Emergence: Chapter 27

The hive was unsettled, and it had every right to be, as Devilclash drudged her way through the swamps of Proda. She ached everywhere; something she hadn't thought possible, but she thanked her bugs for it; the crash-landing down onto Buun could have been much worse. Her hive had only just finished metamorphosing back from their defensive rocky forms, a transformation that is almost instantaneous and painless when turning to stone, but the complete opposite when turning back.

She hadn't been prepared for an Adjeti, she knew that. Especially not Otor. A quick scan of the few Adjeti-related memories available in the Swarm revealed that he was one of the eighteen Adjeti Warchiefs; highly trained warrior-kings who dominated the battlefield; must have got rusty in his old age, Devilclash observed. Unless, she later thought, he wanted them to underestimate their true power.

Proda was not, as one may think, a city. Proda is, in fact, just one of many Biomes that the Pyrkagia have seen fit to divide their world up into. Proda was the swamplands in the East of the continent Gyrara, unfortunately far away from the Primary's body. Luckily for Devilclash, there was a direct Tertiary Pyrkagia in every Biome. While there was only one Primary, and one Secondary, there were hundreds of Tertiaries, acting more like com-devices than actual Pyrkagia.

She hoped one was close.

It felt close in the Swarm, but whether that was close in local, or planetary, terms, she had no idea. She just had to keep going. With all of her hive back to being bugs again, she took flight. The hive converged around the hive-stone and lifted it into the air, wings buzzing as they became a solid multi-part living cloud. Never going higher than the treetops, her movement was still restricted to the makeshift paths between them, but she could cover ground so much faster this way.

There was very little life on Buun besides the Pyrkagia; there was no need for it. The Pyrkagia were herbivores, and there was no lack of vegetation. All other life on Buun was unnecessary and hence removed; the ancient Pyrkagia attitude. Devilclash felt that the eradication of all that life was the greatest sin of her ancestors, and she silently and secretly despised the Primary for it.

The Primary was originally the very first Pyrkagias in existence, the one who gained intelligence and pulled all of the hives into his own larger Swarm. The Secondary, of course, was the second Pyrkagias that formed. The original Primary, however, died in the Adjeti war, and the current Primary was the original Secondary, ascending to the position after a period of great turmoil for the Pyrkagia, cut loose from their brethren.

She entered a clearing in the trees and let herself fall back to the ground; she was at the right place. The hive-stone was caught just before it hit the ground, and she reformed herself into her human form. While she felt none of the stigma of having a non-humanoid form when on Buun, she preferred it to her natural cloud-based cluster; it was more elegant. In the clearing, there were four stone columns arranged in a square pattern and, in the centre, a small stone seat.

She landed in front of the open temple and walked over to the seat, upon which sat a single hive-stone; that was all a tertiary was: a hive-stone used as a com to communicate directly with the Primary. She touched her hive-stone to the tertiary and delved into the Swarm.

She could see memories pass her by as she waited inside the Swarm for the Primary. Happy Pyrkagia passed her by, along with their sad moments, their most intimate moments, and their anger. She could feel anger throughout the Swarm; they had seen her memories of Otor already.

“I know why you're here, Devilclash.” The voice of the Primary came from all around her; to all intents and purposes, he was the Swarm. “And I've already taken measures.”

“Those measures may not be enough.” Devilclash could not put emotion into her speech inside the Swarm, but she felt desperate to get her point across. “The Adjeti said that there are more; that his race will be restored!”

“And implied that Oblivion was not destroyed, yes. I heard it all. It is entirely possible that we failed in destroying Oblivion and their race. Unlikely, but possible; we and Ardican fired the World-Burner through the Oblivion Gate, their portal. A portal which we have no idea how to work.”

Intrigued, Devilclash asked, “What are your measures, then? And we weren't on the World-Burner, were we?”

“Don't believe the tales that humans tell; of that day, they say what we wanted them to. The downfall of the Adjeti was our grand undertaking, and that's all I will say about it. My measures; a single surveillance ship. Until we find out what is happening, we cannot stage a slaughter of them yet. And you, for all your interest, shall lead it. A ship will be dispatched to you.”

Devilclash felt herself pushed from the Swarm and felt herself reel at what she had learnt; what else had the Pyrkagia done that the Primary had covered up?