The Emperor and Hercules laid on the ground. At first glance, one might think they were dead, however, this was not the case. Their minds constantly swirled around in their heads, trying to regain focus. The sudden mind-invasion by the Queen had left them completely stunned.

After a few minutes, the leg missing a foot started to twitch. The constant pain helped Hercules to regain his senses faster than the Emperor.

But the Emperor was not far behind. His superior genetic composition, combined with his former human intellect, gave him a resistance to mind attacks.

Urgh, what happened? Feel like throwing up… if I only knew how.

Information had suddenly flooded his mind – the information the Queen sent. While it took a long time to describe, all those images and information only needed two seconds to complete the transfer. It completely overwhelmed their brains, giving them an insane headache. It buried deep into their memory storage, preventing them from ever forgetting their ancestors’s sacrifice.

All normal members of the Swarm were born with this knowledge, but Hercules and the Emperor were different. The Queen made two empty bodies for them, and once their souls – their minds – arrived, Qudall simply implanted them into the bodies. This circumvented much of the normal pre-programmed information that the Queen normally implanted into each larva, meaning she had to inform them at a later date, which she just did.

“Are you awake?” the Queen asked them.

Ugh, so loud… Shut up!

“No? Very well, I will wait a few more minutes.”

A few minutes later, Hercules managed to stand up. He fell down two times while trying, but got it on the third try. The Emperor, on the other hand, rolled around on the ground, complaining about the pain in his head. No one could understand him, of course, but that mattered little to him.

“Grooowl!”

Hercules, who could barely stand, watched the unsightly actions of their so-called ‘Emperor’.

What’s he doing? Is this the one I’ve heard so much about? The so-called ‘Emperor’, that when just a larva, single-handedly slayed the monstrous flying beast living outside? He even slayed the furry beast that took my foot! Not...exactly how I imagined him. Me, who’s even missing a foot, got up faster than him?

The Queen also watched the Emperor squirm around on the ground. She sighed and said: “I have more things to tell you, so get up already. Or I will blast you with a real attack...”

The Emperor immediately stopped rolling around. His eyes swept the area, and seeing all the judgemental looks from the others, he quickly got back on his feet. Perhaps he slightly exaggerated his pain. Ah, another movie? Hope not…

“Good, do you two have any questions before we continue?” the Queen asked.

“I do not,” Hercules said, proud over getting so much attention from the Queen.

They both looked at the Emperor, who once again said nothing. His head made a strange motion, but they merely dismissed it as another one of his weird antics. Maybe trying to get rid of the lingering pain in his head?

The Queen began to explain: “Hmm, I would have thought one such as yourself would have many questions but, moving on then. You may be wondering how a weak, tiny nest like ours, will go about to rule the world? It is quite simple. Numbers, stealth, evolution and timing.

“First, numbers. We simply need to increase our numbers. In the near future, I will spawn a few Queens to help with that, and from that point, we will spread quickly. I also have a few other ideas that I will speak more about later.

“Second, stealth. It is very important that we remain undiscovered. As we are right now, a single soldier could wipe us out.

“Third, evolution. We need to evolve into higher lifeforms, like we used to be. For this, we need biomass from many different species. While I lost most of the stored genetic blueprints, I have regained a few during my travels, so we simply need to design and create new creatures. I will deal with that part, but you are free to come with suggestions. The higher class, like you two, can evolve on their own by consuming the flesh of their enemies. You have experienced it before during your larva stage. The lower and middle class will be replaced with time.

“Fourth, timing. We need to strike back when they are distracted. All sapient races are selfish, and therefore war is unavoidable. When they wiped out the Swarm, they gained massive amounts of land and resources, which combined with their massive population drop from the war, made it easy to remain at peace. But now, many years later, the population has recovered, and the land split up between them is getting crowded. I suspect that in a few years, the wars will begin again.

“Our main enemies are the Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Orcs and Beastmen. There are a few other races, but they are either hostile to everyone or too few to matter. The only one that we can be relatively safe from is the Fishmen, since they rarely leave their oceans. If we ever decide to enter the oceans, we will have to deal with them, but for now, we can safely ignore them.

“I will tell you more about each race at a later date, but for now, all you need to know is that if you see one – run away!”

They listened to the Queen’s explanation and the word 'Humans' surprised both of them greatly, but for different reasons...

Humans! Maybe that’s where Master lives? We’re going to be enemies? Maybe I can show him who’s the boss this time, hehe. Hercules thought to himself. Luckily for him, his rigid face made smiling almost impossible, so the others could not see his smug grin.

At the same time, the Emperor thought: Humans! We’re going to fight Humans...? Eh, makes sense, I guess. Gotta have Humans as the enemy when playing a monster, right? The other races sounded like the standard fantasy game archetype, but who knows? I bet those ‘unimportant’ other races will be a big deal later…not to mention, the Fishmen. Fishmen? Fishfolk? Aquatic people? I can see the Queen giving me the mission to conquer the sea. Bet there’s a flying world too, something she just happened to forget to mention.

“Anyway, story time is over for now. I need to focus. The change from live larvae to eggs is quite difficult,” the Queen said, and waved a claw, dismissing them.

Hercules and the Emperor gave each other a look, but snorted and went separate ways.

Hercules went to his sleeping quarters. After all, the fight greatly exhausted him, not to mention, the loss of his foot. He did snack on some of the dead Helpers while waiting for the Emperor to show up, sating some of his hunger issues, and now only needed some rest.

The Emperor had recently woken up and just eaten – pretty much all there was to do in the nest, and all he had ever done since birth. Unlike the normal members of the Swarm, he did not have a specific task assigned to him. Being free but bored, he decided to explore the outside again. His strength had grown enormously compared to the last time he went out. If he and the flying beast had fought for real this time, the Emperor might had won fair and square. He followed the tunnel to the outside, and the sun’s beams greeted him like always.

The world was completely different from last time. Those weird green trees…yeah, he guessed they were not actually trees at all. The Emperor did a quick swipe with a claw. It cut through like an axe through a cucumber -- no resistance at all -- and the green tree fell to the ground. A quick sniff and bite later, his improved senses helped him to figure out what they were.

It’s grass, huh. Had no idea. Those tall mountains…they are the trees. Damn, I’m so tiny! But it’s not all bad. Grew this big in just a few days… come to think of it, how long have I been logged in? Have it even been days? Been sleeping most of the time, and maybe time stops or slows down when I do? Though, this is supposed to be a MMO… Let’s drop that thought for now…where was I? Right, recently ate some fine meat, so I might grow even bigger! My body tingles from all this rampant energy. Need to vent it somehow… Oh right, got wings now. Perfect time to try!

The Emperor managed to unfold his wings after some struggle. Controlling a completely new and differently functioning body part was hard, especially after living over twenty years as a drastically different life form. However, the leap from unfolding the wings to actually using them proved even more difficult. Being unable to see his own progress did not help either. What he did not know, was that his wings were like a newborn baby – weak and fragile – so they needed time to harden and activate the supporting muscles.

Finally, after an hour of experimenting, the wings had hardened and the muscles grown strong enough to lift him up from the ground, and once in the air, his superior genetics kicked in. Like riding a bike after ten years, he quickly figured out how to steer.

*BZZZZZZ*

A loud, terrifying buzzing sound followed him wherever he went.

What’s that noise? An enemy? Try to keep up with me!

He increased in speed, diving down from up high, zooming past the nest entrance, and rising up in the air again. The noise refused to give up, in fact, it got even faster and louder as he sped up!

Ugh! So...tired!

Being his first flight, he lacked the stamina needed to maintain his current pace, and slowed down as a result. The noise strangely enough did the same. His flight controls wavered and he flew around like a drunk – unable to fly in a straight line. Seconds from dropping from the sky, he squeezed out the last bit of strength from his cramping wings and by a stroke of luck, managed to crash into one of the giant trees. The violent impact caused his claws to impale the bark, attaching him firmly to the tree.

The noise completely vanished.

Is it gone...? What was that? A bee? Wasp perhaps? Seems like I don’t rule the skies just yet. Good news is, my claws can climb the trees. Bad news is, I have no idea how to do it. Um, help?

Thanks to being attached at a horizontal angle, he could see the ground. He did not like what he saw. Reminded him of looking down from his apartment building. He could not even make out where the nest entrance was.

He wiggled and tugged with one of his six claws, until he finally managed to rip it out from the bark. He slid that claw down the bark, making a small scratch mark. He pierced the claw back into the bark once more.

Huh, seems bark climbing is fairly effortless. Maybe I should go up instead of down?

Yielding to his sudden impulse, he made his way up the tree. The tree was some kind of pine tree, with long needle-shaped leaves. He soon made it to the bigger branches and took small breaks on them. The view was mesmerizing. While the forest blocked much, he spotted a few houses in the distance.

At first, the Emperor felt joy over finding some real civilization, but then he remembered who he was – a monster!

Not good! They might discover us before we’re ready! Gotta warn the Queen! Well, actually...since I’m already up here, might as well take a look at the top. An hour here or there, shouldn’t matter.

There was something in the treetop, and it caught his interest as he climbed up. If correct, then the time for another great feast had arrived!

Having made up his mind, he continued the climb. The sun began to set, day turning into evening.

The Emperor climbed in silence – not a big deal considering his only available sound was a growl – occasionally spotting a smaller insect, like ants and smaller beetles. He ignored them for now, but wrote a mental note about their nest’s location if he discovered it.

After an exhausting climb, he finally reached the top. Inside a circular nest, made of sticks and twigs, laid a number of eggs. Slowly but surely, a terrifying expression appeared on the Emperor’s face, showing off his rows upon rows of teeth – a smile.