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.


-=-=-=-=-=-


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.