There are some exceptions to this, such as insects that already created their own nests. But most use buildings from the old world.
This can be a good thing. It makes the location of nests somewhat predictable, at least in urban areas.
The danger of it comes with perception. Just because hedron start with a pre-existing structure, that doesn’t mean the nest will be contained within it.
Many lancers have died because they believed a nest was only as large as the building it was made from.
—Virgil Clay, Lecture
Daniel wasn’t particularly prepared to actually enter the building, and Violet could see it all over his face. Still, the three women were going in, and he would be left defenseless if he waited outside. Aside from that, his dowsing talent would help them find the heart far more quickly. They hadn’t come to chart or secure the nest, after all. They needed to get directly to its heart and tear it out. Still, as they approached the building, Violet was amused at his failure to suppress his trembling. That was probably not a healthy response to have to his fear. Since Violet was still promising herself that she cared if it was healthy or not, she decided to shift her focus.
As she got closer, she took another look at the openings the bat hedron used to come and go. While the base of the nest was covered with crystal, the top had a number of large openings like the mouths of caves. They were imposing to behold, but encouraging, in a way. A small indicator that yes, this was the nest full of bats. Bats that had already been killed. If they were extraordinarily lucky, they would be able to walk in, follow the dowsing talent, and leave with the heart without needing to fight again. It would be a waste for Violet, who wouldn’t be able to test the limits of her strange influence over the monsters, but it would make things less stressful overall.
"So, how the fuck do we get inside?” Kiera asked, her tail flicking in irritation and her arms crossed.
“Well, I could probably make something to pry a door open. If you guys don’t mind keeping an eye out for me?” Violet offered. Aubrey said nothing, and Daniel flinched as she spoke. Violet responded with an awkward chuckle. “I uh, don’t bite, Daniel. Pinky promise!” She actually presented a pinky to shake, but he looked away. Kiera’s fox ears flattened to a line.
“You have an interesting effect on people, don’t you, Violet?” she asked. “Daniel, since when have you been so meek?” Violet tilted her head. She’d forgotten Kiera had known both of the others for a lot longer. If she was to be believed, that made two people behaving outside their norm after meeting her.
“I don’t mean to! What are they usually like?” Violet asked. Kiera shrugged.
“Well, Aubrey does have a temper, but she’s actually very—” Kiera started before Aubrey cut her off.
“I’m sorry, but can we just get this done?” Aubrey asked. Kiera drew her lips to a line before finishing her sentence.
“Friendly,” she finished. Violet curled her lips into her mouth to suppress a laugh.
“Sorry! And absolutely! Who here has the highest strength attribute? I have a… strong feeling it isn’t me,” she chuckled, even as she created a large crystal crowbar. A believable tool for a scout for this very reason, and an excellent tool for a particularly scrappy Reaper. She looked around the group as no one offered to take it off her hands. She made eye contact with each in turn, starting with Daniel. He jolted as she offered it, shaking his head and waving his hands in denial.
“Your strength is higher than mine!” he insisted. Violet raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, shifting her focus to Aubrey. She maintained a cheerful smile to communicate that it was an offer more than a command. Aubrey took a deep breath. Violet could see that the girl was making a focused effort to remain in the moment, with her mind on the nest and not on Stephanie’s bleeding ears.
“Forty-eight,” she answered. So, it was one of her mid-lower attributes. Violet took note of that, just in case. It was actually a few points higher than Violet’s, which had the potential to make a difference if they ever fought. At least, it had been before Violet killed Stephanie. She hadn’t had a chance to check her attributes, and she was certain her degree had changed.
“Oh, shit, I guess that makes me the strongest?” Kiera realized. “That’s fucked, actually. Well, alright, give me the pretty crowbar, I guess.” Violet happily handed it over, an amused glint in her eye as she did so. They made their way to the nearest door, and Kiera approached first. She leaned forward to inspect the crack in the crystal, naturally formed where the double doors met.
“Will it be enough?” Violet asked. She couldn’t see Kiera’s face, but her crystal tail was standing up, which seemed encouraging. She wasn’t sure. She didn’t know the girl that well; she wasn’t all that familiar with how foxes expressed emotion, and she had no idea if that would even translate to the kitsune calling if she did.
“Yeah, actually! Looks like the door was slightly open when the crystallization happened. I wasn’t sure I could wedge a crowbar in if it had. The crystal does seem to have closed the gap, but it’s a paler red than your talent, Vi. I think I can smash through it and pry it open. Give me a minute,” Kiera answered.
“Oh, yay! Glad my talent is helping!” Violet answered cheerfully. “Do you need any help? I might have low strength, but it’ll still be added to yours.”
“Nah, I got this. Just use those sharp eyes of yours to warn me if any hedron come running. I hear they do that sometimes when you break into their house,” Kiera answered.
“Yeah, I’ve noticed that, myself,” Violet chuckled. Daniel stared at them like they were insane, and Aubrey simply watched the horizon. Kiera had little left to say, and began hammering the base of the crowbar into the crystal gap.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“Are you two having fun right now?” Daniel asked incredulously. Violet shook her head as the sound of cracking crystal rang through the mist.
“Can you try to keep it down?” Aubrey hissed.
“Sorry,” Kiera called back. “I’ll try to break through the magic mist crystal with a crowbar, but quietly, I promise.” This was punctuated with another loud crack and a sigh from Aubrey. Violet focused on answering Daniel’s question. She was focused on him for a number of reasons.
“We’re not having fun, we’re just… not not having fun, if that makes sense. I don’t know much about Kiera. I’m sure you know more than I do, actually. But I’ve sort of gotten used to chuckling in the face of danger. When you can’t control the situation you’re in, you can at least control your mind. Your attitude. Making yourself laugh is taking a little control back. That’s all it is. We are taking control, so we have it when we need it,” Violet explained. Daniel gave her a long look, eyes rapidly moving back and forth between her own. He didn’t answer right away, the sound of Kiera pressing on the crowbar filling the quiet air.
He looked like he had an answer. Violet could see it resting on his face like bubbles on water. But he bit his tongue. Her words had settled on him, but there was a shade of disbelief around him. It wasn’t pervasive. The words themselves didn’t seem to bother him. But still, he didn’t entirely seem to believe them. She didn’t like that. She usually enjoyed it when she was able to silence someone so easily. But there was a dangerous edge to this silence. Perhaps because she didn’t know its source. Or perhaps because she did.
She was nearly certain he’d been the one to interrupt Stephanie’s murder. He had to be. He’d barely noticed her before then. She’d believed she’d made it out unnoticed, but there were enough clues to connect it to her. That, combined with his mysterious calling… she didn’t like it. Daniel was dangerous.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud cracking, followed by the sound of crystal slamming against crystal. As everyone looked toward Kiera, they saw an open door and a confident fox girl twirling a large crowbar in one hand and leaning against the wall. “Door is open! You may all praise me now!” she announced. It looked impressive—until she fumbled the tool and hit herself in the side of the head.
The group was silent for a moment as the crowbar fell to the dirt. Everyone stared at the young kitsune as her face shifted to a color not far from her tail or ears. Violet was the first to start laughing, her voice soft but heavy. Aubrey coughed out a poorly-disguised laugh a moment later, the first cheer she’d hinted at since finding Stephanie’s body. It was contained quickly, but it couldn’t be mistaken, and even Daniel cracked a small smile. Kiera sighed as she rubbed the side of her head.
“Yeah, alright. Fair enough,” Kiera agreed with a smile. “I did get us in, though. Just saying.”
“And you did an excellent job of it,” Violet agreed. “I’d offer a pat on the head, but I don’t want to hurt your bruise.”
“Oh, hush,” Kiera complained, but her pout had a grin behind it, just at the corners of her mouth.
Finally, the group gathered around Kiera, holding a collective breath as they stood at the entrance of the red nest. “Shit,” Aubrey whispered as she looked inside. Violet caught up a moment later and poked her head over Kiera’s shoulder. She immediately saw the issue.
The nest looked large from the outside. An industrial warehouse, entirely coated in crystal. That alone would have been a pain to navigate, but the view inside was worse. There were a few feet of solid ground, as far as she could tell. But past that… the cement floor opened up. Layers of crystal led deep into the earth. It was far enough down that the mist grew too thick for even Violet's perception to see through. They could’ve tried climbing down, but there was no way to tell how long they would’ve had to descend to reach the bottom. It wasn’t set up to be traversed without wings, in any case. Attempting to fully explore this nest would’ve been incredibly dangerous, even if not a single hedron remained inside.
“How the hell are we going to explore this shit fast enough?” Aubrey lamented.
“How much rope do we have? We brought some, right? I mean, we hardly have a fucking choice,” Kiera replied.
“Hey, Daniel, where does your ‘Dowsing’ talent say the heart is?” Violet asked. Daniel jumped, then his eyes started to flick back and forth. Violet figured his talent must actually show him something only he could see. A moment later, he sighed in relief and looked up.
“At the top of the building somewhere, I think. We won’t have to descend,” he answered quickly. Violet smirked at Kiera.
“Told you, it’s the profanity. Resource of a small mind,” Violet winked. Kiera rolled her eyes as Aubrey sighed in relief. Both of them had panicked the moment they’d seen how expansive the nest truly was. For the number of hedron that had come from it, that only made sense. It remained amusing that Violet had been the only one to consider checking where the heart was before planning a long and grueling descent into its depths.
“Shouldn’t the heart of the nest be… at the heart of it? Like, the center, or the end?” Kiera complained, trying to justify her rush to panic.
“Sure,” Violet agreed. “In, like, a video game, or if the nest has a sapient designer with an interest in protecting it. But I have no idea how naturally-forming nests form hearts. No reason to believe it’ll be in the hardest place to reach, as far as I know. It’s not actually alive, after all. I’m sure there is some logic to it, but I haven’t learned what yet. Been having trouble with the commute to school lately.” Kiera scoffed at the joke, but sighed in defeat.
“Fair enough, I guess. Let’s go get this train battery, then, and get out of this creepy place,” Kiera said.
“How?” Aubrey asked. “The middle of the building is just… missing. We still need to figure out how to reach the top.” Violet pushed past both girls and took a cautious step inside. The ground was sturdy and safe, actually reinforced by the crystal covering it. Had it been smooth, it might have been a bit slippery, but its rough surface would mostly just be hard on her arches. She wouldn’t want to walk around barefoot, but aside from that, it seemed fine. She looked both left and right, then smiled.
“I guess they don’t have any big warehouses back home for you? Roseville had a couple left over from the old world, and we use them for storage. The perimeter of the building is sturdy, and, well. In a building like this, that’s where they keep the stairs. Pretty sure we’ll be able to just walk up to the top,” Violet laughed. Aubrey followed her in and looked where she was now pointing. There was a sign next to a door a dozen yards away that clearly identified a stairwell.
Aubrey gave Violet an appraising look. She had a few thoughts flash across her face before she finally decided on what to say. “I’d like to take the lead, on the way up,” she said. “Please let me know if anything approaches us from outside my perception.” Violet held a thumbs-up next to her head and a wide grin.
“Absolutely! You can count on me!” Violet promised.
“I’ll take the back and cover us with an illusion, as best I can. It won’t look great at my degree, not while we are moving, but bats don’t have great eyesight, anyway, right?” Kiera volunteered. Violet shrugged, even as her other hand offered another thumbs-up in Kiera’s direction.
“I have no idea! Hedron don’t always follow the rules you’d expect for their base species. But hey, we’ve been talking without being mauled so far, so I say go for it!” Violet responded cheerfully. “Guess it’s you and me in the middle, Daniel. Looks like we gotta stick together.”
Daniel coughed, but nodded awkwardly, and the group began their ascent.
thought I was at before, lol. Should hit 2k by Wednesday, with all of your help! Thanks so much for the support everyone! Also, in happier news, Violet is now one of the top 400 best rated stories on the site! Even getting a less than pleasant rating this morning didn't get me down, because I got five very kind ones to go with it. So for everyone who doesn't care for it (understandable, can't write for everyone), I have plenty of people who love it, and I appreciate that so much. Again, no rewards related to this and there never will be, but it sure is a confidence boost after the kick in the shins on Friday. Thanks for the support!
Here are the current goals and rewards, as well as how close we were to each at 10:45 AM CST on the day this chapter was published.
Click Description to learn more about each! Note that I've decided to offer a bonus chapter at: 2k, 3k, 4k, and 5k, instead of every 2k after 2k. With the webtoon chapter hitting at 6k.
6k - 15k Bonus Chapter – 2,000 Followers
1,909 / 2,000
Description
Starting at 2,000 followers, I will write a bonus chapter between 6k - 15k in length every 1k followers up to 5k. This may be a side character, this may be an AU, or anything else. Who decides? You do! When a milestone is reached, I will ask for suggestions and put up a poll of the most popular ones!
Webtoon Chapter – 6,000 Followers
1,909/ 6,000
Description
This is also a bonus chapter, but I will have it commissioned as a fully illustrated webtoon!
Spin-Off Novel – 15,000 Followers
1,909/ 15,000
Description
I will write a novel of at least 120k words focusing on Kiera, our resident fox girl!
Visual Novel – 20,000 Followers
1,909/ 20,000
Description
I will commission art for and develop a full length (and free to play) Cruel Violet visual novel.