Flying through a desert is a tiresome task. But it was worth watching the scenery while the cluster flew past with the sun rising from the horizon, adding a purple tint to the scattered red clouds ahead. Shift knew that the clouds were where they were headed due to the captain telling them. yet at the same time he didn't listen. Polyp may have been the captain, but he didn't have to be so rash about it. After that everything was calm and quiet for most of it. So to keep Shift occupied he watched the desert below him as it changed colors as the sun rose to shine its glory to all on the surface. Whilst the others chatted to themselves telepathically, one attempted to make small talk. "How are you feeling? I mean with this task." Mantis spoke in his mind making Shift snap out of the trance of the warm red dunes of the wasteland.
"Oh, I'm feeling pretty good yet a little nervous about messing up" he spoke in return, letting the words echo through his mind.
"Being nervous is being safe, well apart of it anyway. But it's normal for a nymph like you to be like that doing their first task for our Queen," Mantis gives an assuring smile to Shift.
"If you say so".
"Hey cheer up some! There is a reason to be here and that is your honor to be in this with us, 'For the fate of the Hive!' as my brood mother once said. That always cheered me up."
"you and I have very different ways to cheer up"
"How so?"
"Hush now. We are coming to the entrance to the forest," the captain rang in everyone's thoughts. And just as he said, they were closing in on a line where the sand intertwines with the little bundles of fallen branches twisted together. Shift felt his spine tingle as he tried to peer through the even more twisted trees but couldn't see within fifty yards of darkness beckoning for someone to waltz in. It felt the presence of a nightmare he once had as a kid when they landed in a line so none would get lost within the thickets. When Polyp made the call to move in moved like a flock of birds in the sky. Even with his cluster around him he still felt uneasy about the darkness looming within the unknown of this unkempt forest.
That is.. when some not far away from them rustled violently as though it was getting ready to produce a monster that could savagely rip them apart. Shift tensed and stepped back enough for Pincer to get a better look. Everyone was silent for the moment, holding their breath right as the Captain crept right up to it and shot him self into the bush making the bush it self stop its shivering after a sickening crack rang out of it. No one spoke a word for a moment until Polyp walked around the bush with a rabbit in his teeth lifeless, like it was drained of all it's bodily fluids. but they could see a red line from his neck trickle down the white fur. Polyp then tossed the rabbit Shift's way and it landed right in front of him. "There is a rule in this forest that I didn't learn until my third year alive," Polyp sounded more serious when it was dead silent, "And that is Survival of the Fittest. You mess up, and its game over for you. Hunt or be Hunted. Kill or BE Killed!"
Shift didn't know how to respond. He looked at the rabbit corpse and then at Polyp, stunned at the display and ruthlessness Polyp had performed. he nodded nervously, mainly for the last part Polyp had said. Polyp then wiped his mouth with his hoof and marched onward away from the cluster and they followed in suit. The cluster was even more silent this time that made shift wonder why he was in this cluster in the first. clearly there would have been some other thing he could be doing than be out in the field. maybe it had to do with something to do with this forest. sure it is a place that parents will not bring their children to, but why of all of a sudden he had to be with a cluster going out to investigate something strange. They spent two hours looking for this suspected mark with out finding a single clue.
"What are we looking for anyway?" Shift complained forcing them to stop to catch his breath.
"We are looking for a proper place to bury you," The azure armored captain replied.
"What?"
"You know, you are nothing special to us at all, you think that you came with us just because you were the special one?"
"What do you mean?" Shift asked stepping away alittle from Polyp.
"I mean the fact you were supposed to be dead long ago."
"That doesn't make sense at all! I did absolutely nothing to you Polyp"
"Not yet." Polyp then shot a bolt of green flame at Shift. With as much as he could muster, he missed the bolt by a few inches away from his snout. He then dodged another bolt from Polyp. Shift backed him self away from his cluster, now joining him side by side making a line alongside Polyp. "Is this where it ends today? Me in a thick forest with a group of butchers leading a lamb to the slaughter." Shift spoke out feeling betrayal consumed his being.
"This is where you die Shift," Polyp came closer to him getting him backed up into an old tree with his horn glowing a very dense emerald flame at the tip. when he gave the word to fire, Shift ducked under five bolts at once and high tailed out of there. from as far he could tell, all he could do right now is run. He had to dodge all the emerald flames spewing out to take ahold of him. He snaked through the gnarled branches snagging his wings that felt like the were going to break at any moment while the cluster he had sided with closing in on him. With a shout, the captain shot out a much bigger flame at Shift and this time, hit its mark as he tumbles over a large rock and vanishes from view. They slow to see where he had fallen to see his body falling to a raging river below, sweeping him away to a watery grave.
"The Deed for the Queen has been done," Polyp confirmed with the rest of the cluster, "Now we shall report back to the Hive and revel in our accomplishment today against a dead Changeling". the cluster then turned away from the rock and buzzed their wings and flew off.
Finally being washed up on a sandy shore guided by a log freed from a rock sticking out of the water, Shift lay there fighting to stay conscious. He inches himself from the freezing waters and more on to the warm grains of sand beneath his shattered body and collapsed there. it was then he began to sob to himself. he couldn't do anything to prevent being betrayed so quickly in just a quick notice. Neither could he prevent Jack being shot by....
Jack....
The thought of him made him sob harder. He had left him behind for a new life, but this life is similar maybe even worse. There was nothing he could do to change what has already happened, so he lay his head on the hooves he crawled with to let himself close his eyes and slip away, noticing a white changeling across the now calming river watching him.