2504, Somewhere In the Koprulu Sector █

At first, there had been pain. She could still remember it… searing pain so strong that it had dulled out any other possible reality. Living flesh, torn, nerves exposed… burning tears in her chest and legs… it had seemed like if part of her slowly stopped hurting, the pain would increment in kind in other areas.

When she had been moved, dripping blood, spasming and almost drowning in her own blood more than once until a bump or turn allowed her to throw it up.

What a weak creature she had been. Now there was no pain. She floated in the primordial, viceral source of life. Her blood had long stopped seeping out. It had long stopped itching and hurting. No more needles of pain driving like malicious stabs into her very soul.

Things were mostly quiet. Soothing.

Among occasional swirls in the currents, and random bubbling sounds, words echoed in a sort of dull echo around her. She could hear them just above the cadence of her beating heart, which was itself as loud as she could ever remember it being. Much like those very silent nights, when she would sometimes lay her head on her pillow, she could hear it... like drums in the dark.

Whatever liquid she was in, it enveloped her completely, and she knew that—in the darkness and gooeyness of the substance—she should have felt scared and disgusted.

Except...

The darkness was warm and welcoming. And lately, occasional pulses of light and energy flooded around her. There were voices too: some gruff, some growling, some hissing, some crackling… and one… one sweet... gentle, but powerful… so powerful, looming like an ocean slowly rising above the land.

Gentle and peaceful… building up… slowly... and behind it, immeasurable force.

She loved this voice. She wished she could sing to it. It reminded her of her past life… of fuzzy figures in her memory, full of power, magic, and purpose. But even more, this world where she found herself in… it brought back deeper, older, much more visceral sensations.

At first, she couldn't understand what the voice said. But, as she floated in the golden, warm liquid that reminded her—somehow—of before she was born, it slowly made sense. She was once again, part of something larger; she was once again within the womb of life, and outside, the voices continued; argued; changed from noise, to meaning.

And she knew the gentle voice. The one with true power; the one she owed her life and very being to.

She knew her as her queen.

But even more importantly, her mother.

Time passed. Days, weeks, months… years? It was all a haze, a continuous barrage of changes as her mind developed in ways that defied her original nature. Every day, she became more.

She didn't know how long she'd been there, how long the changes had been working on her; the tightening of muscle and the shifting of bones… her skin becoming armor-like, her teeth elongating, no longer designed to chew, but rather tear through almost anything. None of it painful, in fact, this change was welcome, it was as if she was being embraced into a new life.

At one point, she thought she would be scared. Maybe it was when her alabaster fur had parted on her back to let new, unseen appendages grow. Maybe it had been when she had felt her hooves harden, or her horn twist and split.

She couldn't see it, but she knew just how much stronger it was now. Before, she might have used as a desperate means to defend herself, risking her magic and a lot pain were it to break. Now? She could just feel the power, how its very composition remained the same, and yet… it wouldn't break unless incredible pressure—way beyond what she should encounter—was placed on it.

Or maybe, when she had considered fear before the physical changes had started. When she hadn't understood. When... she was scared and hurt and bleeding. Left for dead.

When she had been found and brought here to her mother. When she had felt her magic probed, her mind caressed by a gentle breeze of whispered words and encouragement for the first time in... in—

Ever since she had left her home.

Now, after almost dying for no reason, she had been promised a new life.

She felt it. It was the time to emerge. Time to see herself anew, for the first time ever. Time to evolve.

She expanded her new, chitinous, almost-bony appendages from her back, scythe-like, she thrust them up, piercing through the hard shell that had contained her until now.

She burst out, a screech of savage victory, strong, free, confident and with new purpose.

Her old life was but a memory. Useful, for future reference and conquest. For now, she had other objectives.

For now.

She could feel the summons, the mental caress of of her mother, welcoming her into her new life. Not as a stagnant, inferior and weak species, but as a true warrior. Thirsting for blood, to grow, expand her clutch.

And first and foremost to serve her Queen.

She was finally ready to join the Swarm.