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The leader of the New Empire didn’t care for the snivelling wet blanket at their feet, too preoccupied with looking into the information that had been gained. It was dangerous to be so disinterested in what was around them, but with the power they held currently there was no one stupid enough to attempt a murder.
“Please, please I-I have family, I-”
“Agonizer.”
The informant was dragged out wailing and Adira barely spared him a glance. What a nuisance. At least the information was interesting. It reported a planet that held a network of roots spreading almost completely through the planet’s surface and a native animal that had the power to hypnotise its prey. The people had been noted to be empaths which reminded Adira of one of the Old Empire worlds that had been left barren centuries ago, although the people remained in hiding on a moon somewhere. They didn’t bother with the details for such a small and weak species.
Kasha whispered that they used to be strong. Adira silenced her with the threat of erasure.
Being the head honcho hadn’t been a smooth ride for Adira. The beginnings of the New Empire had been rocky in the aftermath of the Burn, especially as every species wanted all the dilithium for themselves. As Adira had been looking at ways to gather more dilithium, they had looked at how it used to be found. Then they had found out about the Terran Empire and oh, if that didn’t sound appealing. The methods were exceedingly outdated, but that could easily be fixed with a bit of work. They weren’t opposed to that, it gave them something to do that would finally challenge them.
Then came the rumours of an Orion with the nerve to try and be the boss of everyone. What kind of name was ‘The Emerald Chain’ anyway? It didn’t strike Adira as particularly frightening. The Breen were also getting themselves back together, but it had fractured into different factions now that their Emperor was dead – they’d fall apart soon enough.
The Trill home world had been an interesting experience for them. To see a species that could carry memories across generations…it was almost intoxicating when they realised the possibility of being forever remembered in history through the memory of this worm-like creature. They had to get close enough to someone to do that.
Gray was the perfect target. Young and naïve, he didn’t know anything of the things Adira had learned about the Old Empire and he shone with the brightness of being himself. God, other species made Adira feel sick. Didn’t he know there was a crisis event happening? Everyone could be dead tomorrow! Still, they got closer to him, feigned affection, learnt the ways of the Trill through what he was allowed to tell them, and reassured him that nothing would change when he joined with Tal. Then, they slowly plotted their next move. Guardian Xi was the one that was in the way the most but catching him alone wasn’t difficult. They inquired about learning more in the interest of curiosity and preservation, and Xi paid the price of his careful acceptance with an unexpected flying lesson at a location Adira had scouted out beforehand.
They were careful to not take out too many of the guardians because then they’d all get scared and never leave the pools alone – not that they did anyway, but there was always a spot that no one had sight of. Instead, Adira spaced it out over months and cut out just enough that they could slip down to the pools unnoticed. The symbionts were agitated by the deaths of their guardians, of course, but they saw Adira as an ally because of their connection to Gray and let them get close. How pitiful. It took just one symbiont being slowly tortured and discarded for the rest to fall in line. It was so easy that it was almost laughable and yet Adira wasn’t fully satisfied that the worms knew who was in charge. Next move.
Getting Gray alone with them was as easy as breathing. In a secluded section of the Mak’ala Caves, sitting by the pools so that the symbionts could witness everything, Adira and Gray talked.
“So why did you want me here?”
“W-Well, the guardians have been disappearing…how do you feel? Are you ok?” The tremble of supposed nerves grated in Adira’s ears, but this had to be believable.
“I’m ok, promise. Are you?” he returned the question with a concerned look that was so soft Adira had to restrain themself from recoiling at it. Gray’s hand on their arm burned through their sleeve. They attempted a smile.
“Y-Yeah. I just…I don’t want you to be next, that’s all…”
“I’m safe here, Tal has a lot of knowledge about this. Four hosts were in some form of military, y’know,” he chuckled with an easy smile that Adira almost envied.
“Oh?” This could be bad. “What does Tal know?”
Gray waved a hand dismissively, “It’s not important right now, you are.”
“Me?” Adira was actually surprised.
“Yeah. You’re worried about me, aren’t you?” Ah. No, they weren’t, but Gray didn’t need to know yet. “I’m not, I’ve got you to keep me safe.”
Adira ducked their head in faux embarrassment, “I-I’m not the brave type, I don’t even know how to- to fight people in my head!” Gray’s laugh was like the tinkling sound of broken glass hitting tile.
“We have all the time in the world to practice,” he murmured, gently resting his forehead against Adira’s.
Perfect.
There was a glint that caught Gray’s eyes before he felt the punch of a knife splitting his skin and wedging itself deep into his intestines. Shock, horror, betrayal, pain – each feeling fought for dominance on his face as he looked at Adira. In their gaze he saw nothing but cold detachment, their expression one of boredom.
“You’re optimistic, since there’s no chance you’re leaving this cave alive.” It felt good to not have to hide their disdain for this boy anymore. They twisted the knife and grinned at the choked gasp it produced. They could get used to this.
“Tal-”
“Don’t worry about that, I made sure not to stab it. I’m gonna need Tal.”
“No!” Adira yanked the knife across Gray’s abdomen to shut him up. His blood was nice and warm over their hand.
“Don’t argue, I don’t want to hear your voice any more than I already have to.”
“What?” Gray’s already tearful gaze spilled over, pain and heartbreak and panic all entwined. Adira sneered at it, cruelly twisting the knife deeper and relishing in the squelch of insides spilling out. The coolness of the caves had given way to the heat of Gray’s slow death, but before that Adira pulled Tal from him.
The scream of both host and symbiont echoed into hollowness.
Adira raised Tal so that the pool symbionts could see it. They had to be quick.
“I’ll do the same to this one as I did to the last. Tell it to join with me.”
Gray could only watch, helpless and fading, feeling the impulses that the symbionts used to communicate – Tal was scared now too.
“I loved you…” he breathed, his gaze on Adira and their grim smirk, the darkness that lay in once kind eyes, and on Tal as the symbiont squirmed in Adira’s bloodied hands – his blood, Gray distantly realised. Adira glanced down and let out a harsh laugh.
“Love is worthless in this world, Gray. It makes you soft and pathetic. I could never love you.”
The ice cold glare of utter disgust was the last thing Gray saw, his vision fading out to black and his body going fully limp. Blood had pooled underneath him the moment Tal was removed, starting to slow now that it wasn’t being pumped through a broken body anymore.
Adira had to grit their teeth as they sliced open their own abdomen, pressing Tal to the opening. It didn’t move at first.
“You don’t want to disappoint your friends, do you?” panted Adira through the tendrils of pain that sharpened their nerves, “You know they weren’t lying.”
Tal wriggled inside and latched on. Adira’s mind exploded with memories, but it was too much too fast and they felt their consciousness slipping. They scrambled closer to Gray, a plan already forming, and they whispered their final threat to the pool worms.
“Not a word.”
That final plan worked out. When Adira awoke, they were at first very disoriented, confused, unsure of where they were, but things slowly fell into place when the remaining guardians explained that they’d found Adira holding onto Gray.
Adira said that they had tried to protect him from the killer.
Adira cried over Gray’s death.
Adira had to take Tal to keep it safe, knowing that the trauma of a forced unjoining could be fatal if not rejoined quickly.
The guardians helped Adira to access their previous memories and those of the previous hosts. While there, in the circle, Adira made it well known that their intention was to utilise each host’s abilities and ideas in a way that benefitted everyone. Senna made an argument against that, but a look of scorn from Adira reminded each host why Tal had been forced to join with this human.
“Don’t call me human,” they snarled, the hosts flinching. Gray’s form flickered at the edges, too crushed by the betrayal and trauma to even appear properly. “I’m not human anymore.”
“I am Terran.”