Although they never intended it, when one walked through the tunnels of the Dungeon Hive, one couldn’t help but notice the array of colours within it. The first two floors of the tunnels were blue. Filled with the creatures known as the Light Blue Worms, the two floors were filled with an unnaturally bright and soothing blue light. Below them, the third floor of the tunnels was red. The former floor of the Fire Hive, the floor would be lightless but for the numerous torches that lined the walls of the floor. The Fire Hive had created these torches in the past and changing them would require energy the Dungeon Hive didn’t want to waste. So it just let the few Fire spirits of the Hive take over the floor and the torches always stayed lit. Below the third floor was darkness. The Ratlings had taken the floor as their home and they much preferred the comfort of the dark. The fact that the Ratlings had developed a taste for the Light Blue Worms also made the worms a rarity on the fourth floor.

Below the fourth floor though was the highlight of the tunnels. The fifth floor was a deep huge cavern and in it was the underground forest of the Dungeon Hive. Although there were four other floors beneath it, the Hive considered this forest home and the spirit matrix that was the Hive was located in the middle of the forest. And within the Hive…

“Are you ready?”

“YES!”

“Under protest!” A lone voice cried out.

“Are you prepared?”

“YES!”

“Under protest!” Another voice shouted.

“Are you ready and prepared to change the world!”

“YES!”

“Under pro…!”

“Okay, that’s it!” An exasperated spirit finally had enough. “Can you guys please stop that?”

“No, we shall not!” One of the protesting said. “We are protesting this unfair and unnecessary change by the Hive!”

“Your protest has been noted and ignored! You guys lost the vote. Get over it!”

“No we shall not!” The protesting spirit shouted back. “This is stupid. Why are we wasting energy changing the ‘Nothing-Untouched-Killer-Explosion’ spell to one that doesn’t kill anything? It’s just stupid!”

“Listen you stupid death-loving morons, we are not, repeat NOT, destroying the Great Kar Forest.”

“And that is stupid! The main reason we are casting the spell is to change everything near us just like the Fire Hive did. That’s the main aim. Who cares if the Kar Forest got destroyed in the process?”

Loud laughter greeted that question before one of the spirits finally answered. “There’s the Kin; the animals in the forest; and for the last time, the rest of us! Most of us actually like the forest so we are changing the spell to prevent turning it into nothingness.”

“Which is a waste of…”

“Why are we still arguing about this?”

“Uh?”

“We already had a vote and these death-loving spirits lost. Why are we still arguing? Let’s cast the spell already.”

A statement that was greeted with a chorus of agreement came from the rest of the spirits within the Hive. Seeing this, one of the spirits only had this to say.

“Fine. Let’s N.U.K.E the place!”

Although no one could hear it, inside the hive, the cheers were deafening.

***

At the outskirts of the Great Kar Forest, the Speaker sat on the wet forest floor looking out into the Homeless Plains. The human patrol came into view and the Speaker watched them as they rode just before the edge of the forest. Around her, the other members of her small pack looked on in excitement but the Speaker had no intention of attacking. She was waiting for the Creator to cast it’s Great Spell.

Privately the Speaker had some reservations about the Creator’s plan. When she heard what the Creator wanted to do, she thought of the damage she saw in The Burning Fields and immediately voiced her objections. It was something she would never had done when she was just a human and the other leaders of the Kin were shocked by her objections. However she remembered the ash-covered lands in the south and knew that if she didn’t do anything that would be the fate of the Great Kar Forest. That gave her strength and fortunately, she was eloquent enough to get her point across to the Creator. The Creator was still going to cast the spell but it promised to change it so that the land would not be destroyed.

Even for the Creator, changing a Great Spell took time and the Kin had used the time to prepare. The Speaker remembered the chaos the Demons had when the Red Creator cast it’s Great Spell and wanted to ensure that did not happen with them. She gathered the leaders of the Kin together and it was the Fox Mother who came up with the idea of spreading themselves out into the wilds when the spell hit. In theory, the plan was simple.

The Kin would spread themselves out in various places where the spell would affect and then find the creatures that were affected by the spell. They would then greet and explain the situation to the new members of the Kin and guide them to the tunnels to meet the Creator. It was a good plan but unfortunately the leaders quickly realized that there just weren’t enough of the Kin to cover every part of the forest. The leaders quickly decided to allocate their forces to cover as much ground as possible. By virtue of once been from Yachium, the Speaker was given the eastern area of the Kar Forest. Once the Creator announced that it was ready to cast the spell, the Kin moved out and now there was nothing to do but to wait. It was the reason why her pack was so restless. Like the Speaker, they all knew the Creator’s plan but just waiting for the Creator to cast it’s spell was boring and all of them were ready for some action.

The Speaker looked at the human patrol carefully and noted that they were all light cavalry. There were six of them and all of them were lightly-armoured. The Creator had actually run into one of the patrols before and since then the Kin had been keeping an eye out east for the patrols. Keeping to the trees, the Kin scouts and flyers had reported that the human patrols kept to the edge of the plains and never came into the forest itself. The humans all looked like expert horsemen but the Speaker believed that if they could surprise them, the Kin should be able to run them down without too much problem. It wouldn’t hurt to relieve a little boredom right?

As just the Speaker was wondering about that, she felt it. The rest of her pack felt it too and they all turned to look back in the direction of the tunnels. Then the wave of magical energy swept past them. There was no colour; no flames; not even a wind. It was a feeling they felt that made the fur on their body stand up.

Then they heard the screams.

The Speaker turned back and saw the humans. The wave of energy had affected them quite differently. The humans and their horses were glowing! The Speaker stood and slowly walked towards the human patrol for a closer look. She barely noticed her pack following her onto the plains. She only had eyes for the humans. A light was surrounding the humans and their mounts and as the Speaker got closer, she saw that the light was changing them. The Speaker could only watch in fascination, and a small amount of horror, as the light slowly transformed both humans and horses into one.

Then the light faded and the new creatures slowly recovered from their ordeal. The first of the creatures stood up and he was magnificent! Standing up, the creature was at least a head taller than the Speaker and more than that, he had the upper body of a human with the lower body and legs of a horse. Different from the Werewolves who were part wolf and part human, this creature was more half horse and half human. The creature noticed the pack and the Speaker knew that she had to make her move before the creatures decide to run off.

“Welcome brothers!” The Speaker shouted. “Welcome to the Kin!”

End of Volume 2