Dehaka hissed as he watched another battle end, with the victor feasting upon the remains of the fallen. Change was instantaneous, with the survivor now growing more spines upon its back and its skin changed colour, from pale green to a rusty reddish hue. The Zerg roared, its victorious cry now echoing through the jungles of Zerus.

He nipped at the stump of what his left arm used to be. Ever since he lost it, he had been wondering exactly how long it would take for him to restore it. The other Primal pack leaders would scoff at his unwillingness to simply consume more to grow back the severed limb if they weren't interested in how good a meal he would make. Thankfully though, he didn't seem to be very tasty. The victorious Zerg had not yet spotted him. To a powerful Primal pack leader like Dehaka, this was easy prey.

Dehaka retreated back into the shadows of the trees, away from the victorious Primal. If it were any Zerg, it would have jumped at the chance of striking at the creature in its arrogance, felling it with a surprise attack and then feasting upon its essence, growing stronger, growing greater.

But Dehaka was not any Zerg. No, he did not seek power or strength. Essence wasn't power to forcefully destroy one's enemies. It was the drop of newer possibilities within his very frame. His scales were thick, but they could still be ripped apart. Change will alter them, make them tougher, allowing him to live. His body was strong, densely packed with muscles. But muscles atrophied, even for a Zerg. Change would renew them, make them young again, keep them fit and strong.

Essence was change. Evolve and live, stay still and die. That was what Dehaka firmly believed. Thus, he kept his distance from the other creatures and focused more on finding newer essences for himself and his pack.

Still, Zerus had run out of many surprises for Dehaka. The only thing he killed long ago was a Swarm Host that had managed to evolve the ability to effectively create clones of itself. Dehaka was intrigued by the new essence and ended up devouring it. Since then, he had gone three weeks without any new prey to hunt. Zerus had seemingly dried up of all essences.

Something growled overhead. Dehaka looked up to see a flock of Primal Guardians race past, as if they were frantic about something. Dehaka growled, wondering what could have startled these flying Zerg. Deciding that it was at least worth the day, and that he was utterly bored, Dehaka raced through the undergrowth, intent on seeing this new commotion.

As he ran, he could now glimpse the massive form of a behemoth creature behind the canopy of the trees. Dehaka wondered where this creature could have come from, and what sort of essence lay within its very flesh.

Dehaka broke through the trees at last, and now he saw what he could describe as magnificent. The behemoth was too large to attack, it being almost the size of Zerus's largest mountains. However, it was the creatures surrounding it that he took interest in. Small, squat insectoid creatures skittered about upon a strange black goo, spitting out some sort of fluid that quickly dissolved nearby rocks. Serpentine creatures slithered about, their scythe-like claws slicing apart undergrowth and scaring off the nearby Quilgor.

He had never seen creatures like these before, but he instinctively knew they were Zerg. They smelled like Zerg, they looked like Zerg, though they didn't behave like Zerg.

Dehaka had known great detail of the corrupted ones, filthy versions of the Primals that had left Zerus aeons ago. But he had never seen them in person. Looking at them now, Dehaka's spirit leaped. Before him was a bountiful field of new essence just waiting to be claimed.

Then, a strange bloated creature floated down. From within its bowels, a person stepped out. Dehaka blinked in alarm. This creature was unlike anything he had ever seen. It did not have scales, but instead had what looked like a beige coloured skin. It had hands and legs, but they were straight, well proportioned. Its face was round, almost circular and from the crown, a mass of tendrils emerged, resembling hair. Its body was covered in grey that constantly flashed with orange lights.

And it was powerful. Dehaka watched as the remaining Zerg bowed before this creature, making way as she walked. This, he reasoned, was the leader of this pack, or whatever this group called itself. Its essence would indeed be one to savour.

As much as Dehaka was entranced, he knew charging headlong wasn't the way one stayed alive. He could bring his whole pack, and they still wouldn't be enough. But he wasn't willing to simply give up newfound essence.

By his observations, these Zerg had returned to Zerus, meaning they had access to other worlds, perhaps worlds were stranger creatures existed. And where stranger creatures existed, new essence could be found. How then, would he acquire it?

He should join, Dehaka reasoned. Ally himself and his pack with this new leader. He would follow so long as he could claim essence. Yes, that was a reasonable argument. He could of course use force, but that would only get him killed. He sensed the power lying dormant within this pack's leader and knew he would not stand a chance. The other Primals would see this as betrayal to their kind, but Dehaka was above such petty racial moralities. Change needn't just be in his body. It could also be in the path he led his pack down. Change the way they would live so as to survive, or stay the same and be destroyed by the new Zerg that had arrived.

"Essence flows. I follow. I change." Dehaka said to himself as he edged forwards for a closer look. He would observe first to see if it was worthwhile to follow this new pack. If it was, then the path of change was clear. The path to more essence, the path to survival.