Lair

Chapter 026 - Will Of The Hive

By Skalsar

I woke up.

Finally.

Not in a physical way.

For once, I really woke up.

My mind being clear.

I had devoured and devoured.

Ripping flesh and power from everything that stood against me.

Dead or alive didn't matter.

My children crushed skulls and bled bodies to death.

Not just for hunger, but to see if there was any difference.

But there was none.

Just suffering and death.

It mattered not.

Being afraid of disappearing, I made others disappear.

Afraid of hunger, I devoured without thinking.

Interrupted at devouring, I created new children to stop the interruptions.

Focused on devouring.

Just devouring.

For all eternity.

But not anymore.

I woke up.

Finally facing the truth.

I have been wrong.

'Something big has changed in the hive.', I told my smartest child.

Then I went to sleep physically.

He had stopped me.

After being emptied of magic power, feeling the terror of hunger once more.

Feeling the despair of being threatened by death once more.

It wasn't simply strong prey this time. It was a [Hero].

Fear took over.

Something in my mind was shouting.

Voices over voices.

Everything screamed.

I had to devour.

Or so I thought.

I was wrong.

Even going as far as to eat some of my own children.

How could I fall that low?

But he stopped me.

Smart little child.

I simply was a child too.

Devouring and devouring.

Time after time.

Sure, thoughts entered my mind.

Memories were taken from the prey and put together.

Thus I learned.

But not enough.

I didn't think for myself.

Just letting my children do it.

Only devouring.

My smart little child knew better.

He took a human and started to learn on his own.

Not waiting for something to happen. But making it happen.

What had I done all this time?

[Broodmother] came back and is waking me up.

He is waking everyone up.

Explaining his thoughts.

Yes. We have been wrong.

What we need to do is, change.

The creatures of the hive will evolve.

And we will start to interact with this world.

If humans can do it, we can do it too.

We will create our own livestock.

And when we are ready.. We will conquer this land, which is my home!

The hive is shaking.

My children look worried.

But I'm not.

'Fear not, for I'm awake now.', I tell them and open my eyes.

Bending the rules.

Forming anew.

My body wakes up. The [Dungeon Lord] that is.

[Broodmother] looks at me worried.

'Don't worry, smart little child.

I had lost my way, but you opened my eyes.'

He nods.

We speak about his plan some more.

A [Hero] and some strong prey are on their way to us.

We will meet them head on.

'But why is the hive shaking?', my smart little [Broodmother] asks me.

Well, it is simple.

'I disconnected the hive.', I tell him.

My children look at me terrified.

But I'm not.

'Oh, stop it already.', I tell them.

'Far too long was I asleep.

Only devouring.

Feeling the hunger of my body.

This ends now.

Yes, the hive is my body.

But it's our home.

I'm the [Dungeon Lord].

The hive is the hive.'

'But.. you are "Hivemind".', [Blazing Hellhound] says.

'Yes. And no.'

We have got it wrong all the time.

It took me till now.

'Hivemind is but a though.

Hivemind is but a feeling.

Hivemind is but a concept.'

They are irritated.

'When I came into being, I knew only to devour and to protect myself.

That is "Hivemind".

Nothing but a feeling to control what is within my body, to better devour and protect.'

'But, if "Hivemind" is no more, how do we do things from now on..?', Sora asks.

They still don't understand.

'I didn't say it is no more.

Hivemind is all of us.

Hivemind is intuition.

The connection we all share.

Through the cores, we are one.

Through the bodies, we are many.

Through our personalities, we are ourselves.

We are all this and more.

Hivemind is but the collective will.'

I felt that they began to understand.

With the connection to the hive shattered, my consciousness is now the [Dungeon Lord].

I changed my cores, before doing so.

Compressed the magic power in it.

Using some more power to store my being.

From now on, the hive will be changed through the [Dungeon Heart].

Like other beings do if conquering a hive.

If you touch the [Dungeon Heart], you may claim the hive.

Creatures of the hive on the other hand, may change the hive through the heart.

They may arrange the rooms or plan the way it grows. And so on.

But only the one who claimed it may do so.

That is me. I have to be killed, defeated or absent for someone else to claim it.

Like that, [Broodmother] and I faced the humans.

And won.

I captured the [Hero] who will become our first livestock.

We blamed the humans with a stretched truth and took their will to fight.

The next step is to establish trade with them.

Having a [Hero] as livestock is amazing.

The magic power it holds is a bit more than that of the strong prey with which I took down a small village before. And it's refilling. Just by giving it nutritions. Food and water.

Somehow, other beings are able to change that into magic power.

Not like us, who are living on magic power.

Well, the [Hero] tried refusing to eat.

But we can prevent that easily by putting her into a semi-sleep state.

I created a [Slime] that breaks down the food into an edible fluid.

She can't stop the fluid from entering her body.

The skin itself would be enough to absorb the nutritions, but that would take longer.

[Slime] forces the fluid into her mouth and other orifices.

She is making weird noises sometimes because of that.

That's why I put her on her own layer.

A layer that will be only for livestock.

Not reachable through normal ways.

It would be bad if someone reached our livestock and stole it.

'We have acquired quite the promising livestock, but our expenses grew too.'

I nod.

'Still.', I begin.

'The others will follow your example and evolve.

First I will wake the second [Dungeon Lord] though.

It will be the guard for the [Lair].

Second. I want Sora to think about an evolution on her own.

As stated before, we need more diversity.

The other two breeders too.'

We won't be able to evolve everyone at the same time, but with the livestock, we will have enough magic power over time. And as we acquire more livestock, our possibilities grow.

'And there is something else.'

I look around the [Lair] for a bit.

'Those who prove themselves useful to our home, will be named by me.

As she already chose a name, which I approve of, Sora will be Sora.

I will be known as Danar and [Broodmother] will be Nydar from now on.

[Blazing Hellhound] will be known as Blazer.'

'Huh? Do we really need names?', Nydar asks me.

'Yes. You said it yourself. We need to interact with the world.

For that, we need names.'

'And why can't we chose them ourselves?', Blazer wants to know.

'Well, because I say so as the leader of the hive. Being the strongest and oldest here.'

'But..'

'And could slaughter everyone in seconds.', I add.

'Sounds Fair.'

'Anyone who wants to challenge me for the right to rule the hive, may do so.'

No one wants to do that.

With this, the matter is settled.

I may have lost track of what is important once.

That won't happen again.