Nis found himself laying on a hard, rocky surface. It felt like he was waking up from a dream, but his body didn't feel rested at all. Infront of his eyes he saw a small patch of the sky, except it wasn't blue, it was an odd, palish yellow that looked horribly unnatural. The small patch of sky was surrounded by a tall circular wall of dirt. The wall stretched quite high so Nis must have been pretty deep underground. Nis closed his eyes and took a slow breath in.
'My new cage is made out of dirt, nice!'
Before Nis could open his eyes again, a concerned voice rang out from behind him.
"Hey brother, are you all right? Let me help you up."
Nis quickly pushed himself off the ground before the person got too close. He was a little concerned that the person wouldn't be entirely friendly. It was an alien planet; he couldn't expect people to just be nice to him.
Nis flashed a bright smile and started to open his eyes.
"I'm alright, don't worry—"
With his eyes finally open, Nis was confronted with a reality he couldn't have imagined. It was an ant... or an ant like thing? The creature was bipedal and of a similar size to Nis. It had two feet and four arms. Or front legs? Arm like limbs. With a three fingered claw ending each of them. Its body was covered in hard chitin that was matt black in color. The creature didn't have a mouth similar to a human but, instead, chitinous mandibles and a gaping maw. Looking at the ant's face as a whole, Nis couldn't place it, but it had an oddly human like feeling.
The ant approached the stunned boy and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Oh brother, are you sure you're okay? You're covered in slime, and your carapace is all soft and squishy."
Nis reeled back after being touched. The creature's claw was hard and cold, and honestly quite unpleasant to be touched by. Now with some distance, Nis tried to clear his mind and fix his face. He tried to show a pleasant smile but all he could manage was a hollow, fake one.
'Right, he won't harm me since we are the same. At least from his perspective... Why do I know that?'
"I'm sure, just a little under the weather."
The ant's face had a look to it that Nis understood as concern.
"Well, we are in dire times. If you like, I would be happy to help you."
The ant paused for a moment and then looked as if he was surprised.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, brother. I didn't introduce myself. My name is Kragg, it's nice to meet you, brother."
Nis still couldn't quite fix his smile but, he took a step closer to Kragg.
"My name is Ina Nis, but please just call me Nis. And thanks, I'm a little disoriented with all that's going on."
'And by all that's goingon I mean I have no idea what's going on.'
"That's an incredibly unique name, brother, I'm glad to learn it."
'That's a new one. People normally just say it's weird.'
Kragg continued.
"I was just on my way to the mines. How about you come along and tell me about your situation. Then we can figure out what to do together."
"Sure, just give me a moment to collect my thoughts."
Kragg started to walk, and Nis slowly followed a few steps behind. Nis was still a little shaken, but he had bought himself some time to assess the situation.
'He's a nice guy. Is it a guy? Guy until proven otherwise, I guess. More importantly, why did I think he wouldn't hurt me? Right, the voice said it was giving me necessary knowledge. It's an odd feeling, I know things, but I don't remember learning them. Let me list them for clarity, it will help me organize my thoughts properly.'
Nis began to list off random, unorganized knowledge that was just flying around in his brain.
'During an incursion, the infected will be placed as one of the races being invaded. The members of the world will recognize the infected as a member of their race and world. All speech back and forth is translated by the voice. I also gained access to my reality shard, but it's useless, so I don't feel any different. Is that it? Is that all it deemed necessary. There were like 4 more tablets of info! I guess there are limits to the voice's kindness.'
The bug with an oddly human expression, Kragg, was just quietly smiling as they walked. He was being incredibly patient, waiting for Nis to organize his thoughts.
"Ummmm, hey Kragg, how are you feeling about the situation?"
'Please be nice and divulge all your information.'
Kragg looked away and raised one of his four hands to his chin.
"Well, I'm worried, of course. I think it's impossible to not be at least a little when being part of an incursion. But I'm most worried about everyone else, the Queen just informed the colony of the quest to resist the incursion, so most people are still processing everything. I'm part of the defense unit, so I am heading to the mines to make sure everything is okay with the miners."
"How admirable."
'The bugs are organized. I guess that makes sense, considering they are similar to ants. They already know an incursion is happening, too.'
"Thank for bringing me along. If you don't mind, I would like to help, I think having something to do will help me calm down too."
"Really brother? I would be so grateful for your help. Let us make haste."
Nis only happened to realize it now, but Kragg really called him brother often.
'Is he going to call me brother forever?'