Chapter 2.2: Edwin Rex

I must've really cracked my head to be seeing Edwin as the leader of these slimes. There was the more logical explanation that it was just a slime that looked like him. But considering that Sheila picked up his machine's signal, it was more likely it was him. What he was doing as king of the slime was probably something that'd he'd play coy with.

As he'd been conversing with Girl me, they seemingly got into an argument. But it seemed like he'd won since she crossed her arms and pouted. Then she motioned for the slime that was carrying me to move along. I'd virtually been wheeled off towards the southern end of the village where I'd be brought before a large wooden hut guarded by this massive reptilian holding an even bigger club. He stepped aside revealing a human-sized doorway. The slime began to cart me inside where two more slimes were standing guard. Both morphed into cockroach men and opened the cell.

There was one other inside the cell, but before I could get a good look at the person the cockroach guys picked me up by my arms and tossed me inside. I ended up crashing into whoever was in the cell with me which prompted an, "Ow what the [Expletive Redacted]." A woman's voice? Wait what..."

The cockroach men barred the cell and returned to their posts outside. I scooted over to the cell door and turned to confirm who I'd crashed into. Wild silver hair, check. Dark skin, check. A glowing marker that looked like a man and a woman embracing each other, that's three.

"Haumea!? What the hell are you doing here!?"

"Soran!? They caught you too?"

"Yeah... By the time I realized their numbers I was overwhelmed. You alright?"

"Yeah... They caught me while I was out. I actually woke up in here yesterday."

"Yesterday? You got here before I did?"

She shook her head, "Apparently we've been here for about four days. The cycles on this planet are rather long. A day here is about two back on Neo Arcadia."

So that meant we've really been here for about a week. I almost got annoyed that Sheila didn't tell me we'd been there that long. But then again I didn't ask. "If that's all the case, do you know that Edwin is here?"

It seemed to be news to her as she tried answering but a thought appeared to have occurred to her. "Well... that sort of makes sense considering that those things try anything while I was out. But why isn't he in here with us?"

Even though I had the answer to her question, I really hated it. I almost felt like if I did answer her, then I'd just be acknowledging such a stupid thing was actually possible. But I could already hear Minerva telling me to conduct myself with decorum or whatever other five credit words she chose at the moment.

"So I should probably warn you that nothing I probably say will make any sense whatsoever. But I do mean every word of it." Taking a deep breath, I prepared myself to get instantly laughed at. "We're stranded on Logress II with Edwin apparently the King of the Slime people."

I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth like Haumea was going to punch me after I said that. But after a few moments, I heard her hands clap and an "Ooohhhh" from her. "Yeah, that makes sense."

What... What the hell... In what world does anything of what I said make sense? I mean the being stranded part was completely reasonable because that's exactly the situation. But Edwin being the King of the Slime people making sense was almost as believable as Dark Matter ponies. Before stating how that absolutely didn't make any sense I reached into my pack and took out my small capsule of Animix. Popping a pill I waited until I at least thought the medicine would kick in. It usually was very good at suppressing headaches from my Anima implant or just headaches in general. Now that I'd taken my medicine I then returned to the conversation at hand.

"How in the blooming [Expletive redacted] does Edwin being the King of Slime people make any [Explative Redacted] sense..."

"Edwin is old," Haumea answered. "Like... Really old. My Father would tell me stories of Eddy Death. He's seen more things in this universe than any Arcadian. A close second to him would probably be Solomon. If anyone has made any friends among the stars it's Edwin. Though it is strange that these things are alive."

When she put everything like that it seemed a lot more plausible. But that's because she knew more about Edwin than I did. I slumped against the bars allowing gravity to sit me down. I'd examined my prosthetic arm. The segments of armor on my forearm opened as a small barrel poked out. Then the idea that the place would explode if I just blasted us out of there.

"On the topic of things making sense," said Haumea. "Why are you still wearing your helmet?"

Looking up from my prosthetic I realized that Haumea was just wearing her Pilot suit, though her helmet was missing. "Why aren't you wearing yours? How can you even breathe right now."

"We're Arcadians man. We're living ether. We can survive in the harshest environments possible. Sure I coughed a bit but I got used to it after an hour. Here..."

She shuffled over to me placing her hands on my helmet. "Yo get off I'm not letting you try that out on me!" I grabbed her wrist and tried pulling her hand off of my helmet. But then I felt a wave of calmness wash over my mind. My muscles relaxed and against my judgment, I let go of her. She then unhooked my helmet and took it off. In the first few seconds, the toxic air began to fill my lungs and I felt my chest tighten. I began coughing so violently that I thought I'd lose all of the oxygen I'd had. I even felt as though the world was strange and lucid like I'd just taken a dive into a river. My empty stomach told me to puke yet nothing came.

"Water!" I cried. "I need water!"

"Sorry, Soran... Water will just make it worse. Trust me. You'll be fine in an hour."

"Ugh... Y-You jerk... You manipulated... My subconscious..."

"Quit your crying. You would've run out of oxygen eventually and this same thing would've happened. Might as well get the messy part out of the way. Tch... Wish I could have a smoke."

I'd spent the large part of a half hour writhing on the ground coughing up spit and puking bile. It wouldn't be until fifteen minutes after that that everything else settled. When I finally calmed down I felt something nice and cool on my head. Using my more fleshing hand I reached up and grabbed whatever was on it. A bottle of water.

"Come on So... Drink up."

Haumea helped me sit up against the bars and unscrewed the cap. As she placed the bottle's opening to my lips water began to leak into my mouth. I drank until I emptied the bottle's contents. My energy was still a bit low but I'd at least gotten used to the burning in my throat.

"Haumea..."

"Yeah Soran..."

"We have to get off of this planet..."

"I know Soran..."

She sat by me even letting me rest my head on her shoulder. I could feel my eyes getting heavy. I'd allow myself to sleep for just a bit even though it was just Haumea and I.

When I would wake next the skies outside were dark. I'd sat up feeling my strength slowly return to me.

"Oh, you're awake? Did you have a nice nap?"

"Please... Don't tell Talia I did this..."

"My lips are sealed. Besides... Your Blonde friend is more my type."

"Blond? Ew Andrew?"

Blegh," Haumea said as she stuck her tongue out. "No... Wait I should've said, cousin. She's your cousin right?"

"I didn't know you were interested in girls."

"You never asked. Besides... We Arcadians don't exactly have a complex about love. Since we can practically mate with any species"

"What's that supposed to mean."

"Eh well... It's a bit hard to explain. How about I tell ya later."

"Heh... Well, regardless you'll probably have to fight Andrew for Minerva."

Though our conversation was probably the nicest thing I'd had since landing on this planet, it'd be rudely interrupted by the sound of the guards shuffling about outside. As we turned to see what was going on we'd seen Edwin approaching us alone.

"Salutations my dear younglings. I hope you were treated nicely."

"Your cronies threw me at Haumea," I said through gritted teeth. "What took you so long to come bust us out!?"

"Sadly that's not what I'm here to do. If I release you that would be counterproductive. I thought Haumea would've told you already."

"You didn't exactly explain this to me either genius," chided Haumea.

"Oops... My apologies. Anyways, this is technically the safest place for you on this planet right now. Besides I've brought food." Two black clouds appeared at both his sides. Reaching into both of them he pulled out two plates filled with food. There was something that looked like a chicken breast, some vargit meat, and a serving of lettuce. "Eat up kids. Even though we only need the sun's radiance to survive eating is very important for morale."

He opened the cell door and placed the plates in front of us. It was a bit weird to eat something in this kind of environment but I knew he'd pester me otherwise. Picking up the chicken I took a bite of it. It strangely tasted good though considering we were on this planet there's no telling where the meet could've actually come from. For all, I knew I could've been eating one of the slime people. Seeing as how the chicken didn't kill me nor did it taste bad, Haumea joined me in eating.

"Now... about our situation," said Edwin.

"Yeah... How come you're king of the slime people," I said.

"Firstly, Slime people is a really reductive term for a species as advanced as the Mimics. Secondly... This is one of the races I saved from Lucian's extinction orders."

"Extinction order?"

"Yes... Something I'm not exactly proud of. As you know, in the days of the Arcadian Empire, as the Trinity Brotherhood Solomon, Lucian, and I had our specific duties. Solomon was the scientist who created technology to uplift the lesser races. Lucian was the explorer and leader of our Military who exercised our power to explore the cosmos. I, however, drew the short straw. I usually was the one who got rid of anyone who challenged our might. That included using my power to... End things to erase entire civilizations."

Right... A fact I tended to forget about when I talked with Edwin.

"You should know the rest of that story," Edwin continued. Anyways, Logress II was marked for extinction. But you see how that went. I didn't save the Mimics simply because of a lapse in judgment. I saved them because I knew one day our brother would return. There are actually a few species across the universe that I preserved for the sake of combating my brother."

"Wait... Didn't you originally want to be convinced to join one of us at that point?" Haumea asked.

"Somewhat... That was mainly a ruse to disguise what I'd actually been doing. Though the one thing I hadn't counted on was Soran being there."

Woah... Did I really make that much of a difference? No, it can't be.

"Anyways... The Mimics are special as Soran has seen. By absorbing the DNA of a living being they can transform into that being with ninety-five percent accuracy. There are some changes the Mimic will make and some it will not have control over."

"Wait... Does that mean that there's a chance that Girl me could've chosen to just straight up be an imperfect clone of me?"

"Yes," Edwin said. "Though I am glad she did not copy your Marker."

"That's possible?" Haumea asked.

"Yes... Though it wouldn't be as powerful the potential for her to gain one is still there. That particular Mimic doesn't know it yet. But she may be the most powerful being on this planet aside from us."

A scary thought to have. But it could be valuable if we were to convince her to join us. Two of me running around would probably have Lucian scared.

"By the way... How do they communicate? I couldn't understand anything you were saying to them."

Edwin raised a brow, then gave the question some thought. "I was sure I taught them basic. Oh, wait... I wonder something. Haumea, lend me your ear."

Edwin began whispering something in Haumea's ear and the latter seemed to be a bit confused by whatever odd request the former was making. When they were done she placed her hand on my head and the other on Edwins.

"Subconscious Learning," she chanted.

In that instant, my mind began to fill with all sorts of knowledge even though some of it was too garbled up to understand. But in that mess of subconscious thoughts, I'd begun to hear voices coming from outside. The sounds of what could be considered a party going on filled my ears. There was laughter, shouting, and I'm pretty sure I heard a few swear words too."

When Haumea was done she let go of both of us, leaning against the cell wall as she recovered a bit.

"There... Now you be able to hear them."

"What did you have Haumea do?" I asked.

"Nothing painful. I just had her transfer knowledge between the three of us. The Mimics actually speak at a frequency that you'd probably not hear. I've just had Haumea give you the ability to hear it."

"Wait... She can do that?"

"Yes..." Haumea answered. "Instincts are basically subconscious thoughts or actions. It's not hard to do so. How do you think I knew your location back in the Prime System?"

She had a point. There were probably a lot of things she could do with The Lovers Maker. Hell, I'm sure if she was still working for Lucian she could've crushed us all by herself.

"Alright... Well, that takes care of our present situation. But what about our past one?"

"You mean how we got here in the first place," Edwin surmised. I nodded then sat on the wall with Haumea.

"I think it's time you filled us in. My memory is a bit foggy on the exact details."

"Very well... I shall tell you everything..."