Gray the Great

There was a problem, or I should consider there are multiple problems. My mind is locked down to this form. I cannot escape death, if it comes for me. Which means if I die, I need to be remade through a larvae. This is made worse, by the fact that my entire hive will sleep if I fall asleep. If it were not for the barrier that protected us, my hive likely would have failed. If I were to die, then my hive would likely fall asleep, or be taken over completely by the Queen. I sent in a request for a more proper solution. The issue was that I couldn't trade bodies with other members of my hive, nor could I shrug off my need for sleep to them.

The Queen's solution was simple and elegant. I merely needed other bodies I could inhabit. It only took her a few moments to guide me to moving my workers to feeding a new body that grew from a larva. The second body, she had me watch completely so that I might learn. Then allowed me to help on the third. On the fourth I was able to create my own body. I was warned properly that I was not allowed to have more than eight in total since my mind would struggle if I tried to use all of them at once.

With my four new bodies, I moved into them to find them exactly as the other. I could now perpetually stay awake, since I could just move to an already rested body as needed. Truly our Queen is every bit of the word glorious. My hive raised their mandibles in unison clicking them together to exclaim her glory, and our gratitude.

Then she disappeared, only to reappear elsewhere. I quickly realized something was happening, and sent out an urgent message to my sibling hives. |"ATTENTION! The Queen is moving through portals! Find her through your connections, and establish new ones!"|

Beru replied first, |"Understood! I shall trust your judgment!"|

Then Rose spoke, |"How do you know she's moving through portals?"|

I quickly felt around for her, and found that even our connections were being kept attached through holes in space. |"Memories Rose! That's not important."|

The Queen warned us that if she loses connection with us, we'll have five seconds at most before she loses herself. The room she was in, no the cell had holes punched through space to let us stay connected. She didn't trust it to stay that way. There was no good way to find her, because that same cell was blocking the connections from outside. It meant we had locate her before the connection was lost. She was afraid she'd lose us, and hurt her hive. That she would hurt the male outside her cell...

Then it hit me, when I felt that fear. She had a person that only made a promise to help us if she were to die. Someone she had doubts about, that might actually abandon her and our hive. That she was more afraid of hurting those close to her, than anything else. I understood that as her hive, we were closer than that male. That she would kill him without hesitation to save the hive, but she would kill many others outside the hive to help him. She would do the same for the Captain, because she considered him a part of us as well.

All doubts I had about my place within this glorious hive disappeared. She was underground and I was the closest to her if that was the case. She held no fear of me breaking off from her, or going against her. Coming to the sewers wasn't a place for me to be tested, it was because she wanted to keep the hive safe in case something happened. Even if she didn't know what might happen, she prepared as best she could to let us survive. I was given an area where I could freely practice my magic, so I could help the others grow with my knowledge.

I lowered my head, as I realized searching this way would be pointless. All my telepaths, and Dreamers were gathered in the hive. I sent a message to the Queen, |"We cannot find you like this. We are trailing the connections through the portals. May I disconnect from the Hive?"|

Her reply was instant, |"I trust you, explain to the others, as we may move through the portals again. I need them prepared to do the same as well."| There was a gentleness to her words. The kind a mother might give to their child.

|"Understood my Queen. On my name, I shall find you!"| She thanked me, as I contacted the other two hives. |"I will be disconnecting shortly. We keep tracing the connections we already have to the Queen. I need to restablish them from the furthest point to know where she is. Beru, you might need to disconnect and reconnect after me. Rose, you can only think as well as you do because the Queen allows you to use others. If you disconnect, you will lose yourself and die."|

I could almost hear Beru marching his wings. |"We shall use Rose's hive as a link to keep us together. Even if the Queen disconnects, she will be fine because we're officers. We can help mitigate her loss of self."|

Rose spoke up, |"I don't get it, how will this help?"|

Beru replied, |"Gray will have to establish new connections, and will be able to ignore the ones closest to us. If you manage this Gray, you will have earned your title. If you do not rejoin us, I will hunt you down and slay you personally."| The threat was very real, since I knew Beru held some caution towards me. After all, I could go rogue with my own hive and try to hide from the Queen. It was a real concern, but it was one our queen didn't even entertain.

I could not abandon a kind Queen, that would choose compassion for her enemies if given the choice. She had no reason to allow me the freedom of thought I had. I could have been left a mindlessly loyal husk with all the memories, but she chose to let me have a choice. I gave Beru a mental laugh, |"The same goes to you my friend. I will burn you slowly, if you do not rejoin us. Goodbye for now."|

I disconnected from the other hives, keeping my hive to myself. We reached out with the telepaths and dreamers. We found the link Rose's hive had to the Queen. We knew how to identify it now, and searched downwards rejecting all other potential links. My entire hive focused, until we found the rooms that would not allow us in. We kept our focus on those rooms, waiting. Then it happened, the disconnect as one of the cells opened. I quickly rushed to my Queen, connecting with her in milliseconds. She was relieved, and I quickly reconnected with Rose and Beru.

|"Beru! She's going through another portal soon! Disconnect and focus to reconnect from the other side of the portal!"|

|"Understood you brilliant bastard!"| Beru disconnected, as the guards began moving the Queen towards the other portal. Beru knew what to look for as I gave him the information before he disconnected. A few seconds passed, before the Queen reconnected to him without having to sever our link. She knew where we were located in relation to her now that she could use the distance of our connections. We all clicked our mandibles in unison at the victory achieved. We saved the Queen from losing herself to silence once more. We saved another member of the hive, that could not connect with us.

My hive spent the rest of the day slowly killing the rattle rats, to establish our territory. We would need to use their nests for our hives, since the size was going to potentially be an issue. We had to blend in with our surroundings, to survive in case the Queen ever needed us. At least the food and resources here were plentiful. Even if we had to fight constantly for such.

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Rose The Scout

After everything was over with the Queen being lost to portals, my hive was better able to focus on working with the spiders. They were much bigger than we were, but that didn't seem to matter to them. The spiders wrapped their dead in web cocoons, before moving to toss them into the sewers. In the mean time, we were able to establish a form of communication with their boss. While the majority of the Harpers took care of their dead, it left the rest of us with remaking their traps and webs. The Harpers themselves were surprised by the strength of our webs. They directed the spinners to patching up the defenses and other webs that were torn from whatever happened in the past.

The scent of our Queen lingered here, and it somewhat bothered me that they were unable to clean everything up by themselves. Though judging by all the bodies, maybe only a quarter of them were left? Then there were the others that were probing into the territory that was established. Other Harpers moved to make a sort of net that helped keep most of the trouble away, but it wasn't perfect. Rattle Rats as Gray called them, were coming from the Sewer and drainage outside. It seemed there was some kind of unspoken hatred between Harpers and Rats. Most of the rats would retreat when we appeared, or began to march. It was nice that they were afraid of us.

The best part of all this was the fact that little children would appear from time to time. Some brought flowers, and others brought bits of glass or other things. We could smell the scents of their parents upon most, and very few seemed to live with some kind of plant. It also helped me understand why we didn't just completely cover the entrances, and left the ground wide open. It was so these little ones would not be caught in the webbing that we would have to fix.

A few of the little ones stayed to chat, and the boss spider would rest on their lap. Most of them were not surprised by how the boss looked now. Which meant this happened often enough and explained why the place was still a mess. The Harpers would play their songs to make the little ones smile, while we fixed the webs. A few noticed us, but were happy enough when we crawled on them. This made the boss spider anxious, but we just went through their hair to eat the lice that a few had. The Queen herself said I was doing a good job establishing that children shouldn't be afraid of us. Really I just wanted the lice and flowers they brought. Some even had sugary aphids on them.

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Then the Queen got silly, saying we should cuddle with the spiders. The spiders were a bit put off by this, but the Queen asked us to do it. I got a bed of flowers, and felt rather happy with how the day went. Even when night came, we cuddled with the spiders to sleep with them since the Queen didn't tell us to stop. They were warmer than I thought, and they seemed to get used to us sticking around them. We played our songs, and declared the greatness of our Queen as became a nightly tradition. The Queen promised that I could go to a place with more flowers as soon as I died and such a place was there. We just needed someone to run this hive, so I hoped an officer might come eventually.

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Berry The Worker (Takes place after Mimi drinks the coffee)

My first thoughts when I came upon this glorious nectar were, "This is amazing!" The second thoughts I had were, "What kind of sugary nectar makes filling so sugary?" My wings twitched, and my legs were becoming charged with energy. The Queen was giggling happily on the floor, as other workers cleaned the Queen's body. All of them moved so slowly compared to how I felt now. I finished eating the sugary glaze, and the berry filling. Yes, that's a great name! My name shall be Berry!

In our Queen's stupor, she was trying to direct more information to many of us. She was hoping to have new personalities like myself emerge if given enough ability to think. It was astounding that she didn't try this before, or perhaps she did. That didn't matter, this was my first life damn it! Even if the others died, I will never die! I will be the first immortal bug to walk this hive!

The excess mental power was shifted from me, as I felt things around me speed up. I felt myself slowing down a little, but fought against the feeling. The Queen didn't leave all the information with me, but I was able to siphon from the others around me, because she allowed it. She had great plans for the future, even if they were muddled by her current state. I grabbed chunks of the savory pastry, carrying twice as much compared to the other workers. They did not know how to push their limits, but I was special!

Every step, I felt my legs growing longer. Every twitch of my wings, I felt my mind growing sharper. I licked the glaze as I ran past the others. The sugar flowing through me as I felt better than I ever did! I couldn't wait to see what kind of honey they turned this amazing stuff into. Hopefully it would remain as sugary and delicious! Perhaps, it might be even better!

I ran back towards the leftovers, to grab more and more. Each trip getting faster as I licked the glaze. I learned how to move quicker, because I could actually focus on it. Soon I was doing a sort of hopping sprint with my new longer legs, letting my wings carry me as I glided faster than my peers. I was doing the work of ten ordinary workers, and before I knew it the sweet sugary snack was gone. The Queen was clean, and ordering us to prepare for a move tomorrow. Even if she didn't know where, she had to move the hive.

The Queen giggled, sending more vague orders to us. She asked us if the room was spinning, which it wasn't. On a request from Beru, I checked her fatigue levels, to find her body was growing more exhausted from dealing with whatever was happening to her. The two officers spoke back and forth about what to do, while I happily carved into the comb around the food. We'd need as much of it as we could get if we were going to move after all. The other workers followed my lead, as we started to tear our stores apart bit by bit, carrying chunks towards the top. It seemed the Queen hadn't quite told them how we were going to move, but she was happy at least.

The day turned into night as the Queen awoke from her stupor. She apologized to all of us for her vague orders, and conduct. Of course that was fine, but I asked if I could have some of this 'coffee' later. I really wanted to see what she meant when it felt nice. If it was anything like the glaze, I could become one hundred times more efficient! Sadly she had drank it all, but she did promise to let those of us that were curious have some.

The Queen left for quite some time, as her orders became more clear. We were able to prepare everything we needed for being moved. The plan was to let the Queen carry as much of the Hive as she could, and make return trips as needed. We had all been so busy following her orders that the scouts did not explore the area on patrols as usual. That may have been another part of the Queen's orders while she was giddy, but it was above my understanding.

The Queen came back, and found a carriage. We moved everything as quickly as we could. Which was nice since the window was now open for us. We carried chunks up the wall, climbing to the window sill, and dropping off to the carriage below. It took us a while, but soon we had everything we needed. The Queen didn't leave a single larvae behind, since it was likely Oswald might just destroy anything left in his walls.

I could tell the Queen was tired, as she moved the wagon. It was nice to have this all in one trip, but between the fatigue caused by the coffee and the training. She was feeling exhausted, and a little irritable. It probably didn't help that I was asking her if we were there yet the entire time. I wanted to work, and the amazing feeling I felt from eating sugar was wearing off. I can't help it, if I am excited about such things. The Queen took a small break, ordering some warriors into dark spots outside the wagon. There were a few humies that needed to be straightened out, but they were handled quickly by our queen.

It sucked that we had to go out of our way to drop them off somewhere. The Queen was tired, but still nice enough to let the humies go. I spent my time repeatedly biting the one known as their boss on the nose. The Queen said that was fine, and it made the ride more enjoyable. Other workers did the same to the other thugs, while a few bit at their swollen limbs where they were broken. This was to let us know when they woke up, and to keep them from trying to run away.

The humies were dropped off, and we finally made it to the new place. Thankfully the Queen did a little bit more work by hauling most of the hive in one go. She bore some holes into the walls, ordering us to move the hive inside them. We happily did such, and finished just before the Queen came back from another adventure of her own. Her body passed out on the floor, as she took over my sisters and brothers. Apparently there were some tests she needed to run. This was going to be very interesting going forward. I could only hope we'd get more sugar soon though.

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Officer Beru

The incident with coffee was resolved, as we chose to understand the orders our Queen was giving us. They were suggestions, and potential plans for the future. Cynthia was not a part of the hive, as she received protection from the church. We were to protect her as a friend, but not if it could harm us. The more we separated ourselves from her, the better. Even if we were found to be hiding in this church, our Queen didn't want to ruin this place. To allow it the chance to bounce back if we were discovered.

That was supposed to be how this all worked. "Aguuu!" I saw the red tyrant slowly crawling on all fours towards me. I marched my wings with their lower drum sound as he giggled and crawled after me. This was supposed to be our attic! Our place to hide! Now I was watching this little red infant while the rest of my hive continued their work. The priests were slowly moving all the boxes out of the attic so lady Cynthia could live up here with us.

I had to jump as the little one plopped forward from his crawl, "Gawr." I avoided being grabbed once more. I was both thankful, and a little upset that my spines did not seem to harm the red infant. Even in the few times it managed to catch me, naturally while I was distracted by something else, it's hands were unable to harm me or grip with enough force to harm himself. Even if he would cover me in drool and shake me around. He did learn not to put me in his mouth, and his mother was cautious enough to keep that from happening.

Lady Cynthia herself was overseeing the moving of the boxes, and her own belongings. The attic was slowly filling up with her stuff, as most of the boxes were taken out during the day. She was probably worse than her offspring, given that she used what free time she had to try establishing a connection with us. This was the main reason we could not consider her a part of the hive, if we accepted her our Queen felt it would go very poorly for her mind.

The little one reached towards me, as I jumped again. He let out little coos and giggles, before falling to the floor and finding his foot more interesting. I flew above him, watching as he used his budding teeth to chew on his foot to no avail. Of course such small teeth would do nothing, even if they were a bit sharp. I turned my attention to the hive, and found that night had already come. Most of my day was spent dealing with this red tyrant, but thankfully I wasn't needed. What termites we found in the walls were easily dispatched. They could have been enslaved, if not for the fact they just tasted awful.

In our Queen's stupor, she sent me different kinds of links and connections. As if trying them out herself. I received a few thoughts about how it could work to connect with lady Cynthia if I was the only one that connected to her. She was smiling as the last of the priests left the attic, which seemed to signal that everything was done. I flew towards her, before hearing plodding footsteps behind me. Lady Cynthia turned towards me, and clasped her hands over her mouth looking shocked and happy at the same time.

"Aguuu!" I turned just in time to see the red tyrant standing on his hind legs like the others did. It was too late for me to fly from his clutches! I folded my wings as both his hands clasped around me, his wings on the ground for support. The little tyrant's tail was wagging as he made a happy coo. I almost felt happy for him as well, until it brought me under his chin getting drool to cover me again.

Lady Cynthia knelt on the floor, her arms wide. "Your first steps Drake! I'm so proud!" The little one took plodding steps towards his mother, his wings dragging on the floor to help him stay up. Thankfully he didn't fall, and I was proudly handed to his mother. She was crying a little, as she took me from her child, setting me on the bed to dry off. I could see her holding the little tyrant to her chest, smiling and crying at the same time. "Thank you for everything." I felt her trying to connect to our hive once more. She was probably trying to tell the Queen this.

I dried myself off, still unable to fly because my wings were still damp. With nothing better to do I tried the connection type my Queen tried out earlier in her stupor. Lady Cynthia accepted happily. |"You are welcome lady Cynthia."|

She laughed a little, |"I'm not a lady anymore dear. No... you aren't Mimi."|

|"That is correct, I am officer Beru. Officer is my caste, and title since I was the first. I cannot let you connect more to the hive then this. Our Queen forbids it, but she showed me how to do this connection recently."|

Lady Cynthia rubbed the little one's back, before sitting on the bed. |"May I ask why?"| She sounded a little hurt by this information.

I watched as she bared her chest, to feed her little one. |"She is worried you might lose yourself to the hive. She doesn't want you hurt."|

The lady smiled sadly, |"She really is a nice person isn't she? I never thought about how easy it would be for her to do that kind of thing. It... it happens to a lot of Entomancers you know?"|

|"I do not know, but you seem to understand. My wings are dry now, please sleep well."| I flew from the bed back to the hole in the wall. Lady Cynthia smiled, while muttering how amazing our Queen was.

When I entered the hive, I clicked my mandibles to exclaim the glory of the Hive, and the glory of our Queen. The others followed, as we set about working through the night. I knew our Queen was tired, so what kind of subjects would we be, if we slept while our Queen couldn't!?