Chapter One: Birth

A|N: This is inspired by East Bridge's The Zerg Swarm with some of the aspects of it. Roman Numerals are used in this, so here is a reminder if you don't know them. V is 5, X is 10, XV is 15, and XX is 20. IV is 5-1, so 4. All other groups are just I's leading up to three. This goes up to 50, which is L but let's not get into that since we won't be needing it.

He sat up, he didn't know where he was or who he was. He looked around his surroundings, trying to find out where his. He saw that this was a cave. It had two bedrolls, a clothing rack, some cooking pots, and a fire. The mouth of the cave was around 5 meters in width and 6 meters in height. He also found another human next to him.

His memories came back suddenly. He remembered. His name was Julian. The woman sitting next to him was his sister. He was in his home in the Wild. Her sister's name was Thea. Julian shook his head and tried to remember more. He was one of the many people that were unfortunate enough to not have a Magician or a sufficiently tiered Guardian in the family.

His mother died while trying to fight off the menace of this world. Most of this world's animals were Beasts. They were fearsome creatures, capable of ripping apart regular humans with ease. Even a Tier I Beast could take down a small group of people. They ranged from different species and had evolved into efficient killing machines. This world also had a name. It was Lua. Lua was a lush planet with lots of fields of grass and forests. Humans had barely taken a small of amount of the planet, the rest of it being controlled by the Beasts

Lua's power system was divided into Tiers. Most Magicians could grow to Tier XX. Normal folk could become Guardians if they grew into Tier X or if they were born lucky. Guardians are special because they can become Tier XXX. That would put them at the equivalent of a Tier XV magician. Beasts, on the other hand, could range from Tier I to Tier XV. The Beasts didn't grow power, the Tier depended on the species. A maxed tier magician could fight of one Tier XV Beast. A maxed tier Guardian could only fight and win against a Tier X Beast.

Thea was one of the lucky normal people because she was a Guardian. When Julian's mother died, he managed to run away with Thea while she was unconscious and their mother was trying to hold back the Beast. Julian remembered that day vividly. It was after all the day that they had become orphans. The Beast was a Shatter Horn. It was Tier II. It was more than a match for his mother, but she did what she could to protect her children.

Julian returned from his memories to see that Thea was waking up. He reached over and ruffling her hair, earning him a complaint from his sister. She grumbled that he was always doing that to him. She looked down to her stomach, which growled as she was hungry.

"I'm hungry, is there any food?" said Thea. She tried to stand up but she collapsed from the hunger. She wasn't eating enough and neither was he. He would need to take up the mantle of going outside to harvest some berries. Julian knew the dangers of leaving Thea alone in the cave. He decided that getting her food was worth his life. But he was wracked with worry as he told her that he was going to find some food for her and left the cave.

Julian wandered the forest, looking out for any kind of berry or fruit that may be hanging from the trees or bushes, but the thing he was looking for most of all was of Beast. Since he was a normal human If he encountered any Beast he would die.

His head erupted in pain, causing him to groan heavily. His heart was beating far faster than normal. A powerful thumping shook his head as he fell to the ground in agony. Before he blacked out, he saw something crawl into his arm.

He woke up on the forest floor facing up. He didn't feel any pain like before, but he felt something as he tried to get up. He couldn't feel anything and his body didn't obey him as he struggled to move. After a few attempts, he gave up. The thing that he felt was gone after a few moments, but then when he looked around, he found something far more dangerous.

The Beast roared as he ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction of it. As Julian looked back, he saw that the Beast chasing him was a Tier II Thorn Skin. It was one of the more versatile of the Tier II Beasts. Its thorns were so sharp that it could cut people if it touched you. It was also a very fast and agile Beast as it was able to jump around the trees and various rocks that impeded its path as Julian tried to lose the Thorn Skin. The Thorn Skin shot its thorns from the sides of its head and one of them hit Julian's leg. He cried out in pain as his leg muscles rubbed against the object lodged in his leg.

He gritted his teeth as he tore it out, causing his hands to bleed on the sharp thorn. He then felt a strange feeling in his hands. He hands suddenly glowed purple as he was running and then they started to emit a glowing aura similar to the color of his hands. He felt something take control of his mind as he turned around and faced the approaching Thorn Skin. His hand felt numb as lightning shot out of his hands and shocked the Thorn Skin.

"Take that you son of a b- "Julian shouted out right before the Thorn Skin crashed into him.

Julian fell to the ground as the Thorn Skin's underbelly went on top of him and he groaned in pain as the creature died from shock. He tried to shove it off but the thing was too heavy so instead, he tried to slide out from under it. With effort and a little time, Julian managed to get out from under the thing. He looked to his hands where the lightning crackled and the glow in his hands slowly left. After a minute the glow was gone entirely, leaving Julian mystified about where this new power had come from. He took a look around and saw that the cave wasn't that far off. Julian had run to a clearing nearby, about a mile or two away from the cave. The clearing was huge, being roughly a couple of miles in diameter. Julian dragged the corpse of the Thorn Skin to near the center of the clearing via the use of some nearby sharp stones. He stabbed the head of the Thorn Skin relatively easily with two rocks into a makeshift handle, with the Thorn Skin's head as the shaft.

It left a bloody trail and Julian hoped that there weren't any more Beasts nearby. He deposited the corpse onto the ground and looked around to see if there were any fruit trees or berry bushes. Julian felt a tingle at the back of his mind as he now felt something tug on his mind. The pain had started to creep into his mind as it invaded him, making him fall to the ground once more. Suddenly, it had just stopped. He sat up from the ground and felt something new.

Biomass: 100/1000

Overmind's Personal Biomass: 5/500

These statistics were strange and Julian didn't know the meaning of them. The Thorn Skin corpse had begun to glow while he was occupied with his headaches. Once he turned around and saw it, it started to pulsate with the strangely colored glow. Julian reached out to touch it and as soon as he did a thin purple membrane enveloped the corpse. The membrane grew and grew until it was the size of his cave, and the corpse of the Thorn Skin was beginning to disintegrate and new information had entered Julian's mind. His Biomass dropped down to 20 and his own personal biomass had gained a single point.

Julian started headed back to his cave, ashamed to be Thea's brother because he couldn't find any food for her. On the way back though he found a small bush that had some berries and he quickly took them all for Thea so that she didn't starve.

Thea was elated to see that Julian had brought food for them and that he was safe. Julian felt the same as he saw that his sister was happy. The children of this world barely experienced a good childhood. They were taught to survive and that was the main goal of their life. Julian sat down with Thea and watched over her as she ate. He took a small drink from one of their water skins before handing it to Thea, who drank a small amount as well. It was night now, and he watched as Thea fell asleep, and proceeded to do so himself.

Julian woke up as some new information had come to him in the morning. He felt that something large was near. As he started to get up to investigate, he woke up Thea.

"Where are you going?" yawned Thea "It's still morning."

"I'm heading outside, you can come if you want but I want you to be careful and safe. You understand?" asked Julian."

She nodded yes and began to trail Julian while staying close enough that she could run to him for protection. The two traveled together for a few more minutes before reaching the clearing where Julian had touched the Thorn Skin and it had begun to morph into something. When they got to the clearing, what they found shocked them.

A huge structure of flesh was in front of them, nearly twice the size of the morphing cocoon. 5 spires of bone sprouted from the top of the building. The flesh construct was similar to that of a pyramid, with it being more curved. It had a large entryway, large enough that a large boulder could easily fit inside. There was a purple substance surrounding it, covering about 50 meters in diameter. As Julian and Thea walked around it, they found 4 more entryways. The purple substance was named creep as Julian found it creepy because it constantly moved and seemed to be reaching for the sun, possibly gaining energy from it somehow.

An aura of calm enveloped Julian as he entered the building, with Thea clutching him like a little girl would a doll. Once they entered the fleshy construct and had reached a point where there was no light and that they were in total darkness the walls of it suddenly glowed purple, lighting the hallways of the building.

They followed the hallway until it forked into two different paths. Julian took the right path and it led him into an empty chamber full of green sacs and a pool of a green liquid. From the green pool emanated a mist that stung Thea's skin. Thea complained of some minor pains, an equivalent of a person scratching themselves. Julian ushered Thea out of the room and took one last look at the room before leaving. He would need to investigate this further.

As they continued to roam the halls Julian decided to see if there was new information. He found out that he had gained 10 more biomass overnight to his personal biomass and the general had gained 5 biomass. There was a greater change to his biomass than the general biomass, but that was to be researched at another date. They had entered another chamber that had nothing except some fleshy rods that protruded out of the building. He would need to give it a name, or else it would be annoying to keep calling it the building or a fleshy construct. He decided to name it the Hatchery since it had hatched from that cocoon.

When Julian thought that the rods had kind of looked like a bed the wall began to stretch and flow over the rods, turning them into beds. Julian marveled at this and questioned if this ability could apply to other parts of the Hatchery. As Julian tried to think about what to do next the Hatchery itself had responded. He felt a mental presence brush him as his mind had become its master. The Hatchery had submitted itself to him.

Julian and Thea emerged from the Hatchery, bathing them in sunlight and momentarily blinding them. As their eyes readjusted small wormy creatures had begun to make their way to them. Julian kneeled down and put his hand to one and watched as it slowly crawled up his hand. This interaction had set off a memory in Julian's mind, though not of his own.

Genomes Unlocked:

Drone – 3 Biomass

Zergling – 2 Biomass

Overlord – 20 Biomass

Julian returned from the memory and thought to the worm to become this "Zergling". It flopped onto the floor and began to curl up into a ball until the creep had begun to reach for the larva, encasing it in a solid cocoon. Thea watched in interest as she walked up to the cocoon and touched it.

"It's cold and hard. What is it?" Thea asked.

"I'm not really sure. But I think we are blessed to have these at our disposal. I think we should move into the Hatchery." Responded Julian.

"What's a hatchery?"

"It's the fleshy building right there. Last night, it had grown from the corpse of a Beast. I think it means that I'm the one to control it. It obeys my mental commands and I think that I am the leader of something. Something greater than what I was before."

As Julian finished his sentence the cocoon started to crack. It was a true spectacle, watching the Zergling hatch from its egg. The creature had two arm-like appendages, but they had scythes of keratin at the end of them. It had four legs like any other creature, but they had huge claws at their feet. It had a spikey tail that looked like a barbed arrow, and on its face, it had two tusks that were attached to the side of its face. All in all, it was a true beast of nightmares. Julian discovered that this creature was the totally devoted to him and him alone. He was the only one on this world that had this ability to create and control these creatures and he deemed it time to name said creatures. He decided to call this new race the Swarm.