Kerrigan descended on the site as Zurvan spoke. "You have come to this place seeking power."
"Power to kill Mengsk. Tell me what I must do."
"The power is more ancient even than I. It comes at great cost. What would you sacrifice to have your revenge?"
"Everything." That was enough of an answer, it seemed, as Zurvan spoke.
"You must feel the power. It calls to you. Go to it." But it also seemed that there were more to worry about as Izsha alerted Kerrigan.
"The primal Zerg have been alerted of your arrival. They are coming for you." But Kerrigan was not turned away as she spoke to the gene-weaver.
"Abathur, send me the creature you've been working on... the swarm host." A pair of Zerg Pods dropped and unleashed creatures that were actually found during the battle with Brakk as Abathur spoke.
"Adapted using primal essence. Spawns locusts to kill enemies. Primal Zerg inbound. Root swarm hosts to begin spawning." As it turned out, rooting just implanted the Swarm Hosts in place, it didn't burrow them as they didn't have the needed ability to dig through soil, rock, or stone to that degree yet as Kerrigan called out.
"Here they come." The horde came form them, but the spawned Locusts serve a valuable role in keeping them back and also tanking some of the hits before even the primal Ultralisk was brought down and Izsha spoke with them moving on.
"Primal forces eliminated. Your path is clear." With that, they headed up, to where the power was as Zurvan spoke.
"You are close. The moment draws near. Is your hate still strong enough to make the necessary sacrifice?
'It has to be... it really must...' Kerrigan thought to herself in focusing that hate on Mengsk and hoping... no, knowing that it WILL be enough as they arrived and she spoke to the basin before her. "It's... a pool." She stepped into the musky green waters as Zurvan spoke.
"The first spawning pool. It existed before names. From this primordial place, the Zerg arose. Within, one essence split into many. One devoured another and became stronger. The first Zerg." Kerrigan peered into the waters and knew that all of this was surely the tip of the iceberg as Zurvan spoke. "You will have your power, and you will lose yourself. Evolve. Transform. Transcend." Abathur was on the side of caution on the other hand as he warned the features of the pool as Kerrigan walked further in.
"Recommendation: avoid pool. Catalytic fluid will overwhelm queen's body. Not strong enough." But Kerrigan was not turned away as she used her hate for the Emperor as her fuel.
"The queen's hate is strong enough. And if I survive, it will remake me. I will become more powerful than the old Queen of Blades." A chrysalis started to form around her as she gave her orders. "Zagara, defend the hive cluster and the chrysalis until I am done... or dead." The chrysalis closed as the Broodmother spoke in agreement.
"Yes, my queen." A hive cluster was set up around the pool as Zagara continued. "We need more swarm hosts... Morph more from the larvae at our hatchery." The required hive structure was a place called the Infestation Pit as the plan was to hold out against anything that would dare to attack and try to kill the Queen as one did try.
"The remnants of Brakk's forces gather nearby. They are preparing to attack the hive cluster!"
"Root our swarm hosts and crawlers by that entrance!" They moved forces to the path where they came from and the Primal pack attack, to be met by locusts and spine crawler strikes. and died out in the first wave before Zagara sense that there was more trouble coming.
"I sense another pack of Primal Zerg gathering across the basin." Its pack leader shouted across the link.
"Hear me, broken Zerg. You have killed Brakk, but his packs survives. I claim their territory, and their essence!" That only meant one thing as the two packs clashed, making to kill each other as Izsha pointed it out.
"The primal Zerg factions have engaged each other."
"Let them kill each other. Our focus is protecting the chrysalis." As they should as he expanded a bit more and build up defenses and troops to hold the line as the second pack leader made the chrysalis the same target to destroy.
"I have not forgotten you, broken pack. Your leader sleeps. She will not wake. My pack will feast upon your essence!"
"Yagdra's pack is preparing to attack our hive cluster! Show these primals the fury of the Swarm!" The shifting defense was enough as the second pack made their attack, but it was repelled a bit harder than the former Brakk's pack, but it was still enough to hold out while the packs fend among themselves and also sent short waves to overwhelm the Swarm defenses in vain before Zagara sensed something else in the area.
"I sense a powerful presence... A massive primal."
"Tyrannozor. Savage. Extreme physical prowess. Essence useful, must acquire."
"No simple matter. To reach it, we must cross the battle between Brakk and Yagdra's packs." It was not simple for ground forces, but with the Swarm possessing Mutalisks again, it was made all the simpler as a flock descended across the basin and killed the Tyrannozor as Abathur spoke.
"Tyrannozor sample acquired. Will research primal essences further." Still, with the addition of the Swarm Host, they could hold the grounds from the Primals, buying time for Kerrigan as the chrysalis matured and grew as Zagara exclaimed.
"Our queen's metamorphosis is half way complete! Maintain our defense!" The primal flyers did makes things a bit of a challenge, but that's what the Mutalisk flocks were for as Zagara also saw this as proof to her, the old her would have sent out forces to clash with the primals, losing numbers to the clashes and waves in reckless abandon, but now she could see the value of the defenses, of using chokepoints to hold out and keeping the primals out with both mobile and static defenses as the Primals tried to get through a third entrance, but it was for not as they continued, even with the primal locust swarms spawning from the pool to aid in the defense as Yagdra had consumed the last of Brakk's pack.
"My pack is strong! We claim essence, we devour! The broken Zerg remained! Collect their essence! Kill!"
"Yagdra's forces are gathering! They are converging upon the hive cluster!" It was a hold out to the last as the Swarm held, bracing hard to keep the pack out and let the queen develop to Zagara's call. "Defend the chrysalis! The Swarm will prevail!" They continued to hold before it was all over, the end signalling the end of the change, with Kerrigan living.
The chrysalis started to slow down in reforming Kerrigan before she awoke, power coursing through her veins and giving her full control of all of it as she shattered the fragile shelling now and roared as a torrent of power surged into the sky, bringing forward a violent rain storm to all of Zerus, her body blazing violent with power and those primals on the attack soon swiftly abandoned the fight, she was beyond their power now.
However, the same thing was happening on the capital world of Korhal, her emperor staring out to the massive storm that had rolled over the world, he suspecting deeply that the storm was only the beginning...
Kerrigan returned to the Leviathan, as the Primal Queen of Blades, as the Swarm bowed before the immerse power of her before she spoke to Izsha and cast her gaze to the pair of Primal Zerg aboard her vessel. "Izsha. What are primal Zerg doing on my Leviathan?" The first one spoke, it smaller and missing an arm, but it was still a creature of some identity, Kerrigan minorly confused as to why there were two primals and neither of them were trying to kill each other right now.
"I am Dehaka, One who collects. I kill. I take essence. Now I come to you because I feel your change. All Zerus feels it. All Zerus fears it, and you."
"I am Skorch, One who burns. I feed. I consume Essence. Now I come with kin because we felt your change and rever it.
"But you don't fear me, do you, Dehaka and Skorch?"
"You shine. You will bring more essence, and I will follow. When you do not, I will not."
"We are not fools in believing power alone. Essence is sure to follow in your wake."
"Well, I've forged alliances on shakier ground than that. Very well, you can stay." She made it clear that she will not accept any form of betrayal when it comes down to it. "Betray me and I'll collect your essence."
"Yes." Skorch glanced to his brother and shook his head.
"Thirst for essence has been found. Dehaka will drink well in the end..." Besides the pair of Primals on aboard, Kerrigan did ask and the other leaders would not join for the sake of power, while the pair served to collect and consume essence, being flexible to it like a river bends while the others were a rock, a tree, and a hill to stand against the winds of change as Kerrigan turned her attention to Zagara.
"I look like the leader of the Swarm now. Perhaps this will help bring more Broodmothers back into the fold."
"You were the true leader of the Swarm yesterday, and you will be tomorrow. Your appearance does not matter."
"Perhaps not to you. The Terrans will not be so... understanding." Appearance does matter to Terrans after all in formal exchanges or just to be seen as a symbol or something along the lines as she went to meet Zurvan once more as he spoke.
"You have been reborn. A primal pack leader of boundless power."
"I feel as if I can rip worlds apart."
"And are you the equal of Amon, who once controlled you?"
"He never controlled me. I felt... an influence. A trace of something dark, but long gone." She mused as it doesn't answer the question of what Amon truly was in the end as she spoke with a basis of why she was not really controlled, but rather turned into a hostile tool by her own mind. "Amon must have died before I was infested."
"I hope it is so. For he truly can rip worlds apart." A Xel'naga would make sense, but then he also made... to... A thought stopped her in her tracks as Alice approached her in question.
"My Queen...?" Kerrigan felt the power boiling under her veins before she surged it through a hand, snatching Alice's skull before forcing it in, Alice silently screaming as her body started to shift, the back developing more of pauldrons and smaller Mutalisk wings before Kerrigan released to the green hue of Alice before she groaned. "What... just happened... I feel... stronger, but something else is... gone, something feeding on my mind..."
'The Hive mind...' Kerrigan suspected as much within the second, the hive mind served to use the Zerg as both a force of death and a tool, Amon had clear plans for that, but that leaves the other side, the Protoss, her mind wondering if the Protoss were affected just the same as the Zerg, the thoughts filled but didn't find form as she spoke. "It will be a while, but just rest among the others, I have business to attend to."
"Of course, my Queen..." She headed off as Izsha spoke with her returning for a moment to look over all of Zerus and feeling all of the Swarm, not just hearing or controlling, but actually feeling all of it.
"You radiate so much power. More than the old Queen of Blades ever did."
"Everything is different. I could always hear the Swarm, control it. But now... I feel the Swarm. Now I am the Swarm." She then headed down to the Evolution Pit and Abathur was surprised for the lack of a better word as he spoke.
"Genetic strands different. Restructured from base level up. Stronger than Queen of Blades. Sequences complex, but clean. Completely different at core."
"Yes, I am different. I am my own master. When the Xel'naga artifact made me human again, it cleansed me of Amon's influence. And that allowed me to become... something greater."
"Must take sample. Study new sequences." Kerrigan flashed her power at the gene-weaver.
"Don't ever try, Abathur. What I am now, is beyond your comprehension." Abathur backed off as he was forced to accept it.
"Difficult to admit. New structure beyond understanding. Will return to work." Kerrigan hummed that maybe... she could slightly trust Abathur with some DNA to see what his insight on it was, but right now, she had some pack leaders to find and kill as the Swarm Hosts also had their mutations to select from, allowing them to actually burrow, increase the spawning rate of the Locusts, or even improve the Locust attack to hit air units as well, she selecting the Rapid Incubation for more numbers to her side as she sought out Zurvan again to find out where to find the leader and take from them everything...