When he’d first gotten into the Mayor’s office, Mlinx had wondered what the purpose of the desk was. All the actual work was completed on the holographic computer screen that took up all of a fifth of the wooden hunk of furniture. The rest of it was bare.
He stored paper on it for a while. Then he realized he never used the paper for long, his data pad provided everything. Why bother?
So for months, his desk had lain barren – unremarkable, devoid of all life. He didn’t see any reason to put anything on it. He had seen other desks with pictures of family members or other items of personal value. While he had access to such pictures, he had no close family to speak of, and images of his fellow demons just reminded him how dead they all were. The only item of sentiment he had was his spear, and that was mounted on the wall behind him.
This happened until there was a birthday celebration and one of the gifts had been a small Newton’s Cradle. He wasn’t sure why he decided to put it on his desk, but he did. And the clak clak clak of the metallic balls… they were comforting.
So he got a few more things like it. Little trinket toys like a bird that would tip back and forth, a machine that would push up and down with seemingly no input, and a top that used magnets to eternally rotate.
It was clear to him now. The purpose of a desk was to collect and display as many trinkets as possible.
He ended up with a little mountain of them.
“You remind me a lot of my Rarity,” Chancellor Fluttershy said, examining all the trinkets. “She was obsessed with these things. Had massive piles of them in every corner of her office. It was her way of staying sane in our world’s… problems.”
“Every corner?” Mlinx narrowed his eyes. “I had not considered placing them in places other than the desk…”
“Perhaps you could invest in bookshelves?”
“Maybe.” He shook his head, turning back to her. “But that’s besides the point. You were talking about the problem in the Concrete district.”
With a sigh, the Chancellor nodded. “Yes. We had been weeding out the racism from the Concretes well. I didn’t think there were enough aggressive ones to form a resurgence, but by some trick of fate it seems that most of the Concretes who were spared the dusting were of the mind that they were above everyone else. The older generations grabbed the district and kicked anyone out who didn’t agree with them.” She paused for a moment. “I’m here to ask for some authority in redistributing them so they don’t become a pattern to follow.”
“You’re afraid other groups will try the same thing?”
“Precisely. We need to avoid extensive echo-chambers so we don’t suffer from major disagreement further down the line.”
“The situation certainly needs to be solved,” Mlinx agreed, pressing his automatic Rubik’s cube absent-mindedly. “Tell me how you plan to do it.”
“Trick them,” the Chancellor said. “Pay anyone who will listen to move elsewhere. Most Concretes, while stubborn, do see value in material things. Give them enough and most will move. Those who don’t, we’ll put watches on. I have little doubt such extreme racism will lead to a few broken laws within a week or two since they aren’t surrounded by only like-minded people.”
“Do you have a full project proposal?”
The Chancellor handed him a data pad. “It also has alternate proposals. The most effective would be the by-force method, but I doubt that will go down well politically. There’s also a forced-integration policy that will likely cause a few incidents rather than running smoothly. I recommend the payment strategy over the others.”
“I’ll look it over… You’ll get funding for one of these, I can assure you. Not sure wh-”
Mlinx’s secretary – Nastasia, a woman very experienced in the field – opened his office door. “We’ve got a problem.”
Mlinx straightened himself up. “What?”
“Ernan group A and Ernan group B are having a very heated spat and Rev has her hooves full.”
Mlinx sighed. He placed the Chancellor’s proposal in a drawer and stood up. “Sorry to cut this short, I have to deal with this.”
The Chancellor bowed and left without another word.
Mlinx didn’t have to ask Nastasia – she knew he wanted to teleport right to the scene, so that’s what she did. They appeared just outside the City walls, where Rev had raised a magical shield between two groups of humans. They weren’t fighting – currently – but they sure looked like they wanted too.
They all wore simple blue clothing of similar designs and had white hair. This in and of itself wasn’t unusual. The quirk of the two Ernan groups was that everyone in A had a duplicate in B, no exception.
It should come as no surprise that neither of them was particularly fond of this duplication.
“It is you who are the imposters!” one of the men was saying.
“You have sub-standard and shoddy fabrics!” his duplicate shouted back. “No Ernan would ever be satisfied with that level of work!”
“And what of your off-color? Did you run out of indinia?”
“We have an endless supply of indinia! It is you who use an unholy flower!”
“Hey, here’s an idea,” Rev said, interjecting. “How about you stop fighting so we can figure this out?”
“We get into the City and they have to go, end of story!” It didn’t particularly matter which side said that. It was the exact position both of them had.
Rev sighed. “What’s wrong with both of you entering the city? I can assign you to different sect-”
“It ruins the holy sacrament!”
“I understand – trust me I do,” Rev said, glancing back and forth with calm eyes. “What we have here are two sets of beliefs that cannot be reconciled. You both believe you are the chosen Ernan, and you could both be right, when talking about your original worlds! But you aren’t in your worlds anymore, a-”
“THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!”
“IT IS US!”
“IT IS U-”
“SHUT UP!” Mlinx shouted, clapping all four of his hands together to grab their attention. “I am not going to have a pair of squabbling self-absorbed humans into my city!” He took several powerful steps forward. “Here’s your ultimatum – either both of you enter the city, or I bar both types of Ernans from it! Forever!”
The Ernans and Rev looked at him in surprise.
“Well?”
“Unacceptable,” both Ernan leaders said at the same time.
“Then go back to wherever you came from,” Mlinx said, waving them away. “We’re done with you.” He turned his back to them.
The Ernans blinked. Then they grimaced to each other and nodded. “We… cannot continue without structure to rebuild our culture. Perhaps we could each have one side of the City to wander?”
Mlinx stopped. “That will do nicely. Nastasia, see to it that the proper arrangements are made.”
Nastasia adjusted her glasses. “Right away, sir.” She scrambled to them and began explaining the nuances of the visiting process.
Rev trotted up to Mlinx. “…Well, that worked. But they aren’t happy with you now.”
“I’ll live,” Mlinx said, folding his arms. “I don’t need that much approval.”
“Your position is an elected one,” Rev reminded him. “And they’re going to call you one who stomps over religion and culture if it doesn’t suit you.”
“…You think it was the wrong decision?”
“I don’t know. I know I wasn’t ready to give up on them working it out, though.” She shook her head. “You’re a strong man, Mlinx, and your heart is in the right place. But you don’t want to be seen as angry if you can help it.”
Mlinx fell silent, taking a moment to ponder this.
“I’ll do what I can to keep these people wrangled, but the media will have a field day.” Rev pursed her lips. “Sadly, every last one of your actions is going to be judged, and you’re not lucky like Blumiere. Your City isn’t as patriotic or unified.”
Mlinx folded his higher pair of hands together, trying to figure out what this meant for him.
~~~
Later that day, Mlinx descended. He entered the elevator and sank down to the deepest basement. At one point, this area had housed the guards for Flagg’s cell. Now Flagg didn’t need live guards, so the room had been repurposed. It was still just as top secret and hidden as before, but for a completely different reason.
Mlinx slid out of the great elevator and into a dark room bare of all decoration. The only source of light was in the very center of the disc-shaped interior; a glass cylinder illuminated by white backlight. Suspended in this cylinder was a dark black staff with a murky black sphere floating near the head.
Black Thirteen.
An artifact of complete knowledge and immense power, sealed here. Mlinx could not access it himself – he needed a grand total of six highest-level security codes to get in, and even in emergency situations he himself only had access to three. He was not even able to feel Black Thirteen’s power, for there was a nullifying field all around the room that kept all power flowing off of it contained.
As far as Mlinx’s eyes were concerned, it was just a staff.
A staff that meant a lot to Mlinx. It was the one reminder of the past he allowed himself to dwell on. Usually he hated the dark, negative sorrows that came to his mind.
But this staff was different. It represented not Lord English to the pink demon, but Siron himself. A man Mlinx had never quite been able to remove from his mind. A man Mlinx had spent a good deal of time hating. He was long, long dead, but the hate had never left Mlinx. For a while, he had tried to deny that he had such feelings. To ignore the fact that he hadn’t moved on.
The truth was, he couldn’t move on. Or maybe he could – but some deep-down part didn’t want to. He wanted to keep hating the demon chief who had killed so many and shaped Mlinx’s world into what it was.
Who had, in essence, brought the demons to their knees. Sure, there were other factors Mlinx would admit on an intellectual level, but emotionally it was all Siron, Siron, Siron.
“I wonder when you turned,” Mlinx asked the staff. “You had to have been a good man at some point. You got to become Chief. You couldn’t have done that without that spark. You wouldn’t have been able to make it through the trials, would not have been vouched for by the other warriors. If we’d just wanted strength in our leader, it would not have been so hard for you to get there. But we cared about more. You proved to everyone that your way was worthwhile and that you understood.”
Mlinx leaned back against a wall, refusing to let his eyes leave the black orb. “Was it the position that changed you? Power corrupts? Was it inevitable that you would turn away from the honorable warrior the tribe knew and become a conniving manipulative mastermind who didn’t understand change?”
Black Thirteen offered no response.
Mlinx glared at it angrily. “I won’t be like you! I won’t succumb to it! I see the danger – I won’t fall into the pit trap!”
Black Thirteen seemed unconvinced by his declaration.
“I’m not you,” Mlinx asserted. “I actually care. And I can change.”
But change can be good or bad, he thought to himself.
“…I am tired of living in your shadow. Your legacy has tainted our name for decades, and none have ever forgotten what you did. They say they forgive, they say they understand, but they cannot always listen to what they say. All the respect they have for me is from their friendship, or their pity. I am the last demon. And I will make it so we’re remembered for something other than you.”
There was no response. There was never a response. Mlinx never expected one. He just came here to get things off his chest.
…There was no one left who could really understand what Siron meant to the demons. This was all that was left for him.
Usually, it did make him feel better. He’d get his confidence back and feel ready to take on anything the City could throw at him.
This was not the case today. He felt dejected, like Siron had grappled him from beyond the grave and set him on a path he couldn’t escape.
Slouching, he left the room.
~~~
The media, like always, attacked the event like a firestorm. Depending on where people were from before, the explosion either seemed overly tame or unexpectedly harsh. Merodi news was rarely so openly aggressive, but a lot of human worlds were surprised the hosts didn’t grill him endlessly from all sides and devolve into shouting matches. Not to mention what many of the warrior-types thought should happen…
But it was a mixed modern media, and with all things, the story was quickly lost in the wind. It was just one little event in Mlinx’s Mayorship, and he hadn’t made a pattern out of losing patience and taking the strong-arm position.
Yet.
He already saw himself considering doing it more as time went on. Why bother with the clean, friendly solution when a little open aggression and power-play would get the job done faster and with less effort? In theory, he should be able to manage a ‘strike’ on his record…
Well, he could, if he could convince himself it wasn’t a strike. Which he couldn’t do. It was eating at him, bad enough that a few people had started to wonder if something was up. Considering how hard it was to read demon expressions, that was telling.
He’d talked to Rev about it, and she’d told him not to worry. Since he was asking those questions and was keeping careful watch on himself, she knew he wasn’t on the path to Siron. He actually cared.
That didn’t really help, not that he let her know that. It made sense, after all – why shouldn’t it give him comfort?
He absent-mindedly poked one of his trinkets, prompting it to enter a nearly perpetual spin. The noise from the sudden movement made him focus on the world in his office, allowing him to notice Nastasia for the first time. “Oh! What is it this time?”
Nastasia adjusted her glasses and pulled out a data pad. “The locusts have cordially invited you to partake in their Festival of the Hive, a twenty-four hour celebration of locust society, the royal family, and their survival in the New World.”
“That sounds interesting…”
“We need to come up with a reason they’ll accept as to why you can’t go.”
Mlinx blinked. “…I can’t?”
“The City needs you present in case of emergency. An extended outing is out of the question.”
“I don’t remember agreeing to that,” Mlinx commented, going back over the duties of the Mayor. “Yes, I can be recalled from anything, but…”
“The locusts aren’t nearby. There is a minute-long time delay. If something goes wrong…”
“One minute is not much, and I am far from the only hero in this City,” Mlinx pointed out. “I’m just the face – as ironic as that sounds.”
Nastasia let out a quiet sigh. “Okay, it’s smarter to keep you here. Even if our policy doesn’t require it.”
“Thank you,” Mlinx said.
“I have to say I’m surprised you’re even expressing interest in going.”
“They’re a warrior culture of insects whose numbers are small and who are overwhelmed by all the things that have happened to them,” Mlinx said. “Isn’t the correlation obvious?”
“Perhaps,” Nastasia admitted.
“I could call it a vacation,” Mlinx commented, scratching the edge of his desk absent-mindedly. “Get out a bit. Clear this head of mine.”
“There is a chance it could be good for you.”
“Then I’ve made up my mind,” Mlinx asserted, standing up. “I’ll be taking a vacation. Set the date so the Festival of the Hive lies in the middle of it.”
“How many extra days?”
Mlinx had to think for a moment, he hadn’t taken a vacation yet. “…One day buffer on each side. Workable?”
“Yes,” Nastasia responded, entering a few more things into the calendar. “And it’s all set. I’ll let them know you’re coming.”
“I hope they’re not going to make my presence a big deal…” The moment Mlinx said this he realized it was a mistake.
~~~
There was an actual red carpet.
Where had they gotten a red carpet? The Locusts didn’t make fabric themselves! They would have needed to buy it from someone! And they were dirt poor!
Where did they get the carpet?!
Mlinx didn’t show any of his surprise on the outside – he held himself tall and proud, his spear slung over his back, the head pointed sharply upward. He wore no ornate uniform, the only indication of his station being a small wristband with interlaced rose engravings.
As he walked down the carpet, the locusts threw flowers and pieces of art made up of a papery material they used to craft their hives. The yellow beings had a similar body type to Mlinx, except there were four legs, two arms, and two eyes. Every locust had wings large enough to fly, and fly without too much effort. Their shells had no ornate designs, and almost all of them were identical in size and color, making it difficult even for Mlinx to tell them apart – as far as he could tell, only those with damaged carapaces had any identifying features to speak of.
He had expected this, since this was hardly the first time he had met with the locusts, though it was a lot harder to follow now that they were all cheering and buzzing around him. No one could tell it from his face, but it was all a bit much to take in.
“Hold!”
The voice rang out through the hall and every last one of the locust drones froze in an instant, only those who had been in the air at the time of the order continuing to move at all.
“Stance!”
The locust drones all turned to face the red carpet directly and folded their arms behind their backs with military precision in their movements.
Only now could the royal couple meet Mlinx on the carpet. The King looked like a drone, except slightly larger and with much more impressive wings. The Queen might as well have been a different creature – instead of resembling her people, she looked more like a wasp the size of a bus. She stayed slightly behind the King as he extended one of his hands.
Mlinx noted it wasn’t the traditional locust greeting, but a human handshake. Mlinx took it and shook for a few seconds, before meeting the King with a swift circular hand motion that had originated from the demon tribe. The King responded in kind with a multi-fingered interlace.
“You’ve gotten much better,” the King noted as Mlinx’s digits managed to complete the interweaving gesture. “Practice?”
Mlinx nodded. “Most of it comes from learning the greetings of so many cultures. Your fingers will get very agile naturally.”
The King nodded in understanding. “Quite. Without further ado, Mlinx of Tower City and the Demon Tribe! I humbly accept your presence in our Festival of the Hive.”
“The honor is mine, King.” Mlinx found just saying ‘King’ more than a little awkward, but locusts didn’t exactly have names in the traditional sense, so it was the best he could do. He turned and bowed to the Queen as well. “It would be shameful of me not to recognize you as well, Queen.”
“Cordial as always,” the Queen responded in a raspy, decidedly inhuman voice. “I hope you will allow yourself to move beyond all that before your stay is over.”
Mlinx nodded slowly. “I would very much like to get to know you all better.”
The King chuckled. “Clever response… Something to talk about over the breakfast table! …Do you have any guests or bodyguards we should prepare for?”
Mlinx shook his head. “Just me. Since I’m considering this a vacation they don’t need to guard me – and plus, I have my spear.”
“And you lack any hive-mates…” the King shook his head. “A tragedy.”
“Thank you, King.”
The King nodded slowly, gesturing for Mlinx to follow him with a wing. They entered a circular tunnel made entirely of a paper-like substance, leading them into a cavern system where the Hive itself had been built. Locusts were essentially ground bees with high intelligence – living and building their homes deep beneath the earth while flying to the surface to collect food and resources. From the surface, no one would ever know there was a locust hive. But inside…
It was incredible. A few months ago it wouldn’t have been – the locusts would have lived almost entirely in the dark with only a few careful glow stations here and there – but with the gift of modern lighting the entire locust civilization was blessed with the ability to light everything anytime they wanted. Cylindrical pillars made of a paper honeycomb structure snaked from the ground to the ceiling in organized, pleasing mathematical patterns. Each honeycomb was effectively a house – identical to virtually every other.
There wasn’t much in the way of unique architecture. The few things that were designed differently were storage buildings, nurseries, the royal palace, and the arena: the only source of entertainment visible within the cavern. There was a single building made of metallic materials, a power plant Mlinx had given them to power the lights. The only non-locusts in the cavern huddled around this little beacon of outside civilization.
As Mlinx walked with the King, Queen, and their entourage, the most complex light in the Hive lit up – lighting the arena with a rainbow strobe effect. Mlinx found it hard to look at, but somehow he was still able to pick out two drones on top of the platform. The buzz of locust wings that had been nothing more than a background hum before became a howl.
A battle commenced between two drones: one wielding two excessively-long swords, the other a simple Merodi pulse gun. They flew at each other – almost too fast to see. The gun was fired seven separate times, but every last pulse was deflected, allowing the swordsman in to cut off the gunner’s arms. The gunman howled in pain and hung his head in defeat.
For a moment, Mlinx thought the swordsman was going to finish the job. But he didn’t; he raised his swords high and absorbed the buzzing of the crowd like cheers.
Mlinx didn’t know why he was worried – the locusts had never engaged in to the death events for sport. It would waste a perfectly good drone warrior. They’d never allowed injuries more than they could cure.
…Sometimes modern magic medicine did some questionable things. He knew the drone would have his arms back within the hour, of course.
“Scheduled that just for me, did you?” Mlinx asked.
The King chuckled. “I don’t run the games. But I did tell the warriors you were coming… So…” He shook his head. “I can tell you more about it later. For now, the feast!”
They walked into the royal palace. Unlike many palaces, this one wasn’t all that ornate or impressive. It was just a paper honeycomb composed of many smaller paper honeycombs and a few holes that dug into the ground. The area was much better lit than most others, and there were a few pieces of ornamentation that clearly came from the outside world – such as a human painting, or a lotus flower under a special solar light.
The palace had many guards around it, but otherwise the area was mostly open. The banquet table was ‘outside’, if you could call it outside in a cave like this. The food smelled absolutely delicious to Mlinx; a honey-like substance coated most, but not all of the food. There were many fruits, vegetables, and meat salvaged from the outside. He also noted a small section at the end of the table with cakes and breads not of locust design, but equine.
Probably made by one of the workers at the power plant. He made a mental note to find whoever it was and thank them for their efforts.
“Sit! Eat! Enjoy!” the Queen announced. She didn’t need a chair herself, given her size, so she just lowered her head to be level with the rest at the table. There were other guards and drones around, but the only other locust of interest at the table besides the royal couple was the Princess, a female drone who was beginning the long and painful growth process to a full Queen. Currently she still looked like a drone, except with a larger head and slightly more pronounced rear where a stinger was developing.
She seemed a lot more interested in the food – particularly the equine treats – than in Mlinx. He didn’t mind, it was far from the first time something like this had happened. With quick motions he grabbed some unidentified meaty nuggets with greens poking out of them and devoured them.
Not the best thing in the world, but it was designed for an arthropod’s palate, unlike most things in the City. It really was delicious. “Do you have any idea how rare arthropods are? Intelligent ones, I mean.”
“You are the only one we’ve seen,” the King pointed out. “I got the impression quickly enough.”
“Ah, forgive me. I’m just pleasantly surprised by the food catered to our palates here. Usually I have to ask for food like this to be prepared.”
The Queen buzzed. “And here we went through all the trouble of getting some more ‘universal’ food.”
“You can’t go wrong with cake,” Mlinx acknowledged, stabbing a piece of the aforementioned pastry. “It is straight sugar, naturally unhealthy, but perhaps the most delicious thing in existence.” He munched on it. “I do think it’d be better if it was thicker, but I’ve yet to find someone who’s mixed honey and cake together in the right way.”
“Perhaps we could relegate a few drones as experimental chefs?” the Queen suggested.
“I see no problem with that,” the King agreed. “Though finding one of them who’d like to cook…”
The Princess raised her hand. “I… could.”
“Wouldn’t be a permanent position,” the King said. “You’ll soon be a full Queen. The Hive will need to spread.”
“She could still practice it,” the Queen countered. “She might have to stop when it’s time for her to establish the new Hive, but I have enough free time to devote to such activities if I desired.”
“Really?” the Princess asked.
“Yes. Really.”
The King shrugged. “New times and all... Sure.”
Mlinx felt his stomach do flip-flops suddenly, forcing him to examine the honey-like substance he had been ingesting. “Excuse me, I’m afraid I don’t know what this is.”
“Avar,” the Queen answered. “A natural product of locusts.”
“It’s not excrement,” the King interjected quickly. “Everyone always thinks it’s excrement. It isn’t. It’s formed through the walls.”
“I would say it’s considered a delicacy, it’s dreadfully commonplace. You could probably lick a wall and get it if you didn’t care about hygiene.”
Mlinx took one more look at the sticky roll and devoured it. “It is delicious.”
“But it’s turning your stomach into knots,” the King suggested. “I had hoped your physiology would be more compatible than the others, but I guess not.”
“There’s plenty of dishes here without it,” the Queen added. “Feel free to avoid any of the avar you see.”
“Thank you,” he said, turning to eat for a few minutes. A little while later, he looked up. “I do have a question. What does this Festival of the Hive mean to you as a culture?”
“It is a celebration of unified community,” the King explained, folding his hands together. “It’s a day where the drones drift from their assignments and come together for the singular goal of making the entire Hive celebrate. We forego our focus on efficiency, resources, and development in favor of enjoyment. It’s a reversal of our usual way of things, and a reminder that there are other things of value besides endless work. Your presence – that is, the presence of your people – has turned this into the wildest Festival I’ve ever seen.”
“And that’s a good thing,” the Queen asserted.
The King shrugged. “Perhaps, perhaps not, I have not seen the final results of increased activity yet. I do agree the people are more energetic.”
“…You know I used to be a part of a tribal warriors’ society,” Mlinx said. “It’s not quite like yours – we favored personal strength over community strength – but we went through a lot of the same things your society is going through now. Most of the changes were for the better, but not all. I’m glad to hear you’re looking closely to see which ones are. And on our end, we’re working hard to let you make that decision. …Back in the day, I don’t think my people were given a choice.”
“You are an honorable man, Mlinx,” the King said, nodding. “I believe you place a bit too much worth on sentimentality and culture, but I can see where it comes from. No doubt it makes you a great leader for that melting-pot of a City you call yours.”
Mlinx didn’t openly agree with him. He made a dismissive gesture with his arm and tried to think of a new topic. Luckily, he didn’t need to – a locust walked into the dining area and cleared her throat. She was wearing light armor and an elongated sword. “Message from the arena gladiators.”
“Hm?” the Queen said, blinking. “What is it?”
“The visitor has been invited to participate in the next round of combat, should he desire.”
Mlinx blinked. Saying no would be rude… And would undermine my image of coming from a warrior’s culture. He took a breath. “I accept your challenge. Which experienced warrior is going to give an old man like me the beatdown?”
“A mid-tier warrior of curious instincts.” She twirled her sword around. “Me. See you then.”
“Looks like you have a date,” the Princess said, chuckling.
Mlinx nodded slowly. “Yes, it seems I… wait, your species has the concept of a date? I thought…”
The King chuckled. “The Princess is just using your language. Drones are assigned partners. While the Queen and I produce the most drones, it is not enough for population stability. All non-Princess females come from other pairs.”
“Oh, I see.” He rubbed the back of his head. “I had two pieces of information and they seemed to disagree.”
The Queen buzzed her wings. “It happens. We aren’t always aware of what we need to explain and what we don’t. I would recommend not eating too much, your performance will drop.”
Mlinx looked at the food. “Good advice.”
~~~
Mlinx did not follow the advice. He ended up with an upset, churning stomach by the time the feast was over. But he wouldn’t let that stop him – he knew some stretches to minimize stomach pains.
Currently he was on one side of the arena, twirling his spear. The arena, unlike virtually every other construction, was not composed out of honeycomb patterns. It was a flat disc with a smooth papery floor covered in locust bloodstains and chipped carapaces. There were hexagon-shaped seats all around the edge, every last one filled with locusts who wanted to see a fight like nothing they had ever seen before.
Mlinx twirled his spear forward, to his back, and forward again. He balanced it on one of his fingers and snatched it out of the air with his foot, swirling around. “Still got it…”
The female locust was not practicing: she was observing him. “I find it curious that you do your preparations in the open, where I may study them.”
Mlinx shrugged. “These are just stretches. I have not had a proper sporting duel in… I think before the collapse. Not that I haven’t been in fights – I was in the Lord English attacks – but those aren’t exactly fond memories of victory.”
She nodded slowly. “I can study the way you move and make predictions though. Even if you have more advanced techniques…”
“If you can look at me for ten minutes and know what I’m going to do, I deserve to lose for being so choreographed,” Mlinx asserted, swinging the spear onto his back.
“I am also mildly surprised you have no hint of this ‘magic’ with you. Our gladiators who have received the blessing have no reason to avoid its use. One of your position should surely be able to get the powers.”
“It’s part of my heritage. Only some of my tribe were gifted with magic. I chose never to go beyond that.” He looked out at the arena. “So, when do we start?”
“Now,” she said, gesturing for him to follow. The two of them walked to the middle of the dark arena. The moment they were on opposing sides of a center circle, the strobe light turned on. While everyone else would see a mess of flashing lights, the two of them saw each other in perfect white light.
“Clever,” Mlinx observed, drawing his spear.
She drew her sword and hefted it in both hands. “The fight is to the drawing of blood.” There was a second of unspoken respect between the two of them.
They charged at once. She brought her sword down, clearly expecting him to deflect with the spear, but instead he deflected with a free arm, carefully running his carapace along the flat edge of the blade. His spear struck true, but without enough momentum to pierce her armor.
She tried to pull back, but his fourth arm was on the hilt of her sword. He pulled back, trying to disarm her – but she had enough free legs to kick him in the chest and knock him back.
He felt sick to his stomach. “Ergh…” He flipped to his feet, leaping over a slice of the locust’s blade. He drove one of his hands into her face and pushed her back, unable to get a direct strike with the spear. Pushing, he bounced into the air and angled the spear downward at her. Her response was to smack the spear with the blunt side of her blade and toss him to the side.
Mlinx stood up and parried a series of blows with carefully directed arm movements. It was at this point he realized that, despite his inexperience and stomach pains, he was having fun. He had often rejected his violent, warrior side actively, treating it as something distasteful. He hadn’t engaged in fighting for sport in… ages.
It was only now that he realized something had been missing ever since then.
He was a warrior, no matter how weak he had been compared to the others. He knew how to fight, and it was part of him. Part of his nature.
It was time to let it awaken again.
With a sudden ferocity in his eyes, he lunged forward, taking a risky move right over her blade. He brought the base of his spear around her neck, grabbing one of her legs at the same time and knocking her over. With a quick motion he slammed a foot on her prone form, keeping her down. He twirled his spear and drove it toward her neck.
He stopped an inch away, trembling.
It had taken immense willpower to stop the speartip from going right through her.
Carefully, he nicked an area between two of her carapace plates, drawing a small amount of blood. Then he got off of her and turned away.
There was cheering. He barely heard it. He was announced the winner and asked for another fight – but he declined it. Or he thought he did. He really wasn’t sure. Everything was a blur.
I almost killed her. I let myself fall into the way of the warrior… and I almost killed her.
He trudged away, not even asking what part of the Festival he should go to next.
~~~
Mlinx found himself standing on a balcony (more of an external railing) jutting out from the power plant. He was slouched, leaning heavily on the railing with enough force that it had bent slightly.
He’d told himself he’d only come here to express his appreciation for the cakes. Which he had. The ponies had taken the thanks as excitedly as their kind usually did. Then Mlinx decided not to leave and just stare out into nothing.
…That wasn’t exactly true. There were certainly things to look at – the lights lit up select areas full of drones moving in formation. Even in a Festival devoted to their enjoyment, they moved almost with one mind. The only exception to this was the arena itself, and it was just as brutal as always.
Mlinx tried to force himself to look into the darkness, where there was nothing. It was a strange mixture of satisfying and depressing. It was... dark.
I thought I could give in… He tightened his grip on the railing. That thing inside me is evil. Why did I let myself forget that? Why did I leave myself open to the temptation?
He was so fixated on his thoughts he didn’t notice the gargantuan form of the Queen flying to him. He did notice when she landed, shaking the entire platform with her girth. “Augh! I – I’m sorry, Queen, I was just clearing my head, I’ll be back to the festivities immedi-”
“I am not here to ask you back,” the Queen said. “I am here to tell you that I understand.”
“Queen, y-”
“You fear yourself,” the Queen said, simply. “There is a nature within you that leads to combat, battle, and competition – and above all, violence. You have convinced yourself it is evil, so you starved it, and this starvation made it desperate. You almost killed her.”
Mlinx froze.
“I was the only one who noticed,” the Queen asserted. “That’s my job. I provide for the people, I know what they need, I help them. The King makes the sweeping and external decisions, but I am the interior, I am the ‘family’. You may think you are not expressive, but your body language and responses tell the entire story. “
Mlinx turned to her. “And what do you think?”
“I understand the need to turn away from instinct. Such things exist to ensure survival, not quality of life. We, too, are violent creatures, and the arena exists to channel that energy in a safe environment. Only the select few who can control their impulses can become gladiator drones; the rest must be content to watch.” She looked Mlinx in the eyes. “I do apologize for letting them know you could be an exception. It was a test, you could say, but it was not one I had any right to give.”
“It’s fine. I wanted it myself…” Mlinx sighed. “It’s a powerful urge. And I’d been doing so well…”
“Fighting instinct and drive is a lifelong struggle,” the Queen said. “I have to constantly micromanage my people, but their need for competition has slowly been worked out, even more so now that you’ve shown yourselves. But there is another problem we have, one that runs a little deeper.” She directed Mlinx’s gaze to one of the housing centers. “Look at them, flying in formation.”
“Even when they don’t have to…”
“They are unquestioning,” the Queen said. “They care not for individuality, and are devoted to endless work. One of the things they care about the most is being the same as everyone else. Even the gladiators are like this, to some extent. There is no ‘champion’, for every one tries to keep their skills on a comparable level to the others. Domination is meant for the King and Queen, and that is only by necessity.”
Mlinx blinked. “What are you trying to tell me?”
“It’s wrong, is what I’m saying,” the Queen said. “We need to change. And you’ve done a good job of showing us there are other ways out there… but you treat us with too much respect.”
“Excuse me?”
The Queen sighed. “You have so much in your ways – kindness, diversity, improvement… The drones don’t have any of that. And you’ve gone out of your way to keep from ‘contaminating’ our culture with those values. Like our way of life is perfectly valid.” She shook her head. “It isn’t.”
“Are you asking me to come in and change you?”
“Yes.”
Mlinx reeled. “That… I can’t do that, it goes against our cultural laws.”
“I figured you might think that,” the Queen said, producing a data pad. “But I have studied up on your laws in my free time – my daughter may cook, I read. By Merodi Law, yes, we are stable, ethical, and ‘harmonious’ enough to be protected by the Cultural Division. But those laws do not apply in the City. You have almost no cultural protection laws in the City since trying to protect the thousands of different ideals within your own walls would be impossible. You can make this choice.”
Mlinx realized she was right. He did have the power. He’d have to run it by his advisors and get the proper approval, but he could do it. He could order a change of this world’s culture. Slow, fast, it didn’t matter, he could do it.
“What kind of change do you have in mind?”
“Start moving more and more people in. Give them jobs, buildings, and add some of your ‘media’ to this place. Then you can work out the formations and…”
“Transform this place into just another extension of the City,” Mlinx said. “…Don’t you see the irony there? By praising uniqueness and diversity you are really saying you want to transform yourselves into the same thing as us.”
“Mlinx…”
“Your people don’t want it,” Mlinx asserted.
“Most of those I have taken under my personal wing agree.”
“And you’re their queen, of course they would.” Mlinx folded his arms. “I may not know all that much about the locusts, but I do know they like their lives. They aren’t unhappy. It’s a little unusual, yes. But I can’t condone erasing it.” He looked the Queen in the eyes. “They’re changing naturally, Queen. I can see it in the way they move and interact. They’ll change into something better and truly unique. Not quite the City, not quite the Hive of the locusts. It’ll just take time.”
“What about the lives of those who are here now?”
Mlinx shook his head. “…They’ll live the way they are and, like most older generations, resent the changes as they appear, but be unable to stop them. It’s how it always works with change, good, bad, or otherwise.”
The Queen looked him up and down for a moment. “Truly saying no?”
Yes, Mlinx thought, but he realized this might be a foolish maneuver. “You can submit a request to the City government. If it goes through, I won’t interfere.”
The Queen narrowed her eyes. “…I shall look into that.” She spread her wings and flew away.
Mlinx gulped, getting a sinking feeling in his stomach. He checked his watch – the Festival was barely half over and he didn’t want to hang around anymore.
He pulled out his phone with a sigh and called the City. “Hey. I need extraction. Get a team here, I should be out of the caverns within half an hour. If not, move in.” He sent the message and put the phone away.
Now he just had to figure out what he was going to tell the King about his reason for leaving early…
~~~
“Some new information has come to my attention, and because of it I must return to the City. I am sorry, King.” Technically honest, check. Doesn’t cast any suspicion on me or the Queen, check.
The King nodded. “I was afraid of this – the concept of a vacation always seemed as if it would bring about unwanted problems. I regret that you must leave and that you will not get to see the dance tonight, but I bid you farewell. I hope I can find the Queen, so she may bid you goodbye as well.”
“We talked on the way over here,” Mlinx said. “I do not think it was wrong to come to her.”
“It was not. I bid you farewell, and wish to see you here again. You bring an interesting perspective to our society.”
Your Queen’s the one with the interesting perspective. I’d watch her… Mlinx bowed. “Until next time.” He confidently and slowly walked out of the King’s presence.
The moment he was in the Hive proper and thought it was safe he took off in a run. He knew exactly where the entrances to the cavern were, and he decided to avoid both the closest one and the one he had come in on the red carpet just in case there were locusts there waiting for him. He bolted for the second closest, legs moving up and down in rhythm with his heavy breathing.
He tried to tell himself that he might be overreacting – that the Queen might not try to stop him, that she might trust him.
He never really believed that for a second. It was nothing more than a little hope in the back of his mind.
Slowly, this hope began to grow. He passed the outer edge of the Hive and saw no locusts where he was. He entered the exit tunnel and found no guards to stop him. When he saw the twilight light of the surface ahead, he actually allowed himself to believe he might make it out simply.
He rushed out into the open grass and air, feeling the fresh breeze get under the folds of his carapace. His guard lowered – but it didn’t lower enough.
With a twirl, he deflected an incoming blade with the side of his arm, using another one to grab the locust that had assaulted him by the neck. It was a male with several scratches over his faceplate.
Behind him were roughly a dozen other locusts that looked more or less identical. Most held swords, a few spears, and one had a set of pulse guns.
Mlinx took his spear off his back and held it in front of him. He could tell these locusts weren’t the gladiators, meaning they likely didn’t have as much combat experience. But he couldn’t be certain about that deduction since they were no doubt the Queen’s ‘new’ locusts, and might actually be willing to individualize themselves…
The one with the guns fired, prompting Mlinx to leap into the air and land on a pair of locust’s heads. He drove his spear forward and pierced a stray locust in the chest, making them collapse in pain. They were unable to compensate like the gladiator had, their blades and weapons flying out of their hands with ease.
The guns were the only problem, forcing Mlinx to read their attacks before they were even fired. He needed to take care of that drone quickly. He jumped to the side, rolled between two sword locusts, and drove his spear up through the gun locust’s abdomen. The drone shuddered for a moment before dropping to the ground.
From reflex, Mlinx caught a blade with his hand. Sure, it drew blood, but he kept it from damaging anything particularly vital. He tore the blade away and wielded it with one hand while his two other good hands continued to twirl his spear around, knocking locusts away. He suffered numerous scrapes and wounds himself, but he was a warrior. He knew how to angle his body so all that really happened was pain – not disability.
With an impressive jump he kicked two locusts in the face at once with all his might. He used this as a springboard and threw his sword into the head of the last remaining locust.
Some of the locusts were dead, although most were just knocked out or heavily injured. And yet, he didn’t feel like he had blown it. That was how it had to go.
“Guess it’s good for something…” he muttered, leaning on his spear. I was the weak one. Now look at me. “If you’re alive and can move, you’ll need to go get medical attention in the Hive.” He took out his phone and took some pictures of himself and the locusts. “If there’s any doubt about what happened here, I was about to return to the City when I was ambushed by a group of rogue locusts for an unknown reason.” Tired, he turned and walked away, hoping his backup would arrive soon.
This proved to be a mistake. Sure, the gun locust was out of the picture, but some of those who were less-injured were able to grab his guns. A pulse hit Mlinx in the back, knocking him out instantly.
~~~
He woke up in a room that was clearly part of the hive – hexagonal and made of paper – but it wasn’t one he recognized. It wasn’t a simple living cell, for it was not only far larger, but also had a large cauldron in the center filled with the honey-like avar. It was steaming, and that made Mlinx decidedly nervous.
He was tied up, spearless, in one corner of the room. On the other side of the room was the Queen. She was the only one in the room.
“I’m going to say this once,” Mlinx said. “I have already made a call requesting a pickup from my people, before I went to talk to the King. They can’t be far away. They have the resources to find out what happened to me almost without trying.”
“And then they’ll be forced to interfere,” the Queen said. “Which is exactly what I want. Our culture, blamed for a tragedy. They’ll take me and butcher me like you did my special drones, but they’ll be forced to adjust our culture inside as a result. They’ll care a lot less about us, and by extension will be willing to dispense with the ‘protection’ acts they have in mind.” She walked to him. “The only reason you’re still alive is because I want to give you a chance to reconsider and do it under your own volition. There will be a lot less pain and suffering that way.”
“Why can’t you just let your culture change naturally?”
“I cannot be sure it will change right!”
“And who are you to decide that?”
“The Queen!”
“A role assigned to you by a culture you reject!”
The Queen growled. “And you are taking the violent warrior’s way out by being stubborn. Your defiance here will only lead to strife. Show weakness and allow this to happen, and no one will have to suffer. You know your old way is wrong.”
Mlinx looked her right in the eyes. “No. The old way results in suffering and war, yes. But it also leads to courage, skill, and a willingness to stand up for what is right.” He may have been tied up, but he could still stand up to his full height. “I would have died to your agents had I not given in to my instinct then.”
“Such a sudden change…”
“No,” Mlinx said, taking a step forward. “I had just forgotten a lesson I had already learned.” He tugged against his restraints. “That it wasn’t my people that were toxic. It was my leader.”
The Queen looked taken aback. She was even more surprised when Mlinx used his raw strength to tear his restraints to shreds. “Siron was a result of your culture!”
“I’m not saying my culture was good.” Mlinx said, cracking his fingers. “What I’m saying is it isn’t worthless. It had an identity. That identity wasn’t one of warmongers – we didn’t fight with other tribes. The identity was one of strength, cunning, fortitude, and honor.” He clasped both sets of hands together. “We were hunters. And we w-”
The Queen slapped him with a leg almost as big as he was, sending him flying into a nearby wall. “You were not what I thought you were,” the Queen said, narrowing her eyes. “You do not deserve to lead with that mindset.”
Mlinx coughed up blue blood. “And you’re just another Siron…”
The Queen grabbed him in such a way that prevented him from moving. She carried him over to the avar cauldron. “You deserve to be subject to the hell of our society. And so you shall.”
“…What?”
“The secret of the avar,” the Queen said, holding him over the steaming sticky liquid. “It is what I think you would call a ‘contagion’. In small amounts it is harmless, but in large it will attempt to fuse with anyone and anything to make them part of the hive. For inanimate objects, it turns them into more wall material. But in the case of biological beings, it tries to transform them into locusts. You’re close enough that you’ll likely survive the process, and find your very body begging you to be one with the Hive, to be just like everyone else.”
“Your people are being biologically manipulated by a psychoactive drug?!”
“I have no clue if that is the right term. What I know is that you deserve t-”
“Shut up!” Mlinx shouted. “Interference policy will easily allow a cure to be made for the avar! If you don’t have a choice in the matter, I can give you one!”
“You’ve shown your true colors already, Mlinx,” the Queen growled. “You are still a warrior. You haven’t changed at all.”
Oh, the irony, Mlinx thought to himself as she lowered him into the ooze. I have an epiphany about what my past means and now I’m going to be reconditioned because of it. I’m not even that mad, just… annoyed. Is this what Pinkie and her friends feel like all the time?
His thoughts were interrupted as he was submerged in the cauldron. As soon as the avar was on all sides of him, he could feel the thick liquid seeping into the cracks of his carapace. He had no idea how long it would take before it was irreversible, but he knew he needed to act fast.
The Queen thought she had a good hold on him. However, she had failed to take something into account. Back on what had once been his home world, there had been many dinosaur-like creatures, some with exceptionally long hands. Demons of his tribe were taught how to escape those claws. Now that he was down here in a sticky liquid, he could wriggle some of his arms free from the Queen’s grasp. And if he pointed two of his hands and one of his feet on her wrist joint, he could push and…
…apparently pop the Queen’s hand right off. He had merely intended to trigger a pain response and force the hand to lose control of itself, but he supposed the segmented nature of her leg made this reasonable. With a quick push, he launched himself into the edge of the cauldron, pouring all the avar out onto the screeching Queen. She lost control of her legs in the sticky substance, allowing Mlinx to stand up and make a break for it. He ran past her and for the exit.
She wasn’t about to let this happen. She lurched out and bit down on his leg a second before he was out of her range. He let out a screech of pain and twirled around backward, driving his pointed fingers into her eyes – the usual weak-point of any large creature.
The hunt training just keeps coming in handy today.
The Queen was unable to keep hold of Mlinx through the pain, but she was able to throw him all the way across the room with an angry screech. He hit hard enough to crack his back carapace and shred part of the wall. He realized with fear that his spines had embedded into the papery wall, making it nearly impossible to move. He pushed back with his feet and hands, but they got stuck.
The Queen, blind as a bat, could still sense him. She didn’t speak; she just shakily walked over to him, buzzing like an angry hornet. She raised her remaining hand and rammed it into the wall – missing Mlinx by inches. This did not deter her; she pulled back and aimed right at Mlinx’s chest.
A sword came flying from the entrance and embedded itself in the Queen’s head. She made a gurgling sound for a moment. She was somehow able to turn her head just enough to see behind her.
Mlinx never knew if it was the wound or the sight of her husband standing in the doorway that actually killed her.
The King, with a despondent sigh, yanked his sword out of the Queen’s head. He traced a finger on her features. “…You went too far…”
“…You knew all about her,” Mlinx observed.
The King stood up, nodding. “She wanted change. I knew about her drones. What they practiced. I assumed she knew what was best for the people, and let her think I knew nothing so she could work freely. But she got too desperate…” He shook his head. “I suppose she got what she wanted. This is going to force change upon us…”
“She’s already paid the price for what she did,” Mlinx said, struggling to remove himself from the wall. “I can push all this under the rug and you can go back to your society. …The loss of the Queen will change things. But you can still lead them.”
“I have never been one to understand the people, and my daughter has never been one for leading. …She never really wanted to. It…”
“You can still have change,” Mlinx said. “You don’t have to be the leader the Queen was. You don’t have to make the Princess take her place. But I don’t want to tell you what you can do. You should change on your own terms.”
The King nodded slowly, glancing at the body of the Queen once again. “She meant well.”
Mlinx had nothing to say to this.
“…Here, let me remove you from that wall. It’s the least I could do.”
“Thanks. I am really stuck.”
“HALE SMASH!” Saxton Hale shouted, busting through the wall Mlinx was embedded in. “Ahahah! Mlinx, we are here to save you!”
Mlinx shakily picked himself up out of the rubble. “Didn’t… exactly need… saving anymore…”
“Oh, were you on that wall? Apologies, I just hit the first one I could.”
Mlinx chuckled, making it back onto his feet. “…Yeah. You did good, Hale. Just… get me home. And don’t mention anything you saw in this room. I’ll figure out what exactly I’m going to reveal on the way back.” Mlinx turned back to the King. “…I’m sorry.”
“I was the one who made the choice. Not you,” the King reminded him.
“I still brought this on you.”
“I cannot fault you for existing. Go, return home. And remember what you’ve seen here.”
~~~
Mlinx walked back into Black Thirteen’s storage room.
“So, I learned and relearned a few things today.”
The staff was as still and silent as always.
“First off, I was thinking about it wrong. I’ve always been looking back to you, what you did, what you made us all do… When I really should have been thinking about what we as a people were like. What we stood for. And I’ve come to realize you exemplified almost everything we adored.
“Almost.
“You didn’t care as much. Maybe you did at the end – when you were at your worst – but at the start? Before they came? We were tools to you. Means to an end. We weren’t warriors, we were yours. And that’s where you went wrong. That’s where you strayed from our path.”
Mlinx sighed. “I saw another leader stray from the path today. A Queen who exemplified the care, power, determination, and drive they all wanted. But, like you channeled your strength into a thirst for power, she channeled her care into a foolish desire for diversity. Her flaw was the same as yours, even if in the end what she wanted was the exact opposite. You hated change and would fight to keep your power. She hated the monotony and would fight to end it, even at the expense of the people she was convinced she cared about.
“I wonder what would have happened if you had a wife to stop you, as she had her King. Would you have made it as far as you did? Would you have caused so much destruction? I don’t think so. She would have made you turn back, or have stopped you.”
Mlinx took a couple steps forward. “I… I know I’m not what they want. I don’t exemplify what the people want from me. They want someone who exemplifies harmony, peace, understanding, diversity, and… well, I’m not that. I was elected because I was a heavy minority known to go against the standard way of things, a fresh outlook. I clearly don’t exemplify what they want, and they know it. That’s one of the ways I know I’m not you.” He shook his head and chuckled. “They simply don’t trust me enough.”
The clouds in Black Thirteen swirled – not likely in response to anything Mlinx was saying.
“I’m not convinced I have all the answers. Both you and this Queen… You hardly ever doubted yourselves or what you thought. You believed you were in your position for a reason, and that made you right. I’m unsure. I always wrestle with the decisions. Does that make me a slow decision maker? Yes. But it also makes me a better one.
“You were a blemish on our society, Siron. A blemish so strong even I wasn’t able to move past it. But now I think I see. I see what it means to be a demon – not a warrior, but a hunter. We strive through whatever we have at our disposal to provide for our families and our neighbors. We compete not to prove who is the best, but to sharpen each other.” He clapped his hands together. “We would go to the ends of the earth for those we cared about.”
He turned and left without another word.