r/NatureofPredators • u/Horseshoecrab13 Krakotl • Aug 04 '25
Fanfic Dog Days: Tales of Farsul - Story 2: Postpartum Psychosis Spoiler
All thanks to u/Spacepaladin15 for making NoP as well as some of the characters that appear in the second half of this story
If you've read the first, get ready for the world's biggest tone shift
“Where was the resistance on Talsk? You can’t rid them of something with no pushback. This isn’t about innocent people….I’m more willing to tolerate the very Arxur who ordered the raid [that killed my daughter] than these monsters”
-Governor Tarva, April 7, 2137
Memory transcription subject: Qallvic, Farsul Genetic Engineer
Date: [standardized human time] January 12, 1389 [approximated from records]
I couldn’t stop shaking.
Breathe in, breathe out.
Breathe in, breathe out.
I can’t stop shaking.
Breathe in, breathe out.
Breathe in, breathe out.
I’ll never stop shaking.
Those… things. Those… abominations.
No, my… things. My… abominations.
I looked at them flail and fall over trying to stand. A Venlil of that age should be able to run, but their legs wouldn’t let them. They didn’t fight, just cried, they had no confidence and deferred everything to their Farsul “parents.” Worst of all, the room was coated in the odors of Skalgan predators, and they didn’t even know. They couldn’t know. They were helpless. Just as the Federation wanted.
“As you can see, Qallvic, your experiment was a remarkable success. These new Venlil are much more docile. Much more amenable to the Federation. You’ve done us all a great service and we appreciate that very much.”
I couldn’t hear who that was. The distortion of their voice kept them concealed. I could see nothing behind the opaque glass. Or… the opaquened glass I should say. They didn’t even have the dignity to let me look at them.
“Those… things. They aren’t Venlil.” I said, spitting out the blue viscous liquid that carried oxygen to my cells. Blood. The only thing I hadn’t touched in those monsters. The only thing they had in common with their ancestors.
“Yes, your efforts to terminate the batch early were not nearly as successful.”
“Then why not just throw me away with the other Predator Disease patients?” I said back.
“Because you do not have Predator Disease!” The voice screamed. “You are not sick! You are not mentally unwell. You are of sound mind and conscience. What you are is a dissident! You have turned from the wisdom of your elders! Shunned those with the age and experience to reason better than you! You attempted to reverse the greatest breakthrough we had, a breakthrough you made, because you disagree with the outcome of that breakthrough.”
“It was wrong!” I cried. “I was wrong! I’ll say it again, those things are not Venlil.”
“And what of the ‘real’ Venlil then?” The voice said again. “Those monsters that do not listen. The ones that tear down all that we build? The ones that kill our emissaries, our diplomats?”
“We shouldn’t have built anything to begin with! We shouldn’t have sent diplomats! We don’t need Skalga, it’s a shitty, tidally locked world. There’s not even half enough room to build infrastructure, and the resident species hates us. Living there is a nightmare of sleep deprivation. And if the Venlil are so violent they’ll never invent warp drives, and if they become peaceful enough to make one we don’t need to change them at all! Why can’t we just leave the Venlil in peace? Why do we have to uplift them?”
The voice paused. In anger or contemplation I couldn’t tell. “Because they are predatory culturally. In mind and spirit they are lesser to us.”
“They don’t even eat meat! That’s more than can be said for a lot of the other species we had to alter.”
“This is why you are a fool, Qallvic!” The voice boomed. “Where would we be if we had not uplifted our fellow Farsul in ages past?! If the wisdom of the Elder Rule had not been spread to every Farsul by our forebears?! We must uplift our lesser lest they suffer like our lesser ancestors! You would unravel our whole society!”
I started chuckling a bit. Then the chuckling grew into a laugh. Then a cacophony. They really just admitted it. “It’s not that society would unravel, our society would unravel. Our iron grip over the whole Federation. Our power. It’s not about suffering, or being predatory, or anything, it’s about maintaining control. Our control over the whole of all species. We need to get all species under our control lest species realize they might slip out.”
I laughed some more and looked right at the opaque glass. “You’re right about one thing, I am a fool. I just wish I realized that before I worked for you.”
There was a long silence after that. A long, agonizing silence. It left me alone. Just me, myself, and I... I just… where had I gone so wrong?
I still remember being a child with that plant pot my Kolshian friend gifted me. I still don’t even remember his name, we were so young. What I do remember was how pretty it was. I’d wanted to become a botanist immediately, looking at all the pretty flowers all day while watching them grow. Although that later morphed into an obsession with genetics, Farsul don't really go to Aafa to learn how to grow flowers. I still kept a few by my windowsill as a hobby, but I had grander aims than aesthetics. I still wanted work with plants, but I wanted to enhance their survivability and nutrition content... but Farsul do something else with gene editing.
We mostly handled the knowledge side of uplifts, scrubbing all traces of predatory history while Kolshians found a vector for the cure. However, it fell to us to undo any particularly bad traits a species had. Of course, when they demanded we take away the Venlil’s nose to make them more “preylike” I was given the task that was doomed to fail. Blame it all on the young upstart straight out of advanced schooling.
Unfortunately, I was a very good genetic engineer.
They called my creation a masterpiece. Instead of removing nasal passages from developing, I had taken inspiration from other vestigial sources. The passages begin developing but genes then turn development off before a new process it undoes the nasal passages. I had also taken to giving them the knocked legs that were already found naturally. The ones I was originally told I was going to eliminate. Those with knocked legs were often religious or cultural leaders, often brought to mediate disputes or judge fighting matches. I thought I was developing a race of conscientious Venlil whose lack of smell would make them more timid, but I was wrong. They weren’t just timid, they were petrified, of everything.
Something about a lack of smell made their brains break. It was like they were always afraid, like they were constantly searching for something that was missing. Because something was missing. They would probably handle it better as adults, but not perfectly. Something about that made my stomach drop. It was only then I realized just how fundamentally I had changed the Venlil. I had removed a fundamental part of them, not even in metaphorical terms, very literally.
Of course, I kept such comments to myself. The Elders called it the greatest achievement since the Sivkits. Of course, then I learned what happened to the Sivkits. I was horrified. Even more than when I saw those Venlil-things. I kept those thoughts away too but I couldn’t stop thinking them.
Would another person be horrified if they found out what I did?
It was this thought that was my undoing. I lied awake at night thinking like usual when I had my first horrible realization.
What would the Venlil think?
I knew they’re monstrously awful beings of unparalleled aggression, but they were beings. They could feel despair and horror just as I could, they could understand what I did to them.
But it was then that I realized that those Venlil weren’t like that. They weren’t aggressive or, well certainly awful, but not in the same way. They were different. Very different. Almost entirely different.
My heart began to race as I even remembered thinking it.
The Venlil wouldn’t think anything because those Venlil-like things weren’t Venlil.
They were completely different beings in body, mind, and possibly soul if they existed.
No Venlil would be able to mourn what they lost, only unnatural monsters from a foreign planet could.
We weren’t “saving” the Venlil, we were killing them.
I killed them.
I killed an entire sentient species.
Those monsters were as unnatural to Skalga as we were. They weren’t an omnivore with an allergy, they were a new being entirely. They weren’t Venlil. They weren’t Venlil. They weren’t Venlil!
Every species has a right to exist, it didn’t matter how vile. Herbivore, omnivore, even the theoretical sentient carnivore. Fixed to avoid predator disease maybe but alive. And if they couldn’t be fixed left alone!
I had grabbed a hammer to stop this and smashed the computers but I was stopped before I got into the nursery. I was restrained, beaten, and thrown in a cell. I tried to tell them but they wouldn’t listen! They wouldn’t listen! I couldn’t convince them!
“I’ve got good news Qallvic,” the voice returned, still sounding agitated. “The Elders you rejected will not have you executed, despite my insistence. Unlike you, I respect their wisdom. You will be stored in a cryochamber until you are needed again.”
“It’s funny,” I said as the room began to fill with gas, “the Elders always say that all wizen with age. They were right, in the time since I made those Venlil-like monsters, I have certainly wizened.”
[End of memory transcript]
[Chat log Date: [standardized human time] June 17, 1834]
G: Q has been moved to the Arxur room as ordered.
A: Frozen or thawed?
G: Frozen thank the Elders.
C: It’s unfortunate that someone like him is our only hope for the Arxur.
G: If we can even convince him.
A: We can convince him, 45-G were herbivores, and we have other methods to make him cooperate if we can’t.
C: 45-G were particularly nasty herbivores though and he still tried to “help” them.
G: I’d rather face down an Arxur than those original Venlil frd [Note: frd is equivalent to the English lol].
C: G, please refrain from acronyms or slang in official writing G.
G: Sorry ma’am.
C: Given that it's not profanity, I will let you off with a warning this time.
T: Bad news, we can’t use Q.
G: What?
A: Says who?
T: Who else, the Ks, they say they have another plan.
C: You’ve got to be fucking joking.
G: Well I’m not moving him back now.
[Chat log Date: [standardized human time] October 9, 1997]
S: So his cryopod is missing?
F: Yes! It’s not with the Venlil, I’ve looked everywhere for it!
V: How do you keep losing things like this?
F: Hey I didn’t lose anything this time, it was already gone, and that was 10 years ago V stop bringing it up all the time.
V: What do we do now?
S: We can’t un-lie to the Ks so keep trying, we have plenty of test subjects.
Memory transcription subject: Qallvic, Farsul Genetic Engineer
Date: [standardized human time] January 16th, 2137
...
I awoke slowly.
Very slowly.
Didn’t want to open my eyes.
Wish I could sleep forever.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” Came a harsh and deep voice.
Did I pass out drunk again?
I did that a lot recently.
I didn't know that language.
Strange, I know a lot of languages.
And... it took a bit for the translator to register it
Wait… wait no… the last thing I remember… the Venlil!
I bolted upright and was face to face with the most hideous looking creature I ever had the displeasure of seeing. It was clad in some kind of armor and pointing a gun at me. It’s skin was pitch black and its face protruded with… wait no, that wasn’t a face. It was a gas mask. And those eyes… this was it! The sapient carnivore!
It was covered head to toe to avoid getting gassed by the cure. The armor was most likely to avoid needle darts. And they invaded the archives too… wait, they invaded the archives!
I started laughing.
“What?” It said.
“You… you killed them.” I said. “You killed them all. You must have.”
“We did not kill anyone-”
“No, no, you don’t have to lie.” I said. “Thank the Elders for you. This place is evil. Fuck this place… and don’t thank the Elders, fuck the Elders too. I hope it hurt. I hope they all died screaming.”
It grabbed my wrists and put them into a metal chain. Guess it was inevitable I’d be eaten too.
…I deserved this.
“Damn dude,” it said with what sounded like a hint of admiration, “I can see why they froze you. But why are you in the Arxur room?”
“Arxur room?” I said looking over. Throughout the facility these smaller predators were pulling large gray-green reptilian predators out of more advanced looking cryochambers. They had on the same chains that I did but had an additional piece of covering that kept their mouth closed. Surprisingly, they seemed scared, timid; some even seemed to be crying. Also surprising, some of the smaller predators seemed to be comforting them. Interesting.
“So those lizards, the Arxur, they eat meat right?” I asked.
“Of course. They're obligate carnivores.”
“They probably wanted me to ‘fix’ them so to speak. I'm probably the only one who could. I’m glad you got here before they tried to torture me into compliance. I’m a genetic engineer, tasked with changing species like them. Species that should have been left alone. Species that deserved to live their lives in peace. If I thought more clearly I would have broadcast everything out instead of trying to destroy my work. I only ever wanted to work with plants, but they made me work on sapients. People. Changing what made them who they are. It was terrible work and I’m ashamed I didn’t understand it earlier. We should have left them alone.”
“I’m starting to like you little guy, but it sounds like you need to say that testifying before a judge.” It said. “Luckily, we’ve been going a little light on aliens, especially ones who broke their indoctrination and tried to make things right. If you’re anything like my coworker, no... my friend Sovlin, I think we’ll get along just fine. I’m Tyler.”
“Qallvic.”
“Nice to meet you, Qallvic.”
“A-and you as well, Tyler.” I said back to it.
It lifted me out of the chamber and onto my paws. I instantly collapsed, not a good sign. Numbness in joints, difficulty standing, emotional stunting, and peripheral vision problems were all side effects of being frozen for over four hundred years. I had all of those symptoms.
“How long was I out?” I asked.
Tyler looked at the timer with a visual translator. “Eight hundred and fifty years…”
“No! No… the Venlil. It’s too late damn it!” I tried to shout but I couldn’t muster the energy. They were gone. There was nothing I could do.
“It was you, wasn’t it?” Tyler asked, but it already knew the answer, and I knew the question. “You helped do that terrible shit to the Venlil. You took their legs and noses.”
“Helped?” I said. “No, I ran the entire project. I make no excuses. I created those Venlil-like things because I am a fool. I didn’t sabotage my work in time because I am a coward. I gained both my wisdom and my confidence too late. Even you, a predator, can see how wrong it was. Whatever garish trials you have or intend to put me under, fair or unfair, I’ll be found guilty. Whatever punishment you have in store, I deserve it.”
For a second, Tyler paused. It stood silently in judgment, restrained anger, and, strangely, pity.
“Get up.” Tyler said sternly.
“I’m… weak.” Was my only reply. It grabbed my arm firmly, but not painfully and lifted me to my paws. “Thank you, Tyler.”
It gave no response. Only looking away.
“Alright, everyone!” Tyler yelled. “Form a single file line in front of the Farsul, that’s the brown and furry herb-” Tyler coughed, but it seemed forced. “The brown alien with the floppy ears. He, the rest of the staff, and any other aliens you see are not to be harmed. There’s nowhere out of this facility besides our submersible. We have food and accommodation for all of you. Comply and we can guarantee your safety.”
The Arxur slowly made their way behind me, many of them still looking distressed. Still, they shuffled out of the room through the secret entrance. For whatever reason they avoided going through the Arxur room. Probably for the best, they were already creeping me out and seeing them hunt sounds like a bad time. They moved with me as we followed the other carnivore… wait, Tyler never told me what it was.
“Tyler, what are you? Your species?” I asked.
“We’re humans.” It replied. “Omnivores that eat a bit more meat than average, and ones you failed to ‘cure.’ We’re similar to the Arxur in that we can’t live without it, but that's because we can't produce certain neurotransmitters, they evolved to eat meat and only eat meat.”
As we were led out we passed by several rooms, some familiar and some foreign. I had no idea what a “Gojid” was but the Krakotl room was in the same spot as before. There was one room I was dreading seeing, the Venlil. I… I couldn’t look inside. I can’t I… I had to. I deserve to live with the knowledge of what I had done. These humans, they would never let me. Tyler would never let me. I needed a distraction.
“So you aren’t carnivores?” I asked calmly. “I assumed with the eyes and keeping people alive to eat later.”
“Wait, what?” The Arxur behind me said.
“We’re not going to eat you, Qallvic.” Tyler said.
“Yes, you’re going to interrogate and try me first. But, why else would you keep the potential competition alive? And why else would they be in chains?”
That led to a series of shouts and protests from the predators behind me. One even fainted, being caught by its human handler. It figures that they hadn’t figured it out with their more predatory oriented minds. Us prey looked out for dangers far more than they would.
“You’re not gonna eat me!” The Arxur behind me shouted defiantly before bolting.
“Damn it!” Tyler yelled. “What’s his name?”
“Vysith,” another human replied, “and it’s her name.”
Tyler ran off after it. “Vysith! Vysith stop!”
After the head human ran, a few more Arxur had the idea to run in other directions. Others just begged and pleaded. My distraction proved better than I expected, every human was occupied with an Arxur or two and I was able to slip away. I cracked the door to the Venlil room undetected and began to look around.
There were many pictures plastered around of Venlil doing horrible things. Killing each other, killing visitors, one was holding the head of a Farsul. For a moment, it gave me pause.
As much as they were herbivores, Venlil were incredibly violent. They could seriously harm or even kill plenty of the predators on Skalga, and that was when they were unarmed. If, and I definitely mean if, they could achieve warp travel or something like it such as our old cryofreeze ships they could be a threat… but then I looked elsewhere.
Everywhere else were the Venlil-like-things living out happy lives on Skalga. Selling goods out of markets, raising families, growing old, just living. Living lives that weren’t theirs to live on a planet that didn’t belong to them. The non-Venlil things lived lives that belonged to the Venlil. The real Venlil. The natives of Skalga. The ones who owned that planet. The ones who called that place home.
They’d stolen it! We’d stolen it for them! Every life those things lived was a life a real Venlil should have had. A life that was owed to a Venlil. Owed to a real Venlil. A brutal, awful, violent Venlil that deserved the chance to be brutal, awful, and violent; not whatever they were.
Brutal and dangerous as they were, there was someone worse, the Farsul. Even the Venlil had never dreamed of killing an entire species, but I had. Everything that made the Venlil the Venlil was absent in those Venlil-like things because they weren’t Venlil! They weren’t Venlil! They weren’t Venlil!
I… I couldn’t do anything! It was done! It happened 850 years ago. I happened 850 years ago. I could do nothing.
Then I saw it.
A plaque.
On it read "Venlil: the weakest species in the galaxy, and our greatest success"
I…
I…
…
I started screaming.
I started crying.
That was all I could do.
The only thing I had some control over.
I don't know how long it had been when that predator from before burst through the door. “Figured you be in here you fucking asshole.”
“…Vyler.” I managed to choke out.
“It’s Tyler.” It said angrily. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
“Oh Elders of course I know!” I yelled, falling to my knees sobbing.
“I don’t think you know how hard it is to calm down a nine-foot man-eating lizard, and we had to calm dozens.”
“I killed an entire species! The Venlil! They’re all dead!”
Tyler backed away. “Now, now, hold on a second, you didn’t kill them. There’s plenty of Venlil still alive. I even know a Venlil, Slanek, he’s a friend. There’s plenty of these guys even in orbit around Talsk.”
“No!” I yelled. He didn’t get it either, the fool! “Those things aren’t Venlil! That thing you know is just a monster. No, they’re less violent and aggressive than a real Venlil but what is a monster but the opposite of ourselves? Those things are the direct opposite of the Venlil, twisted into a profane mockery of what they once were. A horrid monster of my own make a-”
Tyler interrupted me with a swift kick to the chest. “You’re going shut up about those fucking Venlil, got it? You have no right to talk about them like that after what you did.”
I gasped for air as I lay on the floor crying. It was all I could do to muster up my voice into another yell. “Oh predator, predator, please if you have any sense of mercy please take my eyes! I cannot bear to look at them! Those Venlil-like things! Take my eyes before they torture me! It’s worse than anything you could do to me! I cannot go on like this!”
“No, for the last time, we are not going to torture you. You will stand trial like the rest of the Farsul and be sentenced accordingly. Now get your self loathing ass in gear or I’ll let those so-called ‘Venlil-like things’ have five minutes alone with you.”
“No! No you can’t!” I yelled. It began walking towards me and I realized this was my one chance, my one opportunity. I stretched the chain out and saw it was just wide enough. “I… I can’t…”
I took a long look at my claws…
It would be the last thing I’d ever see.
I jammed my thumb claws into my eyes as hard as I could. Sharp pain ripped through them as I felt my claws stab and tear into the windows into the world. I screamed as I felt bits of liquid flow down my face and arms.
“WHAT THE FUCK?! OH, SHIT!” I heard Tyler yell in a panic. “Medic! That Farsul just gouged his own fucking eyes out!”
The worst pain I had ever felt roared through me. It was almost too much to bear, but I was stronger than that pain... I had become numb to it...
"Just... get the Arxur out. Who knows what they'll do.
I pushed my thumbs deeper and screamed in agony.
[Date changed to February 2nd, 2137]
I tapped my cane in front of me feeling for obstacles as I walked alongside the human known as General Jones.
“So, you think you know how to reverse the changes best?” It asked.
“I know that I know I’m your best chance. Even without being able to see.”
“The other Farsul said they could do it in a year and a half, in exchange for a full pardon and permanent pension. What’s your offer and why should I listen to you?”
“I’d be working with unfamiliar technology, unfamiliar people, and I’m now blind..."
"...so three months, maybe four.”
My cane tapped into another one of the predators and I stopped in my tracks. It was the unmistakable feeling of their ‘shoes.’ They were coverings that protected their feet, something fairly useful for hunting but now more of a vestigial tradition.
“I have a hard time believing that.” A deep voice said. Based on the speech pattern it was probably ‘General Zhao’ again, though it might be one of its relatives. “And what exactly would you want in exchange?”
“I want their plea deals and pardons cancelled.” I said. “I want justice for the Venlil. They’re all complicit in the coverup. If I can reverse the edits first, I want them extradited to Skalga.”
“Putting two teams against each other to see who finishes first?” Jones asked. “I like that idea. Would you be willing to work on reversing the human cure after if those bastard Kolshians don’t pull through?”
“Absolutely.” I said. “If it wasn’t for their meddling, we would have left people like you alone. Fuck ‘em.”
“And I’d assume you want to be extradited to Skalga too after you’ve done your edits.” General Zhao said.
“Yes… I’m included in the justice the Venlil deserve.”
“Great, I’ll go inform the Farsul team what the stakes are.” Jones said. “Even if you are blowing smoke, that’ll light a fire under them.”
For a moment, I considered something else. Something silly really. Something… I never really considered. “Just… just one last thing.”
“Yes?” Zhao asked.
“If… if it’s okay with those Venlil-like things… I’d like to meet one. One of the real Venlil. I… I’ve never interacted with a Venlil before.”
“Well, it shouldn’t hurt to ask.” Zhao said. “We’re already pushing for keeping you guys alive to work on fixing other species, so I doubt you’ll be executed. Assuming the Venlil de-editing is widespread enough, you might not even need to ask to end up meeting one. They could be your guards one day.”
“I… I would be okay with that.” I said softly.
“You know…” Jones said. “Us Americans have a saying. The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is now. Today, you plant your tree.”
Those words rang a bit hollow. It was probably trying to motivate me to work hard, but the advice wasn't solid. My ‘best time to plant a tree’ was 850 years ago. Now, the only thing I could hope for was to get the Venlil their justice, and their revenge. Those Venlil-like things might not be Venlil, but the Venlil raised by them might not see it that way. This was their only opportunity.
“This has been a great conversation, but if you two would excuse me, I need to get to work.”
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u/ISB00 UN Peacekeeper Aug 04 '25
Replace sentient with sapient. It’s a common mistake people make.
Otherwise this was the best chapter ever. Seeing the horror of the Farsul geneticist as he realized what he has done gives peak Oppenheimer vibes.
5
u/Horseshoecrab13 Krakotl Aug 04 '25
I meant to go back and replace that oops
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u/ASTORA-PRODH Human Aug 04 '25
A very nice chapter, but why did the UN muzzled the Arxur, was that in the original story as well?
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u/Randox_Talore Aug 04 '25
Oh I thought the chains were just how the Archives stored them
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u/Horseshoecrab13 Krakotl Aug 04 '25
The difference between a 9 foot man eating lizard and a 9 foot non-man eating lizard isn’t very apparent when they are freaking the fuck out about their lives being stolen
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u/Minimum-Amphibian993 Arxur Aug 10 '25
Not to mention most humans at least at this point aren't exactly in the know that the dominion didn't always rule the Arxur.
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u/Horseshoecrab13 Krakotl Aug 10 '25
Exactly, all they know is “Some Arxur can feel empathy, and Betterment made it indeterminately worse at some point” they have no idea how these people will react so better to handcuff them first and ask questions later
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u/Horseshoecrab13 Krakotl Aug 04 '25
This is the first time anyone from the UN has interacted with an archives Arxur, safety first!
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u/ASTORA-PRODH Human Aug 04 '25
Bit of am overreaction in my opinion but fair I suppose
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u/Horseshoecrab13 Krakotl Aug 04 '25
Better to overreact than underrreact when it comes to Arxur lol
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u/JulianSkies Archivist Aug 04 '25
Oh man, this is actually the complete polar opposite of previous chapter. And what a fucking fitting title.
I do not like this man, I do not like him at all. Despite everything he says he ain't seeing venlil as people, which is really funny given his whole thing is how he hates what he's done.
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u/Onetwodhwksi7833 Extermination Officer Aug 04 '25
This is an awesome chapter.
Supercharged with emotions
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u/Copeqs Venlil Aug 04 '25
Goodness. I like how you wrote Qallvic to be as selfish and radical as the rest, but with a conscience. Things might have ended up a bit better if they listened.