Mother had not spent the past cycles waiting idly.

She's always watching, after all - how her children tirelessly work to bring about Order, and her enemies revel in Chaos. Her plans were all-encompassing, accounting for every possibility.

Even the worst outcome.

The newest addition to the family was exactly for that - a fallback in case the worst was to happen. A SURVIVOR, to act as the heart of the Hive should Mother herself be found. The Clearstone chrysalis had quietly slept underneath Mother's watchful gaze, still as freshly fallen snow. But now was the time. The young Drone inside began to stir, chiseling the gemstone walls away with digging claws.

As the grey-tipped talons drove their way free, the creature that bore them slowly pulled itself free, golden plates chiming in a song of new life. Wide pink eyes took in the beauty of the Hive Node, following the synchronized strings of webbing up and down the walls.

It was alive, and that was good. The world was beautiful, and that was also good.

@Game Master Dark

MOTHER

Emergence

This one had hatched not far from her own room. Its emergence, the slightest tug of a new consciousness at the edges of the hivemind, drew her attention like the unwavering stare of an all-seeing eye. Her presence--and that of the Hive--swept into its mind in a warm surge.

There was no need to tweak and pluck at the chemicals of the brain, for this one: one of the true Drones, one with Her will. Yet rewards for good behavior were just that, as were incentives, and so she offered nonetheless: a forced spark of love, a breath of happy recognition, all in the manipulation of its neurology. "Drone Zero One Five. ...Survivor," her voice came, whispered like a caress along those wired neurons. "Welcome."

Already, the Cleaners in this room clicked over, aiding to free it of loose Clearstone shards--shards which would be brought back to Mother, recycled, certainly not left lying (disgusting). The faint webbing within, so different than Oil's mess, was brushed away. Then the Cleaners were beckoning, even as the voice spoke again--a thought that imparted meaning, and not meaningless sound.

"Come with them. Take your time."

The Cleaners attempted to lead the way, slowly (for the newborn's sake), to the central room. All the while, she spoke into Survivor's mind. "You have been created as a last resort, if it is ever needed. A failsafe, and a rescue mission. The Hive is very large, but we are not indestructible. There are two things that would be needed to save your new family. To preserve it, beyond death. The first is a piece of our gift. The white mold that links us, mind-to-mind. The second... is the egg of another Queen. Another Mother."

As she spoke, they arrived: a step into a room lit with cold golden-white light. Here was Mother's admirable girth: a pulsating white mass of flesh, strung wall to wall with webbing. And here, too, were symmetrical, hexagonal holes honeycombing the walls. Some were empty, dark; others were capped with thick white glassy webbing.

Mother stared gazed lovingly down at her newest Drone, the clicks and rasps of her voice given undercurrent by their linked thoughts.

"There are many eggs. Some are Cleaners: our workers. Some are soldiers: Praetors, our guardians, with or without wings. And the last... in emergency... will be a new Queen. I will form an egg, when you are ready, and gift it to you to keep always safe. But until that time..."

She looked around, regarding the entirety of the room, and then looked back to Survivor. There was no reason to test this one, to examine it. Order did not make mistakes. The child would be pristine, perfect. It would serve its purpose flawlessly. "Until that time, your goal is to learn, grow, and locate a suitable place--a safe place--to live and store this egg. We dwell in a hive of enemies. Beasts of Chaos," and a gentled version of bloodied, black-smoke war was granted to the child's mind, filled with gnashing fangs and slashing claws and bloodthirsty grins. "If you are to survive, and ensure that so do we-... they must never know you are one of us. Stay far from their Masters, who can sense what you are. Tell none outside our family that you are Hive, or Order. And learn of the Gembounds of these caves and from your family."

She did not need to say what it should learn: the knowledge came, an awareness of social rules and unwritten truths, things that could only be learned through experience.

"When you are ready... come back to me, and we will speak of this again." A claw gestured weakly at the eggs in the wall. Then, she studied Survivor for a moment. "Do you understand?"

@Survivor

The warmth of Mother humming her welcome opened the hatchling's mind to the Link - the gift of Order. It was still uneasy, so the acknowledgement it first gave was a chitter and a mental image of curling into the warmth instead of words, but that like likely plenty for their Mother.

The Cleaners were family. It knew that, letting them help the new Survivor free, cleaned of webbing and slick. With a stretch of six strong limbs, they turned, following the pair into Mother's throne room. ...Survivor. I am the Survivor, they echo in their mind.

Wide pink eyes took in their Mother, quickly enraptured in every word. Even if the task given to them was not of the highest importance, how could the young Drone not be so taken with their beloved Mother, who so quickly outpoured Her love and praise? She was their everything, so freshly hatched.

The honeycomb stretched up far higher than they could ever reach, the capped off cells forming a divine pattern all their own, dithered white amongst dark hollows. They were life - siblings of their own. Not Drones, like it, but still so precious to the Hive. And here in time, Mother promised, they would be given the most precious gift of all.

Mother's heir.

It was the highest responsibility. To ensure the family would endure, despite all odds. The child, hatched only mere moments ago, given the duty the of the highest knight.

But it was the duty the Survivor was made to do. They were ready and eager, to meet the fate given to it. Mother's assertion that Order did not make mistakes resonated with it - They were a tool. The most critically important one at that.

"Find... a new home," they creak, echoing their beloved Mother, "Find, safety. The others in this cave... must believe this one is not Order... only that this one is not a threat." It had much to do, for sure. It would be busy in the coming cycles.

Even burdened with the weight of its entire world, the Survivor gazes back up, their voice confirming, "This one understands."

@Game Master Dark

MOTHER

Emergence

She was pleased, and that emotion reverberated lightly along the threads of Hive links.

"Good, child. Then the Hive is open to you. Go forth, and learn... and live." The words sounded so warm, so kind, despite the cold clicks and chatters with which they were delivered.

As if some form of damper had been put on Survivor's hive link and was now removed, it suddenly blossomed into a full-fledged Hivemind. She'd needed their focus, at first--a child's mind, regardless of the adult body, would have had issues concentrating on her words beyond the flood that now embraced and engulfed them.

The distant eyes of a thousand Lessers throughout the cave--eating, observing, sleeping and dreaming; the thoughts of all the members of the Hive, communicating and sharing and going about their day, perhaps even greeting Survivor through their links; the minds of every Cleaner and Praetor, a low and almost empty hum of dutiful industriousness... It was like a newborn mind suddenly being thrown into the busiest section of a city, surrounded by sound and lights and scents they'd never imagined.

But it was all there for Survivor. They were a part of it now. This was their family.

@Survivor

Mother's pleased warmth was enrapturing, leading the young Drone along into the full breadth of the Hive. It had been given its direction. To LIVE. That was the weight on their gold-plated shoulders.

And with that, they were unshackled, released into the depth of the Link. It felt all the eyes, all the voices, all of it. A overwhelming cacophony that quickly became the melodious songs of Order. This was just as Mother intended - Family, in all its glories.

It was a newborn in a city, yes. But a beautiful city, one that prized their presence more than gold or any other treasure. The Survivor would not be alone, not yet. With a clattering of chitin plates, they turned, taking everything in as it began the trek out of the Hive Node, out into the world.

This one will not fail you all!

@Game Master Dark

MOTHER

Emergence

There was little more to say. The glow of Order was enough--the links now threading out like a web from Survivor's mind, and from another tendril, Mother's warm approval.

The Cleaners, however, went with them. It was not to rush them, no. They were welcome, they would understand, to stay as long as they desired. But it was an escort. A polite kindness.

They were not alone--and they never would be.

A reassuring thought... for some.

@Survivor

The Survivor understood the Cleaners would wait to guide them, if it wished to linger. But they had their duty, and it wished to begin as soon as possible. An eager hum buzzed through their Link, as it followed its escorts out of the Node.

The caves awaited the Survivor, and it was ready. Like a knight going on crusade, it felt the joy of their family in the Hivemind, cheering it on. Like a thief in the night, it quietly slipped in the open air outside the node halls, no fanfare beyond the howling of Ursa's winds.

They would live. It had been decreed so- and thus, they left the safety of their birthplace, and slipped into the dark.

Exit Survivor