Vittea was stuck, and she had been for days. She sat in the middle of a pile of drone parts, staring into nothing. An idea had caught in her mind, of a drone she could wear. The more she learned of the dungeons, the Library in particular, from Yasua and Merritith the more she wanted to go out there. And the drones were her key, she felt. 

 

Her first attempt had been fairly primitive. She had simply tried drilling out insides to make room for her to wear the drone. However, the drones were built very intentionally, the material engraved with the very runes that made it work. The hardsilk was set in layers, each layer containing an additional set of instructions. 

 

She tried to move the runes onto the outer layer, leaving free space inside for her to remove. But when she tried to pump any magic into it the whole thing melted into a pile of liquid hardsilk. No go.

 

Her other work in the refinery at least helped to distract her. She had been following Berrina through her pace, learning how the hardsilk was made. In order to maximize the enchantment potential of the material, the silk strands were woven into glyphs before being soaked in the liquefied crystal, which was then engraved further, allowing multiple layers of instructions in only a single layer of hardsilk. 

 

The heat she had seen pouring off of the enormous crucibles was, in fact, magic vapor. The crystal was harvested from monsters corrupted by ether incursions, areas in the weave of reality where raw ether seeped through. The corruption was devastating, but after the mutated creatures were slain and the ether dispersed the materials left behind were central to not only the hive, but all of the societies across the realms. Thus, the crystals responded less to heat than they did pure magical energy. 

 

Vittea had started working regular shifts in the refinery, and had picked up the craft quickly. She came to enjoy the weight of the protective gear and the sight of the silk slowly consumed by the crystal goop. The drone work was done in her own time, with damaged or spare parts than Berrina let her have.

 

Lessons had also been going well. Merritith turned out to be uncharacteristically excitable when discussing hive logistics, and had an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the Library. The crystal cores that powered the drones Vittea had been fiddling with also came from ether-warped monsters, and were the main goal of the Delver’s Guild. They had a deal with the Hive to give them one core for every two they collected, as well as the Hive doing their own hunting when Delvers weren’t available.

 

The incursions were a hazard, Merritith stressed, but not one that could be solved. They were a manifestation of the very structure of the realms, and so instead of fighting the inevitable the Hive adapted. The great gem in the center of the Diadem was itself a crystal core, pulled from an enormous beast that the Queen at the time had slain when they first arrived in the Library. The incursions were why regular patrols were so vital, while also being the very reason the Hive was able to field so many drones. The priority was to maximize defense while minimizing casualties, and it worked.

 

Training with Yasua had only gotten more brutal, but Vittea found herself enjoying it after the soreness of the first week had worn off. Each time she sparred with Hendria she felt her movements smooth out, her limbs and wings working just a little more in sync.

 

She had also been keeping an eye on her mentors. There seemed to be a change in the vibe between them. There wasn’t as much awkward sputtering or pining, but at the same time they sat closer than they used to, smiled at each other more, along with lots of little touches. She really wanted to know what happened, but it would be rude to poke too much into their business.

 

Today, however, it was hard to focus on the fighting, and Yasua noticed.

 

“Is everything alright, Vittea?” Yasua asked, nodding to Hendria to go take a break and get water. Vittea simply sighed, leaning on her spear. “Sorta. My project is sort of stuck at a dead end, and I’m not quite sure where to go to make it work.” Yasua nodded in sympathy, stepping in front of her. “Fight while we talk, it might help.”

 

Yasua held out her hand, and Vittea could sense her sending a spark of magic down her arm and into the bracelet she always wore. The bracelet glowed brightly, silk tendrils spiraling out into the grip of her spear, but…it wasn’t just a grip. Vittea could see the glyphs engraved into the material. Once it was completed, more silk sprouted from the grip, forming the haft and the tip in sequence. 

 

Vittea stepped forwards, grabbing the spear to get a better look while ignoring a bemused Yasua. The glyphs on the bracelet weren’t to make the spear, they were to make a grip that had glyphs for making the rest of the spear! Instead of making the bracelet do all the work, it created components with instructions to make other components, creating a chain of self-perpetuating glyph nodes! 

 

This was it! She was trying to make something that already had an explicit purpose do a task it wasn’t built to do. Instead, she needed to start from base principles. What if she…that might work, what about…hundereds of ideas and plans flickered through her head. She shoved the spear back into Yasua’s hands and sprinting as fast as was safe out of the gymnasium. “Sorry! I’ll explain later! Whoops, sorry Merritith! Gotta go!” she shouted behind her as she almost crashed into her tutor, barely dodging out of the way before bolting down the hallways. She had to try this, as soon as possible.

***

“BERRINA I NEED YOUR HELP!?” Vittea shouted as she ran into the refinery, dodging and weaving through the machinery. Berrina’s head snapped up from the drone she was repairing. 

 

“What’d you break this time, and how? Also NO RUNNING DAMMIT!” She grabbed Vittea by the collar of her silk shirt, her feet spinning in the air as she panted in excitement. “Sorrysorrysorry but I gotta try something and I need your help.”

 

Vittea explained her plan, still suspended from Berrina’s grip, and the engineer’s expression of shock and annoyance shifted to curiosity and excitement. “I like that, and if it actually works…lemme get my engraving tools, you go get some snacks and coffee, we’re gonna be at this for a while.”

***

Sparks and curses flew through the air of Vittea’s little workstation tucked in the corner of the refinery. Failed chunks of melted hardsilk laid discarded on the ground as both mothwomen leaned over the workbench, focused. 

 

“We just can’t put that much stress on silk! It can conduct, or it can channel in glyphs, but if you make it do both it just evaporates. That’s exactly why we use the hardsilk,” Berrina commented, tapping her pencil against the sketches scattered across the table. 

 

“But putting the instructions on how to melt and mold the hardsilk just takes too much space, and if we try to solve that with layering then we just have to add even more glyphs to guide the layering. It’d be way easier if we just had a template built that we could….OH FUCK I’VE GOT IT!” Vittea shouted, her multifaceted eyes sparkling with excitement.

 

“We build the suit first, imprint the hardsilk controller with the design, and then have it absorb it back into raw materials! We don’t need to teach it how to make the suit, we just need it to follow a blueprint!” She was vibrating in place, grabbing her engraving tools and new ingots of hardsilk. Berrina chuckled with delight, and the work began anew.

***

It had been hours since Vittea had fled their sparring session when Merritith and Yasua arrived to check on her, snacks and tea in hand. Vittea laid on the ground, her eyes drooping with exhaustion despite her wide grin and satisfied giggles. Berrina, looking just as tired, was going over the last touches of what looked like a backpack, a necklace, a pair of bracelets, and boots. 

 

Yasua looked over the gear with a raised eyebrow as Berrina gratefully accepted the snacks and Merritith set up the tea. “What…is that? Doesn’t really look like either a drone or a suit of armor.”

 

Berrina smirked and jerked her head towards the delirious Vittea as she bit into a chunk of mox cheese wrapped in crispy lettuce. “Wait till she’s done, she’ll explain it. It’s…something new, that’s for sure. Not sure how much use it’ll be on a grand scale, but I gotta admit, she’s got a brain on her, and the grit to use it. You two got yourselves a weird’un, but she sure is interestin’.”

 

Vittea eventually stopped giggling and, with a groan, pulled herself to her feet to accept the tea and snacks, all four arms busy shoving food and drink into her mouth. Merritith gently scolded her, pushing a napkin into her hands. Vittea looked up at Yasua and Merritith fussing over her and smiled. “Thanks, you two,” she said with a genuine smile. “I mean it. I was scared, honestly, when I first showed up here, but you guys made it feel like home. So thanks.”

 

She set down her snacks and gave both mothwomen a warm hug, with another for Berrina, who rolled her eyes but hugged her back nonetheless. Yasua and Merritith beamed at each other before Merritith very casually took Yasua’s hand in hers, giving it a squeeze out of Vittea’s sight.

 

“Alright, time to demonstrate. Berrina, did the connections look good? I think I did it right, but I don’t wanna explode?” Vittea asked, causing Merritith to sputter through her tea. Vittea waved off her concern, which did very little to comfort her. However, Merritith stayed silent.

 

“Ye, everything looks good. I told ya before, you did somethin’ real here, kiddo,” Berrina said with a smile, handing over the backpack and accessories to Vittea. Vittea rolled her eyes as she slipped the bracelets on before strapping on the boots. The necklace went on next, followed by the shimmering backpack. “Hush you,” Vittea said. “I’m not even that much younger than you. Plus you helped a lot. Wouldn’t have been able to do it without you, boss.” 

 

Vittea gave Berrina one last nod and, with a long steadying breath, pressed a button in the center of her necklace. Tendrils of silk weaved lattices extending from the necklace down her chest and across her neck, with more reaching up over her head. When the lattice reached her bracelets and boots her backpack began to glow. Hardsilk flowed out of her necklace and down the lattice, filling the gaps in the silk. The silk pulsed as the hardsilk formed, and glyphs appeared on the surface of the material. 

 

She wobbled as her boots extended, the hardsilk curving around her feet to form long, reverse jointed legs. Her wings tripled in size, the thin webbing of hardsilk rippling in the light breeze of the refinery. Her antennae extended, curling back over her head. Her bottom left hand was covered in heavier reinforced plating with a gleaming gem at the tip, a standard blaster design used on ranged drones, while her bottom right was elongated and sharpened, turned into a wicked curved blade. Her top two hands remained unchanged, though armored. 

 

Once she was covered in shimmering blue crystal, thin white lines of silk still visible through the hardsilk, while fuzz started to form on the seams in the panels. Her hips, shoulders, knees, and especially around her neck were coated in thick fuzz, similar to her hair filaments. 

 

After only a few seconds, Vittea no longer stood in front of them. In her place was a bizarre creature bearing only a passing resemblance to the Hive’s drones. Long, agile legs, ready to spring into the air. Vast wings spread out behind them, curling around them and obscuring their form. It tested its hands, opening and closing its fists as its lower arms stretched. It was an uncanny merging of the biological and the synthetic, its eyes glowing with the power contained within. It raised a hand to its head, pressing a button on its temple. The helmet folded away, the material receding back into the necklace to reveal Vittea’s beaming face. 

 

She shifted her weight back and forth on her new legs, grinning delightedly at the three stunned mothwomen staring open-mouthed at her. “Cool, right?!”