A newborn grabbed onto Hera’s mangled body throwing her out into the streets, Her body limply skittered across the stone-paved ground, her blue blood painted the path of her trajectory. The alley she exited was filled with smoke and little bits of falling rock. However, she could not move most of her body, she could only hiss and limp around at a pace slower than a giant slug.

From her peripherals, she could barely make out a familiar aura, or rather a mix of unfamiliarity that she recognized. A tentacle wrapped itself around her torso. Slowly she was suspended and secured on the creature’s back.

The size of this newborn had nearly doubled since it was a spawned. It clambered to the rooftops.The shinglings were knocked off or crushed as the weight of the creature came down on them. Hera looked back to the alley, the signature of the female mage was distorted but her magical aura flashed briefly she hadn’t moved.

“Damn it!” She yelled. The only thing that remained in the blast radius was the body of the newborn that shielded Hera. She had at one time made sure Beka was clear of criminals, now she was standing in an alley with three corpses of unknown origins and one that had gotten away. To her, this was huge, an open investigation about an unknown amount of creatures that had just suddenly appeared.

She would need the support of the provincial government… luckily they were already approaching. Lady Amalia was in the lead, The female mage looked at her back, into the alley. The rising smoke and craters probably lead them to the scene.

Amalia pulled the reigns on her horse, The horse whinnied coming to a complete stop. Amalia dismounted, The mage looked like a teenager in comparison to height. Her holy armor was made to give her form an imposing sight to most. She placed her hand on the hilt of her sword. The squire appeared next to her.

The mage sighed. Running her hands through her hair, she had noticed the knight’s reaction. They probably thought that she’d be the offender.

She pulled out a crest that was secured around her neck. A tiny shield with two curved swords holding a ruby. It was dangled next to her head.

The squire paused to validate her before asking anything. “...Mage, what happened here?” He asked mere seconds later a piece of the building’s architecture fell from its place, smashing itself into smaller bits.

She shrugged. Perhaps she could gain some insight over this for her investigation. “The evidence is in the alley, If’n you want to know anything.”

Amalia turned to face the entrance, “Elizabeth, come with me.” Elizabeth wanted to voice her concerns, but they fell on deaf ears, she eventually entered.

Behind the veil were craters, black goop, and carcasses. Amalia was already much further ahead in the investigation she had been inspecting the first blown up creature. Using her foot, she knocked the beast on it’s back, or rather what was left of it.

“What is that?” Elizabeth was disgusted with the unknown corpse.

The blood dyed the tip the of her sword black; The consistency was thick and viscous much like the puddles they had been following. “Our monster.” She looked further down the path; there was another corpse, a more intact one surrounded by the city’s finest. “...Monsters.” she corrected herself. “Freeze them. I want them studied.”

Elizabeth looked strangely at Amalia. Her reaction was pure disgust, the creature smelled worse than it looked. But there was something about the creature that just sent a chill up her spine. “...Both of them?” She hesitantly stuck her hand out reluctantly.

“You’re wasting time.” She walked towards the crater leaving Elizabeth to her demise. Elizabeth shuttered as her hand touched the smooth exoskeleton. The magic raced from her palms down, spreading all the way through the body.

Amalia looked into the crater, to her surprise she found a discrepancy. A severed piece of chitin with no real indication where it came from. It obviously didn’t come from the creatures as the residue on the piece was blue. She knelt down and grabbed the piece, she inspected it well, strands of hair remained on the piece. To her knowledge, the other two creatures didn’t appear to have fur or hair.

She walked out of the crater. Elizabeth was sitting in the middle of the soldier’s group, working on the more intact specimen. The soldiers had been joking and sitting around watching her do all the work, after all, less than half of them could even use magic. A few even took advantage of her fear by pushing her closer to carcass needless to say this only happened once.

“Elizabeth finish up, we are leaving,” she spoke, and the soldiers were shocked. They hadn’t noticed the holy knight earlier. They stood at attention. Elizabeth looked almost ecstatic to be called to her.

“Aye, Lady Amalia!” Even if it were half-assedly frozen, the corpse wouldn’t decay. She got up from the preserved body.

Amalia looked at the soldiers that stood at attention. “Load both of these on carts and take them to an academy...and tell them about my arrival.”

Each soldier spoke in unison. “Yes, milady!” They scrambled up to find carts.

Amalia and Elizabeth took to the streets. They met with the squire and the rest of the squad. Amalia tossed the piece of chitin to the female mage.

“Tell me, what did you fight in the alley?”

~^~

The bulbous creature climbed through the church’s tower, the walls have been converted for easier navigation, recesses were made for the pincers to hold onto. The creature descended into the depths. The materials were highly insulating causing a visible sudden wave of heat to ascend. Even the air carried a thick humidity to it, one could actually obtain a drink from it. Darkness enveloped most of the path downward, until the very bottom, there had been a faint red glow.

The bottom had no stairs; it was simply just a hole that the creature came through from, it clung to the ceiling, down here it didn’t even remotely look like it did a few days ago. Vines of the black material. Black structures replaced the support columns. The ends would branch out and connect to another pillar.

Occasionally there would be a vine or two that held a bulbous red orb, larvae would often be seen swimming through the liquid filled membranes. More and more newborns can be seen skittering about, a lot of them were barely a fraction of the size of the first ones that were born. Possibly due to the feeding habits of the other ones also ate flesh alongside their magic meals.

The massive creature corrected it with the ground and walked the rest of the distance. Anything that was in the way was promptly kicked out of the way or willingly moved not wanting to get crushed. The monstrous creature approached a cluster of vines.

Sitting on a bed of vines was Rinae, she stepped from her new throne when heel at a time. The massive creature moved its tendrils to stand Hera up in front of it.

The pain with her just trying to use her vocal chords were immense. But she still tried. “Sssister, I under-”

Rinae placed a hand on her cheek. She was sent silent from this gently embrace. For the first time, she’s made eye contact with Hera. The interaction felt as unnatural as could be. The interaction felt genuine yet at the same time distant. Perhaps it was the lack of expression, or perhaps it was because she could finally see the face of her sister and that the two of them looked identical.

“Learn from this, be stronger.” She commanded her. Hera tried to say something but only managed to spit her blood. Rinae backed up a few inches, the tendrils brought back the injured Hera, and it was off, to a deeper part of the church.

Rinae walked forward, without having the same type of pincers as the lesser beings, her movement was limited to her feet and occasionally her wings. As she walked through the church the more mature born creatures noticed her movements and followed. She came to the same hole that Hera came from. And took flight, she would grab onto the crevices and use it to jump higher into the tower.

Once at the top she would track the familiar scent of Hera’s blood and look for Hera’s lost prey.