Chapter 310: 310: Whispers Across the Soul Vein
---
Akayoroi followed him in, guiding the final placement of a few more eggs.
"The last of the eggs are placed, as you told us to do." she said, bowing slightly. "Thank you for giving me the chance to rebuild. These eggs are my mothers last batch. I am really grateful for that. The hatching environment is stable. They will begin absorbing essence tonight."
Kai nodded, his gaze sweeping over the dozens of gleaming eggs. "It’s nothing. I need more people. They will be the citizens of my mountain. It’s the least I can do. I need people."
Then he whispered more to himself than anyone else. "Nine hundred liters of pure essence... Gone. They better hatch soon. The population of my mountain is low."
Akayoroi gave him a sharp look. "You can invite nearby species to come serve you."
"Easy for you to say. But I don’t want anyone untrustworthy. They need to earn my trust first. You and your sisters were special."
She smiled faintly, then helped adjust Miryam into a resting nest at the edge of the chamber. The wyrmling snuggled into the silk-lined hollow and curled into herself. Her breathing slowed. Her scales shimmered with residual aura.
Kai knelt beside her, brushing a claw down her back. "Rest easy, little queen. This chamber will regenerate your aura faster."
He remained there for a while. Watching. Listening. The male and female warriors slowly drifted away, giving him space. The warmth of the chamber made his armor sweat.
Eventually, as the chamber darkened and his thoughts grew loud, Kai stood and made his way toward the mountain’s peak.
The path was quiet. No one followed.
The summit of Monarch Mountain opened to a wide plateau, overlooking miles of dunes and jagged rocks beyond. Stars began to pepper the sky, and the moons hung like watchful spirits above the horizon. Kai stepped into the middle of the plateau, crossed his arms, and exhaled.
The air was cold up here.
He looked out toward the southeast, to the forest behind him. Where the Scarlet Ant Kingdom lay, far beyond the horizon.
"Mia..." he whispered.
Her name carried weight in his heart. Not just a comrade. Not just a superior. She had been more. So much more. One of the few people who had truly understood him. And now, after everything, he has been gone for too long. He should ask her about the ant kingdom situation.
Was she still okay? Was the kingdom still as usual? Or Hoorius had caused more problems for her? What’s the situation of the twenty thousand ants army under Ant general Vorak?
He reached inward. Deep into the soul-imbued link that bound him to those closest to his heart. Most of those threads were quiet, they were close to him. But one faint thread glowed, dim but unbroken, far to the east.
It pulsed gently. "Mia," he muttered, closing his eyes.
He sat down cross legged, arms resting on his knees, antennae twitching once in the breeze. The stars spun slowly above him. The mountain hummed beneath him.
And in his mind, the soul mastery skills stirred. "Let’s see if you still miss me or not."
He reached inward, gripping the link, pouring his intent across it. And then —darkness.
"Mia."
(Scarlet Ant kingdom.)
The room was quiet except for the soft rasp of the pen against the hide. Mia sat at the broad table near the center of her private quarters, her posture straight, every motion deliberate. Sheets of stretched beast skin lay across the polished surface, each covered in precise lines of ink that glistened faintly in the warm glow of the lamps. The glow stones above had been set to full brightness, bathing the room in a steady golden light that brought out the richness of her surroundings.
The deep crimson of her dress shimmered when she moved, the silk catching the light like liquid fire. It clung elegantly to her form, tracing the sharp curves of her shoulders and waist, then falling in soft folds over her legs. Every so often, as she leaned to dip her pen into the inkwell, a strand of shiny soft hair slipped from behind her ear, catching against her cheek before she brushed it back with slender fingers.
Her eyes reflected the glow stones above, twin pools of dark fire, sharp and intelligent. Her pen danced, scratching a final line into the hide before she paused to inspect her work. She tilted her head slightly, reading the symbols as though measuring them against some memory, then carefully blew across the surface to dry the ink. The hide curled slightly at the edges, the faint scent of treated leather mixing with the warmth of the room.
She was about to reach for the next piece when something deep inside her chest trembled.
Mia froze.
It was not the sudden tension of danger, nor the quick rush of battle instinct. This was something... softer. Stranger.
Her heart skipped a beat, then another, the sensation sharp and startling in its clarity. The pen slipped from her fingers, rolling across the hide before stopping near the edge of the table. She barely noticed. Her hands had gone still.
The feeling grew, like a warmth rising from deep within her. It was not hers, yet it was inside her all the same, flooding her with a strange lightness. It felt as if someone... someone very close to her, someone she had not seen in far too long, was standing just at her back, whispering without sound.
Her pulse quickened.
Then came something even stranger. It was a ripple of happiness, sudden and unprovoked, blooming inside her chest until she almost laughed aloud from the force of it. But it was not her joy. It belonged to someone else.
Her brows furrowed slightly, her lips parting in confusion. "What is this...?" she murmured under her breath. "Why... Why do I feel like this?"
She pressed a hand against her chest, feeling her heartbeat drum beneath her palm. Why did it feel like someone she loved was calling her?