“Are we going to create?”

“Yes!”

“Are we going to populate?”

“Yes!”

“Are we ready?”

“Yes!”

“Are we prepared?”

“Yes!”

“Are we…”

“Let’s shut up and do this!”

“YES! YES! YES!”

At the cry, the spirits within the hive gathered their energy and focused it on the captives in front of them. In the tunnels of the Hive, the peaceful underground forest of the fifth floor held a special place in the hearts of the Kin. The forest was protection. It was a place of safety. It was their home. More importantly, it was the current home of the Hive. That made the underground forest the closest thing to heaven the young race have.

However what was heaven for one could be hell for another and that was the case now for a family of foxes. When the spirits of the Hive first told the Kin to go catch animals for them, little did the spirits know that this was an order the Kin has long been waiting for. Whether they were Werewolves, Ratlings, Angels, Crowmen or Harpies; everyone has been awaiting for the Creator to create a new kin. The Werewolves and Ratlings had in fact long held discussions on what animals to capture and scouted out the areas where these animals were most likely to be.

So when the order came from the Hive, the Kin was ready. They rushed out into the Great Kar Forest and they knew where they were going. They had a plan. They had a strategy and by the second day, the first of the Kin had returned. A group of Ratlings came back first and they brought back a family of foxes. A mother and her 8 kits were the first in line for the change and the hive was more than happy to oblige. The spirits of the hive was going to prove to their creatures who the better Creator!

Small omnivorous mammals, the adult fox mother was smaller actually than a dog but the hive couldn’t help but think of the thing as a small wolf. The spirits knew this was wrong. They had absorbed foxes before and knew that the fox was no wolf but it’s head has a flattened skull, it had upright triangular ears, a pointed upturned snout, and a long bushy tail. They just looked similar. So similar that the spirits within the hive decided they were going to go for foxmen.

To the spirits, the Werewolves were their biggest success so the spirits were expecting great things from the new foxmen as well. Ignoring the mother, the hive concentrated on the kits. Unlike the time when they created the Werewolves, this time the spirits within the hive knew what to do. They now had experience and with some confidence, began to pour their gathered energy into the kits. The baby foxes began glowing almost immediately. The spirits were a little surprised by this as there was usually a little time gap before the creatures began glowing but they quickly decided this was just another example of the spirits knowing what they were doing.

The glow got brighter and brighter before the kits began changing. They got bigger and taller, their front paws became arms, their hind legs grew, and as quickly, the glow disappeared. The spirits within the hive looked at their new creations and…they were disappointed.

In many ways, the new creatures were much like the Werewolves. The foxmen had fur on their bodies; they had sharp claws and teeth; their heads looked like those of a fox; but the big problem was how small they were! The foxmen were tiny! They were the size of small human children. The spirits within the hive immediately went into discussion/argument mode. The change worked but it didn’t work well enough. As per normal, the spirits didn’t know what the problem was so they did what they normally did in such situation; they compare the situation with their previous experiences and try to see the differences. After a long discussion/argument, the spirits decided the problem was that the kits were too young.

The kits found by the Ratlings were very young, maybe only a few days old and the spirits agreed that this could be the reason for the unsuccessful transmutation. The bodies of the kits may had been too immature to handle the massive energy the spirits were pouring into them and this could be the reason why their bodies were glowing almost immediately. It could also explain why the hive was still filled with energy at the moment. They didn’t waste too much on the kits because there was no need to. The spirits guessed this was one thing that went in their favour…now they just need to decide what to do in the future.

As the spirits within the hive went into another discussion/argument conference about having an age limit on creatures they change, the new foxmen were getting restless. To the Kin, a long delay was to be expected. To the Kin, their Creator was a wise powerful being that takes it’s time before deciding on a course of action. Considering the power at it’s disposal, this was very understandable to the Kin.

To the new foxmen however, this was a scary, stressful time and one of them began crying. As anyone with babies would know; the moment one baby begins to cry, others will follow. Soon the underground forest was filled with the cries of the new foxmen and the Kin looked at each other in confusion. This was something new. As the Kin were wondering what to do, the mother fox walked into the group of the strange creatures.

The new creatures were new but the mother fox saw them being transformed and her senses told her at least some part of the new creatures were from her babies. The mother fox began licking one of the foxmen. As she was doing so, one of the Ratlings approached.

The Ratling knew that the time after the change was a period of confusion and he was worried about the presence of the fox. The mother fox saw the Ratling and moved to defend her young. Her sudden attack surprised the Ratling and he swung his spear in reflex. The spear went through the fox and the fox mother dropped to the ground the moment the Ratling pull out the spear. The crying stopped.

The foxmen saw their mother dying on the ground and as the Ratling was being scolded by the Chieftain for stabbing the fox, one of the foxmen pointed a finger at the offending Ratling. Pressure began to build and the air began to gather at the tip of the finger. The Kin saw the blue light but they didn’t know what was happening. Then the air was released and the blue light shot out towards the Ratling. The Chieftain, standing beside the Ratling, was thrown to the ground but the Ratling was blew back several metres. He slammed into a tree and fell to the ground. Only a wiggle showed the rest of the Kin that he was still alive. The show of magic got the attention of the hive and the spirits broke off their discussion/ argument conference. They focused their attention on the foxmen but before they could get a good read on them, things escalated.

The rest of the foxmen saw the magic as well. They also saw the dying figure of their mother. Before anyone could do or say anything to calm the situation, spells flew. Small waves of water sliced across the ground; one of the foxmen began to throw small fireballs; roots rose from the ground seeking to bind the Kin; blue lights of condensed air were shot around; and several small stones that were on the ground flew at speed towards the Kin. The Kin dispersed. They could have fought back but they did not want to hurt the Creator’s newest creatures and they did not want to fight so near to the Creator.

Amidst the show of magical power, the spirits within the hive watching the battle were impressed. Somehow the hive had managed to give their newest creations mage-like powers without ever intending to. The spirits congratulated themselves on being true geniuses! As the spirits were congratulating themselves, one of the more sensible spirits within the hive had to ask.

“Uh…shouldn’t we be stopping this?”

…………………………………............................................................................................

Please visit my blog at http://ghosttalesstories.blogspot.sg/