We escort the orcs back to their village. It takes awhile but at least there are no interruptions outside of small breaks and food.
Geline is desperate to get the kids to like her, making funny faces and trying to mimic their words back to them. She has no idea what any of it means, but smiles wide when they giggle.
Geline really is a much kinder soul than she lets on. I remember when I first met her I was terrified, certain she'd eat me or feed me to Blobert. But I think i'm finally starting to get her. Especially watching her interact with the kids so kindly.
She wants family, or wants to feel needed. At least that's what I think. Who really knows. But if she just wants to be big sis instead of the battle junkie, well I think this world would be a lot safer.
"You really like them huh?" I ask with a slight teasing voice.
"M-Me? No I am to become the demon lord. I don't have time for simple mortals. I'm practically immortal already, after all!" She harrumphs. But I don't buy it for a singular second.
The only reason she hadn't attacked first with that mysterious stranger was because she didn't want to upset me and kill a human needlessly. Even with her deep hatred for them she still waited and watched how I was reacting to him first. The guy had probably the rankiest aura of anyone so far and she still waited for me. No, there's an equally squishy heart in there. I just know it.
"Whatever you say big sis." I wave my hands up in defeat, but there's a smile hidden between them.
"And- and after we see these precious- I- I mean these l-lowly mortals to safety, I will continue on and find somewhere to rampage and ascend to the title of demon lord!" Definitely sounds like she's convincing herself more than me at this point.
"Of course, of course." I use my Wood Transformation to wipe the smile off my face.
"But... Maybe I'll take the long route and eat some monster..." She says quietly, looking on as the kids slide down Blobert while we rest.
Though Geline seems happy to have so many little siblings to watch over, the most pleased one here is by far Blobert. Maybe he recognizes that these orcs are nearer to his own maturity than Geline or I. I thought maybe Geline would have to warn him to be careful with the kids but he seems to know exactly how to play. Blobert truly was adorable. What a gentle giant. It was almost enough to bring a tear to my wooden socket, if I could.
"Still with that joke?" Says a voice in my mind. My blood runs cold. Why do I feel so scared? What's happening, it's just love right... right...?
"Of course it's me, silly." But this isn't iAlice, this is Alice proper.
"You've been thinking some rather interesting thoughts about me lately, haven't you?" Not just Alice but that specific voice. The one that had kicked me out at the end and turned me into this goddamn wooden creature!
"I had other Souls to attend too, you were taking too long." She laughs, but there's no mirth. It's like she's watching her plaything do something almost interesting.
"And don't worry about your thoughts, I know you can't always control them." Alice continues, this is why my blood had frozen over.
Geline is staring at me with a confused expression. I'm about to say something to tell her not to worry when she freezes. Not like stands still, like frozen. Her hand in the air as she's reaching to pat my head. Behind her an orc child is frozen, halfway down the Blobert slide and suspended in mid air.
"There we go, now you can speak freely." Says Alice with that same laugh.
"T-Thank you..." I put up a mental wall. For some reason the first thing I can think of is how round Blobert is. Whatever, that works.
"You're blocking me. Cute." She clearly does not find it cute.
"A-Apologies... Can't blame me for trying right?" Hopefully...
"Don't get too cute, you're not one of my favorites, tree." But hadn't she repeatedly told me how commendable I was...?"
"That was the other one." She says, clearly having no shame about plucking my thoughts from my head as if we were having a conversation.
"The other one...?"
"Yes, the other one, duh. There's a lot of us. Couldn't you hear the chorus. We have to do it every time."
"So wait.. then... if you're not Alice then why do you care what I've been th-"
"I am, Alice. We all are. Duh. If you insult one of us you insult all of us."
"I-I didn't mean to insult..." I don't understand shit, but I have to play it safe. If I step incorrectly here I will have pissed off someone who can freeze space and time. I don't think Wood Transformation will help that.
"Haha, you're right!" She laughs genuinely this time. It'd be almost a nice sound if I wasn't so scared.
"No need to be terrified. Just because you aren't my favorite doesn't mean I can kill you so easily. There's lot's of red tape and you're still that other one's favorite. Though I don't know why doesn't check in more... Hmph.. Weirdo..." At this point Alice is sort of just talking to herself.
"The other one...?"
"The other Alice, is your brain made of wood too, wait don't answer that, it probably is. Either that or you rotted it out playing visual novels."
Wait a minute...
"Wait are you from my world?"
"..."
"Alice...?"
"You can call me Red. Makes it confusing when we're all Alice." She side steps the question. Something tells me I won't be getting an answer.
"And you'd be right, but I'll give you. a little something. Since I've been bad at remembering to give your your skills, I'll just evolve you to the next stage."
"Wait you do that manually?! And you've been forgetting?! Where should my skills actually be?!"
"Anyways I kinda like how you look right now, it's almost cute, so let's just go the next stage up." Once again she completely ignores the question.
"W-Wait what if I want the skills instead of the evolution?! And what do you mean about not updating them?! Was it your shift or something?!"
"Evolution selected, Bark Knight." iAlice says in my ear. Alice, or Red, or whatever, was already gone. Leaving behind the imitation voice.
Oh man, this is gonna hurt again isn't it.
Time unfreezes all around me as pain erupts in my entire body. The wood the comprises my body starts to change color. Before I was a bit of a soft brown color, and it's changing to a darker mahogany.
"C-Cedar!" Yells Geline, catching me as I fall, the children all stop their playing and turn to look at me.
"All... Good..." I try to wave at the kids as theevolution racks my body with pain.
"Cedar how long has it been since you sunk your roots in?!" It's been a long time. Is that why it's hurting so much. That makes sense I guess...Getting so sleepy...
When I come too I'm back in the second village, surrounded by the flowers. It seems my mahogany roots have taken hold of the surrounding ground. Around me is a brown outline, it seems I drained the life force of the plants to heal myself. Sorry plant buds, but I did make you after all.
I scan my surroundings, it's only me. We're close to the other village now, maybe Geline went along with them and left me to heal.
Oh right, I evolved. I pop up my Stat Screen and am met with the most puzzling thing yet.
"Stat Screen down for maintenance!" Are you fucking kidding me. T-This is a magical world! Not a government website! What do you MEAN down for maintenance?!" iAlice doesn't pop in to respond either. This is all getting way too weird. First Red with my messed up skills and forced evolution, now this. Why was I constantly getting the short end of the stick! I can't even tell what I can do now.
I kick the ground. I'm glad the kids aren't around to see such a. childish display on my part. I sigh again, taking another look around and what used to be the second orc village. I see something shiny, so I walk over to it.
It's a mirror! Perfect. At least I can take a look at myself. I pick up the mirror, and in doing so realize I've definitely gotten taller. I probably stand closer to five foot now. Still not nearly as big as Geline or Blobert but at least I was an average size for a creature.
The mirror reflects my new face. There's bark above my hollow sockets, damn still just hollow sockets huh, how creepy, but the bark makes it look like I have eyebrows which is fun. But hopefully i'm still not too expressive.
The crown of my head seems to come to three points, one in the middle and two that point diagonally off either side. My torso, while of course still wood, now sort of resembles an angular armor set. on my forearms are spikes that curve slightly inward and have sweated edges. Oof, getting cut on one of these would definitely hurt, well if you had flesh. My calves seems to have the same sort of treatment and my feet now come to triangular points.
But saving the best for last! Fingers! Almost real fingers! My hand had several opposable pieces as well. I could finally pick things up without using my roots like creepy tentacles. I had definitely seen some of the orc kids grimace when I had done it on the walk here.
I run in a few circles, do some jumping jacks and all in all try to get used to my new, larger body. I probably wouldn't be able to do anything like before with the stranger. A little too big to be considered not a threat now. And way less cute.
Just when I'm about to start heading towards the other orc village, I hear something big headed my way. It's moving fast. Oh no, it's coming from the other village, oh god, hopefully Geline and the kids are okay. Fuck fuck fuck! I start sprinting towards the sound. It's coming closer to me but all fear is out the window, I need to move.
"Shaodw Step!" I say out loud, noticing my voice has changed too. It's still raspy but sounds more like a genuine human voice. Albeit a creepy one.
Shadow Step lands me twice as far as I intended to go. Was this because I had evolved? Or maybe they were updating my skills, was that why it was under maintenance...? Either way it's probably that lazy Red's fault! That's right you! I think hard. Almost wanting her to say something, to confirm what was happening. But there's no response from her.
The big creature however, had found me. It blocks out the moon, and I can't see anything. Oh shit, what was I thinking? This thing is huge. Rightwhen I'm about to say my prayers it makes asound.
"Wahhhhhh!" And then my eyes adjust. Blobert,and he's crying...?
"B-Blobert it's-" A hand formed of spine suddenly shoots out and grabs me; lifting me up towardshis face, his slimy tears covering me.
"Wahhhh! Wahhhhh!!!" Blobert continues to cry.
"He was really worried about you." Geline saysfrom below. I look down at her and smile.
"S-Sorry, I guess I triggered an evolution. D-Didthe kids get back okay?" I ask.
"Yeah..." Her face sets in a hard line. "Those poor kids... They're paying respect right now. I figured it was a good time to come check on you. Blobert didn't wanna leave you at all." Geline smiles warmly and her face relaxes, watching Blobertsqueeze the life out of me.
"I've never seen him warm up to anyone else. You really are special, Cedar." She keeps calling me Cedar, I know it's technically my name now but it still feels so alien. Maybe I'll get used to it soon.
"I-I think you guys are special too." I manage toget out as i'm being wiped across Blobert's face like a tissue. Geline turns away from me anddoesn't say anything. Oops, did I mess up?
After Blobert finishes having his emotions, he sets me back down but stays right next to me, so much so my body keeps almost sinking into him. I'm honored he missed me so much, but it's to a point.
"So what will you do now..?" Geline asks finally turning back to me. There's a strange look on her face I can't read.
"I don't know..." It really hits me. I know morethan I did before but I really don't know. I stilldon't know anything about this stupid world. And I'm mostly left with questions.
For one, Abaho. If it's really as terrible as I havebeen led to believe, why is it allowed to exist? Are they really all that powerful, and if they are, is it because of the Alice System? For that matter, can only humans and some monsters use the StatScreen? Which leads to my second point.
Two, the Alice system is clearly imperfect and full of holes. And the Alices seem to be untrustworthy as well. For some reason, I think Red has goodintentions even if they have a foul attitude. They probably could have just not interacted with me at all and not given me anything. And then what about "the other one" and how they think I'm"commendable."
And third. what about the others like me. Theones who got lucky and showed up earlier andgot humanoid forms, instead of a non human one like me. For that matter, there was still one after me. Assuming there was only one, then there's a non-human reincarnation like me out there!Maybe we could be friends, and bond overmissing human stuff! Then again what was left of the list was full of some awful choices. Hopefully they picked one of the easier to deal with options and not one of the scarier monsters.
"Well you can become a demon lord with me!After all the Demon King has been reincarnatedafter all."
Hold up.
"Uh... What do you mean...?" My voice is unsteady and nervous.
"Yes, word has spread already! About a week ago, in the mountains not too far from here, in thefortress Bessel, the demon king's egg appeared, as was foretold centuries ago."
"A w-week ago huh... And you say it was an...egg... ?" Oh no, this was lining up way too well.
"Yes, only the highest level demon lords simplyappear as eggs, and, in the old Kings favoritefortress no less? Ha there's no question."
"Y-You sure seem to know a lot about this..."
"Of course! I told you my quest is to become ademon lord myself, and join the fight againsthumanity!" Geline says with pride, clenching her first as she looks up in the sky. Might start calling that the Geline pose. She looks over at me and sees what's probably a horrified expression.
"B-But of course I'll spare the little ones." Shesays, like that fixed what she just said. Maybe...Maybe I should tell her. She might hate me if she finds out I used to be a human, but as long as it turns her off from serving the "reincarnated" demon king, well then.
I look up, Geline is still looking at me like sheknows she mistepped and doesn't want to offend. Her hands are slightly outstretched towards me.
"C-Cedar?"
I have to tell her.