p dir="ltr"span style="text-decoration: underline;"strongDisclaimer: My computer switches from American English to British English quite frequently, so there may be some inconsistencies. Sorry!/strong/span/p
p dir="ltr" /p
p dir="ltr"I'm cold. I can't breathe. I come to my senses and tear through the silk. I take a deep breath and pause to familiarise myself with everything around me. Why am I underground? What happened to the cocoon?/p
p dir="ltr""Attacus," someone says, relieved. "He's finally out." It's Lachia. Then a chaos of voices erupts. /p
p dir="ltr""He is?"/p
p dir="ltr""That's not possible."/p
p dir="ltr""Of course it is, you nut!"/p
p dir="ltr""Guys. Give him space."/p
p dir="ltr""What happened?"/p
p dir="ltr""After eight days here, he's finally out of his cocoon."/p
p dir="ltr""But he came here three days in."/p
p dir="ltr""Exactly! We'd thought he was dead when he got—"/p
p dir="ltr"I simply have to interrupt. "When I got what?" The new SilkWing sighed. "First you were transferred to Bloodworm Hive in your cocoon. Then it burned down, you were barely carried out, and you were… dropped. Onto the savanna floor. It was horrible."/p
p dir="ltr""Why did you bring me here instead of leaving me for dead?"/p
p dir="ltr""That would be Lachia," She says. "She insisted that you are brought to the cave system." Everything else I tune out as I feel my body. But not with my talons — they hurt too much to move. I have wings. Four amazing, beautiful wings that I might never use again. I'm also really hungry. So of course I have to speak up over this mob of dragons acting all crazy that I'm not dead. "Is there any food?" I ask. Someone (I assume Lachia) hands me a talonful of berries and one of my bowls of beans. Apparently I'd forgotten how good food tasted. It's been eleven days here, after all. "Thank you," I say, my mouth full of berries. /p
p dir="ltr""So just checking. I got ordered to Bloodworm Hive."/p
p dir="ltr""Yes."/p
p dir="ltr""And they didn't know about the whole… thing?"/p
p dir="ltr""Seems like it. Unless they thought you would, like, supply silk or something like that."/p
p dir="ltr""Then I got a huge concussion on the way out."/p
p dir="ltr""Yeah."/p
p dir="ltr""Can I have more food?"/p
p dir="ltr""Of course." I feel a tangerine bump into my talon, which I immediately peel and eat. I flutter my bottom left wing. It feels… beautiful; delicate yet sturdy; all sorts of other things I can't describe. /p
p dir="ltr""So" I say, "What are we going to do now?"/p
p dir="ltr""I can show you the ropes of this place," Lachia offers. "Come."/p
p dir="ltr"So I do. Apparently we're stuck in a giant cave system under Lake Scorpion to flee from the mind controlling talons of Queen Wasp. "Remember that time when a HiveWing crashed our birthday party, let a bunch of cockroaches loose in the sink, and left?" /p
p dir="ltr"I nod./p
p dir="ltr""That's Wasp, right there, but instead of a birthday party it's a bunch of innocent dragons, and The stuff she released is a whole lot worse. And she wants our minds for herself."/p
p dir="ltr"I cut in. "She doesn't deserve a real name anymore. She can't get away with that and go off with that much dignity. Let's call her 'royal dung head.'" I lean against a cave wall. "I know, right?" Lachia replies. "That fits her sooo well." /p
p dir="ltr""Fits who so well?" /p
p dir="ltr"I and Lachia stopped suddenly as a new dragon stopped in front of them. The buzz of the four skinny wings. Not a Leafwing. Also not a SilkWing. Her voice… "Khapra?" /p
p dir="ltr""Hello, Attacus," She says. "Hey, Lachia. Nice to know you're around. And who's the royal dung head?"/p
p dir="ltr""Wasp."/p
p dir="ltr""Yeah. She really is a giant dung head. Anyway, I've been isolating myself from everybody because of the Hive Mind in me. But, it's not like I'm that useful to her, so I'm just doing this to be on the safe side." Okay./p
p dir="ltr""But if she successfully uses you…"/p
p dir="ltr""Yeah. I can be a weapon."/p
p dir="ltr""Well, you succeeded in ruining any chance of trust," A new voice says. Lady Scarab. I feel a SilkWing coming this way, too. "Tau?" Lachia says. "Sorry, Lachia, for the, um…"/p
p dir="ltr""It's alright," Lachia says. "By the way, the word is 'incident.' Also, Khapra's fine. She doesn't have antennae, like we do." There. That note of anger towards Lady Scarab. Fine indeed. Of course Lachia feels this way about a new HiveWing, even if they're on her side. Khapra apparently doesn't count. Just like her twin brother. Just like him, Khapra's visually impaired. Also caring. She also was in a healthy friend relationship with Lachia. What other reasons could make Lachia trust Khapra any more? But there's one big thing that she has that I don't. Wasp in her brain. She's also standing right in front of my face, calling me. Oops. "Yes, Khapra?" I answer./p
p dir="ltr" She giggled. "I want to show you something. A new food I found here. It's a root vegetable. Bitter raw, but when you cook it and spice it right, it's AMAZING. You have to try it. I hear you're pretty hungry anyways…"/p
p dir="ltr""Of course. Show me this root vegetable, so to speak."/p
p dir="ltr""Come." So I followed Khapra's talonsteps. "So, er, what's it called?"I ask. Khapra, as usual, was quick to respond. "I call it Dragontail," she says. "Weird name, but since my tail got soaked trying to get more of it, that was the first thing that popped into my head. Crazy, right?"/p
p dir="ltr""Yeah," I say. /p
p dir="ltr""I have some left over. Want some? Candied Dragontail. Yeesh, that was a bad name. Now I sound like a cannibal."/p
p dir="ltr""So it's sweet, right? Candied?" I ask, accepting a crystalline disk./p
p dir="ltr""Yeah. It's like jelly." /p
p dir="ltr""All right then." And I take a bite. It's sweet, exactly as Khapra described. I love the jelly-like texture. Then my talons just cling to the ground. I want to say thank you, and I want to move forward, but I'm just… stuck. /p
p dir="ltr"Or… oh no. Oh no no no no no. This cannot be happening./p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"I'm one of them id="docs-internal-guid-280df98e-7fff-f369-e165-171644774013"/span/p
p dir="ltr" /p
p dir="ltr"I'm cold. I can't breathe. I come to my senses and tear through the silk. I take a deep breath and pause to familiarise myself with everything around me. Why am I underground? What happened to the cocoon?/p
p dir="ltr""Attacus," someone says, relieved. "He's finally out." It's Lachia. Then a chaos of voices erupts. /p
p dir="ltr""He is?"/p
p dir="ltr""That's not possible."/p
p dir="ltr""Of course it is, you nut!"/p
p dir="ltr""Guys. Give him space."/p
p dir="ltr""What happened?"/p
p dir="ltr""After eight days here, he's finally out of his cocoon."/p
p dir="ltr""But he came here three days in."/p
p dir="ltr""Exactly! We'd thought he was dead when he got—"/p
p dir="ltr"I simply have to interrupt. "When I got what?" The new SilkWing sighed. "First you were transferred to Bloodworm Hive in your cocoon. Then it burned down, you were barely carried out, and you were… dropped. Onto the savanna floor. It was horrible."/p
p dir="ltr""Why did you bring me here instead of leaving me for dead?"/p
p dir="ltr""That would be Lachia," She says. "She insisted that you are brought to the cave system." Everything else I tune out as I feel my body. But not with my talons — they hurt too much to move. I have wings. Four amazing, beautiful wings that I might never use again. I'm also really hungry. So of course I have to speak up over this mob of dragons acting all crazy that I'm not dead. "Is there any food?" I ask. Someone (I assume Lachia) hands me a talonful of berries and one of my bowls of beans. Apparently I'd forgotten how good food tasted. It's been eleven days here, after all. "Thank you," I say, my mouth full of berries. /p
p dir="ltr""So just checking. I got ordered to Bloodworm Hive."/p
p dir="ltr""Yes."/p
p dir="ltr""And they didn't know about the whole… thing?"/p
p dir="ltr""Seems like it. Unless they thought you would, like, supply silk or something like that."/p
p dir="ltr""Then I got a huge concussion on the way out."/p
p dir="ltr""Yeah."/p
p dir="ltr""Can I have more food?"/p
p dir="ltr""Of course." I feel a tangerine bump into my talon, which I immediately peel and eat. I flutter my bottom left wing. It feels… beautiful; delicate yet sturdy; all sorts of other things I can't describe. /p
p dir="ltr""So" I say, "What are we going to do now?"/p
p dir="ltr""I can show you the ropes of this place," Lachia offers. "Come."/p
p dir="ltr"So I do. Apparently we're stuck in a giant cave system under Lake Scorpion to flee from the mind controlling talons of Queen Wasp. "Remember that time when a HiveWing crashed our birthday party, let a bunch of cockroaches loose in the sink, and left?" /p
p dir="ltr"I nod./p
p dir="ltr""That's Wasp, right there, but instead of a birthday party it's a bunch of innocent dragons, and The stuff she released is a whole lot worse. And she wants our minds for herself."/p
p dir="ltr"I cut in. "She doesn't deserve a real name anymore. She can't get away with that and go off with that much dignity. Let's call her 'royal dung head.'" I lean against a cave wall. "I know, right?" Lachia replies. "That fits her sooo well." /p
p dir="ltr""Fits who so well?" /p
p dir="ltr"I and Lachia stopped suddenly as a new dragon stopped in front of them. The buzz of the four skinny wings. Not a Leafwing. Also not a SilkWing. Her voice… "Khapra?" /p
p dir="ltr""Hello, Attacus," She says. "Hey, Lachia. Nice to know you're around. And who's the royal dung head?"/p
p dir="ltr""Wasp."/p
p dir="ltr""Yeah. She really is a giant dung head. Anyway, I've been isolating myself from everybody because of the Hive Mind in me. But, it's not like I'm that useful to her, so I'm just doing this to be on the safe side." Okay./p
p dir="ltr""But if she successfully uses you…"/p
p dir="ltr""Yeah. I can be a weapon."/p
p dir="ltr""Well, you succeeded in ruining any chance of trust," A new voice says. Lady Scarab. I feel a SilkWing coming this way, too. "Tau?" Lachia says. "Sorry, Lachia, for the, um…"/p
p dir="ltr""It's alright," Lachia says. "By the way, the word is 'incident.' Also, Khapra's fine. She doesn't have antennae, like we do." There. That note of anger towards Lady Scarab. Fine indeed. Of course Lachia feels this way about a new HiveWing, even if they're on her side. Khapra apparently doesn't count. Just like her twin brother. Just like him, Khapra's visually impaired. Also caring. She also was in a healthy friend relationship with Lachia. What other reasons could make Lachia trust Khapra any more? But there's one big thing that she has that I don't. Wasp in her brain. She's also standing right in front of my face, calling me. Oops. "Yes, Khapra?" I answer./p
p dir="ltr" She giggled. "I want to show you something. A new food I found here. It's a root vegetable. Bitter raw, but when you cook it and spice it right, it's AMAZING. You have to try it. I hear you're pretty hungry anyways…"/p
p dir="ltr""Of course. Show me this root vegetable, so to speak."/p
p dir="ltr""Come." So I followed Khapra's talonsteps. "So, er, what's it called?"I ask. Khapra, as usual, was quick to respond. "I call it Dragontail," she says. "Weird name, but since my tail got soaked trying to get more of it, that was the first thing that popped into my head. Crazy, right?"/p
p dir="ltr""Yeah," I say. /p
p dir="ltr""I have some left over. Want some? Candied Dragontail. Yeesh, that was a bad name. Now I sound like a cannibal."/p
p dir="ltr""So it's sweet, right? Candied?" I ask, accepting a crystalline disk./p
p dir="ltr""Yeah. It's like jelly." /p
p dir="ltr""All right then." And I take a bite. It's sweet, exactly as Khapra described. I love the jelly-like texture. Then my talons just cling to the ground. I want to say thank you, and I want to move forward, but I'm just… stuck. /p
p dir="ltr"Or… oh no. Oh no no no no no. This cannot be happening./p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"I'm one of them id="docs-internal-guid-280df98e-7fff-f369-e165-171644774013"/span/p