Xantheus, Third Claw of the 2nd Echelon, treaded cautiously through the lower bowels of the brood chamber. What would normally be a place his rank would demand him walk upright amongst the lowly hatchings and broodmaids, now he more crawled than walked, hunched over with a constant bow of reverence befitting one entering the presence of the most high.

His traversal across space and time, venturing from the edge of the firmament did little to wipe clean the memories still made fresh there. To what he had witnessed. To what he had been…subjected to.

It was near inconceivable, but perhaps such was the wild nature of chaos made flesh. The thing known only as Kono Zemsu was but a precept to Xantheus before. But now he had experienced its might first hand. Its chaos. It’s power. Still…was its strength alone the reason for his defeat?

Perhaps his overreliance on the Strange Meat or the weakness of the vessel itself was to blame. Either way, the outcome had already been determined and his master was not one to suffer petty reasonings for short falls.

Even before Xantheus had neared close enough to see his master with his own twin sets of eyes, he felt his presence. Lord Xuba had increased vastly in strength since last he was here it seemed, a testament to the High Imperator’s prowess. Venturing further through the gnarled, blackened tunnels of the chamber, Xantheus finally saw a grub suspended in a half-woven black cocoon at the far end of the chamber.

The grub was ten times the size he had seen it last, nearly that of an adult. The reason for it’s rapid growth lay strewn across the chamber in the form of half-eaten grub carcasses, that crunched sickeningly under his feet as he approached the High Imperator and bowed.

Xuba, suspended in the cocoon, continued his work of layering thin slivers of black silk to strengthen the slowly developing sack.

The shame of the chastisement burned within Xantheus’s being, but he dare not show it openly. The embrace of failure was only for the weak.

Xuba stopped spinning.

His innards burned again. He had sought to divert from his failure in the form of praise, but it was perhaps foolish to try such with the likes of a High Imperator.

Xantheus thought quickly. This was a test.

There was a slight pause before a low rumble of amusement emitted from the grub.

Controlling a puppet through the barrier was one matter, but to assume a primordial form upon a mundane realm was another. He would be subject to the orders of the Construct and while the Echelon still held dominance over some spheres, the Kono Zemsu had destroyed three of the seals already. Not to mention the Holy Seers that kept watch of this strange mundane realms had proven as worthy as any within the high celestial planes.

Still he had to make recompense for his failure.

Another deep rumble of satisfaction echoed through the brood chamber.

The thought of reward added a new hunger to his being.

To crave meat was essential.

But to crave power…was divine.

* * *

“You sure you’re ready for this, Bruce?”

Bruce gave Carl a nervous nod, puffing his cheeks. “As ready as a forty-seven year old with an aversion for combat games will ever be, I guess.”

Carl responded with a chuckle. “You’ll be fine. I scalped you a decent mid-level strength build that won’t raise much suspicion but that will hopefully keep you in the game long enough to do what you got to do.”

“I don’t understand what that means, but thanks. Sounds good.”

Carl outright laughed this time. “Man, if Gilly could see you now. I’m sure she’d be proud.”

The thought of his daughter seeing him like this did put a smile on his face. What the heck have you gotten yourself into now, old man?

The opportunity had presented itself in a meeting just a few hours ago. After only a few days in Dennis’s private Neo-Bankog motif shard, Evelyn had deemed Cedric’s progression worthy of yet another reward. The man had been harping on her about true interaction, wanting to go beyond the extend of mere NPCs. Dennis of course jumped at the idea and suggested a supervised link to one of the Crystal shards sever. Evelyn had been rightly concerned and rejected it immediately, but when she looked to Bruce for support, had done something out of character.

It was clearly an unabashed attempt by Dennis to set the stage for something further. A means to get rid of Cedric perhaps.

But it could also be his last chance to meet and talk with Cedric too.

So he’d said yes and now here he was, about to jump into one of those crazy games that Gilly spent all day in. But it was her he was doing this for. He had to know if he’d been looking the wrong way this entire time, if this sacrifice Dennis was planning was not the population of Citadel, but the scouts on the surface.

His daughter.

His Gilly.

“The game is starting,” Carl said. “Time to log in.”

Before he could even respond, the world went instantly black as Carl connected his mind to the neural link. His vision returned with a blue screen forming before his eyes.

**==Welcome to Crystal Shards Online==**

You are connected to the world of Combat Royale.

If has been 452 days, 012 hours, and 43 minutes since your last login.

You have 0 friend(s) online.

You have 4 guild members online.

[Initiating game mode….]

[Death match selected. Warning. Fail safe limiters are deactivated.]

Wait! What the hell did that mean?

But before he could do anything a timer began counting down.

[Death match starting in 3…]

[…2]

[…1]

[Welcome to Skull Island]