Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 125: The Dominators

The new Zhix seemed to have once been dressed somewhat in the same manner as the advisors to the side of the so-called holiness. However, the robe was singed and damaged all over, making it look like the Zhix had walked through a fire or an explosion. It also had a huge back-pack on its back, which jumped up and down with every hurried step it took.

“Your holiness,” the new Zhix panted with a bow as it reached the leader.

The large Zhix leader only nodded and turned back to Zac.

“You have come to our hive, told a fantastical tale. But you still are leaving us wondering. What brought you to our doorsteps?” it said, cutting straight to the chase.

“No offense, but your kind is known to be insanely aggressive, and a danger to anyone who is placed close to your hives,” Zac said.

It was with some mixed emotions he saw that the Zhix in no way took it as an insult, but rather a point of pride.

“I am the leader of my town, and I have citizens to take care of. I needed to find out whether you are a threat or if you could become allies,” he said, hiding nothing.

“And if you deem us a threat?” it lightly continued.

“It is not my style to leave trouble in my own backyard,” Zac said, unflinchingly staring at the Zhix leader.

Suddenly the ground cracked under the feet of the large Zhix as it exploded into motion. It blasted toward Zac, almost matching the speed of himself when using [Loamwalker]. Zac was shocked, but battle was hardwired into his body by this point, and he summoned his axe and swung out. It clashed against an elaborate dagger that was aimed straight toward his throat, and the power in the strike shocked Zac.

From his estimation the Zhix leader had almost as much strength as he did, and they were both pushed away from the strike, the collision creating a shockwave that ruined a large area of the plateau. Even one of the huge statues was impacted and showed some spider-vein cracks, much to the dismay of the advisors.

Zac growled and got ready to fight as he summoned [Chop] and created a huge edge. However, the leader jumped back as swiftly as it attacked, once again standing by the advisors. Zac relaxed a bit, but didn’t unsummon his weapon.

“You talk about genocide, but you have power to back up your words. If we die it will be weakness that gets removed from the swarm, and it will be just,” it said.

Zac was confused, but could only assume that it did not mean to actually fight him to death. Still, he wouldn’t let things rest like that, as he launched the edge as a projectile straight at the leader. The guards immediately moved to intercept, but the leader pushed past them, grasping two daggers this time.

It intercepted the edge by using both its arms but was pushed backward from the force, slamming a few of the guardian Zhix out of the way like bowling pins. It was only after twenty meters it stopped. However, it did manage to successfully block the strike without getting hurt, surprising Zac even further.

“Attacks on humanity will be avenged. Sometimes it will be immediate, sometimes it will take years. But it is coming,” Zac said as he stared at the bleeding insectoids that were crawling back to their feet after being crashed into by their leader.

“A good creed to have,” the Zhix simply said, seemingly not taking any offense.

“You reek of corruption. But then again, so do I by this point. We will not attack your people unless they provoke the Zhix or our precepts. The Zhix are not used to cooperation with outsiders of the hive, but we must adapt to the situation,” it continued.

“To that end… Ibtep,” it said as it turned to the Zhix with the backpack.

“I’d like for you to bring my advisor with you to your hive and return them at a later point. Ibtep can answer questions about our customs and learn of yours. Ibtep will be responsible for the cooperation between our hives, as I rarely leave my shrine,” the leader said as odd Zhix stepped forward.

“That is fine. I’m sure we can come to an understanding. What the Zhix do is their own business, we only ask that you do not dig underground toward our island that’s in that direction,” Zac said as he pointed southwest. “If you do we will consider it as a direct attack. And we will retaliate with everything we have.”

The leader looked at Zac for a bit, the silence stretching to the point that Zac believed another surprise attack was incoming. However, it simply nodded after a while as it started moving toward the gate.

“Very well, we accept this premise. Ibtep will take it from here,” it said as it started moving away, accompanied by its advisors and guards.

“Hello, strange being. We are hungry,” Ibtep said with a bow.

Zac stared blankly at the advisor for a few seconds, unsure whether [Book of Babel] was on the fritz.

“Uhm.. Come again?” Zac hesitantly said.

“We are hungry. Your kind eat for sustenance too, no doubt?” it said, pointing to its mouth.

“Uh… yeah. Do you mean you need food?”

“Yes, we are very hungry,” it solemnly said with a nod.

“Well, what do you eat?”

“Anything that once lived except Zhix,” he quickly answered.

Zac could only hope that the list would be amended to also exclude humans, but for now he simply threw out a bunch of huge beast carcasses from his pouch. During the week of travel with his new squad of soldiers he’d stuffed multiple bags full of meat just in case he’d ever need it. The plateau suddenly filled with everything from boars, to huge snakes, to great birds.

“Do all of your kind possess the power to create food out of nothing?” Ibtep eagerly asked, and even the leader who was starting to move back to the entrance into the mountain stopped and looked back at Zac.

“No, these were beasts my soldiers killed before, I simply store them in a magical bag that has increased room and preserve the food,” he explained as he showed a Cosmos Bag to him.

“Very convenient,” Ibtep said with a nod. “I want a pouch.”

Zac had some trouble getting used to the directness of this Zhix, but he couldn’t just keep giving things away.

“They are a bit rare, you can buy one from me for a Million Nexus Coins,” he said.

Ibtep froze for a few seconds before he rushed back toward the army who still stood in place. After some subdued chattering warriors came up to him one after another until Ibtep returned. A prompt appeared and Zac received a million Nexus Coins from the insectoid, and he quickly handed over one of his spare pouches.

“How do I use it?” it curiously asked.

“Drip a drop of blood on it. That will bind it to you. After that you only infuse some cosmic energy in it,” Zac explained.

It quickly followed Zac’s instructions, and in short order it was putting his backpack into the pouch and retrieving it again, over and over.

“I am done. Let us go,” it said after playing around for a bit, and Zac nodded.

“What about all the meat?” Zac asked just in case.

“It will be taken care of. Your donation was very generous,” it simply said as it started walking away.

Zac and Ibtep walked back the same path as he entered the island, following the mountain road down to the jungle. Zac was quite curious about the Zhix, and thought a compliment would get the insectoid talking.

“Your leader was quite powerful.”

“Administering last rites makes the holiness very strong since what you called the integration happened,” the Zhix answered.

“Administering rites? What does that mean?” Zac asked confused.

The Zhix called the large one “your holiness”, so he guessed their society was some sort of theocracy led by priests.

“The holiness cuts out weakness from the hive by administering last rites. To die by the holiness instead of from starvation or age is a great reward,” Ibtep explained.

“Wait, the holiness kills its own people?” Zac asked surprised.

“Our hive faced starvation. Many of our gardens and farms collapsed or disappeared suddenly, leaving us with too little food. We dug to find sustenance, but the stone was unusually hard, making progress slow. We even ate everything above ground, but it didn’t last us long,”

“Dying from lack of food is a great injustice, and the holiness administered last rites, giving the citizens a warrior’s death,” Ibtep explained. “Many tried to stop the rites since every ceremony forced an infusion of more chaos into the Holiness. But the Holiness kept going, ignoring the damage it caused itself.”

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“Your holiness, is this truly wise? That thing might be tricking us? Besides, he contains a terrifying amount of corruption, or Cosmic Energy as he calls it. He can be a great threat to the hive,” Mammaki hesitantly said as they stood in front of the throne.

“We all knew that it was unlikely that the Dominators were the cause of our current situation. If they were powerful enough to rearrange the whole world we would have been enslaved again long ago. It was just a convenient enemy to keep unity during troubling times. The Zealots might buy it, but you are no fools. Besides, I believe it has no real reason to lie to us,” Nonet said as it showed its congregants its hands.

They had multiple broken fingers and were shaking, and the advisors were extremely shocked by the sight.

“That is-“

“Sacrilege!” multiple shouts erupted at once, but order was quickly restored by a wave of Nonet.

“It is just weakness leaving the body. I will be reborn stronger. But that so-called human had no reason to lie, since I sensed it was not blustering when it said it would eradicate the hive. The powerful have no real reason to lie to the weak. He could just destroy or enslave us if he wished,” Nonet continued. “Just the fact that he didn’t proves he’s not a Dominator.”

“Immediately stop all digging toward the human’s island, refocus efforts on creating new farmland,” it said next after some deliberation.

“Are you sure? We are almost half-way there,” an advisor asked.

“For now. We built the tunnels to have a chance at a final assault at what might have been a Dominator stronghold, but it looks like that was not the case. But reinforce the tunnels, we might need them in the future,” Nonet said.

“I think we will need to work with these foreign life-forms. The Dominators was a huge threat before the world changed. One of their warlocks took hundreds, often thousands of sacrifices to kill. Imagine their power now when the very air is full of corruption, and every death is an infusion of chaos,” the large Zhix said with a somber expression. “I wish that it was all just speculation, but you have seen the signs as well. The Dominators are back.”

A troubling silence was the only answer as the advisors fearfully looked at each other.