AnnouncementSorry for the long dey. I've been distracted tely, and I'd like to say I'm returning to a normal schedule but I have been busy with a project. I do have good news though. Remember Return of the Last First Lord? I've been writing a new version, working title Shadow of the False God. I pn to make the first chapters avaible on Patreon next week and here on SH by the end of the month

  Milith set down on a bluff overlooking the water. Several fishing ships could be seen out on the water, she wasn’t that far from Bleakwater, but even from the air she’d felt the corruption. Abyssal mana hung heavy in the air, dense and heavy it seemed to fill the nd. Something was amiss around here, it seemed to her that the Abyssals were likely out here in force. Arrietta had mentioned the Qayan, and the stories of Ruyikaita, both signs of Abyssals. So it lined up with the stories at least. Rubbing her wings, she let out a breath before focusing her mind, taking a drop of her blood and some mana a small creature soon formed and she sent it forth. It wasn’t anything special, and would die in just a few days, but it would be useful for gathering information.

  More importantly, the little bug could scout out the questionable fishing vilge while she was resting her wings. After a long flight, she could certainly use a bit of rest and the sun felt really good on her bare skin at the moment. Rexing on her bluff, she watched her little Stelr Fly, as it zipped off toward the fishing town she wanted a look at. If she wanted to, she could easily look through its eyes and the little thing was capable of sharing its memories too. An impressive little bug by every metric, even if it was short-lived.

  The fly slipped into the old fishing town without any issue, not a single eye paid more than a moment's gnce at it. Small flying bugs were far too common and most were pretty harmless, even if some were annoying. The little Stelr fly looked around, its tiny mind quickly taking in the details for its goddess. A cool breeze was coming in from the sea, but given the heat of the day it was a rather pleasant one.

  People walked by going about their daily business. Giving off the impression of a bustling fishing town, the market was alive with young men and women as they milled about conducting business. Not one sign of the evil the town held could be seen here, it was hard to believe the town was home to a nest. Certainly not with a casual first look like this, but as the little fly flew it started to pick out little signs that things were amiss.

  Those signs were minor little things, wouldn’t a fishing town like this have more kids running about and pying? Sure there were plenty of young boys running about and enjoying the pleasant weather, but there was not a girl in sight. Many of the older girls running around were also naked, and it seemed like a lot of people were pregnant. All signs that things were off in this town, yet nothing truly definitive of an Abyssal presence. Something more concrete would be required to prove the Qayan were still here, but it seemed the church wasn’t here either. There wasn’t any sign of their knights within the walls of the town.

  The fly settled on some railing, nearby two young men were settled on their porch pying a game in front of them. A pregnant dy joined them, coming up from the street, she was rather pretty with striking amber eyes, a lovely nose, delicate lips and high cheekbones, framed by golden brown hair that fell loosely around her shoulders. Her breasts were rge, swollen and looked heavy with milk as they sat upon the swell of her belly, she looked like she might give birth any day now. Yet she was clearly rather active, as her body was toned and she had a healthy tan to her skin.

  The older of the two men spoke up, “Jill! Fancy seeing you come by, do you need something or ...”

  “I was just coming to check up on Kari, how is she doing?”

  “Still in bed, I don’t expect her to get up for a while longer. Her fever is still a little higher than I’d like, but she should pull through.”

  “I’m gd to hear it. I’ll be by to pick her up at the usual time then?”

  The man smiled, “Sure thing, I’ll let her know ter, but I’m sure she’d like to rest a bit more.”

  “You know we can’t afford to let her rest. If she can stand, we need her doing her job, there aren’t enough hands in the vilge as it is.”

  “Right, right, but I guess you’ll have a little one to look after soon.”

  Jill grinned and started chatting, as the fly moved on. This conversation was interesting, but it didn’t seem to be out of pce. There was something a little worrisome about how Kari was being treated, but there did seem to be some concern for her.

  The fly passed over several groups as it moved down the market streets, when a small group caught its eye. A young woman in a light green dress helped a young girl about eight years old down from a cart, while cradling an infant in her arms. An older man was speaking as he checked the horse, “Well if you are looking to stay the night, I’d suggest the Cat’s Fang. They are just down that way, you can’t miss them.”

  The woman gave him a smile, “The Cat’s Fang? How good are they?”

  “Not the best Inn in town, but certainly not the worst. Pretty affordable, decent rooms, and right next to some of the best locations in town, they also have a daycare service.”

  “A daycare you say? Sounds useful, I was a little worried about going shopping with no one to watch little Nikyi”

  “Mom! I can watch her, I’m a big girl now!”

  “Sure you are, but I’d like a qualified sitter if I can find one, for both of you.”

  The girl pouted, but followed her mother down the path to the inn. The fly followed along, if the abyssals were here, an inn did seem like somewhere they might set up shop. It wasn’t like the fly had a better spot to look for a nest, and just flying around wasn’t going to reveal anything.

  The inn wasn’t that far from the stable, and the woman took the steps up, and through the door, the fly was close behind. As the door swung shut behind the group, the fly took in the room. The first room of the Cat’s Fang was cozy, a couple of tables were on either side with padded chairs, on the left three pregnant girls were crowded around a table pying a card game. At the rear of the room, a young woman sat reading a book, on the floor beneath their feet was a pristine blue and grey rug with a motif of a cute cat girl’s face, a fang prominently poking out from behind her upper lip on the left.

  The woman at the desk looked up from her reading as the young mother walked in. “Good afternoon, are you looking for a room?”

  The young mother nodded, as she walked up to the desk, “I am, figured I’d stay the night, restock on supplies and get moving in the morning. I could use a room...”

  “Of course,” said the woman as her eyes fshed, and she produced a paper, “We have a few rooms avaible, and if you are going shopping might I recommend our daycare service?”

  The mother took the paper, and started looking it over, “So what’s this?”

  “Our general terms of service for the daycare, just sign the dotted line.”

  The mother nodded, signed the line, and said, “Looks good to me.”

  “Alright then,” the receptionist took the document, then produced a card a moment ter, “You’ll need this to pick your girls up ter. Would you like to get a room now, or would you be back ter.”

  “I’ll...”

  “Be back ter? Wonderful choice, bye!”

  The mother nodded, “You girls be good.”

  “Might I suggest coming back after dark, it’s easier for me that way.”

  “Will do, when would you prefer me to be back?”

  “After midnight is best.”

  “Got it!”

  The fly watched her go, its small mind noting how this seemed very odd indeed. The receptionist waited until she was gone, then looked down at the small bundle the mother had left behind, an odd smile on her lips, “Okay, let's get you two settled!”

  The girl gave the receptionist a look, but relented as she was pulled along towards a door in the back. The fly followed closely behind, but kept an eye on the path taken. The walls were worn stone with wood paneling. The floor below was covered with worn pale blue and grey tiles, but they seemed fairly clean and cared for.

  After passing several doors, the girl was led down a flight of steps, and around a corner before coming to a door with a lock on the outside. The receptionist smiled, “Okay this will be your room, girl.”

  “I have a name!”

  The receptionist giggled, “I didn’t ask for it, come on in girl.”

  “But!”

  “No buts, come in girl, and be good for me.” said the receptionist as she pulled her into the room.

  The fly slipped inside, settling on the door frame, giving it a good view of the space. There was no bed in the room, a table sat in the middle of the room. Off to the left was tub, and on the right was several shelves with an array of strange tools id out on them.

  Closing the door behind her the receptionist commanded, “Strip girl!”

  The girl blinked and protested but it was to no avail, moments ter she was naked, while the infant was left on a shelf. The only concession to safety, being a strap fitted across her waist. Naturally, the young infant was a little upset, but the receptionist ignored her.

  In a smooth motion, she lifted the young girl onto the table, and despite her protests and struggles secured her limbs with the ankle and wrist cuffs built into the table. Locking the poor girl into a spread-eagle position. A look of fear spread across her face, as the receptionist leaned in over her head, “You’ve got such lovely eyes, girl.”

  “I’ve...” started the girl, clearly trying to put a brave front on, only to scream when a long needle was suddenly inserted into her eye. The girl didn’t even have time to blink before it pierced her pupil. Almost instantly, her eyelids tried to sm closed, but her left eye couldn’t fully close thanks to the needle. “Ow! What did you do that for!” compined the girl

  The receptionist responded, “Open your other eye, girl.”

  The girl refused, holding her eye tightly shut, but it proved for naught, as a moment ter the receptionist forced her eye open and needled her right as well.

  “There we are girl, that wasn’t so bad was it?”

  The girl gred, but it lost much of its effect with two needles sticking out of her eyes. “Why are you doing this?”

  From the door, the fly watched the events unfold. It wasn’t like it could do anything anyway, it wasn’t strong nor did it have powerful magic. The little fly wasn’t more than five centimeters tall, so it did the only thing it could watch, so its goddess would know what these foul people were doing.

  The girl was in tears, but the Receptionist didn’t bother expining as she applied an icky fluid to each eye, before attaching a tube to the end of each needle. Once she was happy with it, she let free a translucent yellow fluid.

  “My eyes! My eyes!” cried the girl.

  The receptionist giggled, “It’s not that bad, yet. The burning should get worse in a few minutes and will st a few hours.” She then forced the girl’s eyes open again, and the girl didn’t close them, “Okay good, looks like the localized paralysis is working, that will make it easier to work on your pretty eyes.”

  The girl didn’t really respond to that, it seemed the pain was her world at the moment. The receptionist, still giggling, turned her attention away from the unfortunate girl’s eyes and started probing her body.

  After a moment she produced a notebook, and started writing it, commenting to herself, “Subject appears to be in excellent physical condition with indications of a very active lifestyle. Tanning indicates she spends a lot of time in the sun, early signs of puberty are present, but degree of maturity remains low, should make a suitable host for a lucky girl.”

  She paused and began feeling the girl’s chest, after a moment she commented, “Subject has good bone and muscle structure. Recommend breast growth stimution, and ctation inducement as soon as possible.”

  The receptionist moved on making more comments like that, all while thoroughly examining her body. The dark clinical examination went on far too long, long enough that the infant's cries of distress changed to those of distress and hunger.

  Reaching up the receptionist took her off the shelf undoing the paltry restraint in the same motion, “Oh I didn’t forget about you, little sweetie, let's get you to the nursery. I’m sure someone will feed you.”

  The little fly gave the girl on the table one st look before following the receptionist out of the room. It wasn’t going to learn more sticking around, and it already knew enough about what was going on here.

  Following the receptionist, the fly went down several corridors, and a couple of flights of stairs deeper into the earth. The walls became darker, covered with a thin film of something, and mana grew a tinge more corrupted before they came into a rge room. One filled with cribs, and wailing babies. The fly quickly noted the other entrances, before following the receptionist as she carried the baby to one of the cribs. Looking around there were a number of young women in the room, and one of them noticed the new baby.

  “Oh? Did we get a new addition to the nursery? Has anyone hurt it today?”

  “I don’t think it's been hurt at all, but it's developed enough that we can do some fun things for it ter. Right now it's rather hungry.”

  “Oh? Is it? Poor thing, give it here! I’ve got some milk to spare.”

  The receptionist cooed, “Isn’t that great!? Someone is going to feed you.”

  Shaking its head, the fly moved on. Its small mind wasn’t sure how to reconcile the apparent discordance of how those girls were acting about a baby. Nothing about that behavior made sense, one moment they were talking about hurting it, and the next they were kindly cooing and offering it food. Its flight took it deeper in the chambers and the fly noted down the babies in the cribs.

  Words couldn’t really describe what the fly found as it checked within the cribs. Young babies writhed within, clearly uncomfortable, their skin marked with discolored bruises and red with rashes. Many of them also had minor cuts and abrasions. Seeing them in such a state, it was hard not to figure out why the room was filled with the wails of distressed infants.

  Near the edge of the room, she paused on the lip of a crib. The infant within seemed pretty peaceful, but a gnce at her told that she hadn’t escaped the attentions of the crazed women operating this nursery. Its face was flushed with nasty rashes running up the little one’s legs and arms, while its belly and thighs had turned a dark ugly purple. If one ignored the rashes and bruising she looked pretty healthy, but the sight of her certainly raised questions.

  One of the attendants, a woman who appeared around twenty years old, approached. She leaned into the crib, “Sleeping are we? Must not be getting enough attention.”

  With that cryptic comment, she picked the infant up and moved towards one of the smaller doors. Curious, the fly followed after. The passage led to another chamber, more figures milled about, but gone were the cribs. Evenly spaced along the floor were a series of tubs, filled with something. Above were a series of wire nets hanging from a suspension of unusual machinery, within each net rested a crying baby.

  Off to the side of the rooms, were stacks of aquariums, some filled with water, others air. All of them had open tops, and wire nets moved above them. Within, she saw numerous insects, mostly varieties of ant, while the ones filled with water seemed to be poputed mainly with jellyfish.

  Suddenly one of the nets dropped down into the water. The baby started thrashing in panic, its movements restricted by the wire net wrapped around it and digging into its skin, while air bubbles escaped its mouth. The movement elicited a response from the jellies, who started to sting the poor child in rapid succession. After what seemed far too long, the net raised, pulling the baby back out of the water, and a second device dropped from the ceiling to hover around the infant. After about a minute, it fshed green and departed, while the infant remained rather still in the net, the only sign it was alive being the slight rise and fall of its chest.

  As shocking as that was, it was not the only case of a kid being lowered into the aquariums, she saw several more be dropped with the same suddenness. Elsewhere, babies were being dunked by the nets into the tubs below.

  The woman spoke to the baby she’d collected as she pced it into an empty wire net. “Here we are, all safe in your net. Have fun pying with your new friends! I’m sure they will hurt you lots.”

  The Fly reached out to her goddess, sending everything she’d seen. This was the kind of thing she was looking for. Her goddess would be pleased to have all this information about such a foul nest.