Chapter 1

Author's Note:

Please note any mistakes in the comments so I can fix them

Thank you

Deep within the Changeling hive Queen Chrysalis was sitting on her resin throne, holding a bone the size of large tree-branch in her hand and looking very displeased. “What is this?” She asks calmly, referring to the bone in her hand.

“One of the Tirek bones my Queen, like you asked of us.” The lead Drone spoke. A week ago Chrysalis sent a squad to retrieve one of Tireks bones for her pet project, right now she wished she sent out more intelligent drones.

“Then why do I not I feel my magic being drained from me as we speak?” She asked, it was relatively known that Centaur bones, like Tireks, naturally absorb magic, which was the source of their power, and if buried, could leave the area around it a barren magicless wasteland.

The lead drone didn’t reply. “That's because this is a fake!” She slammed the fake bone into the lead drones head, the bone breaking in two and clattering against the floor next to the fallen changeling. “Now find me a real Tirek bone! And don't even bother coming back without one!” Queen Chrysalis shouted at the quivering drones before her. They gave a quick bow before launching themselves out of the hive.

Queen Chrysalis leaned back in her throne and sighed at the drones idiocy. “How is this Hive still standing with these idiots running around?” She asks herself as she walks from her throne, over the unconscious changeling, through the many changing hallways, then stopped to one of the hives many rooms holding her pet project.

Opening the double doors, the changelings inside stopped what they were doing and immediately bowed, Chrysalis waved a hand and the drones continued their work.The room was large, lit well, and filled with medical devices of all types standing against the walls. In the middle of the room was a hollowed out half of a changeling corpse on a medical table.

A changeling in a doctors uniform walked up to Chrysalis and bowed. “I am drone 4824484, the new head of the resurrection process my queen. With the look on your face I’m guessing the retrieval was a failure.”

“Unfortunately.” She sighed, then was confused. “What happened to 5720483?”

“He was killed during the Diamond dog raid several days ago.”

“Hrm, Unfortunate but no matter, how is the rest of the resurrection process coming along?”

“Everything else is ready and waiting, my queen. All we need is the bone then we will be all set for reconstruction.” The drone said happily.

“Good. And the souls?”

“Contained and ready my queen.”

Chrysalis nodded. “Good work, I will return with the bone in a few days, hopefully, so triple check everything so nothing goes awry.”

“Yes my queen.”

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After four days of waiting, the drones who were tasked on retrieving one of Tireks bones arrived at the hive battered and bruised, pulling one of Tireks horns through the badlands on a wooden boat. Chrysalis’s smile grew three times that day as she put a hand on the horn and felt her magic be pulled from her body. “You did well, now, get your wounds treated then take the rest of the day off, you’ve earned it.” The horn was pulled towards the lab as an excited shriek emanated throughout the hive.

An hour later, Chrysalis walked into the lab and saw the changelings inside buzz from station to station, so enraptured with their work that they didn’t notice Chrysalis in the doorway. She walked to the corpse in the middle of the room and saw it was filled with a mechanical skeleton and organs with a slot in the middle of its rib cage while missing the parts for its hands, hooves and skull.

Two changelings, both holding a tray of bone and gem fragments in one hand and tweezers In the other, landed on either side of the corpse and began to place the fragments in specific spots where the hand was supposed to be. Chrysalis watched as the fragments were placed like puzzle pieces, making the picture of a completed skeletal hand. They then pulled a vile of a neon green something from their hip and poured half of it on the hand, she watched in amazement as the fragments fused together perfectly. The changelings moved to the hooves and repeated the process from the hand.

A third changeling walked up and placed a unicorn skull, that was riddled with gem fragments, in the corpse. “4824484.” Chrysalis called. A changeling stopped what they were doing and walked towards the changeling monarch.

“Yes my queen?” She asked.

“What exactly did you need the Tirek bone for?”

“We needed the bone so that we could give the Resurrected the power to more efficiently absorb magic. We’re lucky the drones you sent had gotten the horn instead so we could carve the necessary parts and amplify its magic ten fold. The gems are there as a type of leash Incase the Resurrected goes feral.”

“Is that what we’re calling it? The Resurrected?”

“Yes my queen.”

“Alright, one last question then I’ll leave you to your work. What about the magic absorption? Won’t the magic dissipate when it comes in contact with the bone?” The doctor grinned widely.

“That is the fun part my queen. Because the drones brought us a horn instead of a bone, the magic could, in theory, be taken and released at will, which saved us a few weeks of time making something to stop the mass absorption of magic.” She said giddily.

“How long will it take?”

“A month at most.”

Chrysalis nodded “I shall see you then”

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One month has passed as Chrysalis entered the room once more and found it was empty except for several guards in heavy plate armor with short swords by their hip, the doctor looking at her notes over the opened corpse of the Resurrected, and several small piles of softly glowing soul gems of every size were on a counter. “Are we ready to proceed?” She asked the doctor. 4824484 nodded and took the topmost gem from the small soul pile and placed it into the slot of the corpse. The gem shone brightly as bright purple light started to grow within the Resurrected, the guards readied their weapons as the light flashed and blinded everyone in the room.

When the light was gone, all looked towards the corpse and saw nothing changed except for the crystal being dim and cracked. The doctor frowned and scribbled something on her clipboard “That was a failure.” The doctor stated. “And that is why we have extras.” She pulled another soul gem from the same pile, took out the dull gem, and repeated the process with the same outcome “Maybe I we need to try a stronger soul.” She told herself as she placed a larger gem in the corpse, the light flashed like last time but this time the eyes stayed purple and the hands twitched before going dead once more. Everybody’s eyes widened as the doctor frantically wrote the past minute on her clipboard. Not wanting to waste any more time, she placed the next level of soul gem in the body as history repeated itself but the Resurrected was active long enough to make a lungful of breath before losing its energy once more “Getting closer.” 4824484 said with a grin as she rushed to acquire the next soul gem.

Then she realized it was a Black soul gem, which contained the soul of a sapient being.

The doctor looked at the gem in her hand and looked at Chrysalis uncertainty “Are you sure you want to go through with this, my queen. Even I don't mess with black soul gems, even on a good day. We can find another way to-”

“No, we are so close, we must continue.” With a nod, the doctor placed the gem and backed away as dark purple light grew within the corpse then recessed into the body as it its eyes opened, revealing purple irises, as it took a few breaths. The guards tensed as the Resurrected lifted itself up and observed its surroundings before laying its eyes on a shocked Chrysalis and a excited 4824484.

“Yo.”

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