Wretched Hive 3: The Gray Pony

The changeling opened his eyes to the hive interior after a dreamless sleep. The bed next to him was empty. Kernel looked around and found nothing else amiss; all the other wretchers were chatting to each other or sleeping in. He looked toward the inner sanctum and could hear Advantage’s voice. He quickly got up and trotted toward the sounds.

A familiar voice was talking to the queen. “All I’m saying is that the mental subprocesses aren’t meant for such an amount of manipulation!” It was Foresight. “Somebody’s been going through the entire hive’s dreams, spooking them with their Oasis memories or...” He chuckled. “Hell, pretty much any tragic event they were a part of. Especially those that they themselves committed!”

Advantage simply nodded. “What about Kernel?” the male head replied.

“What about him?”

“He had nightmares too, Foresight,” the female head explained.
“He’s no memories,” the male head added.

Foresight sighed. “I saw things I had repressed over the long centuries.” He shrugged. “Maybe he isn’t as clean as we thought?”

“His mind was empty,” the male insisted.
“The nine devoured it all,” the female clarified.
Both the heads shook. “He repressed nothing.”

The visitor dug at the ground with his hoof, shaking his head some more. “Then maybe we don’t understand the mind as well as we might think!”

Advantage coughed and shuddered. “Absolutely not!” the male said as both heads shook.
“Compass had proven us right,” the female explained, smiling while her large hoof gestured casually toward the empty corner where Compassion had died.

“But you’re only proving my point!” Foresight shouted at them. “The fact that Compassion didn’t survive the wretching under your supervision would imply that the changeling he was devouring was somehow more mentally strong.” He started to bob his head in the rhythm of his escalating reason. “I bet you that whoever is putting these nightmares into your hive knows exactly what they’re doing: Starving you.” He shook his head. “There’s no way your hive can grow if none of you are strong enough to bind souls.”

“That’s preposterous!” the male head exclaimed. “Compassion was weak!”

Foresight scoffed. “Weak? He was literate! He knew how dreams worked!”

“His intentions were not pure,” the female head argued.

“Since when the fuck do intentions come into play?” he snarled back at them.

“The shield’s on your back,” the male head of Advantage chastised while the female one glared. “The blade in its sheathe.”

Kernel was confused. Foresight wasn’t.

“I carry no blade,” Foresight growled.

The two heads smiled. “You do,” the female head affirmed. “It is denial.”

“Then what’s my shield?” he growled.

“It doesn’t fit you,” the male noted. “And it never will.”
“It is your own purity,” the female interjected.
“Stained with your own blood.” Advantage chuckled. “It makes bad polish.”

Foresight frowned, but his gaze stayed affixed to the queen. He seemed much calmer now. “But your whole hive is just blood polishing skin.” He shook his head. “Why am I the bad guy here?”

“Because the shield doesn’t breathe,” the female head hissed.

“But...” Foresight’s voice trailed off. His gaze finally drooped with the rest of his snout. “Alright.” He turned from them and started trotting toward the exit. He stopped after a few steps, now closer to Kernel than to Advantage. He turned back toward the queen. “But what about my intentions?”

Advantage smiled. “Care without a hope.”

Foresight nodded. “And Compassion’s?”

“Hope without a care.”

“Right.” He nodded again as he turned back toward the exit. His head drooped back down.

Kernel stepped toward him, blocking his way. “What was all that about?” he asked him.

Foresight’s head perked up, an almost unsettling smile creased his snout as his eyes focused on Kernel. A slow chuckle crept from his throat. He stepped forward putting a hoof on the changeling and pushing him aside. He didn’t break eye contact as he trotted past.

“Tonight, you’re gonna have a real nightmare.” The chuckle returned, faster this time. “I can’t wait.”

Foresight galloped away.

Kernel tried not to think about it too much. He trotted into the inner sanctum where Advantage was waiting.

“Compassion’s not coming back,” the female head said as Advantage turned to him.

Kernel frowned as he nodded. “I... I heard.”

“Don’t get discouraged.” Advantage smiled at him. “Foresight is on it.”
“It is the last he would do.”

“The least he could do?” Kernel repeated back.

“The last he would do,” the male head affirmed. “After this he’s done.”

“Done with what?”

“His destiny encroaches.”

“Approaches?”

“Encroaches on all.”

Kernel crooked his head. “Is that your way of saying he’s going to die?”

Advantage shook their heads, sure of what they meant. “He is going to wake up.” Kernel shook his head, completely lost.
“He’s going to learn,” the male head clarified. “Just needs time for fate.”

Kernel nodded. He looked around the cave. “So... If Compassion’s gone, what do I do now?”

Advantage smiled. “What do you feel like doing?”

Kernel looked up at them. “I'm not sure but...” his gaze couldn't decide which head to look at. “Can I ask you a personal question?”

Advantage looked over him briefly. “Ask away, Kernel.”

The changeling bit his lip for a moment. “Where... Where did you get an extra head?”

Advantage’s eyes widened. Both heads looked around to the left and right of their sides. Confused, the four eyes returned to Kernel. “What are you talking about?” the female head asked.
“We’ve no extra head,” the male head insisted.

“But you have two heads,” Kernel noted. He gestured toward his single head then to both of Advantage’s. “I only have one...”

“Should we really care?” Advantage asked before the voice switched heads back and forth again.
“Aren't two heads better than one?”
“It shouldn't matter.”

“I was just asking,” Kernel pleaded. “I didn't mean anything was wrong with you.”

Advantage nodded. “We understand, Kernel.”
They chuckled. “Oddly enough, we don't know,” the female head said, finally answering the question.
They nodded. “Sorry about that.”

“It's fine,” Kernel said. He turned back toward the exit. “Well, I'll see if anyone needs help with anything.”

“We're sure someone does,” Advantage said.
“And don't fret about your dreams.”
“Foresight won't hurt you.”

The smiled and waved him off.

Alone, Advantage began to pace their room again. The steps along their path were embedded in both their heads. The two heads glanced at each other for a brief moment.

“How did this happen?”
“Let's just forget this happened.”
“Yes, but not the past.”

Beyond Advantage’s gaze, Kernel trotted back toward his bed. An unseen hoof flew from the darkness and struck him in the back of the head. Darkness and pain played an irresistible lullaby.