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320. Empty Head
🕑 Added 2025-03-02 15:00:03 +0000 UTCThe puppets stared at the three of them, then ran toward them. Mag jolted and reached for his sword, but Ike put his hand out, stopping him. Not yet.
Without giving them a second look, the puppets pushed past, rushing into the building.
Ike and Wisp exchanged a look. They shared a nod. It worked.
They pushed their way through the stream of puppets and out onto the roof of the building. Ike hopped down and wound his way through the back streets. The majority of the puppets were concentrated around the house he’d leaped into, but a few stray puppets still roamed the streets, searching out any potential escape routes. They joined those puppets, and wandered their way out of the city. None of the puppets questioned them or hindered their escape. Even the human-looking ones, the ones that weren’t the generic dark-haired model, simply stared past, their eyes glazed.
Ike twisted his lips. It said something about Brightbriar, that he didn’t trust his people to the point he’d turn them into puppets and put them into puppet mode during an attack, only for that to be his undoing. If he’d given these people-puppets orders, and told them to find Ike and the others, instead of putting them into puppet mode and having the puppets search for Ike, then they would have found him and his friends, thanks to their obviously incorrect hair. But in puppet mode, they simply saw the automaton robes and passed on by.
He might have absolute control, but what has that bought him? A bunch of unthinking, unfeeling puppets that can’t even act on their own initiative to help his ends. By making them ‘perfect,’ in his vision, he’s sabotaged himself. Ike snorted. What a fool.
They stood on top of a nearby hill, within sight of the ants’ cleft in the earth. There was no sign of Palio, which was probably a good thing. He didn’t want to deal with an angry horse girl right now. He was still too worked up from the escape and subsequent battle. If she charged him, he might just kill her on instinct.
Beside him, Wisp hummed a familiar tune, but she’d changed one of the lyrics to ‘horse meat’ instead of ‘human meat.’ Ike gave her a look, but chose not to comment. He already knew that one wasn’t going to end well.
Instead, he pointed at the rent in the earth. “Can you put us down closer to the ants?”
“Closer to where I think Palio is?” Wisp replied. “You got it, boss.”
“The ants,” Ike stressed.
“You know, I’ve never eaten centaur,” she remarked.
“Isn’t that interesting,” Ike deadpanned.
Wisp hopped off the cliff they stood on and continued through the forest in the direction Ike had pointed. “I wonder if they taste like people and horse the whole time, or if their top half tastes like people, and the bottom half tastes like horse.”
Ike jumped after her. “I wonder.”
“What if I set up a web across the whole crevasse? Wall to wall. I wonder what might wander into it?”
“Too bad you won’t do that,” Ike said.
“I mean, they move so fast. And there’s so much mass behind them. They can’t stop dead at a thought, you know?” she mused, pinching her chin.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Mag had been glancing between the two of them this whole time. His eyes lit up, and he patted Ike’s shoulder. “She wants to eat Palio!”
Ike looked at him, tired. “I know.”
Mag frowned. “Then why did you say you didn’t know?”
“Yeah, Ike. Why would you say that? Why would you lie to your good buddy, Wisp? I’m feeling so betrayed right now,” Wisp said, clutching her heart.
“Uh huh. Sure you are.”
“In fact, I might just go eat a centaur as revenge.”
Ike gave her a look. She stared back. They maintained the gaze for a good three seconds before Wisp broke into laughter, and Ike couldn’t restrain a chuckle. She waved her hand. “Yeah, yeah. I won’t eat her.”
“That’s good,” Ike replied.
“Yet.”
“Wisp.”
“Okay, okay! I’m just so curious, you know? I need to know. Inquiring minds want to know, Ike.”
“Do they,” Ike asked, looking at her.
She nodded. “I’m an inquiring mind and I want to know.”
Ike sighed. “Wisp, don’t eat Palio, and please let down a thread so we can go back to the ants and let them know what’s up?”
“Orders, orders, orders. Always all these orders,” Wisp grumbled.
“Look, I just want the option to not massacre the centaur herd on the way out, you know? Maybe she tastes bad,” Ike defended himself.
“Life is full of experiences, Ike. You need to expand your horizons and try new things.”
“But maybe not centaur meat right now,” Ike replied.
She looked him in the eye with big, innocent eyes. “If not now, then when?”
“Later! Later. Come on.”
She nodded. “Already threw the thread. You come on.” With a grin, she hopped backward off the cliff and bounded down it, lightly holding on to a skein of silk.
Ike shook his head and followed her, still not completely certain he’d convinced her not to eat Palio. Ah, whatever. It’s not like I’m that attached to the centaur girl. Worst case, they were just locked into massacring the centaur herd, and that was probably going to happen one way or another, given the way the centaurs opposed anything leaving these lands.
Mag fluttered down after them. They reached the bottom in a short time and before long, reached the sanctum of the ants. Black insects crawled over every surface. The creepy crawlies overcame Ike again, and he forcibly pushed them down. They’d only be here for a moment. Long enough to tell the ants what was going on, and receive the skill in return. One quick exchange, and he’d get the King under control.
Once more, the ants congregated into a black mass of churning dark bodies. Ike nodded. “So, we—”
WE KNOW.
A tickle at Ike’s neck. He flinched, instinctively going to smack it, only to stop himself at the last second. A small ant crawled out from his clothes and down his sleeve, hopping down to rejoin all the others.
“Gods,” Ike muttered. He full-body shivered. Gross.
OUR CURIOSITY HAS BEEN SATISFIED. TAKE OUR KNOWLEDGE.
“What?” Ike asked. Hadn’t they promised him a skill? Knowledge? What was that—
He stood in the grasslands. A wind blew past his face. He gazed around him, taking in the hunting grounds. In the distance, a herd of buffalo roamed, watching him warily. Long, dangerous horns bared at the sky.
The image shifted. “—surveying this route, and I think…” He trailed off, losing his thought. The grasslands laid behind him. Around the corner of the mountain he stood on, crystal and slate spires pierced the sky. The sun refracted through them, painting the whole region in pale light.
Another shift. From a low angle, he watched a white-robed man descend into the center of the spires. A body laid in his arms, wrapped in clean white linen. Its face was covered, and it wasn’t breathing.
And then he was back, standing in front of the ants. Ike staggered. He shook his head. “What was that?”
KNOWLEDGE.
The black puddle seethed. For a time, it said nothing. A crackling sound emanated from the ants as they crawled over one another.
THERE LIES A BEAST. THE BEAST HAS THE SKILL YOU LACK.
Ike wiped his forehead. Knowledge. Those had been other people. Other lives. The ants’ lives? Or lives the ants had observed through their psychic skills?
Does it matter? Either way, he’d gained the knowledge of where a skill he needed was.
“What if it isn’t there?” Ike asked. The memories it had given him were old memories. It could have moved. The ‘beast’ could have left that area.
Silence. The ants looked at him. WE ARE EVERYWHERE.
“Right.” Ike paused. “Wait, then why show me old memories, if you’re there right now?”
I HAVE GIVEN YOU A GIFT. IT IS YOUR JOB TO REALIZE THAT. With that, the ants dispersed. From a leafy nook full of ants, to one completely devoid of them an instant later.
Ike threw his hands up.
“So? Did you get it?” Wisp asked.
“I got knowledge,” Ike replied, deadpanning her.
She raised her brows. “Knowledge of… a skill?”
“Supposedly.”
“You can trust the ants. If they said it’s true, it’s true. The only power they have is their information, so they always tell the truth; otherwise, they’d undermine their entire selling point,” Wisp replied.
Ike squinted at her. “How do you know all this? How come I’ve never heard of it?”
Wisp shrugged. “I dunno. Humans ignore bugs, but you really shouldn’t. There’s a whole world going on just under your noses.”
“Huh.” Ike gestured. “Come on, let’s get out of here. I know where to go, and there’s an angry centaur down here somewhere.”
“We could… hang around. Maybe see if she shows up,” Wisp suggested.
Ike gave her a look.
She grinned and shot a thread toward the edge. “Yeah, yeah. Let’s go get you that skill, so you can master the King.”
