Chapter 53: Ascending the Swarm


There were going to be a lot of changes for Kay and Virid's brood this time around. A little while ago, a visitor from the future had came back to the past to share vital information regarding the events of a future that could have been. In turn, she has shared various strategies that could prove to be incredibly detrimental to Gollog's empire, the Kiln Keepers, and even the time traveling Era Agency. And so, with this influx of data being transferred to his mind, Kay set himself to the task of mobilizing the zerg as quickly, and stealthily, as possible. He was a ghost in the past life, and his mind was augmented to become a spectre, so he planned to use that training for the benefit of the zerg swarm on Kiln.

Virid spent much of her time setting up several creep tumors, but she also had laid one creep tumor that she directed to spread the creep, helping to expand the creep field border and increasing the coverage over the ground. With more creep being generated, the resource tumor was able to absorb the ambient energy surrounding the creep to generate resources for the drones to collect.

It was a slow process for Virid, but the drones were becoming busier with each resource tumor that was created from the creep tumor clusters. Having another queen would double the morphing of resource tumors, but she knew that they are somewhat expensive to produce. With only six drones available, Virid knew that forming the hive cluster will take its time.

But the hatchery would slowly gain its bio-matter and accelerant, thanks to the extractor that was freshly morphed on the freshwater spring, and the carbonation extractor that was also morphed next to the hatchery. Those two new bio-structures would enable the hatchery to spawn a trickle of drones and overlords as time passed, as well as a plethora of other strains minutes later. As the creep extended its reach, the resource tumor was slowly producing more of its usable bio-matter. When another resource tumor had formed, the bio-matter production rate would double, enabling more drones to be spawned, and enabled more overlords to be created, provided that the creep had extended far enough to double that production rate of bio-matter in the first place.

Two overlords also assisted in spreading the creep, excreting a massive puddle onto areas where a new creep tumor will be grown on. The pneumatic carapace that the two overlords have grown enabled them to coordinate their movements as they assisted with spreading the creep as quickly as possible, which resulted in the furthered production of bio-matter that the resource tumors created.

Once a spawning pool had been morphed from a drone, the production of queens and zerglings were made achievable. A hatchery would be commanded to form a new queen from within the hatchery, which would help assist in doubling the production of resource tumors and creep tumors, furthering the production of more bio-matter. In quick fashion, the hatchery cluster was slowly becoming more self sufficient as it expanded and grew, producing drones and overlords in quicker rapidity, and making another queen to assist in developing the creep fields even further.

But the spore pod that Othafurn had brought with her was also to thank for the quickened pace of the swarm's growth. All previous passive mutations were carried over to this timeline, and every zerg strain was unlocked for the zerg to use to abuse their enemies with. The malignant creep, blightbringers, behemoths, leviathans, large and huge queens, virophages, bile launchers, defilers, guardians, the gilanian nanite antibodies, the regressing morph, changelisks, and many things before the reset of the timeline.

There were also three major sets of new mutational upgrades that were also added to Kay and Virid's brood, thanks to Othafurn that delivered the mutations within the spore pod, made by Corvurn Junior.

One of which was the mutations to further the attack and defense power of the zerg organisms. Apparently, Corvurn Junior had discovered that the zerg could further evolve themselves through the use of combining mutational redundancies. With the mutations that enabled cohesion of heavier and sharper elements to bond with many of the zerg strains' biological weapons and carapace, he saw that previous mutations could strengthen what already existed, and be 'merged' together. In essence, the highest attack and defense mutations that once overlapped and replaced its weaker upgrades could work in tandem with them. Ultimately, the attack and defense mutations have doubled in their effectiveness, which would bolster only the swarm further. To make matters worse for the swarm's enemies, Corvurn Junior had even found a way to double the chitinous plating that the ultralisks could acquire, making them even hardier monsters, and have also applied specialized attack and defense mutations for strategic bio-structures. It was a mutation that was meant for spine and spore crawlers, which also used the mutational redundancies, but it had the unintended side-effect of strengthening other bio-structures that also had a strategic battlefield advantage, like the bile launcher and the spore cannons.

The second set of new upgrades utilized the ability to produce biomass from slain enemies, which could be used to feed any zerg air strain to force-spawn a slightly weaker leviathan by the process of over-mutation, or the new strain that Kay was incredibly impressed with, yet feared to ever deploy. That new strain was the brutalisks, which looked like a zergling and a hydralisk had merged together, and then grew so large that it even dwarfed an ultralisk. If that mental image wasn't disturbing by itself, then their ability to also attack enemies that were in the air or on the ground would downright unsettle their enemies. Any ground strain could be force-fed biomass to over-mutate into the brutalisks, and Kay decided that the most likely candidates to turn into them would be the zerglings.

But alas, there were still other new zerg strains that had been delivered from the alternate timeline. The second strain that had came into Kay and Virid's brood was the symbiote strain, which could cling onto massive organisms and provide further protection to them, or shoot spines at nearby enemies. Apparently, they have a preference for crawling on the carapace of leviathans, and floating over the impressively enormous brutalisks. All that was required for their spawning was to have a massive organism near a hatchery as they spawn from a larva. The third strain was a type of immobile growth that consisted of tough tendrils and large protruding thorns that could cover over and disable structures, or create obstacles to deny entry into the passages it grew in. The zerg constriction also had carried the unexpected mutation that changed the creep tumors. Instead of a single creep tumor being rendered 'sterile' when it produces another creep tumor away from itself, it entered a gestation state that's similar to when a queen had first laid it. After the creep tumor 'primes' itself and becomes 'fertile' once more, it could create another creep tumor and enter the process all over again. Sadly, its re-gestation makes it detectable, but burrows itself into the ground once it 'primes' to send another creep tumor someplace else.

But by far the most impressive of the three sets of upgrades was the third set. It contained a passive, yet incredibly infectious disease that was designed to be counteractive against the most greatest attack that the zerg have never had a defense for. Kay couldn't believe it when he learned of its abilities, and he still couldn't as he kept on digging through the sand in the red cave, vibrating the sand into particles and turning them into something smaller than silt. He could just imagine the reactions on the faces of his enemies when they realized what he had acquired from the dead-end alternate timeline! And if he did see their expressions, then he would cherish them in his memories. Corvurn Junior found the method to develop an impossible counter to such a powerful weapon, and Kay felt sure that it would result in the zerg swarm becoming so much more powerful than they were before!

Once the hatchery had transformed into a lair, it later had two neighboring embryos as two more drones morphed themselves into hatcheries next to it. Several more bio-structures were morphed into existence as well, which ranged from a roach warren, a hydralisk den, a baneling nest, a scourge nest, an infestation pit, and a few spires. The other bio-structures, such as the greater spires, a couple more evolution chambers, the lurker den, the defiler mound, the nydus network, and the ultralisk cavern were next to be morphed. However, with the creep fields constantly expanding, resource production increased at an incredible degree.

'Virid, how is the daylight?' Kay asked, still busily tunneling through the sand in the cave system.

'It is the late evening. Why do you ask?' Virid replied.

'It sounds like we're making good on time. Okay Virid, send a queen and two drones to meet with me. After that, you need to prioritize on spawning a leviathan and getting a hive cluster made on the moon. Once that moon rises over the horizon, you and Othafurn need to warp three hundred and fifty thousand kilometers towards it. You can then fly to it normally once you get close enough. Be noted that it has no gravity, and you must rely on using its centrifugal force to keep yourselves grounded. The surface is too smooth to walk on normally, so I recommend spawning hatcheries and spreading creep to gain your footing.'

Virid hissed. 'It is irksome to know that you know things in the future. But you are also actively withholding information from the hivemind. How come you are not sharing this information with the entire swarm?'

'That is highly undesirable.' Othafurn added. Currently, she was in the confines of the ventral sacs of an overlord, having squirreled away within one a while ago. 'If we are to change the events of the past, which will cause unintended side effects that alters events in the future, it will make it more difficult to anticipate and adapt to the changes in the timeline.'

'I'll have to agree with Othafurn on this one.' Kay said. 'If we anticipated certain events as they happen normally, then we can expect every other event afterwards to change irrevocably. With that said, there is going to be some company that's going to visit our hive cluster soon.'

'Company? Of what kind?' Virid asked.

'They look like bipedal digitigrade lizards, with black and yellow scales. They'll be wearing silver and blue armor and bringing weapons for combating whatever they happen to find, and there will be about forty of them. They have been scouting this area for a while and it'll be tonight that they'll disembark to the center of the mountain's summit. I'm hoping that, if we have enough time, we can set up our hive clusters underground and on the moon before they get here. After that, we will create a network of underground hatchery chambers so that the zerg can escape from the surface.'

'Escape from the surface?!' Virid asked credulously.

'Yes. You and Othafurn will escape to the moon, while I stay under the sand. The underground environment will be infested and protected by the future hive cluster, and I will help direct the swarm to tunnel and make underground chambers for hatcheries and nydus networks. After the hive clusters on the moon and underground have grown big enough, all zerg organisms on the surface hive cluster will have to retreat underground. Many of the bio-structures can regress into drones, and then use a nydus network to escape. Some will have to use the cave to escape, and make sure that its passage is blocked by sand and zerg constriction. The resource tumors, the first hive, the nydus network, and the drones supplying it with bio-matter on the surface will have to be moved before that group of soldiers arrive. Thereafter, the drones and zerglings will have to destroy the resource tumors and retreat into the nydus network. The nydus network will have to be quickly destroyed by eight banelings, and the hive will have to be taken down by twenty three banelings.'

Virid found the tactic hard to believe. 'You want our swarm to attack itself?!'

'That's because it will take too long for the bio-structures to regress back into drones, and that the soldiers might get here sooner than we expected. I know it's hard to follow such commands, but please trust me, Virid. You don't want to fight the super weapons that the enemies of this world has.' Kay explained.

'... I will follow these orders. The last spire has evolved into a greater spire. We can create a leviathan now.'

'Very good, Virid.' Just as Kay finished his sentence, he discovered the wooden boards that entombed the hidden village, thanks to the memories of his future self. It was also at that moment when a queen and two drones had finally met up with him. 'Ah, the drones and queen is here! This is great! I'll take over the growth of the hive cluster down here. You focus on getting your asses to the moon.'

One of the drones had erected an embryonic bubble around itself, whilst the queen that joined with Kay had deposited four creep tumors that would morph into a resource tumor. The creep tumors that had been following Kay's sand-digging efforts had started growing into the underground chamber that he had intruded into. They ten began rapidly spreading into the underground village. Once the hatchery had formed, it already started to form another queen as each larvae that was born instantly formed a cocoon to turn into drones, overlords, and other nasty zerg monsters.

Thanks to the thin connection of creep that tied the hatchery in the underground village to the hive cluster on the surface, the swarm could share resources between the two locations. As one queen popped out of the hatchery, another soon began forming inside it. The two queens helped double the resource tumor production, while newly formed overlords, having room to float in the massive underground chamber, assisted with spreading the underground creep even faster than before. Once ten resource tumors had been created, another carbonation extractor was morphed next to the underground hatchery, only to have more resource tumors form afterwards.

Once enough overlords have populated the inside of the cavern, Kay directed the newly formed drones to morph into pairs of spine crawlers and spore crawlers, setting them down around the hatchery and at the edge of the extending creep. This tactic had acquired Virid's attention. 'Kay, why did you create those crawlers? Are there enemies down there?'

'Not enemies. Animals. They intruded into the home of innocent gilanians, and have made it their own home here many years ago. Continue focusing on your task. I'll be okay.' Kay responded.

And it was then that a spore crawler had detected movement within the sand. Sadly, it was out of range from a spine crawler's impaling tendril, but it was more invested with nibbling at the edge of the growing creep, despite its dangerous and caustic ability to infect whoever and whatever feeds on the spreading slime, or how badly it might have tasted. From what Kay understood of this behavior, the shryik serpents were not acting as aggressively as they were in the timeline before. In essence, it would appear as though that this shryik serpent in particular was more attracted to the moisture that the creep contained, instead of investigating the zerg organisms further within the creep territory. Soon enough, more shryik serpents had gathered to the expanding creep and swallowed mouthfuls of the stuff, unaware that the moving growth was produced by the tumors.

It didn't take long for the shryik serpents to become sick after they had feasted on the moist creep, and they displayed erratic behavior shortly after. Amazingly, Kay could feel the infested shryik serpents linking with the zerg hivemind, due to their prior consumption of creep. They did not understand what has happened to them, but they were experiencing a deep need to serve the swarm in however way their masters wanted. Their will was overwhelmed by their newly developed psionic connection to the swarm, which made Kay feel a little bad about the unexpected side effect, but he was glad to have acquired the new zerg organisms without having to fight the dangerous shryik serpents at all. Alas, there was still the bull shryik serpent to worry about, and that most of the smaller shryik serpents were still not completely under control of the swarm's psionic hivemind, but Kay felt confident that he could overcome such a massive beast and his lackeys.

'We have spawned a new evolution master on the surface cluster.' Virid reported to Kay. 'Othafurn insisted that we call the new organism 'Corvurn.''

Kay nodded as he managed the underground hive cluster. 'Very good. Actually, that gives me an idea. Send down a nydus worm and transport the evolution master here. I'll spawn an infestor at my hatchery.'

'Is there something you are not telling me, Kay?'

'There is a bull shryik serpent that I want to capture and have Corvurn analyze. Othafurn, are you going to share the information we acquired from the alternate timeline with him?'

'Yes. The plan that we have developed in the alternate timeline involved informing him.' Othafurn replied.

Virid hissed. 'This is becoming a frustrating annoyance. If you won't tell me what the alternate future is like now, then when?'

'When you have chosen to evolve into a broodmother.' Othafurn answered.

'When... I have chosen?' Virid replied incredulously, feeling quite confused.

'Actually, I'd rather let you have that decision when you get to the moon, Virid.' Kay said, already feeling the sand below his feet shifting violently. 'We're working on a shorter time table than you realized.'

'... Then... Then I suppose I will evolve into a broodmother on the moon of this world.' Virid said, somewhat mystified by the tactic presented to her.

'Once you evolve into a broodmother, I will share my knowledge of the future with you.' Othafurn said to Virid. She then directed her attention to Kay. 'Kay, will you contact our 'special asset' near your position?'

'I'm forming a creep highway to walk over to him now. How is your progress on making that leviathan and getting off this sand ball?' Kay said, taking careful steps toward the spiraling tower that was tall enough to connect to the conical roof of the underground chamber.

'We will begin spawning the leviathan just before dusk arrives. We will time it so that there is an abundance of darkness when the leviathan hatches.' Othafurn replied.

'Good. Will the leviathan be ready to embark on a short warp trip to the moon the moment it is hatched?'

'By the time it will take Virid and myself to enter the creature, it will have developed enough energy for a short-distance warp to transport us to the moon.'

'Also good. Continue as you girls were then. Send Corvurn down here when you're done with him. There's a bull shryik serpent down here, and I want him to use an infestor for capture and genetic research.' Kay said, looking up and down the wall that he remembered tearing a hole into at some point. Kay remembered several conversations that had taken place in the past alternate timeline. There was one that he remembered where he lost a bet regarding where the Kiln Keeper factory was positioned within Empire City. He smirked. His future self in that alternate timeline might not have held up his end of the losing bet, but at least the Kay in this alternate timeline had became wizened to such a loss. He leapt over the wall, making sure that his claws or wings was well away from the pristine surface.

After that, he made his way up to the hidden room where a sliding floor hatch had lead to a carefully kept secret. Secret or not, Kay had learned of its location from his past alternate self as well, thanks to Othafurn's time traveling escapade from a doomed future. Sadly, when he unlocked the hatched and opened it, a familiar voice was heard. [Security alert detected. Computer system activating. Warning, you are not authorized to enter the area you are currently accessing. Identify yourself, or this facility will self destruct.]

Kay sighed. "Oh boy. Uh... My name is Kay, and I have came here to revive Lovechief Kragnon." He said in the Gilaish language.

[Intent detected. Inconsistencies detected. Analyzing. Analysis incomplete. New species detected. Accessing data banks for specie information. Data not found. Submitting query to anonymous information network. Query: How did you know where Lovechief Kragnon was located?]

Kay stopped himself from entering the hidden room,"Um... To put it simply, an alternate timeline of my future self had came to know Kragnon, and ended up releasing him to find out more information about Kiln. But that future ended badly, so my future self shared his memories with someone with eidetic memory and sent that person to the past. As of now, I have his memories, and am very capable of reviving Kragnon because I have already read the resurrection instructions already. I know how to revive someone from a cold-pod."

[Explanation detected. Time travel variables detected. A test will be initiated before access to the restricted area is given. Will you comply to the test? Warning. If you failed the test, the restrictions will remain until the file name 'Resurrection Instructions' has been accessed.]

Kay nodded and sighed. "Fine then, I comply. How many questions does this test contain?"

[Compliance detected. The test will now begin. Question one: What is the first necessary requirement before a patient enters a cold-pod for stasis?]

Kay rolled his eyes, but he continued with the test without fail. "To completely flush the body of any impurities that could cause ice crystallization, or it would cause the body to suffer internal frostbite."

[Correct. Question two: What process prevents stagnation of the patient's liquid, and prevents necrosis of the cells?]

"Using a carefully calibrated filtration system, which is a dialysis machine that is purposed to work with cold bodies flushed of their impurities, whose heart rate has to be manually activated to allow fresh oxygenated blood to circulate through the veins. This process can last for at least four hours before a still period of twenty days can pass, which can then be repeated indefinitely."

[Correct. Question three: What is, in order, the revival process of a patient in a cold-pod?]

Kay remembered the details, but he didn't want to cut corners with a computer's test when it came to accuracy. "That's a trick question. It involves raising the body heat, manually activating the heart rate, filtering stimulants and chemicals into the patient's body through the dialysis machine's intravenous tubes, sending an electrical current through the body to activate brain functions and jump-start the heart, and then finally releasing the patient by unlocking the cold-pod's door. However, by the system of the console that is set up within the secret chamber that has Kragnon's cold-pod hidden inside of, the revival process is entirely automated, and it's activated by the pressing of a single button."

[... Correct. Test results: Overwhelming pass. You have been given access to the restricted area. Restriction of reviving Lovechief Kragnon has been lifted.]

Kay nodded his head and smiled. "Kay. Thank you. Can I now go in the secret cold-pod holding room and revive the friend I knew, but never met? And all without risking a self-destruct to this tower I'm in?"

[Queries detected. Confirmed, and confirmed.]

Kay nodded. "Good. I'll be real quick like and revive him now." He said, pointing to the secret floor hatch.

[Intent detected. Have a pleasant day.]


The albino gilanian groaned and languidly rubbed his eyes, slowly emerging from the cold-pod and taking in fresh breaths of air for the first time in a long while. After shaking his head awake, he finally spoke. "Maiden. Are you there?"

[Query detected. Maiden, standing by.]

The gilanian stretched himself and got out of the pod, leaning down to rub his legs. "Guh. Tell me the current date, Maiden."

[Command detected. It is currently day 40 of the dry season, year 599 of the Age of Ascension, and the light cycle is 51.205% waning.]

"Erh..." The albino gilanian squinted at nothing in particular, then looked up at the ceiling once his pause was over. "... 599? ... 599?! Maiden, are you telling me that I have been asleep for eighty years?!" The gilanian shouted.

[Query detected. You have been asleep for seventy nine years. Complications have been detected, which has prompted the hibernation period to be extended.]

"What was the cause?! I was only meant to sleep for thirty!"

[Query detected. Organisms designated 'shryik' intruded into facility surroundings and exterminated the resident population. Remaining gilanian residents: 1.]

The gilanian hissed and kicked at the pod he was once frozen in. "Gods-damn shryiks!" After that outburst of frustration and pain, the gilanian looked up again. "What about the other chieftains? Counselors? Farmers? Any information on any survivors?"

[Query detected. Full data unknown. Cause of data blank: Possible subterfuge. Summary of available data. Gollog Empire prompted the isolationist lifestyle from resident populations outside of the tower facility. A barricade was made, and a select number of warriors were chosen to fill the tunnels with sand. Shryik infestation occurred years later.]

The gilanian sighed and sat down with his palm to his face, sighing deeply and hissing madly. "... Oh gods no." The gilanian took a long pause before a confused expression soured his face. "... Maiden. The cold-pod is designed and programmed to only be opened by an outside party, right?"

[Query detected. Confirmed.]

"Who opened my cold pod?"

[Query detected. Outside party. Designation: Kay.]

"A woman saved me, huh?" The gilanian said, nodding in surprise and with a smirk on his face.

"Oh man, I forgot that you said that." Kay said, palming his face.

The gilanian looked up at the annoyed remark and saw a giant bug-man that was before him. A second later, he was screaming. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH~!"


A/N: Bonus points to those who guessed what the title is referencing. :3