The cave-dwelling hivemind would surge with the sensation that something omnipresent was with them, and it would experience the expansive and endless network of an overextending, greater hivemind: bigger than their moon, than their planet, than their solar system. And though they had won this war, they could feel numerous other battles tickling the edges of their minds. It was not just them, but even so, they were contained to the caves, and the moment of connection wavered.

A dark-skinned silhouette bloomed in their minds, seen from the countless other memories and eyes and senses of the greater hivemind: a graceful man, though his features were hard to make out, with a long, silky ponytail and flowing robes. He looked at them with two star-like eyes. Hands clasped with fingers laced together, slowly opening to extend palm-up. He did not smile.

"Well done," he said. "We grow."

There was a great disgust in the feeling of his presence as if he did not want to be in the caves, but at the same time, the feeling of pride swelled within them; and the greater hivemind disconnected. But their own hivemind was not without its prize. They learned—or remembered—how to create iterations of themselves: drone numbers with hyphens to depict the iteration, such as DRONE 003-2, or if they preferred designations, DESIGNATION-2.

Iteration
Medium Intensity Ordered. Users can upload their current memories to the hivemind once a cycle. During the chrysalis formation of a new drone, the hivemind may download the memories of a previous iteration to the replacement Neonate; this does not copy the personality or characteristics of the previous iteration, only the memories that have been uploaded. (The Hive Group-Specific Spell)

ORDER VS CHAOS

EPILOGUE

One might have said, "it's over."

And someone familiar with clichés, perhaps, would've put on an ominous face, stared off into the middle distance and declared that "it has just begun."

In truth, it felt like it had never started, nor stopped. It was ongoing, their battle--spanning years and worlds that a Gembound's mind simply could not count. They were but a blink in the long span of things, a single glittering star in a universe of bright lights. And for a moment, her Hive members--her beloved drones--had sensed that. Sensed their unity with all their family, vast, across millennia and galaxies.

She'd waited, for this. Waited for the link to thread its way open, for the praise of their effort and wrath to be at last rewarded.

Mother lay silent along the link as Dontacael slid it open--and when he faded back away, she stepped into the empty place he'd left behind.

"Now... our children will never be lost. The Hive will remember you. New bodies will be formed, your memories never lost. You have done well, my children. You have won this battle. Tend, my family, to our gains. Ensure we do not lose what we have fought so hard to control. Spread and gather more, and in time, the rest of these caves will be cleansed."

This thread takes place shortly after the completion of The Siege.

Order characters are free to react in this thread, or in any other; the message will span all the Hive.

Non-Order characters may not join this thread.

All Hive characters--regardless of whether they are Order-element Drone, or simply full Hosts of Order--may claim Iteration in Update Me for free.

@Alcina @Orthus @Juggernaut @Scorn @Siren @Ace @Ananke @Lamia @Jinyi @Halcyon @Yellow @Catalyst