Loss.

  Pares’ mind was a mire that was drenched in the feeling, and it took a moment for Chimera to acclimate herself and not get drowned in the sensation.

  Likely a last minute thought before she went under.

  This is why I should wait until they are fully out of it. That feeling was almost overwhelming.

  Shaking off the residual feelings of loss, Chimera started combing through the teen’s brain, a loop of memories playing over her eyes like a reel.

  First birthday, nope. Birth of the twins. Nah.

  She pushed through until the memories became more current, the images of two rather tall Elfari with lanky forms making more prominent appearances in the memory reel.

  Got it, now lets find some clues.

  She submerged herself in the memory, feeling the path take her deeper into the images.

  …

  “Dad, we need to do something about the silver deposits Momma found.” Pares said as she tried to catch her father’s attention.

  “Dear, you’re worrying too much about this. That silver’s already been marked and accounted for. It’s as good as ours.” A taller Elfari with deep brown skin and clear blue eyes smiled down at her, his hair covering most of his face despite the grin he was wearing.

  Pares shook her head.

  It’s like I'm speaking to an overly optimistic brick wall.

  “Hun! We need to go. Its an hour to the site, and two hours till we need to pick up the twins!”

  Pares sighed in relief as she witnessed her father finally start to hustle, his gear and mining equipment all accounted for.

  “Duty calls Perry, make sure to keep an eye on Larka and make sure he doesn’t blow up the basement again.”

  Pares felt a twinge when she remembered how her brother found out about blasing powder, and even made some from the samples they kept below the house.

  “Will do, now go already! Mom’s waiting.”

  A quick peck on her forehead and her father left, his grin never leaving as he almost tripped down the stairs.

  …

  Nope, not the one I’m looking for.

  Chimera dove back down into another memory.

  …

  “No sign at all?!” Pares was distraught, her heart beating in worry as the local guardsman nodded to her.

  “Your parents were confirmed to be on the shuttle to the site, but a magnetic storm hit the area nearby. As far as we can tell, no one survived.”

  Pares stared up at the guardsman, her eyes stinging from the tears as she tried to make sense of the situation.

  Her parents would never go near a magnetic storm, especially when they had to come back for Tobo and Mila. To even suggest they were that reckless was foolish.

  “It doesn’t make sense at all, how could no one survive when the shuttle was found undamaged? Weren’t you patrolling the area as well? You had to see someone at the very least!”

  The guard held his head, like something was giving him a headache as he answered back.

  “No survivors, there wasn’t anyone alive at all. Nothing to see.”

  Pares tried to get him to speak more, but the guard walked away, a sway to his steps as he seemed to not register her at all.

  …

  Chimera floated back up from the memory reel.

  That was suspicious as hell. How does someone write off a whole shuttle’s worth of people as a ‘nothing to see here’?

  Taking one last look at the guard’s face, Chimera hopped out of Pares’ mind.

  With a lead to the strange case, she immediately went off after writing a note and leaving it to the young Larka.

  “I’m going to search for your parents. If your sister asks, tell her to find Chimera. My ship’s called the Meras and its docked in the nearby star port on the west side of town.”

  Larka nodded with a determined face, “sounds like you found something yeah?”

  Chimera shook her head, “nothing certain, but I got a good feeling about it. Make sure to let her know when she wakes up, okay?”

  The three kids gave her a thumbs up, “no problem, strange red girl.”

  Chimera chuckled, “it’s Mera. Chimera.”

  After giving them a thumbs up of her own, Chimera ran out into the street with a hand to her head, shifting one of her eyeballs to resemble an avian’s.

  The DNA was from a species on Asta that she found near the port at their hideout, a pelican’s.

  She hopped up and down, gaining momentum as she shot into the air, wings spreading out from her back with a twist of her gifts.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  The gravity affected her first, tugging down on her weak bird wing bones until she could adjust it for the moon.

  Reinforcement took only a minute, but she almost fell out of the sky right after her lift off.

  Got to make sure I account for gravity next time, this place is a little heavier than Asta and Steros.

  A good flap and she was gliding, her eye scanning the ground as she shifted her other eye to a pelican’s.

  She was in the middle of the city, and plumes of smoke from the forges flowed around her, giving off an acrid smell of metals and the like. The vertical view made everything seem like cubes on a grid, each with snaking streets and broad highways for carts, trays and equipment. The red-brown color made it all look a little rusty.

  She located the wall nearest a gate and made her way down towards what she assumed must be a guard station. It was a tower with blackened spires and a flag with the Elfari Empire’s coat of arms atop it.

  If it wasn’t, she was certain it could at least point her in the right direction.

  She landed with a hop, her legs smushing to cushion her fall as she reformed them shortly after.

  That didn’t go unnoticed though, as a pair of guards with red glowing weapons and mean-looking pistols came out of the structure.

  “Halt! In the name of the Empress!” one of them spoke, a brawny Elfari with a thick mustache, one of the first Chimera had ever seen on the species.

  Well, she did see some beards on the crew so that wasn’t entirely true, but this thing was thick enough to be a shoe shiner, with some bristles left to brush teeth.

  She pulled out her identification, the badge of her office as a Imperialis Amicus.

  “Nothing to worry gentlemen, just doing a routine check of your early warning systems. My diagnosis? It needs some work.”

  The mustachioed guard glared at the tag, recognizing the symbol of the Empress on the piece of golden metal.

  “Apologies miss! I’ll be sure to reprimand the newbies once your inspection is completed.” He saluted her with duty and honor stapled to his very back, leaving no room to doubt his form.

  The other guard however, was recognizably lackadaisical, and even more importantly…

  He was the same person that Chimera witnessed inside Pares’ memories.

  “Thank you for your candor guardsman, what's your name? I’ll need them for the report.”

  The Elfari gentle-stache saluted again, “Corporal Ferris Stonesworth, Archduchess. I’m in charge of posting, training, and managing the walls and checkpoints here.”

  The other guard, seemingly unaware of where he was, saluted shortly after, causing Corporal Ferris to glare at him.

  “Private Second Class Temir Loagah. Umm… what are you again?”

  “Private! How dare you not recognize the symbol! That is a gold-plate, issued by the office of the Miltarum Arboretum! Only the Empress is allowed to hand those out you daft fool!”

  The Corporal quickly recovered after screaming at the Private.

  “Apologies Archduchess, my associate was just under review and has only recently awakened to begin his assessment. It falls to me to fix his behavior.”

  Chimera smirked, “no need to worry Corporal. In fact, I needs have some words with this Private Loagah on a certain manner.” Chimera walked towards the guard’s post as she motioned for the two men to follow her.

  Once they made they’re way inside, Chimera immediately closed the door behind them, and with a twist of her terramancy, sealed the doors, windows and building shut from the outside.

  “Corporal, I’ll need your understanding regarding this. Someone has infiltrated your organization.”

  Chimera watched both of them for any reactions at her announcement.

  The Corporal was shocked at first, but Chimera could tell it wasn’t something based in deception, but rather true shock that someone could be betraying them.

  Private Loagah however did not respond how she thought he would.

  His eyes clouded over, his face went slack, and with a speed that Chimera barely registered, he bolted for the door as quickly as his legs could go.

  Chimera was glad she fused the door down before she tried to fish out who was a traitor. She wasn’t even sure that the Private was at first.

  She only had a feeling, one she felt before and one that still made her feel annoyed and wary.

  The Private tried desperately to open the door, scraping his finger nails and even beating his head against the frame to break free. Once that failed, he tried for the windows and ran into the same issue.

  “Private Loagah, what the hell is wrong with you?!” Corporal Ferris screamed as he tried to pull the younger guard from the window.

  Chimera watched as Loagah turned around and tried to reach a knife on the table, all while fighting off the Corporal with a frenzy that bordered on frantic.

  “Nope, not letting that happen.” Chimera spoke as she took one of her tendrils and stabbed it into the spine of the young guard, injecting him with sleeping agents and a numbing solution.

  The guard lost all control and fell to the floor, his eyes still clouded and his face trying harder and harder to bludgeon his own self.

  “Corporal, hold his head steady, I need to check on something.”

  “Yes, archduchess… may I ask?” He stared up at her as he grabbed both sides of the private’s skull.

  “No answers yet, but…” Chimera peered down at the Private’s face.

  A tendril touched the side of his head, and all at once Chimera felt a cocktail of pheromones hit her all at once.

  Pleasure, Obedience, Submission.

  It was a mantra playing back in his head over and over, with the occasional stipet of ‘Run, and ‘Do not get caught’ and ‘End it to keep it safe!’

  Chimera grinded her teeth.

  “He’s been brainwashed, doped up on some powerful chemical agents and something I can recognize. It’s a pheromone, one that is…”

  She stopped herself before she finished, because the person in the room might take it the wrong way.

  It's the same… the same kind of strange arousal and subserviance, the same pheromone.

  Chimera thought back to the day she and her crew were about to leave Steros, when the Empress arrived to give a final farewell.

  The same smell that emanated from her, the one that almost had her throttled by the High General when she commented on it.

  Someone’s using the royal family’s bloodline for some sick brain fuckery.

  …

  Deep in a mineshaft.

  Pepa huddled on the ground as the chains connecting her legs and feet slid against her raw flesh, the pain causing her to yelp.

  It had been a week since she found herself here, her memories telling her that she crashed and landed somewhere near her mining site.

  It wasn’t a crash though, she knew this.

  The people around her though couldn’t remember, couldnt even think for long before prostrating themselves before the scalekin in robes that would come by.

  She was part of the Verdant Hood, an enemy of the Empire, this much Pepa knew.

  It was getting hard to remember, but when they took her husband Oras away, her hate for them kept the memory from fading.

  It was in the food, she realized. The food that they were given by the other scalekin, it was laced with that strange smell that made her want to forget and obey.

  She wouldn’t though, she needed to stay herself, stay sane.

  Pares, Tobo, Larka, Mila, Oras.

  She was Pepa, they were her family, and she would survive.

  Goddess, keep my mind safe from the whispers, please!

  …