Thiemo inspected the small treasure he had just found. Next to his cloak, which seemed to be just stuffed inside with his backpack, there were a lot of parts. Parts he occasionally found on his journey, although they hardly worked. He was no engineer, but even in toasted form, he knew a circuit board when he saw one. Technology, real technology, and the ones in front of him weren't just some modules; they seemed to belong to the same device. The changelings must have disassembled the device to analyse it. He quickly grabbed all his things and put the circuit boards, which seemed to just be connected by small cables, into his backpack.

He looked inside the chest again and was pleased to note that there was, as a matter of fact, another gift inside. A knife handle poked out of some rags, and he duly grabbed it. His excitement died when he found that it was actually just a handle. It seemed that there never was a blade since there wasn't even a slit to insert one. He put it in his pocket and looked over the rags. There were clothes he had never seen before, but they seemed to be made of common fabric, at least common for this world. Not that he remembered any names, but the difference to clothing from Earth was more than obvious. Moreover, they were much too big for Thiemo. He started to think that he might have found the possessions of the last human Chrysalis had gotten hold of. These things could have been here for half an eternity, protected by the chest.

Still, he took out the sweater and ripped it into long strips. Then he took one of the swords that didn't lean against the chest and fixed it at the tip of his staff. Thiemo tied a knot and tested his improvised spear. He had no idea how hard chitin actually was, but this sword would surely be of some use. After all, it was made by changelings. Sword might be the wrong term here – toothpick would be Thiemo's choice. For one of these insects, it might be mighty weapon, but for him it was just a too-long dagger. The handle, now covered in green linen around his staff, was made of chitin and constructed to be held between the teeth. The blade was curved, but slender, and made of steel.

Thiemo kept an ear open as it was inevitable that the changelings would notice that he wasn't buried by rocks and continue pursuing him. For now, it was still quiet. A last look around told him that he had everything he needed. More of the doors probably led to more armouries since they were connected with this one. It would be smarter to avoid the corridor as it was still lit by the moss. The problem was that he would now lose his orientation pretty quickly. Furthermore, he could hit an end at some point and would have to use a door without knowing what was behind it. The best thing would be to take the corridor and somehow seal the armoury. The last thing he needed was changelings literally armed to the teeth. That was like showing a rabid dog how to use a handgun. There were enough videos on YouTube showing people who were crazy enough to try. While thinking about the relaxed times he had spent in front of his computer, he exited the room and closed the door. Now that he was in possession of his cloak, talismans, and backpack again, it would be much easier from here on. Thiemo drew a fire ruby and concentrated. The last time he had tried to concentrate for too long, he had lost the major part of his facial hair. If it hadn't been for the smell, he wouldn't have complained.

The ruby lit up and Thiemo pressed it against the closed door. The chitin plates heated up and started to melt to one mass. “This should keep them busy for a while.” He grinned. Dropping the used ruby, he grabbed his backpack and improvised spear and went down the slightly curved corridor. It must have been right beneath the living area. Surely there had to be other ways aside from the spiral that was no longer viable.

“The armory is sealed!” Thiemo shrugged as heard that. He hadn’t heard them coming. It was their hive, so they had a clear home-field advantage there, but that they were able to move without a sound was not a good sign, especially since his hurt leg was still burning with pain, and he was significantly slower than normal. Yet he went faster and almost walked into the changeling coming out of one of the many doors. They both stared at each other for several seconds.

“Uhm... where do you put prisoners such as foals? Especially hurt ones?” Thiemo could see the changeling gulp and slowly point a shaky hoof down the corridor.

“D... Down there o... on the l... left,” she stammered. At least Thiemo thought it was a 'she' from the higher pitched voice. From the way she behaved, she had to be either a drone or a nurse. Slowly, Thiemo started to understand the way it worked down here. The soldiers were mostly masculine, naturally of strong build, and well trained. The rest was either appointed as workers or drones, and a small part as nurses. If they weren’t fit for one of these tasks, they weren't fit for the hive.

“Thanks.” With that, he passed the drone, who crouched down and held her hooves over her head. He was used to this, but this time it was actually justified. It was him or her. But since a drone didn't pose a real threat, he let her be. Thiemo was no random killer. He followed her directions without hesitating. She was too frightened to lie.

Wrong information wasn't the problem, but the two guards at the entrance of said corridor were. At least they weren't as stupid as diamond dogs to drop everything to check on a noise. But they seemed so focused on something that they didn't see him coming. There wasn't much time for planning since the changelings were close. This time he would have to start the fight. It was a rule of the shamans he already broke many times, but every time it had been for a higher, though not necessarily honourable, goal.

He still had two fire rubies, three sapphires, and one lapis lazuli. The last he wanted to save for another purpose, which left him with five stones. With some luck, this would make for ten attacks max; without luck… exactly five. Quickly, he tied a sapphire to his left arm and the rubies to his right. That way, he would have control over which one to use. If he could get the first one without being noticed, it would be a one on one scenario. The question was whether to risk a fireball – even though he was not very good with fire, he could still be deadly at range – or to quickly approach with a sapphire. Thiemo checked his spear and decided to go with speed, although his leg wouldn't thank him for that. In this way, he would surely land a hit.

Thiemo got into position and concentrated on the sapphire. He released his breath and started sprinting. Instantly, the magic kicked in, and every step became more of a low jump. In a blink, his spear went through the throat of the first guard. Green blood stuck to the blade as the changeling went down. His comrade was perplexed about the sudden appearance of a human but instinctively grabbed his spear. Thiemo took another swing with his weapon but slightly missed and instead hit the guard's helmet. He countered, jabbing his spear towards Thiemo's chest. He quickly turned on his healthy leg and used the swing to hit the changeling with his staff and suck some energy. The effect was clearly visible when the changeling went down since he looked dried out. “Stay down and you will live!” Thiemo called out, but all he got as an answer was hissing followed by a desperate spear attack. With his bare hands, he knocked the spear out of his hooves. The changeling hissed again and tried to bite him, but Thiemo hit him again with his staff and sucked the rest of his life out. He quickly checked his surroundings but saw no support approaching. Thiemo went down the corridor and checked his left arm. The sapphire was still intact and thus good for another use.

A bit exhausted but content, he looked around, and at first glance, he couldn't see any differences to the other corridors. Then he heard squeaking. The same squeaking the newly-born nymph had made. He quickly followed the sound and reached a door— no, two doors. They were so close to each other, they just had to lead into the same room. Again, he was forced to channel magic from his staff into the door, something that got harder each time for him. Not only did he have to fight the suction of the staff, but also his natural resistance. As well as many other creatures of this world, he had no magical system, and to channel energy through ways which were not made for this was more of an act of power than anything else. But it worked again and the door opened.

The room was huge and covered in moss. The air was as stuffy as in the brood chamber, and there seemed to be little nests everywhere. There were small dents in the floor filled with... something. What hit his psyche the hardest were the thousands of blue, iris-less eyes looking at him. Nymphs, thousands of nymphs were living here almost on top of each other, and every single one just stopped in the middle of everything to look at him.

“Dad!”

Something moved in the mass of black chitin, and Aura fell out of a small pile of nymphs. She seemed unharmed and in a good mood. “Aura!” he called out excited and went down on his knees to embrace her in his arms, but in the next moment, his view was interrupted by green fire. This time he didn't cover his eyes, but couldn't help but to close them because of the bright light. When he opened them again, he regretted it. There was not one Aura, but thousands. “Aura?” he carefully asked.

“I'm here, dad!” yelled not one but every one of them. Thiemo stood up and looked over the room. Every single nymph in this room had turned into Aura.

“Okay! Would only the real Aura lift a hoof?”

“Here!” Well, it was worth a shot, but of course all of them lifted their hoof.

Thiemo rubbed his forehead. Normally he wasn't annoyed by Aura's voice, but multiply it by a thousand times and even the nicest voice on Earth would be grating at best. “Aura, just come here. We're outta here.” Naturally, they all came. “Stop! Stay there.” All stayed. There was no time for this game, and he had to quickly think of something, otherwise the escape would end here. “Alright, every nymph that wants to be alive tomorrow now takes a step back!” He pointed his spear at them, knowing very well that the guards’ blood was still sticking to it. Normally, he would be against hurting them or even threatening them, but it didn't work anyway. Some of them walked up to him and rubbed against his leg like a cat. Small pieces of chitin fell off. Apparently, their husks grew with them, and old parts were just shed. Thiemo reached down and petted one of the Aura doppelgangers. “You don't happen to have the courtesy to transform into your normal form?” he asked and picked up the chitin. After all, it was hard material and already served him well. He put it into the pocket with the knife without the blade.

However, the nymph didn't seem to understand and just leaned against his hand. Again Thiemo sighed and looked into the eyes of a thousand Auras, all with a confused look. It was probably inspired by the original. Suddenly, something swooshed beside him and flew in a zigzagged pattern through the room. It was so fast that Thiemo couldn't make it out, but when he realized that only he could see it, he knew it was the soul. Due to the speed, it was more of a transparent fog. It seemed happy and circled the thousands of nymphs. “Of course! You're the nymph from the brood chamber!” The soul ignored him and tried to play with its brothers and sisters, which was impossible of course. Not only were they not able to see it, they couldn't feel it either. “I'm sorry, but your life ended faster than it should have.”

“Dad! Are you gonna leave me here?!” Aura’s voice sounded through the room, frightened and very loud.

“I'm not talking to you, Aura.” Once more, the confused look in all these faces assailed him. The soul stopped and stayed above the mass. It was as if it was looking at him, but he wasn't sure. Thiemo had no idea how souls experienced the world of the living. Zarni had never talked about it, or maybe she had never meant to. Maybe she didn't know herself. You could never be sure with the old zebra. Not that she was old, but Thiemo tended to see all his teachers as old, if only because of the simple fact that they tended to talk as much as his grandparents. If Zarni found a topic, the day was over in no time. Unfortunately, she could easily lose track and would often talk about something entirely different for about two hours.

After a few seconds, the soul started moving again and circled a specific Aura. Thiemo's and the circled Aura's eyes met, and he understood what the soul was doing. It knew who was a changeling and who wasn't. He was no changeling and was apparently looking for someone who wasn't either. This logic would be understood even by a child. Like putting the square block through the square hole. “Thank you,” he said to the soul as he went through the copies and embraced his daughter.

“Dad!” She threw her hooves around his neck, at least as far as her short legs would let her as he pressed her against his chest. “How did you know it was me?” The nymphs stopped saying everything she said and just smirked at them. For them, it was a mere game.

“Let's just say a friend gave me a hint.” Thiemo looked for the soul but it had already disappeared. Maybe it continued its own journey, or it was ready to start a new life which hopefully would last a little longer.

“Dad?” He let her go and looked at her.

“Yes?”

“You smell.” Yes, this was the real Aura. Thiemo lifted his arms and sniffed. Next to the usual odour of clothes and a body that had gone unwashed for a month, there was something else. But this didn't come from his armpits but a place more lower down: his pants.

He put Aura down and felt over his old jeans. “This must be the stuff from the egg.” And now he realized why the nymphs weren't afraid of him. He smelled like them. Maybe that was also the reason the changelings had problems pursuing him and why the guards hadn't recognized him as a threat at first.

“They served you eggs? They fed me some strange berries.” She rolled her tongue out and made a gagging sound. “They were red and covered in green spots. They tasted weird.” They gave her strawberries? Strawberries! Thiemo grabbed Aura and threw her over his shoulder as he stepped to the nest she had crawled out of. There, in a small bowl, were about ten strawberries. One was gnawed on, probably by Aura, but that didn't matter to him now. He instantly stuffed one after another in his mouth and moaned with every bite. “Eewww, dad! That's gross.” He ignored her, and about ten seconds later, they were all gone.

“That's exactly what I needed...” There were many fruits that grew in the desert, but the last time he had seen strawberries had been in Zebrica. A merchant that sold them had rare goods for ten bits a piece. A large part of Thiemo's money found a new master that day. He never was someone who cared much for fruits and vegetables - he didn't even know the difference - but strawberries were the Holy Grail for him. No whipped cream, just a little sugar.

“How was it?” Thiemo turned around, Aura doing the same. Princess Amaryllis and two of her guards were standing in the door. All three didn't look very happy to see him.

“If you have to know, it was delicious.” The guards came into the room and all the nymphs made room. They stopped next to Thiemo and held their spears in his face.

Amaryllis slowly followed them. “Mother is not going to like this. Why did you do that?”

Thiemo rubbed his chin and pretended to think. “Maybe I don't like being held prisoner?” he posed the rhetorical question which didn't hit the oblivious princess.

“You wouldn't be a prisoner! You'd be treated as one of us. We would have taken care of you, and you would have your own place in our family.” She pointed her hoof at the confused nymphs, who probably didn't get a word that was said.

“A family that kills each other when someone makes a mistake or doesn't behave like they want? Thanks, but no thanks. I'd rather join the Nazis.” Of course no one got the reference, but the essence was clear. “I see where this is going. Didn't they just want to kill me?” Thiemo pointed at the spears aimed at him.

“Can you judge them for that? You attacked their brothers and sisters and even killed some.” Amaryllis stopped and looked at a nymph circling her leg. For a moment, she seemed totally lost in her thoughts.

“That one nymph won't let you go either, will it?” Thiemo asked. The nod of the princess was barely perceptible.

“Why?” Amaryllis kept staring while she was surrounded by her siblings.

“Because every life is precious, and I can see that you care about that. If I can give you one piece of advice: should you ever have your own hive, teach that to your children.”

“I'll never have my own...” That was as far as she got before she felt a breeze next to her. Thiemo used her distraction and now stood next to the princess, staff to her throat. He had instantly reacted when he saw more guards at the door.

Both guards now stormed at him. “Back up if the princess' life means something to you.” The soldiers stopped and kept their distance to him. He couldn’t see the newcomers, but he imagined them doing the same since he heard nothing of them.

“What are you doing? Get him!” The queen entered the room, and Thiemo, Aura, and Amaryllis turned around to look at Chrysalis. She crouched through the door and stood up to her full size. “Alive! We need the human.”

Thiemo held the staff now even closer to Amaryllis, and he felt how the staff slowly started to suck magic from its surroundings. “Mother!” Amaryllis begged, fear in her voice. She must have seen what he did to other changelings because she started to shake.

“Silence, Amaryllis! You know our laws.” Chrysalis gave the guards a sign, and they continued attacking him. Thiemo quickly reacted and used another sapphire to dash past the queen. Amaryllis was still in his grip, and he had to admit that she was lighter than she looked. Without looking back, he pulled her with him while he ran down the corridor.

“Let me go!” she cried, but Thiemo ignored her. He was busier with finding a way outside. At least for himself and Aura. The foal held on to Thiemo with all her strength, which was very useful for him. That way, he didn't have to check for her every other second. Of course, something had to negate that in the form of the griffon wound starting to flare up.

“Why did she attack us? I thought you're her daughter.” He still pulled her with him, but in the meantime she started running herself.

“You defeated me, thus I'm unworthy to stay,” was the despondent response. He mentally smacked his forehead. He totally forgot that rule. But he had to admit that it made sense. By negating hostages, they preserved their oh so glorious strength.

“Don't you think that it would now be a good idea to help us?” Thiemo had no time to look back, but her silence was a sign that she thought about it. “Don't all young queens leave the hive at some point?” At least that was the case with bees. A shot in the dark, but they needed any help they could get. They reached the main hall with the big spiral. “Damn! Where to now?” Thiemo asked Amaryllis, who still seemed to be caught in her own thoughts. “Hello! Get yourself together!” He shook her a little, which seemed to work.

“Huh? What?” She seemed a little confused, which was understandable. Unfortunately, this wasn't the right time or place as the soldiers and Chrysalis were catching up.

“We have to get out of here!” he screamed into her ear and pointed his spear towards the oncoming army.

“Get up!” Amaryllis crouched down a bit.

“What?”

“Get up!” Without asking again, he did as told and threw his leg over her back. “Hold tight!” In the seconds before Amaryllis pushed herself up, Thiemo thought about how this was possible, but then it just happened. They quickly gained height as the wings of the insect princess carried them upwards.

Author's Notes:

Anyone who read my blog knows I have 3 acts ready. So here is the second one. The third I will publish tonight (CEST) or tomorrow.

As always thanks to faktopus for proofreading.
A second time edited by JBL. Thanks buddy!