Hive Knight: A Dark Fantasy LitRPG (Trinity of the Hive Book 1) by Grayson Sinclair (black authors fiction txt) 📕

Wilson spoke up, echoing the train of thought going through my mind. “I guess the governing AI would need some way to explain our presence here, but it is odd that this is the first time an NPC is speaking about it.”

“It’s probably an unconscious bit of knowledge placed by Edn—the AI when they create an NPC. And I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t exactly go around having deep conversations with NPCs.” Evelyn spoke up from whatever she was looking at on her interface to chime in.

“She’s right, though,” I said, looking down at Eris. “Eris is the first NPC I’ve ever really talked to beyond polite conversation. But surely someone out there has spent more time with them than we have.”

“Perhaps, but I fear we have gotten off-topic. We’ll have plenty of time for philosophical debate once we’re no longer under threat of attack. So, I’m assuming that Eris is adamant about traveling with you?”

It would take ten minutes to reach the Compass Kingdom using a scroll. Traveling by mount would take at least a week. I leaned over to speak to Eris. ”Are you sure I can’t convince you to stay here while I make a quick trip to the capital?”

She shook her head. “Not a chance, my bonded. Wherever you go, I follow.”

I could see immediately that I wasn’t going to have a shot in hell at convincing her otherwise, “Okay, you win. We shall go together,” I told her.

She just smiled wide at me, showing off her sharp teeth. I went to address the room. “Now that we have the first order of business taken care of. I have a more personal issue to announce.” I paused. How am I going to say this?

I tried to find the right way to say it and came out wanting. “Ah, hell. I guess I don’t have a good way to say this, so I’ll just put it bluntly. I’m not entirely human anymore.”

It took me about five minutes to get them to stop laughing. Well, most of them, anyway. Adam and Evelyn seemed to take me at my word, at least.

After the laughter had died down to a dull roar, I pulled my hair back and let them all get a good look at my newest feature. It got quiet fast after that. They could all see the elongation and pointedness of my ears. Rationalization dawned on their faces, as they tried and failed to come up with a logical explanation as to why I was suddenly different. I saved them the trouble.

“I am now a hybrid. What that means, I haven’t figured out yet. Though it seems I am half human and half Hive, which, according to Eris, were several races of insectoid demi-humans that thrived in this world before we ever came here.”

“Okay, sure. You’re now a hybrid, got it, great. We’ve seen other things just as strange, and you have the ears to back up your claims, so I have no choice in accepting what you’re saying,” Wilson said. “The better question is, how did this happen? Is it because of Eris?”

“Yes…and no. It’s complicated.”

Wilson got quiet for a second, his face turning several unflattering shades of red and purple, and his veins stretched tight. He was trying very hard not to scream at me. He blew out a heavy breath and placed his palms on the table, trying to calm down. “I told you to be careful, D. And look what happens. I told you she couldn’t be trusted.”

“Hey, don’t blame Eris for this. It wasn’t her fault.”

He wasn’t convinced but backed off. Which I was thankful for. Any more and we might have come to blows, but he’s just looking out for me.

“Now let’s get back on topic. Yes, I am now a hybrid, but that’s not the only new change with me. I also received a new class, and on top of that, my level was reset,” I immediately held up my hand to stop the onslaught of questions I knew would be coming. At this rate, we would never get through the meeting.

“I will tell you a little about my class, but not everything. As we all know, sharing information like that is generally considered a faux-pas. My class is called Hive Knight, and as far as I can tell, it’s unique,” I said, before telling them about receiving the hidden quest and jumping back up to level forty-four.

After hearing this, a few had concerns about Eris and me going alone to Central—and right in the middle of Alliance territory. I shared their concerns; it freaked me out that I was so low leveled and with a strange and unfamiliar class to boot. Godsdamn it! It’s not fucking fair! I lost everything…but what else can I do? Getting furious won’t solve anything, won’t get what I lost back. Man up, Duran, and deal with it.

I dissuaded them from having someone else accompany us. "I hate to admit it, but I have the best chance of getting in and out without incident. You know, barring me getting caught and strung up by the church."

The debate went back and forth for around fifteen minutes before we settled the matter.

“Okay, no more arguing. I’m going.”

“While we are all here, I have a few guild matters we need to discuss,” Wilson said, standing from his chair.

“Yeah, yeah,” I said, standing with Eris from my seat. “I approve whatever, go team.”

“Duran!” Wilson shouted at my back.

I waved him off and left the guildhall with Wilson cursing my name. I needed food and a lot more sleep. I took care of the first when we went by the kitchen. Eris and I devoured a whole chicken and then we went upstairs for some quiet time so I could catch up on my sleep.

Chapter 13 -