The hidden queen
Perched above her immense, transparent womb filled with unborn Spiderlings, the hidden Queen shifted in surprise.
She sensed the minds of the soldiers outside her chamber instantly fade into nothingness. Snuffed out in a blink. Had they killed each other during the rite? She wondered. How pitiful.
Shock engulfed her further as the door to her chamber opened, and an arachnae mind she had not yet sensed entered her chamber. How had she not sensed this one? She could feel every mind in her swarm, every birth and death if she wished, and this one had somehow remained unnoticed until now, but how?
It must be an evolution, she concluded. She studied the strange arachnae's form. Yes, definitely a new evolution, she decided. The queen relaxed and sagged into her throne as she saw two humans enter the chamber along with it. She had requested more humans, she remembered.
They must have been the humans she had commanded her brood to bring. A small batch, only two, but they looked fit and healthy. More delicacies for her unending appetite. Very good, she hoped their cores- mana hearts, as the system called them- would enhance her speed even further.
A swift predator herself, she was obsessed with breeding offspring that epitomized speed and agility. Silently, she admired the traits of races known for their agility, and in her relentless pursuit she had targeted races known for their agility, seeking to claim those qualities for her swarm. She firmly believed that in the art of war, speed and agility were paramount, and in her mind's eye, she saw her brood excelling in speed. Or ‘Dexterity’, as the system labelled it. Its application had furthered her desires by leagues, painting a clear path to her swarm: her legacy would be a lineage of unmatched swiftness and agility, dominating their realm with precision and speed. She and her brood would become demigods of swiftness- of dexterity.
In the grand, opulent underground throne room, the hidden Queen sat still. She observed Alex and his two companions, the unnamed girl and John, who had just entered her chamber. The door behind them blended seamlessly into the surrounding stone as it shut closed, leaving them enclosed in her domain.
She studied the two humans for a moment, dismissing them as mere food, and then studied the evolved arachnae that accompanied them.
She had never seen such an evolution before, it reminded her of one of her sister-queens, but smaller. Much smaller.
It was a strange evolution, to be sure. The sight touched upon her singular obsession: breeding offspring unparalleled in speed and agility. In her relentless pursuit, she had meticulously selected traits from races known for their agility, crafting her brood into the epitome of predatory swiftness before they were even born. Humans were a necessary first meal for her young to gain some semblance of sentience. A good start.
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The evolved Arachne that accompanied the humans- strangely pristine and conscious humans, the queen noted- had experienced an evolution that had caused all eight of her legs to fuse and intertwine into two powerfully thick limbs, like her soldiers. Except, her arms had fused too- four arms becoming two powerful ones- condensed in a way that hid their true capabilities. The hidden Queen suspected that this young one could most likely display powerful bursts of speed while using the limbs as equally powerful weapons. But the thin, almost invisible seams on the surface of the girl's legs and arms suggested the possibility that two legs could become eight once more. Perhaps it was a skill?
And the wrappings that covered a majority of the young arachnae female’s form and features were strange.
The queen could sense her surroundings in myriad ways, as all arachnae could. She could sense vibrations through substrate, feel the subtle shifts of the currents in the air through the microscopic hairs that covered every inch of her form, detect chemical signals in the environment through specialised organs, and he many legs could feel the texture, shape, and vibrations of her chamber.
The young arachnid girl’s wrappings meant nothing to the queen, she could see the girl as if she had no coverings at all, as all arachnae could. So why did the girl cover herself? Small sections of her form could be seen beneath frayed webbing, and each resembled a human's skin identically, with seams and hidden layers of carapace only an arachnae’s acute senses could detect.
It must be because of her form that so resembles a human- she must be ashamed, the queen reasoned.
But it was a good evolution. A powerful one that made her as strong as any soldier, it should be a point of pride.
“Congratulations on your evolution.” The queen called without words. “I see you have brought the humans I requested.”, her gargantuan mind sounded like thunder through the Hivemind’s thought-space. The young Arachnae flinched at the message but did not falter. She straightened her back unperturbed, and the spark of her mind blazed brighter at the queen's thought-message. To the queen, it looked like a sputtering flame; brighter than most others within her hive, with strange colours and contours- but not brighter by much.
“The humans. Bring them closer.” She called out once more.
“No, they’re mine.” The young one replied with tightening fists, at the last word her thought-voice shook the mindspace subtly as a Queen’s would. Was that a Queen’s order? The hidden queen wondered. Strange, lesser arachnae were not capable of giving orders. Whatever it was, it was a pitiful imitation.
Time stood frozen as they communicated at the speed of electric synapses; the speed of enhanced thought. None moved through the stalemate, the soldiers observed, vibrating with imperceptible rage, and the luminous moss arachnae cowered in fear, unable to disobey the queen's orders and flee as they truly wished to.
“Oh?… No?” The queen laughed, and a sound like chiming bells and chittering hordes washed over the minds of all present. “They’re ‘yours’? Are you an evolved drifter? That is new, and new is good.” The ground shook as the queen shifted to gaze at them with her many eyes. “Everything here is mine, drifter.” Her thought-message blazed. “Everything in this land, including your body and your humans.”
She pointed a large finger towards the group and spoke with thoughts “Your evolution will be tested, studied, and recreated before you are disposed of. Your humans will become a feast. Your achievements will strengthen the hive, you should be proud. Bring the humans closer. That one looks strong.” The queen's head tilted to focus on Alex’s frozen form.
“Fine, I will bring them myself.” She released a mental sigh that felt like a cool breeze running through the minds of those near, then she began to reach towards Alex, John, and the girl, her gargantuan porcelain joints clicking as they stretched across the chamber.