Service

After my shameful outburst of cannibalism, I had banished myself. More out of the sheer terror of my disappointing my Queen then anything. In the Bad Place, my world was cold and no one came to feed me, and I never felt any more separated from the swarm in my life. I had no one and nothing. Yet my body had felt amazing. Full of meat, I was invigorated. For the first time in my life I felt healthy and full of energy, an awful contrast to how I felt.

I ran deep into the Bad Place. I ran for as long as my body would let me. Finally my body began to grow sore and weak, I took refuge in a old stone box, gripped entirely in the green vines and leaves of trees. Roots pushed through the stone flooring, making the floor uneven and rocky. The building was full of scrolls and tomes, they lined the walls. Many had fallen to the floor, and all had been beaten by nature. Some of the tomes melted on my touch. The burst of energy quickly faded, I swiftly became too tired to investigate much more, I had to rest. I found a nook in the corner, and laid down to rest.

My slumber came fast, as I soon fell into a great sleep. The light in the sky was falling behind the world, yet when I awoke it was once again high over me. I was not concerned with how much I had slept, only that I had no place to call my own. No swarm, no Hive, no love… no Queen. I would have wept over the loss of my Queen, but the wrath of nature wanted to punish me. Nature sent her monsters after me.

I heard a growl, deep and low.

An instant later, a great beast pounced on me! But my instincts were keen, and I managed to push the beast off and away, but got back on its paws quickly. It paced slowly around me. The beast was a monstrous being, large claws and a face full of fangs. It had a bright orange fur with black stripes across it’s back. Fortunately, my carapace had sliced into the beast, as I saw it was bleeding. My mind and body knew, if it bleeds, then I can kill it. It paced me, growing angrily.

My body acted instinctually. I pushed hard on my carapace, causing my body to projectile shards of jagged exoskeleton. The pieces I fired from my body resembled the bits of broken foggy shards that sat on the floor of the stone boxes. Many of the boxes had the shards in broken panels in their walls. Poor structure material. Returning, I fired my shards out, two hitting my target, and one missing. The first landed in the striped beast’s shoulder, sliding deep into the monster’s flesh. The second missed, hitting a shelf that held many tombs, causing them to fall to the ground. Third landed directly in one of the beast’s glassy eyes, it slid deep into the creatures head, causing it to fall defeated. This all happened instantly, and in the rush of the moment, I did not see how the beast had pulled one of my front legs clean off.

I did not bleed nor did I feel any pain. My limb simply fell off, limply it sat on the floor between me and the beast. The beast was gone, the shard burrowed deep in it’s face. The fierce beast was frozen in that snarling face. It now lay motionless bleeding onto the floor. Hungry once more, I took to devouring the beast, which I did without stopping, or selecting. That is to say, I ate the entire beast, in my reverie, even bone crunched in my maw. The only things that remained were the three shards I had somehow launched from my body.

In the swiftness of the battle, I did not see the them. But at sometime after, possibly a great deal of time after my battle, I saw several reflective pieces of those wall panels on the floor. Looking to my foggy reflection, it was here that I saw myself for the first time.

I was large. And very unlike my brothers. My eyes were like the beast’s I had just slain. Reflective eyes with odd slits in them. My carapace was not smooth with a few points, but jagged and sharp. I was covered in spikes and barbs. My horn was bladed, like the blade of a spear. Even my wings differed me. My brothers had small wings. My wings were massive and hid under a shield of armor that slid up when I wanted them to.

My brothers and sisters can be compared to insects like bees or ants. But I could not. If they were ants, then I was a lowly beetle. They all lived and worked together in perfect harmony in service of their Queen. I was big, brooding and covered in jagged spikes, no Queen would ever take me.

Now fully awake, and with a sorrowful sigh I decided to gander at the fallen tomes. I spent much of my time looking at the old tomes that did not melt away are turn to dust at my touch. Particularly, one tome had stolen my focus. Noticing immediately a drawing of one of my siblings. An open tome, not unlike the many that lay on the ground with it. Somehow with it the depiction of my kind was held, I had my attention taken quickly. “Common Hive Worker” was written under the picture. I wondered how I could read at all. I understood only the words from this tome, the mystery confused me, so I ignored those mysterious to read the tome with more attention. This tome informed me of the Hivemind that allowed my sibling to speak. The tome went on and spoke much of my siblings, unfortunately, much of the words had been lost. The words simply faded away into the page.

Looking to the tome, I found no picture of my Queen or anything that might tell me what I am. Looking to the many other tombs that laid about, the most I was ever able to find was a picture of a creature not totally not unlike myself. The image was faded, But I could clearly see a horn like my own, as well as the forewing that I possessed. Clearly, the Bad Place had knowledge that I did not have. It was possible. That if I searched long enough… then maybe I could find the answers to my questions. Maybe I could find a way to serve my beautiful Queen.