Pop !!! Six !!! Squish !!! uh uh !!! Cicero !!! Lipschitz !!!

Pop !!! Six !!! Squish !!! uh uh !!! Cicero !!! Lipschitz !!!

POP !!!! SQUISH !!! TEAR !!! RIP !!! FEAST !!!! CONSUME !!!

The six merry murderesses sang gleefully. A concerning relapse in my musical theater addiction. Perhaps real, perhaps a figment of my fractured mind, their song only pushed forward upon the violence that sat lightly upon my mind. A mind that was currently in a state just a little more fractured than normal.

Something has gone wrong…. I am not myself….. My mind is not my own…..

Minos my mighty bull was quite successful in driving back many a member of the creepily crawling hive. Delectably so….

With hands of marble and hooves of fine craftsmanship, the gilded ivory bull sent many a broodling flying. Blood painted gilded thorns as organs splattered upon black-grass in a stunning display. It was gorgeous….. But was it as gorgeous as Minos ?

Tragically, those hailing from the material realm were destined to lack taste. Due to this, Minos couldn't rely upon his good looks and chiseled abbs to smash his enemies. Instead, the bull clad in naught but ivory of silver and gold was forced to use his thick and taunt bulging muscles to literally smash and smack about his enemies. But perhaps it was better that way….

A slight flick of the bull’s whiplike tail was enough to send a broodling careening into purple razor-sharp hedges, while his hooves and enormous mass were enough to crush any chitin directly underfoot. A perfect killing machine. Metaphorically and literally in all senses.

No less dead than those who were crushed, any of the unfortunate broodlings lucky enough to not get directly stomped upon, but unfortunate enough to get logged within the purple hedges, were directly sentenced to a slow and miserable death. For not even their drab, dirty, daubed chitin could save them from my powerful plants.

Though they had no tongues, nor teeth (at least, not yet) my gorgeously fashionable hedges held onto whatever chitin was closest with an iron grip. Slowly reeling in the newly born hive broodlings into delicately devious cages of razor-sharp leaves my garden fed upon the blood of insects.

My darling hedges were Ravenous. Their roots Thirsting, their flowers Parched.

Their hero, Minos took great joy in providing them the nutrients they so desired. He was a bull of marble and gold he had no need for sustenance.

Instead, the bull reveled in the attention delivered to it upon an ascendant platter. Drinking in both praise and starlike adoration from the flowers around him (and my wonderful spectral cheerleading of course), Minos gained both more confidence and drive by the passing minute. He was judge jury and superstar within my domain, famous for both his looks and his murderous capabilities.

His glistening marble skin invincible to their newly forged claws, Minos crushed broodling after broodling with statuelike efficiency. Once again I was reminded as to why I had not originally granted Minos the Mighty Marble Minotaur a weapon or staff.

Muscles…… Blood…… Muscles…..

In part, it was due to the fact that it would have cost much more than I could afford with my meager allotted sum of ascendant energy. Though, in the end, I shall not attribute this decision to my abject poverty! Instead, I shall attribute it to the fact that Minos, my Minatuar of Silver and Gold, was already perfect! PERFECT !!!! Ṕ̸̭̤̘̄͌͛Ë̵̘̣̘̗R̶͕̦̈́͛́͠F̴̨̭̺̄̑͠Ë̸͍C̴̰̐T̴̞̖͖͐́̈̕!!!

A flourish here, a summersault there, Minos encapsulated both beauty and elegant grace as he smashed overgrown bugs from space into a paste.

Perhaps if a race or species dedicated to speed and quick navigation somehow stumbled upon my humble slice of the ascendant plain, Minos would have struggled in keeping the intruders at bay.

But be as it was, Minos, being entirely designed around environmental combat, was the perfect counter to the broodlings whose current strategy entirely relied upon swarm tactics.

WEAK !!! THEY WERE WEAK !!!! !

Strangely enough, the broodlings that had evolved into something… More… While still retaining whatever horribly ugly design that they had been cursed with upon birth, had quickly escaped back into the rift that they had emerged from.

A thread of green energy called them back. I know not why, but only that it benefited me.

It gladdened me that I wouldn't have to stare upon the ugly visage of those specific twisted bugs any longer. Shrouded in pollen or not, their complete and utter lack of aesthetics did nothing but send shivers down my spine.

In the end, all that mattered was the fact that through both the combined effort of Minos and my gaggingly gorgeous plants, the waves of broodlings had started to recede by the time

Through a few freak accidents, even my widow's hair grass along with my whispering moss had inflicted a few casualties upon the Hive Broodling swarm. Tangled in a widow's grasp they found themselves trampled by their own brethren…..

Somewhat making the mistake of counting my eggs before they hatched I couldn't help but float a little scoreboard behind my core as I reveled in the victory that was so obviously rolling out before me.

Gorgeously Glamorous Garden 1, Hivelings 0

The minutes ticked by, slowly steadily, and inevitability. And as the Hive Broodlings that evolved shuffled off within the depths of the swarms crawling throughout my labyrinth and those that died fed the fabulous roots of my hedges and grasses. Those that still remained gained a frantic edge.

Lamentably lucid yet lethargic and lifeless they continued their mindless incursion of self-inflicted agony and torment. Bathed in nothing but pollen and their own blood and bodily fluids, the Hivelings marched forward. Many falling in the process.

Delectable.....

When only ten hours remained, the Broodlings began to skitter forward frantically. Exhausted, and driven only half mad by my pollen they swarmed with incredible ferociousness. Gnawing, gnashing, screaming, and crying they pushed forward.

It was now that the flow of Hive into my dungeon began to slow. Not yet quite stopping, but noticeably reducing in number. Only confirming my victory my hedges began to sway with renewed fevor. I was to soon be rid of the universal menace that was the Hive.

Rid of such delicious food so soon….. What a shame….

Soon, only five hours remained. Soon, I would be free of these damned wanna-be zerglings. Soon would my mind calm….

The Broodling's song had long devolved into a mindless wail of agony and desperation. Driven forward by nothing but the expectation of their mother they marched to their deaths.

And into our waiting maws……

Minos by this point had also been painted in the blood of the intruding creepy-crawlies. His pace only growing in fervor, the marble bull had found himself dispatching countless Hive. Had he not been an automaton of marble, the poor minotaur might have collapsed in both exhaustion and overexertion.

To my complete and utter horror, as he had been covered from head to toe in Broodling guts, the bull's gorgeous marbled muscular skin had taken on the nastiest shade of chartruse. Both my heart and the vines upon Minos’s face were writhing in agony at the situation. Something that would no doubt be addressed upon the final removal of Hive from my domain.

By the last hour, the flow of incoming broodlings had stopped entirely.

Now, the true horror of my leafy labyrinth had set itself upon the remaining broodlings. Made insane by copious amounts of mind-altering pollen along with exposure to anxiety-inducing grass, many broodlings turned upon their brethren. Cycle slashed against cycle. Claw against claw. Tooth tore against tooth.

Glorious….

No longer was survival a goal in the mind of these poor insects. Only carnage and self-destruction.

Glamorous…

Some willingly pushed themselves into the open embrace of my razor-sharp hedges. Walking with odd deluded purpose into a wall of nothing but impenetrable purple leaves.

Given…

Others did nothing, while most attacked everything in sight.

It was at that moment that my flowers cried out to me. Their petals fully furled back as they released load upon load of pollen upon their unsuspecting victims. A whirlwind of the stuff now clogged every inch of every corner of my domain !!! And still, the flowers released more !!!

Godly….

It was….

It was….

It wasss…..

It was Glamorous !!! IT wAs GODLY !!!….. IT WAS GIVEN FREELY !!!

Carnage !!! Blood !!! Guts !!! Gore !!!!

I was wrong to call the shells of these broodlings completely unsalvageable.

They were quite beautiful when torn to shreds….

Rip !!! TEAR !!! BITE !!! SQUELCH !!! IT WAS JUST BEAUTIFULL !!!!

Even the conclusion of forty-eight hours could not remove me from my revelry.

And so I only delved deeper into madness….

My mind, plagued by delusions of grandeur and the phantasms of old broadway productions…

The illusions of six merry murderesses of Chicago only continued their tune…

And it went a little like this…

POP !!!! SQUISH !!! TEAR !!!Ahh Ahh !!! RIP !!! FEAST !!!! CONSUME !!!

—---------------------

It only took the death of every last broodling for my mind to calm. It only took the death of the last invader for a blissful quiet to spread. A soothing, silence, reminiscent of what I had experienced within the void.

No, not the visions, and most definitely not the recovering from deboning. It was the feeling of peace that was similar. That strange feeling of contentment. It was almost as if I had just woken up from a long, wonderful nap.

And yet, a seed of doubt still troubled my crystalline Core.

I was not myself a moment ago. And that was unsettling.

The psychosis and optical illusions were only par for the course… but those strange urges that had nothing to do with housekeeping or fashion? Those were worrying.

I don't really know how to describe what had come over me. It was tantamount to bloodlust… But more primal… More natural… More…. Everything?

Things had been odd for quite the longest time. My emotions have not been my own for years. For a moment I had even considered buying high-heeled crocks…. The greatest of sins… Who am I to judge my own actions.

Perhaps, in the end, the bloodlust was beneficial. Pushing my actions to the very extreme. An instinctual drive to survive.

Perhaps said bloodlust had always been there. The insanity always creeping upon the borders of my once relatively average mind.

Alas, that didn't matter at the moment.

It was time to throw out the metaphorical throw pillow. It was time to let old troubles go. Although it may have served many bright years adorning a burgundy couch, like all things, its end was inevitable.

Now was the now, life has no time for the past….

All was calm all was silent now. I quite liked that.

The leaves of my hedges waved no more, satisfied with their partaking of Hive blood they stood still. My widow's grasses also tangled and grasped no more. Seemingly satisfied to bob along in an invisible wind. My screaming moss, was decisively quiet, while Minos did naught but scrape muck from his glorious marble skin.

All was quiet… All was good…

And yet… a creeping suspense filled my heart.

No, it was not regarding my sudden changed opinion of the Royal Family after reading the latest gossip magazine before I died.

Something was just not right.

The rift had not yet closed.

It hovered ominously. In slumber perhaps, but not gone.

It spoke of temporary rest, yes, but not permanent closure… The Hive would be back…. Sooner rather than later….

They were still hungry…. They were still ravenous…. They were not yet satisfied with their feast….

In their multifaceted eyes, they had only benefited from this exchange…. They were the ones that had gained a multitude of uniquely evolved broodlings….

Broodlings that with perhaps a little nurturing, would find themselves completely invulnerable to the meager defensive measures I had laid forth.

I had fallen into the sharpened claws of Sarv Narkaleptov…. I had yet to truly witness the true might of the Hive…. The Universal Scourge…. The Eaters of all…

They were coming… And they were coming soon….

It was upon this observation that I heard a giggling.

A devious demented dastardly laugh…

And it was purple….

--------------

Your coordinates in the ASCENDANT PLANE have resurfaced to those in the material realm….

1072 access attempts recorded in .212 seconds… 1054 rejected due to level difference. 18 entries pending… 1 Chosen at random …. 1 Already Established 16 entries rejected…. Rift forming…. Rift Reopening... Rift formed….

Beware Dungeon !!! A new rift has now formed within your dungeon. A worthy sacrifice has also cemented old roads... Those in the Material realm have deemed you a worthy target. Prove them wrong.

+ Distributing Rewards for Reppeled Invasion +