The Hive - Part 1 (Decayuss and Raven Kurosaki)

"..."

Deniel was glad that she at least agreed with him. He was about to run off to see if he could find those monsters and start taking them on, but she reminded him that they needed to have a much safer approach to it. The kids weren't necessarily safe inside of their tents. He was far too excited to take on these monsters to even think about doing anything else, so the plan she came up with he agreed to almost right away. Nodding, he watched her exit the tent and then took one more glance at Lawrence. He said nothing at first, and just closed his eyes before heading out of Raven's tent himself. "I'm going to prepare myself for battle." He saw Raven making their way over to the stage, and would have joined her, but it wasn't a two person job. She could handle it herself. Instead he went over to his tent next to hers so he could prepare himself in peace. In reality he didn't need to prepare himself for any battle. It was just something for him to do in the meantime, and more people's lives were on the line here than his own. If he and Raven fell...dozens of innocent children would fall for sure. And if not the children, surely these creatures wouldn't stay on the island.

"I feel like the fate of so many people is in my hands, Nidhogg." Deniel sat down on both of his knees inside of his tent, placing his katana right beside him. He closed each of his eyes, as if to meditate or clear his mind. "What's the matter? Can't handle it?" Perhaps he couldn't. Up until now he's lived as a very selfish person, worrying about his own life rather than anyone else around him, and being very apathetic to what happened to everyone else. If he ever failed a task, all that meant was he was either dead, or defeated. Now, if either of those happened, perhaps Raven would fall, too...or worse. "No...I can handle it. I can do this." Despite all of the commotion going on outside of his tent, Deniel remained trapped in his own mind and world with Nidhogg, ignoring everything on the outside. He didn't believe his own words at first, but as he opened his eyes and grabbed on to his blade at his side once more...he said it again. "I can do this. Raven and I will live to see another day. As well as every last one of those kids." The noise outside seemed to die down, which meant that Raven was probably done with rounding up everyone and putting them in a safe place. Wherever that was.

Walking outside of his tent, he found Raven placing....ravens--shocker--around the camp perhaps to monitor it. He walked right beside her, giving a single glance straight into her eyes: "Let's go." With his sword still in his hands, and his mind set in the right direction, Deniel took off straight into the woods outside of the camp, and began to head towards the mountain at the center of the island.

Notes

"Not a problem."

The journey to the top of the mountain would have been quite the obstacle for any normal human. He took off first, but Raven was the one that wanted him to follow; there was no point in arguing over who should be in front of who, so he did it anyway. He gave a glance up at the grey clouds that covered the sky, and then back down at the trail that they followed. It was a nice night, one that he could have perhaps relaxed to and enjoyed in sweet solitude, but that wasn't going to happen. There was a tense look in his eyes, like Raven he was in thought about what exactly these monsters were. He didn't like the sound of what Lawrence had said...pods. There was only one other thing in the world that had pods as far as Deniel could tell, and if it turned out to be what he was suspecting, then this would be a complete nightmare for him. Of course, to retain his strong image, he never informed Raven. The weight of the mountain did not bother Deniel, as he was used to climbing up a much more arduous slope over and over again. His black boots sunk deep into the mountain with every step that he took, leaving behind quite a hefty footprint occasionally when the surface became soft. His mind once again began to preoccupy himself as to what these creatures were, how strong they were, and how many there were. Lawrence stated that the number of pods were in the thousands, and if all of them had managed to escape, then he and Raven could be in for a long fight.

His thinking distracted him from paying attention, so the low branch that Raven moved away from her face recoiled, and swung itself right back into Deniel's face. "Ow!" The wood smacked straight into his noise, causing him to stagger back a single step, and his loud voice echoed in the mountains. Luckily for them it wasn't audible enough for anything atop the mountain, particularly the 'monsters' to hear. He wiped his nose and moved under the branch, joining Raven in front of the road block. She seemed clueless as to what to do. Each of them could have easily used a single Spell to reduce all of these rocks to rubble, but both of them wanted to save as much Magic Power for the upcoming fight as possible. Luckily for both of them, Deniel knew exactly what to do. He took several steps closer to the pile of boulders and trees, placing his palm on one of them. He gave a slight push of force with his hand to determine the hardness and size of the rock, and shortly after that he did the same to a tree that was trapped between two of the rocks. The rocks were rock solid. Moving just one of them would require both hands of Deniel, and if he even did move one of them, he and Raven would be in danger of what would happen should this pile be disturbed. But even the hardness of the rocks wasn't enough to stop him.

He took a pace back from where he was standing, and firmly placed his right hand on the hilt of his katana Nidhogg, and drew the black blade. As the metal came out of its scabbard, it reflected and shined the light of the moon gloriously, posing an even larger effect for such a simple action. Once every last inch of the blade was drawn, a moment of silence passed by. A small gust of wind formed, but it was not the same direction of the one that had occurred earlier. This one was created from the massive strength and power of Deniel himself. Abruptly with almost no warning, he began to hack and slash. Holding his left hand, which contained the scabbard, behind him, Deniel swung the jet black blade several times, but not a single one of them came into contact with a rock or a tree. His first slash was horizontal, spanning through the entire blockade, whilst the second one was a vertical split right down the center. That would divide it into four pieces, and the rest of them were used to split these four sections into smaller bits, particularly aiming for the rocks as they posed the biggest threat. After a countless number of swift slashes, he finished it off with one last one that was so powerful, it brought his body in a full one hundred and eighty degree turn, so he was now facing Raven. He dropped down to one knee as he did so, and held his scabbard directly underneath his blade, both of them perfectly vertical to each other.

Slowly, he slid the black blade back into its scabbard, and once he had finished, it gave a brief "Click!" noise. And just as he clicked it back in, the rocks and trees alike shattered. From boulders and trees to pebbles, rubble, and simple chips of wood, the obstacle that blocked their path was quickly removed into a million pieces. The bits of rock and rubble rolled down the mountain along with the force of gravity, passing harmlessly underneath Deniel and Raven's feet. The bits of wood that did not fall down remained, but were no longer an issue or a threat to either of them. Standing back up, firmly on two feet, he one again smirked at Raven, "Lead the way, Miss Raven."

Notes

Apparently, Raven had not needed to lift a single finger. All she did was stay glued to one spot and watch Deniel cut away at the rocks and trees. How wonderful, she thought, he was making things quite easy for the both of them. Most importantly, his control over the blade was perfect. Raven had only learned a little of swordplay back in her world but from what she did learn, she was able to tell Deniel had everything from the structure to the correct angle and position of a sword down. It was embedded in him and she was impressed but she wouldn’t voice her thoughts just like that either.

“Show off” she called when he was done. Childish as that seemed, Raven was already walking ahead of Deniel with her head held high. Violet hair flew behind her with the cold wind and the moon light outlined her graceful figure. She took slow but long steps to reach the summit faster. If the awakening of those monsters had caused such a big effect on nature, she was half scared to find out what they were. Pods…what could possibly come out of pods? Were they some kind of insect? Bug? Whatever could they be?

“What do you think, Deniel? What do you think they are? Maybe they are huge insects with even bigger stingers. I mean, I can’t think of anything else. It’s that or aliens and I don’t know how much the latter could be true,” she attempted to start a conversation, feeling that things were too silent or formal between them from the very beginning of the camp. She wanted to change that. Who knows? She could easily find a friend in the rather odd swordsman.

“Lawrence was really scared, wasn’t he? He was very pale but I wonder how he managed to escape. Maybe others have escaped somehow as well. We should find them. I think they can help us get a better understanding of what we are up against. Maybe…maybe one will just pop out of nowhere right now!”

Raven snapped her fingers, halting in the middle of nowhere. A pregnant pause and there was nothing. In many books and in many stories, she had read the hero say something ominous and it happening right on that spot. However, by the time she realized reality to be different, she was staring disappointedly at her fingers frozen in a snapping position.

“This doesn’t work at all,” she sulked and started up again. How sad, though, she was looking forward to something just appearing out of the blue.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t even realize it when someone bolted straight towards her from the other side, knocking the violet haired girl back on Deniel who could be behind her. Normally, a girl her age would have screamed bloody murder but Raven was far from normal and that was an established fact. She simply stared at the almost dead looking man who had his head on her chest…She was going to murder him.

"Oh my..."

Quite a childish remark indeed, but the Guild Master took no offense to it. He, himself, could be a childish person at times, and took Raven's comment as simply a tease. He knew she was impressed. As she passed by him, he lagged behind a little bit on purpose. He just remembered that she was still wearing a skirt, and he was...about to do a bit of a guy thing. They were heading up a steep slope, and once she was a few feet ahead of him, he started to walk after her, but kept himself low. So low...he could see up her skirt. He only did it for a few moments before walking back up straight. He tried to hold back his laughter, not because he thought it was funny about what was underneath, but simply because he just did that. You're so pathetic... He ignored his sword's comment about him and caught up with Raven. He still walked behind her, just not enough to get a peek up her skirt. The only reason he did it in the first place was simply because he was a guy, and he was curious. He still attempted his best at holding back his snicker from what had just happened. Luckily for him, her little interrogation on his thoughts brought his mind away from it. What were they, indeed? He did have a thought on them being on species of giant bugs...but he did not want to think that. He had quite an unusual fear of such creatures.

Instead of conveying his fear to her, he said with fake confidence: "I think they're aliens! I mean...come on! If they were giant bugs, why would they affect a whole terrain? I'm certain aliens have that technology." It was a pathetic explanation, but he was hoping that simply believing they were aliens would make it so. If Raven ever saw how he reacted to giant bugs...his reputation, pride, and life could be crushed forever. Her second question to him was one he didn't answer. He merely pondered over it. Lawrence was frightened indeed, so frightened that he simply referred to these creatures as "monsters". Surely he, and the rest of his team were in need of physical and mental therapy through the trauma they could experience. The Guild Master was so rushed into his thoughts that he nearly bumped into Raven from behind with her sudden halt. He observed the path ahead, not needing to look over her shoulder a whole lot due to the height difference between the two. He had no idea while she had stopped, since he didn't hear her earlier, so it just seemed like the two were awkwardly waiting for something. She had also snapped her fingers, as if something were to appear right before her. He shifted his red eyes's gaze down towards her, and sighed. What was she going to expect? She started down the path once again, and naturally he went after her as well. This time, he didn't try to get a look up her skirt.

They were only a few paces to the path once more before Deniel suddenly felt the weight of Raven right on him. She was heavier than he thought for a girl with that figure. That is, until he noticed it was also the weight of someone else. A man. With his chest buried in her face. Oh, that's just great...she's gonna' blow. Hopefully stopping her before she did, he straightened her out and helped her back on her feet, while he swiftly waltzed around her and yanked the man from off of her chest, holding him in his tight grip. Not realizing it was the touch of humans at first, he attempted to release himself off from Deniel's grip, swiftly jerking his body around as well as his limbs. He was no match for the strength of Deniel, who firmly held him just by a single arm completely still. He kicked and screamed until Deniel spoke over him: "Shut up!" The voice of Deniel was fierce, and filled with rage as well as frustration and annoyance. It was a side of him Raven hadn't seen before, but most definitely one that existed. His threat was enough to temporarily stop the man's movements, as well as his screams, but his heavy breath still filled the air and ceased the temporary silence created by it. Realizing that he was with two friendly faces, he took a moment to moisten his dry mouth to call out: "PLEASE! YOU HAVE TO HELP US!" Perhaps another professor...or a person responsible for digging. His outfit was much more built for digging and field work rather than lab work. While Lawrence had a white coat on, signifying that he was a professor...this one had a different build.

Obviously, since he was responsible for some of the digging, his build was a lot more muscular than Lawrence, and his outfit seemed to be something a worker would wear. Heavy clothing to protect from any unfortunate accidents, but also light enough to move around in. "Well...we found a digger. We know what's going on, and we're on our way to help. A professor Lawrence escaped, but what can you tell us about these creatures? We'd like to know what we're up against."

Notes

Raven stared at the man still breathing on her chest. If it wasn’t for the fact that she was being supported by Deniel, the woman would have killed the man on her already. But she was red; redder than any other rose. And then she felt Deniel push her up to regain her balance and before long, the man on her chest was pulled away from her. Thank God, she sighed, I didn’t want to murder a guy that was almost dead already. Instead, she childishly pulled her shirt back into its place and directed a spine chilling glare towards the cowering man.

Apparently, he was a digger from the group of people that invaded the mountain.  He had his workers uniform on which was stained with dirt and mud, what a pathetic picture he painted, Raven thought as she still regarded the man with her glare. She had a feeling that he wasn’t the type of person who would cower in front a girl’s glare on normal situations. In fact, he probably would have taken their earlier “situation” as an achievement. But whatever he saw up in the mountain had shaken him pretty badly; to the point that he was shaking like a leaf in front of Raven despite his strong built.

Unlike the professor, this guy took longer to process their question in the head. Raven’s glare probably didn’t help the cause much either. In the end, he was on his knees in front of Raven, taking huge breaths to fill his greedy lungs. She managed to get his appearance in her head then. Shaggy hair, pale yellow eyes and a masculine built. That’s all he had. She could smell the faint scent of blood on him which meant that he did get injured during the process of flying for his life.

“I…I don’t know much,” he finally began, still cowering from Raven’s eyes, “The professors were telling us to dig…we were going to get paid really well so we kept it up and then….and then we came in contact with something hard”. He took a deep breath, still struggling to hold a decent conversation with the winds in his throat against him. “They were…we couldn’t figure out what they were at fist but they looked like insects…they….they were coming out of pods after pods and then..then…blood,” and he grew silent. It wasn’t very helpful but a few questions in Raven’s mind were already answered. Firstly, they really were up against some type of insects; secondly, there are plenty of them; thirdly, some lives had already been lost. But there were survivors and that’s what counted the most. She couldn’t see what expression Deniel made since her back was to him and she was kneeling down to hold the man from falling down. He was about to faint, Raven thought and began to shake him. “Hey, stay awake, we need you to lead us to where you discovered these pods. We need to see if there are any more survivors. Oi!”…

"..."

Not good. He watched as he fell to his knees and began to breathe heavily in front of Raven, as if he had just went through a triathlon. He also noticed the color and look in his eyes; he may have believed another time that his eyes were naturally yellow, but given the level of fear that he had been experiencing, it seemed highly unlikely. Perhaps he had been struck with so much fear that his eye color changed...or he could just be over looking it. And then he began his story, much like how Lawrence told them when they began digging and felt something hard, but unlike Lawrence...he provided an extra detail. One that would change Deniel's look on his forever. insects. Upon hearing that word, the world around Deniel seemingly froze. A small drop of sweat from his hair reached down to his forehead, as his rapidly increased. He could hear each beat ringing in his ears, and blood rushing to his head and through his entire body. He had been hoping it was anything but insects...but now he was told otherwise.

He was unable to even hear the rest of the worker's story, not that there was much left of it anyway, but now Deniel was in a complete state of fear that he was. The world around him was no longer frozen, and his pulse seemed to rush faster and faster than before. Fear took a grip on his mind and his body. His hand had lightly begun to shake, but to quell it he clenched his fingers into a fist. There was no way he could show something like this to another Guild Master! He had a reputation to maintain! Closing his eyes tightly to cease his actions and perhaps gain control of himself, Deniel attempted to calm his body's reaction down. Slowly but surely his rapid pulse had died down, his hand no longer quivered in fear, and the look on his face returned to its casual and informal look. He had hoped Raven wasn't able to witness him in such a state, and that she were too focused on the digger. Getting back into reality, he looked down to see that he was about to faint, and Raven was shaking him in an attempt to keep him up. "It works better if you do this..." Deniel finally said as he got down on one knee just beside Raven and in front of the digger, and gave him a good old backhand to the face! Of course the Guild Master didn't use all of his strength, else there might have been something more serious than a red mark on the man's cheek, but his slap was enough to get him awake, and fairly angry at him. "H-HEY! W-Wh-What was that for!?" They got his attention again. Raven's suggestion about him leading them to it was something that could help them but...unnecessary.

"I think it's best we let him go back, Raven. He's seen enough." He stared at the woman for a moment before returning his glance to the digger with shaggy hair. "Listen, there is a safe place not too far from here, but we need you to tell us something: where are survivors? If any? And...where were these pods?" He began to shake and quiver in fear once more. Thoughts about the insects rushed into his head, tearing apart and murdering some of his closest team mates and friends. He didn't want to remember it. Hungrily licking his dry lips taking in a shaky deep breath, he looked back up at the two Guild Masters, "I-If there are any survivors they should be in parts of the cave, or attempting to seek shelter in our research facility just outside. The insects may have already broken through or...they stopped caring. Y-Y-You can....find....you can find the pods in our digging site, you can't miss it, deep within...not like anyone can get that far. They're...they're....oh God! What have we done!?" There was that word again. Insects. There was almost no doubt in Deniel's mind that they couldn't be, but still some part of him didn't want to believe it. The part that had an unnatural and intense fear of such creatures.

Satisfied with the answer, Deniel held the shaky limbs ascend back on to his two feet, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder. At the very least he deserved some friendly treatment after what he had been through. "Take the path down this mountain and then head west into the forest. You'll find a campsite, and then there will be a stage in the center. Knock beneath it and say that Deniel and Raven sent you, and hopefully they'll let you in." Shivering once again all he could do was nod, before Deniel let go of him, and he took off like a rocket. Either he was faking it the whole time, or fear was driving him to get out of the vicinity of the mountain as fast as possible. Regardless he left Raven and Deniel alone once more, and the Eclipse Soul Guild Master stared at her for a moment. "Well...there's that. Now hopefully the rest of the scientists and diggers survived...some at least."

Notes

"..."

Raven's question was something that was also occupying Deniel's mind. What were these insects--although he had still hoped they were not so--doing all the way out here and inside of a mountain nonetheless? "I wonder that, too..." he stated shortly after as he followed her. His voice was now much more cold and serious before, but that was because of the fear that lingered inside of him. The fact that they were insects was still on his mind, and it gave him no reason to act like the child that he most often was. He stared down at the ground for the most part, with his eyes looking as if he were in a state of deep thought and consideration, but a positive one. Fear had taken a grip on him. And this fear distracted him from all over things, including the path that they trod. He took no heed to the darkness or the silence, in fact all they did was sink him deeper into his fearful thoughts. One thing that had occurred more often with these insects was his fear of their appearance, probably the most frightening thing Deniel found about such creatures. And the fact that the professor and the digger referred to them as "monsters" did not help.

Despite his lack of concentration, he did notice when the Sabertooth Guild Master came to a halt, and so did he. He glanced up at what had stopped her, and the mouth of a caved closed off in darkness was right before him. Of course he had no fear of such things....but Raven's sudden cease of movements caused him to question whether or not she was. He was about to simply walk ahead of Raven and lead the way, but instead she--ironically--sent a raven inside to scout it out. "You really do live up to your name..." he stated, rather bluntly, but he followed it up with a joke as he tailed behind her inside. "What are you gonna' do? Turn into a giant raven and start pecking and eating these insects? Hahah..." He quickly made his way ahead of Raven, and for a good reason that he was about to showcase why. His eyes had a very unique, controllable, but also non-magical ability. The dark path ahead of him and Raven was soon lit up with a mysterious red glow, with objects becoming visible in the dark red light. The source of the light was none other than Deniel's irises. The darker the atmosphere and environment surrounding him is, the brighter his eyes may glow, to the point where they could be used as guiding lights such as now. Of course he had the ability to simply not use it, as he had done thus far, but now he deemed it necessary.

The dark red lights pointed themselves to the surroundings of the cave, picking out inanimate objects such as rocks, on the ceiling and on the floor, oddly shaped figures that were simply shadows, and...more rocks. "This is a natural cave," he stated, coldly and quietly, but still enough for it to echo, "This probably leads deeper into the mountain, and further up. Perhaps we'll reach the dig site when we come across the other side." He had no idea if how long he and Raven had walked, but luckily for them it was a straight line for the most part. And when the light of the moon could be seen on the other site...they reached the dig site. Or what had remained of it.

The cave that Deniel and Raven had ascended through was on higher ground than the dig site. As if in the center of the mountain, or perhaps a depression in it, the dig site was on a lower elevation than when they had entered, with a natural path leading down into the very small valley. And in this valley was blood and corpses. Blood stained the stones, tools, and devices that the professors and diggers alike used, as well as their corpses. Some of then had been torn in half, ripped to shreds, and bashed in. It was quite a brutal scene, but nothing to faze Deniel. He wasn't so sure about Raven, however. On the far side of the depression, there was a man-made cave with plenty of corpses and claw marks made out of it, as well as heavy footprints, and much more blood than any other area. That was the cave that they had dug through to awaken the insects...but where were they? The answer came very shortly to him as he looked to the left. Far away from the unnatural cave was a large building, heavily fortified and structured, with scratch marks, dents, and saliva spilled on all of it. Despite all of that, it still held itself up.

As Deniel and Raven entered the depression, something noticed them. Something that was lurking in the darkness of the cave, far away from them. It was gnawing on a corpse, and when it saw the two of them enter, it silently scurried right back into the cave.

No longer requiring the glow, Deniel dimmed his own lights down, and scanned the area once last time. "Vicious little things, I must say..."

Notes

"..."

It wasn't what Deniel had expected either. Given the reaction of Lawrence and the digger, it was almost as if the scene had happened only moments ago. However, given the nature of the blood on the corpses, something like this had to have happened hours ago. Most of it had started to dry up, and decomposers had begun to take their place. Raven got ahead of him and had begun to head down towards the structure that lay within the dig site. Deniel noted several tools lying around, particularly near the corpses of diggers, which meant they were attacked while they were digging. That matched up to the story Lawrence and the digger had told them. Like Raven, however, he had on his mind the reason for the departure of the insects. Where exactly where they at this time? They couldn't have gotten out of the mountain, else Raven and Deniel would have seen them very easily, and why did the cease their attack? That structure didn't appear as if it were going to hold up for very long.

Very soon with the trip Deniel and Raven had within the depression did a series of daggers almost impale themselves within the Guild Master's skull, narrowly passing by her nose. Deniel made no comment about it at first, but instead looked for the source. Raven asked for an explanation when the two of them figured out the source, but Deniel didn't really think they needed one. They were pretty much going to be told the same story--or so he thought--about how they were digging, they stumbled on pods, blah blah blah blah. The person who concealed themselves from sight away from Deniel and Raven still remained in the shadows, perhaps not trusting the two of them yet. "We were--" Deniel frankly had enough of the story, and he didn't know why Raven needed more of it. He shoved past her and swiftly approached the figure, interrupting him: "Yeah, yeah, we've heard that one before. You know where the Hell those insects are? And where are the scientists? And who the Hell are you throwing knives at us? Does she look like a giant bug to you!?"

A brief moment of silence passed, and for a second Deniel thought that he screwed up. Regardless he didn't have any regrets, all he got so far was vague and uninteresting stories, one of them told twice in a row. And perhaps if he got specific with the questions he could get answers. "Shortly after we hit the first pod and investigated, that's when we discovered the chasm filled with thousands of them. Unfortunately for us...finding them had awakened them. I am the vacant protector of this dig site but....I can't handle all of those things by myself. The rest of the team is inside of that structure, and while most of them are too scared to get out, two of them managed to escape. I'm assuming you ran into them."

That was one part of the mystery solved, how Lawrence and the digger got away and why. Deniel nodded in response, and the mysterious figure went on to piece together the rest of it. "The monsters have retreated for now, but they will certainly be back. I think they have some sort of queen, or hive lord, and they are merely being given orders and directions as to what to do. They only killed us because we disturbed them. However...they probably have some grand scheme. They'll be back. Soon enough."

Notes: Sorry this one is kind of short...

"..."

Raven questioned why they had all bothered to stay here, and Deniel had done the same in his own mind. He glanced both of his eyes at her for a moment before looking back at the protector of these said scientists and diggers. Perhaps the reason they were staying is because they were too afraid to move...they were trapped. If they had stayed inside of the building, it could surely fall in another attack. And if they attempted to escape and they returned...they had no where to run to. Deniel closed his eyes and smirked, thinking to himself about how fortunate these men inside must be. If fate did exist, it surely was kind to them. Perhaps not to those already dead, but were it not for the two showing up at this particular moment, then the rest surely would be. This twist of irony had amused him so much that he practically forgot for a moment that he was dealing with bugs...the one creature that he feared the most. And an entire swarm of giant ones, nonetheless.

He silently followed Raven inside of the unstable building and took a look around him. All around him, men were cowering and quivering in fear of what had just happened to them perhaps hours ago, and what could happen to them. Most had not noticed the presence of Deniel and Raven, so despair was still deep within their hearts. Ignoring them for the time being, he seated himself beside the fellow Guild Master, and listened to her intently. She suggested that Deniel and herself should use aerial combat, which was something he could agree on. The last thing he wanted to do was destroy the mountain, and he showed his ability to cut through solid stone with his sword, and he hadn't even used all of his strength. And perhaps it was the best idea for the rest of the team to move out, but there was the fact that they could be attacked at any moment. How were Deniel and Raven supposed to protect every last one of them? He had no doubt in his mind that the two could take on a swarm of bugs, regardless of their size, however protecting people at the same time would severely increase the difficulty. There would surely be casualties if they were assaulted.

"Well, one more thing..." Deniel folded his hands and glanced towards the person who had given them the information thus far, "Not all of them are capable of flight. So you will have to fight in the mountains sometime. I've seen it myself, and some of them even have the ability to burrow underground and move."

Great. Just great. That made things ten times more complicated for the two of them. Initially Deniel was going to suggest they get all of them up in the air somehow, and hopefully distract them...but that would work. That's when an idea occurred to Deniel....the hive lord. The person mentioned earlier that they had returned to a queen or a hive lord, and that meant the hive lord was crucial to them. If they were endangered..."I've got it!" Deniel abruptly stated after thinking about the situation for some time.

"We'll go after the hive lord first, perhaps infiltrating their nest. If we manage to attack them, perhaps they will call the insects to their aid. And if they are too focused on Raven and I, then that will give you guys plenty of time to escape. And once they have, Raven..." He turned to Sabertooth's Guild Master, and cracked a smirk as well as his knuckles, "We'll be able to finish these things off once and for all. We just need to stall them long enough."

Notes

"Damn bugs."

"Let's go as soon as possible. I'd rather we get this done before they decide to return. Who knows how much time we have..." Deniel stood up straight and tall, attempting to put on a face that spoke of heroism and fearlessness, while the inside of him was trembling with fear. He had just volunteered himself to walk right into their nest and hive...of creatures he would no doubt be fearful of beyond belief. He was sacrificing his pride more than anything, but the lives of these men were far more important. He opened the door to the structure, letting their mage lead them out and away. They all moved very swiftly, and kept low to the ground while also looking around in not just alarm, but also disgust and remorse at their fallen comrades. Some of these men were friends to those who had died...and it pained them to see their corpses beneath their feet as they walked out alive. Still consumed with fear they all made their way to the exit that Deniel and Raven had entered, and as they did so, once all of them had exited the building, Deniel stared at the entrance to the cave. The man-made entrance which corpses surrounding that area more than any other.

Suddenly he felt his fear escape him for rage, controllable, but rage nonetheless. He remembered once when he disregarded human lives as if they were nothing, but he had changed. Perhaps less than a year ago...but the change had occurred. And now, he stared right into what seemed like the jaws of a beast, that contained a brooding evil and dangerous force. The stench of the blood for the corpses of the scientists filled the air more than anywhere else in the depression. Quite silently, and at a steady pace, he made his way towards the cave. One fist was clenched tightly around the scabbard to Nidhogg once more. The fear entered him once more, with butterflies in his stomach, but he could also feel his fake pulse of blood rushing into his head and arms, echoing in his head with every beat. He didn't know what he would do once he and Raven met face to face with these monsters, but his hopes were placed on Raven having a plan of some sorts. The last thing he wanted to do was look into the eyes of these beasts, see their disgusting insect-like bodies, and their wings...their hideous wings. Possibly the part of bugs he had feared the most. The rattling sound that they made, their capabilities of flying into his face and on his smooth pale skin so suddenly. It made Deniel cower in fear, perhaps in a more humorous way than what most would expect "fear" to be, but fear nonetheless.

As he and Raven entered the cave, past the corpses, they would see that it was quite enlarged by unnatural means. Not necessarily from the digger's tools, but rather the insects. Deniel guessed what had happened was only a few insects actually got out of the cave, and most merely stopped just before they had exited to retreat back into the hive. So, abruptly, the size of the tunnel went from being able to hold three people or perhaps more in width, to an entire row of twenty people or so. Claw marks and rugged walls surrounded the two of them. Just as Deniel did with the cave earlier, he used his glowing eyes to guide Raven and himself through. Even though they were no longer at the entrance, and getting quite deep into the cave, several corpses still stained the walls and floor. Echoing down the cave, Deniel heard the cry of one of the insects. A very high-pitched, inhuman and bile filled grunting noise that made Deniel's spine shiver, but still made him attempt to keep his strong image. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid!

Notes

"Damn bugs."

A very deep gulp of saliva went down Deniel's throat once the scream had ended, and once more he could hear the blood pounding through his body once more. "Very close, I'd suspect..." Deniel muttered, almost underneath his breath. Fear had tightened its grip around him further and further. He even froze for a moment just to gather himself together before continuing. Above all else, he still wanted to at least try and appear to be fearless so that maybe he could fake it until he and Raven had to do...something! It was a dumb plan by him, and he brought himself in his mess. He was quickly regretting his decision, and perhaps thought it would have been better for him to simply tell Raven of his fear of insects. However, it was far too late for him to tell Raven anything, for they had reached the hive.

There was a much larger entrance torn right open by claw marks that lead straight into it, and upon entering, Deniel and Raven would see the ceilings and walls swarmed with them. The most common were giant larvae, each appearing to be as large as a grown man, with a worm-like shape and several very tiny limbs to carry their bodies. They squealed and made high-pitched noises, and were in almost countless numbers. Immediately after seeing them Deniel froze in his tracks, completely silent, but that was not the end of it. The so-called "carriers" were also crawling around in small ditches and fissures all along the floor of the cave that contained the hive, carrying larvae with them perhaps to separate locations. There were also a large number of pods on the ground, split wide open for the insects to escape. Right in the center of the cavern, were four very large insects with scythe-like limbs, and one of them let out a screech to the other insects, the exact same one that Deniel and Raven had heard earlier. So they found out the source of it, and it didn't seem like any of the insects took notice to the two new people that had entered.

But all of that was about to change.

Unable to hold in his disgust and fear of such monstrous creatures, too similar to the tiny creatures he had disgusted, Deniel's eyes twitched momentarily. He tried as hard as he could to hold it in, but could not. Out of no where he opened his mouth while dropping to his knees and grabbing on to his hair, and let out a scream of absolute terror. A simply way to put it was high-pitched, "screaming like a little girl", and as he did all of the activities in the Hive ceased. Deniel's voice echoed through the hive, which was given light by small cracks in the ceiling so Raven and him could see what would be happening. The larvae still moved, but made no sounds, the carriers beneath them ceased their actions, and each of the four hive lords stared straight into the direction of Deniel and Raven, as his screams didn't stop. "NOOO! GO AWAY! GO AWAY! THEY'RE HIDEOUS! AHHH--"

Notes

"..."

The only sounds that filled up the cavern were the high pitched screams of Deniel, and the movements of the larvae all around it, but no other sounds came from them. Deniel couldn't even hear Raven over the sound of his own scream, and even after he had finished it, he still remained on his knees with very heavy breaths escaping his lips. Drops of sweat came down his forehead, and he could feel his pulse racing. Despite the fact that he extinguished some of his fear through the scream, plenty of it still remained, and worse yet the Hive Lords were looking straight into their direction. In just one move Deniel managed to mess up the entire plan he and Raven had, as well as them attempting to sneak in. Just one hiss from the Hive Lords, and the entire hive could be coming after to devour the two. They appeared to be helpless, especially for Deniel at the moment, as he lay there in silence with his head bowed down and fear lingering inside of him. For the first time in almost his whole life: he didn't know what to do. There was no way he could face those insects without fear getting in the way of him. He remembered when he once did a job where there were giant insects, but their appearances were not as monstrous as these ones. Staying silent for several moments, each Hive Lord then turned to several large Tank insects and gave them a brief hiss.

These large, and very bulky bugs rattled their enormous wings in response, and then began to head straight for Deniel and Raven. Deniel could not even notice, for he was too busy staring at his own legs, hunched together on their knees like a weakling. At first he felt as if he could not do anything, until a very familiar voice echoed in his head, "Get up, cry-baby!" Or rather he thought it was in his head, but it was said aloud so even Raven could hear, but it seemed to have no source. Whatever it was, it triggered Deniel. The word "cry-baby", and the voice were all too familiar for him, and it was as if this person was someone who Deniel dearly hated. For in this small bit of hatred he held for them, there was a sudden explosion of extremely powerful Magic Power. For the first time since seeing Raven, he let all of it loose rather than hiding it, and it was devastating. Either she would have to shield herself with her own, or hide from it. From his body suddenly burst an enormous quantity of a red aura energy, as red as his own two eyes, which he referred to as "Unholy Energy". And there was no mistake that it was. With such a large amount, behind him the cave was flooded with it until it burst out of the mountain like a brief volcanic eruption, and inside of the cavern, the part of the ceiling Deniel and Raven were under had its larvae incinerated by the sheer force of it all. And in front of them it was enough to bring the tanks to a halt, not wanting to risk being caught in it all.

All of this terror lasted for only a few seconds, before all of this Magic Power vanished just as quickly as it had appeared. Standing in place of Deniel was a very fearsome creature that could strike terror into any weak willed person's heart. It was covered in black layered scales, two inches taller than Deniel from the boots that it wore, and its eyes were pure red. Claws clenched themselves into fists, along with a horned crowned atop his helmet with a red jewel in the center. The boots that Deniel wore now went all the way up to his knees, with yellow spikes coming off of small pieces of armor at the knee area. On his right shoulder was small, but effective pieces of shoulder armor. Strangely enough, the wings on his back were almost exactly like a bug's. Two pieces of black caprice scales, one on each shoulder, came off of his back to partially covered up four total insect-like wings. These wings rattled for a moment, before the monster carried its pure red eyes over to the hive lords, before calmly walking over to them. It could also be noted that the katana Deniel carried was no longer a katana. A large, monstrous broadsword lay sheathed on his back.

As he walked to the Hive Lords, the tanks simply let him pass by, parting themselves away to give him room. Whether it was out of fear or sudden respect would be unknown. As Deniel approached the Hive Lords, the one in the very front gave the same hiss that it did when Deniel and Raven had entered, but altered it slightly. No longer feeling intimidated, Deniel took in a brief bit of breath, before letting out a roar in response. The roar was monstrous, and unlike any other, and it echoed through the cavern even as he finished it. The Hive Lord hissed right back at him, a longer one this time, only to have Deniel respond with a louder and much more savage roar. Leaping away from its platform in the center of the room, and towering right above Deniel at an enormous height, the Hive Lord kept on hissing, only to have it returned by the roars of Deniel. The Hive Lord lowered itself to where its head was almost at the same height as Deniel's, giving one more brief hiss. Deniel snarled, and made a biting motion almost like a dog who had been threatened. And surprisingly enough, it spoke: "Trespassing you are!" The voice of the Hive Lord was very raspy and saliva filled, not really much to of a surprise. But Deniel's? It was much deeper, and perhaps calmer, but gave the thread of exploding in a rage once more. "My apologies." The Hive Lord hissed once more, but the stern Deniel did not even so much as flinch. "No mood for humor I am! Come have you why?" The Hive Lord's sentences appeared to be reversed, but Deniel could still understand them, "I was curious. What exactly are you? What are you planning? And why did you kill all of those men?"

"Gaaah! Plans concern you not. 'The Hive' we were called by humans a time ago. Trespassing men did, killed them did we." Suddenly grabbing on to the greasy face of the Hive Lord, Deniel pulled it in close for it to stare at his rage filled eyes. It hissed for a moment, and the tanks appeared as though they would attack him at any second. "You slaughtered innocents. You shall pay for that!" Almost as if trying to imitate laughter, the Hive Lord let out a brief burst of saliva filled breaths. "Innocent they are not. Human you are not. Care so much why? Join the Hive you should do." Suddenly raising his clawed hand, Deniel brought it right down on to the face of the Hive Lord, cutting straight into its eye and leaving a gash on its skin, "I will do no such thing! You and your Hive will all be slaughtered today!" Scratching it once more, Deniel left to grave wounds right on to its face before he broke out into a sprint back at the entrance, "Come on, Raven! I think we could draw them out again!" Behind Deniel and Raven the Hive Lord he had hurt was making some pain induced hissing noises from the wounds Deniel had given him, with one of its eyes now completely lost. "Get them! Slaughter them! Devour them we shall!"

Notes

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