"A worm? Playing dead? Really," Aaradhya scanned the little creature and pursed his lips in thought. A quick glance was all that he needed to see that it was a spiritually awakened creature. It was surrounded by a blue corona as its main body contained a spirit flame.
"This must be some type of special creature. Perhaps, it's those Vitae companions that I saw in the Base shop for Body modification. If so, whose would it be if it's not just a random creature that has been born in this world," Aaradhya moved the worm into the palm of his other hand and frowned as he thought of a possibility.
"I have lost some time so I don't know what the other champions have accomplished in relation to the story that we all know but I refuse to believe that this is a normal creature in this world," Aaradhya glared at the earth worm that felt like a piece of vine. After a few seconds of intense observation, the worm grew a face and arms. It hyper evolved with a sickening squelch and released enough heat to burn his palm. He shuddered in absolute terror and disgust as he threw the worm and stepped backward, away from the nasty little creature.
"Ew, I mean... Ahem. It seems I was right...," The wall rumbled not even five seconds later as a dozen worms spilled out of the dirt and piled onto the humanoid prime worm. Mrs.Lagrange attempted to grab Aaradhya but fell to her knees with a gasp. Two servants tried to help her up but the damage was already done as blood oozed from her wrapped up leg. Aaradhya fell on his butt as he stumbled over his own feet, which defiled the image of grace many of the servants imposed onto him. In mere moments, more worms that resembled snakes warped the tunnel walls and bound the hands and feet of the servants like ropes. Hundreds of worms pooled out of the floor where the wooden looking humanoid worm was dropped. From the writhing tangle rose a human... amalgamation. After a few seconds, the grown human's ears elongated as features were made out.
"Disgusting," Aaradhya covered his mouth to prevent himself from throwing up.
"Hello," the odd human shaped pile spoke with a worm filled and feral grin. Its mouth moved but the voice directly entered Aaradhya's mind. It was only after it spoke that its features solidified into something more appealing.
"Name's Woad. Sorry for the appearance, it was the only way to move through these tunnels fast enough. Also, V sends his love and a gift," the worm-man put his hand through the wall that the worms spilled out of and looked as though he were fishing around for something contained within the dirt. Its movement sent a jolt through the servants as each of them felt the boa like worms constrict to prevent them from moving.
"Beast, leave our lord alone," one servant roared as she tried to remove her binding by biting through the tough flesh of the worm that bound her arms.
"How dare you push our lord to the floor you abomination," another servant screamed as he practically foamed at the mouth. The same or similar shouts rang out amongst the servants but they were quickly dealt with as worms coiled around their mouths.
All of them could hear the squishing and squirming of thousands if not millions of soft fleshy bodies as they popped under the weight of the masses above them. Wild imaginations gave each of the servants straight injections of terror as their bodies were locked down beyond their control.
"Fucking cult members," Woad sighed and spoke under his breath. From his experience, people would freak out when an animal behaved out of the ordinary and in a manner that suggested higher intelligence. A talking worm monster, for one, usually shuts people up. Woad shook his head and focused on the white haired boy that was the champion of Death.
"Apparently. This little guy is pretty valuable as it's one of a kind. V spent a month experimenting and made it after spending a lot of luck," the monster called Woad dropped a blue worm no larger than Aaradhya's smallest finger into his little hands.
"Bye now," the worms dived back into the holes in the walls. The ones that died from being crushed by the overall mass of the worm monster vanished into tiny wisps of smoke and blue embers that all floated back into Woad. Aaradhya took everything that was said and handed to him in stride as he thought about the encounter as indifferently as his elevated heartbeat would allow.
"V," he questioned.
"I don't believe there was a character called V in the original story. Woad, either, for that matter. Perhaps, one of the other champion's real names starts with a V or something along those lines. For now, I don't really have a choice in turning down any assistance. Especially since it's from a person that can control or become a bunch of worms," Aaradhya held his gift and observed the little creature that was given to him.
The atmosphere carried a certain air of curiosity, anger, and fear. The servants, particularly Mrs. Lagrange, wanted to ask who that frightening creature was. Was it a monster or spirit or both considering its strong spiritual presence. The Verdant thickened the moment that the creature appeared and choked some of the servants that could feel it better than the others. Then there was the matter of hierarchy. Was that worm creature a subordinate of their lord or a passing ally under the banner of someone else that was at or of equal authority to their lord. For example, who was this V character, an enemy or ally of their lord. More questions slowly grew in the minds of all of the servants but none dared to break the silence as they knew it was not their place to question their lord and the company he kept before he descended to the mortal realm.
"Hm. I'm not one to accept a gift from a strange fellow but I'm also not one to turn down a boon that is strictly beneficial towards me," Aaradhya was unconcerned as he observed the worm that wiggled in the palm of his hand.
The only issue is what is the purpose of giving me a worm," Aaradhya squinted his eyes to look past the blinding spirituality of the miniscule animal.
"Am I supposed to subordinate the soul of this creature with a tether," he gritted his teeth to ignore the slight burn that seemed to come from the dense creature's blazing body.
"This V character, likely, knows about my peculiar divine nature or background which means that I'm supposed to do something with this creature that benefits my blessing or spirit walk skill," Aaradhya pinched the worm that was smaller than his pinky and brought it to eye level as he turned off his soul sense by opening his eyes.
"Assuming that any of the other champions would have assumed or discovered my location based on the details in the book or through means that I have no reference for, this gift is of no ill intent," even without soul sense, the worm was still a bright blue color in the candlelight. There were dark green rings all throughout the length of its body.
"The question is, what is the purpose of this gift? Should I nurture the physical worm as I would an exotic pet or bind this spiritual creature to my soul as I've done with my father. From the description, I can assume that a creature like this is a Vitae companion," Aaradhya pursed his lips in thought.
"I should be able to unlock more tethers soon if I purchase one of the automatic unlocks that Wilfred used whenever he purchased an upgrade in the store," Aaradhya pursed his lips as the questions and thoughts piled up.
"I could tether it as my second connection but I'm not certain this won't end horribly. What if this worm dies before I can tether it," Aaradhya didn't have to make a choice at all as he realized that the worm stopped wiggling between his fingers.
*RESOURCE: Bank
Simple Creatures: 7/100 ---> 8/100
*ACTIVE: Soul Capture (Touch Only)- Take the souls of those who have less spiritual power than you after you have killed them.
"I now know how to capture souls. I'm sorry, little one. I didn't mean to kill you," Aaradhya placed the worm corpse on his palm and closed his eyes out of a solemn respect for the creature that was packed with spirituality. He was surprised to see a glowing worm that wiggled around its own corpse. Oddly enough, Aaradhya stared at the little thing with a sense of…
"What is this kinship? This feels so peculiar," Almost naturally, the worm burrowed through his palm as naturally as it was for a physical worm to dig through dirt. Unnaturally, the worm slowly descended as a net of blue thread safely encased the thing on the backside of his palm. With a flick of his wrist, Aaradhya pulled the worm back through his own hand and smirked.
"Clever and useful. This worm is meant to be a kindling. Since I am not strong enough to move my own spirit as I see fit, I was given a gift to catch up, to nudge me in the right direction," the tiny specter crawled its way around and through Aaradhya. From time to time, it would get caught in his soul and innocently draw out his power much like how a silkworm spun its thread.
"I just have to remember the sensation of it burrowing and learn to access my own spirit. That's easy enough since I am aware of it, I just have to keep it in my hand," Aaradhya nodded a few times and whipped out his notebook. At first he was afraid that the worm would fall but he noticed that it was so small and dense that when he moved his hand, it was caught by the threads that bound him to his collected souls. It hung a few millimeters away from his skin, unable to move away. After seeing that, he opened his eyes and wrote.
"Get back to exploring the tunnels," Aaradhya wrote to Mrs. Lagrange and the nearby servants that had gathered without offering a single explanation as to what the encounter was about. In an almost dreamlike state, time condensed as he engrossed himself in experimentation, observation, and reexamination with the worm.
Unlike when he resonated with the Verdant and allowed it to flow uninterrupted through and around his body, controlling spiritual energy was a different kind of beast. There was disembodied numbness associated with feeling, or rather becoming aware of, his spiritual body. The worm helped with the inability to feel by tugging on the connection that bound him to all of the simple creatures that were part of his blessing.
He knew that his mother's echo was one thing that he was connected to but as for the seven other souls, aside from the worm that was connected to him, he had no clue. He couldn't sense what they were, where they were, or what they were doing. It was a mystery to him, just like most of his abilities.
Regardless, seconds turned to Minutes and minutes turned into an hour. Honestly, he couldn't tell how much time passed with the dilation of time that he experienced when he dove into his soul to try and actively control the worm. Matters of the soul did not lay within the realms of logic. Not truly. He only broke concentration every few moments to direct his servants on where to walk after they reached an intersection or split in the caves.
"How exhilarating. I have wrapped my head around the concepts Marimo laid out but the standard practice for interacting with the verdant is merely a guideline for self discovery. What is my relationship to the Verdant, what is my energy expecting in response, what are their checks and balances? It's all impossible to know without a clearly defined internal understanding," Aaradhya held out his left hand, tiny blue threading wired into the Verdant surrounding him like the roots of a plant. The tiny worm wrapped itself around one of these threads and slowly munched on the verdant that interacted with Aaradhya's space. The worm lit up with tiny mint colored embers on its inside, which were collected on the rings that decorated its tiny body. Sadly, his data collection would have to wait for another time.
"What is that sound," one of the servants whispered to Mrs. Lagrange.
"It is gunfire. You two, scout ahead and report back immediately after you have a grasp of the whole situation. Where is the map that we have been drawing," some servants moved further along the cave with a flashlight, one pulled out a scroll, and the remaining servants moved one of the fallen stone panels from the floor and provided the old woman with a seat. Mrs.Lagrange read the scroll and waited for a short while for the two servants that she sent ahead to get back. Once they reported what they learned, she decided to talk to her lord to fill him in on the details of their situation.
"My lord. This tunnel, if we have followed the path properly, should lead to an ancient hub of the island," Mrs. Lagrange compared her knowledge of the island aboveground to the map of the underground that they had been making and the report that she received.
"Explain," Aardhya wrote a single word and crossed his arms.
"The short of it is this, your lordship's greatest architects passed on this island's reformation through millenia of gruesome apprenticeships. The most recent architect possessed the great ambition to hollow out and stabilize the entire island's foundation just as their ancestors secured the Glass Peak and the surrounding mountain range," Mrs. Lagrange paused so that her lord could digest what she was telling.
"I was right. The Glass peak and the servant pathways were carved over a long period of time to get to its current opulence," Aaradhya pieced together what was being said and waved a hand to signal that she could continue.
"This hub is one of the focal points of the entire island's underground and from here, one can go anywhere. It has remained unfinished and untended for the better half of two centuries as we have lost the lineage that usually served as the architects of the faith. Regardless, our enemy appears to have discovered the location and fully intend to utilize it against us. What I mean to say is...", Mrs. Lagrange held her tongue as she tried to long-windedly state what had been reported to her.
"We may be trapped in this particular tunnel system. Any other outlets have either decayed with time or remained unfinished. The enemy has guns and we do not, many if not all of us are injured, and there is an unknown variable that is causing conflict among the enemy," Mrs. Lagrange cleared her throat and blushed out of embarrassment as she spoke without confirming the info herself.
"There is something, a man in yellow robes, based on what was described to me, is engaging with the enemy that has cornered us. My best bet is that the master of the creature that you met with is providing assistance but I'd rather not bet on a wild buck," Mrs. Lagrange looked away from her lord, unable to draw upon her previous confidence. Aaradhya shifted his vision to the path that the servants had just taken and pierced through the solid stone with his soul sense. He could see the path as clear as day but, sadly, he could not see far enough to reach the hub Mrs. Lagrange talked about. Instead of getting upset or becoming passive, he whipped out his notepad and wrote.
"We will approach the scene since being able to walk around a hub area while the enemy is distracted is better than remaining idle like lambs to the slaughter," Aaradhya nodded as he wrote.
"Great idea my lord, should we bring our supplies," Mrs. Lagrange asked.
"No, everyone should eat and drink their fill right now so we can leave the extra weight behind. We will be leaving these caves within the hour. Whether that means we get caught and killed or escape with our lives, we will find out soon," Aaradhya tried to sound strong in his letter since some of his people could read it. The effect that he wanted, to ignite their spirits, was exactly what he achieved as the servants and Mrs. Lagrange all had their fill before they headed out. Even he had some of the rehydrated food and water that came in an aluminium bottle.