Prologue

Now, hatchling. A voice sounded telepathically, having the illusion of consisting of thousands of voices at once, all whispering softly. Your mission is simple. You will find a host immediately after you land. Do not be picky with your choice, it could mean life or death for you and the mission. Simply choose the first sentient alien you come in contact with, and quickly. Remember, you can always switch hosts little one, but you need to be bonded to someone native to the planet in order to survive there. You will then gather information on the planet and the life forms that live there. We will send someone in three years time to gather your report and begin the invasion.

The hatchling being addressed gave a mental reply of confirmation, seeming both confident and nervous in their response. After receiving their mission, they were then instructed to enter a small pod, it was no larger than a basketball and shaped like a reptile's egg. The hatchling had no true form, their whole species was more like an amorphous, constantly changing shadow, so the hatchling was able to fill and fit into the pod perfectly and were then launched into space and soon put into a prolonged sleep as the ship traveled to the planet they were assigned.

The pod landed softly-several months later-in the middle of an Urthen forest. The hatchling emerged from their ship and began their hunt for a suitable host. They knew the orders were to pick the first native they came across, because if they didn't find something shortly after landing, they would quickly begin to starve and suffocate in this alien atmosphere. But in the middle of this wooded and damp land, the only other forms of life seemed to be the plants all around. They could already feel their life force weakening, they knew they couldn't survive long off their home planet without a host, maybe an hour at most. The hatchling quickly reached out with their mind in all directions, desperately looking for any hint of intelligent life. Surely the pod wouldn't have landed so far away from anything else that they would starve before even having a chance to begin!

There was life all around. Thousands of different minds lived in, around, and under the trees. The hatchling could sense everything from teeny tiny buzzing insects to large slowly ambering deer. They just had to find the closest alien to bond with...there. Off to the left and high above, something breathing, something with quick, nervous thoughts. The hatchling quickly glided over the landscape and up the tree like a liquid shadow. They mentally reached out to the small, jittery alien and saw in it's mind's eye what form the native alien would find most appealing: that of its own kind, of course. So, the hatchling took the shape of a squirrel before touching their now existing forehead to that of the native alien's, and formed their first bond.