Chapter 2: Rejoice for the King is Born
Imhokepri experienced a second birth during that same hour, being expelled from the egg that was the nest, a skyscraper reflecting the ambition of the colony it harboured. The dull pain from Neferpitou's fist was an afterthought.
It's bright, and wonderfully so.
Rays of the first light reaching his sensitive eyes as he hurtled through the air, his body shuddering due to the forces being exerted on him.
Beneath him, a backdrop of dense greenery passing by. Trees attempting to touch the sky, grass below attempting to touch its light. Around that, a jagged dull coloured mountain range of a monochromatic brown hue.
Crash. He broke through the canopy and impacted the ground as if a skipped stone, skidding along its surface and carving out the earth beneath him before halting just before a towering tree. The dense canopy forbade view of the sky, only letting in smatterings of sunlight through the cracks between leaves.
My body feels energised. What did Neferpitou do to me? His body had been immersed in a thin layer of translucent white aura with crooked edges, it leaked from him, unbridled. Imhokepri, staggered to his feet, seemingly unfazed by the violent trip down to the surface. He observed himself momentarily.
His feet were humanoid, with his toes being talons. In the same fashion, his hands featured thick black talons on his fingertips in place of nails.
There was a still body of water in the distance, in a clearing not too far away from where he stood. Upon approaching it, he faced its surface and regarded himself further. A human face with the distinct qualities of a bird. Compact rectangular eyes, pronounced bones.
As for his hair, it was messily slicked back, with stray locks of hair curling over his forehead to serve as bangs. Its colour was a blend of white and black interspersed across his spiky follicles.
No thoughts were to be had about his appearance as there were not yet any notions of pre-conception. It was not a case of what he ought to look like, simply one of what he was.
These wings of mine. They twitched. Where shall they take me? He burst through the canopy, flapping his multicoloured wings which spanned the entire length of his body.
Above him, Neferpitou perched herself on the top of the nest, a monolithic mound of dirt and excrement. I guess he figured it out. She frowned, then chortled. 'Pouf.', Imhokepri's address of Shaiapouf. It seems he'll be an interesting one.
He found himself moving back toward the nest. Entering it through the same hole from which he had been expelled. Neferpitou had returned to her position on the sofa chair before he arrived. A table of dirt, a ribbed cup, water, a leaf.
His baptism is overdue, I'd like to see the results of his Water Divination.
"That was a welcoming gesture, Kepri." Sultry sing-song occupied the air. "By nyow, I'm sure you can see it." An aura rippled the air in the way immense heat would. A purple haze, the manifestation of predation, one's utmost authority.
Imhokepri's expression hardened slightly.
It is foul. The sight of it.
"This energy surrounding you and myself, what is it? Neferpitou."
He refers to me as 'Neferpitou'. But refers to Shaiapouf as 'Pouf'.
"It is authority, or 'Nen' as the others prefer to call it." Her white tail brushed her rippling hair aside, unveiling a menacing pair of murky red eyes with slitted pupils. Thoughts of hers could not be read.
"Nyow, " A strange verbal tic. "Come over here, I have something cool to show you." She beckoned him to the table with a clawed finger. "Do as I do."
Her hands hovered around the cup as aura gathered around them. Ripples, forming circles, radiated outward from the centre of the liquid, disturbing the leaf until it blackened then shrivelled into a fine dust. "To keep it brief, there are different Nen types. This is a simple way of determining one's type." She leant her head on her palm, sitting in a cross-legged manner at the same time. "Nyow, show me your authority, Kepri."
Those doll-like eyes which were in line with her marionette appearance gleamed brightly with fascination. It was almost as if she were attempting to seduce him into doing her bidding.
Why does she refer to this substance as authority?
As with the other Royal Guards, he had a natural aptitude for Nen. He replicated her movements and funnelled Nen into the cup. The liquid, again, quaked along with the cup. This time overflowing onto the table.
Enhancer, unexpected. Neferpitou expected him to be a Specialist based on what she gathered regarding the link between one's personality and their Nen type. Imhokepri's removed demeanour was a misdirection.
"Tell me what this means."
"You are an Enhancer. Those of this type can enhance their physical properties and the properties of objects." She raised her clawed index finger. "So, you can enhance your body among other things." Her ears twitched, rotating in opposite directions but still working in synergy. Someone's coming. She looked up, Imhokepri's gaze trailed behind.
Shaiapouf made an entrance, gracefully descending on the pair. No instrument in hand this time, grandiosity still the same. He interjected in their discussion.
She seems to be acquainting herself with him well. "The birth of his majesty is imminent, we must be there to greet him into this world of." He twirled mid-air, leaving a trail of shimmering dust. "His!" A perfect image of the zealot. I shall be not only the king's right hand, but the left. When he moves to pick up the spoon. I shall raise it for him! "We must be there post-haste!"
I can only speculate as to what type 'his majesty' is. He must be great if he can inspire such loyalty. Imhokepri wore a neutral expression.
Neferpitou blinked twice, equally indifferent to his display. "Pouf, you're bleeding from your eyes again."
Shaiapouf cackled with total abandon, hugging himself.
"Ah, it seems I've shed a few tears for this joyous occasion. Nonetheless, let us go forth!" Just as he moved to fly off, his eyes raked over Imhokepri's bare figure. "Pitou, get him clothes, he is too unsightly to be in his presence."
Wailing echoed throughout the nest.
Rip. The veinous egg embedded in the Queen's abdomen bursted, deflating around a clenched fist, his first conquest. "Silence." His majesty ripped his way out of the egg without any regard for his mother.
Immense aura gushed from him in waves, washing over the others in his presence.
I'm kneeling? This must be the authority Pitou spoke of. His body reflexively submitted to the king's authority. Not out of piety, that was just the weight of his aura. None could stand in its midst.
Adjacent to himself were Shaiapouf and Neferpitou who also knelt. Shaiapouf spoke up.
"Y-Your majesty," Seemingly stuttering from pure excitement "It is my honour to be in your servi-"
Crack. His tail smacked Shaiapouf's face, flickering in and out of existence in less than a fraction of a second. Ending his sentence in an ellipses as it seemed Shaiapouf had intended to continue to wash him in sycophancy. Shaiapouf's vanished body had been flung and deeply embedded into a nearby wall.
"You were told to be silent, if you wish to dote on me as if I'm a child," His jaw lowered mechanically, parting his lips to reveal pristine rows of crystalline teeth. All of which adhering to a hexagonal structure. "Feel free to offer yourself to me as my first meal." The king's first edict.
The contents of that egg were frozen.
The king raked those unfeeling eyes across his trio of guards who were now two on account of Shaiapouf being dashed into oblivion. He was still alive, hopefully. The king's serpentine tail slithered towards Neferpitou's chin, the attached stinger flicking her head upward. "Name yourself."
"Neferpitou, your majesty." He nodded in acknowledgment, moving onto Imhokepri and performing the same act with his tail. "Imhokepri," A delay. The king's stinger lingered on his throat. This one wishes to address me casually?
"Your majesty." Of the three, it appeared Imhokepri was the least fervent. Even worse, he's unsure. He doubts my authority. Before the king doled out further punishment, he was distracted. That one survived. "Hmph." The king looked amused.
Shaiapouf peeled himself from the wall, no, he willed it, re-entering the scene with a fragment of his dignity remaining. He dropped to a knee due to his injury rather than subservience. "Shaiapouf, your majesty". Drip... Drip Blood leaking from his nose.
"I will recognize you as my guard for having survived that attack, that gives you distinction." The king moved off, discarding the corpse of his mother. "Do not undermine my intelligence with your undue praises, flattery as you'd call it." I do not wish to be surrounded by such mindless things lest I become one myself.
Are we loyal to that one's actions or his authority? Imhokepri's expression perpetually seemed to be one of an individual in a serene trance like state. In actuality, it was that he was so far removed from it all. None of it could reach him. Nothing changes the fact. I exist to serve him.
"Hey, Pouf, you're actually bleeding this time." Neferpitou scratched her cheek, breaking the tension. Her words were rejected entry into Shaiapouf's inner world.
He's recognised me. His inner monologue was that of a broken record's as he replayed the moment of his majesty's praise of him back to back. He couldn't hear Neferpitou's remark, remaining in a trance like state almost equal to Imhokepri's as he knelt. Drip, Drip. Tears. Those vacant eyes glazed with amber hues were gates to something incomprehensible.
"Nyever mind then." Neferpitou shrugged, leaving the scene with a carefree skip in her step.
All Imhokepri had gathered from his short time on this Earth was of cruelty, and the means to enact it. One's authority. One submits to authority. One respects authority. And if one has the authority, it is correct.
He looked to his hand shrouded in Nen, a memento from her. Neferpitou had successfully imparted her animalistic view of the world onto him, though through no fault of her own.
She pondered on him as she walked. Kepri was the only one of us to truly be born a child, I had to nyudge him in the right direction for the king's sake. Her eyes narrowed. He has yet to see the world.
Shortly after the king's birth it became time to establish his territory. Of course, it had to be fitting for a king. As such, there was nowhere best than a palace.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone