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1: The Anomaly

The village of Randov lay still, no soul roamed the streets as the sun slowly sinks in the horizon, hiding behind the peaks of the mountains. The moon was rising above the hills to greet the new night, and the stars began sparkling in the void.

The grass carpeting the floor was a vibrant green, and small flowers of magenta beside the river dyed it with color. A strong gust of wind blew, forming waves in the ocean of grass, and the trees surrounding the dozen houses leaned to their sides, their yellow fruits dangling and sometimes falling onto the lush field.

With night falling, the houses lit up brightly, a mellow candle light piercing their windows from within.

+++-+++-+++

Underneath the soil, the undergrowth thrived. Complex root systems tugged on the soil, keeping it from crumbling apart.

In a chamber, a creature lay silent, chewing down on an ant's body. The creature had the head of an ant, but it only had four limbs. Its body more closely resembles a termite's than of an ant's, and its gaster was a bit bloated.

Despite its looks, it's only 1 centimeter, the same size as the ant it was eating.

Finishing its meal, the creature raised its head and stood still. Moments later, another bug crawled into the underground chamber. It was half a centimeter in length, and it only had three limbs. When the bug entered, the ant-like creature clacked its mandible as if saying something.

Hearing it, the three legged bug crawled next to the creature's mandibles and allowed itself to be devoured.

‘...sigh.’

After eating his “spawn,” Helzar crouched, before detaching his bloated gaster and putting it down.

‘When will I get used to this?’

His “main” body was half a centimeter long, resembling the head of an ant. Meanwhile, his “gaster,” which is actually a “nest,” was an extension of his body which he can put on and take off at will.

‘It’s been a week since I hatched, and I can finally produce another swarm!’

Helzar felt a bit happy, but at the same time worried for his future. After laying his “nest” from the ground, it began twitching madly.

‘The nest is working overload, but I can't afford to remain slow,’ Helzar clacked his mandibles, making a tiny popping sound.

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A few seconds passed, and a half transparent egg was produced from the nest. Soon, it was followed by a second transparent egg.

‘Good, the nest didn't break…’ Helzar secretly sighed in relief. His nest nearly broke on his first day in this new world. He didn't know his limit, so he tried creating dozens of eggs.

The result was, his nest exploded in the middle. He nearly died along with the nest but thankfully, his regenerative factors were superb. While holding the open wound close with his mandibles, it was able to heal, although the nest was halved.

‘First day, and my body was cut in half. It's like the academy all over again, only my self esteem is the one that's halved,’ Helzar lamented.

When he was done reminiscing, the eggs successfully hatched into the three legged bugs from earlier. They were called “spawns.”

‘To think I'd become an insect type monster after dying as a “hero,”’ Helzar scoffed. ‘Anyway, I don't sense any magical energy in this world, so it should be similar to the world of Humans… well, even “Earth” had traces of magical energies,’ Helzar shook his head and ordered his spawns to hunt insects.

‘According to my previous spawns, there are humans wearing long white coats. They should either be doctors or scientists, or maybe something else.’

Coming from a technology backward world, Helzar knew little about advanced technology. He didn't even know what a doctor or a scientist was before meeting humans. His world called them either priests, healers, or witches.

Anyway, Helzar had no way of interfering with humans now. He didn't even know where he was, or which world he was reborn into.

‘My abilities allow me to connect to my spawn's vision and senses, I can even remotely command them, but all of those require energy,’ Helzar crawled toward the tunnel entrance, closing it off by blocking the hole with dirt.

‘I don't need to sleep or breathe. However, the only way I can acquire energy is through eating… man, I miss my magic powers.’

After closing off the entrance, Helzar crawled into the center of the chamber, unaware of the activities above him.

+++-+++-+++

“You said the people here found a strange bug?” A man wearing simple civilian's clothes asked the man in a white coat. He was Rex. His eyes were a dull brown, and gray hair plagued his head.

“Yeah, I also saw them. The insects don't seem to have good vision, nor do they have a lot of numbers. The most I saw is one… oh, look!” The man in a white coat pointed at the tree branch next to Rex. Rex looked beside him, seeing a strange “worm” with three legs.

“It's these little guys, and there's two this time,” the man in a white coat said, walking closer to observe the little creatures. He then took out a small bottle full of lively ants.

“What's that for?” Rex asked the man, Dexter.

“These bugs seem to prey on ants, so I caught a few invasive species of ants. It'd be a shame if these guys die while foraging, leaving their queen behind to starve,” Dexter sighed, his eyes never leaving the bugs.

Rex looked at his partner weirdly. “How are you sure these guys have a queen? They're not ants, they're not even termites or hell, bees.”

Dexter smiled, ignoring Rex for a moment. He then picked up an ant with his tweezers and placed it in front of the two bugs. The two three legged bugs discovered the ant instantly, rushing toward it and bit its legs.

The ant struggled, trying to bite and sting the aggressors, but it was no use.

“Wow, that's one powerful bite,” Rex praised, watching as the ant's head was severed after a bite. The other bug bit the ant's gaster, cutting through it like butter.

“Have you been bitten by these nasties?” Rex glanced toward Dexter.

“Yup,” Dexter showed his finger to Rex, which had a band-aid wrapped around the fingertip.

“Did it hurt?” Rex asked, before admitting that it was a silly question.

Dexter rolled his eyes and watched as the bugs disappeared underground.

“Their nest should be down here,” Dexter marked a small hole in the soil.

“Should we dig them out?” Rex asked, and Dexter considered it. Normally, they wouldn't disturb the wildlife and would only observe them. However, Dexter had different plans.

“Yes, I will dig them out.”

Rex was a bit surprised, but didn't ask further questions. Dexter was the professional here, and his unprofessional opinions were not needed in his view.

Meanwhile, on a faraway island, the headquarters of a research team was hauntingly quiet.

“Have you located the anomaly?” Asked a man wearing heavy protective armor.

“Yes, I'll be digging them up soon,” a voice came out of the device the man was speaking into.

“Good. Come back quickly before the laboratory becomes unstable again. It's rare that the lab is peaceful like this.”

Looking behind him, he watched as mysterious objects and majestic creatures gazed back through a wall of thick glass.

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