The hivemind is conquering for me?

I smiled and brushed past the shocked man and arrived at the fire pit. ”I do speak your language. Is that a problem?”

The group suddenly looked amongst one another in silence before they all cheered.

One of the men then walked up to me and slapped me on the back with surprising strength for a non-Psionic human.

”It is rare for a Star Shaman to know of us, never mind our language. This is to be celebrated! Shaman, drink this, I smuggled it here. I would be honoured to share a drink with you.”

The man then passed a gourd of all things into my hand and removed the cap revealing a horrifically pungent beverage.

I coughed at the stench, prompting another wave of laughs before an onlooker stated,

”It reeks of shit, Shaman, but it tastes like a woman’s warmth. Trust.”

Curious by what the man meant by that. I gave the drink a look inside before shrugging my shoulders and thinking ’fuck it.’

I leant my head back and took a swig, the moment the liquid hit my tongue, it was like the foul scent disappeared and what replaced it was a tangy fruity flavour with a mild metallic aftertaste.

”Mmmh, not bad.Unique for sure.” I admitted and the man who gave it to me slapped me on the back a few more times as he addressed the group.

”Ha! Not even a flinch. This Shaman is alright, isn’t he?”

The group then let out a cheer before one of the women in the group dropped the left side of her bra and purred at me. ”Shaman, come join us, we insist. You do us great honour by speaking our language with the grace of a river. It is natural we reward this honour.

Looking at the tattooed woman, I suddenly had the thought that with my new little power and its benefits, it would be rude of me not to participate in their customs. I was very curious after all.

Before I could reply, I was encouraged to sit down at the fire at which point two of the women suddenly took a seat on either side of me and were very bold with their hands, though were respectable enough not to cross any lewd boundaries.

I took a look at the men, from what I heard as I approached, there seemed to be some flirting and boasting going on, but everyone appeared as cool as a cucumber.

”So Shaman. Have you been to the great jungles before? What tribe do you back? Worry not, there is no conflict amongst the tribes when we wage war for the star warriors.”

I closed my eyes for a moment remembering my brief encounter with Fabbarinth through my communication with Kathrine.’ There was a tattooed woman with those unique glowing green eyes named... Gavara! Ha! Yes! That would have driven me mental... She was from the...’

Turning my attention back to the group I smiled at them all and leant backwards, a partial mistake as the two women took it as an opportunity to lean upon me further, but it was their custom so I just allowed it...

”I actually haven’t been to Fabbarinth before, I have only heard about it through one of my women, Kathrine. I know of a queen of the Jungle spears, Gavara. She spoke to me a little, but I don’t know much else except that your world hosts some of the best warriors in the empire.”

My words got a few hoots and hollers while one of the men suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

”Queen Gavara? Shaman, did you just say you spoke with my queen?”

Turning to the man I nodded my head. ”Yes, through a communicator. She had glowing green eyes, correct?”

The man then gulped before asking the next question. ”Shaman... Your name isn’t Apollo by any chance is it?”

My sudden shock of surprise was enough to answer the man’s question before he suddenly stood up and shouted at the top of his lungs. ”Praise the Stars! I fight tomorrow on the field of battle with my future king! What a glorious day! If I die tomorrow my blood will be spilt for true royalty! This is an honour beyond imagining! No wonder you know our language, my King. You are preparing to become our ruler.”

”...”

”...”

”...”

”Come again?”

...

Two Hours Later:

”What is wrong with you two? You look like addicts going through withdrawal.” Polymede declared watching her two sisters.

Nerissa was chewing her nail softly looking over in the direction of the Spartari camp while Rhapso was rocking back and forth, clutching her knees.

”You don’t understand.” Nerissa started. ”Apollo is up to something. I can feel it in my Psionics...”

”It’s horrible. I need to know what is going on, I can’t stand it.” Rhapso followed up as she began to shake her head.

”Is he really that interesting?” Marnes asked his brother.

”Well, he seemed like a chill guy, can take a joke and dole them out, but I don’t know what makes them act like that.”

”Knock it off, you two. You are freaking me out.” Polymede spoke loudly, knocking Phoebe who was in cuteness overload out of her trance.

Un-sprawling herself from the Sapphire bed she lay on, she walked over to the others and took survey of the current predicament.

”Hmm... I suppose it makes sense.”

Polymede turned to Phoebe and inquired, ”What makes sense?”

”Well back when Nerissa first left, she found something interesting about Apollo even then. But now, the two of them have spent months with the human. When is the last time any of us have spent more than a day in a row with one? Royalty not included.”

The three Nymphs not undergoing withdrawals shrugged their shoulders. Centuries at the least.

”These two have developed a bond with a human the same way we have our bond. Only the main difference is with Apollo being human and so prone to change at any moment. It’s like the bond gets new and exciting data every moment, spurring them with the desire to know what is going on.”

”Really? That seems hard to believe.” Marnes stated.

”The latter part he means, I can understand the bond of brotherhood forming. Apollo, as just stated, is pretty chill. I doubt it would be hard.” Aeteos followed up.

Phoebe nodded her head. ”Think about it. We have had hundreds of thousands of years to learn each other’s intricacies. Our little things. We have reached a point of stable harmony. Apollo is a cluster of new. Those two want the new having been with it so long. I don’t really blame them either. I too find Apollo quite interesting.”

Phoebe then turned to Nerissa and Rhapso and spoke calmly. ”Sisters. I appreciate you staying as long as you have, but go sate your intrigue. It is ok.”

The two Nymphs suddenly stopped their restless movements and turned to Phoebe like nothing was wrong.

The two then looked like they wanted to say something, but they simply put their armour back on and ran off.

”Should we follow them? Their behaviour still has me worried.” Polymede asked, but got no reply from Phoebe. Turning around, Phoebe had already returned to the Sapphire bed and lay still with her eyes closed and a smile on her face.

Polymede took in everything that occurred and couldn’t help thinking to herself.

’Something weird is going on here...’

...

Rhapso and Nerissa calmly and not at all in a rush began making their way back to the main camp. Immediately they rushed to Apollo’s tent. All that was in there was a big Pyresnake having a nice sleep on his bed.

The two Praetorians looked at each other.

They Knew it!

Their minds began to race at what he could be doing and where he went.

They began checking the allies. Seeing if he was with them, all while maintaining a casual facade to make sure everyone knew they weren’t dying to figure out what he was up to. No one was able to tell...

With no luck finding him through the easy channels, there was only one solution...

After successfully stealing Sapphire back from an enraged Phoebe, the duo followed Sapphire’s smaller form as she lazily walked through the large camp.

Apollo had gone on quite a trek as they followed the huffing and yawning cat for quite a while. They suddenly knew they were close when Sapphire suddenly poofed from in front of them, returning to his Mindspace. That meant that their tech could now pick up on his natural Psionic signature however, and true enough he was just around the corner, a few tents away after checking.

The duo looked at each other, silently asking the same question. ’What was he doing here?’

They approached and could hear a foreign language. Fabbarinthian. This surprised them. Both knew of the language and the customs of said planet, but never bothered learning the language themselves.

As they approached they soon got their answer of why Apollo was here. He was sitting upon an improvised chair, his body being painted with intricate runes and patterns by two practically naked women while fluently speaking their tongue, laughing as he conversed.

The two Praetorians just stood there in shock for a moment before he recognised them and as though he flipped a switch, changed the way he was speaking and yelled out,

”Oh, hey guys! How was your rendezvous?”