//------------------------------// // Chapter 37 // Story: Subject to evolution // by Dramize the Salamander //------------------------------// Day 341 "Ash is surprisingly soft" I thought to myself as I got up the sun hanging directly overhead as I shook off any clinging ash and went to the castle to find it abandoned not a single soul in the entire place even the tunnels were empty except for a single note on my personal lava bath. Drasa took the hive to war with caribou Elytra I shrugged taking a quick lava bath before heading off towards the caribou's territory in my larger beast form but when I finally got there the air was saturated with the scent of blood and flesh and it was strangely quiet. I flew until I reached a small village that was covered in black corruption reducing my size a bit I land on one of the housed and saw an alone stag in tattered clothes around the corner he looked like he was in a breakneck sprint until he passed an alley where a blur tackled and slammed him into a wall. It was a doe with a twitching body and bloodshot eyes she drooled black sludge as she tore off the stallions clothes and threw him to the ground hard. "Please no." I heard the stag say as the doe leaned in dripping sludge on the stag as she straddled him reaching under her legs with bloody fingers. The stag started to struggle only for her free hand to slam down his neck stopping him as she leaned more going for a kiss revealing a long fat tongue forced down the now shaking stags throat. The light in his eyes faded as his expression became trance-like allowing the doe to have her way fill the air with musk and bestial moans. After an hour I grew bored of the display and took off to find where everyling was. That didn't take long however as the sounds of screams and battle started to fill the air. I followed the sounds to a much more interesting scene caribou stags trying and failing to fend off doe's that acted like doe I saw earlier but instead of raping their victims they would hold them down and screech. The stags started to plead for their lives as what looked like fawns with long thick tails and covered in sharp axe like spines approached also drooling black as they pounced on the restrained stags a tore into them. They were halfway through their meal before they scattered with the doe's taking the dead stags with them as a familiar visage appeared below me. "Infection is going smoothly it shouldn't be much longer until...Oh my King you made it, The queen was starting to wonder if you show up." Velger said looking up at me from her notes. "So what our situation?" "Well we took over around about midday and everyling is either underground setting up the new hive building the network tunnels, or surveying our new hunting grounds and caribou that managed to escape." "So there nothing for me to do is there." I laid down resting my head on my folded forelegs contemplating taking a nap. "Well, you could help Elytra set up the genetic library In the castle." Velger shifted into her beast form and walked away heading towards the corrupted Caribou while I took off towards the ruined castle in the distance. However, when I got to the castle I was met with the interesting sight of Whisper in her beast form and her young setting up her nest until I tapped her on the back with my tail. "Oh, my king I didn't hear you come in," Whisper said as she handed a bloated pony to her larva who dragged it away leaving a red trail. While another group of larva brought in a bound and gagged caribou from another room. "I'm looking for Elytra. Velger said she would be here working on the library." I said watching as Whisper stabbed the caribou with her tail causing it to convulse before quickly bloating. "She was but then she to take it to the highest mountain. She said something using the runoff to change the groundwater, so she gave me the castle. " The larva took the caribou away just as Whisper finished talking with one coming back carrying a stone tablet with tally's burned into it which she looked at with a slight frown. "No, no this amount won't do, won't do at all," Whisper said to her self before returning it to her little one. "Drasa are we done cause I need to secure more fool." "Yeah we're good, go do what you need to do," I said taking my leave and heading towards the nearby mountain where I found Elytra and Pupa working with the Library and several large crystals. "There you two are. You realize I prefer to actually be there when you conquer an empire." "Sorry mate you just look so comfy while you slept I didn't have the heart to wake you," Elytra said moving from her work to give me a kiss. "Don't worry mate well make it up to you," Pupa said not even looking up as she pulled a black etherial cable from the library to one of the crystals turning it black. "Ok, little sister it looks like we're ready." "Perfect, Drasa could you give us a claw," Elytra move back before doing the same as Pupa to another crystal. I shrugged before joining in allowing us to finish quickly. "So why are we creating several full hard copies of the library." "We're planting them all around the mountains and water sources in the empire so everyone knows this land is ours." Pupa said before looking at her sister flashing a smile before both sisters tackled to the ground. "But that can wait." "Because now you have a very important duty to perform," Elytra said as she traced a heart on my chest with her claws. "You are inshable you know that right." I said shifting to my normal form grinning. "Well then lets get started."