Drift
#6 of Twilight of the Alari
Part six! It's hard not to feel bad for Neiame...
So much destruction. So much death.
As she drifted across the emptiness of space, Neiame could only reflect on what she had done, as she tried to hold back her instinctive urges to consume. The ritual she had overseen had simply resulted in accelerating what she had tried to prevent completely. While the Vela'alari had succeeded in separating her people from their parasitic nature, it had not removed it, instead leaving it entirely focused within Neiame, leaving her as the single, solitary warden of this destructive power.
Had it been enough? Had this one image been able to hold back the tide of carnage of which she had become the herald?
She knew who it was. This proud woman had once been her daughter. Had she been joined to the collective mind of the Alari, even in death?
This girl's devotion to her mother as well as her desire to follow in Neiame's footsteps had caused her demise. As powerful as they were, the Alari were not without casualties. Even with all her inner strength and her training as a battle-cleric, some of which had been given by Neiame herself, a single Alari warrior-maiden was no match for the treacherous tactics of some of the Alari's enemies. Surrounded by these bug-like creatures, which had crawled out from the ground, she had willingly dispersed her body into raw energy, as did her people. She had taken many of these creatures along with herself into the great beyond, with her last facial expression a compassionate yet mournful smile.
This had all happened in front of Neiame's eyes, who could only watch helplessly as her daughter met her end.
Having lost the girl's father in battle many ages ago, Neiame had vowed to herself she would protect her daughter. She had always done everything she could to ensure a bright future for the girl. And while she had grieved at her daughter's passing, this had not broken her spirit. Instead, it had simply strengthened her resolve to help her people, to end the wars which had plagued her race for so long. How much would she have to lose to finally be at peace?
Idling somewhat calmly within the void between worlds, Neiame brought her mind back to the present. Would it ever end? Would peace ever arrive? How much more would she have to lose?
What was her name?
She could remember everything else about her daughter. Everything but her name.
She could even picture the runes which had once spelled out the name. Yet she could not make out what they meant. Try as hard as she may, it never came back. The memories of the girl's entire life flashed through her mind with enough clarity to be happening before her very eyes. She was there through the child's infancy. She could remember teaching her to master the spiritual currents. Even the most mundane of moments, such as the silly yet loving times they spent playing. And of course, there was always the final image of her passing.
Why could she not grasp this one individual's name?
Had her body instinctively disassociated itself with this memory, instead making way for its all-consuming hunger? Had the loss of her upper mind left her bereft of this most precious memory?
No matter how hard she tried to concentrate on it, the name of her daughter still eluded her. More and memories returned to her, but never this particular detail. Some memories were not even directly related to her offspring. Days of her own childhood or training. Time she had spent in combat, herself.
As the memories gradually filled her mind, she eventually realized these were not all her own. Some of the memories she was experiencing with such intense realism came from beings which she had never encountered before, on worlds she had never stepped on.
To Neiame, it was obvious. Her galactic rampage had been so powerful; it had created a spiritual vacuum powerful enough to drain the entirety of her victim's minds, thus granting her access to their memories. The individual personalities, however, had been completely eradicated. She was sure of this, as with her vast fields of perception which seemed to increase endlessly she would surely have been able to discern the presence of any other being within her mind. She knew she was alone. While the idea of her own mind being invaded by a flood of strangers plunging her into mental disarray wasn't very attractive, she was certain it would still be more tolerable than complete isolation.
Knowledge, languages, customs, she seemed to learn everything from these people simply by focusing her attention to the many empty minds which lingered within her own. She couldn't understand everything it was they were doing. The peoples with more advanced technologies or magicks still remained quite a mystery to her, as she could simply tell why they were doing what they were. She knew what the memories were saying, what they meant to their previous owners, yet she could understand nothing from them.
And yet, throughout the million of individual minds which had merged with her own, there was no single trace of her daughter's name.
She had no clue how much time she had spent dwelling on these thoughts. The pull of an exotic world's gravity was quick to remind her of the present situation. While caught within her own inner psyche, the former high priestess' attention had been diverted from her body's appetite. Unconsciously, it had shrunk itself back down, making her much closer in size to how she had been before the incident. She knew this without a need to compare herself to anything, oddly enough. Where she had once been around seven in height, she was now around ten feet tall.
This was as close as the similarities got, however, as her body was still extremely odd and unusual. She still possessed her three heads, although her personalities didn't seem to juggle between the three heads as often. Her meditation had seemed to unify her personality back to how it had once been. The rest of her body was very similar to how it had been at her departure from her home world. She still had the three pairs of iridescent, multi-coloured feathery wings. She still had the three pairs of eyes per head, which did not give her quite as much vertigo as she might have believed. As well, she still had the three pairs of legs, giving her the appearance of a taur. Her five pairs of arms were the oddity among her body's triplication, along with her tails, of which she now had a dozen.
There was a major difference between her current appearance and the previous one, however. Her proportions were quite unlike they had ever been before. Her hair had seemed to grow much longer, so that it nearly reached her knees, flowing smoothly around her lower body. Her arms, which were already quite toned in her youth, were rather massive in comparison, smoothly sculpted with muscle, while remaining quite feminine. The six breasts rather helped, as each was easily twice the size of her heads, causing quite a strange piling of soft flesh. Finally, her legs had swollen quite thick, leaving her with incredibly long and wide thighs, which made her hips and bottom appear extremely curvy, hiding beneath their smoothness a very impressive strength.
Neiame looked around slowly as she slowly descended towards the ground, assisted by the gravitational pull while also controlling her fall using her large wings. This place appeared to be nothing but a massive, barren wasteland. There was life on this world, she was sure of this, but what could exist on such a place? The small clouds of dust forming around her hooves as they lightly hit the ground only cast further doubt in her mind.
She had arrived here at the edge of a valley. On the other side appeared to be a rather small village, which she would have surely missed, had it not been for her unique sense of perception. She knew right away she should not approach these people. She could sense fear among them. It wasn't quite of her specifically, but rather a general fear of ubiquitous destruction. Had she brought the Vela'alari along with herself? Was she doomed to forever repeat this disaster?
She would try her best to avoid letting this happen again. She would try and live in peace, feeding on the unused energies, which seeped out from every living being. She would remain the parasite she was, feeding over the excess of others, rather than become a predator which simply destroyed others to survive.
Walking along slowly, with each of her gentle footsteps causing a very slight tremor in the ground, she eventually came across a cave. Sensing it was empty, she proceeded to enter, though the current size of her body was causing her quite some trouble, as she had to force her way in. Unsurprisingly enough, considering her new strength, the entrance eroded itself quickly as she passed by, leading her into a large chamber.
This had certainly been inhabited in the past, but the dust and state of the many objects found within convinced her that this place had been abandoned a long time ago. Staying here, she rationalized would still be close enough to feed on the nearby village without being noticed.
With little physical need to eat, Neiame could easily spend her time within her cave, meditating deeply, each day becoming more in more and control of herself. Her spiritual perception allowed her to gradually learn more about the people surrounding her, despite knowing nothing of what they were doing. Some were using strange artifacts similar to those found in her cave, yet she could simply not understand what they were used for. Others seemed to maintain a treacherous relationship with the beasts of the land, tending to their needs and raising them, until brutally executing them and feeding on their carcasses. This was indeed a disturbing universe.
And yet, no matter how hard she tried, she could not remember the name. Had she even existed? Were those her own memories, or those of others which had been mixed with her own?
Sitting on all her knees on the ground, eyes closed, a name finally appeared on the tips of her tongues. The runes were placing themselves within her mind, spelling out this person's name. With it, she would know for sure.
"Err... Hello?"
Neiame's concentration dissipated as she opened her eyes, facing the stranger.