What happened after that passed in a blur. Alesha was ushered to a podium (to which she had, in a daze, brought Collin's corpse), some words were said, and what seemed like a celebration or conclusion ceremony was then conducted.
Hundreds of Patrons cheered, Zorhellian showed her off like a prize show animal, and she stuffed herself silly with all sorts of now-familiar alien foods during the after-party.
She chatted some with Rogork, feeling both relieved and nervous about the evolution that would soon happen.
Every so often, a pair of messages would pop up as if to remind her that she'd be evolving soon.
[Evolution will now commence!]
[Error! Evolution unavailable, polymorph is in effect! Evolution temporarily put on hold.]
Evidently, this version of Zorhellian's "polymorph" was so powerful that evolution couldn't happen until later; if she was honest with herself, a part of her wondered what she would have to do to get a skill like that for herself. However, she was not so dense as to even ask. There was no way she'd endanger her opportunity to go home now just for the ability to maybe conveniently postpone evolution later.
That night, she retired to her assigned room. Apparently, Zorhellian had something else for her to do before she went home, even after all the event wrap-up had completed.
She wished she could say that she didn't mind the delay. But if she were to try and say so now, it would be a lie. She didn't want to wait any longer to return.
Looking at the corpse that lay in the corner of the room, Alesha chuckled at how ludicrous her attachment to the thing -- or rather, the eggs incubating in its chest cavity -- was.
She pictured returning home with Collin's corpse in tow.
"Hey mom, I'm back!" She'd say, then her parents (one or both of them) would scream at the gruesome sight. They were, of course, unused to the sights of blood and gore right in front of them, and wouldn't share her instinctive draw to her yet-unborn children. Following that, her parents would call the police and possibly get her admitted to a mental hospital for a full examination, probably followed by reconditioning -- with the excuse that it was "for her sake." Her children would likely not survive long enough to hatch, be killed soon after hatching, starve to death or be studied in captivity in an Alliance lab somewhere.
[My word, now wouldn't that be a sight?]
"Shut up, I'm brooding," Alesha mumbled.
[BAHAHHAA she even admits it now!!]
Alesha ignored Rogork's outburst and continued thinking.
Those were just the possibilities if she came back as a human -- which, more than likely, she wouldn't.
Would she return to Elantris already evolved, in the process of evolving, or would it start after she got there?
What would she be when she arrived?
What state would the planet be in by the time she got there? A lot could happen in a year. Would there even be people left to be horrified by both her and the corpse she would hopefully not be forced to leave behind?
[You've got that right! Toltura could've taken over your home planet by now, easy peasy lemon squeezy. Or straight-up demolished it.]
"How do you demolish a planet?" Alesha wondered idly. It would be strange for a Goddess not to have the power to do so, she realized, but she was curious all the same. Was there a specific method to it? Explosives, a giant wrecking ball, or something else entirely?
When Rogork made a smug, self-satisfied sound that she interpreted as it being unwilling to answer even though it knew, she sighed.
She got up off her bed and crouched in front of Collin's body.
Ignoring the man himself, she gazed with a troubled expression at the egg sacs in the cavity where his heart used to be. There were twelve of them.
From what she remembered of the Mistress's Monstrous Reproduction skill, the babies would hatch in two weeks' time, and they'd be the species of the mother.
What Alesha didn't know is what "species" she counted as for the purpose of the skill. Did she count as a human, since she was polymorphed into one when her children were created? Or did the skill count her race as 'cursed sword,' since that was her current natural form? Or, was it possible that it somehow saw through all the layers of alteration, and her children would be born as 'dragonchildren' like the System had evolved her into?
Whatever the case, this had happened at the worst possible time.
Why had the skill only activated during the fight with Collin? Why had none of her other opponents ever gotten her riled up like that, even when she almost died to them? Wasn't the skill's targets supposed to be 'particularly strong individuals of the opposite sex' or something like that?? She'd seen plenty of strong people in the cafeteria, but none of them had ever made her react like that.
Well, except for that one just recently. But that was beside the point.
She buried her head in her hands, cursing whatever twist of fate had made things turn out this way.
As much as she knew it was an inconvenience, as much as she logically wanted to do so, Alesha could never abandon her strange, lumpy children intentionally.
Was this a side effect of the skill? Or was this how she truly felt?
She didn't know.
[Hehe,] Rogork laughed. [What a surprise. To see the person who used to preach, "human, human!" at every turn now doing something so very monstrous, loving the unholy offspring she created by eating the heart of a man she killed… Oh how sweet this moment is!!]
Alesha hugged her knees.
Was resistance futile from the start?