Cross’s knowledge of mortal beings was paradoxically vast and middling at the same time.

The distinction between Mortals and divine constructs such as Pawns was fairly easy to grasp. Mortals needed sustenance other than just blood to survive, they tend to die even in times of peace, and most weren’t put together in assembly lines by others of their species.

Despite that, when the giant green creature flung itself from the sludge above Cross and immediately attempted to drive a jagged stinger into his head, he had no idea it was mortal until a quick slap ripped it apart.

The laughter of Armel and Cole reverberated through the cave as Cross brushed at the slimy green remains that had been spilled across his shell. The tunnel opened up slightly once the light of the canyon died down, allowing him more room to fruitlessly wipe himself down in disgust.

It had smeared along his eye, coloring his vision in that sickly green that made him grunt before reaching up to clear it away.

“What’s wrong, Comrade?” Cole managed to say through his chuckles “Most Pawns don’t hop to Killin’ Lesser Mortals when they find ‘em.”

“Mortals?” Cross hadn’t managed to clear all the smears, but he did cast his gaze down towards the crushed remains of the creature “This… is a lesser mortal?”

Though it had been brutally flattened and was partially submerged in the sludge they were trudging through, Cross was still able to identify the complexity of the creature’s form. Its dark green shell was far too weak to be considered useful, and its six legs were still twitching violently despite the fatal injury.

Cross was initially surprised by the four eyes it had, since usually only Knights and Bishops had more than one, but they weren’t like any eyes he had ever seen. Instead of the uniform sphere with an iris he was used to, it was as if the creature’s bulbs were assembled of numerous curved planes that all fit into the shape of a sphere.

As he was examining it, he saw something quickly dart through the sludge below it. He quickly tracked the speedy figure over to the Newblood, who was also examining the dead creature until an identical one burst from the sludge behind him and scurried up his back.

“Hm?” he turned to look, only for the mortal to reach his head and rear back with a massive stinger that was at least half the size of its body.

The Newblood paused as the stinger jabbed at his eye repeatedly, the clinking sound of the appendage bouncing off of the sphere filled the air. The Newblood reached up, pausing for a moment before carefully prying the creature off his head.

It thrashed in his hold, sending green sludge flying everywhere as it struggled to break his grasp. Eventually a pair of wings unfolded from its back as it tried to beat at the Newblood’s arm.

“Ugh, you sure these are mortals?” he grunted before casting his gaze towards Armel and Cole “Its hard to believe the Sovereigns would wage war over something so…dull.”

“No no, these're lesser mortals.” Armel trudged through the sludge over to the Newblood, “Give it a few thousand turns and they's could be one ‘o the King’s favorites someday!”

“Doubtful.” The Newblood tossed the creature back into the sludge, where it quickly burrowed inside before swimming around their legs once again.

It wasn’t alone, Cross could count at least six or seven lesser mortals swimming through the sludge as if it was nothing. They made it seem so easy given how thick the stuff felt, but Cross's interest in how exactly was tempered when he realized how much of a problem they could be.

“They could give our location away if they keep-” he began, only for one to prove his point by launching out of the sludge and once again crawling up him to stab at his eye.

“True,” Cole’s smile dampened at that as his gaze went to the tunnel ahead “ Seventh Rule of Play says minimize harm to Mortals, even lessers like these. But we got's us a mission, comrades, the Bishops deal in handlin' stuff like that.”

“Yeah…” Armel’s smile faded at that as he watched the creatures “Especially when they's at this stage. Makes ya wonder why this world ain't listed?”

“Just assumin' Perignassi's good with plannin', but bad with Mortals.” Cole shrugged as he swatted another creature aside and continued down the tunnel “Mission comes first.”

The Newblood was quick to follow in his example, but instead just reached down and began crushing creature after creature the moment they even got close.

“Hey hey,” Armel called out to him as the dark shapes in the sludge began swarming with more intensity “C'mon Newblood. Just gotta scare ‘em off. They’s probably just tryin’ to protect their-”

A screech reverberated from deeper in the tunnel. The moment the piercing cry reached them the creatures went still, with the Noirites also freezing momentarily. The moment didn’t last long, as just when the screech began fading the creatures went into a frenzy.

Cross’ vision was immediately obscured by the creatures as more flung themselves from the sludge and began flying around spastically until all he could see were chitinous legs and wings.

“Steady, comrades!” he heard Armel shout over the skittering of limbs, but another voice quickly overpowered that.

“What did you do?!?” it was thought speak from somewhere above, quickly met with another voice.

“We delt with the interlopers, Brother Lutro.” A comparatively calm voice responded with hints of a chuckle “The insect matriarch has been silenced.”

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“What?!?” the first voice was audibly taken aback “You were supposed to lead them away, not slay their mother! The Rules of Play-!”

“The Rules of Play endorse caution in regards to the Queen’s Chosen, these lessers are nowhere near worthy of her love.” The second voice responded “To risk our mission for their sake is nonsense.”

“We can’t keep watch with these things flying everywhere.” Lutro spat “The King’s slaves could be rushing the tower as we speak!”

Cross was still trying to find his way forwards through the flurry of creatures, waving his hand out through a sea of chitin and limbs. But just as his hand found something sturdy before him, the tide of creatures shifted.

They pulled away suddenly, rapidly flittering their way down the tunnel revealing he was pressing his hand against a confused Armel right in front of him. Cross quickly pulled back his hand, but Armel just raised a finger to his lips as the wall of insects flowed away.

It revealed Cole, standing stock still in the center of the tunnel staring after the bugs. His arms were crossed as he watched, but soon the sound of splashing made him glance back to see the Newblood smashing his Caster into the sludge around him. The remains of at least a dozen insects sank into the sludge around him as he angrily shoved himself up out of the muck.

Armel hushed him, earning an angry glare that faded as soon as Lutro spoke up again.

“Brother… did you do?” he asked, prompting a laugh from his ally.

“I procured their matriarch’s brightest egg, at least they have the decorum to rush to its defense.” Lutro's Ally gave a pleased sigh “Seems your worry was for not, brother Lutro. The sweet Mother has blessed us a method to lure these beasts. A gift in exchange for my stalwart loyalty, my willingness to act in her name!”

Lutro's Ally began ranting off at that point, spewing forth compliments to himself through thought speak.

Cole eventually shook his head before turning back to them and pointing ahead. He continued making his way through the sludge. The Newblood was quick to rush after him, with Armel and Cross following soon after.

“Just-!” Lutro finally broke through his ally’s rambling “Just move the egg. Lure them away from the tower if you can. And stop using thought speak, damn you.”

When some time passed without hearing from either of them, Armel gave a heavy sigh. When he glanced over and saw Cross staring at him, he shrugged before gesturing around them.

“They's gotta be Newbloods.” He said as they continued through the cave “Rules of Play ain't as hard when dealin’ with lesser mortals, but messin’ around with them ain’t good form for any Pawn. Perignassi's prolly gonna have them repurposed for this.”

“So, the patrol fleet is rife with Newbloods too?” Cross shook his head and grunted “Makes how quickly they tore us apart even more undignified.”

Armel snickered at that before stopping and letting him catch up. When Cross passed him, suddenly he lurched out and pulled him into a side hug.

“Cheer up there, comrade. Tower was stripped down so we's could slip past their sensors n' all.” He raised his other hand and waved a finger around “Fact the cargo and us all survived proves Formal's luck's still with us!”

Though Cross nodded, he had gotten used to Armel’s particulars enough to see that he was just trying to maintain morale.

Sure, the Tower was stripped of a number of weapons and functions to minimize their energy signature, but that was no excuse. The Blanken Patrol fleet was just under a dozen Brighthomes, barely enough to be considered a fleet. The Blacklight Casters should’ve been more than enough to wipe them out before significant damage had been done.

But no, instead those Brighthomes had hit hard the moment they noticed them. Now they were trudging through a muck-slathered cave on some god-forsaken planet in the midst of Blanken Territory.

It had to be the Blanken Knight leading the Fleet. Cross needed to believe she was the true reason behind their failure.

But before he could solidify that thought, he noted the darkness of the tunnel receding the further in they went. Pulling his gaze up from the sludge, he saw that Cole and the Newblood had stopped at the end of the tunnel.

A dull green glow was seeping through from the chamber beyond, illuminating the cave enough for Cross to note that the walls had gone from a slathered stone to a hardened version of the sludge they were moving through. As he drew closer to the others, he heard Cole muttering as he examined the chamber beyond.

“Hive’s bigger than you’d expect for bugs so small.” He mused before noticing Cross and stepping aside for him “Gotta be careful not to get turned around in here.”

When Cross leaned past them, he went still at the sheer scale of the chamber beyond. A massive hollow that stretched far in either direction, lined with dozens of columns stretching from one side to the other. Moving out onto a rough platform of that hardened green sludge, he walked over to the edge and looking down to see another pool of green sludge far below them that lined the entire bottom of the chamber.

The entire place was probably flooded before the Tower crashed into the mountains.

Despite most of the insects being gone, Cross could see movement among the nearest column. Smaller versions of those same insects were weaving through a number of odd protrusions that were all over the column. Occasionally, they’d leave a trail of translucent slime stretching behind them until they rubbed against one of the protrusions to dislodge it.

But most were huddling around the chamber’s only source of light. In stark contrast to the awkward, misshapen protrusions were large sacs made almost entirely of that translucent slime. But within were glowing green spheres that would brighten whenever more of the bugs would huddle near them. Unlike the sludge and the bugs themselves, the sacs were a bright green that formed the only source of light in the cavern.

“Keep to the right.” Armel’s voice snapped Cross from his observation.

He looked back to see Armel pointing along the edge of the chamber wall, where a number of large grooves had been dug in that were stuffed with more of those protrusions. The Newblood leaned against one after pulling himself from the tunnel, only for it to snap off from his weight.

He caught himself again with a grunt, but paused upon noting the sudden sound of dripping. They all turned towards the protrusion to see a bluish fluid leaking from the protrusion. Armel was quick to nod to Cole, who brought a hand to catch some of the fluid before bringing it to his mouth.

He sucked on his fingers for a moment before turning back to Armel and nodding.

“Food stores,” he looked over the protrusions with a grin “Got us heaps o’ lesser mortals on this rock.”

Though Armel nodded, Cross shared a look of confusion with the Newblood before approaching the protrusions. As he got closer, he focused on them for a moment before realizing that it wasn’t the murky green the rest of the sludge held. Just underneath it was something else, something gray. As Cross traced the figure inside, he was able to recognize limbs, digits, bulbous blue eyes.

It was another creature, with scales if he was seeing it correctly. It was trapped in the solidified sludge, its body withered and thin.

And it wasn’t alone, beside it was a different kind of bug with numerous legs. There was some furry creature that was barely more than withered skin and so on and so on. Every protrusion on the walls was another trapped creature of various sizes and shapes, trailing off out sight.

Cross turned his eye from the wall to the nearby column, where hundreds of similar protrusions were. There were dozens of columns lining the inside of the chamber, all in a similar state. One of the smaller insects pressed close to one of the protrusions before ramming a thin needle through its casing into the lesser mortal below, its abdomen growing as it drank deeply.

“They’s eatin' well,” Armel noted before turning and continuing along the platform “Come. Sooner we wrap up, sooner the locals can get back to it, Sovereign’s War ain’t no place for mortals.”