A weapon for the times to come.

Jollus spent most of the day in his canoe catching as many fish as he could while he worried about the scales at home. Wondering what type of trouble they were getting into until he noticed he was distracting himself with his worry, causing him to miss with his fishing spear more than hit. So he put the scales at the cabin out of his mind and focused on hitting as many fish as he could with his spear.

So that was what he did until the sun started to set, catching as many fish as he could until his canoe was at risk of sinking from all the additional weight. Jollus tried to avoid the patrols of bloodthirsty sisters looking for any beast that lived in the swamp that was called a man eater. Though ironically enough, with all the sisters running around the swamp, it caused it to become safer for his neighbors.

As well, it was true he lived alone in his hidden cabin until recent events; he wasn't the only one that lived in the swamp, as there were a few villages that were made in the swamp. They either farmed fish or raised rare herbs with medicinal properties that could only grow in the swamp. He and the villagers occasionally saw each other as they went about their business—he in his canoe, they in their barges.

The recent patrols of battle sisters hunting all the man eaters specifically shredded beards with their usual zealot blood thirsty had caused several of their hunting grounds to suddenly become safe routes of travel as the sisters of battle killed the beast that used to hunt in those areas. So we'll the sisters of battle uptick in presence was a pain to him, always worried that they somehow found out what he was doing. The swamp villages were generally ecstatic about the sisters making the swamp safer for them.

He made his way home in his canoe bulging with fish under the light of a setting sun, being careful not to be spotted as he rowed his canoe beside his cabin's dock before going up the steps. He was surprised to see the red scales racing around the sunken tree's base battling each other with swords made of fish bones as their lower snake body's gripped firmly into the tree.

He was about to order them to stop when the voice of his idol spoke in his ear. "Let them practice on their own; for now you will have to train them soon. Now come in and see the work of the black scales." The voice said with its usual echo of a thousand dead speaking at once. Jollus looked at the red scales for a moment before sighing, hoping the trees foliage would be enough to hide them as they practiced their sword skills.

Jollus made the rest of the way up the steps, wondering what the black scales had done and also wondering why the idol was so excited. As the black scales so far had only made what seemed to be little art projects out of fish scale, he wasn't sure what the idol to a dead race could want with what was essentially a child's attempt at art.

Jollus went through his front door into the living room of his cabin, and what he saw shocked him. As the sister of battle had not only been moved against the wall but had been changed fundamentally into something else entirely. As she now had scales imbedded in her and twisting her into some type of living machine.

The sisters arms had been melded into the sides of her back, where she was now against the wall. Her legs had been bent at an odd angle so that they were to the side; this caused her to be in some weird permanent standing/squatting position as her body was covered in black scales that twisted her muscles and limbs into their new positions. Her chest and stomach were also covered in black scale, causing her to look like some weird living statue.

As Jollus stared at the sister twisted by the black scales, trying to figure out how and why they could or would do such a thing, the idol began to speak to him to explain what he was seeing. "Now you see the truth of the black scales purpose. They are to reshape humans with scale until they suit other purposes, and in the case of this one, it had made her a better incubator." The idol said to him with a thousand voices that had an undercurrent of smug satisfaction.

A better incubator, Jollus thought to himself. Trying to puzzle that out considering she had given birth to twenty eggs rather than remembering there were several lizard races that gave birth to the small end of twenty and the high end of sixty, and if sixty was the goal, then she had fallen far short.

"So if the black scales are shapers, what are the scales? Warrior, I assume?" Jollus asked, trying to get clarification on the purpose of both so he knew what was going on, at least with the twenty scales going forward, especially as they were apparently going to use the modified sister for themselves now.

"No, they are not warriors but hunters; they see the red of both blood and heat, and you will teach them the ways of the hunt and especially the catch." The idol explained to Jollus, who nodded his understanding. The idol then spoke again. "Do not misunderstand you will be using the incubator, for it is you who fathered the first and so will continue to do so the scaled will have their own ways to make their own at a later date." The idol told Jollus, informing him of his duty to breed the modified sister.

"Okay, I got it. Use the incubator and train the red scales." Jollus said to the idol, whose glow went dark, signifying the end of the discussion. Jollus then turned to the incubator, which had once been a sister of battle only that morning. "So I wonder how this will work out?" Jollus asked himself a bit nervous about the rapidly changing situation going on but was trying to adapt as he could to the path of redemption he was on.