Swarm Front
By Theo Winters

Written for Arrow Quivershaft

There was something wrong with the old broken village, but it wasn't just a single thing. The air had a smell to it, a flavor that seemed out of place; It was also strangely quiet, the familiar sounds of the small animals that would take refuge in the broken down buildings was missing. In fact there was a strange quiet to the whole place, it was chilling.

Kawheek walked through the center of the old village, the crumbling buildings standing sentry around him. It had been abandoned for nearly a decade and nature had started to reclaim the land. The main road was choked with shorts weeds though the wagon tracks were still easy to see, ivy had taken over most of the standing walls and many of the buildings had started to collapse. By all rights it was like any other of a hundred abandoned villages in the borderlands.

And yet it wasn't, there was something wrong with this place. Something that made the place feel so odd. He wasn't the only one who had felt it, a number of people passing through the area had commented on it as well. Along with shadowy views of something strange moving through the broken walls.

The asari fanned his wings out, trying not to let the oddness get to him. He had been sent to investigate the reports but wasn't sure what he was going to find. The stillness wasn't what he had expected. Holding his fighting stick loosely in his hands as he walked around the broken walls, looking inside each building as he moved past them.

Without warning he heard something behind him, the sound of something hard scraping over stone. He spun around, looking for the source of the sound but saw nothing but shadows moving against the stones. The avian walked up and put one taloned foot against a loose stone to shove it away, only to find more stone, but nothing else.

"Hum..." he said, reaching up to rub the side of his beak with the edge of his hand. A moment later he heard the sound again, this time for behind one of the distance buildings. Spinning around he saw something vanish around a wall. He wasn't sure what he saw other than a flash a purple.

Gripping his staffs a bit tighter, Kawheek walked briskly around the building only to find nothing waiting for him. As he was pondering that he heard the scrambling sound again, this time just a dozen feet away. He followed after the strange sound, but once again when he came to the source there was nothing. Just more stones.

He fanned out his wings and rubbed the feathers along the side of his head. "I think the silence is getting to me," he said to himself, laughing to break the tension as he turned back towards the road. He started walking through the knee high grass but only got three steps before his foot came down into something. It was thick and unpleasantly warm around his talons.

With a disgusted grunt he lifted his foot up out of the muck, finding it covered with some sort of purple gel. It clung to the scales of his foot, dripping from the tip of his the sharp talons. It was nasty looking and the color someone off in some way, pulsing with a strange light, almost like it was alive.

He moved to wipe his foot off on the grass, but instead he found himself putting it back down into the mess. With a grunt he tried to pull his foot back up, but he couldn't, all he could do was stand there as it squelched around his toes. He looked down, his tail feathers ruffling outwards as he watched the purple goo bubbling up out of the ground, rolling across the grass and across his other foot.

"What is this?" he asked, trying to pull his feet out of the growing puddle, but he couldn't move them at all. He grunted and tried to force himself to move, but nothing happened, it was like he was glued in place. He tucked the kali sticks away into the belt and bent down, grabbing one ankle with his hands and trying to pull his foot free.

Some of the purple gel leapt up and slapped at his hand, forcing him to pull away with a yelp. Kawheek stood back up, his hand stinging from the attack and stained purple by the goo. It churned  around his feet, swirling around him. There was a strange feeling as well, like a pressure on the back of his mind and growing stronger by the moment.

The asari shifted his weight from foot to foot, a shiver running through his body as his feathers ruffled out across his wings and tail. He found himself scratch and the back of his hand, rubbing at the scales as he leaned down to try and look closer at the strange gel. Then as he watched his toes started to change, the claws swelling outwards, pulsing thicker as the scales began to darken from yellow to brown.

He stared at the changes with a look of a horror on his beak, his wings fanning out behind his back. He had to get away from this thing, whatever it was, and as fast as possible. He started flapping his wings, trying to get lift, to pull himself even a few inches above the ground, but he couldn't. He could feel the lift pulling at his body and the base of his wings, but his feet stayed firmly glued to the ground, the gel hardening around them.

Grunting, he tried again, pushing himself to his limits as his adrenalin rushed through his body but all he did was make his hips ache as his feet continued to change, the claws growing larger by the moment. The strange feeling matched by the growing pressure in his mind.

The purple gel finally reacted to the struggling, a whip of the slimy material snapping out and hitting his across the feathers of his wings and tail. Kawheek bellow out in anger, whatever this... thing was, he wasn't going to let it take him, not like that!

He twisted and pulled, trying to break free, his anger growing stronger by the moment, burning through him brighter then every in his life as he let out a scream into the air around him. It was cut short when he heard his fingers crack and felt them pop. Turning his attention to his hand he let out a surprised gasp, the hand that had been attached was starting to change as well, his four fingers merging into two thick claws, his thumbing starting to change in the same way. The shape of the scales on his arm were starting to shift, growing thicker and darker as the avian futures melted away.

Looking down at his feet, he saw the changes had nearly taken them, they didn't look avian at all, instead they looked some sort of monster. Three thick claws dug into the purple gel, the brown scales starting to creep up his legs.

"What is this, show yourself!" he yelled, resuming his struggles to get free.

As if prompted by his anger pain streaked across his body, making him gasp out surprise and grab his abdomen. He held his hands tightly to it, feeling the sides of his chest pulsing and swelling out under his touch. Moments later something started to press out of his skin, pushing out around the feathers and against his changing hands. Whatever it was, it was hard and sharp as it dug into his palms.

Pulling his hands away, he watch as... blades started to push out of his body, cutting through his simple clothing as if they were paper. The sharp metal like blades slide out with a long wicked curve that held a sharp edge. They were nothing like he had even seen before, inhuman was the word that came to mind, but even that wasn't the right description. They didn't belong on this world.

He watched, stunned as the blades came to an end as thick purple limbs began to slide from his body. They were the same color as the gel that surrounded him and swaying from side to side. It shock his mind back to the situation at hand and he resuming his struggling, trying to fight as the new limbs shook against his chest. Whatever this was, he wasn't going to let it take him!

<<What a strange specimen, yet easily assimilated regardless of your struggle>> a new voice said, the words blooming out of the pressure that was still pressing against his mind.

Kawheek frozen and twisted his head around, searching for the source of the voice. Turning to look back over his shoulder he was greeted with a site of a new change. One wing was simply gone, it had been replaced by a thick leathery looking wing with dark brown skin and dirty looking muscles that almost seemed to be exposed to the air. At the upper tip of the wing another one of the sharp blades had grown, the edge gleaming in the sunlight.

The voice, it had to have been the one who was causing this. "What is this foul monstrosity? What are you doing?!" he yelled out the words, his voice echoing across the ruined buildings around him. Moments later his tail feathers starting to ripple and twist together. They pressed tight together and started to swell outwards into a thick reptile like tail as the feathers became scales. The tail grew quickly out behind him, dropping down into the gel, the very tip turning thick and bulbous, growing spikes that pointed in all directions. It was a vile looking thing, nothing more the a cudgel.

<<There is such potential in you, potential that I can use.>> the voice said.

"To hell with you," he screamed out as he looked up from his lower body as the changes ran up his legs, they were growing thicker by the moment, his clothing starting to pull and rip from the growth. Thick armor like scales were covering most of his lower body now, natural armor over his weak flesh. His other hand was starting to change, the fingers merging together as he watched. He could feel his other wing starting to change to match the first one, the feathers molting free to reveling the leathery skin. He could feel the blade pushing free, sharp and ready to be used if it was necessary.

"Stop this," he said, growling out the words. His cheeks were starting to puff out with the same strange pressure as before as thick claw like mandibles starting to push out though the skin. Even his beak was starting to change, the hard yellow material turning brown and growing softer, the edges melting and reforming into what had to be teeth. He ran his tongue over them, feeling them growing shaper by the moment. Meant to rend flesh from bone...

Kawheek shook his head, trying to force the thought out of his mind. "No..." he said, the word coming out mangled.

<<Little bird, you are mine. I have a need for generals, for a war-leader that you will become. You resist, but you will serve me yet. It is inevitable,>> the voice said with something that could almost be mistaken for glee.

"I will not serve you!" he tried to say, but the words that come out of his mouth sounded nothing like that. His tongue was wrong, swelling and pulsing in his mouth as some of the purple goo dripped from his forming lips. With a strange sound he felt it pull away, one muscle splitting into a dozen that trashed in his still forming mouth. New sensations flooded his mind as he took in the very taste of the air. There was so much more then he had even experienced before, the warm familiar smell of the gel, the bitterness of the trees and the hot coppery smell of fresh meet in the distance. It was miles away, but it made his mouth water as his new limbs twitch in anticipation.

There was food out there, waiting for him. He wanted to track it down, hunt it and force it to the ground as he tore it apart and ate all that it had to give. Just like he was supposed to.

His eyes flicked down to his hands, looking at the powerful claws as the feathers on his arms started to melt away, hardly any part of his avian self remaining. "No," he hissed, forcing the word out though his mangled mouth. "I won't give in," he said, struggling to push back at the pressure in his mind. The feeling of hunting and killing for the joy of it. He did everything he could to force it out of his mind, trying to focus on protecting people, helping them. It wasn't going to take him, to make him a monster, he was an asari! He wasn't going to allow that to be lost.

Letting out an angry grow, he struggled with the changes, glaring down at the thick plate like scales as they ran up his arms, overwhelming his feathers. Replacing the useless things with proper armor. Thick heavy plates that would keep him safe from any attack this world could bring against him. He would be safe from almost anything.

Kawheek shook his head, feathers flying free from his scalp as they were replaced with more of the heavy plates. He pulled his new lips back, exposing his sharp teeth as the last of the changes washed over him. He reached upwards, spreading out his huge bat like wings behind him and letting out a bellowing cry as his back snapped and popped. He dropped down onto all fours, rocking his neck as his head snapped forward into place.

With one last growl he felt his mind start to change, washing away the memories of being the weak bird. The ideas of hope and honor simply being flattened under his new drives and desirers. To fight, to conquer, to infect. To server his Overmind to take this world and make it their own. With a sick smile the former avian's golden eyes darkened into a burning red as he became the servant he had always been destined to be.

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This story was written and copyright 2013 by Theo Winters, reposting and archiving are allowed as long as this copyright notice and the author's name are not removed. This story cannot be published without permission of the author. The character "Kawheek" is owned by his creator, and is used with permission. Violators will be infected.