Chapter -1: Greater Virtues

Redemption stood over me, shaking his head. My forelegs were back. I got up and looked around. Strange patterns covered the walls. Polka dot blue covered the wall behind me in waves. Strange green graffiti covered the wall in front of me. I was so confused.

"Of all the times to lose it," the changeling said. "They hadn't even touched you yet!"

I glared back at him. "I lost my fucking legs!"

He just smiled back. "Yeah, sure. That's your biggest problem."

"Shut the fuck up."

"Calm down. Take a deep breath. Just look at me! You think I gave away my eye or my fang to anything less than our perfect Hive?"

"I. Lost. My. Legs."

"You're not special, pal. Lots of changelings have sacrificed multiple limbs just to join our glorious utopia!" The walls brightened as he spoke.

"Why am I back in this nightmare world?"

"Living Nightmare, to be specific. Reliving, to be accurate..."

His horn glowed and strange black paint warped into stranger shapes on the ground. With a raise of his hoof, the shapes took a three-dimensional form. It was us. I was on the ground, missing my forelegs. His form stood over mine, laughing. The real one trotted up to me and took me toward a discolored splotch in the corner.

"I figure you'd want to sit this next part out then..."

With a flash of his horn the walls spun around the room as the strange patterns became pieces of the scene my mind had so hoped to escape. The mob was behind me, a couple hundred blue eyes like stars in the night sky. Barbarian's remains burned a bright green. The Queen laughed. All were frozen in time.

"Are you ready for the true ending of this story?" he asked me.

"I have my legs back. It can't be that bad."

"Only by mercy." He smirked. "That'd make a good name for a wretcher." He shrugged off the sentiment. "Anyways, here we go!"

I watched as the commotion resumed at full volume. But this time I was on all fours and away from all the disfigured fangs. I watched as one by one they emerged from the darkness. They crowded around the fire. The Queen nodded their heads and trotted towards my now breathing fake. Fake Redemption stood over me still, unfazed by whatever they were doing to Barbarian.

"Please..." the fake soldier's voice quivered.

"That doesn't even sound like me!" I said. Redemption and I both shared a smile.

"Please..." the two-legged changeling continued.

The Queen looked up toward the edge of the darkness. A few stragglers eyed me from afar. Their eyes met. The Royal heads nodded. The stragglers shambled into the light and surrounded me.

"What?" the strange painting asked the Queen with a labored breath.

Fake Redemption put its hoof on the soldier's head. "You have a lot left to give."

"Leave the Life organs!" the male head screamed.

They jumped. The stragglers all jumped onto the fake, ripping its remaining limbs off as the other fake held the head in place. It kept screaming at such a familiar frequency. The snapping of its exoskeleton resonated with my own being. I cringed with each snap and crack. They pulled its wings off. Finally, one snatched its jaw. Another ripped out its tongue. The scream only became more gargled. I tried to close my eyes but the vision behind the lids matched that of the fake, accentuated by the unbearable pains of being torn apart. My eyes sprung back open as I backed into the wall.

Suddenly everything froze.

I caught my breath and tried to look anywhere else. The fake's eyes were half out of his head, dragged by the ravenous wretchers that had nothing left to take. The Queen was nodding their heads for some reason. It was strange to see every body part of Advantage standing perfectly still. Barbarian's remains were still too crowded to see any progress on, though it was certainly not giving off as much light.

"That's enough of this story," Redemption said.

I looked back at him. "Am I... Am I dead?"

The changeling laughed. "No... We were just releasing you from your mortal form! You're one of us now, Carnal!"

I looked back toward the painting. The fake Redemption was leaning into the soon-to-be eyeless head, ooze dripping from its snout.

"And why are you here with me?"

"Advantage, the perfect one, chose me to be your guide! You are to return to your own Hive and tell Chrysalis of this story. She will declare war, or leave us alone. But Advantage must know how to prepare us."

I took a deep breath. "Okay." I looked around the bloodstained room. "How do we get out of here?"

Darkness engulfed everything.

“Don’t you worry. We’ve already left.”