Disclaimer: College applications are a bitch. They are also done. That is all. Also, don't own it.
(It is with a heavy heart that I must announce the end of transition jokes for all time. They were traded away in exchange for feauxen not making another Overmind damned alt account ever again. You, dear reader, have never been exposed to the plethora of personalities by possessed by The Faceless One, but rest assured the trade was well worth it. Some of his more famous iterations included names such as "Harry Potter", "Hermione Granger", "Devil's Advocate", and "Morgan Fucking Freeman". And he made a new one every other week. This was definitely worth it. Don't worry, the actual (Transition)s will remain, it is only the jokes that are gone. Instead, I am proud to announce their replacement:
Acronym jokes! Starting next chapter.)
Blah, blah, I'm a beta and I'm exasperated, this is exasperated beta commentary.
I mean...I finally defeated the endless tide of stupid transition jokes! Hurrah!
Yay...
Oh, and just so you know, Strandshaper is one of my alts. I like arguing with myself, so I pretend to be my own beta. It's great.
Sf
Catalyst
Abathur had thought long and hard about his situation. He'd had little else to do for the past sixteen years. He had thought on every aspect of his crippled existence, from the need to pander to human sensibilities, to the necessity of hiding beneath the absurdly fragile pink skin that the terrans never seemed to improve on. He had thought about the isolation, his mental incarceration, trapped within his own head and unable to sink into the bliss of the Swarm's hivemind. Then there was the constant fear of discovery and extermination. Abathur wasn't afraid of death. But he had been afraid to die without ever even knowing what had come of his work, unsure that the Swarm had lived past him. And above all, he had thought of the terrans, the primitive, essence-starved terrans, the pathetic worthless beings that had dared to corner him and force him into their flesh, both in the future and in their current mewling state of being.
Abathur absolutely despised humanity.
He hadn't really realized what they'd deprived him of until he had reclaimed his place amongst the Swarm. He had almost forgotten the bliss he found within the organized chaos of the hivemind, had forgotten just how much he enjoyed being able to focus all of his time and energy on crafting his proud weapons of war. It was even sweeter now to make them. Not only had he been only just rediscovered the pleasure, but soon he would use his beautiful creations against his most despised enemy.
The essence of this world had been bountiful. It had to have been, for him to build any presence on it. The scant few hints he'd scavenged from the human subject's mind regarding the topic had indicated that there was so much more yet to collect. Nothing substantial, of course. That would be too simple. Abathur had learned that humans were always going to throw obstacles in his way, no matter how he approached them. But she had proved her worth in another. He had considered just discarding the mind and using the corpse when he had finally found a use for her.
"Ministry, not threat? Explain."
The newborn zerg clicked her new jaw, more closely resembling that of a hydralisk than the weak human one Abathur had cut off. It hadn't really been necessary in the first place.
"The Ministry will be thrown into turmoil by the public reveal of You-Know-Who," came the thought, accompanied by a wave of fear. Irritating. He clearly hadn't spent enough time altering her hormonal system. He had spent more of his time setting up the basic regeneration and reinforced bodily tissue.
"Minister Fudge's and my efforts made it so that few people even suspect there was any reason to be worried, much less prepare for a war." It had been something of a rushed conversion, to avoid the tedious task of repairing the brain damage that humans tended to suffer from even brief deaths, but Abathur hadn't needed it to be perfect. Judging by her pitiable performance earlier, she wouldn't be seeing much combat anyway. "The Auror's will still be scrambling to raise their numbers and gather information. Even if they knew about you, they aren't nearly strong enough to fight a war on two fronts, especially against us." A wave of excitement this time. Clearly still acclimatizing to the hive mind. Irrelevant in the end, but irritating in the moment. If the information she provided wasn't so interesting, Abathur would probably have his claws still buried in her skull.
"Hmm. Useful. But, Dumbledore?"
"That is...more complicated, my lord." And still no understanding of the hierarchy. This would be a long project. "We may have reduced his influence on this isle, but internationally, he is still a powerful figure. If I were him, I would seek aid from the other Ministries."
(Transition)
Dumbledore strode confidently through the Parisian Ministry's glass halls, making his way towards the meeting place of the ICW, the stone rim of his shrunken pensieve digging into his leg. He could feel the shifting liquid weight of the memories within all too well. The large crowd of press and spectators pressed close to the ancient stone building parted before him. The position of Supreme Mugwump wasn't something Dumbledore could say he was particularly fond of, but he did have to admit it had its advantages. He would need every advantage he could get.
The crowd around him was jovial, blissful in their ignorance. Dumbledore supposed that they might be fine. Tom had never shown much interest in anything outside of the UK, and for all he knew the Swarm might not be interested in expansion at all. No, he was deluding himself. The Swarm had covered worlds. A bit of water wouldn't hold them back.
Albus stepped around a particularly dense group of Ministry employees. The crowds really were bad today. Was there some event going on? He hadn't heard anything, but then again, he didn't keep track of everything that happened in France. There certainly was a lot of shouting. Just within his line of sight, he could see a large man practically bulldozing his way through the crowd, apparently on his way straight towards...Dumbledore.
The tall man, wrapped entirely in bandages, was shoving his way directly towards the Chief Warlock. Dumbledore wracked his mind, trying to identify him before he arrived. It wasn't until he caught sight of a glaring yellow eye beneath the wrappings that he realized who was approaching him. Still walking towards him, the man barked out a question.
"What did you do, Dumbledore?" he growled, still pushing forwards.
"Is there something I can help you with, Adeviar?"
"You can tell me what you did. Right now." Dumbledore could see Adeviar tensing his hands, contorting them into a gnarled, half formed fist. Were those claws on his fingertips?
"I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about," Dumbledore said. In a flash, he found himself dangling in the air, suspended by his robe in the definitely clawed grip of Adeviar.
"DON"T LIE TO ME!" The crowd reacted instantly, flowing away like a puddle invaded by a fallen rock. "You had it, that creature. He was causing the whispers, and you made them spread. They're everywhere."
Dumbledore's eyes widened. This couldn't mean...could they have already spread? No, of course they could have. He knew barely anything about the Swarm and Abathur had been on his own for over a year. Anything was possible. "Adeviar, the boy you met with wasn't Abathur."
"And I suppose you're going to tell me that was Thenabar."
"In the sense that it called itself that, yes. But I'm not so foolish as to think it was that innocent boy, if he ever existed in the first place."
"What do you mean?" Adeviar asked slowly, his grip loosening.
"That creature was a proxy. Abathur escaped long before I reached him. The creature called Thenabar was sent back only as a distraction."
"I've long since lost track of exactly what Abathur is doing."
Adeviar's grip released entirely, causing Dumbledore to fall to the ground. "Do you...do you have any idea what it's..?"
"I know some of what they've done. So far, his agents have kidnapped one of my teachers, infected a student, wiped out the centaurs in the Forbidden Forest and grew a nest there by infecting the local acromantulas, but to what end, I can only guess at."
"There's...more? There can't be more, there can't, there was only one, we only summoned one, but...how did you let this happen?!" Adeviar turned towards Dumbledore, confusion swept away by rage.
"If I were able to go back and prevent this from happening, I would do it in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, regrets alone are not enough to break fundamental rules of nature," Dumbledore said mournfully. "Adeviar, come with me. I'm going to speak to the ICW, to convince them to aid us against this threat. You could help me, help eradicate this menace on all of our lives."
"I...what would I have to do?"
(Transition)
"Humans not in single organisation. In separate broods. No greater authority. Broods...compete."
"That is essentially correct my-" Abathur glared. "-Evolution Master."
"Humans possess psionics. Have weaponized."
"That is also correct."
"Humans not extinct."
"...Yes."
The more Abathur learned about humans, the more he was glad that he wouldn't have to deal with them for much longer.
"Dumbledore recruiting other broods. Forming greater force. Will attack Swarm." Abathur glanced at the sky above, swarming with overlords and mutalisks. "Humans, do not possess space weaponry?"
"Of course not! That's just impossib-," The being known as Umbridge collapsed, forced into a rigid stance by Abathur's psionics. Its ignorance of the Swarm's own knowledge was just utterly unacceptable. He could resume interrogations once it was properly infested, with proper access to the greater hivemind. While he was at it, he might as well experiment with just how much he could modify human brains while preserving the psionics. Most of them didn't really need those personalities, did they? No, they were useful for the commanders to a degree, but Abathur would have enough specimens soon enough that he didn't need to specialize all of them. Much better to have an easily reproducible mindless force, more like the mundane infested terrans.
Speaking of the mundane humans, was there really any more use for them? No, almost certainly not. They were too much of a threat, a needle in the zerg side. They wouldn't be allowed to threaten the Swarm again. Fixing that should be a simple enough matter, this wasn't the first time a brood had needed to wipe out a particularly pestilent species. They had outlived their usefulness as stressors of his strains.
Abathur took pleasure in all his work. But he would take particular pleasure devising a way to render humanity extinct.
(Transition)
"My brethren in magic from around the globe, I have gathered you here today to ask for aid against the greatest threat our planet may ever know." Dumbledore stood in the center of a ring of seats, Adeviar waiting patiently behind him. Before him was assembled the collected ambassador's of an entire planet's worth of wizards, representatives of millennias worth of culture, history, and knowledge. His voice rang out across the meeting hall, deep and sonorous. It would probably have had a much greater effect if not for the chorus of groans that followed it. Dumbledore had expected this.
"Chief Warlock, with all due respect, you have come to us about your Dark Lord before. We have told you, we will not interfere with a nation's sovereignty over what by all accounts appears to be a purely domestic threat," the voice of the German delegate came from his seat. Murmurs of assent rippled across the chamber. Dumbledore took out his pensieve and placed it on the dais in front of him. "Unless something has changed with this 'Lord Voldemort', I don't see any reason that our decision will be different." Dumbledore's wand tapped the end of the pensieve.
A thousand zerglings, rampaging towards each of the delegates, covering the room with horns and claws. The ceiling above was covered with flying swarms, lights blotted out under the cover of rapidly moving wings. The delegates screamed, scrambling back in their seats. Adeviar, standing behind him, threw himself back onto the ground, crying out. The poor man. Dumbledore should have warned him, he should have known this would have an affect. Alas, it was too late now. With another tap of his wand, the memories vanished back into the stone bowl, filling it with glowing silver liquid.
"A decade and a half ago, our war against Voldemort had reached a point of near total despair. Every day, it seemed more and more of our cherished institutions were falling before his onslaught. It was seen as nothing more than a matter of time until He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would claim total victory. In their desperation, some of the bravest witches and wizards I've heard of resorted to what they viewed as their last hope: a long lost summoning ritual, a ritual with immense power, so long as the right parameters were set for it," Dumbledore had researched the ritual in his own time. The sheer complexity had astonished him; it was capable of summoning just about anything, the only restrictions decided upon by the participants themselves, so long as they weren't afraid of the numerous risks.
"They succeeded, although it did not seem so at the time. Their bodies and minds were torn asunder by foul magics, and many of them died in the aftermath. The man standing behind me is one of only two participants still living today, and he still bears the scars of that night." Dumbledore saw necks craning, peering eyes looking at the glowing eyes and omnipresent bandages. "The creature they summoned seem to have experienced the same fate. To our great misfortune it did not. The creature had taken up residence in the flesh of a human wizard, living in the Muggle world before attending Hogwarts. I discovered the creature there, and attempted to restrain it. Through a long series of events, it escaped, killing a member of my staff and leaving behind a decoy to distract us, a creature I now believe to be a modified boggart it consumed earlier that year." Murmurs rushed up and down the crowd, evidently disturbed by the implications. "It was in this decoy's mind that I saw these creatures."
"Many-ones..." Adeviar muttered, almost unconsciously. "Zerglings. Hunters. Pursuers. Cannon fodder."
Dumbledore looked back towards Adeviar. "...Indeed. These, zerglings, as they are called, are not mere mental constructs. I have seen and fought against them myself, as well as other creatures seen in these memories." Dumbledore readied the Elder Wand, bringing it closer to the pensieve. "As such, I have reason to believe all the visions I saw in the decoy's head are not fantasy, but flesh and blood creatures." Wood touched stone. The visions returned, this time settling on mutalisks flying high above a moving swarm, running across a lava riddled world, covered with a purple tissue. Dumbledore could see the captivated looks in the delegates eyes, tinted with fear. He switched the memory to the most disturbing part. The mutalisks, however large they were compared to a man, looked like nothing but gnats compared to the three leviathans flying through the starry void. He took no delight in the looks of abject terror. He couldn't pretend he wasn't feeling any of it himself.
Adeviar was clutching his head, kneeling, eyes rampaging in their sockets. "Leviathans. Brood-bearers. Winged-ones, mutalisks. Hunters, harassers." Desperation in his eyes, Adeviar looked at his hands. "What did he do to me? What did he do to me?"
"I have not come for aid against Voldemort, or some other domestic threat. I have come to ask for aid against a race that threatens us all. Thank you." His speech concluded, Dumbledore removed the memories and scrambled off the platform. There was no applause, just silence. That. at least, meant they had listened. Dumbledore laid his hand on Adeviar's shoulder, ignoring just how rough it felt.
"Adeviar," Dumbledore said. Adeviar looked at him. "Don't worry. Everything will be alright. We'll silence the whispers. Whatever they are doing, whatever plots they're hatching, no matter what they do, we will stop them."
(Transition)
Luna picked up a caterpillar, examining the shining little strands of its essence. It spun and shone in place, different parts lighting up and exciting each other in response to her touch. A little pulse here revealed the adrenaline releasing, coursing through whatever passed for veins in the cute little critter, another pulse there as the muscles contracted and stretched, causing the insect to wriggle around in her palm.
Luna flicked some soil onto a nearby leaf, watching the essence pulse as it adapted to the momentary lack of light and air, a crackling spike of activity in the otherwise steady thread. Plants were always so fascinating to look at. They had their branches and roots spread absolutely everywhere, and each section was always just a tiny bit different. It was like looking at a sculpted bonfire.
This had to be the absolute best part about being Zerg, even more than submerging in the massive entity that was the hivemind. Getting to see the glorious artworks of essence was like seeing a new color every other minute. She flicked some more dirt at the tree.
"You have interesting habits, Ms. Lovegood."
Luna whirled around. Standing casually between the trees stood a dark cloaked figure, loosely holding a bone white wand. He observed Luna through bright red eyes, unmoving but for his lips.
"I don't intend to sound judgemental. I know the arts you and I dabble in often leave us exposed to much more than the ordinary wizard would be able to witness. Tell me, just what mysteries are open to your gaze?"
Luna couldn't speak. His essence would have made Luna vomit if she could anymore. It was an ugly, fragmented thing, a collection of shriveled coils spiralling lazily around a roughly broken shard of glass. It's tendrils spread itself out, grasping at everything nearby as if wanting to drag them in and consume them whole.
"Of course, how rude of me to forget to introduce myself. My name is L-"
Luna threw a tree at him.
With the sound of cracking roots and crashing dirt, the massive wooden pillar was forced out of the ground, before being pointed and launched towards the twisted human. With an idle flick of his wand, the tree was reduced to sawdust, harmlessly floating past the wizard.
"Come now, there is no call for that. I just want to have a chat." Luna didn't respond. Instead, she uprooted yet more trees, using her psionics to arrange the impromptu spears in a dome around the wizard. With a yell, she launched the trees straight towards his heart. An explosion of sawdust covered the area, before being blown away by a sudden gust of wind. "I thought I had already made clear just how futile that is. I did not go to all this trouble simply to wade through dust. I'm interested in speaking with you, Ms. Lovegood. You can do this of your own will, or not. At this point, I find myself caring less and less which it is."
"What do you want to talk about?" Luna's voice came out from behind the now severely reduced treeline. Luna herself was mostly burrowed beneath the ground, only her head above the ground. She was ready to duck lower at a moment's notice. This was a man who terrorized a country of psionics for years; she couldn't be too cautious.
"No, no, this won't do. Common courtesy demands you look each other in the eyes when having a discussion." A wave of force rippled out from the bone white wand, bisecting every tree in a substantial radius and passing directly over Luna's head. With the crash of falling wood, the trunks collapsed one by one, leaving a massive clearing in their place. The glaring red eyes locked onto Luna's exposed head. "There you are. What did you hope to gain from this little game of hide and seek?"
"A lot of open space."
The ground shook. Four mounds of dirt rose in unison, before breaking open to reveal four titanic worms, held in place by large spikes growing from their sides. Along the edges of the hole, corrupting tendrils of creep raced their way across the ground, growing over the fallen trees and severed stumps. The mouths of the nydus worms opened wide. From their maws spewed hundreds of zerg infantry; roaches, hydralisks, and zerglings, all circling and facing the enemy. He laughed.
"Magnificent!" he cried. "It's no wonder you were able to deal with Bellatrix so easily." The ranged strains opened fire, acid and spines arcing forwards at forces that could break through steel. The wizard threw up a shield, which shattered almost immediately under the first volley, barely deflecting the projectiles away from his body. The next wave, he was more prepared for. With a wave of his wand, he pulled the acid closer towards him, placing it in front of the spines. The acid congealed into a thick gel, trapping the spines within.
The zerglings rushed forward, pushing down with their wings and legs and launching themselves over the makeshift barrier and towards the enemy. "You are tenacious, Lovegood. But you must learn sooner or later, that clever tricks only work until you meet someone with the power to simply brush them aside."
Flaming serpents burst from his wand, incinerating the zerglings on contact. They spread out across the clearing, tearing burning swathes across the zerg, forcing the less durable hydralisks back into the Nydus worms. The roaches lasted longer, burrowing and tunneling under the ground to avoid the flames and take potshots at the wizard, but he just deflected them long before the acid could so much as touch his robes. They were eventually overwhelmed, forced back into the soil and away from the flames. When the last of the Swarm had been driven off, the fires returned to him, encircling him and Luna, closing them off from the outside world.
"No more distractions, Lovegood. Now, shall we talk?" He looked away from the wall of flame, turning to face Luna. She was in a loose stance, legs and tentacles spread far apart, psionic lightning arcing between her hands. Luna was ready to fight. She was desperately hoping she wouldn't have to. The human was terrifying. He tore great silences in the hivemind as casually as Luna had massacred the centaurs a year ago. She didn't have the element of surprise. All she had was her own flesh and blood.
And rage. Fear wouldn't help the Swarm. Rage was much better. How dare he, how dare he come talking about discussions and then kill so many of Luna's kin? She would crush him. Somehow.
"I do mean what I say. It would be a shame to have to kill you, just to get you to stop fighting me and listen."
The Swarm wasn't used to fighting the more powerful wizards yet? Fine, she would take something that would. It took a dozen wizards to fight a dragon? She had three.
Luna lashed out with lightning, energy arcing along the sides of the wizards shield. She reached out to the titanic reptiles, calling them to her. She dodged the returning blasts of light, leaping along the side of the ring of fire, making sure to stay far from the edges. The dragons were fast. They would be here in a few minutes. Luna burrowed through the grasping earth, forcing her way through it towards her opponent. The wizard leaped back, launching more spells. Dragonfire forced him to stop. He looked up, just in time to see swooping wings, and a mass falling off of them directly towards him.
With a wet splat, the mass scattered across the ground, sliding under Luna's leaping blades. When the human dodged to the side, the mass drew its edges up with a rattling croak, a wall of teeth rapidly collapsing onto the black robed man. In a wave of smoke, he warped over the fleshy trap, only for it to collapse to a point and spiral up towards him. As he looked around for an escape, he saw the massive spears of dirt that had been forced into place around him, preventing any escape.
The man laughed once more. "Oh, you are absolutely wonder-" The jaw snapped together. Luna let the spears collapse. Panting, she approached the spiral, unperturbed at the head that sprouted off of the side.
"All contained my Queen. What do you wish to do with it?"
"You know, you really don't have to call me that Thenabar."
Thenabar sprouted shoulders next to his head and used them to shrug. "If it helps, I don't really think of you in that way. For example, I'm going to call you that whether you like it or not."
"Someday, I am going to sic my nargles on you."
"And someday we'll deal with the semi-human writhing in my flesh. Wait, could that be today? My, how the time flies," Thenabar said sarcastically. "Quite honestly, I'm in favor of just killing him now. It's not like it would have anything of value to say."
"Humans can have value," Luna protested. Thenabar shrugged again. "Besides, we need to know how he found me in the first place. And probably what this," Luna gestured to the still burning animated fire, remaining around the two zerg in a loose circle. "Is, and what it does."
"If you say so," Thenabar said doubtfully. The fleshy pylon bulged along the edge, partially disgorging the human. He was disturbingly calm, without so much as a hint of fear on his face. On the contrast, he was looking at Luna and Thenabar with an almost lecherous gaze, unabashedly rolling his eyes along her tentacles and claws.
"Are you finally ready to talk then, Miss Lovegood?" Despite having everything but his head encased in Thenabar's flesh, he was composed. Luna wasn't sure if that was deliberate or a sign of brain damage.
"How did you find me?" she asked.
"Despite your clear study of the Dark Arts," he glanced at Thenabar's head, peeking out of the flesh wrapped around him. "Both of your frankly impressive displays of knowledge, there are many things you simply have not had the time to learn. Although I must admit, runes grown into flesh is a new concept. I congratulate you on it."
"What do you mean, the Dar-" Luna's accusatory question was cut off abruptly by a look from Thenabar.
"Don't give him any more information," Thenabar thought. Outwardly, his face contorted into an angry expression. "I told you, you shouldn't have shown yourself. Now look what's happened! This guy has shown up out of the blue, and we don't know who's coming next."
"You seem to be under the mistaken impression that I've come here to do you some grievous harm." The man said, bright red eyes staring intently. "No, I've come to extend an offer."
"What offer?" Luna asked cautiously. The last offer from a human had been to join the DA. That had ended...interestingly.
"An offer to join me."
"Oh, how remarkable. An offer to join a man trapped in a mammalian tree trunk. Truly, I am instantly swayed by your self-evident cunning and strength. How can we prove ourselves worthy of joining you in your supremely powerful position?" Thenabar said sarcastically.
"You didn't want to talk," he said, focusing on Luna. "So, I put myself in a position where you would feel safe to do so. You must be well aware, appearances are not everything." A leg emerged from Thenabar's makeshift prison, moving the thick flesh as if it was air. Thenabar frowned, shooting out tendrils to grasp his legs, but they just slid off like water. Within seconds the man was standing free. Luna scrambled back, but the wizard didn't make a move. He just kept talking calmly. "And rest assured, despite the spirit in which your statement was given, you have already proven yourselves worthy of an honor many other wizards would kill to possess. You are both more than worthy of standing beside Lord Voldemort."
(Transition)
We'll just pretend our glorious author removed his head from his hind end and put that last transition there himself, shall we?
Burrowing: The act of digging through soil. Usually with the purpose of making a tunnel, sometime just to look for bugs to crush.
Or, if you're five, just for fun. XD
~f
Burrowing: The Zerg Swarm constantly strive to adapt to different battlegrounds, to seek dominion over air, land, sea, and space. To this end, all zerg ground forces are equipped with the ability to burrow through the ground at will, to submerge themselves and hide from enemies. While underground, the zerg are undetectable to all but the most advanced sensors. Their tunneling leaves no trace. Somehow, they are able to replace any material they displace to totally conceal their activity. The Swarm uses this ability to hide and set up ambushes, as well as to buy time for reinforcements to arrive. In addition, some zerg strains can move around or use their unique abilities while burrowed, such as the lurker, infestor, baneling, and roach strains. The enemies of the Zerg can never be truly sure whether their next step will be on solid ground, or if an army is waiting, ready to burst out from under their feet.