Kai POV
A swarm of hell moths was closing in on her parents, who never reacted to them. Kai had to save her parents somehow so she began to run towards them. She ran and ran, but no matter how hard she tried she never actually moved.
Kai became desperate and screamed at them. “Run!” She took a deep breath and shouted again. “You have to run or you will die!!” Tears were rolling down her furred cheeks. “Please, mum, dad.”
Kai’s parents looked up at her and fear entered their faces. Her mother screamed in horror and her dad stood up and took his chair which he then waved in front of him defensively. “Stay away, monster!”
Kai looked at them in disbelief. She was so shocked that she stopped running and crying. Why would her parents call her a monster?
She looked down at herself, at her chitin covered legs, her massive tail and her furred upper body. Kai looked completely normal, even beautiful.
She looked back at her parents. They were walking forms of flesh. There was not a single piece of chitin on them and the only fur they had grew on their heads. They had disgustingly small eyes and didn’t even smell like home.
Were those truly her parents?
The moths descended on them and the scream of her mother was cut off abruptly. Kai watched without feeling any sorrow, not understanding herself anymore. She didn’t want to watch the bloodbath so she looked up, right into the maw of another hell moth. Kai screamed and everything went black.
She woke up breathing heavily. It took her a few moments to calm down again and only then Kai opened her eyes.
It had been a dream, a weird one, but a dream nonetheless. She sighed and looked around.
Kai was laying on a large bed of white soft silk in an even larger room of the same silk. The room was fully illuminated by a violet light. Kai could even see the pointed roof, despite it being more than 10 meters above her.
Except for her bed the room was empty, though the bed already took a quarter of the room's space alone.
Kai stood up and walked over to the egg shaped entrance to the room. Outside of the room another 5m were covered by the silk like some kind of walkway. A small egg laid in the spot where Tiffany had been born, likely her drone. The piles of food were now right next to the silklayer and had also grown a bit.
Anna’s drone had obviously been industrious. She took a look at her map and was impressed.
A large part in the direction of the hills was now uncovered. Kai decided to call this direction south. She had no clue if it was right, but she didn’t care. Her people would never need a compass because of the hive map so she could name the directions how she wanted.
There were a few labels on the map marking animal lairs and spots where a lot of plants that might be food were growing.
Kai closed the map again and just stood there for a while. The dream of before was still fresh on her mind and she didn’t know what to think of it.
In Kai’s opinion dreams are a way of the brain to work through the information of your day or recent happenings. That she feared the hell moths was a given, but the part about her parents was weird. It didn’t make a single shred of sense for her parents to fear her new form. They were both biologists for god's sake and would likely spare her a lot more attention if she would get back to them right now.
Kai sighed and stretched. There was no reason for her to dwell on it for too long and she wanted to know what her daughters had been up to.
She searched for any signs of them, but the only clue she got was a rhythmical clicking sound that came from behind the room she had slept in. Kai would have to have a word about waking up in the room too. She wasn’t exactly fond of being moved around in her sleep.
She walked around the room, but had to turn around when the root of the tree blocked her way. There she was walking around with a minimap but still managed to walk in the wrong direction.
On the other side of the room she was greeted by the sight of Anna and Tiffany building the second one right next to the first. They were clicking their mandibles together to create the clicking sound and moved to the beat.
Kai had to smile. With only the two of them it looked a bit weird, but with more workers it would have a lot of a work crew singing to make their work more enjoyable.
Anna noticed her and made a small bow. “Good morning my lady.”
Tiffany didn’t even turn around and just gave her a small wave. “Morning mom.”
Kai could see Anna’s eye twitch and had to grin inwardly. On the outside though, she put her hands on her hips. “You know you two, I slept wonderfully. So good in fact that I didn’t wake up in the spot where I fell asleep.”
She raised her eyebrow. “You wouldn’t know how that came to be would you?”
Anna got on her knee and looked towards the ground. “May I ask for forgiveness, my lady?” That certainly was one way to admit one's own fault.
Tiffany didn’t show a reaction and Anna glared at her. When she noticed Anna’s glare she sighed and turned around. “I’m sorry mom. It was my idea.”
Kai looked at them sternly for another second and then relaxed. “Anna please stay up, you are taking it a bit far right now, again.”
She smiled at them softly. “I forgive you, just don’t do it again okay?”
The two answered as one. “Yes mom!”
Now Kai could finally get to the interesting parts. “So what have you two been up to during my sleep?”
Anna made another small bow and then pointed at the finished room. “As you already noticed we have finished rebuilding the first room.”
She walked over to Kai. “The material of the old room we used for the walkway and then started to build the next room. Tiffany has also laid her drone egg.”
Kai patted her daughter's head. She had to be careful not to touch her antenna. “That’s impressive you two.”
Anna’s antenna moved up and down at the praise and Kai guessed it was a movement of happiness. One thing was sure, Anna wasn’t able to hide her smell and she smelled extremely happy to Kai. “Thank you for the praise my lady.”
Kai gave her a short hug. “Have the two of you already eaten something?”
Anna shook her head and Kai grinned at her happily. “Then I command you to take a break and fill your bellies together with me.”
Tiffany raised a fist to the sky and let out a shout. “Food!”
Anna on the other hand did another small bow. “As you will it my lady.”
Kai turned around and started her march towards their food stuff. The two daughters were really different from each other as if they were balancing each other out.
During their meal the first drone came back. It had grown quite a bit and could already carry more than before. Kai also found a new favorite fruit of hers. It was a small green berry that tasted sweet and a little like peaches.
They watched as the drone scurried off again and vanished into the forest. Tiffany put a small insect into her mouth and chewed it noisily. The thought of eating an insect alone made a shiver go down Kai’s spine, but the crunching sound made her fantasies gow wild. She shuddered and tried to think of cake.
Tiffany swallowed and focused on Kai. “Do you have an idea how we could make a second floor available inside of the rooms?”
Kai thought about it for a moment. Stairs would take too much space and would have to be built in the middle of the room, because the distance between the walls shrank with the height. Some kind of magical elevator would be nice, but Kai couldn’t even tell if the idea was feasible.
In the end it came down to two options for her. “I think a ladder is the easiest we can do in the near future except for free climbing of course. You could also build a small catwalk for the drones, a dronewalk so to say, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to depend on them in such a case.”
Anna sighed a bit in defeat. “Ladders it is then and we will need wood for them. Our silk won’t support such a structure, I already tried with a few other things you told me about my lady.”
Wood was really becoming more and more important. Kai hoped it wouldn’t take them too long to find a more normal forest.
Kai POV
A swarm of hell moths was closing in on her parents, who never reacted to them. Kai had to save her parents somehow so she began to run towards them. She ran and ran, but no matter how hard she tried she never actually moved.
Kai became desperate and screamed at them. “Run!” She took a deep breath and shouted again. “You have to run or you will die!!” Tears were rolling down her furred cheeks. “Please, mum, dad.”
Kai’s parents looked up at her and fear entered their faces. Her mother screamed in horror and her dad stood up and took his chair which he then waved in front of him defensively. “Stay away, monster!”
Kai looked at them in disbelief. She was so shocked that she stopped running and crying. Why would her parents call her a monster?
She looked down at herself, at her chitin covered legs, her massive tail and her furred upper body. Kai looked completely normal, even beautiful.
She looked back at her parents. They were walking forms of flesh. There was not a single piece of chitin on them and the only fur they had grew on their heads. They had disgustingly small eyes and didn’t even smell like home.
Were those truly her parents?
The moths descended on them and the scream of her mother was cut off abruptly. Kai watched without feeling any sorrow, not understanding herself anymore. She didn’t want to watch the bloodbath so she looked up, right into the maw of another hell moth. Kai screamed and everything went black.
She woke up breathing heavily. It took her a few moments to calm down again and only then Kai opened her eyes.
It had been a dream, a weird one, but a dream nonetheless. She sighed and looked around.
Kai was laying on a large bed of white soft silk in an even larger room of the same silk. The room was fully illuminated by a violet light. Kai could even see the pointed roof, despite it being more than 10 meters above her.
Except for her bed the room was empty, though the bed already took a quarter of the room's space alone.
Kai stood up and walked over to the egg shaped entrance to the room. Outside of the room another 5m were covered by the silk like some kind of walkway. A small egg laid in the spot where Tiffany had been born, likely her drone. The piles of food were now right next to the silklayer and had also grown a bit.
Anna’s drone had obviously been industrious. She took a look at her map and was impressed.
A large part in the direction of the hills was now uncovered. Kai decided to call this direction south. She had no clue if it was right, but she didn’t care. Her people would never need a compass because of the hive map so she could name the directions how she wanted.
There were a few labels on the map marking animal lairs and spots where a lot of plants that might be food were growing.
Kai closed the map again and just stood there for a while. The dream of before was still fresh on her mind and she didn’t know what to think of it.
In Kai’s opinion dreams are a way of the brain to work through the information of your day or recent happenings. That she feared the hell moths was a given, but the part about her parents was weird. It didn’t make a single shred of sense for her parents to fear her new form. They were both biologists for god's sake and would likely spare her a lot more attention if she would get back to them right now.
Kai sighed and stretched. There was no reason for her to dwell on it for too long and she wanted to know what her daughters had been up to.
She searched for any signs of them, but the only clue she got was a rhythmical clicking sound that came from behind the room she had slept in. Kai would have to have a word about waking up in the room too. She wasn’t exactly fond of being moved around in her sleep.
She walked around the room, but had to turn around when the root of the tree blocked her way. There she was walking around with a minimap but still managed to walk in the wrong direction.
On the other side of the room she was greeted by the sight of Anna and Tiffany building the second one right next to the first. They were clicking their mandibles together to create the clicking sound and moved to the beat.
Kai had to smile. With only the two of them it looked a bit weird, but with more workers it would have a lot of a work crew singing to make their work more enjoyable.
Anna noticed her and made a small bow. “Good morning my lady.”
Tiffany didn’t even turn around and just gave her a small wave. “Morning mom.”
Kai could see Anna’s eye twitch and had to grin inwardly. On the outside though, she put her hands on her hips. “You know you two, I slept wonderfully. So good in fact that I didn’t wake up in the spot where I fell asleep.”
She raised her eyebrow. “You wouldn’t know how that came to be would you?”
Anna got on her knee and looked towards the ground. “May I ask for forgiveness, my lady?” That certainly was one way to admit one's own fault.
Tiffany didn’t show a reaction and Anna glared at her. When she noticed Anna’s glare she sighed and turned around. “I’m sorry mom. It was my idea.”
Kai looked at them sternly for another second and then relaxed. “Anna please stay up, you are taking it a bit far right now, again.”
She smiled at them softly. “I forgive you, just don’t do it again okay?”
The two answered as one. “Yes mom!”
Now Kai could finally get to the interesting parts. “So what have you two been up to during my sleep?”
Anna made another small bow and then pointed at the finished room. “As you already noticed we have finished rebuilding the first room.”
She walked over to Kai. “The material of the old room we used for the walkway and then started to build the next room. Tiffany has also laid her drone egg.”
Kai patted her daughter's head. She had to be careful not to touch her antenna. “That’s impressive you two.”
Anna’s antenna moved up and down at the praise and Kai guessed it was a movement of happiness. One thing was sure, Anna wasn’t able to hide her smell and she smelled extremely happy to Kai. “Thank you for the praise my lady.”
Kai gave her a short hug. “Have the two of you already eaten something?”
Anna shook her head and Kai grinned at her happily. “Then I command you to take a break and fill your bellies together with me.”
Tiffany raised a fist to the sky and let out a shout. “Food!”
Anna on the other hand did another small bow. “As you will it my lady.”
Kai turned around and started her march towards their food stuff. The two daughters were really different from each other as if they were balancing each other out.
During their meal the first drone came back. It had grown quite a bit and could already carry more than before. Kai also found a new favorite fruit of hers. It was a small green berry that tasted sweet and a little like peaches.
They watched as the drone scurried off again and vanished into the forest. Tiffany put a small insect into her mouth and chewed it noisily. The thought of eating an insect alone made a shiver go down Kai’s spine, but the crunching sound made her fantasies gow wild. She shuddered and tried to think of cake.
Tiffany swallowed and focused on Kai. “Do you have an idea how we could make a second floor available inside of the rooms?”
Kai thought about it for a moment. Stairs would take too much space and would have to be built in the middle of the room, because the distance between the walls shrank with the height. Some kind of magical elevator would be nice, but Kai couldn’t even tell if the idea was feasible.
In the end it came down to two options for her. “I think a ladder is the easiest we can do in the near future except for free climbing of course. You could also build a small catwalk for the drones, a dronewalk so to say, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to depend on them in such a case.”
Anna sighed a bit in defeat. “Ladders it is then and we will need wood for them. Our silk won’t support such a structure, I already tried with a few other things you told me about my lady.”
Wood was really becoming more and more important. Kai hoped it wouldn’t take them too long to find a more normal forest.
