How to befriend the herrscher in your head

Chapter 2

The sounds of hiccups echoed through the emptiness, its source being a little girl kneeling next to a hospital bed. It was cold against her skin as she walked closer to threaten the child for disturbing her sleep.

"Mama"
"I'm not your-" Sirin tried to snap back at the audacity until she saw the scene of her young self crying next to her mothers' death bed.
"Don't leave me behind like this."

She didn't get much time before the ground under her opened and threw her into another memory of when she escaped and almost killed one of Shicksal valkiries at Babylon reactor.

Small smile found its way on her face at the memory. She felt powerful for the first time since her mama passed, since they started the experiments on her and her friends. Her smile faded fast into a pained scowl, burning pain quickly swallowing her from inside. The old cell already formed around her when she opened her eyes. The burning sensation swallowed her whole from the inside and grew in intensity until it was too much. Sirin could almost hear the man's voice calling her useless as she curled up into a ball.

This felt too real, way too real. Is the worm trying to torment her? Was everything she said yesterday just a lie? Did she tap into her memories in moments of weakness to bring out her past? Small tears formed in her eyes.

The scene faded together with the pain leaving the Herrscher curled up on the floor.
"Stop. Please... I know I did, wrong"
It sounded as if she knew what's coming and she had a rough idea as the next scene unfolded itself in front of her.
It was a beautiful flower field and she laid between those flowers in thought until a scream sounded not so far away.

Sirin shot up together with the scene changing back to their old cell in Babylon tower and her friend falling into her arms screaming in agony.
"It's killing me from the inside, Sirin!"
'No no no no!' It didn't matter what she said or did now, her body was not in her control as she could only look at her friend."
"Don't let them put that thing in you!"
"Don't! Don't leave me Bella!"

~~~~~

Sirin's eyes shot wide open. Her body covered in sweat while her mind raced million kilometres per second, one thought louder than the last one. It had been days since she last saw the human worm or so she thought at least, considering that time was meaningless in a place like this.

Why did she go to sleep again? Oh ye, to pass time and get some rest between what seemed to be constant attacks. It felt kinda threatening, as if her vessels' infection got worse and the Will of Honkai could pinpoint her exact location in the worm's mind space.
The attacks grew in size and became more frequent, Sirin was growing curious if the worm knew what was happening, choosing to ignore it or if she was waiting for her to die and then step in. Both seemed to hold the same outcome in the end.

Despite being marked as the strongest, she was unneeded. The world doesn't need a Herrscher of the Void, the World needs her gone to feel less threatened. And with her worm keeping her hidden, claiming her to be dead. This was a perfect opportunity to let Sirin die and not feel any regrets because everyone already thinks that she's dead anyway.

The Herrscher got very reluctantly out of the bed, walking around the house that got broken into just a few hours prior. It was clear as day that there was a fight and that Sirin was part of it. As much as she tried to preserve it because of the memories, but couldn't.
It was selfish to wish to live in one of very few memories she had from her past even though it was an illusion, but also kinda to her character. Afterall she was the one who wanted to destroy all of modern era humanity for revenge.

Walking through its empty hallways and outside, Sirin allowed herself to relax or at least try to as screams for help still echoed through her head like if they were her void spikes.

"Sirin!" Talking about her void spikes, Sirin immediately summoned one and aimed it at the one who dared to disturb her.
"Hey. Hey, it's just me. No need to kill me."
"You're growing quite comfortable around me, Worm."
"I apologise for leaving you here again..." Kiana hesitated, thinking how to continue her sentence to not anger the Herrscher.
"We held a small celebration for the new overseer."
"I'll never understand humanity's need to celebrate such irrelevant things."

Sirin let her void spike vanish.
"Why are you here anyway?"
"To check up on you, it felt as if you were dying before."
"I'm perfectly fine as you can see, worm. No, need to hang around here."
"I still own my own mind, I can come here whenever I please."
"Oh please! You came here to see if you finally died so you could get your head back to yourself." Sirin wasn't thinking about what she's saying, desperately trying to get the upper hand in the argument. Trying to protect herself from admitting defeat.
"If I wanted you dead, then I would've taken your powers and killed you myself or left you for the Will of Honkai to take, but you still got your freedom to roam my mind space freely while keeping your powers. Aren't you?"

There wasn't space for her to argue back, her Worm got a point, she still had her powers and wasn't bound to anything. Also using what her Worm gave her and protecting it instead of destroying it to prove that she doesn't need it.

"Doesn't mean anything, you humans are all the same. More than willing to manipulate others into trusting you so you can stab them in the back later when you see fit or they become useless to you." There it was again, Sirin trying to grab hold of the situation, nothing else was left for her than this it was dumb to fight her like this, but she also wanted to preserve the little bit of sanity and feeling of power she had.

"If you see it that way, Sirin. I'm not willing to continue this argument further. I came here to make sure that you're okay and as it seems my presence is not wanted here." Kiana started to despair when a certain herrscher interrupted her.
"Wait, who gave you permission to leave, human!"

Sirin wished for the ground to open below her and swallow her whole when Kiana turned to her, eyebrows raised in question.
"Yes? What else do you need besides degrading my attempts to help?"

She wasn't able to answer, giving herself the same question. Why did she want her worm to stay? There was no use for her besides keeping herself alive in the outside world so she can live here. Right?
Coming up with a quick excuse, she came up with the first thing that came up.

"Tell me about what changed in the outside world. I only know that Otto Apocalypse died."
"You sure?"
"Hmpf... Tell me before I change my mind, Worm."
"Alright. Let's sit down first." Kiana offered her a friendly smile before turning around and walking towards the house.
"Stay outside, Human." It came out much harsher than she expected, but there wasn't much to consider, she didn't wish for her human to see that the inside got badly damaged.
"Alright, let's at least sit down."

They talked. Kiana talked while Sirin interrupted her to put in her own criticism. But surprisingly didn't criticise Herrcher of Sentience for standing against Honkai despite being created solely from it. It went on like this until Kiana got to the recent events that she noticed the Herrscher staring at her with such an intensity that made her flinch.

"So Theresa Apocalypse is the new Overseer?" Sirin spoke deep in thought, remembering their fight. Her death on that day was caused by the Oath of Judah wielded by Theresa.
She didn't notice when she started to shake remembering the pain or when Kiana moved in front of her and started talking. Re-living the memory in her head, the pain comparable to the grief she felt.

"Sirin! Come back to me." She looked at her worm who was currently shaking her shoulders and asking her to come back from her own thoughts.
Realising what's happening, she glared at Kiana and pushed her away.
"L-leave me alone Worm!" She shouted, unconsciously summoning void spikes all around them aiming at Kiana.
"You we-"
"Leave!"

And so she left Sirin alone in the mind space to take in all the information.
"So a new herrscher was born... Two new herrschers'' She spoke to herself referring to the Herrscher of Sentience and her human becoming Herrscher or Flamescion.