I do not know how long we are here, but not that long, before the scamp signals again to follow. Everyone quickly falls in line and follows through the exit opposite of where we entered. I have to get down from the ceiling, but I am not comfortable going backwards. Forwards would take me to the wrong side of the cave, so I drop down. I twist in the air in the limited space there is and make an almost not perfect landing. Luckily no-one sees this. I manage to snatch some secti that have not crawled away yet before following, but now I am last in the line. I don't like being in the rear, it feels exposed, and I keep looking behind me. Did the other hatchlings do that too when they were last? Maybe I should pay more attention to others. I quickly dismiss the notion. There is too much to see and do, I can not waste my attention on other hatchlings.

After what feels like a long, long time at the back of the group, travelling through red tunnels where dangerous things are hiding everywhere, waiting to eat me, I reach the end and arrive in the open. The others are crowding around the exit and I have to shove a bit. Then I just sit and look. A red sun in the golden sky. Hues of red, blue and dark green as far as I can see. My memory is confused and wants to call it a 'land'. It is the land up in the trees.

The sun is halfway through its arc. Its Zenith? This means not as much time was spent below the treetops as I thought. Time is hard to keep a good grip on in that red gloom. Now we are at this land above the trees. It seems to be where the Swarm spends most of its time, and I can understand why. The ground is soft, springy and has a musty smell. There are smells and colors everywhere around. I see a large water not too far. Suddenly I feel thirsty.

I had barely any of the blood of the brood-tender and the food on the way up was not that juicy. I start to move that direction, but freeze and steal a glance at the scamp that guided us here. The scamp throws a quick glance at all of us, most are looking at it. It chortles, go. And off I go. It feels good to run! I run faster than the others! The other bigger hatchlings in the group were more scamp- or spawn-like and my longer limbs carry me far ahead. I slow down before I run in to the water, but as I see other hatchlings getting in and out I speed up and jump!

I hit the water with a splash! It feels nice and tingly and tickles my nose. Acidic is what it is, whatever that is, and I like it. It is not that deep and if I stretch I can still stand. I stop. As much as others are not worth attention unless they can bite my head off, how did the other hatchlings get here? First, I drink some of the water. It also tickles my insides, making me jump and jerk occasionally. I'm not the only one and for the first time I think, this is fun. I start to sniff around the water area and find more tunnels like the one I emerged from.

I take a moment to look around again. There are things moving through the air, more bugs, but also some imps and more scamps picking around the edge of the large water lake and the place where blue-green bushes and plants mix with the red of the trees. Bits of yellow, purple, bright blue and white are flowers. Some of the scamps eat them. Different from the area with the caves, scamps, imps and spawn are communicating loudly. Much too loud to follow any one of them, but the most I hear are "go away", "mine", "come" and "look", "listen" or "smell".

There are other hatchlings here: at the water, in the water, in the mossy field and running around chasing one another. Quietly I stalk a spawn-to-be and pounce. I land squarely on it and immediately jump off and run away. It lets out a startled squeak, but doesn't chase. I am obviously faster after all. I join some other imps-to-be at just running around. Scamps-to-be have a better stamina, but we dodge better. The chasing game is fun. 

I get thirsty again and drink some of the tingly water. I see an adult nearby grabbing a something from the lake bottom. It's a shell of some kind. It cracks it with two hands and starts to eat. It sees me watching and throws me a tiny leftover. It has some gooey stuff on the shell. I eat both the shell and the gooey stuff and while they both taste good, I think I like the gooey part better. I decide to find some of my own. I quickly scan the edge of the lake. Just like in the bug-cave, I do not want to be too near others. One area has less of the swarm, so I move in that direction. Some of the adults lazing around watch me go.

I look into the clear water and see many shells, but most are already cracked. When I hold one up it looks shiny in the light of the sun. I really like looking at that shine, then I eat it. I finally find one with two shells and try to crack it. I am not strong enough with my claws, so I bite it. My teeth make scratches, but without getting proper purchase on it's surface I couldn't crack it. I look around for inspiration.

Only now do I notice I've strayed further than I intended. There are no others of the Swarm here at all. I smell something, something new, but it is vague. Suddenly I hear a faint noise behind me.

"Uncle, I finished all the chores, can I watch the hatchlings play now?"

It is a high pitched sound, very different from the sounds most creatures would make. I whirl around. Behind me is an opening in the foliage of the enormous tree top rising out of the ground. It does not look normal. I wonder why I didn't see it before. Was I that distracted? Dropping the shell on the ground I move slightly towards it

"Have you asked Isfan if he had anything for you to do?"

"Yes! He said I should ask you."

There is a second thing there, with a deeper, richer sound.

"Fine, I'll come with you just to be safe."

The opening is big. Much bigger than I've ever seen before. It is several times bigger than any of the Swarm would need. I slowly move to an area with denser moss clumps and try to keep it between me and the opening as I retreat along the shore of the lake. The sounds are coming closer. It sounds a bit like the creatures are speaking, like the Swarm does, but there is no meaning behind it I can understand.

Stolen story; please report.

There is some kind of bestial shriek and a monster appears. It has some of the proportions of a scamp, but it is so much bigger! It is at least twice as big as a scamp! It has two skins, one loose and flappy brown and white and the other skin is tight, dark red like mine but without any wrinkles. It has a big round head with tiny ears, a tiny nose and tiny eyes and a tiny mouth. I have never seen a creature this weird.

"Uncle! Look! There is one right here!"

A bigger creature appears. Much bigger, it barely fits through the opening. I drop any pretense of stealth and run away as fast as I can. I put all my strength in running as fast as I can back to the safety of the Swarm.

"It's so ugly uncle! Look at the big ears! It's running! Uncle can-

As I'm running away and the creature is roaring, everything around me becomes weird. No matter how hard I push I can't seem to gain any speed. Sound has stopped. Colors and shapes are blurring together. Something grabs me, holds me and it feels like it crushes me, but I don't sense anyone nearby. All I see is white by now and I feel like I am being moved and not in the same sense as when I move my body. It feels very, very strange, weird and uncomfortable.

My vision goes from white back to normal in a nauseating flurry of colors and shapes. When I see again, nothing is as before. The trees are too small, too green! Everything smells wrong too! In front of me are some creatures like the ones I saw at the lake. They are big like the big one, but their loose skin is tighter and shiny like the shells. Their tight skin is lighter, their heads a little different with no horns. In their hands they also have shiny things, clothes, armor, weapon, metal.

"Stop that monster!"

One of them screams at me. I don't understand a word, but I understand the command. I turn into the direction it was pointing. I can hear something approaching, fast. I can hear the cadence of it running this way. Dadam-dadam, dadam-dadam, my heartbeats speeds up to match.

"A fucking minor imp? What the fuck is that going to do!"

"Shut up and run!"

They leave quickly and soon I can't see them anymore, but I can still hear them. I look at the approaching monster and suddenly it comes into view. My memory chucks up what it is. A feli, a big cat, and big it is. Its claw is as big as my body. I want nothing more than to run and hide, but the command won't let me. I crouch ready for a jump and at what I judge the right moment I jump for the creature's head. It barely breaks stride as it uses one paw to swat at me, accurately hitting me in mid air. I reflexively throw all my limbs around its foreleg and sink my claws in the limb. Then I slam into the ground. Only one claw pierces my body and I feel things break from the impact. It hurts. I am barely concious and only the power of the command keeps me hanging on.

Then comes the next step and again I slam into the ground. My claws flex, digging deeper. The next impact doesn't come. The cat has stopped. I feel movement as it lifts the paw. Then I am pierced in four places and casually ripped off of the paw in pieces. This must be how the small imp felt when the scamp bit into it.

Everything turns white again and just as suddenly as I was in the strange place I am back again at the lake. I'm still running. The shock of what happened sends me into chaos and I nearly trip, but manage to keep going.

- I have it? Look it almost fell, it's so funny!"

My legs hurt, my head hurts, my bones hurt, my skin hurts, everything hurts! What happened! What was that! Where was that! I stumble once more but again manage to catch myself before actually falling. I just keep running, pushing my body to the limit.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Can't you catch it? You're so strong!"

"Look there, the guards are paying attention. It's best if we leave. Let's help Isfan pack and go home, ok?"

Not until I reach a decent group of others of the Swarm do I slow down. I'm out of breath and my legs are shaking. What happened is still affecting me. What was that! My whole body starts to shake and I lie down before I fall down. Almost everyone is looking at me now. A couple of caws from an adult and everyone continues what they are doing. I try to move, but the pain from before returns twofold. It feels like things are crawling and moving under my skin. My legs are twitching uncontrollable and I can feel my heartbeats in my whole body. For the first time in my life I cough. Something is happening with my chest and it hurts.

I don't know for how long I've been here. The tremors subsided though my legs still occasionally twitch. My body and my mind still remember the pain of being torn apart. My breathing and heartbeats speed up and I can feel fear rising in me. I slowly get up on my claws and drag myself to a more sheltered place under the watching gaze of some of the adults. My legs give out and I collapse. It shouldn't be that bad from just running. It was that, whatever it was. What was that! I extend my tongue to examine my body, it is the only part of me which doesn't hurt. My legs are different, but it's subtle. 

I must have been almost out of it as the sun is much closer to setting when I am drawn back to the here and now by a sound. It is the sound of an imp landing. I cringe and try to make myself as small as I can as it approaches. I don't look in its direction. In front of me drop three big, thick leaves I haven't seen before. They're a bight blueish green with a waxy sheen. The imp grunts, eat. Hesistantly I take one bite, then the next. Slowly I eat as much as I can. I barely manage to start on the third when I'm full. I realize I'm thinking different now too. I've never looked at the other members of the Swarm. I saw them, but I didn't really see. I want to say something to the imp and I can find neither a concept, nor a word that we will both understand.

Without any warning it grabs me around my middle and I stiffen in fear. The sensation of being grabbed is stronger than I expected and reminds me of that. What happened! What I fear does not happen, I am not eaten. No fangs pierce my back. It starts to run with an uneven gait and I feel the familiar lurch and thump as the imp takes flight. My body gives out again and I relax completely, so much I feel some waste flowing down my rear legs. I can see the tree tops I was walking under only this morning. This is the view I want to see, I want my own wings. For a moment, before I realize what I'm trying to do, I try to flex muscles I don't have and move my wings.

The journey which took me several hours at the beginning of the day is much faster on the return. Another reason for me to fly. The imp lands near some of the smaller caves near the bottom. It throws me in. Not roughly, but also not carefully. I tumble a few times before coming to a stop on the rough sand. For a moment I roll around, as much trying to get up as enjoying the rough sand on my over-sensitive skin. I push the sand in a rough circle and make myself comfortable in the small depression in the middle. I'd really like to hang on the ceiling again to sleep, but I'm too tired and too weak. Even my mind rushing around and running in circles doesn't keep me alert and slowly everything starts to fade, to black this time. What was that. What happened?