Anna’s POV
Anna looked lovingly at her sleeping queen or rather mother. She had known Kai had been bothered by something by her smell, but if only she had known more about her own mother.
Anna wasn’t even a week old, but she had been an Antanoid for her whole life. All these things seemed so natural, things like suddenly waking up and learning what other races took years to learn in the span of a few seconds.
She couldn’t even comprehend how it would be if your race had changed after you fully grew up and never had she tried to put herself in the queens situation. She had just taken things as they were and hadn’t asked why they were that way.
Now she had learned about her mothers life, about the turmoil her feelings had been in. She had learned empathy and how to truly admire someone.
Her mother had been attacked by an unknown creature, had woken up as an unknown creature that was so different from her former body and still had been kind to Anna. She hadn’t given up and she had never even thought about taking advantage of her situation in a greedy way.
Anna swore to herself to always be there for her mother, to not just be a daughter but also a dependable friend.
She carefully laid Kai on her tail, making sure not to wake her up. Then she looked at the egg her mother had laid and decided to lay her own right now. Maybe it would help her mother if she wasn’t the only one laying eggs?
Anna moved next to the egg of her mother and sat down on her butt. Her tail wasn’t as big as her mothers and she didn’t want the egg to fall to the ground and break.
She felt for her mana and slowly began to push it towards her tail, similar to how her mother had done. Then she got to feel the same pleasure as her mother, until the egg had been pushed out of her tail fully.
The egg was a lot smaller than that of her mother and maybe two fists tall. It was of the same bluish-gray color her own egg had been and Anna carefully moved it next to the egg containing her new sister.
Then she looked towards the room she had been building. The walls had reached a height of half a meter, but it wouldn’t be enough. Anna’s instincts told her to build the walls higher before building them together, so the room would form an ellipse-like hemisphere.
She was hungry and exhausted and Anna could tell that she wouldn’t be able to finish the building before the dark-hours. Still, it wouldn’t build itself alone so she got to work with determination.
—
Kai’s POV
Kai woke up to a weird slurping sound and opened her eyes in alarm.
Next to her egg were the remains of a second smaller egg. Inside them stood something looking similar to an ant and ate the rest of the goo. The view eased her worries somewhat.
The ant thing had a large head with a set of mandibles, two large eyes and two antennae that looked like those of Kai and Anna. The sections of its body weren’t as easily divisible as those of an ant, which destroyed the ant-look somewhat.
The thing still had six legs that were fully covered in gray chitin armor. The same armor was also shielding points where Kai guessed vital parts of its body were. The rest of the drone, because that was what Kai was looking at she realized, was furred in the same color as Anna.
All in all the drone was about the horizontal size of a rabbit and about a fist tall, something that would have made Kai run away if she was still on earth. Here she looked at it like she was seeing a dog, just the Antanoid variant.
She opened her connection to the mana brain and looked at the info screen.
She looked a bit further and the screens showed that the drone would reach its full size in a few days depending on what and how much it ate. The drone also had a mana tether and would improve its power further, only not as much as a worker.
Kai could even look at their anatomy and saw that they too had an endoskeleton, but didn’t care about further.
She wondered if that meant she and Anna also had yet to grow, but hoped that was not the case. Her current size was what she was comfortable with from her earth days and she would like to at least stay the same in height.
The drone noticed her and got on its knees. It looked a bit funny, but also annoyed Kai. Even the non-thinking members of her species were bowing to her and she did not appreciate that.
Kai looked for Anna and spotted her leaning against the room she had been building. It had the form of an elongated ellipse-like hemisphere and it stood out like a sore thumb. The white silk reflected the light in such a way that it looked like it was shining violet. That the silk was white you would only notice once you were next to it.
The light made her feel safe, which was a biology based reaction, because in Kai’s opinion it made the hive look like the spawn of all evil. She just hoped that, should they ever meet other sapient races, they had already seen their fair share of weird things.
Kai focused on Anna again. She was a bit worried about the state of her daughter and scurried towards her.
Anna turned her head towards Kai and smiled weakly. “Good evening my lady.”
Kai hugged her. “Are you alright Anna? Did anything happen while I was asleep?”
Anna tried to free herself from Kai, but wasn’t strong enough so she had to give it up. “I’m alright my lady, just a bit exhausted from building.”
Kai looked at her and frowned. “Just a little bit exhausted my ass! Don’t overwork yourself again.”
She picked Anna up in a princess carry. “It’s time for you to get some sleep.” Then she started to walk towards the room entrance.
Anna opened her mouth, but Kai interrupted her before she could even begin talking. “No buts. You get some sleep, that is a command!”
Kai walked into the room and immediately spotted an area where the silk was a bit heightened. It looked a lot like some kind of sleeping space, so she went over there and laid Anna on top of it.
Then she sat down next to it and crossed her arms. She would stay here until Anna was asleep, even if she had to wait for hours.
Anna seemed to realize that and made herself comfortable. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep and freed Kai to do something very important. She had to relieve herself.
Kai went outside and walked a bit away from the house before doing what had to be done. A curious drone was following her without her noticing.
After that she walked around a bit with her connection to the mana brain open and started to collect fruits and plants that were known to Anna.
The drone following her started to copy her actions and began to search for food. Kai only realized that when she heard a high pitched squeal and found the drone standing over a small creature.
It looked a lot like some hamster, just more round and less alive. The drone had used its mandibles to grab the poor thing and broke its neck afterwards.
Kai watched as the drone took its catch and ran back towards the hive. She had nothing against the small guy collecting things, it meant less work for her and Anna.
She continued her scavenging trip, but looked out more for any animals. She spotted a lot of different birds, but they always flew away before she could get a better look at them, at least all but one of them.
The one that didn’t immediately fly away looked like a small finch with two snail antennas. Its feathers were mostly brown with a few white ones. Kai didn’t really expect to discover any colorful birds in this forest, bright colors would just make them a target.
After that she spotted some kind of toad and a moment later, said toad got killed by a small cat-like thing. Kai couldn’t see a lot of it, because it disappeared into the undergrowth really fast, but it had gray fur and was about the size of a rat.
Kai was about to continue collecting stuff, but a weird screech made her hurry back to the hive. The forest went death silent after the scream and she thought her movement was painfully loud.
She reached the one room hive and entered it worriedly. Once she was inside she looked towards the sky through the entrance and watched as multiple of the hell-moths flew towards the hilly region. They would need to find a way to fight those things fast, because Kai didn’t think their hive would stay unnoticed for long.
Anna’s POV
Anna looked lovingly at her sleeping queen or rather mother. She had known Kai had been bothered by something by her smell, but if only she had known more about her own mother.
Anna wasn’t even a week old, but she had been an Antanoid for her whole life. All these things seemed so natural, things like suddenly waking up and learning what other races took years to learn in the span of a few seconds.
She couldn’t even comprehend how it would be if your race had changed after you fully grew up and never had she tried to put herself in the queens situation. She had just taken things as they were and hadn’t asked why they were that way.
Now she had learned about her mothers life, about the turmoil her feelings had been in. She had learned empathy and how to truly admire someone.
Her mother had been attacked by an unknown creature, had woken up as an unknown creature that was so different from her former body and still had been kind to Anna. She hadn’t given up and she had never even thought about taking advantage of her situation in a greedy way.
Anna swore to herself to always be there for her mother, to not just be a daughter but also a dependable friend.
She carefully laid Kai on her tail, making sure not to wake her up. Then she looked at the egg her mother had laid and decided to lay her own right now. Maybe it would help her mother if she wasn’t the only one laying eggs?
Anna moved next to the egg of her mother and sat down on her butt. Her tail wasn’t as big as her mothers and she didn’t want the egg to fall to the ground and break.
She felt for her mana and slowly began to push it towards her tail, similar to how her mother had done. Then she got to feel the same pleasure as her mother, until the egg had been pushed out of her tail fully.
The egg was a lot smaller than that of her mother and maybe two fists tall. It was of the same bluish-gray color her own egg had been and Anna carefully moved it next to the egg containing her new sister.
Then she looked towards the room she had been building. The walls had reached a height of half a meter, but it wouldn’t be enough. Anna’s instincts told her to build the walls higher before building them together, so the room would form an ellipse-like hemisphere.
She was hungry and exhausted and Anna could tell that she wouldn’t be able to finish the building before the dark-hours. Still, it wouldn’t build itself alone so she got to work with determination.
—
Kai’s POV
Kai woke up to a weird slurping sound and opened her eyes in alarm.
Next to her egg were the remains of a second smaller egg. Inside them stood something looking similar to an ant and ate the rest of the goo. The view eased her worries somewhat.
The ant thing had a large head with a set of mandibles, two large eyes and two antennae that looked like those of Kai and Anna. The sections of its body weren’t as easily divisible as those of an ant, which destroyed the ant-look somewhat.
The thing still had six legs that were fully covered in gray chitin armor. The same armor was also shielding points where Kai guessed vital parts of its body were. The rest of the drone, because that was what Kai was looking at she realized, was furred in the same color as Anna.
All in all the drone was about the horizontal size of a rabbit and about a fist tall, something that would have made Kai run away if she was still on earth. Here she looked at it like she was seeing a dog, just the Antanoid variant.
She opened her connection to the mana brain and looked at the info screen.
She looked a bit further and the screens showed that the drone would reach its full size in a few days depending on what and how much it ate. The drone also had a mana tether and would improve its power further, only not as much as a worker.
Kai could even look at their anatomy and saw that they too had an endoskeleton, but didn’t care about further.
She wondered if that meant she and Anna also had yet to grow, but hoped that was not the case. Her current size was what she was comfortable with from her earth days and she would like to at least stay the same in height.
The drone noticed her and got on its knees. It looked a bit funny, but also annoyed Kai. Even the non-thinking members of her species were bowing to her and she did not appreciate that.
Kai looked for Anna and spotted her leaning against the room she had been building. It had the form of an elongated ellipse-like hemisphere and it stood out like a sore thumb. The white silk reflected the light in such a way that it looked like it was shining violet. That the silk was white you would only notice once you were next to it.
The light made her feel safe, which was a biology based reaction, because in Kai’s opinion it made the hive look like the spawn of all evil. She just hoped that, should they ever meet other sapient races, they had already seen their fair share of weird things.
Kai focused on Anna again. She was a bit worried about the state of her daughter and scurried towards her.
Anna turned her head towards Kai and smiled weakly. “Good evening my lady.”
Kai hugged her. “Are you alright Anna? Did anything happen while I was asleep?”
Anna tried to free herself from Kai, but wasn’t strong enough so she had to give it up. “I’m alright my lady, just a bit exhausted from building.”
Kai looked at her and frowned. “Just a little bit exhausted my ass! Don’t overwork yourself again.”
She picked Anna up in a princess carry. “It’s time for you to get some sleep.” Then she started to walk towards the room entrance.
Anna opened her mouth, but Kai interrupted her before she could even begin talking. “No buts. You get some sleep, that is a command!”
Kai walked into the room and immediately spotted an area where the silk was a bit heightened. It looked a lot like some kind of sleeping space, so she went over there and laid Anna on top of it.
Then she sat down next to it and crossed her arms. She would stay here until Anna was asleep, even if she had to wait for hours.
Anna seemed to realize that and made herself comfortable. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep and freed Kai to do something very important. She had to relieve herself.
Kai went outside and walked a bit away from the house before doing what had to be done. A curious drone was following her without her noticing.
After that she walked around a bit with her connection to the mana brain open and started to collect fruits and plants that were known to Anna.
The drone following her started to copy her actions and began to search for food. Kai only realized that when she heard a high pitched squeal and found the drone standing over a small creature.
It looked a lot like some hamster, just more round and less alive. The drone had used its mandibles to grab the poor thing and broke its neck afterwards.
Kai watched as the drone took its catch and ran back towards the hive. She had nothing against the small guy collecting things, it meant less work for her and Anna.
She continued her scavenging trip, but looked out more for any animals. She spotted a lot of different birds, but they always flew away before she could get a better look at them, at least all but one of them.
The one that didn’t immediately fly away looked like a small finch with two snail antennas. Its feathers were mostly brown with a few white ones. Kai didn’t really expect to discover any colorful birds in this forest, bright colors would just make them a target.
After that she spotted some kind of toad and a moment later, said toad got killed by a small cat-like thing. Kai couldn’t see a lot of it, because it disappeared into the undergrowth really fast, but it had gray fur and was about the size of a rat.
Kai was about to continue collecting stuff, but a weird screech made her hurry back to the hive. The forest went death silent after the scream and she thought her movement was painfully loud.
She reached the one room hive and entered it worriedly. Once she was inside she looked towards the sky through the entrance and watched as multiple of the hell-moths flew towards the hilly region. They would need to find a way to fight those things fast, because Kai didn’t think their hive would stay unnoticed for long.
