Try as he might, Hunter couldn’t pinpoint which direction the buzzing originated from as it bounced from one wall to the next. Desperation and fear frantically clawed at his mind in tandem and ushered Hunter to scrabble forward as he shimmied on his hands and good leg. He had to hold his breath to stop the screams that would have exploded out of him, every time his bad leg bumped or got scraped on a stray rock. Sweat poured down his face as he inched across the cavern’s uneven floor.

The buzzing had grown louder by the time Hunter closed his hand around the broken arrow, though the feel of the wood did gave him a slight bit of comfort. He brought the broken projectile under his chest, and focused on controlling his breath, as he waited.

Barely half a minute later, the buzzing stopped, but was followed by the sound of hooves hitting the ground. After what sounded like sniffing, the hooves made their way towards Hunter’s position. They stopped nearly a foot away, and Hunter could almost feel the creature move its head closer to inspect him.

With a roar and a burst of adrenaline, Hunter whirled around, managing to stab the creature in the eye with a loud pop. Though the exploding chunks of eyeball and what felt like snot were disgusting as they landed on Hunter’s hand, arm and face, the stench was much, much worse. The combination of wet dog, rotting skunk, and burned hair was enough to trigger his gag reflex, as he pushed the corpse away and unleashed his stomach’s contents upon the unsuspecting floor. After three minutes of vomiting what felt like an entire week's worth of meals, Hunter wiped his lips and rubbed his eyes clear with his unspoiled arm, before he stared at the creature.

Though the moonlight bleached out most of the color, he could still make out the fading glow of a single, bulbous blue eye, the glint of a chitinous hide, and the subtle death-throes of the beetle-like wings as they twitched.

A changeling?! How’d a changeling get here?!

Before his thoughts could spiral into complete pandemonium, and before he could catch his breath, Hunter’s ears were assaulted by a head-splitting screech that seemed intent on ripping his skull apart. His hands clapped over his ears, but they did nothing to diminish the bone-rattling wail. Curled into a fetal position, all he could do was clench his teeth together and his eyes shut, as he tried to ride out the increasing wave of pain.

It was as if every hair on his head had become a white-hot screw, and were being drilled through his skull and into his brain. He felt blood begin to leak out from his eyes, ears, and nose. Heedless of the pain in his leg, Hunter rolled onto one side, then the other, repeating back and forth until he screamed. The sound of his own primal, anguished cry overrode the howls in his mind, before his lungs gave out, and his eyes rolled back behind the darkness imposed upon them.

Hunter’s body went limp, and his breathing gradually slowed to a rhythmic rise and fall of his chest.

The buzzing came again, but he couldn’t hear it. He didn’t see the pair of changelings descend into the cavern. His unconscious mind barely registered that he was being moved, though he did groan as his bad leg was jostled by the impromptu flight. Down through the mazelike passages they flew, closely followed by a pair of purple eyes.

***

Throughout the trip, Hunter dreamed of being surrounded by countless electric razors. The clicks and buzzes set his dream-self on edge, as they drew closer and closer to his left leg, before diving into it like a school of starving piranhas. Meanwhile, back in the waking world, he had been unceremoniously dumped onto the ground. And onto his bad leg, no less.

“Blisskarkling majinga! Owowow!”

As Hunter balled up his hands into fists, he heard a soft, discordant voice begin chuckling. The laughter continued in pace with the echoes of hoofsteps as they drew nearer to his prone form, face down in the dust.

“Well, well, well. My brood have told me much about you, human. But I must admit I didn’t expect you to be so… frail. Though I suppose that’s what happens when you have no exoskeleton, after all.”

His eyes shot open so wide Hunter was afraid his eyelids had permanently retreated into his sockets. A pale green light afforded him the means to see what stood a few feet before him. As slow as molasses in winter, he drew his gaze from the floor to the grayish black, chitinous hooves. Upward he went, taking note of the numerous holes that seemed to puncture the legs, before resting on the face of the statuesque figure.

Her horn was twisted, jagged, and menacing. It seemed less an implement for magic and more one for torture, especially with the green light it was giving off. Her long, teal colored mane and tail were like disheveled lengths of weeping willow moss. Though multiple shades of green, from the pupil to the ‘white,’ her bloodshot eyes held a beckoning smile behind their alien coloration. The downward-facing fangs only served to add a sense of thrill to her overall appearance, as opposed to a threatening one.

Hunter gulped. “You… you’re Chrysalis!”

Her left eye twitched once, twice, thrice. “That’s Queen Chrysalis to you, human. Should you forget, I shall have to… remind you. Now then, we’ve wasted enough time here. Allow me to show around you around my domain. Drones, carry him. He’ll be a hindrance otherwise.”

Once again Hunter was lifted into the air, grasped by his arms and hauled forward into another tunnel as the drones followed their queen. Sounds and smells became all he could register, as Chrysalis had extinguished her light. The buzzing became stronger and stronger as they continued down, deeper into the depths of darkness. Scents of rancid meat, potent mold, and damp earth assaulted Hunter’s nose, and though he tried holding his breath, the uncaring grip of the changelings bumped his leg against wall and stalagmite alike.

After nearly passing out four or five times, his escort stopped, but continued to hover in mid-air. The light Chrysalis’ horn emitted before returned, showcasing her manic grin in the eerie glow.

“As a proper Queen, let me introduce you to my newest subjects.”

The light grew brighter, and illuminated the entirety of the large cavern. Including its newly revealed inhabitants. Their roaring set the walls to shake, even managing to knock loose some cracked stalactites which crashed to the floor, and shattered like lightbulbs.

Sweat began to ooze from every pore Hunter had as his breathing quickened.

Sweet Celestia… what are these things?!

All the while the purple eyes watched on, though now laced with a sheer coating of horror.

Author's Note

Hi ya'll! Sorry for the major delay of game. Like, seriously sorry.

And although a certain someone's comment about the length of chapters does make a good point... I'm going back to doing these shorter ones. They just work better for me. Hate them or like them, that's up to you guys, and it's okay either way. I've left ya'll without an update for waaaaaaaaay too long. So, I hope you enjoy it, as well as the next chapters to come.

-Ru