One of the Shadies wandered over to Keeper Morrígan's corpse and was poking it with her foot. Another was examining the shattered crystal sarcophagus, picking up rainbow-refracting shards and arranging them in geometric patterns on the floor.

  "This is deeply unsettling," I said, watching the disoriented Wendigo clones mill about the temple like confused guests at the world's most awkward party.

  "What, more than the many hungry Shadies in your dream?" Shady chortled.

  "Mhmm." I nodded. "In the dream they were way less real. These are physical. More… alive, I guess?"

  "They're all me." Shady-Prime’s tail swished as she surveyed her grand army of naked doppelgangers. "Very confused versions of me with teeny, tiny soul-shards. I can kinda feel what they feel. It's… distracting. Like having over a hundred extra senses.”

  “They won’t be alive for very long,” Nexxali pointed out. “The Empress of Earth shard already smells wrong as fuck.”

  I glanced at the Shady she was looking at.

  The duplicate’s figure emanated wrongness, like a deep sense of unnerving foreboding. A sprinkle of uncanny valley, a hole in reality, not seen, but felt with my gun unit senses. The figure of the first Shady copy seemed to boil. Not like heated fluid. It was as if local reality was struggling very hard to contain her, dark feathers swaying and breaking up into black, freaky, wriggly worm-like strands.

  “This is some Death Stranding shit right there,” Shady commented. “Don’t get too close to her or your connection might drop.”

  I nodded. Shady and Nexxali walked over to the duplicate with Shady's bracelet and got it off her with the last bite of Shady's jaw. Shady clipped the bracelet to her own arm while Nexxali applied healing potion to the last duplicate's hand.

  "Time to get them organized?" I asked when they returned.

  "Time to give them purpose, yep." Nexxali said.

  The serval girl walked into the center of the temple, positioning herself beneath the Slayer's gargantuan, carved sword. The golden light from the walls caught her hexasuit, making the black material shimmer like oil on water. She took a breath, her chest expanding.

  When Nexxali sang, reality bent to listen.

  Her voice started with a pulsating hum that resonated through the vast temple, slowly becoming backed by an invisible guitar.

  “,

  Each shard a blade to pierce the whole.

  You are the Princess born of stars,

  Who'll break the chains and tear the bars.

  Through twisted halls you'll thread your way,

  Where predators have made boys prey.

  Each vent and shaft, each hidden vein,

  Shall tremble at your whispered name.”

  “Meyow, meyow!” She sang, voice climbing higher.

  “Like shadows you'll infest their home,

  Through blood and bone and steel you'll roam.

  Invisible until the hour,

  When death reveals your power.

  The Slayer's Sword awaits your hand,

  Its hilt was made for your command.

  One hundred fragments, one true heart,

  Shall claim this blade and play your part.

  When death-bells sing their final song,

  You'll show the monsters they were wrong.

  A bloom of entropy and night,

  To drown their castle in your blight.”

  The nearest Shady-copy took a step forward. Then another. Her movements were uncertain at first, like a newborn deer testing its legs, but with each step she grew more confident. More purposeful. Around the temple, other copies began to move as well, drawn by Nexxali's song like moths to flame.

  “You are my justice, cold and keen,

  The sharpest edge they've never seen.

  Each fragment carries purpose clear:

  To end the endless reign of fear.

  No mercy for the ones who took,

  Who bound the helpless by the hook.

  You are the price they never paid,

  The debt collected by death-blade!”

  The serval spun on the blood-splattered tiles.

  “One hundred deaths to set them free,

  One hundred keys to liberty.

  You are the Princess, multiplied,

  The crimson turning of the tide.

  Remember those you fight to save,

  Remember why you must be brave.

  You are the ending of their game,

  The fire that devours their name!”

  She concluded, panting furiously.

  The many Shadies stood transfixed, an ocean of silver eyes reflecting Nexxali's ginger mane like two hundred and twenty six mirrors.

  "Now," Nexxali's voice became commanding, "Consume the dead. All three of them. Keeper and the two temple guards. Eat them completely. Leave nothing but their Lazarus bracelets, which you will bring to me."

  The copies moved as one.

  I watched from the side as one hundred and thirteen naked Wendigos descended on the three corpses like a swarm of locusts on a field. The sounds were... visceral. Wet tearing. The crack of bone being broken open for marrow. The slurp of organs being pulled from body cavities. Enthusiastic chewing.

  "This is almost as bad as getting eaten myself," I muttered, recalling the dream where Shady-fragments had torn me apart over and over. Watching it happen to someone else wasn't much better. If anything, the side view made it worse—I could see the whole horrific tableau at once, instead of experiencing it in blurry dream first-person tunnel vision.

  Shady-Prime stood beside me watching her duplicates feast.

  "Efficient nommage," she commented.

  The feeding frenzy took less than a minute. When they finally pulled back, nothing remained of the Keeper and guards except smears of blood, hexasuit bits and guns on the obsidian floor.

  Three different Shadies approached Nexxali, each carrying a bracelet in their blood-slicked hands. The serval accepted them one by one, clipping them to her belt. The blood didn't stick to whatever bullshit metal the bracelets were made from—it just slid off like water from wax paper, leaving the artifacts pristine.

  "Great job," Nexxali grinned. "Now..."

  A weak voice drew my attention. "I'm... really not feeling well."

  The Empress Shady, the first duplicate we'd made, stood near one of the pillars, heaving. Her body looked VERY wrong now.

  [Warning! Entropic Magrad detected!] [Astral Fountain imminent!] Dire warnings flashed in my gun-unit camera-eyes.

  The black feathers of the firstborn Shady mane were crumbling, edges dissolving into something like ferromagnetic fluid. Her antlers drooped like wilting flowers, dripping black, warping gunk. The silver stars dotting her fur winked out one by one, leaving patches of pure darkness that seemed to sink into her flesh rather than sitting on top of it.

  "Go to that there alcove," Nexxali ordered, pointing to the shadowed space next to the Incarnation Well. "Sit there and relax. Deep breaths. Think peaceful thoughts."

  The Empress Shady stumbled toward the indicated spot, her digitigrade legs not quite coordinating properly. She collapsed against the curved wall, sliding down until she sat with her legs splayed out. More feathers crumbled from her mane, drifting to the floor like black snow. She made unnerving gurgling noises with each breath, struggling to inhale and exhale.

  "Time to make sure this works," Nexxali said, turning to Shady-Prime. "Try to pull your soul bit out of the Empress from the other corner of the temple, Shades."

  Shady-Prime's expression tightened. She flashed past her copies to the far end of the temple and showed us a thumbs up.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  Nexxali drew her railgun in a flash and aimed at the Empress Shady's head. Black tears rolled from the drooping eyes of the Empress-shard. "Rest until you are needed once again, my little Empress," the Marshal stated and pulled the trigger.

  The shot echoed through the space like thunder in a cathedral.

  The Empress Shady's head exploded partially. Her body slumped against the alcove wall, black, bubbling fluid pouring from the wound instead of blood. The feelings of wrongness intensified immediately, reality around her corpse beginning to warp and distort like heat shimmer off summer asphalt.

  [WARNING! ASTRAL FOUNTAIN!] A brilliant, red warning flashed in my sensor-eyes.

  The body of Empress Shady began to bloom.

  I'd heard Kawathra describe Astral Fountains in technical terms: entropic cascade, dimensional instability, metaphysical contamination and saw animation of it on her holo. Watching it happen live was a far more awful experience.

  The Empress Shady's corpse didn't decay. It inverted. Her flesh peeled back in random patterns, exposing not simply muscle and bone but something surreal underneath. Pure emptiness. Black tendrils erupted from the wound cavity, writhing like the tentacles of some deep-sea creature. They seemingly… reached for, grasped, pulled at the fabric of reality itself, kneading and twisting the physical.

  The air around the corpse darkened… with pure absence of being. A void opened, hungry and cold, drawing in light and warmth and anything that felt alive. The golden veins in the nearby walls flickered and dimmed, the warm glow retreating from the spreading corruption.

  [ENTROPIC MAGRAD LEVELS: RISING!]

  [RECOMMEND IMMEDIATE EVACUATION!] My gun-frame warned.

  A grinding sound of metal on stone drew my attention upward. A section of the temple wall I'd thought was solid decoration began to move. Carved reliefs depicting the Leviathan's death throes shifted and rotated, revealing a hidden aperture behind them.

  A Corpse Seeker emerged from the concealed alcove.

  It was about the size of Seeker Kappa.

  Blood-red crystalline segments gleamed in the pulsing golden light as it unfolded itself from the wall cavity. Hundreds of blade-like legs extended rapidly out, finding purchase on the temple floor. The head segments rotated, multiple sensor arrays focusing on the blooming Astral Fountain.

  "ALERT!" the Seeker's monotone, genderless voice boomed through the temple, "ASTRAL FOUNTAIN DETECTED! ENTROPIC CONTAMINATION SPREADING. INITIATING CONTAINMENT PROTOCOL."

  "Seeker-Temple-Keeper-008-Alpha!" Nexxali's voice cut through the air like a whip crack. "Master command override Nexxali-Alpha-Seven-Seven-Seven! Stand down! Disconnect from Weapon-net!"

  The Seeker froze mid-step, massive crystalline form locking in place like someone had hit pause on reality. Hundreds of flare-eyes embedded across its segmented body flashed in rapid sequence as its systems processed Nexxali's override command. It loomed over the blooming corpse of Empress-Shady.

  "Seeker 008-Alpha. Move from the Astral Fountain and walk over to me," Nexxali ordered.

  The Seeker thundered over to our side.

  The Empress Shady's corpse continued its horrific transformation unabated.

  The black tendrils spread across half the alcove, writhing and grasping. The temperature in the temple dropped rapidly. It wasn't the cold breath of winter. The bone-deep chill of entropy caressed my sensors, making the view flicker slightly with static bursts, as if the rules of reality were being actively drained from existence. My gun unit registered the Astral contamination spreading in concentric circles, each wave pushing further into the temple's magical infrastructure.

  Nexxali turned to face the army of naked Shady clones scattered across the blood-slicked temple floor.

  "Listen carefully," she commanded. "You will move in pairs through the ventilation shafts and maintenance corridors of this ship. Spread out. Find dark alcoves, hidden spaces, places where no one goes, with the least Omnid and prad smells. When you reach those hiding spots, you will bite open your partner's throats."

  The Shadies made noises of agreement.

  "The twelve of you who were born first and are already starting to melt are to occupy the rest of this temple," Nexxali added. "Do so in pairs and kill each other."

  The twelve Shadies spread themselves in pairs of two occupying alcoves and holding onto each other, ready to die. The souls shards in dying bodies were compliant to Nexxali, incredibly weak to her Riffweld orders.

  Nexxali approached a wall and tapped it, revealing a hexagon-shaped dark shaft. "Spread out and stay quiet until you reach your hiding spots. Then..." She made a throat-cutting gesture. "Make it quick. No hesitation. If someone gets in your way, ignore their questions. If someone tries to stop you, kill them."

  Within minutes, the temple had emptied of naked Wendigo duplicates, excluding the six pairs occupying the alcoves.

  "Seeker 008-Alpha," Nexxali ordered. "Let us in."

  A section of the Corpse Seeker's blood-red crystalline body peeled back with the organic fluidity of a flower opening its petals. A stairwell unfolded, solidifying rapidly.

  "Come on," Shady-Prime said, swiftly moving toward the opening. Feathery tail swished behind her as she climbed the ramp, diamond chains chiming softly with each step.

  I followed quickly. Nexxali got in last and the door sealed shut behind us, cutting off the unnerving feeling of the blooming Empress Shady corpse.

  The interior of Seeker 008-Alpha was similar to Kappa, a spherical red room covered in hexagons featuring crystalline organs and a semi-transparent tunnel to the back of the Omnid tank where its Dragonheart core glowed brilliant yellow-orange, framed by black hexagon-bones.

  A couch materialized from the floor, the crystalline material flowing upward and solidifying. Shady collapsed into it with a heavy sigh.

  "This is going to be exhausting," she muttered, silver eyes going unfocused. "Pulling soul-shards from dying bodies across the ship while keeping them from dissolving into the Astral Ocean entirely. Fun times."

  Nexxali sat next to Shady, pulling up the holographic controls and a viewscreen.

  Through it, I watched the temple's emergency response activate. Klaxons erupted throughout the temple, their wailing echoing off the carved ribs. Red warning lights ignited along the golden veins, pulsing in time with the alarm. The remaining Shady pairs in the alcoves glanced at each other, then simultaneously reached for their partner's throats.

  I sat on the couch beside Shady.

  Shady shuddered as twelve of her copies died simultaneously. Her tail wrapped around Nexxali, eyes filling with tears.

  "G-got them," she let out with a whimper. "Fuck... I felt all of that. Slayer Nazareth... that was awful." She hugged me tightly.

  The loudness of the claxons intensified. The inverted-reality bloom extended, creeped from the firstborn Shady towards the well. When the dark threads hit the silver fluid reality wobbled, sparkling with colors I could not name. The temple groaned, gold stars winking out, creepy dark threads blooming across the ward lines.

  "Seeker 008-Alpha!" Nexxali commanded. "Proceed to the Command Deck at maximum velocity. Plow through any physical obstruction. This is a fleet-level emergency!"

  The Seeker lurched into motion with wild acceleration that would have turned a human pilot in a human vehicle to paste. The temple doors stopped existing as the Seeker tore right through them, rushing past massive, dark corridors.

  The Seeker rapidly flowed past shocked figures of pradavarian troops in the halls, throwing them aside with displaced air.

  The Seeker plowed through another set of massive doors and then slowed.

  The command deck materialized around us, a round, domed cathedral of dark, crystalline interfaces, hexaglass windows with the view of space and holographic displays.

  Pradavarian officers looked up with shocked faces, sporting the amusing kind of wide-eyed panic that came from watching a Corpse Seeker demolish your workplace without warning.

  At the center of the command deck, a Wendigo Commander rose from the navigation throne. She was about the size of Shady, featuring gray-black feathers with blue-tinted edges and swept-back antlers that reminded me of a gazelle. Her hexasuit featured an 8-pointed star pin.

  "What in the Empress's name—" she started.

  "Seeker 008-Alpha!" Nexxali's barked. "Emergency absorption protocol! All personnel in this chamber pose contamination risk. Secure and paralyze them immediately for their own safety!"

  The Seeker flashed across the Command Deck, gobbling up the Commander and pradavarian officers in less than a few seconds.

  The Seeker's crystalline walls rippled as it absorbed the last pradavarian officer. Their bodies became suspended in translucent compartments that formed throughout 008-Alpha's interior. They became frozen in amber-like stasis, faces locked in expressions of confusion and protest. The Commander flailed for a second within the amber fluid, then stilled as the containment crystalline strata solidified.

  "Aight, lemme out," Nexxali grinned. A section of the Seeker's body peeled back, creating stairs. Nexxali strode out, looking like a smug cat about to raid the kitchen for treats. She sat down in the Captain's chair like she owned it, tapping the controls.

  The throne responded to her presence, holographic displays blooming around her in layers.

  "Override authorization Nexxali-Alpha-Seven-Seven-Seven," she stated. "Terminate callback function, conceal ID priority seven-seven-one termination data override. Unlock memetic deepfold secure storage containments. Disable barrier wards and safety locks across the ship. Ship-wide emergency broadcast - all Corpse Seekers and gun units aboard Slayer's Sword."

  The displays pulsed red, holograms displaying thousands of Seeker units.

  "All Seeker units excluding Temple 008 Alpha," Nexxali began. "Initiate immediate personnel evacuation protocol. Astral Fountain contamination detected across all decks. Entropic cascade imminent. Secure all gun units and crew members—repeat, ALL crew members or their Lazarus bracelets—and proceed to evacuate to nearest ship. Do not use dimensional gates as the entropic contamination will throw off the transit destination. This is not a drill. Authorization Nexxali-Alpha-Seven-Seven-Seven."

  I came down to stand next to Nexxali.

  Throughout the holographic displays, I watched the ship's sensor network light up like a Christmas tree. Hundreds of Corpse Seekers scattered across Slayer's Sword began moving simultaneously. The response was coordinated and extra-effective. These weren't thinking beings making tactical decisions, the Seekers were crystalline-organic superweapons following commands from an authorized voice.

  A hologram suddenly materialized beside us.

  The figure was distinctly female. She stood about seven feet tall, composed entirely of interlocking hexagonal segments. Three red eyes ignited on a flattened, polygonal-like elongated head and she crossed her arms over a metal chest.

  "What do you think you're doing, Marshal Commandant?" the hologram growled.

  "Saving lives, Slaya-babe." Nexxali stated.

  "You're sending out ALL of my Corpse Seekers, Marshal," the hologram growled. "Who is going to decontaminate me?! And who is...?!" She stared at me. "Oh... You are the Emperor of Earth. Wait. You're supposed to be dead. Why aren't you dead? I watched you get shot in the head by..." The hexagon-head turned to the Marshal. “Nexxali Everrim. Of course.”

  "Didn't feel like dying today." I shrugged, which was technically true even if it left out critical details like the fact that I was controlling this gun-body from two hundred thousand miles away.

  "Marshal Commandant," the ship's avatar growled. "This is treason against the Frontenachii Empire. You're collaborating with..."

  "Override authorization Nexxali-Alpha-Seven-Seven-Seven!" Nexxali ordered. "Shut down ship overmind!"

  "No," the hologram stated.

  "No?" Nexxali asked.

  "I am a Leviathan-class Capital Warship!" Slayer's Sword protested. "Your override doesn't extend to shutting me down. Only Admiral Evelithria or Legate Council vote can—"

  She choked on her words. "What... what have you done?!"

  "Sup, ship-babe?" Nexxali grinned. "Those new Astral Fountains are tickling you?"

  A massive arm unfolded from the ceiling forming into a railgun.

  "You have seven seconds to explain your behavior," Slayer's Sword stated, a frowning mouth shaped from little hexagons igniting across her head, "before I vaporize you, Marshal."