Chapter 80: A Hidden Blade

'Don't do this.'

In a tent that housed a royal baroness, next to the deathbed of that very baroness as she was under an unknown sickness, a deathly calm had stilled the air in her bedroom. A changelisk, in the guise of Lovechief Kragnon, had attempted to share its blood with the baroness that was slowly dying of unknown causes. However, another changelisk, in the guise of the co-commander known as Kay, prevented the Kragnon lookalike from succeeding in his goal. Both figures were as still as statues. As Kragnon's changelisk turned to stare at the changelisk that looked like Kay, a long exchange of deep staring took place. However, this silent exchange was not as silent as many would believe. A meeting of the minds was also taking place during this exchange.

Kragnon was deeply surprised by Kay's intrusion. 'Wha-? Kay? What are you doing?!'

'Preventing you from making a mistake you'll regret.'

'A mistake?! How do you mean by 'mistake?''

'You were going to infest Tak.'

'You don't understand.'

'I don't understand? I can read your mind like the print off of the water jugs sold in the stores within Gargantua. This is not going to help Tak in any way. You'll just make her worse.'

'But I have seen what the swarm can do, Kay! I saw that even the dead can rise from their graves! A drop of this changelisk's blood can change that for her!'

'But then there is the changes you have to deal with. What SHE will be forced to deal with. If you do this, then the slow evolution process beneath her scales will permanently transform her. Once she is infected, the Hyper-Evolutionary Virus will constantly tear apart the cells within her body and remake them. She would adapt to the sickness that's plaguing her body, yes, but she would also change physically, physiologically, biologically, even behaviorally and mentally. She wouldn't be the same baroness that you knew before now, and she will become something that she would undoubtedly revile.'

'But I love her too much! If I infect her with the zerg virus-'

'Then she will never forgive you. Stop and think for a second.'

'But if we delay any more, she will die!'

'You will kill her and turn her into something that would no longer be a gilanian.'

'I won't be killing her! I'd be saving her!'

'And what about her children? You already told your family that you had been infested, and your son treated you like he didn't even know you. What would they think of their mother if she became infested?'

There was a long pause in the zerg psionic hivemind connection between Kay and Kragnon. Kragnon didn't know how to answer Kay's question. Judging from his son's earlier behavior after learning that his father had changed, Kragnon's emotions became heavily conflicted. He knew that if he infested Tak, then he wouldn't have to suffer from the heartache of losing a loved one. But on the other hand, there was family issues that needed to be considered. How could he call himself a responsible father? If he infested his beloved baroness, it would mean that his children would be forced to being raised by walking plague victims! If he had went through with infesting Tak, then the children that he brought into this world would have to be raised by gilanians infested by the HEV. Thanks to Kay, he was made aware of the complications that would follow his choice, and he became conflicted the moment he became aware of his decision to infest Tak. How could he live with himself knowing that he would have been responsible for her infestation? Not to mention that if the survivors of Gargantua's refugee population ever learned of her infestation, she might become ostracized from the very people she led and served.

The changelisk disguised as Kragnon retracted its bone blade.

'Thaaat's it, my confused little lizard friend. Understand the error of your ways.'

'I... I... I don't... I mean... What... What the FUCK am I even supposed to do?!'

'Let nature take its course. Whatever disease she has, we're going to have it do whatever it wants and let it take her life. Our friends and loved ones are never worth being infested by the HEV. When I found out that Corvurn was the one responsible for infesting you, I got pissed off at him.'

'Dammit... This radioactive water is poisoning and killing the gilanian refugees, and it feels like it's only going to get worse from here on out. Even my beloved is being affected from its effects.'

'You mean the doomsday fluid?'

Kragnon sighed. 'The same glowing ocean that's flooding the underground refugee camp, yes. And now, it's only a matter of time before it starts affecting the rest of the survivors. Including my Tak.'

'I have two things to say about that. First off, this fluid only makes flesh decay if it makes direct physical contact with your scales. And that includes any zerg carapace too. Since the rain had came down during the late afternoon, it would mean that the desert had all the time it needed to absorb enough heat from your sun to turn all this rain into steam. If it turned into steam, then that would mean we WOULD be having the problems that you just described. But you forgot to take the creep into account. Our creep has the ability to terraform the environment, which also includes lowering the ambient temperature in the immediate area. The creep is able to absorb the mist in the air as quickly as it evaporates, and turn the hazardous electromagnetic radiation into resources we can use, via the resource tumors. So long as there aren't any high winds blowing into any cave entrances that lead into our underground cavern, then we should be fine.'

''Should?' Kay, if there happened to be some kind of cosmically powerful entity that guided our actions to an inevitable cause, then upon writing that kind of dialogue into our personal lives, I would consider the omniscient being in question to be completely half-assed and ignorant of the consequences to the flow of events in which this setting takes place in. In other words, I don't have much confidence in your loose conviction, or in this imagined celestial organism in charge of our existence.'

A/N: Hey!

'Oh yeah? Well listen to this and shut up about your hypothetical philosophy about gods and whatnot. As I was about to say before you interrupted me, the decay happens in seconds after physical contact with the doomsday fluid. Even a drop can corrode an entire limb of a zerg organism in a brief moment if left untreated. Let me ask you this, Kragnon. Has Baroness Tak ever been outside her tent when the flooding began?'

'Uh... No?'

'Are there any leaks flowing down from the roof of the cavern Tak's tent is in? If so, then did the leaks make any holes in Tak's tent?'

'No and no. I don't see any glowing flowing down from the roof, and Tak's tent is made of a tough polymer plastic.'

'So by that logic, Tak has developed an illness that is unrelated to the doomsday fluid.'

'... But she is still deathly ill. I have never seen this kind of sickness before. The doctor even says that he is incapable of curing Tak's disease.'

'Sounds like a shit doctor to me. Need me to come by and give you comfort? I'm already heading for Tak's tent.'

'You? Giving me comfort? Kay, this is unlike you.'

'To be fair, you wanting to infest Tak is unlike you too. I just want to make sure that you keep your clawed paws off of Tak. The zerg swarm is currently in a war against the Golden Star Empire, and we don't need a family matter distracting us.'

'... I see. How are you arriving here? The nuclear water is surrounding our tent.'

'I'm using my psionic powers to form a bubble underneath the doomsday fluid, and to make me hover above the wet ground.'

'Ah. ... Wait. When did you learn to fly?!'

'I said hover, you dingus. I'll be there in a few minutes. Don't do anything I wouldn't do.'

'Right.' Kragnon's changelisk was freed from Not-Kay's grasp, which allowed Kragnon's changelisk to freely ambulate and move again. Not-Kay's body slowly shifted into the guise of a familiar face that Kragnon knew for twenty years of his life. Apparently, Kay had used Johnny's body to step in and prevent Kragnon from making a terrible mistake. Since Kay felt that Kragnon would't try infesting Tak again, Kay wouldn't have to resort to zerg-on-zerg physical violence. Kragnon sighed as he went back to leaning on the tent door frame that led in and out of Tak's room. Not-Kay, or rather, Johnny, turned around and left Kragnon to watch over his baroness.

Instead of an uncomfortable silence filling Tak's bedroom, a genteel quietness soon replaced it. By Kragnon's changelisk's ears, he could tell that Tak had been quietly resting during Kay's interruption of Kragnon's attempt to infest her. It would be a sad reality for his children to live with, but he now saw that it would be better than living with a mother that has been turned into an infested organism. And even then, there was Tak's feelings to take into consideration. Would she even want to be infested in the first place? Kragnon already knows that she despises the zerg organisms in Kay's swarm, and he had learned too late about Kay's first meeting with Tak. Apparently, the conversation ended with broken furniture.

As the real Kragnon shifted his body around in the sand under a layer of creep, his flesh tingled with intense vibrations that shook and loosened the ground around himself. Much of his scales was replaced by a thick layer of protective carapace, thanks to Corvun slowly infecting him with a modified virus. Instead of growing a massive pair of claws from his hands, two spiked limbs, similar to the zerglings' attack-claws, sprouted from his back. The club growths on the forearms of the infested gilanians was a trait that was also shared with Kragnon, though he never had to use his fang launchers before. His eyes glowed an ominous orange, but he was thankful that he never had to grow a cluster of tentacles and tendrils that would have sprouted out of his mouth. But he was also thankful to learn that he could slowly evolve his body to better suit his needs in whatever way he wanted. Growing an extra pair of arms purposed for combat meant that he could attack with more limbs. And since he retained his sanity, he could listen to the voices and commands within the zerg hivemind without getting lost in the cacophonous and muted static. He could even directly command as many as eight zerglings to do his bidding, if he decided to put his mind to it.

But even if he managed to retain his sanity after his transformation, he didn't feel like himself after becoming infested. To him, it was more akin to having ones senses spreading out into every direction, feeling as though his own mind expanded to encompass the input of the zerg hivemind psionic connection. But just as his senses was spread outwards, his sense of self became depleted. So many voices filled his head, but none of them were his own unless he decided to mentally shout into this whispering and darkened void, only for the broodmothers to hiss at him to remain quiet unless there was something important to inform them about. It was akin to losing something that was analogous to the gilanian's equivalent of their humanity. Their gilanianity, if it could be called that.

Kragnon decided that if he had the choice to infest someone, he would decline the offer. No one deserves such a fate.

Suddenly, a changelisk died.

The changelisk disguised as Kragnon whipped his head around as he felt the disturbance in the darkened whispers of the zerg psionic hivemind connection. The changelisk that was in the guise of the persona named Johnny had instantly perished. '... Kay. I think something happened here.'

'Yeah, no shit! I'm coming over there soon! Protect your wife and kids!'

Kragnon leapt forward and gently shook Tak's shoulders. "Hey, wake up." Kragnon said in a whisper.

Tak hissed at Kragnon, but her eyes fluttered awake. "... Kragnon~? Why are you waking me up?"

"We are under attack by someone that's in the tent." Kragnon answered.

"What? Why?" Tak asked.

"No time to explain. I need you to be lucid or you're going to die."

Tak blinked her eyes a few times as she listened to Kragnon. After brief seconds had passed, Tak sighed. "What do you need me to do?"

Dead silence passed through much of the baroness' tent. However, the only assassinated victim within Tak's tent was the changelisk known as Johnny. Johnny was turned into a puddle of protoplasmic substances and spines as a silvery blade punctured through his body and bisected him in half. However, Johnny didn't have enough time to look upon the face of his assailant. The only thing Johnny saw before he completely died was the edge of the silver blade that killed him.

But the identity of the assassin was eventually discovered. Minutes later, a shadowy figure passed through the tent flaps that lead into Tak's bedroom. A small amount of light enlightened the form of the changelisk murderer. Dr. Orez gently sneaked into Tak's bedroom, creating no noise, while his breathing was shallow and controlled. A metal band was located on one of his wrists, and a shiny blade of silvery make protruded from it. The doctor crept closer to Tak's bed.

He readied his blade.

However, instead of assassinating the baroness, the baroness had reacted to the assassin's attack with a blade of her own, in the form of a straight-edged steel dagger.

Dr. Orez raised an eyebrow. "... What?!"

With a forceful punch applied to his abdomen, Dr. Orez stumbled back from the unexpected counterattack. Tak slid out from her bed and pointed her dagger at the intruder in her bedroom. "... Dr. Orez?! Why are you trying to kill me?!"

Dr. Orez coughed before a venomous scowl plastered across his face. "Bitch. You should have taken more of your medicine."

And so, Dr. Orez launched himself toward Tak, using Tak's bed to springboard over her and flip into the air. Upon landing behind Tak, Dr. Orez revealed another metal band on his other wrist and used it to fight with the surprisingly spry baroness.

But the baroness took the sheets from her bed and flung it toward her doctor that was trying to assassinate her. Dr. Orez was momentarily caught in Tak's sheets, but razor-sharp blades sliced through the temporary and makeshift net. But Baroness Tak used her bed sheets as a distraction, which allowed her enough time to twist her body at her attacker. She hopped into the air and sent one of her legs forward into a forceful roundhouse kick. The force of the blow was enough to make Dr. Orez stumble to the tent wall.

Tak readied her stance as she switched her dagger around in a reversed grip. "Will you calm the fuck down and EXPLAIN to me why you are doing this?!"

Dr. Orez smiled slightly as he pointed his silvery wrist-blades toward Tak. His face seemed completely fine. "I am sorry, but I can't tell you. I have to remain professional, you see."

Tak blinked a few times. "Are you some kind of assassin? Who even talks like that?"

Dr. Orez shook his head. "I have wasted too much time here already. Don't make this more difficult on yourself." As Dr. Orez said so, his wrist-blades shot out a sliver of white that stabbed into Tak's knee and shoulder. Once he shot at her limbs and disabled the baroness, he launched himself into a mad sprint. He was intending to kill her quickly.

But Dr. Orez's murderous intent was halted when a flurry of projectiles shot close to his face. Dr. Orez paused before he turned to see a horrendous image of what once had been, yet was still called by the name it had before it became infested. "I think it's the other way around for you." Kragnon entered through the only entrance into Tak's bedroom. Dr. Orez's eyes widened with surprise when he realized who this interloper was.

But that surprise faded into a broad smile. "Is this you, Kragnon? My my my, and I thought you were bluffing about being turned into a zerg pawn. I thought it was some kind of rude practical joke that you were trying to force onto your family! Or perhaps some kind of bluff that would deter me? But anyway, it seems like even I have been deceived. Well played!"

Kragnon aimed his fang launcher growths on his forearms toward Dr. Orez. "Tell me who you really are and what you are doing here. I promise I'll deliver a quick death when we have everything we need from you."

"On the contrary, 'Lovechief', I think it's about time I get serious." Two slivers of light shot out from Dr. Orez's hips and stabbed right into kragnon's eyes. Kragnon was briefly stunned from the unexpected attack. Had the doctor turned his arms toward the infested gilanian, then it would have given Kragnon enough time to shoot his fang projectiles to disable Tak's assailant. Just as Dr. Orez fired those slivers of light from his hip, another metal band had appeared on his person, which acted much like a belt. It was beginning to look as though a non-Euclidean layer of fabric was enveloping something underneath, and that Dr. Orez's appearance was but a clever disguise that was kept together by an invisible fabric.

Kay was beginning to remember the kind of foe that Tak and Kragnon was facing. He now believed that an intervention was needed.

A spine shot through the thin walls of Tak's tent, which impaled right into Dr. Orez's back. He made an "Oomph!" sound before falling forward and onto his face. "Gah~! Dammit!" Dr. Orez was given his answer in the form of a hunter killer. It slashed through the tented wall and slithered into Tak's bedroom, and neared the form of the downed Dr. Orez. It hissed venomously at the gilanian that dared take Baroness Tak's life. Dr. Orez slowly looked up at the hunter killer. "... Huh... Never seen one of these greater spine serpents up close before." He said with a nervous chuckle.

The hunter killer lunged forward and coiled its tail around Dr. Orez. However, the hunter killer shrilled in surprise as Dr. Orez's silvery blades lashed out from his body, revealing more of his metal bands. The silvery blades were surprisingly sharp, since they sliced through the hunter killer's carapace with surprising ease. There was a entire sections of ripped cloth that revealed a black-suited figure hiding beneath the non-Euclidean fabric. The cloth on Dr. Orez's face slid off, which revealed a red shryik serpent mask. Kragnon hardened his gaze. "... So Dr. Orez was Zero Wind. I feel like an idiot for not seeing this coming."

Zero stumbled back as he pushed the hunter killer away from himself, despite the threatening hiss he received from the larger-than-normal zerg strain. Zero hissed as he stood upright, but he was also beginning to waver. "Grr... Where did all this mist come from?"

"... I don't see any mist." Tak replied.

"He's being affected by hydralisk venom." Tak and Kragnon turned toward the voice. From the hole in the tent created by the hunter killer, Kay's floating form hovered above the ground and softly landed next to the wounded hunter killer and Zero. Kay looked at Zero up and down before creating a huff of amusement. "Of course, you might know them better as spine serpents. Or in the case of this creature that attacked you, a greater spine serpent."

"Grah... Kay?" Zero said as he stared at Kay's face. A wheezing chuckle escaped his throat. "This day is full of surprises! I never would have thought that this monster had venom in its quills. Or as you call them, spines. Alas, it also befuddles me to know that Gollog had canceled my assassination contract after telling me that he had seen you die. But here you are. Alive and breathing. My target that came back to life."

"Even so, you're not going to be alive and breathing after an hour." Kay stated.

"Urg... If I had known these serpents were venomous, I'd have prepared antivenin beforehand." Zero groaned, as though feeling noxious of the venom that ran through his veins.

"Like I'd ever give you the chance to, motherfucker." Kay pointed at Zero. "Since you have been Dr. Orez the entire time, I can assume that you have been using your supposed 'medicine' to poison her. Correct?"

Despite the mask that covered Zero's face, Kay could tell that he was smiling. "Excellently done deductive reasoning, Kay. You are correct to assume as much." He said with amusement.

Kay sighed. "Mind telling me the cure for the poison you used?"

Zero chuckled again. "No. You see, I conduct my services with the honor and traditions to the standards of a professional assassin. On the deathbed that my client died on, I have been summoned in order to listen to his last words. It was a verbal contract to a very special assassination mission. The hardest one he had ever gave me, to tell you the truth! He gave me the unique opportunity to poison and assassinate the very baroness of Citadel Gargantua. It was such a unique opportunity! To kill such famous royalty with such a vibrant history! I had no choice but to accept the contract." Zero said with venomous pride.

Kay shook his head. "So there is no cure for this poison?"

"That is correct, Kay." Zero said with a grunt.

Kay smirked and shook his head. "Now see, if I wasn't a telepath, I wouldn't have picked up on the lie you just made."

Zero paused for several seconds. "... You can read my thoughts?"

Kay nodded and smiled. "Not just that. Let me give you a taste of my psionic power." Kay reached his hand toward Zero and used his telekinetic will to wrench and force away the metal bands on Zero's wrists, legs, hip and neck. With a thrust, the metal bands were yanked off of Zero's body, which made him yell. Streaks of blood poured out of his limbs and torso as he fell to the floor limply.

Zero coughed blood, which pooled out from his mask. He looked at his own person in shock. "Ghhgjrk... What... You... You pulled out... My combat implants..."

Kay walked toward the downed assassin and placed his hands on his head. "Your combat implants is connected to the medical micro-machines in your brain. I know that, because when you looked at your arms and legs, your mind felt a sense of sudden dread. It felt to you like losing an extension of your limbs."

Zero grunted as the hunter killer venom was affecting in his nervous system. "Heh... Like pulling the... mandibles and legs... off of a marcher insect... You're even more... sadistic... than I..."

"If you thought that was bad, then you're gonna LOVE this. Here's a spoiler for you, however. You won't." Zero then began screaming madly. His mask crumpled and fell from Zero's face, which revealed a heavily scarred face with a mouth that had several missing teeth. One eye was clouded over and drooping, while the other eye was alight with a psionic glow and widened in absolute terror and pain. Another minute had passed before the screaming finally stopped. Once Kay released Zero's head, Zero crumpled into himself a frightened ball in a fetal position. Kay stood above Zero and looked down at the assassin. Zero Wind breathing developed into a hyperventilating panic as his body shivered, as though he was incredibly cold or was overstimulated with the horrors that was poured into his brain. Kay sighed. "... I got some good news and bad news for you, Tak."

Tak's flesh shifted into darker hues as a changelisk took her place, which had revealed that Zero had never fought the real baroness in the first place. Once the changelisk shifted his form into the gilanian that is widely known as Johnny, it then went to Tak's bed and gingerly reached underneath it. It was later revealed that Tak had been underneath her bed the whole time. As she was carefully placed onto her bed, she sighed in pain. "Gyuh... I hope the good news is better than the bad news."

Kay turned to look at Tak. "The good news is I know what kind of poison Zero tried to kill you with. Before his mind became completely scrambled, I managed to probe some useful information in his brain. He used a bulb of fireroot that was baked in the sun for eleven days, which produced a mild form of slow-acting strychnine."

Tak's face contorted into confusion for a few seconds before relaxing into a painful realization. "... Gods-dammit Ponpon."

Kay nodded. "Yeah, he was the one that contracted Zero to kill you."

Tak sighed. "Hmm... So he tried to kill me in the same fashion that his ancestor had once done to one of my deceased family members. ... Well... At least the bastard is dead."

"Sounds like quite the story." Kay remarked.

Tak shook her head weakly. "I don't think I have the strength to tell it right now. Do you know how he died?"

"Give me a minute." Kay looked upwards and closed his eyes. After finding his answer through the stored memories contained in the psionic hivemind, he looked at Tak again. "A stroke had left him bedridden, while a heart attack had did the job." Kay answered.

"I see... But asides from the sordid and bloody history of me and my cousin's family, what is the bad news?"

Kay walked up to Tak's bedside. "... Judging from the amount of poison that Zero used on you, it's going to permanently damage your nervous system and muscle structure. He only used enough of a dosage to incapacitate you, and he planned on dealing the final blow with his own blades. I think it was supposed to be symbolic for something."

Tak softly nodded. "That was how my great, great, great grandmother was killed."

Kay sighed and shook his head. "Well... At least you're safe."

A smile formed on Tak's lips as she looked at Kay. "When we first met, you destroyed my most comfortable chair. But now, you helped save my life. I can't decide if I should be angry, or grateful."

Kay shrugged his shoulders. "Be both for all I care. I only stepped in because Kragnon cared very deeply about you and your children."

Tak turned her head to look at Kragnon's true form. A long exchange of glances was shared between Tak and Kragnon, and it filled the air with awkwardness. Kragnon sighed and turned away from Tak's gaze first. She sighed.

Kay huffed as he began to back away. "... Well uh. Everything seems to be in order here. I'll just uh... Leave you guys alone."

Tak motioned towards Kay. "Wait. What about the assassin that almost killed me?"

Kay dismissively gestured at Zero Wind. "Oh yeah, him. He'll die in, like, forty or fifty minutes from now. The hunter killer venom might not be as potent as hydralisk venom, it'll still kill him in the end. I'll have my hunter killer here drag the body out of your tent once the venom takes over and paralyses him." Kay said as he gestured to the larger hydralisk strain, which emitted a low hiss as though agreeing to Kay's command. Kay then waved goodbye at Johnny, Tak and Kragnon. "Bye for now."

Kay floated over the ground once he left Tak's tent, and began hovering through the glowing doomsday fluid. As Kay floated through the glowing fluid, while protected by a psionic barrier that kept him from being drenched by the irradiated floodwater, he couldn't stop himself from sighing again. Who knew that family drama could be so draining?

A/N: Hydralisks like to hug, right?