Minerva stressed as she found Alice missing. Illuminura broke free of her haze and found Minerva looking at her with eyes filled with distress. She looked around and she too found the Venusian missing.

In Illuminura she found a solution. She approached her and spoke.

"Hold still. This isn't going to take much." Minerva said.

"I beg your pardon girl." Illuminura spat as Minerva closed in.

Minerva put her hand against Illuminura's forehead and opened her mind. She absorbed all the information she could but centuries of memories, knowledge and emotion was quite the load to bear. This took time and strained Minerva as she processed everything she learned.

Short of breath Minerva staggered backwards. She stared at the celestial as she wheezed and gasped for air. She stared into Illuminura's eyes with her own. Centuries of memories of things her many minds had never known.

Illuminura grabbed Minerva by the collar.

"What was that?!" She asked.

"I merely learned what was going on in your mind. As a telepath yourself I thought you'd understand." Minerva answered.

Illuminura hesitated and let her go. Minerva turned to the tunnel ahead of them and reflected upon what she learned. Copying what she saw in Illuminura's memories she opened her mind. Then she saw the world ahead of them light up with life.

"Come... I see them. Our friends are not too far away." She said

Minerva then proceeded to march off into the darkness, following the light. Impressed Illuminura tagged along silently. Illuminura had never thought the girl anything more than a wise one. Yet every day she proved to be more than she ever was.

Even with merely the fraction of her power remaining Illuminura sensed darkness with Minerva. Not that Minerva was a malicious soul but more a sponge that drained life from the world around it.

Illuminura hadn't given the girl much attention. Now, however, she was alone with the creature. Stuck together in the confines of the underground tunnels she could not take her mind off the girl she followed.

"You... do not appreciate your current state do you not?"

"Devoid of my full strength. Having to rely on others for survival. Tis pathetic! I am above this."

"Sometimes that is all that is needed."

Illuminura's hands curled into fists as pent up frustration simmered to the surface.

"It doesn't bring about solutions! It doesn't end the suffering!"

In anger, she lashed out at a column driving her fist straight through the ancient concrete and iron.

"I am above this! I... I hate this weakness."

"You are no goddess. You are more human than you think. By these memories of yours, I think it is more of an unbalancing of the soul is to blame."

"What?"

"Find peace within your soul and there you'll find strength."

Silenced Illuminura delved into thought as she followed Minerva through the ancient halls of the city. This one had caved in many years ago but new life had drilled a path through the earth. Minerva was determined to find them.

Soon they happened upon the open doors to a large round room. Psychic singing rung loudly within their minds as if a sense of bliss was injected into them. Overwhelmed Illuminura succumbed to her desires. With every note sung, it seemed that heaven drew her ever closer in her drunken stupor.

Minerva, however, dropped to her knees, gripping her skull. So many contradicting fantasies being experienced by so many minds at once was agony for her. She hissed and rocked back and forth as a million visions of heaven amalgamated into paralysing static that ruined her mind.

Twas not long before she collapsed from the maddening strain. All around her humanoid sirens revealed themselves out of the darkness. They studied her closely as she wailed on the cold stone floor until she finally passed out from the shock.

Meanwhile, Alice had cornered the insectoid creature. She had donned her helm a while ago and used its night vision to see in the dark. The thing was quaking in fear as she drew her weapon and closed in.

"Don't eat me!" It cried out.

Alice watched as it quaked in fear. She aimed for a few moments as she studied the creature and then lowered her weapon and knelt before it. Its bulbous eyes peered through chitinous talons back at her.

"Have you seen another of my kind?" She asked.

The creature took a closer look.

"Y-yes."

"Take me to him." Alice demanded.

The creature nodded and slowly walked forward as she let it pass. Then it took off to the right scurrying down a tunnel. She chased it down the hole and for some time she pursued the being down on tunnel after tunnel.

That is until finally she broke through a thin layer of chitin and fell some dozen meters down a wall into a large chamber teaming with the insect's kin. They scurried about crawling all over each other like ants.

They were like ants. In physique and behaviour, they were very much akin to ants. This was their hive. A near endless network of crude tunnels and chambers dug out of the earth. Here these human-sized insects lived out their lives in contempt.

The one who led her here took her by the hand and pulled her through the endless ocean of his kind. After some time they reached The Queen's chamber. Alice was placed in the centre while all others bowed before the massive behemoth that lay out before them.

It unfolded itself revealing one with an almost humanoid face attached to a bloated, long body. It stared at Alice as Alice did her. They studied each other and The Queen cast judgement. She pointed to Alice and squealed. The one who brought her stepped forth and bowed.

"We are Bestola. You wish to see your kin? He is not well." The Queen said.

"I do. Is he here? Can I meet him?" Alice replied.

The Queen pointed to the left as an assortment of them brought out a biological mess of flesh and bone. She rushed to his side and gasped at the state of his broken body. The full extent of his mutations was devastating.

Innumerable bone spikes stuck out of his right arm and his left had deformed into a tendril. His torso was riddled with fish scales and his head had deformed half way into a goat's. His legs had broken into dozens of tiny joints and dangled about with every motion He had become a tortured, lost soul that lay there wheezing and squirming in pain.

"My god! What happened!" Alice barked in shock.

"The hunters changed him." The Queen told her.

"How do I know you don't lie? Free us beast!"

"Bestola don't lie. Bestola wants peace. Free us and we free you and him."

Alice looked at the unresponsive Godfrey and lost hope. He turned to The Queen and stared at the creature in the eye. She bit her lip as she considered her next words deeply.

"What do you need to be freed from?" She asked.

"The Hunters." Was The Queen's answer.

Elsewhere Minerva awoke and found herself in an empty cell room, chained to a wall. With a mere thought, she concentrated her energy into the surface of her limbs and vaporised the restraints. On her feet, she approached the closed entrance.

She opened her mind and saw three guards outside. They would soon pass by the doorway to her cell. Timing it right she concentrated her power upon the door and blasted it outwards in a jet of molten metal and plasma.

Such force and heat killed the guards instantly and their mind flowed into Minerva's own. Their visions were disturbing, to say the least. Forced to feast upon scores of vile insects with very little nourishment.

Cut off from their main food supply they entered dark times of famine and poverty. They despised most of all the Bestola bringing this curse down upon them. The Bestola called them hunters and they called them monsters.

She reflected upon this as she ventured through the endless halls. Memories of sadness decay, loss and war were most prevalent. She soon came to know the workings of the siren's labyrinth as she snuck her way through the settlement.

Soon Minerva reached a huge cylindrical room with a vast pool on the floor. There an army of slaves toiled at the soil. They were carving a path through the earth with crude power tools. Watching over them were the sirens themselves.

A tall, skinny, humanoid people with smooth hairless skin. Instead of noses and ears, they had small slits along their heads. They wore fine, segmented bronze armour. Behind them stood sirens that were known as the conductors.

Dressed in blue silk robes. They sang the psychic songs the drove the workers into submission. Their accursed singing rang in Minerva's ear but she fought to contain it. In the mess, she saw Illuminura.

The celestial staggered about moving crate after crate full rubble from place to place. She stared out into the distance with absent eyes and moaned and drooled like many of the other victims here. Minerva swallowed the urge to rescue her in that moment but instead chose to leave.

Soon she managed to infiltrate what were the personal chambers of the siren's leader; their so-called Principle. These people had developed into a principate and their first-among-equals had just entered the room.

He placed a scroll upon a table and leant against it. Minerva conjured up an obsidian blade within her hand. Dashed to the Siren and grab him by the mouth and put her blade to his throat while she learned all he knew.

She injected a vision of her as almighty goddess standing in judgement over him and his people into his head and spoke

"Principal Maleth. Scream or sing and I'll kill you. I have the power to break the barrier to the Sibus Ocean and defeat the Bestola in an instant. I am life and I am death. I can save your people but you must first fulfil my demands or I'll bring hell down upon you and your people. Are we clear fish?" She demanded.

Maleth froze then nodded. Minerva lowered her hand from his mouth and he spoke.

"What are your demands?"

Minerva had them release Illuminura, guarantee cooperation and then got to work on her end of the bargain. It would take time before Illuminura recovers from her catatonia. Leaving her behind Minerva moved to resolve this matter swiftly.

She studied their memories and learned a lot. These sirens did not normally associate with land creatures. They usually ate the various schools of fish. They lived for hundreds of years here by digging to the Sibus Ocean.

Whenever one section of the ocean was harvested clean of life they'd move on and dig another hole somewhere else. It was a process and timeless tradition that takes decades. She came to think of them as ignorant children.

The last irreplaceable hole they dug out was too close to the Bestola's hive and flooded its fungus farms. Faced with the prospect of famine they fought plug in the hole and forced famine on the sirens.

She came to adore the sirens as she dug through years of memories of struggle, perseverance and fleeting joy. These people have been battling the Bestola for years. This bred a need for an army and slaves to replace the workforce. Necessity drove these people to the furthest extremes and yet they fought on.

They led her back down to the pool that was once the food bowl of their people. In a flash of light, she transformed her clothing into a white one-piece swimsuit. All around her the siren men and women gathered ready for war. An army of siren spearmen followed her in as she dived into the Sibus Ocean.

In the Bestola hive, The Queen squealed and roared in anger and hate. She twitched and turned in her throne as the hive went into and uproar. All around her children squealed and grew aggressive.

"What is happening?!" Alice roared.

"The water speaks! The Hunters are coming! Free us now!" Roared The Queen.

"Understood... should I return victorious-"

"Yes! Go now!"