The figure straightened itself to a total height of maybe four foot six inches. With a loud slurp, it swallowed the entrails of the beetle guard it’d been devouring.
Then it walked towards us.
“Be careful, Gambit,” Panda warned me. “I think I know what Absolute spawned her…”
“Hey guys!” the dark creature said excitedly.
Even as she came closer, the darkness about her didn’t dissipate, in fact, I realized her body was made from it, with tiny constellations visible in it. It was like a dark night sky given form. The two round glowing-white eyes set into her body were fixated on me, but I didn’t let her intimidate me.
“Are you my new Narrator?” I asked her.
“That’s right! They normally don’t like having people like me around, but they were short-staffed after you scared off their other Narrators.”
“Think I can see why they wouldn’t allow spawn like her in here,” Panda remarked.
In a blink, Billee crossed the distance between us and snatched the plushie from my shoulder.
“Let me go!” he protested.
“You’re a real sourpuss,” Billee said.
Bee tensed up behind me, but Tina seemed relaxed for some reason.
“I wonder how you taste,” Billee remarked, lifting Panda up into the air above her.
A wide gaping hole appeared in her shadowy body, looking like a white bottomless pit.
I quickly pulled Panda out of her grip.
The child-sized entity lowered her arms. “Aww.”
“Spawn like you are why the rest of us get a bad name!” Panda scolded her.
“It’s not my fault everything is sooooo tasty,” Billee replied.
“Am I gonna stop getting achievements because you killed so many guards?” I asked her, keeping my left arm tight around Panda to free up my right in case we had to fight back.
“Don’t worry, Gambit! My boss said I could stay. He’s kind of fun,” she replied. “I also got jobs at the Skill and Item Departments, so I am narrating those on your behalf as well.”
“I did think it was a bit weird she was narrating the Traceback skill,” Panda muttered.
“What does it mean that she’s a Spawn of an Absolute?” Bee asked. I had shared the appraisal with her, but she’d stayed silent until now.
Billee’s blazing-white eyes locked in on Bee. “The All-Mother says I can’t eat you, but you look tasty too. I haven’t tried human yet.”
“Stop that,” I told her, “you’re freaking people out when you say you wanna eat them.”
Panda sighed. “A Spawn of an Absolute is a creature that’s created by the power of an Absolute, which is a powerful cosmic entity that can literally scour this planet if they sneeze in its direction. Billee here is probably the child of Nwetrou, if I had to guess. A big appetite runs in her family.”
“Nwetrou?” I asked. “I’ve never heard of him.”
“Remember Skippy? The fish-thing that ate the Pawn and left a black pond behind? That’s another of his spawn.”
“Skippy is my big brother,” Billee said. “He’s the one who told me about you.”
“Nina says the Narrator has something for Gambit,” Tina said.
Billee’s eyes shifted to her. “You don’t look tasty.”
Stolen novel; please report.
“Meow?” Lordie asked.
“Hmm, that’s a good question,” Billee replied. “I think it’d have to be Void Whale. For now.”
“Me-ow!”
“Twizzlers? What kind of creature is that?” she replied.
“You understand what he says?” Panda asked her.
“Of course.”
“What was the question?” Bee asked.
“He wanted to know her favorite meal…” I translated.
“Me-ow,” Lordie told me.
I sighed and pulled out a bag of Twizzlers and gave it to Billee. “Here.”
She swallowed the bag whole.
“Not bad,” she commented. “But I prefer when my food screams and wriggles. I heard the slugs stay alive for a long time while you eat them, so I’m looking forward to trying those.”
“Meow!” Lordie told her.
“Lordie, stop giving her meal suggestions,” I scolded him.
“Did he ask her if she’d tried cicadas?” Bee asked.
“He did,” I confirmed.
“How did you guess that?” Panda asked her.
“Intuition,” she replied.
“Aaaaanyway,” Billee started. “Papa wanted me to tell you to save the otter mascot. I’m not sure why. Maybe he mistook him for an octopus. He really likes those for some reason.”
“I knew Otto was important,” I muttered.
“Are you going to stay here?” Bee asked Billee.
“No, they’re giving me my own office from now on,” she said. “But I’ll be narrating your achievements, skills, and items from now on as well. Everyone is quite scared of you two and what you’ll do to them, so they told me to take over.”
“What about Tina?” I asked.
“She’s not tasty,” Billee replied as though that was explanation enough.
“It’s probably because Bee is protected by the All-Mother and you’re on the warpath to kill anyone who even slightly annoys you,” Panda said.
Billee suddenly looked up at the ceiling. “Seems I’ve gotta go,” she explained. “Boss is calling.”
“Who’s your boss?” Panda asked.
“He just goes by Jay, as far as I know,” she replied. “I’ve never met him face-to-face, but I think he’s one of the big boys running the Great Game. He always sends a masked brute on his behalf.”
“An Absolute is in charge of Achievement Narration Inc.?” he asked, confused.
“Seems like it,” she replied. “Alright, I’ve gotta go. Byeeee!”
With a poof Billee vanished from the hallway.
“I told you we need to find Otto,” Tina said.
“Yeah, this was a waste of time,” Panda agreed.
“What are you talking about!” I shot back. “I got the Bad Catchphrase button!”
“Meow?” Lordie asked eagerly.
“No, no more cicadas for you young man!” I scolded him.
“Me-ow…”
“How do we get out of here?” Bee asked. “Can we use Gambit’s skill to go back again?”
“Oh… I didn’t really think of that,” I replied.
Panda sighed. “I don’t think we have any other choice than to pay a visit to the All-Mother.”
“Should I use the flower?” Bee asked. She seemed hesitant.
“We’re not gonna trade you in for your other self, no matter what,” I promised her.
“Nina says… she’s not sure if my presence will be tolerated,” Tina commented.
“Doesn’t the All-Mother care a lot about children?” I asked. “She’d probably be fine with having you visit, since you’re a mother.”
“Maybe she can even help us deal with the CPS,” Panda said.
“Alright, I’m doing it,” Bee announced, pulling out the flower from her inventory. It was the size of a dinner plate and had dark-blue petals with the edges dusted in silver. It kind of looked like a magnolia.
[‘Flower of Conveyance’ x ]
Gift
Gifted to Player Bee by the All-Mother.
The All-Mother loves fruits and flowers.
I prefer flesh.
Although, I have heard that some of her fruits taste like meat.
If you find some when you go visit her garden, please bring me a souvenir.
Placing this flower on the ground creates a portal to the All-Mother’s Garden.
Weight: Approximately one
Billee was already back to work narrating, which was honestly impressive, but maybe a being like her was able to do her narration job parallel to eating anyone unlucky to stumble into her vicinity.
“Does she also ask for a souvenir in the description when you look at the flower?” I asked Bee.
She nodded. “It has said that since I got it. I didn’t realize Billee was the one narrating it though.”
“Let’s not keep the All-Mother waiting,” Panda said. “Chop-chop.”
Bee placed the flower on the floor of the hallway and we all instinctively backed away.
The dinner-plate-sized flower grew to reach the walls.
Fwoosh!
A portal immediately appeared above it like a projection.
“Woah,” I muttered.
It had a slight wind pulling us towards it, which reminded me of the level 99 portal in front of the asylum.
“I’ll go first,” Bee said.
“You should probably go last, actually,” Panda told her. “I bet it closes the moment you pass through.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll go through first then,” I said and didn’t waste a moment hopping into the portal.
The whole world was pinched at the seams and pulled apart, flinging me through a swirling tube of colorful lights.
WARNING!
Now entering level 99 Dungeon ‘The All-Mother’s Garden’!
