When Veqty regained consciousness, her mind was in turmoil.
She had just been lying on her deathbed, closing her eyes for a moment to rest. But the next thing she knew, he had fallen asleep and spent a whole lifetime with her husband…even met the goddess, but couldn't even remember it clearly.
She found himself trapped in a dark, slimy prison, surrounded by sticky, disgusting liquid.
What kind of prank was this?
Veqty tried to shout, but no sound came out. She attempted to move but realized with horror that her arms and legs seemed to have multiplied.
Frozen in shock, it took her several seconds before she began thrashing wildly.
Finally, the prison couldn't withstand her struggles and cracked open. Veqty scrambled out through the opening.
All around her were enormous rocks, but now that she was free, she felt an inexplicable surge of strength, far beyond what she should have.
With ease, she pushed the surrounding stones aside, creating a small space for herself.
What kind of reincarnation was this? Had they locked her up and buried her alive?
Still groggy from whatever had happened to her, Veqty's thoughts remained scattered.
But it didn't take long for the truth to dawn on her.
Staring at her hands—if they could still be called that—Veqty froze.
They were smooth, pitch black, and gleamed with an almost metallic sheen. Instead of fingers, strange, sharp, jointed appendages protruded from them.
Looking down at her body, she saw the same black surface. Her abdomen had sprouted three pairs of segmented limbs.
Six jointed limbs, segmented and armored, scraped the ground with dull clicks. A long crest of chitin swept back from her head, flaring like a living crown. Her eyes, six in total, blinked open with a violet shine, predatory, alien.
Veqty tried standing straight, trying to move her new body.
She stood hunched in the great chamber, jagged spines glinting along her back. Membranes pulsed with violet bio-light beneath her thorax, and her clawed digits twitched with unnatural elegance.
She was far from human, the thing she could relate to a little was an ant queen, but far more deadly, she was a Swarm Mother, nothing like the humanoid body of the Swarm Mother Ezra showed, granted, the Abodomen would remain, she should at least become a bit more humanoid.
"Shikkk Chikkk Shhhh" Veqty tried to call out System, status, menu, anything that might work, but only chittering could be made out.
This won't work.
"System," Veqty tried to say in her mind.
[Name]: Veqty Quantzhui
[Race]: Swarm Mother
[Title]: The Last Primal
[Age]: 100000000(100 million Years)
[Spark]: Mother Of All
[Spark Slot 2]: ———
[Strength]: 17
[Aether]: 20
[Defense]: 39
[Agility]: 23
[Stamina]: 13
[Luck]: 15
Active Skills:
[Ferocious Bite] | [Claws] | [Overdrive] | [Dig] | [Spines]
Passive Skills:
[Regenerate] | [Burrow] | [Queen's Knowledge]
Racial Traits:
[Queen's Legacy]{Unlocks Mother Series Skills and Second Spark}
[Mother's Power]
[Mother's Love] — Locked
[Mother's Wrath] — Locked
[Mother's Despair] — Locked
[Mother's Curse] — Locked
"Queens' Knowledge?" Is this a cheat skill that tells me everything?" She thought.
"Akkttt skkkh skkkt." Veqty tried to use it, but forgot her vocal limitation.
"Activate Queen's Knowledge!" She tried again mentally.
As soon as she said that, it felt as if she had been struck by lightning. Images flashed in her mind, flashes of light and memories. As if she were sprinting through another life.
She was standing beneath a sky that was not Earth. She was in a body not Human, it was female, yes, but not human. The chitin crown was smaller but still present, thick citin-covered hair falling under it. She was standing on 2 feet, her 6 legs now on her back with no abdomen present; she was spiderlike but more humanoid.
"Zheraki! The Swarm must leave, The Swarm must survive, the Swarm must evolve, it must grow stronger," Veqty said to a Swarm Queen. She did not understand how she knew, but she did. She was now in the body of the Swarm Mother; she felt what the other did, but could not interfere.
"Mother, there is no Swarm without you! Our lives at your command!" The Swarm Queen replied, her legs chittering on the floor in frustration.
"I must stay behind; without me, you will not be able to escape. Take this! This is my second spark, it will help you get away," The Swarm Queen answered as she punched a hole in her chest, taking out a bright blue orb. Its surface was glossy, but its shine could not be hidden despite the green blood; her wounds healed themselves quickly, with Veqty herself only feeling a prick. It seemed the experience was dimmed down for Veqty in most aspects.
The scenes moved quickly, More images flashed by, her body was thrashed in the waves of memories. It paused on another scene, a scene that sent a chill down her spine. Alan, the Swarm Mother…was kissing Alan. How she missed him! But why did she have to see this!? What is happening? Veqty became more confused as sorrow started developing in her heart. She was sharing the Swarm Mother's body, yes, she felt the kiss, but numbly, she moved like a puppet.
"Alerus, you must leave, you are not part of the Swarm, they will not accept you after I'm gone. You must leave beloved, or I will worry about you even in death, I will not let you die with me, live for me instead. Visit the places you told me about, the places we couldn't go together." Veqty did not understand what the Swarm Mother was saying, what did she mean…Alerus? This was not Alan? Was she going to die?
"Veqty, where can I go? My life is here with you! Where would I be accepted other than with you?" Ala-Alerus replied. Veqty became more confused. Veqty isn't that her name? What are the…chances? Well…she was not new to reincarnations anymore.
"That is why I worry for you, I'm sorry, my dear, I failed to protect you till the end. The rest of your journey is long, my heart is heavy for you, you must go, we don't have much time."
"I will not!" Alerus shouted from the other side, his face red, his eyes angry and wet with grief. Veqty now felt emotions, too loud to be dulled anymore, Shock, Pain, Guilt, Worry, and Sorrow, but most of all Love. The cacophony of emotions made her head twirl.
Ale!…rus…" Veqty started, angrily, her pride as the Empress roaring, but it dulled quickly as emotions overwhelmed her.
"The Swarm is weak; we were always meant to be slaves. They abused us as they wanted, but I carved a path for my people, I broke the chains, I freed my people. I sold them a dream of freedom; everyone sacrificed their lives for this dream, and entire generations were killed because of that dream. The revolution cannot stop. These chains have drunk the blood of all my kin and friends, and now they want mine…But I will NOT let them have yours! Understand this, Alerus, you will survive and live a happy life! You are the only selfish choice I ever made, live! Live!" Veqty had started crying in the last part as she banged Alerus's chest. He, who was on the verge of crying a while ago, now held her body against his own, letting her cry.
Veqty felt these emotions, and her heart was bleeding. She was realizing slowly, this wasn't a random Swarm mother…this was her past, her reincarnation. And Aler-Alan was always there for her.
The scene shifted yet again. More images, more memories.
Veqty looked up at the sky, and the scene dazed her. Huge battleships, Futurist jets zooming through the air. Veqty was standing on top of an Infested mountain. The behemoth, attacking with giant spines, the battleships tried to dodge but failed miserably as a large spine penetrated the hull, lighting the sky with explosions. The jets did suicide maneuvers to protect the battleships as they were charged some sort of plasma cannon.
Soon enough, plasma beams were launched at Veqty, who ordered the mountain to cocoon her. The beams tried to penetrate but ultimately fizzled out before they could get inside. The fighting continued for many hours as Veqty held everyone off alone; she wouldn't even let them return to restock ammunition, ordering the mountain to launch tentacles to capture them.
As it seemed like she was winning, the clouds above parted. The huge ship arrived bigger than a dozen battleships combined. "They would send an annihilator for a tiny rebellion? This planet doesn't even make enough to power its lights," Veqty muttered to herself.
"Guess this is as far as I go…" Veqty smiled crookedly.
The annihilator quickly charges some kind of plasma cannon, but brighter than the battleships before. Veqty again formed a cocoon to protect herself. The plasma didn't seem able to penetrate, but the impact pushed the cocoon inside the mountain. Unlike the plasma cannon from the battleships, the annihilator was using a plasma ray, wave after wave of increasing intensity.
The pressure kept increasing, trying to break the cocoon as it went deeper inside the mountain.
Veqty seemed to be using her…body? To power the cocoon's defense, as the ray formed more pressure, despite being untouched by the actual plasma, Veqty's skin was peeling itself, the chitin losing its shine and becoming ash as it fell inside the cannon. Her body kept cracking as she tried to hold the cocoon.
Excruciating pain was visible on her face as blood seeped from her eyes and ears. She coughed loudly and vomited thick green liquid.
It kept going till Veqty was on her knees in a pool of blood, her skin completely peeled away as she held on, even the Veqty inside her could feel the pain now as she tried to scream for it to stop.
Finally, the ray stopped as silence followed. Both Veqtys could barely open their eyes, one from pain and the other from the injuries. Veqty squeezed her legs together and curled to bear the pain. Blood leaked from her body, her regeneration seemed too exhausted and could only form a thin layer, which didn't stop most from leaking.
"Tatak you have done well…" Veqty ran her hand over the infested mountain, as she muttered lovingly.
"Forgive me, I did not let you leave with the others," Veqty said weakly as her breath turned ragged.
"It is my honour, mother, I'm was your firstborn. It is my honour to be your last." The mountain seemed to be replying in her mind.
"I shouldn't have bound you to this mountain…Alas, I did not know it would end like this…If only everything went to plan…if the Elves…Those BASTARDS! Hadn't they betrayed us…We wouldn't end up like this. I was too immature, too young…they played with me like a fool, they were all in on it…ugh…uffgh-I-I just hope the Swarm…surv…ives…."As Veqty barely squeezed out the last word, her body fell silent as movement stopped. Veqty was thrown out of the body, watching now as a third person.
Veqty's body was dragged slowly by the mountain, as a small hole opened for her. The cocoon, which was like a protective barrier before, started shrinking as it cradled her broken body in an egg-shaped cocoon. Tatak kept dragging her deeper and deeper into the mountain, and the mountain parted like a curtain for the large egg to keep going down. As Tatak was dragging her down, Veqty finally saw the face of her enemies…Humans. They were talking in another language, but their body language told her that they were searching for her body.
She went to stand behind them as she peeked at their radars, which showed nothing; no dot was present, they couldn't see her. Confirming Veqty's assessment; the soldiers looked confused and angry.
Tatak must have done something.
Soon, everything around Veqty collapsed as the only thing she could see was dying infestation all around he mountain…something was happening to Tatak! Veqty could feel her body and phase through walls to get there. Tatak had made a syringe and seemed to be giving his life force to the cocoon. A pipe was raining green blood on the cocoon, while it greedily drank it all up.
As more and more blood pumped, Tatak's infestation weakened and started dying.
Soon, every trace of biological matter belonging to Tatak had decayed and dried up, and a sole cocoon rested in a large cavity of the mountain.
The scenes shifted once more, but instead of going inside them, Veqty only heard voices.
"The Swarm will survive. We, all of us, will survive, your princess will make sure of that."
"Run! They're coming!"
"We are too weak!"
"Mom…They butchered big sister…ugnh ugaa..t-t-the cattle master joked about it in front of me, momm-mm ungh aahhh"
"We can only fight! They will devour and eat us and do the same to our children!"
"Sister was wrong! She's dead! There can only be peace through war!"
"Forgive me, sister."
More voices, too many to understand, too loud to hear. Then a sole scene played.
Veqty stood alone as she looked out over the endless field of the dead. They lay twisted and broken beneath her feet. The violet sun hung above like a bruise in the sky, casting long shadows over the ruin. Her voice cracking as she said, almost to herself, almost to them, "I'm the last one."
Shockingly, the Veqty watching repeated the same words before hearing it, tears seemed to be trailing down her cheeks as her heart felt punctured.
The scenes shifted again, more memories flooded her, but these were ones she knew…the ones she lived through. Her life on earth, Veqty and Alan.
But instead of experiencing them, she was only able to view them in third person as a ghost between two people, Veqty was familiar but felt foreign. She was sleeping in this memory, but Alan was wide awake as he panicked over her; she didn't remember this memory…what was this?
"Alerus! Alerus! Leave! Go away! Take him! Take him away!" Veqty did not recognize this person; she never talked like this, she was never this aggressive. When did she sleepwalk?
But what she saw next broke her heart…It was Alan cradling her as he slowly touched her cheek. Kissing her head as he whispered, but not enough for Veqty to hear. "Who is this Alerus? That you are so sad over…Do you miss him that much?" His words, combined with resurfacing memories, reminded her that he often used to ask if she knew Alerus…but she had always denied it.
And by his reaction, it seems like she did this often. Her guilt increased tenfold with that thought. Even if they were possibly the same person, Veqty could imagine what Alan would have felt like, especially if she denied it so bluntly with confidence. He should have made a video! That man, he is so… so…so pitiful. He was her first and only love, of course, she would be biased, she knew she was, but didn't care.
The scenes shifted again to Ezra, but before he could speak, the scene shifted again, this time more violently, as if a storm was happening. After being thrashed around, the flashes ended all at the same time as she was pushed back into her body.
She felt born anew, while she didn't have all of the memories of her past lives, she had enough. In the storm, she also got memories about the training she did in her first life, though it wasn't as useful, apparently she was naturally gifted at birth with a sturdy body… especially one which looked humanoid. All of the training she remembered now was highly effective in her past life with a humanoid form, but barely useful as she is now.
She will have to adapt.