All talk among the spirits of creating a new Boss immediately ceased as the Porkasus took a disinterested glance at the humans before continuing it’s flight towards the Hive. It landed in front of the Hive and the Hive was joyous at it’s arrival. The humans however had a different reaction to the flying pig.

“Is that a pig?” One of the humans asked.

Another answered. “A flying pig.”

“So I’m not the only one who is seeing that?” The first human replied. “By the 99 Gods, that really is a flying pig!”

“That pig is cute.” All the humans stared to look at the young male hunter who spoke. “What? It is cute. I dare anyone to tell me otherwise!”

“It is a monster.”

“It is a cute monster. I wonder what the dark mage call it?” More than a few humans shook their head at the young hunter’s perfectly legitimate question.

“Be careful. No matter how cute it is, it is still a monster. Even cute monsters can kill. It could be dangerous.”

“That’s true. Just kill it so that we can investigate the matrix in peace.”

One of the warriors drew his sword and began approaching the Porkasus. The flying pig noticed the human and with a flap of its wings, began floating in mid-air. The human warrior put out his hand as if in peace but he continue walking slowly towards the Porkasus.

“Here piggy piggy, nice piggy piggy. No danger here. Just nice Cra..”

The human never got to finish. A gale swept through the clearing and the wind shook the trees in the underground forest. The humans stood rooted to the spot, staring in shock at the human warrior who had approached the flying pig. He was now missing his head.

For several moments, everything was still. Then the headless body fell to the ground and a loud oink broke the silence. The remaining humans turned to look at the cute and now terrifying flying pig. It looked pleased with itself. The old female mage who had saved the humans from the fall reacted first.

“You!” The old female mage screamed. “You are the one that killed Garnock! You killed my son!”

The enraged female mage pointed at the Porkasus and an arrow shot out of her finger. The speed of the spell was incredible. It was so fast it might as well be invisible. The spirits within the Hive barely saw it. The Porkasus definitely did not.

The Porkasus squeal in pain as a wind arrow hit the flying pig, piercing through its body. The Hive was surprised. They had never the Porkasus injured before but it is bleeding badly now. These humans might be stronger than the Hive thought.

The old female mage didn’t stop. She raised both her arms above her and dozens of arrows made from the air surround her. The Hive couldn’t help but be impressed. The Hive was a matrix of spirits and it had a sense of how the wind arrow spell was created. Although the spirits within the Hive did not know the spell specifically, they could tell that the wind arrow spell was difficult to create based on the composition of energy the spell needed. To see a human create so many of this powerful spell was something else.

“She’s powerful.” One of the spirits said and the rest of the Hive can’t help but to agree.

The old female mage release the spell and the wind arrows shot towards the Porkasus. The Porkasus couldn’t see the speeding arrows but it could sense that it was in danger. It flap it’s wings and took off in a flash. Amazingly, the flying pig managed to avoid the wind arrows and the spells flew on, hitting the trees at the edge of the clearing. Those trees exploded.

The old female mage called out even more wind arrows and immediately released them. The Porkasus responded by going even faster. The flying pig flew along the edge of the clearing, managing to narrowly avoid the wind arrows cast by the mage. It was as if a wind was trying another wind as numerous trees exploded. Some of the spirits within the Hive groaned at the exploding trees. They would be a pain to replace. Then one of the humans shouted at the old female mage.

“Save your spells. Wait for us to pin it down first!”

The storm of spells stopped as the old female mage stop her casting. The Hive had been around living creatures long enough to realize that the old female was tired. The Porkasus noticed it too. It turned and flew straight for the mage like an arrow released from a bow. The Porkasus might not be the smartest creature the Hive ever created but it realized what a danger the old female mage was.

One of the human warriors step in front of the mage, defending her with his shield. He and his heavily dented shield tumbled backwards the moment the Porkasus’s snout hit the shield. Even with the protection of the shield, the warrior was injured by the impact and the Hive suspect that his arm was broken. The warrior however had done his duty. The old female mage was still alive and more importantly, he had stopped the momentum of the flying pig. The Porkasus oink in pain as two arrows hit it from either side. The human warriors rush forward but the Porkasus wasn’t helpless. The flying pig reared up and flapped it’s wings strongly. A fiercesome gale swept through the clearing, one that was strong enough to knock the humans off balance. The Porasus never gave the humans a chance to recover. With another flap of it wings, it swept through the humans. Two humans flew into the air. Both were dead before they hit the ground.

Once more, the humans had to turn around to see the Porkasus. With three of their numbers dead and another heavily injured, things did not look good for them. However the humans did not falter. Numerous minor injuries and two arrows sticking out of it’s body were clear indication that the flying pig was hurt as well. The humans believe that they would win; that was when the Hive decided to help out.

The Hive had been closely watching the fight and the fact that the humans had managed to injure the beloved Porkasus was an insult that must be answered. The spirits within the Hive reached out to the Porkasus but they did not use the energy they had stored like they usually did. Instead they just touch the energy within the flying pig. The Porkasus was the Hive’s first great creation and although it had turned out brilliantly, the Hive had to admit that the Porkasus was not perfect.

That couldn’t be helped as the Hive didn’t really know what it was doing when it was creating the creature. The Hive did not know much about effective use of energy when it was creating the Porkasus and the Hive know the Porkasus currently has an excess of energy within it. Basically, the Hive had used too much energy when it created the Porkasus. The spirits within the Hive had no way to leech off the energy in the past so they just let it be. However what happened to Brand give the spirits ideas and for the Hive, ideas are just a prelude to action.

The Hive reach out to the flying pig and begin to move the energy within it. The Porkasus noticed the actions of the Hive and landed. The humans noticed it too. The Porkasus began to glow and the arrows sticking on it drop off the flying pig. Then it’s wound began to heal. A small cloud of smoke appeared covering the Porkasus and when the smoke dispersed, the humans were staring at a brand new pig. Still pink with a pair of wings, the Porkasus was now twice bigger with wings that were twice as long. It was also sporting a pair of long sharp tusks.

“The matrix.” The old female mage whisper in something approaching awe. “It’s doing this. This dark mage did it!”

“What do you mean?”

“The matrix!” The old female mage pointed at the Hive in response to the question from one of the humans. “It was just a theory. To create a sentient matrix that could think and do…well, anything. The idea was sound but no one had ever came close. This mage had done it. He or she had created a sentient matrix. We must destroy it!”