Three Spheres

Chapter 27 - Centipede

Almost 2 years ago, the prodigious Paragon from the interior of Albam arrived at Meigdan's fort, known by the extremely competent teachers. He came with an exhausted smile and a recommendation letter with the shield's letterhead. Deodoro greeted him with a handshake and said:

_ I was asked to be your tutor, but the other teachers are willing to help us too, all right, Alscher?

It didn't take long for Dijana, Nayla and Emília to welcome him like an old friend. Amadeo was not used to this kind and warm treatment. Nayla would repeat to herself: "My life mission is to make this sad boy happy again. That and other things too!".

Almost a year had passed, excessively fast. Part of Amadeo's tutored activities was to accompany the Majors of the headquarteds in missions. One day, Emília decided to drag him to the mountains of Flavi, where an Omukade* had appeared.

_ A pair of friends from Nigrum called me out for backup. You'll come along to help clean up the mess, kid. _ Emília said, with a sadistic smile on her lips.

Amadeo couldn't refuse. They left in one day and arrived in the next.

At the station, they met Gamila, who at that time, wore short hair, in a small black-power. She hugged Emília and then greeted Amadeo:

_ And you are?

_ This is my Paragon puppy! _ Emília exclaimed, sinking one of her heavy hands on the boy's head _ I brought him without permission from Lady Fortescue, so let's keep this... just between us, Gamila. _ Emília blinked and Gamila nodded _ But what about Mooya? Where's him?

_ He was embarrassed to meet you and made up an excuse to wait at the base. _ Gamila laughed _ He's in that phase of the transition when things are still adjusting, especially the effects of the medications.

_ That's ridiculous! _ Emília exclaimed, furious _ And am I someone to be ashamed of??!! I've been helping him since the beginning and that's how he repays me?! I'll beat that trans ass of him as soon as I find him...!!

Gamila smiled; Amadeo feared for the safety of the colleague, but soon questioned:

_ "Mooya" is Major Musonda? I thought the first name was "Lolade".

_ That's his old name. _ Gamila replied _ Unlike Emília, who understood her own gender identity soon, my cousin took a while to understand himself. So, he just recently changed his social name.

_ Ahh! Got it. _ Amadeo replied, with a mental record so as not to confuse the pronouns.

The three went to the base at the foot of the mountain. On the way, Gamila explained the situation: 6 days ago, an Omukade about 350m long, appeared to the south. Quickly, people from nearby towns were evacuated and two entire villages were destroyed, fortunately, with no victims. District members created a containment system, with walls and barriers, preventing the giant centipede from continuing its descend. However, their efforts were insufficient to kill it and they were already overwhelmed dealing with desperate people. The ACU was then called in to finish the matter. Mooya and Gamila arrived the day before and were preparing the approach plan.

_ Do you know what's an Omukade, Amadeo? _ Emília asked.

_ "Giant centipedes from the wet caves of Flavi, irrational, and extremely rare. Carnivorous diet of large creatures such as Dragons. It secretes a large amount of poison from their frontal claws, but it has low toxicity to humans, but is extremely painful. The main weakness of Omukade is human saliva, for unknown reasons"*. That's what I remember from theTaxonomica. _ He replied, with an air of disinterest.