The terminals were open, the slick movement of the shutters, like a worm’s mouth, was the only thing they heard for a while. Her eyes alert, Milen’s position was such that she couldn’t discern the shapes in the distant fog. She and Seven did not move or utter a word for fear of missing any details.

The first change was noticed by Kate. To her ears, it sounded like a rumbling, the sign of an animal stampede. Through the fog, a slow procession of human shapes was seen, normal in proportion but as if floating in the air, eventually carrying beneath them bulges of flesh sustained by thin but muscular legs. The feelers twitched every time they detected movement, and the small hairs, like leaves, followed the will of the wind.

Not only did she notice them from miles away, her senses pinpointed the exact position of all of the other ants, including the furtive workers, unceremoniously skipping past the line and invading the buildings, scavenging for food in the middle of a battleground, and the taut warriors that walled up in front of the female looking shadows of princesses, led by their fateful leaders. The humanoid guards sported weapons like shields, swords or spears, the traditional tools for humans to dispose of one another, made of a material as sturdy as their skin.

Half a minute passed, Milen saw a few ants coming their way. It was a standard battalion of warriors, they went ahead of the procession and spearheaded the way. She made sure Seven was tightly held onto her and moved. Particles of light shone on the ground and accumulated on the soles of her feet. One moment she was there; the other, she wasn’t, but for Milen herself, the world moved extremely slow and awkward, as if everything was a passing flick that would disappear once she left it behind.

Exhilarated, she let go of her partner, who stood in midair frozen in time. The spectral chains materialized from her wrists and hung onto the neck of the forefront’s warrior ant. Crossing her wrists and swiftly pulling down the chains, she willed it towards the ground, but instead of forcing it into submission, it removed the ant’s head in a motion that left behind no blood. She looked back with a smile on her face, Seven was still there, unmoved, with his stoic countenance. Milen tried walking to him but her feet could only move forward. It was the first time she used Lost Ground, the first time she had the power to use it, as the curse shackled the spirit, draining the strength.

-Wait!

Her feet that pulled her forward finally stopped on the place she initially intended to be at, for a split second the world returned to its normal velocity, but she had no time to think about that. Another arrow activated beneath her feet and she instantly appeared at his side to catch him.

-Are you alright?

-What happened?

All Seven grasped of it was that he was teleported from one place to another. Furrowing his brows, he noticed the dead ant in front of them, whose body had yet to crumble apart. He understood that he did not understand anything.

-Argh...!

The dark ring expanded from Milen’s finger to encompass her whole arm and beyond. Seven caught the motion and erased it before it could do anything else. Instead, the other two ants of the group exploded and fell into a pile of their viscera.

-If you do that, take away as many as possible... Our objective is the Princesses.

“Don’t fight with small fry.”

At that moment, Seven thought there was a good chance to pass this trial with Milen’s abilities. The idea of a win instead of a tactical retreat lingered.

Not losing in impetus, Milen adjusted to her newfound powers and every time she moved, she maximized efficiency. The first few groups of ants that came her way were nothing, she could dispose of them without batting an eye.

“Ghost force”

She experimented with multiple casts of her primary spell, summoning an ever-growing number of chains that attached into the monsters’ limbs and brought them down with ruthless efficiency, detached without a trace of being fought against, almost like the work of a guillotine. Milen’s inability to change directions once she set the distance was an obstacle, but she viewed it as a challenge to perfect her skills.

The enemy lines formed the point of a spear, starting with one and increasing by two each time she reached further. Milen dove in, phasing through the ground and establishing the links between her wrists and their members, dismantling the bodies in an instant. It was at the very end of the enemy line that she sensed something wrong. In that space where nothing could move except for her, she had an eerie feeling and urged her body to the side, though her feet kept moving.

Woosh

A hole was punctured through the ants before she had the chance to end their life, and as silent as it came, a spear with serrated ends retracted to the start of the line. Milen felt a sting and she passed her palm by her cheek.

-Ssk...!

She opened her eyes in fear of the blood trail on her palm, or, more exactly, the cause of her bleeding. It completely erased from existence a patch of skin and a lock of hair.

“What the hell was that?”

She backtracked as soon as the distance was covered.

From the center of the formation, as the perforated bodies collapsed one upon the other, the reddish slit that passed for eyes glowed faintly on its slightly pink skin, or crust, as it resembled a tree bark if one were to look closely. There were lips, a long nose, but the face held as much life as a wooden mask. The big forehead linked to locks of braided hair, which were, in fact, a mere extension of the skin. They contorted like living snakes, twitching to any change of temperature and sound wave.

Seven closed his eyes, reiterating his initial plan.

-Royal Guards. They come in batches of two or three. At least one will take an active role and scourge the place for enemies, whereas the other will guard the Princess. You’ve stepped into their “danger” zone, which recognizes you as a threat.

Milen was floored at Seven’s revelation. A single Royal Guard was enough to deal with her, and there were at least eight of them, how was she supposed to stall them? She couldn’t believe that the strength of the Naiyid was insufficient to deal with their lot.

“If I had access to the scriptures...”

-Did you listen to me?

-Eh?

-Haaah... I’ll repeat myself. We have to aim for the Princess to gather their attention and stall them for as long as possible.

-… Then what?

-Retreat once things get dire. We can’t fight them head-on.

“Plus, this is only their physical prowess... I don’t even know what genes they got”

Amongst the people who knew their genes and how to use them, there were only four: Nathan, Kyel, Natalya and Seven. C42, the one present in Seven’s bloodstream, was one of the most useful ones: a fast metabolism and high mutability compost that made him an extremely adaptable human. C42 was the most widespread amongst the subjects and, by extension, the ants.

“The more we fight against them, the stronger they will get. If it’s not a decisive blow, we stand to lose”

As Milen used the arrows on the walls to glide past the buildings, she got a better view of the armies.

-The Princess is the tallest one out there. See if you can strike from this spot.

Milen focused on summoning a thick, sturdy chain that would reach for miles and capture its neck. It made a beeline straight for the encirclement and clinched perfectly around it, shrinking and tightening. Nothing could destroy the link, the head fell cleanly onto the mass, carrying with it a root of organs that spilled like rotten fruits dropping from the tree branches.

-Got it!

Not a moment passed by until a stem formed in the neck shaft, expanding and forming a shape. The new skin had an unnatural, sickly color. Plastered upon it, dead misaligned eyes whose eyelids moved according to the angle, and a tilted nose sunk into the face, the bridge popping up and down along with its movements. The rough texture of the hairless head was another confirmation, it wore the appearance of a human without possessing any of the vital organs.

-What... How do I kill this thing?

-You are not that capable. Unless you dive in and fight with your life on the line, there is no chance of doing that. I’ve already considered your cowardice.

-Coward...

-There is no use in saying otherwise.

Seven’s words got Milen into thinking. Was she really a coward? She viewed herself in a strong color for surviving all these years in a harsh environment, but most of her time she passed running away. She never thought too deeply on it, because survival always came first – who would judge her for running away? Those that did lied six feet underneath. However, in her subconscious, it was never about the circumstance. Her nature was to run away from difficulties, to avoid danger.

Deep inside, she knew: she was nothing more than a weakling, and this truth was the bane of her existence. As Naiyid, banished and captured, a disgrace to her ancestors. She deserved such mockery from a stranger, just like years ago, with the scorn of her brothers and sisters. Weak, useless, a coward, that was she, Milen, and years of denial would not change this truth.

“Haha... A coward indeed.”

Throughout her life, she lived in fear. Fear of rejection, of reprobation, of the unknown, fear of her parents and her siblings, of the people outside the tribe, of pain and happiness. It was something magical and even alien to her, was she the only one who felt that way? How come she didn’t understand anything while others accepted it so easily. Society, scary. Humans, scary. Choose conformity, you don’t have to get hurt – but why did she still bleed in quiet despondence?

A failure, something that shouldn’t exist. Something other than human.

“Am I going to live my whole life like that?”

Milen’s hands trembled at the thought, but change was a slow and painful process and she wasn't prepared for it yet.

-...After this.

-Hm?

-If I get past this... You won't be calling me a coward anymore.

Seven arched an eyebrow.

-Sure, whatever.

"Those half-hearted words, better keep them for yourself if you don't want to suffer any embarrassment"

Even if she wasn't a coward, since the first impression lasted for a long time, it was unlikely that Seven would stop calling her that. Regardless, Milen herself couldn't predict the impact this oath would have in her life from that day onwards.

***

In a quiet room, Kyel creased his brows in what was the ending of a nightmare, he opened them sluggishly and calmly surveyed the surroundings.

“Lodgings. Not the one from the 6th or 7th Research Stations. Somehow I made it to 5th or lower”

He didn’t immediately assume it was Natalya who brought him here, as he didn’t know anything that happened after the reptilian started his onslaught. He tried to get up, but just a slight amount of strength applied to his column or near his stomach would produce a piercing pain.

-Kyel, what happened on the other side? The bridge is gone.

He recognized that voice. It was someone from the 6th Research Station.

-How far did you spread the net? - he spoke in a detached tone.

-The latest information is from four days ago. At the time, we had reached the 3rd area.

“That was on the same day Arthur initiated contact”

-Did you see a woman when I woke up?

-No.

-Make another access into the 6th area, assemble a team to accompany me to the 1st area.

-...There is only me here.

-They settled elsewhere?

-They are dead.

"..."

-Oh, that so? Things got a wittle bit compwicated, hehe cough* cough* cough* - he spat a mouthful of blood - oh boy.