Biotheurge 03 Hatching

Dritanys wondered briefly, watching the candidates and Chosen walk into the Cavern ahead of their ushering Custodians, if any of them noted the lack of feeding tables. It was hard to say. Most of the crowd seemed more concerned with keeping an eye on the Balespawn that walked among them and giving him a wide berth.

The Balespawn candidate already seemed to be full-grown, but she tried not to let this bother her. She had to trust that none of the species would go against their mother's declaration not to harm the ship and its population--even if Anathema herself seemed to enjoy toeing the line. Dritanys scanned the crowd of candidates far below her upraised perch, now wondering if Anathema had followed this spawn of hers to the hatching as well.

The Cavern sands were absolutely littered with eggs. Dritanys had commanded Kednati to be lax about her cullings this time, since the Atra Mons Beast species they were descended from was notorious for the natural cullings that occurred at each hatching. There were even more eggs than had been crafted for Anathema's clutch, in a varying mix of sizes, and with far more of the smaller varieties than the larger ones. Dritanys had forgone preselecting which eggs she wanted to be marked with a Charm-rune this time, fully intending to take her pick of the survivors instead.

As she had learned that they would, the smallest of the eggs hatched first, releasing a wave of creatures designated as "Basics". Such a fascinating thing, how Beasts came in thirty distinct physical configurations of heads, wings, legs, and tails, each type designated with a number and the types grouped together in six sets of five. The Basics were mostly snakelike beasts, sometimes winged and sometimes possessing a set of legs like an Infernal's front pair of limbs--walking on two with a connected pair of "arms" held off the ground--though some were wingless four-leggers. All of them carried a fearsome array of spikes, from a thorny crest about the head to a line of blades down the tail, leading up to a poisonous tail-barb.

Rather pretty, really. The colors on their hides were subtly swirled and mottled with variations on a single main color, and their spikes and scaled bellies were either a glassy obsidian black or a gleaming metallic gold. The gold shade was a purely magical induction, coming neither from the Infernal Kakorana--who towered eagerly at one side of the Cavern--nor from the corpse of the Beast whose genetics had been the other constituent. Some artistic lab-mage had simply gotten creative.

Dritanys perked up interestedly as many of the hatchling Basics immediately turned on one another, their piercing shrieks of hunger echoing all about the Cavern walls. Sibling turned on siblings in an unguided frenzy, the weaker finding themselves torn apart by the stronger and becoming breakfast for the rest. Some of the candidates milled restlessly, watching, though none seemed particularly frightened by the proceedings. That was appropriate. That meant the Seekers had found the strong wills Dritanys had demanded.

Suddenly the next wave hatched, releasing significantly more heads and tails into the fray, all of them upon quadruped bodies. These would be the "Greaters". Too late, the Basics realized their precarious situation, forgetting one another and attempting to bolt. A two-legged Mud (which meant a brown) was at the head of the pack, but only a handful of others managed to follow in her wake. The rest seemed to think they had a better chance of standing and fighting--alternately, the Greaters pounced upon them so quickly they didn't have a chance to flee.

The fleeing Mud and those who sought to emulate her, all of them pursued by more Greaters, brought the frenzy to the candidates. Suddenly it was Beast and bonder in danger of becoming breakfast's next course, all while the next wave of hybrids broke shell. Hybrids classed as Soldiers, flaunting even more numerous limbs, turned upon Basic and Greater alike and dove into the midst of the candidates with eager screeches.

::This is going to be one hell of a clean-up,:: Chiaki remarked blandly.

"It's more interesting this way," Dritanys replied, leaning upon the stony rail. "Firsthand observation of the subjects. Look, the candidates can even fight back."

She pointed out a burly, armored human man. As she watched, he caught a leaping Basic by the neck and the bloody serpent ceased thrashing once the man shoved its jaw in entirely the wrong direction, snapping its fragile infant spine before tossing the body aside, where others quickly took advantage of the easy meal.

Another man, human-seeming at a distance, proved he was no stranger to killing in the quick wieldings of a small blade. (Candidates could hold on to any weapons they owned, just as long as they never got used on a Fate native.) A dark purple beast had apparently figured out such a man made a better bond than a meal and gleefully threw itself at attackers, its three heads and barbed tails making quick work of smaller beasts.

Other overeager Beasts had met their end on the claws and fangs of a candidate they'd mistaken for one of their own, the spiny bond of the Balespawn. Others still found that the small, catlike candidate was not a furry little morsel and discovered they were the ones getting their throats torn out when they tried to pounce on him.

Of course, some of the candidates did get pulled down by the ravenous beasts, though it wasn't for lack of putting up a good fight. After all, the fourth wave of Imperials had joined the fray. Though none of the hatchlings were terribly big, they still had more heads and poisonous tails than many creatures would know what to do with. It was only expected some of the candidates would lose against a creature that outnumbered them even when things were one-on-one.

As long as enough candidates survived to take the excess creations of Dritanys's many hands, that was all she cared about.

In the midst of the bloody skirmishings, pairings seemed to be figuring themselves out. A small Black (the only straightforward color) serpent had leapt into a small girl's arms, while a demon with far too many wings defended the both of them. Not that the girl was helpless. A fleshless clutter of bones near her feet attested to that.

In another part of the melee, a three-header and a winged snake had, somehow, come to the mutual defense of some sort of cat-woman, though now and then the serpent had to dodge the gnashing teeth of its "ally" as well. A scrawny Aigard man, previously avoided due to the sickly and disgusting mutation that had once been his right arm, similarly found himself with the companionship of a glossy grey "Coal", though there wasn't much to defend him from when he looked anything but tasty.

A small Basic, somehow lucky enough to still be alive, threw itself upon a weak-looking, furred and feathered woman with a shriek. Before it could do more than maul her a bit, however, a wingless obsidian-Black seized the Basic in one of its four heads and tore it off of her. Suddenly the smaller serpent went tame and, inexplicably, the Imperial spared it. When both started standing guard over the injured alien, it was not so inexplicable after all.

Perhaps the most oddly-colored beast, an Imperial who seemed to have a hide mottled with red and purple (which made it a Blood-Poison) fell in beside a tall and slender woman. It was hard to say if it was really protecting her or if its path of carnage had just deposited it there, but it certainly didn't try to attack her directly. Kakorana, who had been watching over the woman attentively, seemed to be pleased by this.

There was even a two-headed Smog (that was a sort of blue or green) that seemed to have taken a liking to a much smaller Basic, defending the legged serpent as it cowered behind the more capable Soldier.

The next wave, that of the so-called Majestics, hatched and leapt into the fighting just when it seemed the combatants on the defensive were running out of attackers. With their weaker siblings being so rapidly culled and a fair littering of corpses piling up, the Majestics did not lack for an easy meal, but charging into violence seemed to be a much stronger instinct for these larger beasts than scavenging was.

It was now that the most capable of warriors--meaning the ones who had survived thus far without the aid of a beast-bond--among the candidates started finding bonds of their own. A beast of three heads and four lashing tails eagerly leapt to assist the many-winged demon in protecting his little pet, though it seemed far less interested in actually killing the other beasts as it was pinning them down and just making them hurt.

A large, goldish Oil was at last drawn to the armored man--who had twisted a great many more beast necks by now--though it strangely didn't seem much inclined to fighting. Another Majestic that lunged at the Oil was easily driven off by the barbs of the other's four tails, but otherwise it ignored the chaos around it. The wingless Slime (i.e. green) that slithered loyally at its side, however, looked to be more than eager enough to retaliate on any attacker, regardless of how much bigger it was than the serpent!

The most striking beast of the wave--a pure Black of the highest Majestic classification--was very purposefully avoided by the other beasts. Nevertheless, the Black made quick work of anything it decided looked like breakfast, while entirely ignoring the candidates.

The final wave was that of the Chaoses, of which there were only three: a gleaming Coal, a dusty grey Ash, and a crimson Blood, each with more limbs than the last.

The Chaoses did not turn on each other, but made quick work of the majority of weaker, unbonded beasts that still remained. The noise in the Cavern quickly died down, then, as none of the bonded sets was inclined to pick a fight with another pair of bonds. All the smaller, lower-ranked beasts stirred uneasily as the Chaos trio approached the candidates who remained, but the three had sated their hunger. All they craved now were their bonds.

Was it any surprise that the three deities on the sands called these greatest of beasts?

The feline who had effortlessly slew so many of its siblings drew the silver-black Coal, who actually seemed to stroll across the Cavern. There was no other word for that easy, relaxed kind of gait. The cat-deity at first bristled, expecting another fight, but then relaxed when he recognized the second bond he had sought.

The Ash went over to the creature who might have killed many more, but instead had only warped one. The writhing, dying thing at Taint Balechild's feet had been more than enough to persuade any other hatchling beasts from stupidly trying to attack him. The Ash, no less respectful of the great corruptive power, actually bowed its heads to the Balespawn, as if it were a Basic rather than a Chaos.

The last mighty beast, lacking only a single tail to keep it from being the most fearsome form of Chaos possible, approached the seeming "man" clad in armor even more cruelly spiked than the beast itself was. In the relative silence that had seeped in with the fading of battle, Dritanys could easily hear him laugh in dark delight.

The tycharis turned briefly towards Chiaki. "Did Cocytus ever say how he managed to Seek a god?" she asked.

The tall insectoid shook its head, shrugging.

Dritanys snorted, looking back down at the sands and putting the topic aside. With the bondings complete, there were still...she counted eight beasts milling about, unattached. Including the little two-legged Mud who had been the first to flee the second wave and who was...still running wide circles around the Cavern, as if it thought it was still being pursued.

"Eight. Too many," Dritanys grunted. "Chiaki?"

::Yes?::

"I want that Black, the darker Smog, and the little Blood it's been protecting this whole time. Purge the rest."

::As you wish.::

As Chiaki bowed its head, Dritanys turned away. "You know, we might need more clutches like this," she commented, just before stepping onto the portal-pad that would take her out of the Cavern. "This one actually wasn't boring."