Chapter 2

The Queen’s mental command wasn’t meant for me alone, of course, but for her entire nest. Wings buzzed, pincers clicked, and legs tapped against the pulsating organic floor as the creatures all at once rushed toward the intruders from every corner of the chamber.

At the same time, the elvish intruders opened fire on the swarm of insectoid creatures of all sizes charging at them. To my horror, I realized I was completely unable to resist the Queen’s telepathic command.

Just like all the other creatures, I ran toward the towering elves as fast as my small insectoid legs could carry me. Charging at the huge elves was pure suicide, but that was exactly what my body was doing.

No! I mentally yelled at my own body. What are you doing?! Stop!

But my own body wouldn’t listen. I couldn’t understand why, but I was completely unable to resist the Queen’s mental commands.

Whatever she ordered went. When she told me to calm down when I was in the pod, I had immediately relaxed. When she now told me to rush toward the group of intruders who were so much bigger than me, my body obeyed without question, no matter how desperately I wanted to do the opposite.

I knew I needed to break my mental link with the Queen, but I had no clue how to do that. At least, not yet.

The swarm of insectoid beasts kept rushing toward the elves, who kept pouring fire on them. The weapons they were armed with fired what looked like energy bolts. The glowing shots streaked through the air, burning holes right through the insectoids’ bodies.

As I kept charging right at the attackers, I realized there was a silver lining to being as small as I was: none of the shots were aimed at me. The insectoid beasts dropped dead like flies, but so far, my life didn’t seem to be in danger. The intruders weren’t even aware of me, as none of them bothered to look down at the floor. Instead, their attention was locked on much larger creatures.

But my relief was short-lived. Despite the heavy energy fire, the swarm of insectoid beasts kept getting closer and closer to the attackers, and at some point, those wielding energy-based guns stepped aside to let the ones armed with flamethrowers step forward.

A moment later, several long tongues of orange fire shot forward. They licked the most unfortuI creatures, immediately setting them on fire.

Even though the jets of fire were far above me, seeing what they were doing to the other creatures caused me to panic. I definitely didn’t want to be set ablaze, no matter what.

The intruders kept pouring fire at the oncoming beasts, and I kept rushing right toward the direction the fire was coming from! I was out of my mind with terror, but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t make my body obey my own brain signals. Instead, it was following the order given by the Queen.

I was getting closer to the attackers. Suddenly, one of the insectoids, its body ablaze, collapsed right beside me, almost crushing me. I felt the heat coming from the burning body, and that was when such a powerful wave of panic overwhelmed me that I almost lost it.

And that was when something happened. Right before my eyes, a piece of text flashed into view.

You have been affected by a negative trait: Fear of Fire. Every time there is a fire near you, you are overcome by such a strong impulse of panic that you lose control over your body completely.

No sooner had I read the message than my body seemed to begin moving of its own accord. Controlled by [Fear of Fire], my body was now keen on getting as far away from the fire as possible.

However, it seemed to still be affected by the command received from the Queen because instead of trying to turn around and run away, I was still rushing toward the elves. Instead of moving in a straight line, though, I began to run around them, giving them a wide berth.

A few seconds later, I passed them and headed for the hole they had blasted open into the nest. I could still feel the pull of the Queen’s previous command trying to make me turn back and return to the battle. But [Fear of Fire] seemed to be stronger, because I continued to move away from the attackers, putting more and more distance between myself and the elves.

Come back! The Queen’s voice reverberated in my head. Get back to the battle! You have to fight and defend the nest!

To my relief, my body refused to obey the mental order it was given. Well, at least [Fear of Fire] helped me break free from her hypnotic command. At least, while I was affected by it, I wouldn’t need to worry that my body would obey any command from the Queen. It was a terrible trait, but right now, it was the only thing saving my life.

It took me almost a full minute, but I eventually reached the breach in the wall, and a moment later, I was through. I found myself in what looked like a futuristic corridor stretching off to my right and left.

Still affected by [Fear of Fire], my body randomly turned to the right and continued to run, still trying to get as far away from the fire as possible. The Queen no longer tried to get me to come back, which was a good thing.

But my body still moved of its own accord. Which was bad. I needed to hide somewhere, as running down the corridor wasn’t such a good idea, but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t reclaim control over my own body.

I continued to run along the wall. The corridor was about ten feet wide, but for me it felt much wider. Everything was bathed in red emergency lighting, and the blare of alarm klaxons pierced the air.

I definitely needed to find a way to get rid of [Fear of Fire] somehow. Yeah, I was definitely going to put it on the list of things I needed to achieve as soon as possible, along with finding a way to make my body capable of refusing the Queen’s telepathic commands.

As I put more and more distance between myself and the nest, the force of [Fear of Fire] finally began to fade and, a few seconds later, disappeared altogether. I realized I was back at the helm of my small body. Finally! I slowed down a little, just enough to take a quick look around.

The corridor was gigantic from my perspective. It was obviously built for humans. Or elves. Or whatever those people really were. So I definitely needed to leave it. If they spotted me, all it would take for them to kill me was to step on me, crushing my small, fragile body beneath their feet. So I definitely needed to get out of the corridor somehow.

Luckily, as I continued to look around, I spotted what looked like an air vent a little distance ahead and across the corridor. It was about twelve inches wide and six inches tall, which meant it was bigger than my body. The gaps between the slats seemed wide enough to let me squeeze through.

My form didn’t let me simply turn my head to look back. In order to look behind me, I needed to half-turn my whole body. So I came to a halt, rotated, and looked back.

I had been sprinting for what felt like a long time, but to my horror, I saw that I had barely put just a few yards between myself and the breach leading back to the Queen’s nest.

Being stuck in such a small body definitely sucked. Not only was I tiny, but I seemed to move somewhat slower than an ordinary mouse from Earth.

But luckily, the humans, I decided to call them humans for now, pointed ears or not, were still inside the nest.

I then looked ahead in the direction I had been running. There were no humans there, either. I was completely alone for now, which was good.

Satisfied, I burst into a sprint across the corridor toward the air vent, hoping like hell that I would get there before any of the giant humans showed up and noticed me.

I scuttled across the width of the corridor as fast as my four multi-jointed legs could carry me. The air vent seemed so close and so far away at the same time. Reaching it was the one thing I’d ever wanted more than anything else in my life.

The thought that I wouldn’t make it there before the human giants showed up and spotted me urged me to run even faster, pushing my small body to its limits. I couldn’t get rid of the thought that I wouldn’t be able to get to safety in time.

Because that was how things usually went. Life was unfair. Completely unfair. I’d been only twenty-two years old when I died, but that had been more than enough to learn that bitter truth. The mere fact that I’d died so young had proved it well enough.

I was so deep in my grim, depressing thoughts that I only realized I had made it to the air vent when I bumped into the metal slats and bounced back.

I made it! I would live! Hell yeah!

And then I saw the spacing between the slats, realizing that the gaps were narrower than I’d initially assumed. There was no way I would fit through that. Unbelievable. Talk about life being unfair.

Still, after running all the way to the air vent, I refused to give up immediately without even trying. I shoved my body between two of the slats, forcing my form into the gap.

The metal pressed hard against both sides of me, but little by little, I managed to wedge the front half of my body inside. It was working! I was halfway in!

And then I got stuck.

I tried pushing harder but couldn’t get any farther into the air vent. The two slats pressed against the sides of my insectoid body, refusing to let me go any farther. The front half of my body was inside the air vent, while the back half was still out in the open, exposed in the corridor.

Then I heard the pounding footfalls of a running person. No, no, no, it couldn’t be happening! Somebody was running in my direction, and pretty fast at that. If I was noticed, I would be doomed! 

I then realized that the running footsteps were coming not from the direction of the nest, but from the other end of the corridor, though. So far, they were still pretty distant, but with every passing second, they became louder and closer.

There was a chance that, since the air vent was so small, at least from a human being’s perspective, and I was even smaller, the giant human wouldn’t notice me at all.

But I wasn’t willing to take that risk. If I was spotted, it would be over for me. And I wasn’t ready to die so soon again. I had to get out of sight, no matter what!

I tried to find purchase with my hind legs, frantically scraping at the floor so I could push my body farther in. However, the floor was flat, and my tapered-to-a-point feet slid uselessly against it without finding any grip.

It was no use! I kept scraping my feet against the floor, hoping they would catch on something, but there was no such luck.

The running footfalls were getting closer and closer.

Just when I was starting to lose hope of getting out of sight in time, one of my legs caught on a long, shallow groove in the floor. I immediately dug both feet into the dent, or scratch, or whatever it was, and pushed with all the might my small insectoid body could muster.

There was a moment of resistance, and then, with one final mighty shove, I managed to force myself forward and finally clear the slats of the air vent cover.

The force of my push propelled me forward, causing me to tumble end over end for a couple of feet, or, more accurately, inches, before I came to rest on my back with my head facing the air vent cover behind me.

For a moment, I remained in that position, listening to the sounds of the approaching footsteps. To my surprise, before they could reach my position, they began to fade away, as if the running person had turned at some point. So apparently they hadn’t even been headed this way after all, and I had worked myself up over nothing.

Still, now that I was in the safety of the air vent, out of the open corridors meant for humans, I felt much safer. At least I was no longer at the risk of being spotted by gigantic humans and crushed underfoot.

But I still wasn’t out of the woods. I needed to get as far away from the nest as possible. I had no desire to return there to serve the Queen and do her bidding.

I rocked from side to side, trying to roll back onto my feet. I was really getting the hang of it by that point, so it took me only a couple of seconds to get myself upright again.

For a moment, I just listened, staring at the air vent cover a few inches in front of me. I could still hear the distant crackle of energy shots coming from the direction of the nest. It definitely sounded like the extermination process was still underway.

I caught myself rooting for the giant humans. I felt nothing at all for my new species. All I cared about was my own safety, but as long as the Queen was alive, I was not safe. At any moment, she could summon me and send me into the heat of battle without any regard for my life, and I wouldn’t be able to resist her mental commands. I was totally expendable for her. So as long as the Queen was alive, I wouldn’t be safe.

I turned away from the vent cover and scuttled deeper into the vent duct. The tunnel was about twelve inches wide and six inches tall. The farther I moved from the entrance, the darker my surroundings became. There were no lights in the tunnel, and my night vision was nonexistent. Still, I kept moving forward into the darkness ahead.

Suddenly, I reached what looked like a T-shaped intersection, one branch stretching to the left and the other to the right. Since I needed to put as much distance between myself and the nest as possible, I turned right and continued on.

I kept scuttling forward, my legs making clicking and clacking sounds as they struck the metal floor of the vent duct. I was in complete darkness now, moving through a black void and having no idea what lay ahead. Still, I didn’t let it discourage me. I kept moving forward, though I did slow down a little.

As I continued scurrying through the tunnel, I wondered whether the Queen was still alive. Perhaps the humans had already killed her, considering she hadn’t sent me any more telepathic commands.

Or maybe I’d put so much distance between myself and the nest that I had moved out of range of her telepathic ability. Whatever the case, I was fine with it. Being able to hear only my own thoughts in my head was definitely nice.

I continued down the vent, peering into the darkness and trying to make out anything ahead of me. I strained to see anything at all, but all I could see was pitch-black darkness. Still, I kept staring into it intently, hoping my eyes would eventually adjust to the darkness.

Suddenly, a system message flashed before my eyes, white letters clearly visible against the otherwise black background.

New Skill Acquired: Night Vision (Common)

Immediately after that, I realized I could see a little better now. I was no longer surrounded by total darkness. It had softened a little.

While I still couldn’t see very far ahead, at least my immediate surroundings were now visible. I no longer felt completely blind. I could see the walls, the floor, and the ceiling around me. It was great.

No longer being trapped in total darkness lifted my spirits. Now that I could see my surroundings, I accelerated once more and continued down the tunnel.