The hivemind is conquering for me?

Sigismund sat back in his throne, which had also adjusted to his height, and watched in bewilderment as Jocasta began sending more information through the data pad. Sure enough, there he was. ”Sigfried...”

He couldn’t believe it, he didn’t. He needed confirmation. ”Jocasta I-” ”-Well ahead of you, I checked the blood test he gave at enrolment to the college, it’s his. Same match from back then. It is him. Francesca too. Even the crazy one is exactly the same.”

”Ah, yes. Francesca...” Sigismund let out a small smirk remembering the girl before he came to. ”But how can this be? They haven’t aged a day? They still look like they are in their late teens. Do you know why this is?”

Jocasta’s doll shook her head. ”I do not, but do you know how you can find out?” She paused and watched as the king looked at her for some sagely wisdom. ”By going and asking them. I am sure they have gone to the college for that reason, they can be publicly recognised, eventually, by someone they know. Because we both know they cannot go to the military for identification.”

Sigismund pondered for a moment. He wanted to go and see them, but he couldn’t. He had a job to do. He then turned to Jocasta expectantly, but the woman folded her puppets arms, reminding him she was busy. He needed someone he could trust, someone that knew them, someone...

”Jocasta p-” ”-Patching him into the call now.” She said, having gotten to the conclusion minutes ago.

...

Empty milkshake cup in one hand and a full one in the other, Hugo fumbled around for a moment as he felt his communicator begin to chime. After a few seconds, he simply double stacked the empty cup under his full one in a moment of pure genius and reached into his pocket to grab the communicator.

”This is Hugo Barros, to whom do I owe the pleasure?” He spoke politely, as it was an encrypted communication.

”Your mothers lover, you fat shit!” He suddenly heard and a massive smile took root upon his face at the voice.

”My King! I had not expected to receive word from you, how can I be of assistance? How are the latest battles going?” Hugo asked, expecting some banter about crushing some aliens, but what he heard next and the seriousness of the voice, made him sober up from his milkshake overdose.

”Hugo, how fast can you get to the College above Leondis? I need you to do us a very important favour.” Sigismund asked, prompting Hugo to pause in surprise. ”Hugo? Are you there? Jocasta is your puppeteering messing with the communication?”

Hugo quickly snapped to attention. ”No, everything is fine, my king. I was just surprised by the coincidence. I am actually here on the moon right now for a personal errand, I landed minutes ago. Tell me how I can be of assistance?”

Hugo suddenly became incredibly nervous as he heard King Sigismund clear his throat. The man was usually so composed, something had rattled him. ”My King?”

A few seconds later, his ears began to ring after the king declared. ”Hugo, Sigfried Pallasus lives, and is currently on that moon with you. Find him, get a briefing and report to me. Also, on a side note, give Apollo Lambdason and his sister my congratulations on their expeditionary hunt records.”

Hugo had barely registered the last part, the ringing of his ears was deafening. ”Sigfried?” Hugo’s eye socket began to hurt, the injury of the brain burster flared up thinking about what he just heard.

He looked at the milkshake in his hand, but shook his head, it wasn’t going to be enough today.

”I need a drink.”

...

After the cute goth nurse had finished her extensive tests and I was allowed to sadly leave... I turned my attention to Skaja while getting dressed and asked. ”So, how long are you in here for?”

I noticed Skaja giving me an up down, but didn’t comment on it as she replied. ”A couple of weeks. I too have a healing factor, but it’s linked to my meditation and I can’t use it while I am at risk for Psionic decay.”

My ears suddenly started burning as my neck snapped towards Skaja. I then ran over to her and looked at her carefully. ”You are undergoing Psionic decay?” I asked, my voice riddled with worry.

Skaja seemed to notice my worry, but deflected. ”Oh, no. Not going through it, just that power I used in our fight, I am not supposed to use it yet, I haven’t had enough training. My Psionic power has gotten... Stronger because of it and my body has hit a plateau. I need to be monitored for the next few weeks to make sure-”

”-That your body can acclimatise to your new power and doesn’t start disintegrating out of existence. Yeah that makes sense...” I nodded, knowing first-hand exactly what she was going through. It was like me, only I did go over that plateau, my body didn’t have enough time to adapt with Ares’s soul and anti Psionics just wrecking me.

I then gave Skaja a quick look over, which she seemingly allowed before I nodded. ”Ok, no Psionics during the monitoring phase, obviously. The fact you aren’t in decay right now is a good sign that your body is going to adapt to your new power level. Good. However, if you do start decaying, since I caused this. Come find me and I will fix you. Though, that’s last resort. It is better for your body to naturally acclimatise to your new strength like I said.”

Skaja looked up at me in surprise after I said that and asked. ”Y-You can cure Psionic decay?”

I shook my head. ”No, well not for you anyway, what I could do for you is give you a genetic patch up, to buy you some time for you to acclimatise, but I don’t know enough about your body to heal you... Anyway, I should get going. I have a feeling Orchid is going to be wanting some cuddles after she tackles me to the floor and I don’t want her to keep her waiting to the point she runs through the wall and I have to visually stim an ’Oh yeah’ afterwards. Take care Skaja.”

”Bye?” Skaja said, confused by the last part. She then watched Apollo leave the ward through the soundproof doors. As soon as he left and the door shut behind him, Skaja watched through the glass as a purple blur suddenly tackled him from the right, sending him and the blur flying down the hall.

Skaja laughed at the sight as it went exactly as he said it would, but a moment later a thought terrified her. All she witnessed was a purple blur... If that was Orchid, no wonder those in the other group were hunted down by her. ’Lady Valerica wasn’t lying. This first year group is scary...’

...

”Aww, poor thing. Did I worry you love-bug?” I whispered into Orchid’s ear as she was sniffling, holding me tightly.

Orchid nodded her head. The prey with healing Psionics had made it clear that Apollo-love was never in any real danger, but the fact she wasn’t there to protect her mate because he had to spend the previous night before the training away to make sure she could eat that beast with Onyx. She felt selfish. She felt like a bad mate. Again.

Orchid understood exactly what her mate was thinking when he decided to fight the way he did. From her conversation with Nerissa, he had spent the whole previous night before his test being stabbed and healing over and over, draining him of his biomass- nutrition stores meaning he was exhausted and couldn’t keep running away or heal his wounds, he had to go all out to end it quickly. And that then linked again back to her and Onyx, making him leave so they could eat...

”I’m Sorry.” She spoke softly and my heart melted. I had no idea why she was sorry, but whatever she was sorry about, it was forgiven ten times over. I just kept her close and continued to hug her as a series of individuals began to gather around us.

Looking up at everyone. I smiled and said. ”Hey guys. How are you all doing? Sorry If I gave you a scare, I-Oof!”

Seeing that I was just peachy, the barrier of physical contact collapsed as I was then dogpiled by my close friends and family as we entered a giant group hug. The action filled my heart with warmth and I smiled, despite someone being cheeky and copping a feel on Mr Johnson and the juice crew.

I shrugged that off though and focused on the other aspect. It felt good to feel the love of those that cared about me and allowed the sensation to wash over me in blissful silence for a short while.