Lessons and Regret

The flesh bug stumbled into the hall and bumped into the opposite wall. It cried out, "Skree!"

Jarvis could feel a sensation of the creature's emotions. Shock rather than pain. This strange connection made him even more unsure. Seemingly the creature also noticed Jarvis' emotions and its voice croaked, "Fa. . . ther?"

Yielya took a step back, "Jarvis. . . ? What did you do?"

He lacked the words to answer this. It felt simple the more he thought about it. He sacrificed one of his beloved tames to experiment with Heresy. This was just the simplest and most truthful answer. Yet now he found the words he just couldn't say them.

This mixture of guilt and doubt was relayed to the flesh creature. Its eyes rolled and locked onto Yielya, "En. . . emy?"

Jarvis' arm shot out and he caught the flesh creature as it stumbled forward. Blood dripped to the floor, sourcing from a fresh wound on Jarvis' arm. One of the creature's limbs turned into a flesh scythe, holding a stark similarity to Mantid's own forearms. The creature clicked and looked towards Jarvis, "Sor. . . ry."

Despite its awkward movements the damage it just dealt was something Yielya couldn't catch. She couldn't even see the flesh creature turn its limb into the weapon. In fact Jarvis was only able to stop the creature because of the strange connection he had with it. He had felt the creature lock onto Yielya and deem her as a threat. 

The creature sensed its mistake and the scythe arm wriggled back into the cockroach-like limb. It stumbled backwards and Jarvis looked with a saddened gaze to Yielya. Suddenly he spoke, his voice echoing a faint click, "Sor-ry. It-He is still learning."

"I. . . isn't this Heresy? You saw what they did to that village. Why would you. . . ?"

The creature rubbed its hands together in a nervous manner. It felt. . . guilt? Jarvis' dull expression suddenly gained a bit of clarity, "It's the Forged Existence. . ."

"That thing?!", Yielya found herself unsure of what to do. 

She witnessed firsthand the utter might of the Forged Existence, and just how much they had suffered just to slow it down. Yet Jarvis went and revived it? Or rather. . . did something with it? The difference in appearance was too different to say it was revived.

Yet her long experience with Jarvis only kept these thoughts as doubt. She trusted Jarvis and felt that he had some sort of reasonable explanation for all of this. This was the sole thing keeping her where she was. The bond forged as they fought the terror of the Demon Lord was not so easily shaken. 

Yes, she was simply stunned at the sight. Yielya's mind started to rationalize and deduce the situation. She did not hastily jump to conclusions. The only thing she needed to do right now was let Jarvis explain himself. No more pointless questions.

The entire conversation was less than a minute and Yielya had already recovered her mental state. Her voice no longer shook, and her mind was clear headed. She leaned against her Priest staff and asked, "So. . . what exactly lead to this?"

Jarvis stretched out a hand and caressed the chin of the creature. Its mandibles clicked about and he could feel its emotion. It felt happy now. This thing was alive. It could feel! This wasn't a thing, it was a living creature! 

"I read that Tome of Dead I got from the Undead vault. Inside was a passage from the Witches. Upon creating the undead one was certain that what they had created was nothing short of Heresy. Yet the World couldn't deem it as Heresy for some reason. It made me question what Heresy was. . . so I wanted to test it with the gem that created the Forged Existence.

I consulted the Sages and they told me not to. Yet I was adamant. I thought by figuring that out I could answer some questions I had. Then the World told me it was fine. That something had agreed to test the Forged Existence.

That something was Mantid, the Mountain Carver bug. Just when I hesitated Mantid ate the Forged Existence. I watched him fall apart and die violently. From his corpse arose him."

Jarvis stop scratching the flesh bug and focused on Yielya's expression. Putting a thumb to her temple she performed a circular massaging motion before asking, "So that thing. . . what is it?"

"I don't know.", Jarvis answered honestly.

"What about this feeling of Heresy?"

Jarvis tapped the flesh bug and it clicked its mandibles in response. He hesitated before speaking, "I don't know if this is a Chimera, or some form of rebirth from Mantid. I don't know enough right now."

"So the World is fine with this outcome?"

"It is. I think the Heresy you feel is it trying to reject it. Part of the experiment."

"Then how are you doing?"

Jarvis felt his words get stuck in his throat. He went through a handful of facial expressions before finally answering, "Ashamed. I was blinded with questions I failed to grasp what finding the answers might mean. Mantid is gone because of my actions."

"Alright, okay.", Yielya stopped massaging her temples, "You should get cleaned up. Figure out what's going on with. . . flesh bug over here. If you need anything you can message me, okay?"

"Thanks. I'll be fine though."

"If you say so.", Yielya nodded.

Clearly Jarvis understood the weight of his actions. He was regretful but otherwise seemed fine. The very creepy creature seemed to be under enough control. So Yielya figured this situation didn't need anything from her. There was a chance that the feeling of Heresy was going to get Six Lights in trouble. There wasn't really any telling on how the Kingdom would take it for instance. 

However if the World allowed it, then it shouldn't be of concern. All of this was the conclusion Yielya came up to. Although she wished to comfort Jarvis, she knew that Jarvis' way of grieving didn't include any comfort. This wasn't anything new.

Whenever he lost a tame he would spend the following day or two alone and thinking of what caused the tame's death and how to prevent such things happening again. He was mostly successful, although it's certainly lead him to be more unwilling to risk the tames.

This was understandable though. Additionally the level of improvement the party was undergoing required less assistance from Jarvis. Although his knowledge regarding creatures and his scouting capabilities still were invaluable. 

Nodding to herself Yielya turned and left the hall returning downstairs. Collecting the various items she needed she left the house without another word. As her figure passed through the door Jarvis sighed in relief. 

Turning back towards the meat bug Jarvis still felt saddened at the sight of the creature. He had mistreated it. This creature was freshly born into this world and already felt rejection from the World and distaste from the one responsible for its birth. Jarvis wished to right this poor first interaction. 

Slowly he felt the feeling of Heresy fade as the World came to the conclusion it couldn't entirely reject the creature. Jarvis held out a hand and the flesh bug grabbed the palm. With a pained smile Jarvis spoke to the creature, "Let's start again, this time with a name?"

"Fa. . . ther.", the bug spoke in its hoarse tone.

"Since you come from Mantid I could give you a similar name. How about Mantis?"

A series of clicks sounded from the flesh bug's mandibles and Jarvis felt distaste through his connection. Jarvis made a face, "No go huh? Okay let me try again."

Perhaps the flesh bug could sense the connection Jarvis tried to make with the gone Mountain Carver. Considering it was a new being it shouldn't have that connection? Although it slightly pained Jarvis, he had to take in consideration of the creature's own emotions. 

Since it was essentially the Forged Existence, perhaps the name needed a connection with that. Falling into thought Jarvis murmured, "Forge. . ."

A feeling of satisfaction found Jarvis through the connection. Startled he tried to find the reasoning for the feeling, "I didn't pick one yet?"

The flesh bug spoke in its hoarse tone. It struggled to form the words as it spoke slowly, methodically, "F. . . orge."

"Forge?"

Satisfaction. Even a bit of happiness. Jarvis slowly nodded, "Okay. . . Forge then. Would you like to join me on my journey?"

"Fa. . . ther."

The Book of Life rose into the air and began to flip its pages. Forge morphed into streaks of various colors while flowing into the page. Melting into the paper the color formed into a painting of the creature. Immediately noticeable was that the page lacked the beautiful artwork and color of the other creatures. Rather this one looked more horrific, strange liquid stained parts of the pages. Its artwork had Forge crawling on all his legs, several limbs expanded from his back in the forms of various weapons. 

Jarvis caught the book and looked at the artwork. He was no longer appalled or hateful of this creature. Its circumstances was not its own fault. So Jarvis solemnly swore to himself to never allow the creature to face such hatred coming from him. 

This was the birth of an entirely unique Chimera. One incapable of being hated by the World. The Forged Existence.

Gently closing the Book of Life Jarvis exhaled with a shaky breath. Eyeing the mess remained from the ordeal he made a face. It would be best to clean up and provide the remnants of Mantid with a proper funeral.

Today he learned a lesson, one he wouldn't forget.