“Welcome, I have expected your arrival for quite some time. Will you lead the Swarm to victory and glory or will you fail and be forever forgotten?” The mysterious voice repeated itself, since no one answered.

“Ah! Yes, yes, heard you the first time. Was just surprised and waited to see if you continued with your speech or not.” The man quickly said with a shrug.

“So you accept the offer. Excellent. My name is Qudall, and you will become the new leader, the Emperor of the Swarm. Before you start on your new journey, do you have any last regrets?”

“Regrets? What do you mean? And I’m already becoming the new leader? What about the other players? You are not one of those AI's are you? No, probably not. You the one in charge of me since I won the game? And-”

The man could not stop asking questions, so Qudall interrupted him. What a handful. Qudall thought to himself.

“Ah, do not worry about the small details. Just answer my question.”

The man thought hard about any 'regrets' he would have before he started the game. He replied while scratching his head a bit awkwardly. “Uh...guess I forgot to feed my beetle before jumping in the capsule. If that counts...?”

“That is… very well. Let us begin now. I received word that the vessel is ready and waiting for you. Too bad we did not have more time to play around, but the Queen does not have the luxury to wait for our little game to finish. I will contact you again later, when you have grown some.”

“Vessel? Queen? Grown? Wha-....”

The man did not finish his sentence. Silence filled the room and the bright lights went dark.

---

Let's turn back the time a few hours. Back inside the apartment, Hercules's day had just begun. The same routine as always.

Hmm, Master left for this ‘work’ again. Should I play with the leaf, the log or that stupid ball today? Eh...guess I will just sleep...

Hercules slept soundly for several hours. He woke up by the door slamming shut.

Oh, Master is back. Good, I’m hungry.

Hercules watched his master go back and forth in the house a few times, but never stopping at Hercules's terrarium.

Master didn't feed me? Did Master forget about me? Master brought a huge box thing. Did Master think I couldn't see the box from this room? Who are all those people? Master never brings people to our home...

Hercules watched the delivery guys install the capsule. His master seemed unusually excited. Hercules went to gnaw on a leaf. He could eat them, but he preferred other food. He saw them more as decoration. Just like his master did not eat the drapes, Hercules did not want to eat the 'decorative' leaves. However, Hercules started to get really hungry, so he had little choice. When Hercules returned from his small snack, the strange people were gone and his master stroked the huge capsule with both hands, eyes sparkling in excitement. His master had never looked at Hercules with those kind of eyes.

Now Master climbs in and closed the hatch. Will I ever get my food?

Hercules saw no signs of his master returning from the capsule. Perhaps this was the game his master kept talking about so much lately. If so, with his master's gaming habits, it would be many hours before his master came out to feed Hercules again. But, suddenly, just as Hercules had given up all hope about getting some food, something unbelievable happened.

Huh, someone just appeared next to the box thing. How did he get in? Where did he come from? He pushed some buttons, and now sparks are flying everywhere. Smoke? Wait...wasn’t fee-, I mean, Master in there?

Hercules focused all his mental power with one single purpose; to get the stranger's attention. He shouted out within his mind.

HEY! YOU! What did you do?!

“Hmm, what was that noise?” Qudall looked around in the small apartment. He saw the hercules beetle staring at him, the little bug eyes filled with anger.

“Can it be? Hoho, what a special little thing we got here. You managed to grab my attention. Ah, yes, guess you saw what happened. What is it? Want to come with your master to his new place?" Qudall said, then he thought to himself. Not much left for you here anyway, with no one taking care of you and all. The chosen one’s last thoughts went to this little fellow, so might as well bring him too.

Master leaving? What does he mean? Hercules's little mind filled up with confusing thoughts. But even though Hercules complained a lot, he still liked his master, and wanted to follow his master, no matter what the destination was. Afterall, his master was the one feeding Hercules, and without a feeder Hercules would not last long. Hercules started running around in circles, to show that he gladly accepted the offer.

“Is that a 'yes'? Guess so, now let me just…” Qudall reached out with his hand, grabbing the little beetle.

Hercules ran around in the palm, showing great excitement over being picked up like this. Hercules could perhaps get some nice food, now that he finally found one of those large beings that could understand him. Maybe ask him to set up a meeting with some nice female bugs.

*Crunch* *Squish*

Hercules did not even have time to realize what happened to him, before his spark of life extinguished. Instant kill.

Qudall collected the souls from his fresh kills and left Earth. He sent the energy clone to deliver the souls to the Queen. She hid in an underground tunnel to avoid the scouts of all major races. Even the all-seeing eyes of the Gods could not locate her.

“Hm, went through all that trouble to develop and prepare that VRMMO, and he never even got a chance to play it. Oh well, stole most of the code from other games anyway.”

Creating an unprecedentedly powerful game was fairly easy for someone like Qudall. Oh, how the gamers on Earth would howl in anguish if they knew what they just missed out on.

"Now, where is the Queen hiding?" Qudall looked through the eyes of his clone, but did not see anything resembling the architecture of the Swarm, nor any actual members.

Qudall reached out mentally to the Queen, through the signature left by the prayer. He did indeed save it. Never know when one might need to talk to a Queen of the Swarm again.

Queen of the Swarm. Can you hear me? This is Qudall. I got what you wanted, plus a small bonus that might be helpful for your new leader.

About time. The wildlife is fierce around here, and with no way to replace our losses... Needless to say, it has not been easy. Just send the soul into the larva I’m preparing now. What kind of mighty creature did you get the soul from, and what is this bonus you speak of?

Sending it now… Done. The bonus is a friendly face for your leader. He will need some time to adjust to his new... lifestyle. This might help him adjust more quickly. You see, in his former life, he was a human.

Human?! Will he still be capable to lead? You know one of our main enemies are humans.

Do not worry. Besides, humans fight humans all the time. He even comes from an all human planet, filled with a history of wars. I am sending the other smaller soul now. There, implanted into one of your unborn larvae. Take care of them. Need to leave now, or the other Gods might discover what is happening, and they will not treat you as friendly as myself.

Qudall cut the mind link to the Queen. He then destroyed the clone, not leaving a single trace behind for the other Gods to track. He opened his eyes, sitting on his stone throne, floating freely in space. His own personal dimension trembled in excitement, and the various energies swirling around sped up, swimming in circles around him. Qudall, the God of Chaos, laughed loudly. The sound of a thousand voices laughing at once. A laugh that could melt the brain of a mere mortal. Finally! Finally, interesting things were going to happen again.

Qudall waved a tentacle out, a large circular image appeared. When his tentacle returned to his body, it was already a metal sword. The image showed the world under him and he zoomed in on the Queen. While she hid underground, he could observe the area and the world-changing events that would occur in the near future.

---

The Queen looked down on her newborn larva. With about twice the size of the usual larva, it looked fitting, worthy of being the vessel of the new leader of the Swarm. The larva began to wriggle, showing signs of life.

It worked. It’s alive now. I can finally start to produce our much-needed reinforcements again. We survived this harsh period, now we will begin to pave our road of revenge, using the blood and bones of our enemies. The Queen thought to herself. A faint smile appeared on her rigid face, almost undetectable thanks to the exoskeleton.

She shook her head and focused on her main task. Her unique task, only she in the whole world could do this; the never-ending larvae production to refill the limitless ranks of the Swarm. With the completed delegation of the leadership of the Swarm completed, her burden was now removed, and she could now set her mind at ease and let herself be immersed in her breeding cycles.

---

Where am I? It’s so dark, feels like I’m floating. Not in the air, but like underwater. All I remember is going inside the capsule. Ah, still in it, I guess. How silly of me. Ooo, can move my body now. Did the loading complete?

The larva wriggled more and more. A crack in the thin surrounding, protective membrane allowed the larva to get out, breathing the first breath of fresh air. The larva crawled on the dirt, getting used to moving.

Yes! Made it. I’m out. Aww, still can’t see anything, but I can feel the ground. Uff… think I just head butted the ground. Wha-- who is touching me? Wait, let go of me! Put me down… Nooo…

The Queen's personal Helpers picked up the newborn larva. Their task; to carry the larva to the feeding ground. Their entire lives consisted of taking care of the newborn larvae, until they are big enough to move around on their own. The Helpers, they do so happily, because they know without them, the Swarm would inevitably fall. Sadly, everyone else in the Swarm does not share that opinion.

Th-they finally stopped. Phew, what a shock. Waah, I’m falling! Okay, not a very long drop. And my body feels soft and bloated, so don’t think I take much fall damage anyway.

What’s this smell? Smells delicious. Need to move closer to it. Ugh...ugh….crawling is hard for some reason. Ah, this feeling? Munch... munch... What a wonderful taste! Such taste sensitivity. Feel flavors I never felt before. How is this possible? Apart from this awkwardly blind tutorial stage, this game is truly amazing. Are the other Virtual Reality games like this?

The eating lasted three long hours. The Helpers that stayed to watch felt true terror, all the way to their bones. When the larva burped and rolled over, looking satisfied, the Helpers breathed out a sigh of relief. This larva just ate enough food for twenty average larvae.

The carcass they gave the larva to munch on, got eaten all the way to the bones on many places. All food was carefully rationed, only enough to keep them alive. That hunk of meat was mind numbingly calculated to last a much longer period of time, because the lack of reinforcements prevented the hunters to go out on a proper hunting spree, and the colony was currently in a food crisis. Soon they would have to resort to...

Puah..! Only bones left now, I think. What did I just eat? An entire elephant or something, haha. Can’t move… hm, need a new tactic. Let’s try rolling. Ah, yes, it works quite well. Ooo, something picked me up again. For some reason, it goes a lot slower this time.

The Helpers had never seen such a big larva before, and they struggled greatly under its weight. They carried the larva to the sleeping hall, so it could rest in peace. No, not that kind of ‘rest in peace’. Only the cringe inducing sounds of crackling and popping exoskeleton could be heard as they walked.

When the Helpers reached their destination, they immediately collapsed dead on the ground. They obviously had no more control over the larva they carried, so it dropped on the ground, starting to roll across the room.

With an age far past the usual retirement age, plus harsh food rations, it caused them to weaken severely. Combine that with the extremely heavy load on their frail bodies, it was a recipe for disaster. However, these mindless drones lived for one thing, and one thing only; for the larvae! They pushed forth with pure willpower, refusing to fall before their destination, even as their exoskeleton cracked and organs ruptured.

Wowowow-- What….is….going….on?! Ugh! Finally stopped spinning. Sheesh, put me down more gently next time. Feel pretty tired now… going to sle-..... zzzzzz.

When the young larva woke up, its body had changed drastically. It had grown in length, about one-third longer than before. Slimmed down in thickness, thanks to burning all that fat to fuel the transformation. Grown two small, black horns on the front head. But most importantly, the larva now had three pair of thin legs. The larva got up, standing up with little trouble, a sign that the mind and body had fused somewhat already. It slowly opened its, never before opened, black and round small eyes.

Yawn.. that was a good sleep. Oh, holy shit! I can see now! What is going on? I got night vision goggles on? Looks like I’m inside a cave or something. Hmm, what are these walls made of?

The larva walked up one of the walls. He looked closely at them, trying to determine the material, when suddenly he felt something hitting the wall.

Hmm, is this dirt? Let me see closer… uuf. What just happened?

He did the same movement again, with same results. After a few seconds, he realized what was going on.

I got HORNS?! Wait, I got legs too?! Wait, what am I? When did this happen? How?

The larva twisted his head around, with great effort, trying to see his body. What he saw shocked him greatly.

So many legs… three pair of thin legs. Looks like insect legs? Oh yes, that’s right. The game is about insects. So that means I’m underground, inside the nest. This place must be pretty big, with such a high ceiling, and considering how much they carried me around yesterday. Hmm.. there are others sleeping here? Must been tired, looks like they fell asleep as soon as they stepped inside. Well, not my problem.

Time to explore this place, maybe I can get some quests. Also, I’m hungry again. Hope they got another of those elephants, heh. Though, I felt some fur around it, so it’s most likely something else.

The young larva went out into the tunnels, leaving the other ‘sleeping’ Helpers alone.