The Beast’s POV

The Beast followed the dark tunnel down. His lungs burned, every breath shallower than the last. His muscles ached, crossing a shorter distance for each step. The drum solo inside his chest pounded so loudly that he swore he could hear it with his ears. His vision grew blurry from both exhaustion and blood loss. As he neared the limit, almost passing out, a sharp stinging pain from his right ear jolted him awake. He smashed his head against the wall and scratched with his front legs. Inside his claws laid a squirming Helper. With a grateful grin, the Beast accepted the snack.

The formerly brown and shiny fur coat now had spots of missing fur, not to mention, countless tiny holes in the skin all over, leaking an endless amount of dark red liquid. The left ear looked bad, with some bloody shreds dangling down as a reminder of his former glory. His once so majestic tail was nowhere to be seen, only a bloody stump dragging in the ground behind him.

While eating, he began reminiscing about his old life; the life before they arrived. Or maybe it simply flashed before him?

As a happy father of seven – with a wonderful mate – the family lived a carefree life in the nest he dug out with his own claws. Every day, he would go out and hunt. Being not a picky eater, food was no issue. Every time, the babies would squeak themselves hoarse as they said goodbye. When he returned, they would greet him just as loudly. The happy memory of his squeaking babies, always happy to see him, would forever stay in his mind. While the babies ate the food he brought, him and his mate would coil their tails together, while enjoying some food together.

But suddenly one day, the idyll ended. Around a hundred smaller, but well-organized, creatures attacked. A large and powerful creature led and controlled them – the Queen! Of course, the Beast had no idea what, or who, the invaders were at first, having never seen anything like them. They came when he was out hunting, overwhelming his beloved and killed his babies. With impressive speed, they remodeled the entrance, shrinking it, making it hard for him to get in more than his head. To make things worse, the invaders waited for him, packing their heaviest units, with the biggest mandibles, right there. As soon as the Beast stuck his head inside, he got swarmed and almost blinded as a result. With a bleeding head, he could only fall back. He tried four more times to get in, but in the end, he could only retreat to safety.

Inside a tall tree, with long branches that stretched over the nest, lived an evil bird. It often disturbed the Beast while out hunting, and was the reason why he did not let his babies run around on the outside. It watched the two faction’s struggles with joy, and once the Beast was hurt the most and distracted with grief – it attacked!

The Beast luckily caught sight of the moving shadow, and avoided the sharp claws. Fueled by his rage, the Beast waited; waited for a chance to strike back at the ones that killed his family and took over his nest.

One day, the Beast saw the death of the second worst enemy: the evil bird! A terrifying creature – the mere sight instilled fear deep into his very soul – brutally killed the evil bird, ripping off the head. The sight of this slaughter made some uncomfortable memories spring up, and the Beast hid deep down into his newly dug nest. After a while, he recovered and crawled back out on the surface and saw that his old nest’s entrance had expanded again. The Beast knew time was not on his side – the enemy most likely grew stronger everyday. So, he steeled his heart, putting all distracting thought aside, and rushed over to the entrance and forced his way in. Great success at first, killing everything in his way, but then....

When the depressing memory of the large horned monster arrived, beating the Beast up, he woke up from his thoughts with a jolt and looked back and forth, searching his surroundings. Thankfully, the enemy had not found him yet. Not so good, however, was that the adrenaline had stopped pumping, and now the real pain set in.

Slowly, one excruciating step at the time, he made his way down the tunnel. The tiny Helper snack did almost nothing to ease his exhaustion – it did not even taste good – so his possibly last meal turned out to be quite the disappointment. It was not supposed to go like this…

The Beast hung with his head, filled with sadness that his revenge had gone so wrong. He closed his eyes while walking, wanting to rest his eyes – if only for a moment. His sense of smell and hearing was still functional – even though the nose and ears looked bad – so he was confident that he could detect anyone getting close. Maybe not the best idea in the middle of hostile territory, but the Beast was not exactly clear-headed right now.

He walked and walked...until a familiar smell hit his nose. His eyes shut open, and he surpassed his body’s already exceeded limits to rush in that direction. Can it be? Are they still alive?!

A few twists and turns later, he slid across the ground, his feet digging into the dirt to brake. No! NOOOOO!!!

Inside the room, laid the half-eaten corpses of several babies, and the large skeleton structure of his mate.

He walked up to them and nudged them gently...but no response. Their bodies – even their bones – had small bite marks all over. All hope deflated from him, and his heart thumped even harder than before. He took one last look at them, his mental image of them overlapping with the corpses, and left the room.

Filled with an overwhelming amount of grief and anger, his mind blanked out, and he walked forward without thinking, even closing his eyes again.

Suddenly, he bumped into something hard, and all his primal senses began to scream for him to run. The Beast quickly jumped a step back, and raised his head. What faced him, was something more terrifying than a swarm of Guards, more terrifying than the creature that killed the evil bird.

The stress, blood loss, hunger, fatigue, sadness, and pain – all was instantly forgotten and replaced.

Fear! Dread! Horror! Terror!

A beetle like creature, around his own size, with huge spiked mandibles and with a grin on his face, revealing big sharp teeth, with drool forming puddles on the dirt. This new monster was clearly superior to the Beast, and worst part? It knew.

“Grrrowl!”

The growling sound vibrated into the Beast’s body, reaching his soul. A vine, covered with thorns, coiled around the soul, stabbing and strangling it – or that was how the Beast imagined it. His already maxed out heart rate instantly sped up, trying to pump enough blood to shake off this feeling of fear, and give mobility back to the limbs.

*Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thu-...*

The heart had already surpassed its limits, and finally, it had enough. It wanted a break… Sadly for the Beast, a resting heart only means one thing...

The Beast coughed up blood, which turning into almost vomiting it out, and fell down onto the dirt with a thud. With his last efforts, he angled his eyes upwards, seeing the terrifying face one last time, and then closed his eyes for good. With a peaceful mind, knowing he did all he could, he joined his family in heaven.

Cause of death: heart attack!

The Emperor’s POV

Walking is getting easier and easier now. Took some time, but finally got used to my new body. However, the signals are constantly increasing in power. Getting kinda worried. If we were to be wiped out while I practiced how to walk…well, that would be very unfortunate.

The Emperor slowly continued down the tunnel.

Huh, something’s coming? What’s this feeling? Feels like I can sense another creature?

Wha, what’s that?! It’s coming straight for me! Ah, the eyes are closed? If I stand still, maybe it won’t detect me?

Nope! Bad idea! Walked right into me! However, it doesn’t seem to be hostile…yet. Looking closer, it’s all bloody and injured. Oh no! Maybe this guy is the enemy?! Best to play it cool. A smile is always a good idea.

The Emperor gave a big friendly smile towards the strange Beast.

Uh, that seemed to have made things worse. Oh yeah, forgot – look like a monster now, haha! Even my drool leaks out from my mouth. That will get annoying with time, I’m sure. I’ll just tell it I’m friendly, so please don’t hurt me.

“Grrrowl!”

Was all the Emperor managed to squeeze out.

What? Oh, of course I still can’t talk.

Suddenly, the Beast started coughing up blood and fell down.

Eww, disgusting! You got blood all over me.

...

Did it die?

The Emperor poked the blood covered Beast with his leg, but got no reaction.

Dinner is served?

The Emperor quickly got to work, consuming his self-serving meal.

Hmm, recognize this taste, but can’t remember from where...

–-

Meanwhile…

Hercules, the Guard Captain, and a few of the more healthier Guards stood in front of the Queen, discussing by using the pheromone language.

“Guard Captain, report the casualties,” the Queen said.

“Very extensive. Almost all Guards are severely injured; all Helpers, except two, are dead or permanently crippled; only half of the Feeders are healthy; Hercules lost a foot; I lost both my mandibles,” the Guard Captain reported.

“This is quite troublesome, indeed. Where is the ratling now?”

“The Beast headed down the tunnel, towards the royal sleeping chamber. I decided not to pursue for now, since there is nothing important down there anyway.”

“What?! You fool! That is where the Emperor sleeps! You carried him down there yourself! Find him – make sure he is safe!”

The Guard Captain clacked with his broken mandibles in shock. What a blunder! The royal sleeping chambers had gone unused since they were dug, so he acted on habit. Before, the only places worth protecting was the Queen, the normal sleeping chambers, and the food storage. He quickly ordered some Guards to follow him down the tunnels.

Forgot about the Emperor! Though, wonder where he went during the battle…could have used his help! However, he is strong, and should be able to hold out on his own until we get there.

He led his injured and half-crippled crew down the tunnel, while telling himself that the Emperor would be just fine, not even wanting to imagine the Queen’s rage if the Emperor had perished.

That was actually another reason why the Guard Captain did not immediately pursue: he had no able-bodied subordinates anymore! If they ran into the Beast, or ‘ratling’, as the Queen called it, they would surely perish.

Luck was on their side; they soon discovered that the Emperor was not only completely unharmed, he had also slayed the enemy and currently feasted on it.

This is… He is truly worthy of his name!

The Guard Captain did not know whether to laugh or cry, but the Emperor had done it again. Defeated an impossibly strong enemy that his men had been unable to defeat.

“Ex-excuse me? The Queen sent us here to check up on you,” the Guard Captain said carefully, not wanting to anger the Emperor.

Registering a voice, the Emperor looked up. What was that? Oh, where they did come from? Though, I can finally understand them, I have no idea how to reply. It doesn’t seem to be through normal speech.

“Grrrowl!”

Once again, the Emperor tried to speak, but resulted in the same nonsensical sound.

He got angry! The Guard Captain and his men froze with fear. However, they quickly remembered that he was not an enemy, but merely warned them to go away.

“C-c-come and see the Queen when you are ready… Until later then,” the Guard Captain said while backing away, changing into a sprint after turning the corner.

He left? Hm, the Queen? Yes, should probably speak with her. She might inform me how all of this works. Just ate the bird, and now I’m eating this thing – guess I’m quite full already.

The Emperor left the remains of the Beast, and went after the Guards, up into the tunnel. When he reached the Queen’s chamber, he saw quite the sight.

Wow, what happened here? Bodies everywhere! Damn, I sure missed a good fight!

He went towards the Queen. There, he saw another great beetle, almost his size, but wounded and missing a foot.

An elite unit perhaps? He looks quite familiar though.

“Ah, my Emperor, you have arrived safely. The Guard Captain was just informing me about what had happened. Once again, you did the impossible, and for that, you have my thanks. I promised we would talk before you headed outside, and now is as good time as any to do so,” the Queen said, looking very happy. She blinked with her many eyes and clacked with her mandibles. “Before that though, let me finish talking with the Guard Captain.”

The Queen directed her focus to the Guard captain. “It is time we build the spawning room. Go down to the general sleeping quarters, find the slug larvae and force evolve them. Leave one alone, and feed him some good food to make him big and strong. He will become the new Slug Lord, overseeing the spawning room. Also, force evolve some Workers and a few Helpers. Force evolving will make them weaker and smaller than usual, but we can soon replace them, so it is not a big deal. I will now switch over to laying eggs, instead of live larva. It will take longer for them to hatch, but I can lay eggs about four times as quickly.”

The Guard Captain left to take care of his new orders, and the Queen turned to face the Emperor again.

“Now, it is time for our little talk. You probably have a lot of questions...”