He was certain he was dead. Surrounded by enemies Arnel knew that he would die and he was okay with that. None of the people Yachium had lost had ever been heard of again so the people knew that the monsters took no prisoners. Even if he wasn’t surrounded by monsters, death in the line of duty was something all Guardsmen accepted as a possibility and Arnel was a veteran. He had long made peace with death. Arnel’s only wish was to take as many of the monsters as he could with him. Thus Arnel was surprised when he was just captured. Beaten, bruised but he was alive. It was something new. It was obvious that the people of Yachium were wrong. The monsters do take prisoners.

However there was no relief for Arnel. Arnel was under no illusion on why the monsters would want captives. Most of the monsters were part beast and like all animals, they need to eat. Arnel was food and he wasn’t the only who thought so. His follow captive thought the same and while they were marched through the forest, he made a break for it. Surrounded by monsters, he did not get far. Arnel was almost glad he didn’t have long to live; the screams was something Arnel didn’t think he would ever forget.

As he was led further into the forest, Arnel understood that escape was impossible. Even if he managed to escape the attentions of his guards, a lone man without weapons in the dangerous Kar Forest was just a man looking for death. He may be a prisoner but he was too proud of a man for suicide. Defeated but unbowed, Arnel went further into the forest and on the third day of his captivity, they were joined by other monsters. Like the Bunny-Men and Centaurs, these part animal-part human monsters were known to Arnel. Humans called them Ratmen and Wolfmen and Arnel thought he must have passed into the territory of the two groups. Years of scouting on the monsters had given the people of Yachium some insight into the monsters and one of these was the fact that different monster groups had their own territory. When most of the Bunny-Men and Centaurs left, Arnel knew he must have went further into the Kar Forest than any humans had been for years. Their journey continued and Arnel saw something he never thought existed. It was a monster village.

A small one, nothing more than a couple of huts built in a circle surrounding an open space, but it was a village. If he didn’t know any better, Arnel would have thought of the open space as the village square. Then there were the little monsters. As he was led through the village, the kids came running. They were trailing the group, no doubt taking a look at the strange human prisoner. Arnel noticed that some of the little monsters seem more at home on all fours but the older ones were standing on two legs. Then someone shouted at the kids.

“Hey! Don’t you kids have school?”

The little monsters went running towards one of the huts and Arnel noticed that it was slightly bigger than the others. Was it a school? School; houses; village; Arnel watched around in amazement and wondered aloud.

“By the 99 Gods, what is going on?”

***

The underground forest of the Hive was a work of art. A work made possible by the careful and harmonious implantation of powers within the Hive. Earth spirits made the ground soft and fertile for the trees and plants. Nature spirits used their powers to cover the ground with trees, plants, and lush green grass. Air spirits created and maintained the light wind that breezed through the huge underground cavern. Swaying the leaves of the numerous trees in the forest, this constant cooling breeze was a comfort to the creatures living there. The Air spirits even made sure that the air was pure and fresh, giving off the smell of the early morning dew. Dew that was made by the Water spirits of the Hive who at times even mischievously made it rain in the underground cavern. Even the few Fire spirits within the Hive had a job. They maintained the temperature within the cavern, making sure that it was neither too hot nor too cold.

Within this marvel of a forest is a clearing. A circular piece of the underground forest that was free of trees and grass, this clearing was sacred ground to the Kin for within clearing was the man-sized crystal that was their Creator and God. Within this beautiful serene underground forest, the Dungeon Hive float in the air a few feet above the stone slab that acted as their anchor and as the four small lights swirled around the crystal, the situation within the crystal…was anything but harmonious.

“WE OBJECT!”

“Oh come on guys, your objection is just stupid. We can do this!”

“It’s not an issue of whether we can do it; it’s a matter of whether we should. We make beasts! We shouldn’t just give a human some stupid powers.”

“That makes no sense. We are the Dungeon Hive, not the Beast Hive. We don’t only make beasts. We can create anything we want. Besides, the Fire Hive did it before so why not us?”

“Because the Fire Hive is filled with idiots! Giving humans a strange power without changing their appearance is…it’s just wrong.”

“There’s nothing wrong with it, and they’re not called ‘humans’. The Fire Hive is calling these new humans ‘mutants’. Honestly, it’s a pretty good idea and some of us should like make some of our own mutants.”

“Well some of us don’t! And we shouldn’t! Not to mention, mutant is a stupid name. What does it even mean anyway?”

“It’s short for Monsters United Together Against…”

“Rhetorical question!” The objecting spirits screamed. “We don’t care because we shouldn’t be making these mutants in the first place. We should be making new beasts, more Kin, maybe even new types of monster plants! Did you guys remember that monstrous walking tree the Kin killed and brought to us last season? We should be making some of those, not these stupid humans. There’re enough of them in the world already.”

“Once again, they are not humans; they are mutants. There is a difference. The Fire Hive called them a new type of humans and there’s nothing wrong about that. Much like we having many types of Kin and the Fire Hive having different kinds of Demons, why can’t there be different types of humans?”

“Because there’s no shortage of humans in this world! Why are we even trying to make even more? That’s just stupid. We should concentrate more on making different types of creatures like those monster plants or different kinds of Kin. What about the idea we had proposed on mixing beasts with plants? That’s something we still haven’t tried yet?”

“Oh please! Only you Nature spirits wanted to do that and don’t think the rest of us don’t know you guys are the ones who are also pushing for the monster plants. You Nature spirits already have the REM, it’s time for the rest of us to have some fun.”

“How is making more humans fun?” One of the Nature spirits asked incredulously. “All of them are idiots who are trying to kill us?”

“Now that’s just specieist.” One of the other spirits hotly objected. “Just because some humans tried to kill us doesn’t mean all of them will.”

“Have you ever met one who isn’t tyring to kill us?”

“There could be some out there who don’t want to kill u. You can’t just paint all humans together as one.”

“Well forgive us Nature spirits for not waiting to ask before killing every human we meet before ‘asking’ if they are going to kill us. When we get our own hive, the Nature Hive is just going to kill every human that comes near us!”

“When you Nature morons get your own hive, you can do whatever you want. Till then, shut up and accept the rule of the majority. We’re doing this. After which, we can discuss about making some new types of creatures.”

“This is tyranny!”

“Since the majority of the spirits in the Hive wanted this, it’s technically not.” The other spirits laughed. “Now let’s get ready. The human just arrived.”

The spirits within the Hive focused on the entrance of the tunnels and sensed the human entering. He was surrounded by several Kin but they might as well not be there. The spirits were happily surprised by the human. They could not sense any fear or anger from him. The human was curious and was willingly being led to the Hive.

“Okay. He’s a little old but we can work with this.” One of the spirits said. “Let’s get ready for him.”

“WE OBJECT!”