Discord

by AppleCider120

Through Sun High - Chapter 8

The new clothes served Discord a long enough moment of happiness to allow Chrysalis to embrace him from behind, and take him back into her arms. She relished in the moment of his uplifting aura, taking it into herself as she wished to break him from his self-pitying; she was already tired of the loathing. After a moment, ended with a kiss on his cheek, she once more took his hand, effectively starting to pull.

"Now, let us go out to the courtyards," she said as happily as she could. "Let's get you a bit of refuge from your loathsome attitude, and let you meet your new family."

Discord chuckled, more than happy to let the queen distract him, and following her happily.

"Family, my queen?" he said, tilting his head as they walked on.

She shrugged, giggling. "Since you are effectively just my new mate, despite our inherent incapatabilities, you are to be treated as our equal during your stay, by my children."

Discord rolled his eyes as he went with her. Indeed, if she had originally planned to take him in the hopes of any sort of procreation, she would have been sorely disappointed. To his relief, however, she did seem to also realize the futility of such an idea; they enjoyed their embraces enough not to care about such minor things, regardless. Discord assumed that is what the drones, or maybe Commander Styx were responsible for. As he contemplated these ideas, he followed the queen out of the depths of the palace, and out the front entrance to view the courtyard; he had only passed through it as a prisoner previously, and never got a good look at it.

As he would predict, being as artistry was likely not a core requirement of the hive, the surrounding courtyard was not very effectively decorated. It was simple enough to make out from the rest of the black structures, though apart form the human faces he could see in the "walls" and the floor, there was no decoration. But, a courtyard was a courtyard, by designation. And the Changeling's treated it as such, congregating in groups as some pairs of the hive were out likely building their own little homes. From what he could tell, this was a relatively new project. The palace likely was not completed too long before he arrived, as the number of Changelings currently outnumbered the small abodes.

"Perhaps I could also help them construct their little houses," he said. "Help them at least maintain a little space in them, and not have to be subject to the mercy of the blackstone."

Chrysalis nodded, observing her children working, and relaxing. "Perhaps. And that finally gives me a name for the substance. Despite our time using it, we could never appropriately label our substance. Though, the name blackstone should have come to us sooner than now."

Discord shrugged, kissing her cheek. "Well, I doubt it was high on the list of priorities. You have food, shelter, and a changing, dangerous forest around you. Names are the least of your issues."

The queen just looked at him, giggling. "All those years with your Mother have truly made you quite a perceptive being, from what I have observed. Always able to think of some reason that some things come to pass, and that time may forget all together."

The man shrugged. "Perhaps it is part of her plan. I won't complain at the opportunity to better perceive her world."

As she would hum in agreement, she would also raise her hand, as a loud snap would echo from her fingers in a simple gesture. Her hands were capable of quite a soft touch, but the hard black covering of her skin made her snaps much louder. Discord could picture it like a cricket. The creatures were small, but were capable of making loud chirps by just grinding their legs. For Chrysalis, it served to alert her surrounding children, and bring them to attention in front of them.

Chrysalis smiled, and Discord could feel the aura of pride emanating from her. "My children, the time has come at long last that your queen has found a suitable suitor; and despite our incapatabilities, I would insist that you try to associate this one human-- and him alone-- as one of your family."

Commander Styx, and a pair of others passed her message on to the less language gifted of the hive. The hive shifted in mass, bowing to one knee; Discord had assumed it to be for their queen, but realized that Commander Styx and his lower ranking soldiers were facing towards him form their positions. Out of just respect for them, he gave them a bow in return, sensing another swell of pride, but from almost the entire horde of Changelings in front of him.

Chrysalis smiled, motioning for them to rise. To this motion, Commander Styx's group let out a series of soft chirps, to which the hive stood once more.

"Perhaps you should hang around them for a few hours," Chrysalis said, putting a hand on Discord's shoulder. "Commander Styx, I'm sure has nothing really to do, so having a mediator would probably benefit you greatly."

Discord looked to the commander, who just gave him a nod, and answered the queen. "It would no doubt give him a chance to somewhat smooth things over after yesterday's events."

Discord found himself no true reason to question their logic, or the request from his queen; as such, as she left to return to the palace, he remained with the commander as the hive either returned to work, or to their resting spots.

"So, Commander," he said, looking over to the guard. "How would you suggest we go about meeting the hive?"

"Please, just drop the titles," he said, sighing. "As our queen has likely told you, the titles can become so droll when they're used all days. Besides, outside of our formal meetings, we don't really even use them."

Discord nodded. "Sounds fair enough to me, Styx."

The Changeling nodded, smiling a little. "I'd also like to let you know a small detail, that I am unsure she has shared with you. Most love that the hive can feed on goes through her first. While she reserves the main intake, her passive magic disperses what she no longer needs to the hive."

Discord nodded, thinking. "So, I'm here until she can get her fill, and can full distribute it to all of you?"

Styx nodded. "Exactly. So, my first suggestion as the we start with the Changeling's she has already shared some of the aura with. She wasn't exactly full, but she did disperse some of it to us at the top of her command to let us know it was happening."

"Is that why I also don't feel anything happening to myself?" he asked curiously.

"Indeed," Styx replied. "There is a difference in the different types of love, or just general positive we can absorb and feed on. For the Queen, she requires a more concentrated amount. A close embrace, a kiss, or any other forms of affection feed her the strongest. Then, lower Changelings such as ourselves receive what you might refer to as the 'filtered' portions. To make an example for you, just picture a river. While you do see most of it above ground, there are sometimes areas that water closer to the bottom may start to seep through. While this isn't always the case, it is one of many reasons why the springs are sometimes so perfectly clear."

Discord nodded. "I understand that quite well. So simply, if she gets fed, she feeds you guys."

Styx nodded. "Exactly my point. Now then, since we were fed first, we will work down the line, and introduce you to a few of the more vocally gifted Changelings. Then we will grab one of our more basic drones at the end of it, and see if they can sort out some sort of communication with you. Knowing that you can read either minds or auras, you might be able to work that way."

Discord nodded, as Styx directed him to one of the more impressive table-like structures off to one side of the courtyard. The human made his way over, sitting down and waiting patiently for his "welcoming party" to talk with him. As he waited, he took some time to observe the surroundings. As one would expect, there were indeed many drones outside, working on the houses, and swapping with those who had been resting; what he didn't really seem to notice, were the many smaller Changelings. Considering they were likely the young of the hive, it occured that it shouldn't have surprised him much to see them. In fact, many of them were quite cute, as their big eyes almost seemed to make up a majority of their faces.

Then one made its way over to him, eyeing him curiously. Barely coming up above his knee, this one had to be especially young. He tried to put on his best smile as he carefully leaned forward, brushing his long white hair out of his face.

"Hey, little one," he said softly, with a bit of a chuckle. "How are you doing?"

The little one tilted its head, almost seeming to chirp at him. Discord could barely hold his smile back. This small thing resembled a human so much, but was also so different. The young one's huge eyes, and lack of vocal ability made his hard almost sort of flutter at the sheer pureness of it.

"Well, my name is Discord," he answered the chirping little one. He could not determine whether it was a male or female, though its mannerisms predicted male. He did not particularly care, either. "Do you have a name that you go by?"

The little one chirped at him some more, coming a little closet to him, examining the facial hair on Discord. One more thing the human had neglected was keeping his face shaven. The young Changeling reached up, curiously stroking at the bit that hung down from the man's chin, making Discord smile at his curiosity.

"Eris, you said?" he asked the child, gently holding his arms out, hoping it would get the idea.

Indeed, it seemed they did, holding up their arms for him to gently pick them up. Discord was amazed at how similar to a human child this Changeling was behaving; but from what King Aspen had described about the Changelings having once been human centuries ago, he shouldn't have been to surprised. It was one more thing he had found he was prone to forgetting. These used to be his own species. Perhaps that is why he found it so easy to connect to them. It was the closest thing to his own species he had seen in many lifetimes.

He held the little one on his lap as it chirped, answering it back as Styx and his fellow ranking Changelings finally made themselves visible, walking through the courtyard. Discord didn't bother putting the little one down, though; he was rather enjoying its company.

"Ah, I see one of the younger ones has found her way over to our quest," Styx said, smiling, though Discord could sense he wasn't too happy about it, for some reason.

Rustling the little one's hair playfully, he smiled. "Oh, she? That helps me a bit. But, indeed, Eris found her way over to me, and has been a great bit of company during my wait."

Styx raised an eyebrow up at this. "Eris?"

Discord nods. "Yeah, that's what she said her name was."

Styx looked to his companions, and they turned away to talk to each other for a bit. After a second or two, they turned back, taking seats at the table, as Discord bounced the little one playfully; she was giving excitable chirps whenever she was bounced.

"Well," Styx started, "it's good to see that you can quite easily understand the drones. And I am also glad to see you seem to know how to treat them."

Discord chuckled, nodding. "My Mother told me that Changelings and humans share a common ancient predecessor; I think it's why the queen and I have so little problem connecting as we are."

The commander nodded, and the group began their general discussions. Styx would introduce his companions, who each were simply known by their names, rather than holding any titles. With Commander Styx, he had two female guards, Sky, and Stella; they also had one Changeling who had been recently promoted, in the young Lancer. Discord could sense a very good connection with their names almost always having the sound of an S in them. Though, perhaps it was just coincidence of the ones he was talking to. The discussion began with introductions, and soon made their way to the guards questioning the human on his past. As with their mother, they could sense when he was telling the truth, and when he had to fill in spots he didn't remember. Not often did he ever seem to outright lie, to them, however.

Their curiosity peaked when he began to mention his own mother, the very creator of their kinds.

"She created everything around us," Discord said. "If you see a species in mass numbers, she created the initial two; she hand guided the planting of trees, the formation of the mountains and forests. The seas and desserts were also her personal playground. And, from what I have been taught, when she grew upset with my race a long time ago, she created your ancestors; she lured in humans of old who lacked any real love in their lives, and guided their evolution into your early Changelings."

The groups of Changelings at the table would listen patiently, as Discord would speak as he played with the young female in his lap. Mostly bouncing her on his knee, he eventually had her to the point of nearly falling asleep as he simply massaged his hand on her scalp. Like her queen, the strands of hair were very thin, and likely fragile. When the young one passed out completely, Sky took her from him, and carried her to what she called the nursery.

Then, it was the Changeling's turn, describing their hive dynamics. The first was their structuring and hierarchy. The term "commander" did indeed highlight the uppermost authority of the hive, apart from the queen; it also highlighted whom Chrysalis would also chose to expand the population. The three accompanying the commander were just as responsible for the rest of the hive as him, though. They were messengers, mediators-- as the more primitive Changelings were still prone to infighting--, parental figures, and even judges. As they described it, had Discord in fact not known Chrysalis as he would have claimed, they would have been responsible for coordinating his punishment; from the draining, to the subsequent cementing in the palace grounds. Then, the question at the top of Stella's mind came to the front.

"So, your Mother," she said, voice not too dissimilar from the queens, "is trying to groom you to be some sort of successor?"

Discord shook his head. "Not exactly. She wants me to be the balance for her. She sees herself as the epitome of harmony, and peace. To maintain that balance, and to keep her focus, I am being relentlessly tested and tried until I can break to the point of being the spirit of disharmony, and destruction. In other words, the 'Spirit of Chaos, and Deception.' I do feel it working, and it is strange. I know it is happening, and though I try to remain happy, I know I can't stop the change. She's going to do something to me, one day, and I will no longer be this caring, free man. I will be dangerous beyond human belief."

The Changelings just listened, sensing he needed to vent some of his worries.

"And what I hate most, is I fear that it will come at the cost of those I love the most. Errant, my companion; while I would absolutely love to have her forever, I understand canines have relatively short lifespans. I have come to terms with the possibility of losing her. The White Tail are my greatest friends, aside from the hive; but, I know one day they will leave the cave, and Mother may return for me before we would meet again. And as for the queen, I adore her above all else; but, as with the White Tail, Mother will likely come to take me back. I just hope to live up to my end of this bargain before then."

The impromptu meeting would continue with the Changeling's also expressing their own concerns; many times they were concerns of their appearance to the queen, though some questions did regard what Discord would think of his own sanity. If he felt the voices were on purpose, being just the wind as he said. He would concede that perhaps they weren't, but their consistency, and the complexity of the pitch and tone led him to believe they were there for a reason. Being quite annoyed by the gloomy atmosphere, Styx would steer the conversation away from those subjects. Instead, the discussion began to focus on Errant, and how Discord came to tame the Timberwolf. His unspoken alliance with the Minotaurs, who kept their distance from him, as he would from them.

There was also the discussion of his potion making, and the different ability to read their expressions so well. It had been decided that he was not reading their very minds; but, his ability to pick out what they were thinking, without so much as a peep from them, was impressive to the lot. He would also begin to try an experiment a little, as the group wanted to see if the human could now pick up on natural magic tricks. Though, apart from the hives biology, it seemed he was doomed to find something more attuned to his own body. That was until he was brought to focus on one of the commander's suggested targets: a wilted rose.

While not particularly rare, he had said, roses were not very commonly found blooming this late into the winter; it was a byproduct, no doubt, of the magic pollution throughout the years. Discord would focus on the flower, trying to think on how he could possibly fix it without his growth potion, before he considered an action he had seen since he arrived in the kingdom.

With his mind focused on the rose, primarily, he raised up one of his hand. His pinkie and index folded into his palm, as his middle finger rested on the face of his thumb, while the index finger sat idly by. And with a simple motion, and the snap of his finger, the rose returned to its pristine form, almost instantaneously.

Author's Note:

Note: While Discord does now have access to some basic magic, he does not have his main physics/logic defying stuff. For now, magic pollution and potion side-effects are going to be the main player in a primitve Discord's magic.

And Discord cannot actually read minds. It's more of a mentalism thing; he can read your expressions, and form a conclusion. I guess that could technically be mind-reading, but I feel like mentalism is slight different.

Also what do you all think of the ability I have given this Discord to have some minor connections to nature? And what do you think of the hive dynamic-- with how Chrysalis and her mother, and some guards have developed some advanced language; and the average grunts and builders don't? For some reason it makes sense to me.

I feel like it would be natural, given Mother Nature's meddlings, and maybe side effects of the potions and magic pollution around him. Though, I haven't given him the ability to full understand every creature, just a couple for now.