Fresh Season Day

[Tathra Khaeus]

​Just beyond the reaches of Wild Space, there was a hunting planet. Somewhere left entirely uncultivated by the hands of man. A beautiful landscape that existed as an endless test for those that were not in total synchronisation with the eco-system of the planet.

​This planet was sacred to the Draelvasier, a hunting world that they considered a natural paradise for those who were strong enough to brave its terrain. It's vast and unending green jungle was a joy to behold. It's various hues of colour and heat. Life as far as the eye could see.

​A small bronze curved vessel entered the atmosphere of the Hunting Planet - the light of its red sun shinning against the spine of the ships skeletal and curved structure as it swiftly landed in an open field - a small barren desert like area, stretching for a few miles just beyond ones line of sight. However, the majority of the planet was engorged by nigh endless jungle terrain.

​The ship descended onto the barren desert-scape, it's small confines shepherding both of its passengers to the exit promptly. The Chieftain himself, leading the Extant representative that referred to itself as Mother to the ground below.

​Tathra exited the ship first, his walk shifting as the sun was felt on his face and arms. A small moment of bliss eclipsing the importance of the task at hand as he simply enjoyed its vibrancy. His eyes observed the beautify ahead, variants of all colour filled his view - his primal eyes gifting the Drael a distinctly impersonal view of life.

​The titan knelt down, his left hand casually scooping up sand in his grasp before allowing it to slip between his fingers. Rising tall, Tathra's body anchored to its left - swaying slightly as his head turned to look back to the Extant creature as the bronze shuttle, subdued by the beauty of the planet slipped away back into the coldness of space.

​"Have you ever seen sand before?"

| [member="Mother"] |​

 

[Ellie Mors]

The eyes of the one they called Mother observed the alien landscape with unflinching neutrality. It was so quaint to be independent of the swirling amalgam of conscious given order, to be what they were as a whole in one body alone - to be independent of the rest. For all that the hive knew of these foreign species, those of natural sapience that they, the Extant, had leeched off, it was the lack of even a swarm intelligence that intrigued them - the scenery, the changes in environment from one planet to the next, and even the architecture on the more developed worlds were things of little interest to them in comparison to the concept that something could retain a degree of sapience when separated from the rest of its kind. To be so curious as to ask these eyes if they, the whole, had seen something such as sand before was the sort of naivete and curiosity that one would associate with the wild life that the Extant had used as hosts for millennia.

"We have seen soil of a more coarse texture, nothing quite so finely ground away, though." The hive responded through the lips of the Mother.

Perhaps species lacking a group mind lacked the understanding, initially, of what a group intelligence - and a group conscious - was. Even with the understanding that the hive was, at a whole, one singular intellect and conscious, few could help but associate the Hive mother as an entity separate from the hive itself, as though 'she' was somehow different in a more than biological manner from the drones that belonged to the colony. There was some truth to this, in that the hive mother of a given colony could, to an extent, provide psuedo-independent conversation, but the hive and the mother were still a single being - like cells that made up a body, or parts to a whole. If she was any more independent than the rest, it was because she was the proverbial mind to the hive and they were the body. But she was as much a part of the hive in every manner possible as the very drones she was the face to.

"We do not think much would grow in it." They added, their dull gaze sweeping over the landscape. "Nor does it seem like much does."

[member="Tathra Khaeus"]

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

​Tathra may not have been watching with his eyes, but his senses were extended - his predatory senses kicked in, the way she or rather it moved was peculiar. An imitation of something, but not an attempt to replicate. The Mother of the Extant wasn't alive, she wasn't even trying to be.

​Tathra stood up, turning to face the Extant representative as the eyes of her no doubt warped form fell on him. The body she violated was one of his own making, specially designed for her sovereignty. Slightly taller than the rest, a maternal crest outstretching from her head. He made her different, but it didn't seem as though there was much of a her. Rather a collective stream of alien thought.

​Even with his sense stretched to their primitive limits, he could feel little more than something similar to an organic sequence of coding. Deciphering it would be like catching a single snowflake in a blizzard. It made the Mother hard to read, nearly impossible. Tathra stood like archaic stone, his mostly bone like face lacking expression bar minimal focus as he rubbed his fingers into his palm; dusting off any left over sand.

​"Nature is endlessly complex. You and I showcase that. But there is a connection, while we may be different. We are predators all the same." ​Tathra lead his accompanying Extant toward the beginnings of the Preserve, with every step closer it seemed as though the Jungles foliage grew more intense and expansive the deeper one would progress. ​"You have to understand that, unlike you. This galaxy is made up of individuals. Those individuals form societies, and those societies have rules. Rules that make them feel safe, allow them to lie to themselves enough that they forget what matters." ​The granite like thud of the Titans voice seemed to quell the wildlife around them, the Jungle grew ever silent as he began to enter, expecting his companion to follow.

​Most humanoids would move or cut down things that impeded their way, instead Tathra simply strode forward. His physical form demanded they bend to his desire, undeterred by the seemingly cluttered environment of the jungle. ​"I'm going to show you what matters." ​Tathra wanted to ask what the collective Extant of her hive thought mattered, or if they even knew it meant for something to matter.

​Even while sitting in the ship itself, it was like observing a child. However one that had lost its sense of wonder and a lustre for understanding. Rather the one that referred to itself as Mother seemed as though even it did not know how to do these things. Whether it could learn or not was still a matter of curiosity rather than fact. He purposefully avoided questioning her, allowing his words to sink in for a while as they travelled deeper into the Jungle.

​Through its many crevices, up and down hills and around pools of water. As the titan turned into a small clearing amongst trees, he stopped; his massive form covering what lay ahead. Bending down, a hand outstretched as something appeared to dangle from his grasp, turning to his companion as she arrived.

​It was a dead animal, the carcass of a reptilian like four legged animal, a set of offensive horns adorning its head. It was rather large, nearly five-hundred pounds of dead meat, dangling loosely from Tathra's effortless grip. It's throat was torn with large teeth marks, its hind legs were scratched, the blood had long since dried from its corpse. Tathra had not intended on finding such a thing, but what it resembled was suitable for the lesson he wished to enforce.

"It's dead." ​Tathra began, his eyes held on the creature and its form before moving back to the Mother - the warmth of the world pushed from every aspect of his face. An idle stare falling on her. ​"Why?"

| [member="Mother"] |​

 

[Ellie Mors]

"I see. Differences appear to be problematic."

The Extant paused, as if they were considering the ramifications of what that meant, that the majority of the galaxy were as disjointed as Tathra was making it seem, but did not push the subject further, instead opting to allow the male to proceed. The dull gaze of the Extant hive mother swept over the lush flora of the jungle that seemed to begin exactly where the desert ended, which implied to the hive that something had caused this change rather than nature - as nature was never so exact. It was obvious, by the way that the foliage seemed to become more concentrated, that it had begun to "bounce back" and grow towards what must have been lost, but the hive allowed that observation to fade - there was doubtlessly no story to be told of this contrast in environment, likely as uneventful as a misplaced fire or an overgrazed herd. Whatever the case, they pressed on.

They arrived, seemingly, at the corpse of some animal that found its misfortune in the wilds of this jungle, tame as they were to the green of Kasim but wild all the same. It was a species that the Extant did not recognize, likely some inferior specimen native to this world but certainly not something an Extant of the mother's hive had added to its ranks. An inconsistency that the hive noted, to correct at a later date. The brow of the mother's host arched in curiosity as Tathra declared its lack of life, as if expecting there to be some surprise hidden to show some deeper understanding that was prevalent in individuals and not in those that were of a collective mind - an expectation that was not met by anything of the sort.

"All life must end, at some point." It replied seamlessly, its words beginning where the male's ended. What had he expected, an inability to comprehend something that even the most unintelligent of species could identify long before developing sapience? "Its vital organs have failed, it has sustained serious harm, and its nervous system is no longer active - likely it was killed by something that thought it would eat it but did not, for whatever reason." The hive mother noted, in case the question was more than rhetorical. "All species evolve to understand morbidity, specifically how to identify what is dead from what is living; the Extant, for example, are incapable of using a dead host. We have always understood what comes after life."

"It is an unfortunate end, however, for an individual - to be lost in the noise of death rather than to be heard eternally in the chorus of the hive." It added, cryptically.

[member="Tathra Khaeus"]

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

​Tathra listened, her plain and robotic explanation passing him by. Whether the Mother had realised it or not he was not asking her what she appeared to think he was. Still, she went on to explain how the Extant were restricted to living hosts - Tathra's attention shifted to her womanly form, titian eyes rolling over her body. He observed her curves, the idea of fertility was built into the birthgivers very existence. The Mother was a perversion of life, but still a conqueror all the same.

​A Conqueror of a different nature. His mind pondered, could he even consider her alive? What constituted as existence?

​Tathra dropped the carcass. Allowing it to fall on its own head, its brittle and damaged neck snapping as its massive weight collapsed on its head, causing its body to fall over upon itself at a disturbing angle. Tathra observed his hand, wiping away some of the creatures fur that had clung to his hand with a purposeful thumb. ​"All species evolve to understand power. To understand, that a food chain exists. This creature, was like many a sentient. It forgot its place, this creature died because it entered the territory of something more powerful than it. And it died, because it was weak. All the other creatures here will recognise the dominance of the apex predator."

​Tathra motioned a few steps forward, pushing a thick loop of leaves out of his way - pushing himself slightly deeper as the ground seemed to lower, the moisture thickened the air within the crevice.

​"The Chorus of the Hive. That is legacy, and one achieves legacy through glory. You are correct, Hive-Mother. All life must die, yet our names, and our glory live on. This is why we kill, why we dominate. Immortality is possible. Just not the way most ignorant species imagine."

​| [member="Mother"] |​

 

[Ellie Mors]

Fear.

The query wasn't much so about death so much so as it was about the circumstances behind its obsolescence - circumstances the hive was not, and never would be, familiar with. Perhaps, in time, even this one would come to realize this. "You misunderstand." The hive mother said, dim eyes staring down at the mangled corpse. "We are the chorus - a sea is one body, yet made of many. The hive is the sea, we are its voices. In its song we are many, yet we are one - together we are united and eternal, never separated, never alone. All that join in its tune will hear its end just as they recognize its beginning." They explained, their voice distorting, filtered, as though every 'member' of the hive was speaking through this singular being in unison. "A legacy is one leaves behind when they are gone - what you will leave for your spawn, and they for theirs. There is no legacy for the hive, for there is no end - no after." It noted as they leaned down and lifted the dead creature with a look of fascination.

"This is what comes for those that do not join in our song - that is no threat, no hopeful boasting, it is the truth. The end comes for each of us, individually, but the hive.."

"The hive never ends."

[member="Tathra Khaeus"]

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

​Tathra stopped, halting in his track. His body anchored around, two titian eyes glared back at the Mother as his subtle snarl grew. The depth of misunderstanding she possessed insulted him. She... they, did not understand. The Galaxy echoed ones longevity in the same way their very own Hive did. How could the Extant believe themselves superior, as an infallible fact? They had only begun to discover themselves.

​She did not comprehend the offence, hidden behind measures of restrictive bone. Tathra released a low growl from the back of his throat, swelling upward from his stomach with resentment to her words. His teeth parted for but a split-second before he was upon her, covering the distance between himself and the approaching Hive-Queen within the blink of half a thought. He lifted her like a feather, pressing her into the dried dirt crevice wall as her head was now level with his own, a foot or so above in fact.

​"[Draelvasier]: Nothing is forever. Were it not for my seers counsel, I would have destroyed your entire planet. The Hive is endless, as long as I allow it." ​Tathra's temper slowed, his eyes blinking as they ran over the Mother's warped face. Tathra relinquished his grip, leaning over her.

​"[Draelvasier]: A song may end, the sun of your home-world may scorch your planet. I might have destroyed your species, effortlessly." ​His head shifted like it sat upon a swivel, a half nod of acknowledgement as his rain of harsh grating words ended. ​"Everything that is living, dies. Nothing is eternal but glory. When I return to the sand, m glory will live on beyond my flesh. The same for all, Hive or no hive." ​Tathra circled around the Mother, his nostrils flaring - a mucus filled snort leaving a moist steam to release from his snout.

​"The Hive, through their ability to dominate... Are capable of so much more than simple longevity. Glory is the only way to immortality." ​Once Tathra had circled her once, he continued on past her; moving down past the previously discovered tracks.

​Slow enough for the Mother to follow.

​| [member="Mother"] |​

 

[Ellie Mors]

The extant showed no reaction as they were torn from the ground, nor did they flinch when it seemed that the Draevasier might do something more than intimidation and posturing. The hive mother merely waited for his fit to pass, well aware of what angered him - just as the hive recognized what would anger the galaxy at large once it understood what the ramifications of its existence was realized. "What has been done cannot be undone, Draelvasier. It is better to not dredge up what could have been to argue against what is." She said flatly, following him as he strode down the way they came. "But I will concede that your idea of glory does provide a certain sort of immortality in the annals of time." They added, perhaps realizing that such a concept was a similar permanence to the unity of the hive, albeit less tangible.

"As for our longevity, it isn't what we desire any longer - survival was a primitive necessity, an instinct that drove us to remain so we could be where we are today. What we desire now is similar to what you wish, in a manner of speaking." The hive mother explained. Though the hive, itself, decided to not educate [member="Tathra Khaeus"] on the difference between immortality through words and permanence in the literal sense, it tucked away the knowledge of the inherent misunderstanding that those not a part of a hive had of its seeming interminability as an important lesson for the future. "You desire to live on in memory, through the glory of your success, and we desire to achieve the success that brings about that glory - two sides of the same coin and, although different, very much the same."

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

​Most exhibited a mixture of fear and sporadic thought when he got within an arms distance of them. Instead, once again their was a strange pause from the Hive-Mother. Not necessarily a lack of response, but a delay. As if the Hive wide system hadn't concluded on a response till moments later.

​Even then, once his back was turned he could not pry to see what came alongside their carefully chosen words or his curiosity would become obvious. Whether he liked it or not, the Extant was something that without care could become a threat. That was why they were out here, alone. He would ensure they had conformed before the end of their integration. ​"Nothing matters. Not unless you've taken it. No amount of credits or wealth or star systems make you better. Immortality or success don't mean anything unless you have earned it."

​The way the Extant spoke was with such careful pause, yet she still misunderstood. Or appeared to. ​"War. besting another in combat. Whether it be through assets or by your very own hands. There is nothing like it. If you can be faster, stronger - you can kill anyone. Killing is all there is." ​Tathra came to a halt, their path slowly becoming more rock like as the mud gave way to the dried up stream. They had arrived at a small cliff, below was a large green pool of water in the midst's of the swamp. It can climb then.

Tathra pointed down to the swamp below. ​"Listen. Its quiet. Not a single creature, the predators territory is lived in by it alone. Even amongst such primitive creatures. Strength commands respect." ​​Tathra's eyes ran over the pool, noticing the ripples in the cold water. His titian eyes made out the shape of the predator, even as the ripples of the water distorted its shape - he could tell it was large. ​"What would happen if you killed it?"

| [member="Mother"] |​