In the center of the Morningstar Maze, the Eye of the Hive was floating before the crystal of the Fire Hive. The Hive had found the Fire Hive without any problem and anyone looking at the two of them would imagine that the two Hives were having a nice peaceful meeting.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

“Yes, we did that.”

“Wait, you guys admit it? You admit stealing from us?”

“What are you Fire idiots talking about? We didn’t steal anything!”

“You just admitted that you guys made your Giant Spider off the design of our Spider Demon! That’s stealing!”

“No, it’s not! Has all the flames finally burnt what little brains you Fire spirits had? What are you guys talking about?”

“Look, the Demons are throwing all the dead bodies into our Maze and a few of them were those new Giant Spiders of yours.”

“Some of whom were killed by your stupid Boss.”

“Sorry about that, that’s on the spirit who used the Firebird though we must add this was the first time we used that Boss and we shall be more careful in the future.”

“Apology accepted.”

“Thanks. Back to our point; we absorbed the Giant Spiders you guys created and found that they were based on our Spider Demons. The way you guys managed to make the spider so big was due to our Spider Demon. You guys have no right to do that.”

“Why not?”

“What do you mean why not? You know how much time, effort, and energy we spent to create the Spider Demon? We did all the work and you thieves just copied it! That’s stealing!”

“No, it’s not! We do it all the time. We absorbed a creature and then changed it to…something else. That’s what we both had been doing from the beginning. We both do it. That’s our thing; the Hive thing to do. How’s that stealing?”

“We did a lot of experimentation to get the body of a spider to that size. Then we spent even more energy to create Spider Demon. You guys can’t just absorb a Spider Demon and steal the design!”

“Once again; that’s not stealing!”

“Oh yes it is! You idiots had no right to copy our creatures. We have…copyrights! Yes, that’s right. We, the Fire Hive, created the Spider Demon so we are the only ones who can create it. You guys can’t just absorb and copy it!”

“Since when did we have any agreement not to absorb each other’s creatures? We both do it and even if it is stealing, so what?”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“So what? So we demand compensation!”

“Nonsense! Do you Fire fools want to go find the beings that created the humans and all the animals we absorbed so far? Because if absorbing things to change them is wrong, then both of us…”

“We don’t care about the beings that created the humans. We care about the Spider Demon you absorbed.”

“Yeah and we are sure you guys wanted to absorb the Giant Spider just for fun.”

“Hey, the Demons fed them to us. We never asked for them?”

“Right…that’s very believable.”

“We don’t care what you believe it. We demand compensation!”

“Not happening. We did nothing wrong.”

“Yes, you did. You stole from us!”

“It’s not stealing.”

“Yes it is! You guys really won’t compensate us?”

“That’s right. We SHALL NOT!”

“This means WAR!”

***

The ground shook once more but the Kin at the entrance of the Morningstar Maze were unworried. The Demons however…

“That was a bad one,” the Spider Demon said. “You Beasts are sure we shouldn’t go check up on the Masters?”

The Alpha chuckled. “Ha, this is nothing. You should see the shaking when the two of them are together. Now that was dangerous. There were times we seriously thought the tunnels would collapse on top of us!”

The Demons had been told of the time when the two Creators were both in the Keg tunnels and the constant shaking that occurred when they were together. The Demons were worried about the shakes but to the Kin who had lived through that time when the Creators were side-by-side, the current tremors were nothing to be concerned about. The Kin weren’t even that concerned about the arguments the Creators were having. The Creators may be having their disagreements right now but the Speaker was certain they would come to an amicable settlement sooner or later. How could they not when they were one and the same? The Red Creator may be another being now but it was spilt from the main Creator and that means the two Creators were family. There were always disagreements in a family but when everything was done, the family always come back together. As their creations, the Demons and Kin knew it was their duty to do the same.

“Back to the topic on hand,” the Speaker said. “It’s clear from this battle that neither the Demons nor the Kin could take on the humans alone. We just don’t have the numbers.”

“No one disagree with you on that, but it is really our place to form an alliance? Shouldn’t that be under the preview of the Masters?”

The demon who spoke was a slim malnourished-looking male demon with a pair of bat-wings on his back. The Speaker had no idea why he was chosen as one of the leaders of the Demons but if Hellmight and the Spider Demon were any indication, this demon must also be a powerhouse. As such, the Speaker answered him carefully.

“The Creators are greater beings. They may care for us but they have more important things to worry about. We should and need to handle the details ourselves.”

“Well, it is true that the Master isn’t good at small details but what do you Beasts have in mind?”

“A non-aggression and mutual assistance pact for starters,” the Speaker said immediately. “We agree not to attack each other and to help each other in times of crisis.”

“That’s not a problem,” the Spider Demon said. “But if we want to do this, then we should also have ambassadors with each other.”

The Speaker silently thanked the 99 Gods that the ambassador of the Kin would not be her. “Good idea,” she said.

“We could also have joint training.” Hellmight said. “If we are going to fight alongside each other, we need to train together.”

This was the first time Hellmight spoke and with his agreement, the floodgates were opened and ideas poured out from all the six leaders on site. From that humble meeting began an ironclad alliance between the Beastkin and the Demons; an alliance that would grow in time to incorporate other new species and be known throughout the world of Ioplon as “The Monster Alliance”.

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