There was so much motion in the cavern. Resin walls pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat echoing through the Hive itself. Riven sat at the center of it all, the bioluminescent glow painting his pale carapace in shifting hues. Before him floated dozens of holographic panes, each one shimmering with scenes from across the Hive tunnels.
Through them, he saw what his daughters saw—every shadowed crevice, every twitch of their antennae, every scrap of scent that drifted past their mandibles.
It was overwhelming.
❖ [Hive Sensory Stream: Active]
❖ [Warning: Neural load unstable. Adjusting thresholds…]
❖ [Link efficiency: 72% → 81% → 94%]
His breath caught as the sensations layered over him: the scrape of carapace against stone, the tickle of dust-laden air in dozens of throats, the vibration of footsteps echoing down different tunnels all at once. He flexed his clawed fingers instinctively, and somewhere, one of the daughters copied the movement, clicking her talons against rock, a sign of their neural synchronicity.
This is insane… it's like I'm everywhere at once.
"Riven."
He blinked and glanced aside. Yalena crouched nearby, watching him. Her golden eyes gleamed with curiosity.
"What are you doing?" she asked softly. "You sit there, staring into light that I cannot see, but your mind… it feels stretched."
Riven hesitated, fumbling for words. "It's… hard to explain. Imagine having… millions of limbs. Millions of eyes, antennae, even ears. All moving at once, all feeding back into your head. That's what this is like."
Yalena tilted her head, a faint smile curving her lips. "Strange. I feel only their presence, their hunger, their emotions. But not… this detail. This… map."
Riven gestured at the shifting panes. "The System is filtering it for me. Identifying threats, food, anything useful. Look—"
One pane flared brighter than the others. Through the eyes of a scout, he saw a stretch of loose soil shifting, tiny clumps collapsing inward. Something moved beneath the earth.
❖ [Detected: Burrowing lifeform]
❖ [Classification: Tier-8 Mammalian Subterranean]
❖ [Estimated nutritional value: Moderate. Safe for consumption.]
Through the eyes of a scout daughter, he saw loose soil shifting violently. The ground bulged like a rising wave until a shape burst through—an enormous mole.
Its body was the size of a wagon, thickly furred with black-brown strands that shimmered with damp earth. Massive claws gleamed like hooked shovels, and its whiskered snout twitched as it sniffed the cavern air.
The vibration of its movements hit him like thunder in his bones. He felt the scout's antennae quiver, her muscles coil tight, and—worse—the sharp hunger that clawed up her throat. It bled into him until he nearly salivated with her.
Riven gritted his teeth. Damn it… I can feel everything she feels.
All of them seemed to momentarily salivate through the Hive link, their mandibles twitching, their tongues brushing against sharp teeth in eerie unison.
Realizing it, Riven's stomach knotted. Shit—they're copying me again.
Without thinking, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. At once, dozens of daughters mirrored the gesture across the tunnels, cleaning their mouths in perfect synchrony.
He cleared his throat, forcing his voice steady. "Alright," he muttered, more to himself than anyone else. "This will be the first hunt I direct."
❖ [Hive Command Protocol Engaged]
❖ [Overriding instinctive patterns… awaiting directive.]
The System's text hovered briefly in the air before fading back into the panes. At once, the Hive fell quiet inside his head. The whispering hunger, the restless scraping of claws—gone. A silence deeper than silence filled him, every mind focused on his next words.
"Scouts," he ordered, leaning forward, "spread out. Don't strike yet. Push it south, toward the wider tunnel. Hunters—hold positions along the flanks. When it comes through, collapse the path behind it. Box it in."
Yes, Father.
We obey.
It will not escape.
The layered voices pressed against his skull. His chest tightened at the sound, equal parts awe and unease… but part of him found it cute.
Through the scout's eyes, he watched as three of his soldier daughters scuttled silently into position, circling the mole from the shadows. Their antennae quivered with every shift of earth, reading the vibrations as clearly as he did. The massive beast pawed the stone, muscles rippling beneath its thick fur. Its claws sheared through rock as if it were wet clay.
He clenched his jaw. "Steady… not yet…"
The mole snorted, shoving its blunt snout deeper into the soil. It clawed forward, forcing its hulking body into the southern passage.
"Now."
Two scouts dropped first, skittering down the cavern wall with terrifying speed. Their claws gouged deep trenches through the mole's furred flank, leaving streaks of blood that steamed in the damp air.
The mole shrieked, a sound like stone grinding against stone. Its massive body bucked, claws swiping outward. One strike shattered an outcropping of rock, spraying shards in every direction.
Riven flinched, his arm rising instinctively—only to realize he was mimicking the scout who had raised her claws to shield her face. Through her eyes, he watched the shards ricochet off her carapace, felt the sting of stone biting across her shell. The pain jolted through his own nerves like it was his skin.
"Hold it!" Riven snapped, his voice pushing into every mind.
The Hunters moved.
A dozen of them lunged from the shadows, their bodies glinting under the cavern's glow. One slammed onto the mole's back, legs locking around its massive shoulders, mandibles plunging into the thick hide at its neck. Two more seized its forelimbs, claws digging deep, anchoring the beast against the ground. The last Hunter darted low, sinking her bladed limbs into its belly.
Riven felt it all: the heat of blood spraying against their faces, the vibration of bones crunching under pressure, the smell of iron exploding across senses that weren't his.
The mole roared again, its body heaving with raw strength. Muscles rippled as it tried to roll, to crush the Hunter on its back. One massive claw tore free from its captor, lashing outward. A daughter was struck full across the torso, her vision spiraling—then black.
Riven's breath caught as he felt a spike of pain and gagged for a moment, coughing and dazed, momentarily disrupting the senses of all his daughters. Although he managed to quickly regain his composure, he frantically searched for the daughter whose senses had cut off from his.
For a moment, a chill ran down his spine.
But then… her vision fluttered open again.
He let out a sigh of relief.
She was okay.
He quickly set his sights on the mole again—this time with some anger.
"Don't let it free!" he yelled.
❖ [Tactical Synchronization: 81% → 93%]
❖ [You have gained the skill: Minor Pain Resistance (E)]