Larval Soldiers

Queen Taldycia Polvero remembered when her mother, former Queen Pygople Polvero, told her and other members of the Polvero Hive tales of when the Chemibrion Empire began their rise in power within the oceans of Sokondro. The Dorcasoms had various battles with each other and the barbaric Narkelegens that wanted more Necturum metal for their tribes. The Pleurodans kept to themselves but occasionally had Narkelegens steal from the Dorcasoms if it meant it would advance the society they were quietly building. Everything changed when the Chemibrion came and united the Narkelegens and the reclusive Pleurodans. They were able to advance their society while keeping the natural integrity of the oceans intact.

Queen Taldycia Polvero allied herself with High Queen Hiero Holometa and the 31 other Glaphyr Dorcasom hives to form the Holometa Hive alliance with the Necydalians, Lucanids, and Lepturobans. They declared war on the gods of the Narkelegens and the Pleurodans at that moment. They were afraid of the technology these beings brought to the underwater civilization. They all had heard tales of how much more powerful the Narkelegens and Pleurodans had gotten since they had arrived from the stars. The Dorcasoms had made advancements in their society themselves with trains that were drawn by the Gastercans, orb-weaving beasts of burden that had troubled the Dorcasoms and their young in the past much like the Pleurodans had. Who did these jelly-filled charlatans think they were hoping to gain by pretending to be as divine as Orkudra or even Zagrea?

Queen Polvero wasn't sure about sending her troops off to war when it happened. Her children weren't the type that were bred for war, even the ones that were destined to be the protectors of the hive. They would be a great defense against the onslaught of the predators of the forest they were situated in. They were within the forest land of Blaberatan, which was sacred land of Orkudra. It was situated far from the oceans that the sea beings dwelled in.

Their sense of safety was shattered once the war began and some of the Narkelegen barbarians had come on land. They were armed with telekinetic ability they use in tandem with their Necturum spears that were able to cut through exoskeleton and epidermis of even the hardiest Glaphyr or Lepturoban Dorcasom. Many of Taldycia's children were killed but the Narkelegens were driven back by the Necydalians, Lucanids, and Lepturobans that the Hive sent as backup. The losses felt preventable if Taldycia would have the workers, drones, and even the hatchlings train with the other variants of Dorcasom like the other Hives that were able to push back the telekinetic invaders more easily. She felt she and the higher-ranked members of her hive were too soft on training the hatchlings in being better suited for defending her and the hive's honey stores. If she was to survive this war along with the other hive queens, her children would need to learn how to survive this harsh reality they were growing up in.

Thus, she started with having the hatchlings that would've been workers be subjected to living in the ways of the Lucanids when they were old enough to have walking legs. The Lucanids were in tune with their rainforests, but these were rainforests that were rife with predators that would dine on the weak bugs. From the big arachnoid Theraphal bull-eaters that crawled within the canopy to the Barych trapdoor frogs that lurked in the waters, many Glaphyr hatchlings couldn't survive the regimen, while the ones that did had to watch in horror. The Lucanids had to learn quickly on the way of fight or flight if they were to survive in their homes, and so they gave their teachings to the young Glaphyr this way, even if it's harsh. They had to learn to at least evade and even hunt some of these creatures for the omnivorous Lucanids, whether they be Amiterm or Myrmec larva.

Once they underwent pupation, they were sent to the more temperate forests of the Necydalians that were more like what the majority of the Glaphyr hives were situated in. Many of the Glaphyr had to learn how to use their paralytic stingers like bullets on beings that would help feed the Necydalians, but had to be careful with not using up too many at a time, for it would weaken them in an instant. This was something that happened to many of the haughty Glaphyr, but there was a traumatizing experience that happened to one Hirsu Polvero.

Hirsu Polvero was a hatchling destined to be a worker Glaphyr until the Holometa-Chemibrion War began, and the hive was nearly ripped to shreds by the Narkelegen invaders. He had been through a lot when his siblings were slaughtered by the flying spears like they were Formicid herons in the night. He didn't want to be a fighter like a few others from his cluster of the hive, but the Queen ordered that it was for the good of the hive to toughen up the eldest drones before they were sent off to war while those who were not put to work yet would undergo intense training. He was within the fourth clutch of hatchlings from Queen Taldycia that had to be sent with two of the other clutches through the traumatizing rainforests of the Lucanids, where many hatchlings were killed or eaten trying to learn their ways. It was a harrowing sight to see siblings like Orbach and Cansmi be devoured by the Calvaster pitcher plants with frog-like tongues that snatched them up.

Hirsu was anxious on how to use the paralytic stingers, fearing he would screw up his aim or use up all his stingers, while clutch siblings like Maurusus and Serratu were confident in their aim and ability to inflict enough paralytic venom to kill a fully grown Gastercan. Hirsu went with these two along with two other siblings named Vastacal and Bipilo to hunt and gather food for the camp when they ran into a pack of Capen badger bears. Maurusus and Serratu had used up a lot of stingers but only had 2 stingers which left them weakened when they used them on the biggest bear of the bunch. The bears shrugged off the stingers that came from those two and they were mauled for it with Bipilo severely injured and Vastacal losing an arm to it. This battle lasted until the remaining two had managed to shoot them just enough for captain Gasoma Ceton to bowl into the predators, crushing them like twigs. The young ones that were killed were left to be eaten by the scavengers of the forest, while Bipilo could not make it to the camp in time to be treated and so was also left behind.

Hirsu and Vastacal were lucky to be alive, but they were an example of the hive's weakness in the eyes of the Holometa Hive. They were chewed out by the high-ranked Glaphyr adult, Doryl, of the camp when they told of what had happened.

Doryl scolded, "Queen Taldycia would be ashamed if she found out more hatchlings don't have what it takes to fight the water-breathers! She would have you sent..."

Gasoma stepped in and interrupted, "Except that it will look bad if you leave them to die here rather than when on the real battlefield. They may not be spirited like us, but they didn't run away from the fight and brought us enough meat to feed us."

Doryl glared but backed off from Hirsu, Vastacal, and the other young ones of the camp. They had a feast to prepare if they were to stay on good terms with the Necydalians, especially Gasoma.

Taldycia was informed of the incident by Doryl by messenger firefly, which didn't help when the pressure was on from the higher queens of the Hive to send more troops in light of the Great Battle of Ecdysaedia having killed Explosmuto Chemibrion. Many Dorcasom fell in that battle, and some queens like Hymeno Siric and Coelio Ecdysaxis stood against this motion, but it still passed by order of the High Queen and so those not fit for battle were sent off to the underwater civilization early.

Hirsu and Vastacal then woke up to find out that some of the third cluster young ones in his camp were being escorted out by dragon-like Gasterflies.

Vastacal asked, "Hey, what's going on?"

Doryl then stepped in and announced, "The High Queen has ordered that those from clusters like the third cluster of eggs laid by Queen Taldycia Polvero be sent to the battlefield along with the others as reinforcements for the Hive's army."

Hirsu and Vastacal were shocked, especially when some of their older siblings were missing limbs, undergoing stressful molts from temperature whiplash, or looking lethargic from stinger overuse syndrome. The young duo could not really fight back with Doryl or Gasoma again with how their hive queen gave the order. They could not afford to talk back to her for they would be left to the Gastercans for speaking out. Thus, it was down to them and four others from their cluster and also thirteen from the fifth cluster. They were sure many other camps undergoing training were experiencing way worse, especially with the older siblings shipped out to their doom.

These young ones also had to be sent to the last camp to the Lepturoban tribe that lived in the Gargok desert of Erebuk, the Eremia tribe. These Lepturobans were not too thrilled to be working with soft-shelled Glaphyr that had diminished in numbers within the realms of the other camps of this regimen. However, as long as they got what they were promised by the Hive, they had to follow orders. The camp was faced with Solare dragons, giant horned lizards that would ambush any bugs, birds, and even worms and mice that stepped on their hides. The young ones had to learn more guerrilla tactics with their powers of the stingers and then how to spit out a honey-like substance to use as ropes and other tools that would aid them in battle with the forces of the Chemibrion Empire. They learned to fight in tandem with the nocturnal Lepturobans and their ability to vibrate their high-frequency vibrating pincer blades and spit flash bombs.

They managed to use the night to face down a Solare dragon and using some stingers and honey to trap the beast before some Lepturobans went in for the kill. The following morning, the camp had to hunker down in the face of a massive sandstorm that blew away some of the third cluster until there was eight left, which were eaten by storm snakes that were riding the wind. One of the foolhardy cadets decided to fly after the storm snake but was never seen again in the storm.

It had been years since the war began and months since Taldycia heard back about the whereabouts of the clusters she sent out for training. It came down to Hirsu, Vastacal, four others from the fourth cluster, and three from the fifth cluster. She was ready to send out the sixth cluster of eggs to the Lucanids, but despite it all, she was surprised that these Dorcasom were the ones that survived the training.

Another council of the hive queens was held for how to deal with the Empire weapon in the facility in Araven. It was developed by the Pleurodans and a rogue Glaphyr scientist named Val Zadra making a biological weapon, Project Morphan, named after the eldest Chemibrion, enraged by the loss of Explosmuto during the Great Battle of Ecdysaedia. Taldycia was shocked at the fact that one of the scientists of the Zadra Hive would turn traitor against the Hive. Queen Ruvat Zadra was like her in having to do what she had to protect her hive by sending young Dorcasoms to battle, but some of her eldest children were scientists that wanted to understand the world better. Taldycia was enraged and volunteered to have some of her Glaphyr and the best Necydalian and Lepturobans sent there to kill the traitor and retrieve the weapon.

The Dorcasom forces sent were met with opposition from the Narkelegens along the way that used their psionic powers to repel attacks that were aimed at them. It was an intense battle to get further into the facility, but some were able to get past the enemy, but at a great cost to many comrades of the squad.

The mission had come with an even greater cost when the top lieutenant, Hirsu, was about to retrieve the weapon that cost the lives of Pleurodan scientists and even the eldest Chemibrion, but failed to complete his mission of weapon retrieval... and to execute Val Zadra.

Word got around that Hirsu had abandoned his mission when the Empire's weapon, which spawned the ghost-white mudskipper Morphians, took over the island and swallowed everything but the lieutenant. She had high hopes for Hirsu to be a hero to the Hive, but he had loosed a complete catastrophe to them and their way of life. She had branded him a traitor to the Hive and had sent word out to the Hive to find and have him killed on sight.

Time passed before two queens had fallen to the feast of the amorphous plague: Cinella Psyllo and Sabatin Caustica, the queens with the most fortified Hives of the alliance. Hirsu took a Gastercan train from Gwal'Lebad for a day's journey to the furthest part of Erebuk to escape the plague of viscous monsters that ate the forces of the Empire and the Hive. He was killed on sight by two Lepturobans that were on the same train as his. The Empire suffered losses of their own, but the Chemibrion Oligarchs had disappeared.

Once Queens Ecdysaxis and Siric had fallen, Queen Polvero had to seek refuge away from her Hive to avoid certain doom, leaving her children to their fate. However, as she was being escorted by the Lucanids to the Gasterfly transport, a long tongue had gotten her and snatched her away. She was thrown aside before she was flung into a web in the trees that was beside other webs that held some dissolved Glaphyr. She watched as some Morphians that had the traits of Calvaster pitcher plants, Theraphal bull-eaters, Lucanids, and Amiterm locusts came crawling in. Some of them cackling at the frightened queen as the leader of the pack with the traits of a Capen badger bear, Amiterm locust, and Theraphal bull-eater appeared before her.

He said, "The Hive Queen has no more children to sacrifice. Nowhere to turn to. Nothing. We will kill, devour, swallow the will of all things, for that is what we must do."