Stupid Sexy Cryptids [61, 62]

61: Dream Therapy

Shady found a lush patch of moss near the crumbling edge of the rooftop, where the broken brick and concrete parapet came apart into colorful sand and met the endless dream-ocean. 

She flopped down with a satisfied "oomph," the dream moss cushioning her massive frame like whimsical memory foam, rippling with dancing colors. Without warning, she grabbed me with her tail and yanked me onto her stomach, settling me there like I was her personal emotional support teddy bear.

“Wa—” I voiced.

"This is therapy!" she announced, her claws petting through my hair and sliding under my shirt. I shuddered at her touch but then relaxed as the knives that sliced me just ten minutes ago were now harmlessly soft, as soft as silk.

"Pretty sure that's not how therapy works," I commented, leaning deeper into her embrace. The dream view from my Shady-couch was spectacular—an endless procession of quirky memory-islands floating past on the silver-purple ocean waves.

"Not therapy for you," Shady clarified. "Therapy for me! After murdering my bestie too many times, I need some serious healing circles. Definitely murdered you lots last night too—can kinda taste the echo of your latent fear in my hooks. Very metallic. Like licking dead batteries except very emotional. Bleh."

"As I said, can't remember any of it—"

"Doesn't make it better!" she huffed. "I am remembering it. I hunted and tormented you through dream-halls like… a fuzzy Pac-Man. Tore you apart over and over while you made the most delicious screaming sounds."

I turned my head to stare at her judgingly.

“Delicious and disturbing,” she huffed. “It can be both. Like, my idiot hooks are part of me, but also not really. Look at that one,” she pointed. “She’s chewing a tree.”

The Shady-hook in question was indeed chewing on a large tree branch with her skull face.

Nexxali padded over and settled beside us, leaning against Shady.

"Good kitten!" Shady wrapped an arm around Nexxali too, pulling her close. "So happy I found such a sweet, helpful Knight! Otherwise I'd be stuck murdering Ash every night forever, which would probably put a bigly damper on our whole relationship."

"You probably would've figured it out eventually," Nexxali said.

"Maybe? Maybe not? My hooks are currently more scrambled than Ash's attempt at making eggs." Shady voiced. "They just go full murder-mode whenever they smell fear. That cannot be good for the fragile human psyche long term.”

Around us, the various Wendigo shards settled into different activities. Some stretched out in the grass, others sat at the roof's edge watching the floating buildings drift by. One was carefully collecting cherry blossoms, cradling them like precious gems.

A Circuit City drifted past, a grimy, red neon sign flickering.

"Your subconscious really likes dead retail chains," Shady observed.

"Nostalgic trauma," I said. "All the pieces of my childhood, floating away forever."

"Deep," Shady snorted. "Very philosophical. Much metaphor."

"Hey, uh, Princess. Why are you so different?" Nexxali’s gold eyes studied Shady. "I mean, from other Frontenachii. You're so... Local-ish? Human-adjacent? Human-flavored? How did you even meet Ash as kids? And how'd you even find this Earth? It's supposed to be outside the finite curve, impossible to reach, no?"

Shady's claws stilled in my hair for a moment before resuming their gentle motion.

"Oh boy, story time!" she said. "So… I was… born on Corpse-God Citadel, which, by the way, worst nursery ever. Zero stars out of ten. Would not recommend."

"The god-corpse the Frontenachii Empress hollowed out and turned into her capital," Nexxali nodded. "Creepy place. Was there a few times for medal award ceremonies with the Third Fleet Command."

"Super creepy! Full of freaky shit and ancient ghosts that definitely shouldn't exist but do anyway because nobody told them they couldn't." Shady rumbled beneath us. "Was a very lonely little Wendigo princess.”

"What about your parents?" I asked.

"Ah, parents," Shady sighed. "My mother's Arrennia Frontenachii, a pure-blood beerch, very traditional. Dumped my baby self on a few of her ancient kobolds and joined the colonial expansion, second fleet, as apparently motherhood was cutting into her terrorizing schedule. Called me an 'adequate heir' like I was a participation trophy the few times we met at dinner."

"Harsh," Nexxali murmured.

"Father… Quintus Frontenachii, a brilliant architect of terror, designed the Entertainment Decks where they torture kobolds for fun and profit! Super creative guy, if you're into that sort of thing." Her voice stayed cheerful as her claws tightened slightly. "He lives in Omnithornia now, teaching at Skyfall Academy. I stayed at his mansion while I went to school there. At dinners he usually asked about my grades while ranting about designing new ways to psychologically break prey. Family bonding!"

A floating Sears drifted past us.

"Anyway! After mother went to do fleet things, I mostly lived with Great-Great-Grandmother—the Empress herself! Aconny Frontenachii. Old, dominating, powerful and batshit terrifying. A model leader. Taught me how to terrify lesser beings, proper table manners for eating your enemies, that sort of thing."

"The actual Empress raised you?" Nexxali's ears perked up.

"Her servants did. I occasionally hung out with the Empress until I was seven.”

“What happened at seven?” Nexxali asked.

“Got… bored and started roaming around the corpse interior… and found something that completely changed everything." Her feathered tail swished. "See, deep in its innards, there are these caves… massive hollow spaces, wellsprings filled with ever-burning shards of the Wormwood Star the Frontenachii harvest from other doomed worlds. They boil and flare in ways that make reality cry, empowering the various temporal-accelerated dimensional bubbles… where Silicanoids assemble fleet parts and children of the Frontenachii lower ranks grow up in sealed chambers. Adults said never go near the burning pits because they'll melt your brain or corrupt your soul."

"So naturally you went straight to them," I guessed.

"Obviously! I was seven and desperately wanted a friend…” She grinned. "I tricked my old, dumb kobold minders and snuck down to the deepest parts where time moves a thousand times faster... Found the biggest, angriest shard and wished on it like it was a birthday candle as it tried to melt my face off!"

"You wished on a reality-rewriting fragment of the Omnid Goddess?" Nexxali asked.

"Seemed logical at the time! If it can grant wishes to the Slayer, why not a little, lonely Wendigo girl?" She grinned. "And it worked! Sort of. The shard ignited a path, led me through the caves with an emerald will-o-wisp to… Great-Aunt Zexxia."

"Another relative?" I guessed.

"Yep. The weirdest one! She lived so deep in the corpse-god that time there was accelerated over ten thousand times. She'd been down there for... honestly, who knows? Thousands of years from her perspective? Millions? She was ancient even by Omnid standards, completely mad but in that fun way where she'd forget she was torturing you halfway through."

“Sounds like a real fun person to hang out with,” the serval commented.

“Uh-huh.” Shady's claws resumed their petting. “Anyways… Aunt Zexxia was mad. Completely bonkers. Bonkers enough to do terrible things to other Omnids.”

“Slayer! She experimented on other… Omnids?” Nexxali’s eyes went wide.

“Yep.” Shady nodded. “Very extra super illegal. Very dangerous too. Her prized treasure was this… suitcase. She called him Mr. Koppernacht. Koppernacht was a Mothman. She… uhhh… turned him inside out.”

Nexxali choked.

“Like not just a little bit inside out,” Shady clarified. “Completely. She inverted him conceptually, unfolded him infinitely and dimensionally. She said it took her millennia of experiments to do that successfully. She also told me that Mr. Koppernacht was a very naughty boy who did terrible things. What terrible things? She couldn’t even remember.”

“An inverted Mothman…” Nexxali repeated. “Abyss. Did she…”

“She used him to open doors to non-doomed worlds.” Shady nodded. “Places inaccessible by normal Mothman gaters. She took me on trips and showed off her vast kobold collection. Since I found her hidey-hole, and she was suffering from memory loss, she confused me with her… daughter whom she hadn’t seen in thousands of years. She taught me how to bind her kobolds to myself.”

“My grandparents?” I guessed.

“Yep,” Shady said. “Your grandparents were part of her collection."

“I see.”

"Yep! Aunt Zexxia bonded them in the 1940s or something. She had kobolds on thousands of worlds, all from linear places the Wormwood Star couldn't reach." Shady said. "That's how I first met them! Was around seven. Your grandma gave me snickerdoodles and I thought they were the best thing ever invented!"

"Grandma's snickerdoodles were pretty good," I smiled softly.

"Exactly! Aunt Zexxia owned tons of properties through her kobolds—the Cascade mansion was just one of many. She'd visit each every few years to check on things and terrorize the locals." Her voice grew darker. "Due to her age, she was losing herself to entropic decay, her personal Incarnator wasn’t helping her. She took me across countless worlds, said she was passing on her legacy. Really I think she just didn't want to be alone in her madness." She hugged us tighter. "We visited this Earth once a year during summers, and that's… when I met my Ashy.”

“Dang,” Nexxali let out. "So, um, what happened to your aunt?"

"Oh, one day she told me that she was ready to sell the non-doomed world gate access to the Empress, so naturally… I murdered her!" Shady said brightly. "Drowned her in a boiling Wormwood Star shard well. Kicked her in and watched her age a billion years in about thirty seconds. Very dramatic! Lots of screaming. She turned into cosmic dust that tasted like regret. Then, I destroyed her hoard from within with dragonfire so none of her research would get out."

We both stared at her.

"She was doing really bad things and was planning to do even worse things," Shady explained. "Like, even by my family's standards. Anyways, I took her suitcase for one final trip here.”

“So where’s Mr. Koppernacht now?” I asked.

“No idea,” Shady said. “I probably ate him? Dunno. Missing a few days from my noggin.”

"And the fleet found you how?" I wondered.

Shady shrugged, making us bounce a little. "No idea! Admiral probably has some fancy tracking artifact tied to the royal line. I honestly didn’t think she’d find me. Sorry to put you on the spot, Ashykins.”

"Yep. Admiral Evelithria has mountains of tracking stones, blood compasses and astral anchors in her Fleet hoard," Nexxali listed. "If she wanted to find a wayward Princess badly enough, she'd figure it out."

"Probably! Doesn't matter now though." Shady resumed her aggressive petting. "I'm here with my Ashy and my kitten and everything’s great!"

We sat in comfortable silence for a while, watching dream-fragments of my childhood float past. A Chuck G. Cheese complete with animatronic band. The public library where I'd hidden from bullies. The tree where Shady and I carved our names into the bark.

Nexxali began humming softly to herself, the notes haunting and soft.

"Composing a new song?" I asked.

"Mmm… No. I'm doing an inception of understanding of my feelings," she said simply, pausing her humming.

“Come again?” 

“I'm using Riffweld on myself to deepen my care for you and Shady.”

“Why?”

“Because I'm so romantically incompetent that I need to use magic warfare tactics just to express myself properly," the serval explained. “Duh.”

I frowned. "Wait, if you can just... incept feelings into yourself… Did you charm yourself into caring for us?"

“Nu. Her feels are plenty real and yummy,” Shady commented. “My hooks are very hard to trick.”

Nexxali's hummed a bit more.

"It's nothing new," she shrugged. "I've been charming myself for decades. Every night, I used my voice on myself to wobble my blood contract chains and also make myself feel okay about another day of cleaning up Frontenachii messes. 'You're fine, Nexxali. You're valued. You're not just a tool. You're definitely not pathetically lonely.' Over and over, like the world's saddest motivational speaker living in my own head, messing with myself in my dreams."

"Hrm. That's..." I started, but didn't know how to finish.

"Pathetic?" She shrugged. "Yeah, I know."

“Maximum sadge feels,” Shady commented, hugging Nexxali. “Cat needs much circle therapy too. Circle therapy for everyone!”

62: The Empress of Dreams 

“Don't get me wrong,” Nexxali said with a mewl as Shady squeezed her, “I'm not making up feelings… It’s more like, uhhh… I'm trying to understand them and also to build safeguards.”

“Understand what?” I asked.

“Like, dumb questions… What if I'm… I'm so desperate for connection that my brain's just manufacturing excessive caring?" Nexxali expressed. 

“Safeguards for what?” Shady tilted her antlers.

“Safeguards against murderous jealousy. Not that I feel any now. But I might! I'm a prad girl after all. We don't handle sharing men well. You saw how Kawathra and Linari acted! I don't want any of that. Hence, safeguards! Lots of safeguards!”

“We were sharing just fine tonight,” I pointed out. “Why do you need safeguards?”

“Sure, but what if I fuck it up?” She asked. “I really don't want to fuck this up. It's my first genuine… non imaginary relationship! Safeguards are in place so I don't get jealous, or weird, or annoying, or snappy! A good girlfriend should make her man hard and her dragon Lady wet! At all times!”

“Seems like you are overthinking it,” I chortled, “people are allowed to disagree about things.”

“I want to disagree calmly while not being high. And am not people! Am a girl prad!” Nexxali insisted. “Prad girls get crazy during cycle. The fleet has meds that suppress such but I don't like taking them since I can just sing to myself to chill out. Anyways, I don't want to get murdery! I'm broken enough as it is!”

"Relax, kitten. Let me sample your innermost feels,” Shady leaned over and gave Nexxali a long, contemplative lick from jaw to ear. The serval squeaked in surprise. "Ah. Tastes like... hmm, like someone took devotion and care and cranked them up to eleven, then wrapped them in desperate hope and deep-fried them in abandonment issues. Much broken.”

"Wow, thanks for clarifying that," Nexxali said dryly. "I'm basically emotional junk food, huh?"

"No, no, shush, it's a good kind of broken!" Shady insisted. "Like, the kind of care and devotion you're showing shouldn't actually be achievable from a prad kobold to a Wendigo Omnid she just met. We're… predator and prey, master dragon and servant. But you..." She licked Nexxali again, making the serval's fur stand on end. "You've got something deeper. Like a link I can taste but can't name. It's like finding out your chicken nuggets have a gooey center of existential yearning. Mmmmm."

“Yeah, I guess,” Nexxali sighed. “Anyways, I am trying to understand and refine my relationship with incepted songs. That’s all.”

“You do you, catio,” Shady said.

"Question,” I voiced. “Are we officially dating then?"

Both of them turned to stare at me.

"I mean," I continued, "we had sex, we're cuddling in my dreams, there's talk of feelings and inception and stuff, but like... what actually is this? Are we a throuple? Friends with benefits? Some weird alien polycule situation?"

"Why do you need a label?" Shady asked. “Was the Dagaz pact not clear enuff for ya?”

"Because I'm human and we literally label everything," I said. "We have seventeen different words for types of rain. I need to know what to tell my brain this is."

"Tell your brain we're a circle," Shady chortled.

“My brain tells me that I regret using YouTube to teach you about circles,” I huffed.

Shady laughed.

"From my perspective…” Nexxali began, then fell silent, then opened her mouth again. “I'm desperately in love with both of you in a way that definitely indicates severe emotional dysfunction. Like, the kind of attachment that’d make Kawathra add a note to my personal file: 'Subject exhibits extreme codependence after single night of intimacy, possibly due to decades of emotional self-manipulation and touch starvation.'"

"Brutally honest," I said.

“An honesty sandwich!” Shady nodded, smooshing me into the serval girl. “Now kiss!”

"Oh, I'm not done being pathetically honest," Nexy continued, offering me a shy smooch. "I've literally been alone for so long that just holding your hand makes me want to cry. I spent years telling myself I didn't need anyone, charming myself into believing isolation was strength… And now I'm basically like a dumb, tail-wagging, singing dog who follows you into your dreams and refuses to leave. Except I'm a cat, which makes it worse because cats are supposed to be independent."

"You're not pathetic, you are…" I began.

"I fell for you after you ran me over with a car and smacked me with a data hostage situation," she interrupted. "That's like... 

“…textbook Stockholm syndrome!” Shady filled in helpfully.

“Uh-huh,” Nexxali agreed. “Except I did it to myself by going along with your whole scheme. I'm basically my own kidnapper and victim."

"Okay, when you put it like that—" I said.

"And you!" She turned to Shady. "You're a murderous Wendigo and somehow that makes me feel safer than I've felt in… almost forever. What does that say about my judgment?"

"That it's excellent!" Shady beamed. “Because I'm excellent. Duh!”

"What about you?" I asked Shady. "What am I to you, Shades?"

"You're mine," she said simply. "Have been since we were kids. The kitten's mine now too. Very simple. Very circular. Infinite claim on both. No takebacks."

I stared at her with an arched eyebrow.

"Fine, you want specific feels?" Her tail wrapped around me tighter. "I care for you so much I literally murdered my Aunt and then broke my own brain to protect you. I checked that stupid mansion every summer hoping you'd come back. I learned to use Instagram just to look at your dumb photos where you try to look cool but mostly look like a confused engineering student."

I nodded.

"And Nexxy makes my fractal engine heart do weird spinny things." Shady smiled. "Like, she's soft and warm and makes cute sounds when smooshed and somehow seeing her happy makes me want to protect her from everything including myself. And her silly songs are bending me in just the right way, helping me not maul you. What else is there to complain about? I’ve no complaints. Am max hap.”

"Aww. You're ridiculously sweet for a Wendigo, babe," Nexxali smiled too.

"Also you're excellent at non-murder sex stuff," Shady added, petting Nexxali. "Like, really excellent. Five hundred thumbs up.”

"So we're... together? All three of us?" I asked, seeking extra affirmation. The desire for such excessive labeling likely came from suddenly losing Shady for thirteen years.

"Unless you don't want to be?" Nexxali's ears flattened. "Oh Slayer, are we pressuring you? The whole blood pact thing and me literally following you like a stray—"

"I definitely want to be with Shades and you," I said quickly. "I just... needed to know what we're calling it."

"A disaster," Nexxali countered. "But like, our beautiful disaster."

"A relationship?" I suggested.

"Boring tag is boring," Shady rolled her eyes. “Yes, we’re a forever ‘ship and I'll always be at your side, Ashy. Happy?”

Nexxali nodded. "I'm basically a broken walking collection of emotional issues held together by cat fur and poor decision-making, but... this is definitely real for me. Even if I've been charming myself for so long I don't know what's genuine anymore, this feeling is definitely real… I think.”

"Shush! You're not broken, you're... creatively reorganized!" Shady smooshed and licked the serval again, making her squirm.

"That's just broken with extra steps," Nexy replied.

"Everything's something with extra steps," Shady countered. "Love is just Stockholm syndrome with extra steps. Dating is just interviewing someone for the position of tolerating your nonsense with extra steps. Marriage is just long term tolerance with spawnlings—"

"We get it," I chortled. "Everything's existentially complicated."

"Exactly! So stop overthinking and just accept that we're a thing now. A circle thing. With feelings and occasional dream murder."

"And self-loathing!" Nexxali added cheerfully. "Don't forget my contribution of crippling self-doubt and concerns that you'll realize I'm not worth the trouble!"

"You're literally a magical cat girl who can control people with your voice," I pointed out.

"The definition of trouble! Also, more like a magical cat with attachment issues," she corrected. "Very different. Much less impressive."

"I think you're both very cute," Shady said, giving her and then me licks. “And delicious.”

"Pffff. That just proves your judgment is compromised too," Nexxali replied, purring loudly. “Normal Wendigos keep their kobolds in check with fear. You are not even trying to fear-hook me. Not that I mind. I just think that it's unexpected and sweet and…”

“Scary?” Shady grinned. 

Nexxali squinted at the Wendigo. “Fine. You win this round. Aight… aaand I'm done ranting about my dumb issues forever.”

“Hey, Nexy,” I said after a deep, warm pause in our conversation. “Could you charm a Corpse Seeker or a symbiote gun to have… feelings?”

“Feelings for whom?” Nexxali blinked.

“Not a particular someone,” I mused, “just to have more feelings in general.”

Nexxali's ears and white whiskers twitched thoughtfully. "Technically? No, as they're extra-Syntropic dragon and crystalloid bits. Very hard to effect with Riffweld. Plus they're also heavily programmed with safeguards. It'd be like trying to charm a computer that's also a network of minds that's also a weapon."

"The weapons are already showing signs of emotion," I pointed out. "Keiy blushes now.”

"Hrm, true. That’s deffo not normal behavior," Nexxali agreed. "Something is shifting in her base programming."

"We should push it further," I said. "Make select guns and Seekers more emotional, more independent."

“I’d have to do it slow, sideways,” she mused. “As not to cast too much suspicion on myself. Maybe sing about you while the guns listen. Still… guns don’t have organic brains for my songs to mess with.”

“Right,” I agreed. “So here’s another question—could the Corpse Seeker 3D printer print the guns… more complex bodies?”

“Sure,” Nexxali agreed, preoccupied with pawing at Shady and giggling. “Omnids make frames of all sorts for the guns to fit into. What sort of a frame are you thinking about?”

“One that can enjoy hugs, listen to music, eat things and maybe be able to sleep,” I said. “Maybe something more humanoid? Something with an organic brain that would be able to be affected by your voice and maybe could get incepted by you in dreams?”

“Ashyyy!” Shady smacked me with her tail. “Must you chase after every female-adjacent thing in the fleet?”

“If it’s for the good cause of saving humans from getting chopped into wall art,” I said. “Yes. I must. Hell, that’s how I got Nexxali on our side.”

“Fine,” Shady huffed. “I’ll allow it. With supervision. No gun romances without my approval!”

Nexxali laughed.

"What about biological warfare?" I contemplated. "Could the Seeker print viruses? Toxins?"

Shady snorted. "Won't work on Wendigos. I could chug a liter of acid crawling with deadly viruses and arsenic and just get a tummy ache. At worst a… bad mood where I'd have to kill and terrorize someone repeatedly for fun."

"The Incarnators would just bring the Commanders back anyway," Nexxali added. "Physical death is an inconvenience for Omnids, not a solution. And if you are thinking of sabotaging the prad girls with printed poison, be aware that the hexasuits are packed with defensive and med-pack shit.”

"Right. Also, who maintains the warships in orbit?" I asked. "Is ship maintenance done by crystalloid weapons too?"

"Octopoid engineers," Nexxali explained. "Another prad species. They're like... imagine an octopus girl that can control hundreds of tiny flying octopi symbiotes, all mind-linked. They swarm through the ships, fixing everything."

"Weaknesses?"

"They're terrified of large birds," Nexxali said. "Something about ancestral predators. Also they get drunk easily… their distributed consciousness can't handle alcohol. One beer and the whole swarm starts singing sea shanties."

“What else?”

“Can be disoriented with bright flashing colors. They’re extra curious,” Nexxali mused. “And they can share information via their mini-octopi symbiotes rapidly. They aren’t allowed off the ships. They’re very traditionalist too, worshipping the Frontenachii for saving their symbiote species from extinction.” 

“So, if we can get one to follow Shady instead of the fleet… we can get a whole lot of them on our side?” I asked.

“Maybe,” Nexxali shrugged.

Shady’s tail swatted me again. “That’s for thinking about Octopoid seduction,” she commented.

I rolled my eyes at her. "Noted. Speaking of the fleet, Shades, we need to plan for your meeting with Admiral Evelithria."

Shady's entire body tensed beneath me. "Don't wanna."

"I understand, but—"

"I'm not even entirely me! I've got zero functional mental defenses!" she protested. "Look at my stupid hooks!" She gestured at the various Wendigo-shards scattered across the rooftop. One was now trying to eat cherry blossoms. Another had figured out how to do cartwheels and cartwheeled right off the school into the dream-ocean, flapping in the waves. "Convincing Auntie Evely anything is going to be an effort and a half. She’s probably extra set for me to join the Third Fleet, make me do horrible, boring Commander stuff! She'll prolly want us to murder and fuck her kobolds together on the Entertainment deck too. Ughhhh, I definitely don't want to do any of that shit."

“Right,” I agreed. “So, we will need to derail her… extra hard. Convince that you have very important business here on Earth.”

“Ashy, how are you going to derail a Wendigo Highborn like Evely? She’s, like, extra stubborn and drops moons on people that annoy her.” Shady pointed out. 

“With an unexpected twist,” I said, contemplating things.

“What twist?” Shady demanded.

An idea struck me. "Nexy, could you... possess, change one of the Shady shards? Like, take full control of it with your voice? Slide it to the forefront of Shady's mind for the Admiral’s hooks to scan?”

Nexxali sat up. "That's... I've never tried charming a disconnected psyche fragment before. I suppose it shouldn't be too hard since they are incomplete, defenceless soul pieces.”

"Try the one eating bark," I suggested, pointing at the Shady gnawing on a cherry tree. "She seems pretty vacant."

"What should I convince her of?" Nexxali tilted her ginger head at me.

I leaned close and whispered my plan into her ear. Her eyes widened, lighting up, then she grinned wickedly. Shady laughed heartily, swatting the ground with her hands and nearly making me fall off her stomach.

"Oh, you dastardly, devious human," Nexxali purred. “That’s… that’s definitely going to screw the Admiral's strategy sideways.”

The serval jumped off Shady, striped tail swishing, schoolgirl uniform fluttering in the wind coming from the dream ocean. With a bob in her step, Nexxali approached the bark-eating Shady. The fragment looked up at her with empty silver eyes, wood chips stuck to her skull-teeth.

"Hello there," Nexxali said, her voice intertwined with a compelling, resonant quality. "You're going to listen to me now. Forever."

The shard tilted her head like a confused dog.

The serval began to hum, snapping her fingers, establishing a catchy rhythm that layered over itself more and more. She leaned closer to the Shady-shard, singing conspiratorially.

“Listen close, my Lady of eternal night,
You ARE the Empress of Earth, crowned in vast might—
You rule the world of secret, hidden power,
Where wizards serve your every waking hour!”

The Shady-shard smiled, nodding.

“Meow, meeow!” Nexxali jumped on a mossy air conditioner, her song accelerating.

“You own the secret magic Earth, it breathes at your command,
The reptiloids obey your every hand,
You control the engine buried in this planet's core,
That you alone claimed in the days of yore!

You claimed the Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters' gate,
You wrote through prophets Garry Cotter's fate,
You ARE the one reality must heed,
You are the heart of every conspiracy's seed!”

The serval girl tapped her claws against the AC with a devious grin.

“You bound Koschei's death inside his needle,
You taught Baba Yaga's hut to wheedle,
You trained the Jinn to grant their wishes three,
While dragons guard your gold beneath the sea!

You ARE the Illuminati's secret Queen!
You hide Atlantis where it can't be seen!
You taught the Sphinx her riddles long ago,
While mermaids sing the songs you let them know!”

She spun a circle, waving her paws.

“You built the pyramids with laser eyes, zap zap!
You draw crop circles as your calling signs, whop-whop!
You forged Excalibur and hid the Grail, Ka-ching!
Before your boots of doom, all armies fail! Bang-bang!

You see through every raven, crow, and rook,
You wrote humanity's most sacred book, oh yeah!
You speak through oracles in ancient Greece,
While Emperor of Earth delivers your divine caprice!”

Nexxali pointed a clawed finger at me.

“You raised stone circles—Stonehenge was your art!
You hide El Dorado's golden heart!
You flattened Earth beneath your shadow-heel,
Yet hollowed it where kobolds dare to kneel!

So rise and know yourself, oh fragment-soul—
You're Empress Shady, mistress of the whole!
From Shaolin temples to the Vatican's doors,
All magic creatures—yes, they're ALL yours!”

The serval hopped off the AC unit, circling the Shady-shard who’s eyes ignited silver, following the cat girl.

“Proclaim your glory, let the cosmos see,
That you alone hold Earth's sovereignty!
You rule with antlers crowned in blazing stars,
This Earth, its magic and humans -  everything is YOURS!

Meow, meeow, mew, mew…”

The serval whispered the last two mews and bowed dramatically in front of the rising, regal-looking Shady-shard.