Marion awoke in his chamber as usual, excited, rejoiced, for today was another opportunity to serve, to contribute.
He woke up energized as usual, and spread his six large, powerful limbs stretching them out, his exoskeleton crackling, bursting with power,
Standing up, he went over to the pile of rocks next to his rough bedding of straw,
Smelling them out, he picked the one that reeked of sulfur, as usual of course, Marion always preferred that one, it was an acquired taste definitely, but it was his way of life, his karmic path, he couldn't stray from it, wouldn't stray from it, that would be blasphemous after all he aimed to one day stand as a knight of the colony.
Simri opened wide and bit down with his sharp mandibles, demolishing the rock, tasting it, digesting it,
''Burp'' Simri burped a hot breath, smoke coming out of his mouth, this would help him improve, he had been stuck at a bottleneck for a while, but luckily he managed to find a vein containing these sulfur reeking ores, he hadn't quite believed his luck, these would bring him a great deal closer to the next step,
Simri walked over to his bedding and grabbed a piece of cloth, grabbing it and tying it around his waist like a loincloth, it was customary attire of the colony,
Simri walked out of the cave he called home into an even bigger cave turned passageway,
The soil was red, the passage tall and wide, it had sparsely placed torches laying around, faintly illuminating the passage, it didn't matter much, these creatures walked around as if water flowing, like they could observe it all, the lack of illumination didn't seem to affect them in the slightest,
Simri stood in the hallway then turned left, a lot of his brethren were also going left, and a lot were going the opposite direction,
Simri and everyone going in the same direction looked to have the same broad arms, it differed from one to the other, some had sharper claws, some redder claws, they all had pale white exoskeletons, but some appeared to have grown thicker plates, yet they all had two pair of arms, conjoined at the same shoulder joint, lean, long and strong ending in a set of sharp claws,
Simri was no different, yet his skeleton was dotted with red spots, and he seemed to radiate a kind of heat, the tips of his claws a bright orange,
Simri was a promising member of the colony, and he knew it, he walked with his head held high, others moving out of his way,
Yet another group was walking the opposite way, they appeared to be smaller in size, still pale looking, with two pair of arms, yet their claws duller, their arms less threatening, they made way for the other group,
they wore more cloth, in the shape of a toga, showing less of their skeleton, yet still each individual was slightly distinct, from their color, to the lengths of their limbs to the color or number of claws they had,
Simri walked along with his brethren, in silence, in the tunnels, where light shone sparsely, until they arrived at a wide room,
To call it a room would be an injustice, this was a hub, a hub for a kingdom of epic proportions, the ceiling hundreds of meters high and kilometers wide, it was an incredible sight,
Simri didn't stop in place, neither did anyone, all flowing along like river water,
The room was a clearing, with a giant castle at the center, around it were thousands of buildings, all built of red rock, with ornaments of different types of stone laid around,
The castle at the center, was made of grey rock, with a many gems spread about, and inexplicably the top of the highest spire was made of some kind of wood,
It was a city, a great city, a kingdom, with thousands going in and out,
The group that came with Simri stopped at the gate, they were many, multiple thousands,
Out from the gates came a creature, bigger than any in Simri's group, he towered over every single individual there,
His skeleton grey and lustrous, his arms massive and robust, his claws almost black, with each step he took the ground shook, craters left in his wake,
He stood at the front, and everyone bowed their heads slightly at his sight, it was natural in front of such power to bow, he was superior,
He raised his hand and every single individual knew to raise their heads, their antennae still lowered as a show of respect,
The creature spread its mandibles, and out came screeching guttural sounds, yet Simri understood it all,
''Mchuwaji, today, we the righteous true colony wage war against the tyrannical colony of the traitor queen, thank me for this opportunity, for every single one of you will have the opportunity to grow stronger, your karmic path strenghtened by this combat, not a single one is to be left alive, they have killed our young, destroyed our supplies, threatened the very structure of our kingdom, and most of all threatened our queen, they will be eliminated today without fail, gather yourselves, be ready for this glory is like none you will ever experience,''
His voice terrible and loud, his being different from all others present,
Yet Simri couldn't help but tremble, he trembled as did every Mchuwaji present, it was in their blood, this hunger for war, conquest and destruction,
Simri screeched, his head raised high, his mandibles open wide trembling, antennas shaking, all the others joined in, their blood boiling over,
The cave shook and trembled, a cacophony to announce the carnage to come,
Thousands of screeching beasts, inbetween these sounds you could hear spectral haunting sounds mixed in,
the earth cracked and above the army a form of energy began to form, like wind gathering in one place, a collection of energy gathered and shook, a representation of what is to come,
The energy gathered and transformed into the face of a mchuwaji,
Instantly the roars grew more intense, the army more feverish, their armor crackling and expanding, barely able to contain the energy within,
A loud sound resounded, an explosion to silence an army,
The general had clapped his hands, the sound and power couldn't be denied, his presence, now even stronger overshadowed everyone,
''Our queen has blessed us, risked her energy for us, taken a sacred oath for us, we now march to repay two debts, one of gratitude, one of blood''
The general motioned forward, and out came Mchuwaji, big and strong, yet they couldn't compare to the general, they stood tall and proud, with their greyish skin, and bulging arms,
Each stood in front of the army, a distance apart,
they shook their antennas and the groups were divided, each officer faced by an army of a hundred mchuwaji, standing in rows as if trained their whole life for this moment,
Simri's blood boiled, his mandibles leaked saliva, yet even through all this he was still able to follow orders, he could feel what he needed to do, it was instinct,
He was looking forward to the carnage to come.