Henry Laviel knew he was going to die. He had spent hours trapped in the strange semi-liquid webbing and felt the heat of the inferno outside. The thing that trapped him against a boulder was also that which kept him from dying directly, but that didn't fully insulate him from pain. As the heat enveloped the cocoon it bubbled and boiled against his skin leaving him blistered and screaming in pain as he desperately struggled to free himself.

But it was futile and eventually, the void of unconsciousness swallowed him whole giving him a brief respite from the soul-scorching pain. He woke up many times due to the flashes of agony that racked his body, thankfully, these short vigils of wakefulness did not last long, but he couldn't stop the thoughts that assailed him when he did wake up.

Many became Adventurers out of a sense of duty, or because they longed to fight and grow stronger, or out of wanderlust. Henry was a "normal" Adventurer in that he had chosen the life because he wanted glory, money, and the chance to save beautiful maidens. And importantly this was to be done in the least risky manner possible, which is why he had formed a team that relied on heavy infantry formations.

Yet his rather sensible approach and respectable wants did not inspire admiration, respect, or even common courtesy from most folks that he encountered. Especially, among other Adventurers his point of view seemed to invite scorn, which was why he and his team had been banished to this backwater of a region.

"And they left me behind!"

Henry wanted to scream and pulls his hair but his arms were glued to the rock and he suspected that his hair had fallen out due to the intense heat. Elarma and the Hornstalkers, the Baron and his men, and even his own team had abandoned him to die here pressed up against a rock like some kind of insect. Boiling in the web and waiting to be eaten whenever that horrible monster wanted to grab him.

Again, his mind drifted into unconsciousness after yet another bout of screaming and when he next woke up he was freed. His eyelids opened to see a very different landscape than what he had seen prior to being trapped. The once verdant and thick forest was a mess of scorched trees, massive chunks of overturned earth, and large piles of ash. Looming above him he saw a beautiful being looking down on him.

She was purple and grey-skinned with delicate features, and a kind of intensity radiating out of her gaze that would have pinned him in place even if he wasn't a boiled vegetable at the moment. The creature examined him dispassionately before she spoke and Henry was rewarded with her melodious voice.

"My reason for being is willing to offer you salvation, human."

Her left hand moved gracefully to indicate his broken body and then pointed behind her where Henry could see shapes standing eerily still. It took him a few moments to realize just what was watching him and he tried to desperately scramble away, but sadly to no avail as agony caused him to stop.

"You see the issue then, if you don't accept then you will be left as one of them. Just another Fungal Zombie among the millions that will fill the ranks of the Swarm."

Henry could not see her face at that moment but he could hear her smile and feel her step closer to his quivering body and then she knelt down beside him and gently touched his back.

"It won't hurt more than you already do, and you will be able to live and get what you desire. Power, revenge on those who abandoned you here to die, and your continued existence. You only stand to gain from this and who knows what more you can earn in time."

Silence filled the clearing then as Henry got his breathing under control and he glanced up at her with fear radiating out of his eyes.

"-W-w-Why?"

His throat was almost entirely ruined by his time in the cocoon so speaking was difficult, and the dryad just smiled down at him with that alien grin.

"Because it is her nature. She is the one who will dominate all and it is far better to be a Subject than a Unit."

Coughing was his only reply to that rather dramatic statement and she then bent down further to put her mouth against his ear and whispered.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"Don't resist if you want to live, if you want to die then fight against the blessing and you will die. Your body will live but you will be gone if that is what you want."

And with that, she bit him in his face and he could feel something enter into his body through it, but he was lost to the pain.

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Focusing on individuals became more and more difficult for Mar, her majesty had improved but seeing the world on the scale of individuals had become problematic. The individual was largely a meaningless concept as far she saw it, but even so, she was still able to pay attention to them. So, when she had ordered Ysandra to communicate her will to the candidate she had not been able to predict how it would go.

But the dryad had performed their role marvelously in spite of her reluctance to interact with the human, but choice was not something she had and that was that. When she infected the young man Mar could feel it and immediately began the work of controlling the rate of infection.

If he did not struggle against the will of the Swarm then it should be possible to add him to it as a Subject rather than as a simple Fungal Zombie. Or at least that was the hope, this was an experiment but Mar had experience from when they had worked on the Briar Bear.

So when the infection moved through his body Mar began to carefully monitor the progress it made and specifically worked to ensure that the brain was left relatively intact. When a Fungal Zombie was created the infection usually destroyed the original brain and completely replaced with a fungal growth. But Mar suspected that if the brain was left intact but just slightly altered by the infection, the subject would still retain their mind even if they were now part of the Swarm.

"I think he accepted it."

Ysandra transmitted through the Swarm while Mar worked on ensuring that the infection did not go too far. If this worked out then Mar thought they would be able to automate the process rather than having to personally oversee each case. And it would lay the foundation for the future plans that Mar was only now beginning to formulate.

Hours passed as Mar carefully manipulated the transforming flesh of the human man, but slowly it became clear that they had accepted their fate rather than facing death. The insides of the human were slowly altered, plant matter added to enhance his sinew, fungal growths added to the nerves to improve the communication, and metal added to his joints to add to their durability. Mar let the infection go into the brain very carefully until it seemed that the overall structure would remain as it had been but with some added modifications. And the world seemed to agree with Mar because when the infection was stopped a notification appeared.

* Subject Added: Swarmsworn Human

* A human being that has been infected and altered by the Sovereign Swarm, instilled with the loyalty and capability to serve.

Mar could feel his memories leak into her like a trickle of water and they indulged in the feeling. One would have to understand what drives these humans after all, and this one seemed simple. Glory? What better glory than to serve and bring the world to its knees in the name of Mar. Money? What was wealth but another form of power and Mar was power and could grant him more than he could ever desire? Lust? Rewards were freely given to those who were subjects, if this human wanted for such things there were units and subjects that could provide it. Mar absently ordered Ysandra to deal with the particulars of that issue. If all of them were this simple then it should be easy to subjugate more of them, by offering little tastes of what the Swarm could provide them.

Now, the first human subject of the Sovereign Swarm should be more than the crisped and simple creature that they beheld. Thankfully, they could be improved and alterations would make him more useful and more worthy. So while the unconscious Swarmsworn slept, Mar began the work of further altering his bodies to become a living weapon and a proper instrument of the Sovereign Swarms will.