So tiring, Arachna thought to herself. She didn't mind the cold. In fact, she welcomed it. It was like a soothing balm coating her body in a gentle blanket of numbness, cooling the need to scratch and gnaw at her every limb.

Oh, it felt so good to be in a cold, dark room. How wonderful. Inside a dark, locked box on a Yumen vessel through the stars at a speed faster than light itself. Here she was, enjoying a few moments of peace and quiet.

Arachna just wanted to rest her head. Her thoughts wandered off.

No, she had to stay awake. This was an emergency. The Yumens would find her inside this freezer, wouldn't they? Then she'd be put into one of those laboratory tubs and dissected. That would not be good.

Horde, how could she be falling...asleep.

Her body was working against her. The need to hibernate. To stop moving. The coldness was so wonderful yet so...incredibly...

....

Arachna

She awoke to the sound of her name. Where was she? This wasn't the ship, was it?

Cool water rushed against her body. A violet-tinted sandy beach contrasted against a bright orange sun. Lavender water nipped at her tiny clawed feet. The sand was so very soft and the Xitherium-tinted water tasted just right.

It was also warm here. Very warm.

There were tiny prints in the sand, not like that of a queenling. Could they be something else?

Click, click.

She turned her eyes. Scampering along the beach, she scanned the rocky ridgeline up above. Xitherium coral lined the rock wall running parallel to the beach, glowing visibly.

So this was what coral looked like? She'd known it instinctually based on her inherited memories but never actually seen it. Was she actually seeing it now? It was alluring. The coral came in a thousand shapes and sizes—tiny cones, spheres, spongelike reefs, and more. The coral wasn't lifeless, rather each piece of Xitherium coral seemed to house a colony of tiny creatures within it, running in and out like a miniature ecosystem.

The water held Xitherium too. Just beneath the shallow sand were patches of Xitherium coral, mixed with rock and sediment.

Whatever this place was, it felt so natural. She was home here. Was this her homeworld? Was she dead? Perhaps she had ascended into the Xither? She wasn't sure.

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Arachna, a voice said inside her mind. It was calming. Soothing. Maternal.

Mother? she said back. Where are you? Where am I? Am I dead?

She'd never met her mother. From the description Beaky had given her, she desperately wanted to meet her but had written off the possibility. But perhaps now, in the afterlife, on this lovely planet.

You are not dead, the voice continued. Very much alive.

How could she be alive? Her memories were coming back to her now. The last thing she remembered was—was being in a freezer. The Yumens must have found her there and killed her. Or she had simply died in the cold. Did Krath die from cold? She didn't think that was possible but maybe it was.

You are very special to me, the voice said. Destined to bring great things to pass.

Her Mother. Could she see her? What was her name again? Beaky had said it once.

Spectra, Arachna said. Mother.

There was a pause. Silence except for the gentle rush of waves against the sandy shore.

Yes, her Mother said. I am called that.

Are you real? Arachna asked. Is this all a dream?

In a way, yes, her Mother said. But in a way, no. We are as one. One Hive. One Mind. One Cause.

As she spoke, enormous twin spires burst out from the ocean depths. They were black and foreboding yet majestic and regal. Tentacles lashed out from the water encircling them like a sea creature of the deep. She sensed that beneath the spires, the body of her Hive Mother lay on the ocean floor, far bigger and more menacing than Arachna could see from the surface.

You are so, so terrible, Arachna said. So amazing.

Thank you, her Mother said.

Can I stay here? Arachna asked. With you. Forever.

You must return, her Mother said. Great things are in store for you.

Help me, Arachna said. I am trapped here. Alone. Afraid. Itchy. Surrounded by big Yumens.

It was true. Every word. Arachna couldn't possibly face up to an entire ship of Yumen warriors. She was just one queenling. One with two defective limbs no less.

You are stronger than you know, the Hive Mother said. Her psionic message conveyed a sense of confidence, boldness even. You have the ability to rule worlds.

How can that be? Arachna said. I am weak. I cannot even cloak properly as you could. She recalled Beaky saying that her Mother could turn invisible.

That is a skill that will come in time, her Mother said. You must tame the Rift.

Help me, Arachna said. Please.

Very well, her Mother said. I have already granted you a unique gift. One that no other Krath has ever wielded. One which is perfected in you.

What is it? Arachna asked.

Your gift has already been imparted. Born in strife, you will be empowered in your queenling form to learn the ways of Yumens.

Learn the ways of Yumens? Arachna said. All I have is a tiny body and two defective limbs.

Then she lifted up her two forelimbs and gaped. Instead of bulbous knobs, they were agile and nimble. Two biological forms that she recognized in shape but not as belonging on her body.

She stared at her new appendages with wide-open eyes, utterly shocked. Arachna flattened them out and then closed them into balls, testing out her new parts. They were so strange-looking yet so familiar at the same time.

Her defective limbs had molted.

The extra chitinous layers had fallen away like a cocoon giving birth to a newly transformed creature of the sky. But instead of wings, Arachna had something far more useful for her present circumstances.

Hands.

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