My Swarm Academia: Call Of The Void

Kai was in the ruined city again. This time, when he opened his eyes in the dream, he was standing in front of the palace that had been circled by zerg fliers before.

Where once there had been many guards in power armor and mechs, there was just tile littered with scraps of metal and blood. Other than those bodies, there was nothing- which is to say that no zerg, not even a Zergling, was there.

For the first time in a while, Kai wondered about this Queen of the Zerg. Just what was she capable of? Had she really soloed all of these men without backup, and on her Zerg physique alone?

Walking down the halls toward the sound of gunfire, Kai took his time and looked at all of the damage around him. There were bullet holes in the walls and casings on the floor. There were chunks taken out where grenades had exploded, and some scorch marks that looked like lightning had struck. There were claw marks, but only on the armor of the fallen. Some even seemed a little… melted.

Was she some kind of dragon? He had seen some kind of wing….

Suddenly, Kai heard the sound of heavy footsteps running toward him. He turned around and immediately jumped toward the wall for safety as a person in black power armor ran past him. He still wasn't sure what would happen if something hit him, but if it could, a man in armor would be painful.

Kai looked down the hall after the man in black armor, because something was bothering him. Then he realized- the man was the wrong color and alone. If this guy was another guard, shouldn't he have had more men with him, or the same color armor? Instead, this guy went in alone against a being that had singlehandedly rendered this area lifeless.

"There's something different about that one," Kai muttered as he turned to chase after him.

This guy might be able to tell him something. If he was different, maybe he would live, or show something else about this Queen. Or maybe something else entirely.

Or he was an idiot hero wannabe who thought he could be the exception to the "all who go against this Queen die" rule. If that was the case, it would be hilariously tragic.

Either way, if this guy was going to cause something different in this world, Kai wanted to see what happened.

Still, that was a difficult wish. The power armor hastened its wearer both by lengthening their stride and directly accelerating movement. Kai wished he could just port next to the guy, but despite trying, he couldn't.

Why couldn't he just Inception this dream and do what he wanted?

Actually, thinking about how that tended to work in that world, perhaps it was for the best that nothing was happening.

Kai hastened his steps. Luckily, even though after a minute or two he had lost sight of the black armor, he had plenty to follow. There was still plenty of destruction and bodies, and power armor didn't exactly move quietly. Eventually, he would be able to catch up.

Suddenly, a familiar sensation pierced Kai's mind. The sound of a woman screaming in pain. The Queen was suffering again. It was strange- this was the first time that he had repeated anything in this dream. He shook off his thoughts while he kept running. He could think about this when he woke up.

"Sarah!" A man's voice came from ahead, along with the sound of metal scraping against the floor.

Sarah? Is that the Queen's name? This guy has a personal connection with her?

It was almost funny to hear that the Queen of a swarm of aliens that is currently slaughtering by the hundreds of thousands was simply named Sarah. It was like naming a rabid three-headed dog Fluffy.

Wait. The MO of the Swarm was to take in essence to improve themselves. What if things went the other way, too? And this Sarah had been human, and became like that? Could Kai reach her level of strength? Was her essence pattern somewhere with his little Swarm?

Then again, it would be risky to change himself to such a degree. That should be one of the backup plans. Not completely dismissed, but not to be relied on, either.

It took a little while for Kai to realize something about the screaming. It wasn't just in his head anymore. He could hear it with his ears, too. Then, it cut out. He could hear a voice, the same one that had called out Sarah's name before.

"Change in plans, Arcturus!"

Kai burst into the room just in time to see the Queen of the Zerg pinning a man (presumably Arcturus) to a wall of screens with the points of skeletal wings.

"You can never suffer enough for all of the lives you have ruined, Arcturus," she said, walking closer to him.

"I made you into a monster, Kerrigan!" he shouted at his attacker, coughing up some blood.

She paused, then reached out to his face.

"You made us all into monsters," she said gently, almost sadly. A rush of purple light sn.a.k.e.d out of her arm and into Arcturus' orifices. Then the light filled up his face and he screamed as the light began to release itself, tearing him apart in the process.

Having a bad feeling, Kai ducked back into the corridor and behind the doors that had been torn open. A moment later, the room exploded, and a rush of flames went past him. When everything was quiet, Kai went back out to a room that had been torn open to reveal the sky. There were countless black dots rising up to the heavens. It wasn't until a closer dot showed the telltale signs of winged motion that he realized what they were.

The Queen had had her revenge and would spare everyone else. The man who had made her a monster was no more.

Kai looked to the side at the pair that was watching the zerg return to the sky.

"Thank you, Jim," came a soft voice. "For everything."

Kai walked up to them, wanting to get a closer look at these two. Jim, with his huge power armor, and Kerrigan, with her carapace and wings struck impressive figures against the rising sun. Despite the fires and destruction below, it was peaceful here.

Kai stood between them and looked at both of them. It was touching, and somewhat reassuring. From what he knew of the Clan, it wasn't out of place for him to have dreams of another world, one that had to do with his summons. Thankfully, this god appeared to at least not be completely evil. But it was still confusing to him.

"Why am I here? Who are you, really?" he asked out loud, facing the Queen of the Zerg. He looked into her purple eyes, wishing he understood more.

Then suddenly, something changed. He could feel it, but it was hard to place what it was. Then he turned his head to the side and realized what it was.

Silence. A chilling nothingness, as everything in the world except for himself had frozen. The smoke had stopped moving along with the wind, and the specks of monsters in the distance had frozen mid-flap.

Kai looked down at his hands, then to the two figures beside him. Did he do that? Did they? What kind of dream was this?

"What is happening?" he asked aloud for the quiet universe alone to hear.

Then, while everything else remained still and quiet, Kerrigan blinked her eyes and turned to focus them on Kai. Mist flowed from her eyes as she stiffly broke free from where she had been frozen with time before. With a voice filled as much curiosity as Kai felt, she pointed a clawed finger at him.

"What is happening, indeed. Who are you?" she asked, turning his own questions back on him. An unseen force began to wrap around him.

Kai snapped up out of bed. He stood up and paced the room, determined to not give himself the chance to even try to go back to sleep and face her. The words of Nietzsche crept into his mind.

If you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.