Chapters The call went out when the storm clouds grew thick. By the time it reached their ears, their own wings were too wet to fly. The changelings shed their forms to better embrace the weather, and galloped toward the tall spire that was the Hive. The climb was steep and treacherous even on a fair day, but now the dark and slippery rock hissed back at its parasitic occupants with water flowing over every hoof hold. Thunder crashed behind them, moving closer with each flash and streak of lightning. Those who were too scared of falling were pushed aside. Only a few changelings attempted the climb at first; most ended up back at the bottom more drenched and bruised than before. As more and more attempted the feat, one saw his opportunity. His bounds were strong and purposeful. Jumping from rock to rock, higher and higher, he was the fourth to reach the entrance at the top. Not looking back, the changeling could not have seen those he had pushed out of his way. Two of them fell too far, and their screams were drowned out by the downpour and thunder in the darkness.
A broken wing and a death sentence; one and the same in the Hive. Their leader checked their wounds while they sat in puddles of mostly shame. She was bigger than them, with a feminine voice. Her mane was slightly longer and a dark shade of blue, both features denoting the respect and power of a commanding officer.
"They weren't working anyways!" she screamed at the two fallen. "No assassins of mine are getting left behind!"
She pulled her allies up and helped them towards the start of the climb. Everyone else had made it by now, but she still felt eyes on her. The leader looked up toward the summit and met the eyes of another with power, the same eyes that guided a dangerous body through her own troops. She turned her focus back to getting the wailing changelings up the cliff, trying to ignore the eyes still fixed to her. Her methods had been frowned upon before, but this one's eyes were filled with something deeper than disappointment. They reached the top together, and the two broken ones caught their breath. The leader's eyes met again with those of the interloper.
"Who do you think you are?" she screamed. "Do you know who we are!?"
"I don't know." This changeling's voice was much deeper. His eyes stayed fixed on her without flinching from her voice or the weather. "What are you?" The changeling leader huffed and trotted to her cohorts, her gaze now the exact opposite direction of this stranger. "Useless, since you don't seem to know. Useless."
"It's just a wing... And it's still attached." She pulled her friends with her as she moved towards the dryer changelings inside. The stranger followed close behind.
"This way, Vertigo!" the guard said almost too happily. "You can meet your friends at the bottom!"
"They're FINE!" she screamed.
"That's the best part." The guard motioned. "They'll survive the fall."
The guards moved in, separating Vertigo from her whimpering changelings and throwing them down the main stairwell that spiraled down into the Hive. They pushed the stranger to the edge as well, his successful struggles kept them from throwing him. He turned his back, grumbling, and dove down into the pit. Vertigo was left wondering why she tried to help them, and how she didn't notice the stranger's complete lack of wings.
Vertigo ignored the screams of her assassins and the laughing of the soldiers as she made her way down the spiral staircase. As the steps grew dry, she wiped the last few stray drops from her mane and wondered more about what would become of her now. Team after team since her initiation had fallen in the trials set before her. To have just half a team survive but turn to mere workers at the last minute burned her up inside more than when her name was given. Workers were the lowest forms of life in the Hive. A ridiculous mortality rate followed every task with a complete lack of respect from fellow changelings. Those who were chosen had both wings ripped off. Those unfortunate enough to lose their wings would be treated no differently. Names and ranks are stripped and in time, even the workers can't distinguish one another apart. Her assassins were dead.
She sighed as her hooves, well accustomed to the route, stopped in front of the largest doors within the entire Hive. Two soldier elites smiled the same condescending smile that greeted all who would not expect the Queen's favor. The doors opened, and Vertigo stepped inside the throne room. The Queen, Chrysalis, sat upon a rocky throne adorned with the best crystals the workers and those who kill them could dig up.
"Ah, Vertigo, I see you finally got the message." Her voice echoed in the throne room with the ever familiar condescension. "Maybe you should keep your mane out of your ears more often."
Vertigo withheld the glare behind her eyes and the teeth behind her lips as she spoke. "Two died escaping the dragon's lair. The other two are now workers thanks to you."
"Blaming the nobility for a peasant's blunder is low even for you, Vertigo. I doubt more and more each time--"
"We would have been fine had you not summoned at least two squads back at once!" she burst out, startling the Queen at first. "The other executioner broke a wing each on my last two assassins!"
The Queen chuckled, but her gaze quickly darkened. "If you are serious, I have no idea what you're talking about. The recall addressed only the nearest patrols and a single hit squad, yours."
"He was an executioner! He was missing his wings and he took it out on my last two assassins!"
"What was his name, Vertigo?"
The executioner's voice hushed as her eyes now searched the ground. "Never seen him before." She looked back up at the Queen. "But he had no wings. He jumped into the workers den before the guards could throw him down."
The Queen looked up past the executioner. "GUARDS!" The two soldier elites trotted in. "Go down into the workers den and bring me anything that resembles an executioner." She turned back to Vertigo as the guards disappeared down the staircase. "You're not out of this yet..."
The soldiers returned, the stranger trotting in with them. He smiled at the Queen. "And here I started to wonder if--"
"Silence!" the Queen interrupted. "Who are you?"
"Midnight Masquerade, highness. I was made an executioner... about 900 years ago? Something like that."
"Lies." The Queen's voice was stern and her gaze was focused.
"I have been lost for almost a millennia and you deny me now?"
"Masquerade was one of our best. Anyone could have heard that name."
"I was never one of the best! The best don't get separated from the Hive!"
"Even if you are Masquerade, you hardly matter now." A grin creased her snout. "Give me a reason not to execute you right now."
The executioner did not flinch. "I don't need wings to be helpful to you; I have a lot of knowledge that could prove helpful." A grin creased his snout now as well. "Like the horrible defeats you will suffer around 100 years from now."
"Break his hinds."
Before he realized what had been said, two precise kicks from the guards splintered his hind legs. The cracked exoskeleton rendered the legs unusable and exerted great pain in response to weight. He found himself on the ground. He lifted up his upper body with his front legs to meet the eyes of the Queen again.
The Queen bared her fangs. "I'll ask again. How could a crippled, wingless, delusional little wretcher possibly be anything more than a pest to us?"
The pain choked his own throat, he could not speak. Yet a crooked smile creased the sides of his snout.
"Throw him back in the den. He'll be lucky to survive the former assassins in his condition."
Vertigo just watched as they dragged the broken changeling away. He made strange, almost rhythmic sounds; she couldn't tell if he was laughing or crying. She looked back at the Queen.
The Queen smiled at her. "Wait two days. If the bastard is still alive, kill him. In the meantime, I will trust you with another team."
"GET BACK!" Midnight screamed. A glowing orb surrounded him; his magic shielded him from the other workers. "STAY BACK!"
Vertigo and her new team watched from above as her old team circled the bubble, waiting for the slightest hint of weakness. Their target still lacked usable hind legs, keeping him vulnerable underneath the shield.
"Why do they get all the fun?" asked one of her new assassins.
Vertigo patted it on the head. "Two days. We have two days before we are allowed to kill him. Until then, we watch."
Midnight's ear twitched and his spell flickered. Then the spell intensified, glowing brighter. Then, erupting into a bright flash, blinding the other changelings. When the two workers could see again, they found their prey exhausted and unshielded. They attacked. The first came from Midnight's left. It jumped towards him hooves first, only to be dodged. The target had risen from the ground, on all fours, and galloped towards the surprised second. He tackled it to the ground. He put a hoof onto its throat to subdue it as the first started moving toward him again. As it went to jump again, it saw Midnight's horn glow, then felt a great pain from his back as his broken wing was pulled from his side into a form not unlike its natural span. It screamed and lost balance, falling to the ground.
"Broken wings are the worst, aren't they?" Midnight said to the first, almost out of breath. He put more pressure on the second's throat to encourage its rest. "They're not nearly as easy to heal as a cracked exoskeleton." He shook his head, chuckling to himself. "Even that is difficult without a lot of magical charge... Good thing you two couldn't differentiate between a charging changeling and a shielded one!" His hoof moved to back of the sleeping changeling and rubbed it as he continued. "Not much good trying to fix a wing, sadly." He raised the hoof again, then let it hover over the unconscious throat. "There's no fixing them. They just sit there on your back and grief you with pain. ...Until you remove them fully." His hoof slammed into the changeling's neck, crushing it. The body crumpled into ash as Midnight approached his next victim.
"Four... Three..." the changeling said through the pain.
"Ooh! A perceptive one!" Midnight said, smiling.
"Four... Three... Four... Four..."
"Okay, now you need to think of something more interesting to say." Midnight placed a hoof onto the changeling's back.
"Three... Four... Four..." the changeling reiterated, loud enough for even Vertigo to hear.
Midnight leaned in. Magic pulled the changeling's ear toward his mouth. "Three," he whispered. Then the magic took a hold of the changeling's head and wrung it the wrong way. The body crumpled to ash.
Midnight looked up toward the three spectators. "Vertigo!" he called. "Finish the sequence and I won't try to escape!"
Vertigo looked towards her allies, who appeared just as confused. She tried to reason. "Assuming he was just repeating the sequence, the next one should be four... Right?" The others nodded in agreement. Vertigo peeked over the edge. "Four! Four completes the sequence!"
Midnight looked up and smiled. "Sorry! He was actually going to say three , three, four, four!"
"And how we supposed to figure that one out?" she called back down.
He smiled. "Sometimes, the simplest sequences are the hardest to grasp."
Midnight galloped toward the base of the stairs and started climbing fast. Vertigo spread her allies to create a barricade as he approached.
"So you plan on keeping me here for two days?" Midnight said as he approached the barricade at full speed. "Good luck!”
Midnight jumped toward the barricade, his horn began glowing and suddenly flashed bright enough to blind the three. They stayed still and braced for impact. It never came. Vertigo looked around with less and less strain until it was clear the changeling had vanished. But she heard the flutter of wings above. They charged to the top of the stairs in time to see Midnight, with two pristine wings, gallop out of the Hive.
"We have to follow him!" Vertigo commanded.
"But it's still storming outside!"
"If that washes away his hoofprints we lose him forever! Come on!" she shouted, galloping toward the exit.
A look over the edge saw Midnight at the bottom, now galloping over the wide open plain outside. The two assassins did their best to keep up with their leader, whose finesse in rock climbing only hastened the chase. Vertigo caught up to the soaked fugitive, out of breath after the ordeal. He just smiled at her in the pouring rain. She just stared back, holding her ground long enough for the assassins to catch up.
"Why?" Midnight asked them. "Why not just stay high and dry? Why come out here in the elements, where creatures even more dangerous than I may lurk?"
"I want answers and I want my promotion."
"You won't get either from me... Nor the Queen."
The three changelings stepped forward, and the fugitive took a step back. The sky flashed as they stared at one another, waiting for the chase to resume. But the ground grew darker and the thunder grew deeper, louder and the wind blew in more directions. A dragon flew down from the sky and snatched up the lone changeling, screaming from the beast's claws.
"C-can we go home yet?" an assassin asked, shivering from mostly damp coldness.
Vertigo shook her head, splashing water on her allies. "We must confirm that he's dead."
"Are you insane?!" cried the other one, shaking from mostly fear.
Vertigo galloped after the soaring reptile. The assassins had no choice but to follow.
After soaring across the plain, the dragon finally landed on a plateau several paces ahead. Bright green light flashed from the summit, witnessed by the pursuers at the bottom. Vertigo's climbing abilities saw her at the top first, alone to confront the fugitive. Another changeling was talking to him, the dragon nowhere to be found. They didn't see her.
"Look, Dredge, the plan's off! I couldn't infiltrate the Hive, and I couldn't even get close to the freaks!" Midnight's tone was panicked.
The other changeling's voice was slightly higher pitched. "Hey! I couldn't fool those dragons with a semi-grown form, but am I going to quit? We have to try again. We are too close."
"Yeah, yeah... But I was recognized as a wretcher. If the Queen sniffs me out again, I'm not going to be trotting away with both halves of my body!"
"You're overreacting! We haven't been around here for centuries!"
"I severely agitated an executioner that the Queen has wrapped around her hoof. The only way I got out was because she's not supposed to kill me for two days!" His worries were met with a blank stare. "The executioner is female..."
"Ooh. Yeah, I was wondering why the Queen would limit herself." A frown of worry creased the changeling's snout. "But why limit a killing machine?"
Vertigo felt some pride hearing the two discuss her obedience.
"Its name is Vertigo, Dredge."
Dredge burst out laughing. "She must hate that thing. So why are you worried?"
Vertigo's pride turned to a burning rage. She got up from her cover, leaving her assassins still hiding.
"Because I don't give up easily," Vertigo shouted at the changelings.
"You have got to be kidding!" Midnight screamed in anger. "You see me grow back my legs, my wings, and get grabbed by a large dragon... And you still follow me! I'm out of the Hive! What do you want?!"
"Calm down, Masquerade," Dredge said with a smile. "She can't take us both alone!"
"Not alone." Vertigo smiled as the two assassins joined her.
Midnight gritted his teeth as his horn glowed. He grabbed the two assassins with his magic, lifting them into the air, and slammed them together. "Nobody!" he screamed as he slammed them into the ground. "Cares!" He slammed them into each other again. "About!" Ground. "These!" Ground. "Stupid!" Each other. "Assassins!" He slammed the two to the ground again, releasing them from his grasp. They laid on the ground next to Dredge, who watched them moan and writhe in pain.
"Dude..." Dredge stared at his ally in disbelief.
"Why do you care so much about these psychopaths!" Midnight screamed at the executioner.
Vertigo took a step back.
"They're just marks!" Midnight continued. "Just little notches used against you!"
"Of course they are! Why do you think I care about them?" Vertigo said, trying to keep herself from shaking in the unhelpful rain.
Midnight grunted and his horn glowed. A hoof fell on his shoulder. "Masquerade, you've exerted yourself too much," Dredge affirmed. "I'll handle this." He turned to Vertigo. "You are stronger than your name implies... You could join us."
"And why would I ever do that?"
"Because whether you like it or not, you're in between us..." He gestured towards Midnight then back to himself. "And immortality."
Vertigo looked over Midnight. "900 years, huh?" She turned back to Dredge. "So he wasn't making that up?"
Dredge smiled. "Oh, he's been around much longer than that." The smile faded. "But that is a story for another time. For now, you must understand that we need a breeder from the Hive. If you help us, you may be able to leave the Queen's tormenting employ. If you don't... We may be forced to kill you."
Vertigo chuckled. "If you could kill me you would have done it already."
"We don't work like that. If we did, you would have all been reduced to ashes when I came to Masquerade's side."
Thunder crashed overhead.
"Really?" Her voice was filled with doubt.
"I could assume the form again and just gobble you down. Right now."
Vertigo smiled and crooked her head.
"This is taking too long," Midnight interjected. He trotted toward the two assassins. "Come back from a storm with no team and you'll be done. Your career, everything... All over."
"Wait!" one of the assassins squealed. "I... I'll join you..."
"You reek of fear and woe. This is not your choice to make." Midnight turned to Vertigo. "We will kill them both. If you do not join us, you will have no assassins. No Hope."
Vertigo scoffed. "You were going to let them live?"
"Your assassins are too weary of us," Dredge explained. "If you are to join us, they cannot follow you."
"Why should my immortality cost two lives?"
"Because it doesn't," Midnight explained. "They are not just changelings... They are assassins! Psychopaths with no reason to exist beyond destruction! Killing them saves how many more 'lives?'"
"And I am their leader," she replied, scorn in her voice.
"And that is why you will choose," Dredge said. "Life or death?" He smiled, "That is, to throw away the lives of your weaker allies to gain even greater power, or to let yourself die at the Hive alone and weak."
Vertigo sighed. Her head lowered under the weight of mostly the heavy rain pour. She found the strength to lift it back up to ask one final question to the two outsiders. "If I help you get a breeder, will you leave this Hive alone? The rest of it, including myself, untainted by your presence forever?"
"You wish us gone after we secure a breeder, eh?" Dredge confirmed. "Then you surrender the lives of your allies?"
"Only these two and the breeder. No one else is to be harmed." She glared at Midnight. "Nobody."
The other assassin thrashed about on the ground, his legs broken in the assault. "YOU CAN'T DO THIS! IT'S TREASON!"
Vertigo ignored the cries. "As quick and painless as possible, please."
She watched as the outsiders smiled at one another. A bolt of energy shot from Dredge's horn, paralyzing the assassins. Midnight took the closer one and bit into its neck, crushing it in his jaws. Dredge did the same to the other. With subsequent bursts of green flame the two outsiders emerged looking exactly like the assassins they had killed.
Vertigo's stoic countenance finally swayed, revealing shock and horror. "That shouldn't be possible."
"We're shapeshifters," the assassin killed by Midnight said. "We've always had the potential, but are too prideful to try."
They looked back towards the Hive in the rain. The thunder and lightning became further away with each step they took.
"So what are your real names?" Vertigo asked her zombie assassins.
"Friends call me Dredge. I think it started as 'Drudge,' but I got better at my job."
"Which is?"
"Sorting out potential and learning to take a dragon's form," he proudly explained. "I have many ways of stunning prey and I've almost integrated with their society."
"Hm." Vertigo turned to her left. "What about you, Midnight?"
"Midnight Masquerade. Born a pony, turned changeling, made executioner from saboteur elite, and finally got completely lost after an unsuccessful invasion. Teamed up with outcasts and looked into spooky magics that can help us survive."
"Midnight knows more healing spells than anyone I've seen..." Dredge added.
"So you really were part of the Hive..." Vertigo said.
"But my real name is Foresight."
The other two changelings stopped and stared at him.
"No... It isn't..." Dredge said, confused.
"It is. After killing an innocent changeling I dropped the Executioner title and worked towards spells and incantations to sense the future, so it wouldn't happen again."
"When exactly did you get that name?" Dredge asked, still confused.
"The Queen will dub me 'Foresight' when I genuinely integrate into the Hive."
"Can I ask you something?" Vertigo asked.
"Past, present, or future?"
"Any that apply."
The vague response intrigued him. "Okay."
"Are you insane?"
Foresight chuckled. "Yep."
"I'll admit," Dredge said. "Foresight can be a bit... crazy from time to time but his, well, foresight is very accurate. If he says something is going to happen, like getting a new name, I'm just gonna go ahead and start calling him by it."
Vertigo shrugged. "'Foresight' it is then."
The three made it back to the Hive after a few minutes of silent trotting. The rainstorm had passed but the cliff face was still slick, as were their wings. Vertigo found the climb too easy even for her tastes; the three made it to the top without a slip. She stopped at the top, hesitant to step back inside.
"Something wrong, boss?" the zombie asked.
"I've never had anyone other than assassins follow me before." She turned to her troops. "Do you really think a breeder would join our team?"
"Just tell the Queen you want a breeder to join you," the other zombie said kindly. "I'm sure if you ask ni--"
The first zombie interrupted. "If you were going to say 'nice,' you'd better check who you're dealing with. She's not just going to give us a breeder, and it could be detrimental to our mission to ask for one."
"And how do you know her so well?" Vertigo asked the first.
The zombie frowned, and crooked his head towards her. "Did you mix us up or something? I used to live here. And I've caught a glimpse of what she will do." Foresight chuckled and turned to Dredge. "Do all the assassins really look alike?"
"So you know how she'll respond to me meeting with her?"
"What?" Foresight asked in a brief state of utter confusion. "Oh, right. Yeah, I know what she'll do a hundred years from now. And very little even then."
Vertigo sighed. "Whatever. You two wait here, I'll go talk to her." She turned to head down into the Hive, but found her snout twisting back to see the two one last time. "And don't touch anything!" She turned back and continued down the stairs.
She stopped for a brief moment, peeking through the door which held the breeders. She could see them spinning a cocoon tighter as the prey inside had tried to escape, weakening the casing.
She moved down past the armory and soldier bedrooms to the familiar, large doors of the throne room.The soldiers saw her coming and opened them, smiling the same smile again.
Chrysalis looked almost half confused as Vertigo entered, but the look was soon replaced with the old condescending smile. "Is the wretcher dead, then?"
"No, ma'am," Vertigo answered. "He killed those assassin workers and somehow--"
"Yes, yes, he pulled himself all back together better than new and flew away. But then your team chased him. Please only start with what I don't already know."
"We chased him out, caught up to him, then a dragon swooped down and carried him off."
"And then?"
Vertigo shrugged. "Well you can't expect me to assume he's dead!"
Chrysalis cleared her throat. "And. Then." Her tone grew darker. "You are not one to let a little rain keep you from knowing the fate of a target."
Vertigo felt anxious. "But we couldn't kill him until--"
The Queen's raised hoof silenced her. "I know you. And you don't usually lie." Her smile had faded completely, replaced by a deep frown. "You talked to him, didn't you?"
Vertigo steeled herself. "Never, ma'am. He was carried off by--"
"Another changeling in a dragon's form," Chrysalis finished. "Probably another wretcher. And your team went after them."
"We came right back. It took forever to climb all the way back up here with the cliff so damp!"
"Vertigo, do you understand what is at stake right now?!" the Queen screamed, her patience exhausted. Vertigo gulped, and the Queen caught her breath. "Do you even know what a wretcher is?" she asked almost quietly.
"No, ma'am," Vertigo said in a voice more quiet.
"Wretchers are the antithesis of what we changelings stand for. What we are... And what we hope to gain. They are shapeshifters who use their powers for their own selfish gain, and to destroy entire ways of life that question theirs. They hate unity and conformity."
"And why would one of these want to join the Hive?"
"Midnight. That changeling was one of the first executioners. They defined that rank. But that was almost a thousand years ago." She looked down at Vertigo. "Tell me, Vertigo, you've been on dangerous missions. How many would you be able to do in a row without returning here for rest?"
"I don't know..."
"How many years would waste your body away?" She smiled. "Midnight Masquerade is dead. Long dead. Whatever that monster outside is, it's not him. In fact, it probably killed him." She chuckled. "Because that's what they do. They kill changelings. They eat changelings. They dig their wretched fangs into their flesh and feed on the ashes of our own family. It's what gives them their strength."
"But how do ashes even keep them alive?"
"I don't know," Chrysalis admitted. "But there is something within our shape shifting logic that wretchers completely ignore. They take the form of other changelings, after all."
"So any changeling in the Hive could be..."
"No. I will not have such paranoia spread around. It would ruin the foundation of trust that keeps the Hive working. We must instead be absolutely sure no wretchers ever enter the Hive. Ever." She paused for a moment. "Do you understand what is at stake now?"
"Almost." Vertigo decided to let her curiosity speak for her. "Midnight mentioned a breeder being the only thing he wanted while he was running scared from us. Any idea what that would help them accomplish?"
The Queen's eyes grew wide for a second. "Breeders are, as you know, changelings who can produce a special form of cocooning material from their mouths. The cocoons made from that can convert any creature into a changeling... Or, in this case, wretcher food."
"So they could eat anything." Vertigo looked up. "Shouldn't we just give them a breeder then? So they can stop going after the Hive?"
"Midnight and the dragon are but a dying flame. Let them be blown out by the wind, or snuff them out yourself if they try anything. We will not encourage their terrible ways. Lock up the breeders and have guards posted at the door. Wretchers will not take any part of this Hive."
"Understood, ma'am."
Vertigo turned to leave the chamber.
"Oh, and Vertigo..."
"Yes?"
"If you did talk to Midnight... Bring him back here. We can break him a thousand times over and have him as a trophy. Do that, and I might just promote you."
Vertigo smiled at the Queen. Then turned and galloped out of the chamber. As the doors closed behind her she looked towards the sunlight at the top of the Hive. And toward the two "assassins" waiting for her.
Ascending the stairs, Vertigo found the Queen's orders already carried out; two armed guards blocked the door to the breeding chambers. She trotted back down a few steps and slipped into the armory. Sure enough, the guards had left several Spears unattended. Vertigo picked one from the rack. As her hoof glided across its rough handle, she wondered where exactly the point would go. She shook her head and put the spear back on the rack.
Trotting past the guards and the top of the stairs, she finally found the two zombies waiting for her. Seeing one of them smile as she approached almost made her wish the spear had remained in her hoof.
"Welcome back," one of them said kindly.
"Outside. Now," Vertigo commanded, gesturing toward the exit.
The other zombie mumbled something under his breath as the three left the Hive proper and stood on the edge of the cliff that marked its entrance. The rock was dryer than before, baking under the evening sun.
"Before we do anything else," Vertigo started, staring at the two from a bit further away from the edge. "I need some answers."
The more solemn of the two sighed. "I repurposed the DNA and didn't expect a runt to count the holes and notice I was filling them."
Vertigo crooked her head in confusion. "...What?"
"Oh, you weren't going to ask about the sequence?"
Vertigo sighed. "Why are you here?" She raised a hoof to Foresight. "Is it really just to get a breeder?"
"It never was," Foresight admitted. "I just wanted to be a part of the Hive again."
"Plans fall through," Dredge added. "We couldn't just sit around and starve because of dragons or changelings not taking kind to us." He looked toward Foresight. "Getting a breeder is a last ditch effort. I could see why he wants to deny it but it is the plan now." He turned back to Vertigo. "If we get a breeder, we can promise you won't ever see us again."
"Well, I'll still be here in a hundred years, but whatever. It's not like I'll make a difference." Foresight smiled.
"So, you don't really want a breeder?" Vertigo asked again.
"We need one." Dredge looked at his friend again for a brief moment. "In order to keep our deal with you." He frowned at Vertigo. "I know you value changeling lives too much to let these two..." Dredge gestured toward the forms he and his friend took, "...go to waste."
"I already told you-"
Dredge finished her sentence. "You barely agreed with him; you refused to say the words."
Foresight smiled. "Why do you think we're here?" he said in a half-mocking voice.
Vertigo snarled. "You want to destroy the Hive and eat everyone in it because you're all cannibals who hate what the Hive represents!"
Foresight nodded along, then crooked his head when she noticed. "Is that all?" Vertigo's bare fangs answered his question. "Because she left out a major detail: our origins."
"You probably crawled out of a stinking hole somewhere..."
Foresight chuckled. "Well, you're not wrong." He cleared his throat. "Back in the day, the Queen didn't believe in death penalties. So whenever someone really messed up, they were thrown out of the Hive. Permanently." He sighed. "Desperate to get back in, missing everything we loved about the Hive... We outcasts broke the many guidelines of our shapeshifting teachings and began taking the forms of changelings within the Hive just to belong again. But this weakens us, and we become as wretches."
Vertigo maintained a straight face. "And where did cannibalism come from then?" she asked with a condescending tone.
"One of the guidelines. We warp flesh that isn't ours, repurposing it to fit our more dire needs. Changeling flesh is the easiest to warp, for obvious reasons."
Dredge stepped forward. "We only hurt those who would do others harm: assassins and the like. If we get a breeder, we can stop discriminating by species." He stepped forward still, removing his disguise and patting Vertigo on the back. "You could help us. You could save so many innocent lives out there and maybe even live forever!"
Vertigo sighed. "You guys really want to live forever?"
Dredge nodded. Foresight shook his head.
She smiled. "Too bad."
Pushing Dredge out of the way, she smashed into Foresight. A quick stomp crushed his foreleg. When Dredge predictably went in for the counter attack, she dodged past him and booted him over the edge.
The cliff shook.
A roar erupted from the bottom of the cliff, and Dredge's dragon form rose up, its eyes level with the changeling's. Vertigo smiled at the reptile. The dragon inhaled, readying a breath of fire. The executioner zapped the beast's throat with magic, cutting the breath short. This gave her plenty of time. She looked over toward Foresight, who appeared to be in shock, then toward some rocks by the entrance. The dragon steadied itself only to see Vertigo at the edge of the cliff. It's maw opened up to swallow the executioner. A rock flew in, lodging itself in the dragon's windpipe. Vertigo's horn glowed as she suppressed Dredge's magic, stopping him from healing himself. Foresight rose from the ground on three legs. The dragon gasped for air. Vertigo stood her ground. Dredge gasped for air. Foresight charged Vertigo. The dragon's head began to sway. Vertigo released Dredge. Foresight's leg was pulled out from under him. Dredge was out of air and energy. The dragon fell to the ground, burst into green flame, and left behind nothing but a small pile of ash.
Foresight landed on his broken foreleg, sending even more pain through his body as he attempted to get up. Vertigo approached, taking an extra step to put her hoof on his chest. Unable to squirm out of the executioner's hold, Foresight simply relaxed his hurt leg and looked up at the changeling. She could feel his breathing relax.
After a short moment Foresight chuckled, then burst out laughing.
Vertigo stomped on his stomach, silencing him. "What's so funny?"
"Because," Foresight started, out of breath. "Because... You. I get it..."
"What?"
Foresight laughed again. Vertigo punched him again.
The zombie looked up into its former master's eyes. A familiar voice whispered from its mouth. "C-can I go home yet?"
Vertigo's tongue flinched.
"I want to join you."
Vertigo shook her head thoroughly. "No. You're not him. You're just a double."
"No, it's me!" the assassin's voice shrieked. "The monster was in my head... But now I think he's gone."
Vertigo gritted her teeth. Then an idea popped into her head.
"I'm sorry, sir," the assassin pleaded. "I couldn't control myself."
Vertigo chuckled. "Shut up, Foresight. I wasn't going to kill you anyways." She lifted her hoof of the changeling.
"I'm not Foresight!" the changeling said, lifting himself off the ground on three hooves. "It's just me again, another assassin."
"You crushed that neck in your own mouth and expect me to believe it's alive?"
"That's how they get in! These monsters aren't changelings at all!" The changeling limped backwards from her. "Wouldn't this have healed by now if Foresight was still here?" He reached out with his broken leg.
An extra set of hoofsteps grabbed the two changelings' attention. A guard appeared at the entrance of the Hive. It wore the helmet issued to members of the Royal Guard of the Queen.
"Whenever you're done talking to Midnight, the Queen wants you to bring him down soon."
It disappeared back down the stairs.
Vertigo stepped toward the entrance, turning back toward the injured assassin. "Come on. Let's explain this to Her."
"With me?" the assassin asked. The changeling's lips quivered at the site of the affirming nod. "You mean I get to actually enter Her throne room?!"
The genuine excitement in the assassin's voice threw Vertigo off; it was too fitting. Assassins were never allowed close to the Throne, and this particular one was more sheepish than the others. If the changeling had somehow survived all of the wretcher's abuse, this would be the best day of its life.
As the two changelings made their way down the winding stairs, conflicting thoughts bounced throughout Vertigo's head. She stopped in front of the Breeder den. The assassin turned to the door, the guards, then to her.
"I require an update on the breeders," Vertigo said to the guard.
"We got some new recruits to work on. No trouble yet," the sentry replied.
"May we step inside for a more thorough check? The security of the Hive is not something I'm willing to risk on words."
The soldier shrugged. "Sure. But don't complain if you step in anything."
The door opened slowly before them. Vertigo walked through it and the assassin followed without a word. At the other side of the room, the breeders continued to spin long strands of sticky, greenish slime over the ponies unfortunate enough to be brought into the Hive. Consumed by their work, they would not notice the two visitors. Vertigo looked over her right shoulder to find the assassin gone. On her left, she heard a soft gasp. The misplaced changeling dug a book out of a discarded pile of ooze. It slowly opened it with a smile. Vertigo trotted over and tried to read over its shoulder. Unsure of what the changeling had found, she prodded him and motioned to the door. They left quietly, certain that their visit did not disrupt the delicate breeding cycle.
Outside, they both got a closer look at the book.
"Five... Seven... Five..." the assassin read, its hoof sliding along with its eyes.
"You can read?" Vertigo asked in bewilderment.
"Only a little. I used to a lot more before I hurt my head." It rubbed a small, almost unnoticeable scar on the back of its head. "An assassin hit me with one of the tomes. The Queen said my sanity didn't make it, so now I'm an assassin like the rest." It turned to Vertigo. "I'm sorry... I shouldn't ramble about the past..."
"It's fine," Vertigo said. "How long ago was this?"
"A few months ago. I remember the assassin being angry about being assigned to you. Then after the attack, he didn't come back. Now here I am at your side." The changeling shrugged. "This morning, when I was assigned to you, I didn't think I'd survive. And now here I am, reading a strange book and going to see the Queen soon."
Vertigo put a hoof on the assassin's healthier shoulder. "It will be alright." There was a short pause as a memory popped into her mind. "You know, I remember that guy who hurt you."
The changeling turned quickly to its leader, but shied away from talking.
"He was eaten by a dragon." She chuckled. "That was the day I learned how to kill the overgrown lizards."
The assassin chuckled awkwardly. "Dragons, wretchers... I wish I could kill things as good as you. Then I'd've killed that monster before he got me." He looked toward Vertigo. "Do you think he'll come back?"
"Not twice," Vertigo said with a smirk. "Let's update the Queen, shall we?"
She bounded down the stairs, past the armory and soldier beds to the Throne Room. Behind her, the assassin limped down the stairs. Slipping a bit, it dropped the book and with a few loud thumps it had beaten the changeling to the bottom. Finally, it caught up with its leader. Without a second glance at the book, they entered the Room.
"My, my... You allowed him to change shapes," Chrysalis said upon seeing the two arrive.
Vertigo sternly looked up at the Queen. "This is Not Midnight, your highness. The wretcher took control of his mind somehow, but now it's gone."
"And who told you that?" The Queen's eyes stayed fixed on the assassin, who shook subtly with a closed mouth.
"This one acts perfectly normal and has memory of events so obscure that not even F--Midnight could know it." She cleared her throat, giving herself time to recover from almost saying "Foresight." "I've seen changelings in disguise, ma'am... They don't change underneath. They can't know everything their prey knows."
The Queen laughed for a moment. "Whatever gave you the idea that wretchers are anything like changelings?! And even if they do somehow 'take control,' what's to stop it happening again?"
"I know that wretchers are just changeling outcasts. I won't let you deny that."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"She's... She's right." The changeling's voice shook with its body as it tried to talk. "He was... He was in my head. I saw..."
The Queen sighed. "I'm starting to remember why we don't let assassins inside of our Throne Room." She turned to Vertigo. "Go upstairs and grab a spear, would you? I don't think this one has enough strength to leave here."
Vertigo obeyed. The doors closed behind her and she hoped that the nervous assassin could defend itself while she was gone. Then again, that's exactly what defends it; Foresight was confident and outspoken.
The executioner trotted up the stairs toward the armory, wondering what the Queen was planning. Her eyes searched above her for any sign of the wretcher, while her mind searched for solid proof that he was gone. But her hoof found the armory door first. Inside, the same spears from before were still just laying on the unattended rack. She sighed as she recognized the sharpest one there. She shook her head and pulled it off the rack.
Leaving the armory, Vertigo stopped at the stairs and looked up again towards the sunlight shining at the top of the Hive. The light shone a calm blue, typical of dusk. She trotted down the steps. She tried to keep her mind clear of the haunting doubt that what she was about to do was a mistake. The two guards opened the doors without a glance, without a smile. The doors closed behind her as she returned to the assassin’s side; it stood before the Queen, shaking not from mostly fear.
“You can’t do that!” the assassin screamed at the Queen. “You... You just can’t!”
The Queen smiled, being the only one in the room to recognize the executioner’s presence. “It seems your input may be required here, Vertigo.”
Vertigo glanced from one to the other. The assassin snarled at the Queen, who simply smiled back from upon her throne. “What did she do?” she asked the former. “What happened?” she asked the latter.
The Queen chuckled in anticipation. “Well, Mercy ?”
“You can’t name me that!” “Mercy” shouted back. It shook in pure frustration. “You can never name any assassin that!”
“And who are you to say what I am capable of?” The chuckle became slightly more sinister. “I knew you couldn’t hide your useless powers long, Midnight.”
With the spear in one hoof, Vertigo patted “Midnight’s” shoulder with the other. “Please, you have to calm down.”
Foresight’s eyes turned toward Vertigo’s, then disappeared behind the eyes of the assassin. The shaking changed tempo, and his lips trembled. “Vertigo... The wretcher is back.” He quickly looked over his shoulder, then turned from Vertigo entirely. His snout scoped the whole room. “He was just... he was just here.” Mercy turned to the Queen. “You heard him too, right?” The smile disappeared from the Queen’s face. She nodded.
Then kept nodding.
“I’m... I’m still here though. Where... How...?”
Vertigo’s eyes met with the Queen’s, whose gaze quickly shifted toward the spear.
Mercy frantically searched the room again.
Vertigo glanced between the assassin and the spear.
His glance stopped on the spear. “Wha... What are you doing with that?”
Vertigo glared back.
Before Mercy could react, the spear pierced his chest.
Vertigo’s hooves attempted to retrieve the spear, only to find it impaled within Foresight’s chest. The assassin’s form was gone, replaced by Foresight’s true form. His fangs appeared almost serrated, with a strange green fluid dripping from them.
“It dies with me...” the gravely wounded changeling said. He chuckled as his eyes searched for Vertigo’s. “The smart one... the kind one... the one with hope... Now a murderer of the iridescent future!” His jaw was almost limp underneath the wretched fangs, but his tongue continued. “Go to a land of feathers and claws... Learn of the past... Learn of the future. What... Foresight...”
The wretcher slumped over and his eyes closed. Vertigo looked toward the Queen, just in time to see her confused look forcefully disappear. “What do you think he meant?”
The Queen thought for a moment. "Sounds like he was talking about the Griffin Kingdom. If there are answers to be found, that's the place to look."
"You want me to go to the Griffin Kingdom?" Vertigo asked, half afraid to hear the answer.
"Well, since you're practically volunteering..."
"I need a team for that. You should give me some time to--"
"I don't like being interrupted," the Queen said, cutting her off. "Your actions today have earned you a promotion, after all. Do you want it before or after you leave?"
Vertigo tried to hide her enthusiasm. "I'll take it before, please."
"Very well." The Queen rose from her throne and put her long, twisted horn on Vertigo's shoulder. "I dub you, Vertigo the Royal Executioner." Her horn patted both her shoulders before finding it's way back to the Throne.
Vertigo wondered for a moment. "What exactly does my promotion get me?"
"'What exactly should our promotion get us?' is more like it. You have your pick of the assassins now for any given mission. You also have the privilege of speaking to interiors with the Royal We." The Queen's smile returned. "Now go. You have three days to gather your assassins. Then, you must seek out the clues given to us by that idiot over there."
The body stirred. The jaw quivered for a moment as the wretcher's eyes opened and focused on the Queen. "I have... A name."
The Queen's smile didn't waver. "Yes, Foresight, you do." The other two changelings' eyes widened. "Since you have demonstrated such an excellent sense of the consequences of your actions, what else could I name you?" She turned toward Vertigo to find the executioner staring at Foresight. "Vertigo! Remove the spear from his body."
Vertigo obeyed. Foresight smiled, and his horn glowed. His body, with spear inside, flared up in green flame for a brief moment, but nothing changed. Vertigo approached him. Without any resistance, the changeling pushed the spear through the changeling completely. It was intercepted by her magic before it could hit the ground. The hole left behind was smooth and without any sign of damage, yet it implied the absence of a heart.
"How do you even do that?" Vertigo asked him.
Foresight fell into a short trance and chuckled a bit. "There is much to learn. So so so so much to learn..."
"Go put that away and assemble your team," the Queen commanded.
"Of course, Chrysalis," Foresight replied.
"Who are you to know our name?" the Queen replied, scorn in her voice.
"A lot of things I..." Foresight paused for a bit. "Know will be hard for you to... Really understand."
Chrysalis sighed. "He's babbling nonsense now. Perfect." She pointed toward the door. "Leave my presence!"
Foresight chuckled and obeyed.
Vertigo realized a command had been given to her and quickly obeyed as well.
Vertigo stepped out of the armory with new armor: a helmet capable of shifting shapes with her and marked with the royal crest. The new saddle worked in the same manner, and offered greater protection. She felt heavier with it all on. Looking down she saw the wretcher picking up the discarded book. She shuffled down the steps to investigate a fleeting suspicion.
"So you can read?" she asked the heartless body double.
Foresight's eyes didn't leave the book. "Yes, I'm literate. That fool smeared all the pages... With incompetence."
"So you can read them now that you don't have to pretend to be an assassin."
Foresight looked up from the book. "Exactly."
Vertigo crooked her head. "Is Mercy still in there?"
Foresight licked his fangs, flinching on the sharper, semi-deformed bits. His tongue collected most of the green liquid before receding into his mouth. He spat the juices out onto the floor. "He's dead." His hoof stamped the spot a couple times.
"When did that happen?" Vertigo said, trying to ignore Foresight's stamping.
"The moment you tried to kill us." He turned back to the book. "Not much I can do, when the time is far too short, to save a fool's life."
"So you absorbed Mercy himself, then let him control your mind for you. But when your skills were needed, you snapped back into control too quickly to save his mind from being forgotten."
Foresight looked up from the book again. "Please stop doing that. You're ruining the fun."
Vertigo laughed. "Who do you think brought that book in? It was a long day and I decided to read something before returning home with a fresh victim."
Foresight sighed, and smiled. "So you can understand poetry..."
"Haiku," she corrected.
“Nice armor,” he said, changing the subject.
“Nice teeth.”
“Others may see past it, eventually healing. Time is a cure-all.” His tongue prodded the sharp, unnatural edges. He winked his right eye a couple times, before rubbing it with his hoof.
Vertigo crooked her head. “Get something in your eye?”
Foresight groaned in slight pain. “A bad memory. Or a horrid prediction. Hard to say, really.”
“You sure you’re not going to miss me?” Vertigo asked with a half-smile.
Foresight shook his head. “I do not know you.”
A frown creased her snout and she turned away from the wretcher. “Then enjoy staying here in the Hive.”
“May you never return here. I do not know you.”
Vertigo shook her head and turned back toward him. “Is there anyway to bring Mercy back?”
Foresight squinted, then smiled, then burst out laughing. He turned from her, laughing. He trotted away, laughing.
“He won’t last more than two days,” a changeling said from behind her.
Vertigo turned and glared, but quickly changed to a half-smile. "Oh, Compass. Didn't see you there."
Compass was a simple changeling with a simple job. It maintained gender neutrality and spoke in the common accent of those within the Hive. But this simplicity betrayed the fact that this changeling had great influence on the future of the Hive. All young changelings went under its gaze, from which Compass would derive their ideal jobs. If anything changes, the Queen has final say.
"I try to stay out of the more insane assassins' way." It smiled. "How do you do it?"
"Do what?"
"You captured a complete psychopath, and he doesn't want to kill you."
"I don't think he likes killing," Vertigo replied, her eyes now following the wretcher down the stairs.
"He has an unfamiliar scent, but a very familiar arrangement of emotions." Compass took a couple sniffs of the air. "He's a cold-blooded murderer. I can tell. When young ones hatch from their cocoons, and they have that scent, I immediately mark them as assassins and move on."
Vertigo turned back toward him. "And are they always--"
"Every test given to them by the Hive executioners assure us all that they're killers," Compass finished.
Vertigo looked back down to find the wretcher gone.
"I've been traveling, in a perfect solitude, the world for some time," a familiar voice spoke from behind the two changelings. They both turned to see Foresight standing there, his straight face betrayed the darkness of his words. "Each death by my hooves, was in exchange for better life. Almost all of them."
"You would forsake Dredge?" Vertigo asked him.
"Dredge?" Compass asked, confused.
"I had warned him well. My path is a path for one. Others will vanish."
"So he wasn't even part of your plan from the start."
"And neither are you."
Vertigo chuckled. "You don't scare me, coward. You hide more than you eat. You're lucky the Queen even took you back."
Foresight cracked a smile. "Now She sends you out. She separates two wretchers. One suffers, one's gone."
Vertigo stamped her hoof, glaring at the changeling. "I'm not a wretcher."
"Then I don't know you. But you don't care about that. You care for the worse." Foresight turned from the two changelings and trotted away. His voice continued into the darkness below, vanishing after one last haiku: "Incomplete visions. Secrets behind wretched eyes. Behind wretched fangs..."
"Cute," Vertigo said outside of earshot of Foresight.
"He's still a killer," Compass said. "But he does seem a bit slow."
"You may know your killers from your soldiers, but I know my backstabbers from my killers." She sniffed the air. "I can tell when they lie, and when they plead the truth."
"Ooh," Compass replied sarcastically. "Because what assassins think is so worthwhile to hear."
"It's a difference between losing a whole squad or just a couple at most."
"Because their lives are so worth keeping," Compass continued.
Vertigo scoffed. She trotted away from the changeling and back down the stairs to follow Foresight. She bounded off of the steps to land a couple paces in front of him.
"You actually lied to me."
"Really, you're surprised?" Foresight crooked his head. "You expect the truth from me?"
"I could feel it. You looked me in the eyes and said that time can heal anything. But behind your face I could tell you didn't really believe that."
"So that is a lie. How shameful of me." Foresight smiled. "But are you so sure I'm wrong? Does time not fix things?"
"It doesn't matter. You don't believe you're right. Which means there may still be time to save my friend."
Foresight shook his head. "Hope and Mercy: Opposites and enemies; bottom of the cliff."
"What?" Vertigo asked, confused.
Foresight chuckled. "I'm sure he's waiting. Neither of us have the time, to see your logic."
"I'm not sure I understand, actually."
Foresight smiled at Vertigo. She kept her face straight, but noticed that this particular smile was almost unfamiliar. It was a smile toward a friend, signifying a form of trust. He was confusing her to have a form of assurance. An assurance that she wouldn't try to kill him again. She smiled back. Behind her smile, his words echoed in her head: "Bottom of the cliff." She turned from Foresight and flew up to the top of the Hive.
After trotting to the edge of the cliff that marked the entrance, Vertigo looked down toward the bottom. The ashes of the fallen wretcher remained there, despite the ever prevalent winds of the badlands. She jumped down, opening her wings to land gently near the pile of black ashes.
"I guess this is what he wants..." She thought to herself as her magic pulled the ashes from the ground. Within her aura, she could see the ashes almost writhing. It was as though the dragon had not turned to ash, but instead into a black sludge. A fluctuation of her magic grip caused a small amount to fall near her hoof. She picked it up. It stuck to her hoof as a sticky wad of sludge. A sniff of it revealed an unexpected aroma: Love. The changeling's remains smelt of love. Vertigo could feel drool pooling in the sides of her mouth. "Oh, I'm sure he wouldn't mind," she thought, bringing her hoof closer to her mouth. Her eyes scanned the area for others before her tongue finally went to her hoof. Scooping the sludge into her mouth, she savored the taste of love before swallowing it. The morsel made her feel better and stronger. Yet, her stomach hungered for more. She looked back up at the large blob of food in her magical grip. She licked her lips.
Vertigo stuffed the remains into her mouth. Swallowing with very little chewing. Her head buzzed with new energy, and she felt more filled than ever before. But as the remains were digested, a strange feeling tickled the back of her neck: the feeling of being watched. She turned around and scanned the area again for others. The eyes of her former assassin stared back.
Vertigo's eyes grew wide. "Foresight?! How long have you been standing..." Vertigo's eyes began to squint as she crooked her head. "Wait, why are you wearing Mercy's form again?"
"I guess these two assassins really did look alike," Dredge's voice spoke from the changeling's mouth. Vertigo's eyes widened again. "Probably a case of poor memory, though."
"How are you...?"
"Sshhh..." Dredge had a hoof to his lips. "No need to speak. Just think loud thoughts."
How the hay am I supposed to do that? she thought.
"Exactly like that," he replied. "You see, Vertigo, you killed me. But my body... It doesn't like letting go. It doesn't like... Not feeding."
Vertigo could feel her pulse elevate as she gulped. "So I... You're..."
"Oh, calm down!" the zombie assassin screeched. Its face flickered in a strange light. For a moment, Vertigo couldn't tell if Dredge was in disguise or not. "I'm not going to kill you." Now she couldn't tell if Dredge or the assassin was speaking. "I might scare you. I might tickle..."
"How are you doing that?!" Vertigo backed away.
"Please, Vertigo," they pleaded. "You need to calm down. Your perception will thank you."
She took a few deep breaths.
"Better. Just... Keep doing that," mostly Dredge said. "So... You ate me." The figure nodded. "Understandable. Wretcher remains tend to give off a good amount of love stored from victims." The changeling stopped to look around. "I'll be honest, I had no idea it'd feel this weird." He shrugged. "I'm not even me, and it kinda hurts."
Vertigo just stared, trying to keep her breaths at a reasonable tempo.
"Right. Should've probably started with that..." Dredge smiled a half, the assassin smiled the other half. "I am still Dredge, but until your body completely breaks me down, I get to appear as this weird half-Dredge, half-memory-based-illusion thing." Vertigo's mouth went to speak, but Dredge put up the assassin's hoof. "I'm in your head, just think loudly."
Vertigo cleared her mind, taking more deep breaths.
"You know, if you had done this as soon as I died, I might just have enough strength to rock that little skull of yours; take over your body completely and make it mine. But you stagnated us."
Vertigo slowly smiled.
"Instead, we will fulfill our side of the bargain. Wretcher powers will be yours."
Vertigo felt her body, mostly her horn, tickle and get subtly shake under the hollow changeling's powers. Then, with a feeling of warmth, it stopped.
Know anything about the Griffin Kingdom?
"Aw, yes. The land that gave us Foresight." The figure let out an icy chuckle. It cut itself off as it noticed Vertigo's cringe. "Sorry... We don't know much about it. Foresight mentioned taking up a job there once..." It shook its heads. "Sorry, we're fading too quickly."
Vertigo lowered her head. Her eyes closed, trying to focus. I'm sorry.
As the Moon rose over the horizon, Vertigo was alone. But there was a short glimpse into the mind of Dredge. She looked over it again and again...
Foresight was always his name. Midnight was just an alias, a failed plan to get into the Hive. A part of the bigger plan for gaining immortality. He appeared from the Griffin lands, tired and ragged, without wings. His eye could not disguise itself naturally. We helped him. He refined our spells and methods. We worked together to perfect the Wretcher legacy. Two things required: A breeder for the ticks, and a black and red horn for the bells. He knows where to find one, and we have a good hunch about the other. Sounds simple enough.
Vertigo looked to the northeast, toward the Griffin Kingdom miles away. Her mind buzzed with energy and ideas, and many questions. A brief answer to two of them flashed behind her eyes. She looked back at the Hive, smiled, then galloped off into the night. Alone, she would face the Griffins and learn the truth.
From the entrance, Foresight watched her disappear into the night. Two assassins appeared at either side. "'The smart one is here.' Such kind words from beyond us. 'Please, can we keep her?'" he chuckled. The confused assassins hissed. They jumped at him, but he was faster. "What? No love for poetry?"
He laughed, and licked his wretched fangs.