For a moment she did not have a name anymore, that was until her memories returned to her. She was Ysandra of the br- of the Dominion Tree. The first subject of the Sovereign Swarm and guardian of its forests, she had once been the enemy of the Sovereign Swarm, but she had seen the error of her ways and let herself be reborn.

It had been a brutal fight but how could a mere tree stand against a swarm? She had been so wrong before. Mar the Sovereign Swarm was not an enemy of the forest, but its salvation. They would unite all life in the forest and ensure that no logger or other enemy of the forest could ever bring harm to it. Would it be a painful process? Yes, but akin to a natural forest fire, it would be necessary to make sure that growth could continue.

Ysandra understood this, she could feel it in the joyful song of the countless fragments that she was connected with. Her entire being was being similarly shared with all of them as her own fragment participated in the never-ending murmur. What she could sense, what she felt, and what she thought was shouted out by the fragment and added to the stream of constant chatter that permeated the Swarm.

She could feel so much, she could sense her now purple and grey body and how her wounds from the fight against Mar were knitting back together. The nearest units in the swarm stood out to her like a candle in the darkness and if she focused she could hear their fragments through the cacophony. And most glorious of all she could feel her tree. The Dominion Tree which was her truest self was thrumming with power, and she could feel just how different it was. Mushrooms and fungi sprouted out along with leaves adding to its beauty, the power within it caused the world to bow, the writhing tentacles that had joined her branches were ready to reach out and grab any threat. The new mouth in the center of the trunk was filled with sharp metal teeth and ready to consume.

Part of her knew that in the past she would have viewed her changed tree as abhorrent or unnatural, but now Ysandra could only feel love as she mentally inspected herself. What glory and the power of being part of the millions that made up the Sovereign Swarm. She could already begin to imagine how her power over the forest would change as her understanding of her new nature expanded.

That is when it happened, for a moment she was one in a swarm of millions, and in the next moment, she felt...majesty. The vastness of the entire Swarm touched her soul and almost gingerly communicated. It was a singular voice and the voice of millions whispering at the same time.

"Ysandra?"

For a few moments, she was paralyzed with the rapturous sensation of being seen, of being comprehended as the multitudes of minds touched her own. But eventually, she managed to come with a response to her purpose for existing.

"Yes, I am here."

"We know"

"What can I do for the Swarm?"

"You...can hunt down the most dangerous creatures in the area. If we are to continue our expansion then the forest must be pacified. We will browse through your memories later and see what we can learn. If you feel it then do not interfere."

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"I will obey your will and make it a reality."

Ysandra had without meaning to knelt on the ground at the presence in her mind. The domineering desire and hunger within it had forced her to supplicate herself without a single thought given to it. Just as quickly as the presence had entered her it left, leaving her once more just one out of millions. And she rose up and ran into the forest to begin executing the will of her masters.

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Communicating with individuals was...awkward for Mar. A single mind without all of the countless fragments and bodies attached to it was simply alien to her. It felt confining and limiting, almost like a living prison. At least Ysandra had two bodies in essence rather than what seemed to be the case for the majority, which was having a single body. So, they felt that the talk hadn't exactly gone well, but maybe with time and practice it would be easier to do so in the future.

But it had been a somewhat invigorating experience being able to talk to something that wasn't just themselves. With this done, Mar felt more able to make decisions. So, she turned to look at the final notification in the wave that him after the intensive mental battle.

* Congratulations: Your Potency has increased from 5 to 6

* Congratulations: Your Resilience has increased from 7 to 8

* Congratulations: You have reached Tier 3, all of your traits and powers will be enhanced accordingly.

* New Power: Mark of the Swarm: You are able to brand an enemy, item, or territory as belonging to you, others will instinctively know you covet or own the branded thing in question.: Has been Gained

"Already?"

Mar exclaimed as with the notification she felt the power flow through her and a sense of indignation came with it. Leveling was not supposed to be this fast! It had taken much longer to get up to the first tier so why had they suddenly blitzed through two tiers in such short order. Yes, Mar had been challenged far more with what she had done recently than ever before, but it just was not right.

They felt it deep inside of them and the indignation provoked a glimpse of a memory that she had no context for to flow up into her mind. An image of a mechanical device with a glowing screen and a drawn character running through a forest fighting wolves. It vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared but this memory was so different from all of the experiences that Mar had relived that it actually made the entire swarm halt in their tracks.

"What was that?"

Mar asked nobody in particular as the effects of the memory faded along with the indignation that they had felt at...something about the tier increases. They distracted themselves by grumbling about how the interface once again was not particularly helpful in describing this new power, which meant that Mar would have to test it later.