The Hive had heard the Kin telling their young ones that gossip was bad. The cubs were told that gossiping causes trouble. That the cubs should always avoid gossiping about others. If they had something to say to someone, tell it to their face. Not behind their backs.

The spirits of the Hive did not understand it. To them, gossip was a good thing. They loved it when the Kin gossiped. Gossip provided information to the Hive that it would otherwise not know. Gossip was a great thing. Gossip was how the spirits of the Hive knew about the new arrivals.

When the spirits overheard a Crowman and a Ratling talking about new arrivals from the lands of the Fire Hive, most of the spirits wanted to meet them. Others couldn’t be bothered and said they should just wait as the Kin would eventually bring the Fire Hive’s creatures to them. After a long argument, the two sides decided on a compromise. They would see the new arrivals secretly.

That was why the Hive Eye was watching in secret when the Kin and mutants were having their demonstration. The Hive wasn’t that impressed. The Hive didn’t really understand why the Fire Hive keep creating more mutants. The Hive’s first and only mutant was nice enough but the spirits within the Hive didn’t really want to make another. To the Hive, creating the mutant was a good experience but it was far more fun to create something new and different like the Kin. So during the demonstration, the creature that most impressed the Hive weren’t the mutants. It was the Poison Mongoose.

The creature wasn’t something the Hive had created deliberately, it was created naturally by the Nothing-Unknown-Killer-Explosion. The Hive had in fact never even tried to create something poisonous before, it was just something that never came up. This Poison Mongoose gave the Hive an idea and like always, the Hive acted on it’s instinct. The Hive Eye dissolved into the ground and the spirit in control of it returned to the Hive. The spirits then got into another argument. It was a matter between going big or going small. Should they try to make a small animal poisonous or create a new type of Kin with some sort of poison ability? After some time and with no resolution on the horizon, one of the spirits asked the obvious question.

“When not make both?”

That quieted the Hive as the spirits considered the option. The Hive had been aggressively storing energy due to the creation of the dragon so it was certainly possible for them to do both a poisonous Kin and a poisonous creature. The only downside was the loss of energy. Outside creating both the new creature and Kin, they still need to send energy down to the dragon as their big project still wasn’t done yet. In the end, the need to create something new won out. They were going to do both!

The spirits started with the small creature first and picked the first animal that caught their eye. Squirrels were found all over the underground forest and the spirits pick out one of them. There was nothing remarkable about this squirrel, it just happen to be near the Hive. The Hive slowly moved their energy over the squirrel. The Hive had absorbed snakes before and thought of the snakes’ poisonous fangs. The energy responded. The squirrel could not see it but to the Hive, the movement of the energy was beautiful to behold. The energy condensed and shifted to the squirrel’s teeth and stomach. Three green stripes appeared on the back of the squirrel, running down from the neck to the end of it’s tail. It’s teeth became sharper and twin fangs appeared on both side of it’s mouth. The Hive could sense that the fangs were poisonous. A spirit within the Hive immediately shouted.

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“The Naming Committee of the Hive shall this creature The Poison-Fang Squirrel.”

A stupid obvious name like always but the rest of the Hive decided to ignore the stupid Naming Committee for the moment and go on to their next project. The new Kin was a bigger creature and before they begin, the spirits needed to pick an animal to change. They needed an animal that was both poisonous and near them in good numbers. The choice was simple. Snakes had long slithered their way into the underground forest and there were more than a few of them that were poisonous. Poisonous Snakemen also seem to have a good ring to most of the spirits. With little to no argument, the spirits got to work.

The Hive picked the nearest snake to them and threw their remaining energy over the animal. Showing how experience the Hive was at this, the snake began to change almost immediately. The Hive kept control and thought of a human. A snake that had the arms and legs of a human but who was still undoubtedly a serpent; a serpent that was both dangerous and intimidating. Much like with the squirrel, the energy responded to the wishes of the Hive. It swirled around the snake and the snake glowed with power. Limbs shot out of the snake’s body. The snake hissed as if in pain but to the Hive, it seems like a little like a snake shredding it’s skin. The snake’s body grew longer and bulkier and to the Hive’s surprise, the snake’s tail also grew. The Hive let go of the energy and let the energy do the work. The surge of energy had attracted a crowd and howls were shouted, sounds that passed on information about the activities of their Creator. Many of the Kin were now in the clearing of the Hive, waiting to welcome their new member and the Hive could sense that many more were now rushing down to the underground forest.

They would not make it in time.

The energy stopped swirling and the glow began to fade. The spirits within the Hive waited. The Snakeman was laying face-down on the ground but as more time passed and the intimal shock subsided, it began to notice how much it had changed. The creature lifted it’s head and looked around. There were numerous Kin around it and the Snakeman hissed. It was trying to intimidate the Kin. It failed as everyone just stood in place. The Snakeman then notice it’s arms and looked at them in surprise. Some of the spirits within the Hive laughed. New Kin always do that for some reason. As mildly funny as it was, the Hive noticed that the Snakeman did not have claws like the Werewolves but instead it had normal human hands. Hands that were used by the Snakeman to push itself off the ground. It stood up for the first time in it’s life. The Snakeman then looked down at it’s legs, as if wondering what it was supposed to do with them. It lifted his right foot for a closer look…and promptly fell on it’s behind.

Silence reigned within the clearing. Then someone laughed. The Hive foused on the laughter and noticed the Alpha. He had come down to the underground forest the moment he heard the howls and he had brought the Fire Hive mutants with him. Without fear, the Alpha step towards the Snakeman. The moment he was near enough, the Alpha bended down and hugged the new Kin. Lifting the Snakeman up in a bear hug, he howled. Howls, screams, caws and other sounds soon filled the air. The Kin were welcoming their newest member.

It was a great day!