 

 

She made a loop in the air when she flew too far, past the city limits. 

 

A southern gate was cut off when the Displacers and Warpstalkers transported the carrier drones to block the path, even at the cost of a small stampede. It allowed her sister to hit most of the mob in the single swoop, sending the countless of the pests down in violent seizures from the more concentrated attack. 

 

They deserved a little pain for spitting in the face of her Master’s kindness.

 

Iris and Eris, receiving arcane infusions of her own, were now ready to overlook the matters here, so Arke directed her flight to the west instead.

 

Despite being the city’s roughly rectangular shape, with the streets arranged within the right-angled geometric patterns where possible, none of the features were truly mirrored - the western wall wasn’t dominated by the large gates funnelling traffic in and out of the city, despite the fact that the farmlands stretched far west as she could see. 

 

It forced the travellers to go around instead of providing them with the shortest route. 

 

Any reasons why travellers should desire such a delay escaped Arke. 

 

However, she realised that some humans might attempt to scale the walls there once they realise the other access routes have been blocked, and would do so in the place least likely to be guarded. 

 

Then, all of the sudden, it happened. 

 

Her sister was hit. Her mind went suddenly quiet as the arrow had stuck into her chest and she crashed down onto the tiled roof of the building. It was a momentary pain, shared with the host, a suffering, soon disappearing in the joy of rebirth, yet it couldn’t wash away the fact that there was a threat. 

 

Within their Master, they were all eternal. 

 

All threats to the Master and his Host have to be exterminated. 

 

Arke caught the scene in the corner of the eye and cast a portion of her own mind into the host to confirm. 

 

A group of humans, all dressed in uniform brown tunics, raced across the main street, all armed with bows or crossbows, the female leading them the only one equipped with basic armour covering her chest and shoulder. 

 

The Human leader was, however, female. 

 

A ‘Caster’ maybe? Were not all human females of authority the ‘casters’?

 

This one didn’t have the robe.  

 

One man stopped, quickly drawing an arrow and shooting the bow, hitting another Fleshspeaker who attempted to dive on them.

 

Psychic screams tore through the human brains with the intent to overwhelm, but it couldn’t stop the physical projectile, and the host suffered yet another casualty. 

 

A poor girl took the hit as the projectile pierced her wing, tearing through the membrane, and Arke could both see and sense her sister plummeting down through the side of the building in pain until the collision ended her current incarnation.

 

Pain!

 

She was once again reborn to Master’s loving embrace, but the humans should not be forgiven. It pained the Master too much when the Host suffered, for they were one belonging to each other, and the lowest of creatures dared to disturb the bond! 

 

She shall not tolerate the attacks on her precious little sisters! 

 

Anger rose within Arke like a rising tide.

 

She called her sister, and the host, and headed right for it. 

 

Two of the archers were down, writhed in pain as their comrades futilely tried to wake them up, while the leading human female yelled at them. 

 

Sensitive hearing picked that up, but there was no time for translation.

 

Arke, along with more of her sisters, converged on them, releasing their psychic screams to put the threat down, yet two more arrows managed to hit before it took effect, claiming the lives of two more of the girls.

 

Pain! 

 

Sora’s portal tore the hole within the thread of reality, sending two crossbowmen falling through the void, their cries of pain soothing the Arke’s mind as the humans were to pay the suffering they caused for the host, and the Master. 

 

Yet, the woman heading the group of the humans managed to evade the portal, firing arrows with astonishing speed, even mid jump.

 

This was familiar. 

 

But all of those fighters - they were males! Except this one! 

 

Two more Fleshspeakers down!

 

Rage! 

 

The ‘caster’ or not, it was a threat. Threats to the Master have to be eliminated!

 

Sora was hit, saved by only the carapace of her new armour. The Warpstalker Alpha disappeared into her portal.

 

The accursed human female jumped into the air, narrowly avoiding yet another portal that would certainly kill her, completely undisturbed by the mind-rending screams of the Fleshspeakers that took down the rest of the squad. 

 

Last target. 

 

As the human female took to the escape across the rooftops, with the grace that would make even the Warpstalker blush, Arke was after her. 

 

This was the source of the disturbance! 

 

One that defied Master’s will! 

 

The concentrated psychic energy from Arke’s own screech, roused to the extreme by her rage and the recent arcane infusion, sent the rooftops flying free of their walled moorings, and sparking a cacophony of wailing cries from the surrounding houses where some of the city’s inhabitants had hidden, but the accursed archer continued to dash across the rooftops entirely unperturbed by the attempts. 

 

It was not enough. 

 

When the human finally turned, she sent the arrow through Arke’s own wing to embed in the muscle, forcing her to land on the street, only sheer luck helping her to avoid the deadly collision with the crenellated stone walls and lumpy cobblestones. 

 

She rolled up, sensing the force of the impact as she barely managed to land without breaking her wings.

 

Arke’s arm ached, so it affected her entire body. The arrow stuck deep in her wing-arm, but she was still alive, hopping down the street where the nearest of the paralyzed humans had fallen.  

 

She sank her claw through the unconscious human’s skin channelling her magic through, crushing the mind within with the newfound arcane strength, reshaping the body, imparting it with the desire to go kill the human female that currently danced across the rooftops despite the hundred Fleshspeaker in the air. 

 

Arke released the newly made drone and sent it after the female. 

 

Then she cast her mind into the frenzied host, recalled all the roach hounds, and sent them too.

 

She was so preoccupied with the process she almost forgot the throbbing wound that grounded her, as she hopped to yet another body to reshape, but the Displacer’s rift already brought a Defiler in to heal her. 

 

The healer pulls out the arrow with a spurt of blood. Only the quick channel of the life essence prevented the worst damage, as Arke’s wound began to rapidly close. 

 

She had no fear. 

 

As she rerouted yet another human brain for the chase, the rest of the host already worked on the solution.

 

The accursed human elite could dodge only so many portals. 

 

Out of the void between, shot through the portal, Angela released her improved psychic scream in the same moment as the dangerous human dodged another attempt to dodge the Displacer, Fleshspeaker swipe, and even a blast from the Purifier on another roof. 

 

Thrown by the force of the blast, the enemy was thrown through the fireball and crunched into the edge of the roof at the other side of the street, the human body finally snapping like the twig from the impact that damaged the wooden building.

 

A mindless drone, following the latest order, all threw themselves at the wounded human elite, biting and tearing the body apart in the mindless frenzy boosted through the host’s anger. 

 

It was the end of it, a sweet allure of the eight new voices joining their harmonious family was not enough to compensate for the inner turmoil the Arke had experienced, and she felt at fault, even if the host, and the Master, didn’t hold any blame.

 

She failed. 

 

Calling into the host, she had pleaded with the Displacer to bring a larger security detail to the Master, but it was already done. 

 

The Overseer Alpha, frustrated with the loss of the information within the dodgy’s human brain, turned to find another target - if it was the now deceased woman that gave orders, her underlings would have known something!

 

Ashamed that the drones, even ones created to intercept these very special enemies, proved to be incapable in facing them, she focused on finding answers!

 

Akre hurried her sisters - the one gifted with the greater strength would be, for the time being, dedicated to search for the strong opponents, should they appear. 

 

She would extract the information elsewhere.

 

A human, one archer hiding within the city, now lying disabled with the blast on the street, was about to regain consciousness only a moment before Arke descended on him, sinking her claws into his body. 

 

He screamed as the flesh shaping power seized his body, and the brain could not resist the onslaught of the improved, strengthened power. 

 

As the nervous system was being rewritten, a human mind gave up the image of him raising his crossbow - a weapon now abandoned somewhere on the street - firing it at Miwah, hiding the Bride, failing to kill her. 

 

He almost hit the Master! 

 

Justice would be served. 

 

Arke made sure it was as painful as possible until the rudimentary creature finally understood all the flesh and the mind were all always meant to serve the Master, and gave up all its secrets. 

 

He would make a new Dress for one of Arke’s sisters to make up for his errors, and for spitting in the face of Master’s kindness. 

 

Still, there was yet another mystery that had to be uncovered - from where the humans that caused so much suffering to her kin actually came from, after all the local soldiers were all wiped out, a relative defencelessness of the city convinced the Master to offer the helping hand. 

 

If humans were reasonable creatures, they would accept him without the question, as all should. 

 

She couldn’t understand this discord among the humans. 

 

Stupid creatures.  

 

Even after she had sifted through the minds of the few captives, she did not find the answers she had looked for. 

 

They did act on the order of the human female, one that perished within the fight, but why the sudden change? 

 

It bothered Arke. 

 

She wanted to control all that chaos - for Master. However, to do so, she needed to understand all the agents of discord among the pests, acting out even when the accursed ‘casters’ had been all gone. 

 

All threats to the Master should be exterminated. But first … 

 

What was a Secret Royal Inspector?