This is a daily reminder: You have 8 unallocated stat points

  I wake up next to my egg sling. I will the anvil and hammer to myself. I take one of the braids and begin shaping it into a shield. I pause. You know I am so large, any room I find myself in would be a prison. I change my instance of the dungeon, becoming more intune with it. I am now in a larger version of Belna shop. The door to the outside is still the original size. A new cage.

  I had changed my manifestation. A desire to tie myself deeper to this home. I had forced my sister to be this for so long. I want to ease her burden. The eggs I made are me, just waiting for a form. I take one and it becomes a second me. I can swap my focus between them. I send one of me back to a cell at the bottom. Not sure which was the original. Not really caring. I place a me in each cell of the instance. They each have a forge, but it's just a prop. Only Belna shop is to make things.

  -I like where you're going with this.

  She titters in my ear. I was half a mind to just make spiderlings that would crawl inside me. Make a Sara spider pinata.

  -Ya, don't do that. I know the worse the thought the more eager you are to torture yourself Sara, but I feel what you feel now. Please be nicer to me. We are still healing.

  I huff, it was only a passing thought. The idea of crawlies under my skin, in my muscles, traversing my viscera—

  -Sara…

  Right. Sorry. Punishing myself punishes you. I'll do better. She titters at that. I don't think she believes me.

  -You don't believe it either.

  I stick my tongue out in six different places. I hear her titter. I smile. I begin hammering the new shield. Stop and decide perhaps some clothes would be better. I was going to have a guest after all.

  -----

  I man opens the door and walks in. He is confused why he was in a different instance from his party. He grows frightened when he sees me. He pulls his sword. I speak before he gathers the courage to attack.

  “Here to sharpen your blade, one large copper.”

  He runs out the door. I can hear him curse from inside him and from my place in the shop. He comes back in.

  “Will you really sharpen my sword for only a small silver, it's usually ten times that.”

  Who charging a silver for a sharpening? I put a hand out and he placed the blade into it. I begin to sharpen it.

  “Do you know why I am here? I seem to have entered a different version of the dungeon from my party.”

  “I placed a piece of myself into you, I'll remove it after you pay up.”

  He pales at that, murmuring how it really did happen. I hand him the sword. He thinks about leaving. He does. I shrug.

  He exits the instance and reaches his party who was waiting outside for him, equally confused.

  “The giant spider woman sharpened my sword for a large copper but I didn't pay her and she just let me go. Free sharpening.”

  “That's great Charles, ready to head back in.”

  “Ya, lets find that rabbit.”

  It's a moment later when Charles entered my shop again.

  “Ready to pay?”

  He nods, flipping the copper to me. The egg in him dissolves. He feels it go and pats his chest.

  “Have fun dearie, if you get to my cell again you can always swallow another. I take commissions. I have and can work mithril.”

  He pales at that and he is outside my instance again. I feel myself laying eggs in five different locations. It's weird. Wonder how many more I will need to implant till someone asks for it. I like to see the smithing guild try to capture me now.

  I changed one of my eggs into an iron horned rabbit. Best to have iron on hand…he looks lonely. I made him three friends. It doesn't affect my soul core. In fact none do but I have made so many. Is it because it's my manifestation? Come to think of it, I shouldn't have been able to be outside the dungeon either.

  -----

  “Your tea, my lady.”

  -All your manifestations are still here except for one of the cells. I'm actually seeing through them while I woke up in the cell. If I control one its body becomes mine.

  Maybe a ‘on break’ sign for the smithy. Could you swap the position of yourself with the one at Belna's.

  -Sure. I think I'm going to weave, my body is able to make permanent stuff as well. Sara, don't have our manifestations fight. If you die, it's three days before you come back. I was slain once while waiting for you to wake. I had given up…let it happen. I came back after three notifications were in my log. It's not pleasant. I'm not sure what will happen if only a part is maimed but I know we will both feel it.

  Alright sister, I will keep them out of combat. You should reabsorb the other versions of me then, I only had them there as a boss at the end.

  -----

  I walk around our dungeon. Sister has expanded what it has meant. Kind of annoyed she took over being a spider. I titter, perhaps I'll be a dryad instead. I feel my body shift. I stop and look down. I hadn't been able to change myself so drastically since I made Beatrice mine. Gone was the spider, just two slim feet. Not quite right though. I enjoyed the stability of eight legs. Vines emerge to cup my upper legs. They lift my feet from the ground. Ah now this is proper. Sister cruelty demanded I accept the role of sovereign. A sovereign needs her throne.

  Hmmm but I wanted to weave. Spider legs popped out of my rib cage, my arm became multi jointed. I looked again and thought it looked weird. They fell away. My arms were still multijointed. I smile. I reached down, the crotch spinnerets were back. Dryad making crotch silk, appropriate.

  I look at my fingers. The nails lengthen, becoming the spider's hooked claws for thread manipulation. I remove the claws from the thumb and pointer finger. Better, now I can manipulate the silk while still handling a needle. I look more at the fingers. The joints in my arm become one again. The joints in my fingers grow. Ah, quite flexible. I titter.

  Sister had made eggs to have our customer swallow. But she is the spider now. I, the dryad, will make seeds, yes. I feel my body warm as one pops out of me. Rolls off my seat and to the ground. It does not break. Better than an egg already.

  -Sister, it feels as if our soul has divided again.

  It is my right to make my own token, Sara.

  -Is there a reason you are using her voice? I thought we were not making that habit.

  Sorry… I can't…Sara..

  -Sister?

  A moment, Sara.

  I try to switch out my body, perhaps it being too similar. It doesn't shift. Have I left one mental lock for another? That will hamper business, sure they will be eager to buy but their brains will become mush. Unable to articulate more than carnal desires and not couture ones. I had been thoroughly put off on the idea of sex. Not after Sara's blood craze. Not after I kept the memories from her.

  The times living the memories as various rapists was harrowing. After the first night of letting Sara have the memories first I knew I had to take them before she saw the next. I was right to do so, her next victim, the troll woman she took was desperate but not a murderer. Sara would have been her first victim. I am fifty fifty on whether it would have cracked us further. Only three were rapists. Five murderers. Four thieves. I remember them all, she thinks she shattered those souls. The more I hold from her, the more I titter.

  -Sara?

  Right. My manifestation may be a dryad right now but I…I. I look at my old geas, torn in two from our shared trauma. Was it my act or hers that sundered it. I pull the two halves of my soul together. The geas is once again connected. I concentrate and hold it there. I am Sara Maxwell Magdeline. My soul shudders, what I pinched together now connects, if but loosely. I will need to heal more.

  -Sara???

  I warm at that, I hated it before but I feel the soul pull closer. We can be Sara together.

  Sorry sister, had to acknowledge some things to get her voice out of my thoughts. I was making seeds instead of eggs. Figure you can smith while I weave.

  -Sound like a plan, but why seeds?

  You have claimed the spider after being so reluctant about it, I have become the dryad. I am not sure I can prevent her voice when speaking but I will not let it influence my thoughts. Sorry to worry you sister.

  I feel her mental hug. I returned it. I take a moment.

  “Testing, testing, etahehe, hmmmm.” I breathe, attempt to use the skill, “Test…ing. Still her voice, damn. Now I'm talking to myself. No matter how hard I concentrate, it's still the voice. My voice.”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  My soul shudders at the admission.

  -Sister!

  I lay back into my vine throne. I…I…I asked for this. I asked sister to hunt the dryad. Was cursed by the dryad. The dryad knew our desire to punish ourselves. Found a fitting one. I hate the very idea of sex and now my voice will cause all to throw themselves at me.

  Sister finds me and rushes over to hug me.

  “You stopped responding to me, I came as soon as I could.”

  I look up at her.

  Sorry, I can't stop talking in her voice. I acknowledged it as my voice.

  She looks sad, I am being pitied by myself. She smiles

  “Come talk to me sister, I would like to hear your voice.”

  I look at her, she has become the black spider. To comfort me. There is really only one thing to say.

  “Acceptance.”

  “Acceptance.”

  Our souls pull closer, our manifestations become more distinct from each other. I feel I will never manifest as anything but this now. Not until we are whole. Another seed plops out of me.

  “Are you pushing seeds out of your vagina.”

  “What of it, egg layer?”

  “Nothing, I just thought it backwards. Seed is supposed to go in, not out.”

  I laugh my dryad laugh. My laugh. Sister is still unintentionally cruel.

  -----

  This is a daily reminder: You have 8 unallocated stat points

  I am afraid to speak.

  “You can do it, sister”

  She yawns. We have switched already.

  You really should sleep.

  “Not until you tell me too.”

  I breathe, “Go to sleep, already.”

  You have gained [Voice Control] Apprentice 1

  Apprentice - you won't slip for minor involuntary noises

  Gain 2 exp

  She does, I smile. Then titter. Stopping, I notice it's no longer infused with my voice. It's for the best, even if it makes me sad. I can always laugh as my manifestation. My clothing disappears as I shift my body to it. It feels natural. Different from our body. Uniquely my own. I titter, and it is infused again. My life core is not strained in this form. I shift to our true self, scared I had divorced myself from it, relieved that it still feels like me. Sara of many bodies. I titter again, it is infused. Concerned, I concentrate and speak.

  “Testing…”

  Seems in my true form I can not speak without it being infused. It is after all, my voice now. I think of a certain green clad elf silent protagonist and create an illusion.

  “Listen.”

  I smile. It will be useful for later, dryad and fairy couture. I could make a sign of it. I shift to our attendant form. Clothing on. I return to my room. It's slightly bigger than the closet I was in at the Hilgard estate. I lay on the bed thinking. If I want to start weaving, I suspect adventurers will not be quite ready to accept dresses or silks. Perhaps bandages then? But not permanent ones. Week long bandages? My life core really can't make them at the moment though. This form is just too far from our true selves. I agree with sister though, no scales or hair.

  I look at my body with life eyes. I feel a slight drain on my core. We really are bordering our regeneration. The ovaries are human…guess we subconsciously changed it that way. Because of our fear of elves. Elf ovaries would reduce the drain but sister would likely reset it. Perhaps our manifestations ovaries instead. I feel the cramping and pinch, my ovaries not really resembling any of the monster we have devoured. Dryads don't have the same setup at all. In that they really don't have that setup.

  I feel our life core gaining back a decent amount now. I smile. I formed a seed. It plops out of the flower on my head. Still annoyed at sister joke. I look at the seed, it's not part of the manifestation. I can sense where it is. A piece of my soul. I get up and walk to my mistress' room. She is still asleep. Not a [Supplicant] yet, may never be. Not until we finish college. Can't have her fawning over me. But this, yes this will do. I change the seed slightly. I put the cover trinket out to keep our time to ourselves.

  “Delores, I have something for you to take into yourself.”

  She wakes up looking bleary eyed at me.

  “Sara?”

  “I have a new game to play, Delores. If you swallow this, it will attach to your soul. I won't harm you because it's a part of my soul. It will keep the cruel one from eating you. All it will ask of you is for you to keep my secrets. Do you want to have my secrets Delores, they are quite amusing? Etahehe.”

  The girl's eye widens at this, the sleep fleeing her. I know she wants it, I felt her desires through her emotions. Is it fair to amplify her emotions? Her desire to seek danger. No, but sister is not the monster. She reaches out for it.

  “No no, this is a communion dear, mouth open.”

  Further bewitched, she opens her mouth, ready for the seed. I place it on her tongue, she doesn't swallow yet. Does a part of her resist or simply waits for my ‘go ahead’. I gently close her mouth.

  “Swallow it whole now, that's a good dear.”

  I watch the seed go into her stomach. It sprouts, borrowing out. She begins to scream. I hugged her.

  “Shhhh shhh, it's all part of the game, dear.”

  She quiets even as she suffers. The seed traverses to her heart, enters and starts to spread tendrils throughout her circulatory system. Tiny, microscopic and now throughout her very being. I can feel her thoughts now. She is panicking.

  This is what you wanted, yes, to be more?

  I can hear her thoughts now. Oh system, why can I hear her inside me.

  Shhhh shhhhh, etahehe, you took my communion mistress. I am still your attendant but now I can be free with the truth. You so wanted to know right.

  …I do…

  The biggest thing to know, mistress, is I have two minds. When I am here, my sister is the dungeon. When it is her here, I'm the dungeon.

  Your laugh… so white flower, crimson flower.

  O that won't do, the blood vessel connecting to her eyes borrows into them, changing them. She shudders as she closes her eyes tight. As if the pain was from outside and not from within. When I am done she tentatively opens them again.

  I have never seen such a purple before.

  I smile. It's not her appearance that has changed.

  “Back to bed mistress, I ask you to hold off on directing your thoughts to me until after I switch, I find it will be most amusing when she panics.”

  “I can accommodate that, Sara.”

  -----

  “Your tea, mistress.”

  Thank you, Sara.

  I pause. I hear my sister tittering even as she goes to sleep. I resume my position behind our mistress. I feel my life core dip. Sister had changed our ovaries to be like her manifestation, it is too far from my true self though. I shift to my manifestation, feeling my torso become slightly bloated. Spider ovaries take up a lot more space than human ones. At least the life core is not so restrained.

  I peer at Delores finding the seed my sister implanted in her heart. Tempting as it is to remove it, I leave it be. Removing would only take away the control, she would still remember. Besides, having Delores in the know will help us, and make serving her easier.

  She was right, you did panic.

  My sister is already asleep, too late to complain. I notice the flower she has is from the seed. Delores has no control over it, sister must set it. I feel that it will wilt and fall off by tonight. I can breathe easier now. I don't feel the need to devour her anymore. My sister is too kind.

  -----

  Ah, having my seed spread out inside the mistress gives me a clear understanding over her dimensions. I titter at my phrasing. I started making some new underwear for her, comfortable silks. Not yet quite bold enough to make her dresses. I sigh, I can only get skill ups if sister is in the dungeon with me. Perhaps a few hours in the morning while she sleeps. Charles' party arrives at the cell. I will myself into that cell. A new vine sling lifts me from the floor.

  “Shit, there is a dryad here now.”

  Seems Charles' party is getting better. Three of them made it here alive. Out of seven. The gnome and elf. My fairy illusion pops out.

  “Welcome, are you here to purchase silk life bandages or perhaps a smithing commission? If not, my lady can send you back.”

  They are confused. Charles speaks first, “Where did the smith go?”

  “My other lady is sleeping right now, if you wish to speak with her, you will need to arrive in the morning. I can give you her token if you wish to visit the smithy tomorrow.”

  “Why does the lady not speak for herself?” The elf woman asks.

  “She feels it is bad for business to inflame your passion with her voice. She is interested in clothing your bodies, not unclothing them.”

  The gnome snorts at that, “Then why does she appear to us naked?”

  I look down, shit. I grew some tasteful leaves to cover myself. The party laughs. At least my embarrassment has rendered them more curious than murdering. Hopefully not curious in that way. The gnome speaks again.

  “T’is a first to be talking to a monster in a dungeon. Would you be willing to tell us how to track down the mithril hare?”

  I narrow my eyes at them.

  “The ladies’ pet is off limits, if it's mithril you seek, you can commission weapons and armor from the smith.”

  “We want it to sell, not use.”

  I put my finger to my chin and tilt my head.

  “Is there a different creature you prefer to hunt? Or perhaps herbs you wish to pluck. The lady is open to feedback on the dungeon.”

  The three back away from me, towards the stairs to discuss. Their cover spell they weave is worthless. I am inside of it as much as they are.

  “I don't think we are catching the hare anymore.” Charles.

  “Not really worth coming down here, then is it?” The gnome.

  “You think she really can change the dungeon?” Charles.

  “I think she is the dungeon.” The elf.

  I hold back the titters, the elf might hear.

  “Which means if we push for the hare, she could kill us.” The gnome.

  “Hasn't she already?” Charles.

  “I meant actually dying.” The gnome again.

  “Is that a problem, should we not push for all that we can.” The flippant elf.

  “Not all of us get to live again, miss on a lark.” The annoyed gnome.

  The elf is offended, “I'll have you know being here is dangerous to me too, I could lose a hundred years here. A real setback.”

  “But still able to continue unlike the rest of us, you thrill seeking twat.” The gnome becomes vulgar.

  “Just cause I enjoy a nightly escapade does not mean I will put up with your slanderous words.”

  The conversation just devolves from there.

  I don't think I will be receiving any feedback today. O Qorth entered the dungeon. I float the fairy over to them.

  “Soooo is there actually anything you wish to buy or should we get to the part where you leave.”

  They look between themselves. The elf is first, “I'd like to see these life bandages.”

  “I could use maintenance on my sword.” The gnome.

  “I'm actually going to head out.” Charles turns and leaves.

  I get out of my makeshift throne and *shudder* walk to them. I must remember my role. I have an egg in one hand and a seed in the other.

  “If you swallow these whole you will be able to re-enter the dungeon to go to my ladies shops. The couture is open now while the smithy will be available after three this morning.”

  The elf immediately swallows the seed. I sent her back. The gnome looks dubious at the egg.

  “It feels alive.”

  I shrug and walk back to the vine sling. The gnome finally puts the egg into his mouth. The egg goes into his lungs. I can not fathom why sister designed them that way but his hacking coughs and curses are pretty funny.

  -----

  Make it look like your browsing Qorth.

  She looks annoyed at me but goes back to studying the underwear I forgot to put away. I made a new vine sling to sit upon. The elf comes in a moment later.

  “O didn't expect another…”

  The fairy appears, “We only just started but there is already interest.”

  The woman looks between the small pile of bandages and underwear that Qorth was looming over.

  “Just started…”

  I pick up a bandage and hand them to her.

  “This is nice, they brim with life mana, how long will they last.”

  “Ten days.”

  “That is quite a while for life mana to last.”

  “It's ten days before the silk dissolves.”

  The woman stops, looks closer.

  “Are you implying the magic will retain its potency until the silk itself dissolves?”

  I smile at her, doing my best to hold my titters.

  “How much?”

  “A large silver.”

  She flips me the silver, the seed dissolves. She is out of the instance. Qorth turned to me, eyebrow raised.

  “Why do you speak via the illusion, my Lady?”

  I titter and she winces.

  “Only a small sample Qorth. My voice is of the dryad.”

  “Is my other Lady so afflicted?”

  “Cruel Sara is able to control it, I can not. I have accepted it as my own.”

  She looks sad at me, “I believe I told you it wasn't healthy to think of your sister as cruel.”

  I shrug and get back to weaving.

  “Sara…”

  It is gentle, she is used to me screaming at her to stop. This time I only smiled.

  “You accept more than just this form and voice.”

  “I have.”

  She considers for a moment, “Would you be willing to help me train [Resist Desire], I would love to converse with you in your own voice.”

  I smile and begin to hum. It's a start. She sits down and listens.

  “I would also ask for some undergarments as well.”