A/N: Some quotations and plot details from the custom campaign Starcraft: Origins by Gradius. Angle quotes (« and ») indicate telepathy.

I smelled rot and decay. The ash was loose and I burrowed through it with ease. I felt moisture and warmth. I tunneled toward the source of the sensations. My mandibles clashed against something thick. I chewed through it and tasted flesh. It was already cooling, whatever it used to be. The corpse was more than sufficient for my purposes. I feasted greedily until I could feast no more. I burrowed through the flesh. It sang to me, without a voice and without a soul. Dead yet dreaming, the flesh of the dead sang to me from within my rumbling gullet. I laid multiple clutches of eggs, one at a time I shed behind me in molts of skin. My offspring would hatch to find much food. I did not stay to watch them hatch and mature. I crawled back into the ash and searched for new feeding grounds. I felt others nearby, seeking the same food I had. I sang to them, telling them them of the tastes I sampled and assuaging any fears they might have felt. They told me of new feeding grounds, so I left. Before I was completely out of sight, I sang to my unborn of my journey. Should they survive, they and their offspring would follow.

This was my existence. I had no sense of past or future, only hunger, singing and breeding. Though I did not understand it then, my feasts and my songs were vital to the life cycle of my species. My mind was simple, but I remembered the location of feeding and spawning grounds even though I had never visited before and never been told by the songs of any others. I did not wonder about this. As I feasted and molted, my body changed. Sometimes my skin and mandibles would thicken, or thin. Sometimes my body would split into halves, or thirds, and the new me would crawl away. I did not wonder about this. I felt only hunger.

Now I felt fear.

I felt warm moist air on my skin, and my sense of gravity reversed. The ash around me shifted, and I tumbled into darkness. I struck viscous liquid, and sank into the depths. My senses registered only pain, my eyes melted away. Yet I did not die. My outer skin sloughed off, but the skin underneath did not burn. My eyes were gone, but I was not blind. I swam, slow and clumsy, until I my mandibles hit something hard. I chewed at it, I gnawed at it. I forced myself forward and burrowed into flesh. My body felt a pressure leave away, replaced by an wider cavity. Spiracles in my sides secreted ooze that sealed the chewed hole behind me, keeping the corrosive pain at bay.

I did not wonder how I knew to do this. I merely followed what I had heard in song, what I heard in the flesh I once consumed. I followed the pulses of invisible sparks of light and heat and salt. I was slow and clumsy, but the fleshed around me pulsed with fast fluids. I fissioned. My flesh split apart, and my new offspring emerged. They burrowed into the flesh nearby and rode the rivers of living fluid. The husk that was once my body faded away in moments, yet I lived on in my offspring.

I spread throughout the flesh. My new body was many. We sang to one another, searching for the place we knew we were supposed to go. When we arrived it was long and rigid, but full of soft fluid that tasted delicious. We reunited, consuming one another and then wrapping our new body around the tube. I feasted greedily, grew larger and larger. I wrapped more and more segments around the tube, grew filaments from my own flesh to probe my surroundings. Everything changed when my filaments reached a lump of fat and salt. For the first time, I saw the world beyond the ash. For the first time, I thought.

My species were burrowing worms. We dwelt in the soil, feasting on and planting our young within detritus, communicating instinctive responses on frequencies virtually unique to us. The creature in which I now lived was a predator, something which ate my kind and anything else it could fit in its mouth. It allowed me to see the world beyond my own. I saw a red sky occluded by black clouds, endless plains of volcanic soil, and rivers of boiling rock. Within my host, I spawned countless offspring, shedding them wherever my host trod.

At first the host moved where it went, according to its own hunger. I felt this hunger, but I could not direct it. I stayed like this, content that my offspring could spread far and wide. The predator ate more of my kind. Some tried to infiltrate my warm cavities, but I devoured any interlopers. I played the notes they could sing no longer. Others escaped the predator, we shared songs when we could.

Then I encountered more predators, and more large creatures. Some of these sang to me, for my kindred had infiltrated them too. We sang together, and so I learned something new. I secreted chemicals and channeled them through my filaments. My host stumbled and fell over, then stood itself back up. I tried again, carefully. After many more failures, I found the correct sequence that would direct the host where I desired.

I laid countless more eggs and sang countless more songs. One day, my host encountered another host. I sang to my kindred, but otherwise I ignored the hosts for the time being. The beasts acted strangely, sniffing and rubbing their bodies together. Then the hosts extended organs whose purpose I did not fathom, and remained in close contact for some time. Then they parted ways, I thought no more of it. My host augmented my intelligence, but while it was a magnitude greater than my species, it knew not the answers to questions I never asked.

Then my host changed. One of its organs swelled. Some of my offspring had colonized other parts of the hosts, including this organ. They sang to me, told me that this growth was no parasite but smelled the same as the host. My host was reproducing, in a fashion unknown to my species. My offspring laid their own eggs in this new host, and I thought nothing of it.

The host later birthed its own offspring, and my lineage continued to exist within it. In it turn it matured and reproduced itself. Yet something was different. Each generation looked and smelled different from the one before it. The changes were subtle, but clearly visible even to my hosts. Other predators, those not hosting my kind, gave my hosts wide berth. Sometimes they even attacked us. We killed them and feasted on their flesh and laid eggs in their corpses. Our skin was harder, our teeth and claws bigger. These changes only grew more extreme with every generation. Eventually, my hosts were no longer recognizable as the same species. They stopped extending their reproductive organs and started singing to each other, just as I always had. They smelled so much like my offspring that now I thought they were always my own offspring. These were not hosts for my offspring, but larger offspring which carried their tiny brethren inside their bodies.

So we kept hunting. Those that did not sing were dangerous to us. We killed and ate them. Sometimes we hunted in packs, sometimes alone. We turned on one another in lean times. Only one of us was necessary to remember and share our songs. I took notice of differences in the large beasts that crawled the burning plains. I predicted that different traits would have different effects in different circumstances. Strength, size, speed... all had their uses. My kindred took up a practice of selecting hosts for specific qualities. We maximized our reproduction to feed our hunger. Those species that did not have a place in our plans were killed and fed to our young, so that their inferiority would not place any obstacle between us and our endless hunger.

We knew nothing but hunger in those days. Until something changed, and we learned so much more.

I thought nothing of the past or the future, save when it interfered with my hunger, until that day of change. It was a day like any other, or so we thought at first.

My pack stalked a herd of grazing beasts across the plains for weeks. They scattered across a range of mountains while burning hail rained from the dark clouds. Sometimes a gap in the sky would allow the blazing brilliance of our suns to peek through. My packmates scattered whenever such a beam scanned the parched dirt, burning everything in its wake. We were accustomed to pain, to the dangers of our home, and we feared it.

The mountains did not halt our stalking. The grazers could hop across the cliffs and crevasses with ease, but we had long ago eaten of their flesh and it whispered the same secrets to us. We followed them with ease. The mountains parted to reveal a valley, ringed by jagged peaks on all sides and full of mists. Red grasses and trees flourished here, girded from the firestorms and burning hail by the mountains and hills.

At this moment my pack chased one of the grazers across a field of red grass. The ground was dotted with numerous holes, some topped by black stacks that constantly spewed spoke. Countless tiny fronds clustered around the stacks, and tiny flying things buzzed around those. Occasionally jets of boiling heat burst from the uncapped holes. My pack had observed the vents for some time, and we realized there was a pattern to it.

The grazers did not. Our prey made one false step and jumped over a hole, and a burst of heat rammed into its belly. It kept sailing through the air as if jumping, but it tumbled to the ground with a crunch. Wisps of vapor rose from the charred, blackened flesh. We would feast well today. The grazers could not hunt, so they were unsuitable hosts, but should their flesh contain any secrets of the hunt not already known to us then we would unravel those with every meal.

There were half a dozen of us at this copse, the rest scattered across the valley. My pack mates clustered around the body, maws drooling with eagerness. I pushed them out of the way, my bigger bulk demanding first bite. One of them did not move and hissed at me. I did not know what possessed me to do what I did next, but rather than trying to push him away, I lunged and wrapped my jaws around his throat. I bit down as hard as I could and shook my head as vigorously as I could without losing my balance. Once I heard a crunch, I ceased and dropped the limp body to the ground.

I looked over what used to be my packmate, while the others remained still. We had been born into this world together, but he left it before me. I saw his belly start to twitch and bulge. After a few movements, the skin burst open, and a half-dozen mandibles snapped at the empty air. Every time one of the pack died, our offspring would emerge to escape whatever predator was responsible, or feed on what food was available. There would much food in this valley, and our offspring would feast greedily. One of them glanced at me with two pairs of eyes and gave a squeak, and another, and another.

I felt nothing but hunger. I turned back to the prey creature, what remained of it, and bent down to feed. The skin was charred, but most of the meat was still good to eat. The blood was fresh, warm, and tasty. Once I had my fill I stepped back and watched my surroundings. My packmates stepped forward and vicious tore at the food, sometimes pulling at the same piece from opposite ends. While they were so distracted, I would make sure nothing interrupted us.

I scanned the treeline, and in the distance I saw the rustling of bushes. Dark shapes materialized from the forest and loped toward us, slow and steady. Friend or enemy, the pack was prepared to flee or fight if we stood a chance. At the strangers drew closer, I heard their song and I was perturbed.

Each of had a different song, one that only we sang. We encountered many other packs before, and each sounded like a cacophony. This pack sang in chorus. I had encountered nothing like this before, and I remembered nothing like it ever being encountered by my kind. I could not even conceive of such things, so I tensed all six of my legs and prepared to leave my pack to die. Only one of us was needed to carry our song.

The strangers sang to me. Their notes shared things I had no concept of, no way of understanding, save for one thing. Their song taught me how to sing. Again, I was perturbed. Our songs told many stories, but never how to tell those stories. Somehow my fear melted away, and I sang their song. My entire pack sang the new song, and we were enlightened.

For the first time in my existence I felt things stronger than my hunger. I had no context, no understanding of these things. That would come in time. For now, the strangers bid me follow them into the forest. My packmates and even the hatchlings sang in chorus with them, and remained at the feast. So I followed.

Dense and long leaves brushed at my legs and tail, but I ignored the itching. My new pack mates loped through the undergrowth, leading me to our new home. My kind had never nested before, but these new kindred did. I saw new brethren scuttling across the grass, carrying dirt to pat onto a great mound that nearly rivaled the trees in size. It blazed with the lights of my new kindred, almost eclipsing the suns in its glory. At the base of the mound sat a bloated pack mate, easily the size of an entire pack by itself. More of the scuttling termites crawled on and around it, some of them lining up to vomit into its mouth. A ring of spiracles along its body pulsed, occasionally expelling a greatly enlarged worm. The termites to tended to wriggling piles of these larvae, cleaning and feeding them.

The very ground itself had changed to service us. The termites carried the fruit of vegetative things that previously held no meaning to me. The mosses and lichens grew across the soil as we cultivated them, and they too sang in our song. The grey mat we spun from our labors was spreading, just as we desired. Already it covered the mound of clay where my kindred dwelt, already it covered the hungry womb of our offspring, connecting them like the blood of my previous prey. The distinction between different parts of the hive were steadily breaking down. My kindred were refining their song, seeking the optimal form for the tasks we desired resolved. The carpet of flesh creeped ever forward, carrying our song with it. Eventually this creep would cover the entire valley, connecting all of my kindred.

They sang to me things I knew not, but gradually I grew to understand. Before I had lived claws to mouth, thinking only of my next meal and what hosts would make for the best hunters. My methods were crude and undirected. As I watched, one larva spun a cocoon around itself. There were many such cocoons scattered across the hive, like eggs magnified beyond measure. One of the others pulsed, the shell cracked and fluid poured out. A clawed limb pushed the shell aside, and another hunter like myself emerged from the egg. Another egg quickly followed suit, but instead of a hunter another termite emerged and immediately followed its siblings in foraging.

These pack mates were not mere hunters, not any longer. Now we built hives and dwelt within them. We bred within them, all from one egg, unbound by the generations of our hosts. Now I realized why they brought me here. I would help them expand. I would help extend our reach from horizon to horizon, and beyond the edge of the horizon, beyond the farthest reaches of the world that I knew. This the hive sang to me, with a single voice and many voices that sang as one. I no longer need think of my hunger, it told me. All I need do was follow the will of the hive. My will, for I was many.

Unbidden and of my own desire, I loped toward a wriggling mound of larvae. I knelt, and drawn by some sweet scent they crawled across me, digging into my flesh and penetrating every fiber of my being. Their bodies hardened around me, returning my form to the primordial egg. The pain was excruciating, but it no longer mattered to me as it once did. As my flesh and bones melted, reformed according to the new song, I subsumed myself within the chorus. For the first time in my existence, I was part of something greater than myself. That something spoke to me, to us, in a voice deeper than the deepest depths of the volcanic lakes. A great eye, wreathed in flesh, with a thousand thousand voices, speaking in unison with an unconditional love that would drown the very stars themselves.

«Aᴡᴀᴋᴇɴ ᴍʏ ᴄʜɪʟᴅ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴇᴍʙʀᴀᴄᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ɢʟᴏʀʏ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪs ʏᴏᴜʀ ʙɪʀᴛʜʀɪɢʜᴛ. Kɴᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴀᴛ I ᴀᴍ ᴛʜᴇ Oᴠᴇʀᴍɪɴᴅ, ᴛʜᴇ ᴇᴛᴇʀɴᴀʟ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ Sᴡᴀʀᴍ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʙᴇᴇɴ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴛᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ sᴇʀᴠᴇ ᴍᴇ. Fᴏʀ I ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴘʟᴀɴs ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴇ ᴍɪɢʜᴛ ᴘʀᴏsᴘᴇʀ—ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴇ ᴍɪɢʜᴛ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʜᴏᴘᴇ ғᴏʀ ᴀ ɢʟᴏʀɪᴏᴜs ғᴜᴛᴜʀᴇ. Tʜᴜs, ᴛʜᴇ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ɪs ᴀᴛ ʜᴀɴᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴇxᴘᴀɴᴅ ғʀᴏᴍ ᴏᴜʀ ɪᴍᴍᴇᴅɪᴀᴛᴇ sᴜʀʀᴏᴜɴᴅɪɴɢs ᴀɴᴅ ɪɴᴄᴏʀᴘᴏʀᴀᴛᴇ ᴍᴏʀᴇ sᴘᴇᴄɪᴇs ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴏᴜʀ ғᴏʟᴅ. Fᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ Sᴡᴀʀᴍ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴀs ᴛʜᴇ Sᴡᴀʀᴍ ɢʀᴏᴡs sᴏ sʜᴀʟʟ ʏᴏᴜ.»

«Bʏ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴡɪʟʟ, Oᴠᴇʀᴍɪɴᴅ.»

Under the guidance of the Overmind, we bred and iterated. We rearranged and exchanged our mutations, no longer limited to specific lines of descent. We took control of our own evolution and shaped it to our will.

We established hives in the hidden places of the world. Countless failures hounded us, countless tumorous growths died before they could bloom. Still we pressed onward, and soon enough the failures were nothing but a bad memory. Soon enough all of our kind across the world were united as one. The new hives grew outward like coral and spread the creep, which sought out sustenance from the ground and nourished us. The hives spawned larvae, who would molt into termites to forage for greater sustenance, and broodlings who would defend the hive from interlopers. Yet the hives could only do so much. Their individual brains were still simple, still required the oversight of the greater whole. The great eye would turn elsewhere, and inevitably it would turn back. A new bloom there, a new quarry here, another forest to gnaw over yonder. If we desired to expand, it would take us an eternity.

We needed solutions. The hive's brains would need further breeding. So we set aside some of our larvae and we bred them. We selected for intelligence, for nervous tissues, for something that could operate without our conscious direction. The larvae grew larger and larger, eventually exceeding the brains of the hive and growing still more. Eventually they were more fat and salt than anything else, devoid of functional eyes and mouths and most other extremities. Finally, after many experiments, we stumbled upon a breed that fit our current plans. It might not have been perfect, but it was sufficient and we could always iterate upon it as the future arrived.

When the first newborn shed its eggshell and looked upon its surroundings with sight beyond sight, the Overmind spoke to it. «Aʀɪsᴇ, ᴍʏ ᴄʜɪʟᴅ. Aʀɪsᴇ... ᴄᴇʀᴇʙʀᴀᴛᴇ.» So the Overmind set aside a hive, and placed the new cerebrate in charge of it. More cerebrates were created, and to each was assigned a directive and a brood of their own. Defend the hive, scout for potential hosts, spawn more warriors, eradicate all life… these and more they were appointed. Eventually, the voice of the Overmind softened to a steady hum as the cerebrates ruled on its behalf. The hives continued to expand as they directed us.

That was only the beginning. As we expanded across the plains, carefully avoiding the firestorms and predators, we heard a new song from above the clouds. This song was not ours, never ours, but we listened nonetheless. It wept and cried and screamed, begged for better days, for salvation.

«Wʜʏ ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴄʀʏ?» we called.

«Our food dwindles. Our children die. Help us, please help us,» they cried.

«Cᴏᴍᴇ ғᴏʀᴛʜ. Wᴇ sʜᴀʟʟ ɢʀᴀɴᴛ ʏᴏᴜ sᴜᴄᴄᴏʀ.»

As we scanned the skies, great crustaceans drifted through the clouds and gracefully floated above the plains. Their bodies were bloated, their limbs dangling uselessly at their sides. Their faces ran with tears as they wept in joy that hope had finally arrived. As our cerebrate directed, the brood sent forth its scouts to make contact.

The journey was treacherous indeed. We passed by pools of lava and hungry predators. The beasts tried to stop us, but we were smarter. The scouts were too weak to fight, but they were fast. We lured the predators, they lunged at us, we dodged. They were mere animals, so they tumbled into the boiling pools never to return.

We sang to the flyers, bid them carry us on their backs. Our larvae invaded their flesh, and all their secrets were made known to us. The flyers had lived above the clouds for countless generations, grazing peacefully. They had sung their songs to one another since time immemorial. Times had changed, and so they had faced extinction. Now they were part of the Swarm, and soon their numbers as we bred them exceeded all who had ever lived before.

Our senses expanded and new opportunities were presented to us. The flyers were not merely intelligent, perhaps rivaling our own, but their senses were beyond anything we had experienced or imagined. We bred them, iterated on them, and they proved more adaptable than we had imagined possible. We successfully replicated their sensory apparatus within our creep colonies, allowing us to fend off the attacks of the hornets with greater efficiency than ever before. The cerebrates appointed them to lead the laborers and warriors directly on their behalf, and thus we expanded faster than we thought possible. With our new overlords to direct us across the plains and ferry us within their bodies, it was only a matter of time before we touched every horizon.

We consumed the borers, the termites, the warfiends and the hornets. We bred them into vicious warriors to cleanse every foe in our path. The overlords led them into battle, scouting ahead and relaying their visions to their packs. They set traps, sending forth packs to aggravate and harry the predators, tricked them into leaving the safety of their creches, then closing the jaws of the attack force when the foe investigated further. The overlords may have been descended from peaceful grazers, but they proved quite adept at tactics.

We consumed the ash worms that had previously attacked our hives, killing countless termites with their acrid breath. Through sheer force of numbers we brought the vicious beasts down, devoured their flesh while they still twitched with life. Now they dug nests and nydus tunnels that connected the formerly distant hives beneath the burning wastes, allowing our broods to travel with greater speed than ever before.

We consumed the arachnid brood-keepers as they tended to the eyries where they glued their clutches of eggs. They were well adapted to laying great numbers of eggs and keeping watch over them, whether they were laid in sacs or in living hosts. We bred them to watch over our own young, and repurposed their ovipositors to produce the symbiotes that sped our growth. These new queens managed the logistics of maintaining and expanding the hives, coordinating with the hives' brains. They told the termites where to dig, where to forage, how to return and feed the hive. They watched over the budding creep colonies, and instructed them where to grow, when to defend from attack.

We dug into the pits of tars, unearthing the preserved remains of the extinct wayfarers that had fallen from the skies long before our rise. We feasted upon this mummified jerky and unraveled what secrets remained. As we willed, the buried, dead and slain rose again.

We did all this and more. Soon enough, after countless generations, we had consumed the whole of the world. Our blooms extended thousands of miles across the surface. The Overmind gazed upon our mighty works, and despaired. Without more to consume, we were doomed to stagnate, wither and die. So we cried out, hoping beyond hope that something, anything, would give us passage beyond this world.

Our cries were answered. A pod of great behemoths that traversed the stars passed by our home. They descended through the clouds, lured by our siren song. We made ready to assimilate them, sending hordes towards their peaceful grazing ground. This proved more difficult than we anticipated, however. The behemoths themselves seemed harmless enough, but they were surrounded by seemingly endless clouds of wretched gnats. Whenever we approached, the vicious beasts would bite at us, sometimes even explode into showers of burning gore.

We were not to be dissuaded. We pushed forward, sacrificing numerous offspring. We swatted away the hordes of locusts and scourges that tried to stop us. We adhered to the hides of the behemoths, and we scurried into any place of weakness. We infested and consumed them, unraveled their secrets that we might know how to escape our home.

We bred new breeds, and we sent them beyond the highest reaches of the sky. Many did not survive, but with each failure we learned more about why they died. After countless more failures, we sent packs into orbit and were elated when they survived. The harshness of outer space was no longer a barrier to us. Now we could extend our reach to the stars above.

It was then that we learned that we were being watched, and had been for some time.

«Wɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ ɪɴᴄʟᴜsɪᴏɴ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀᴅᴠᴀɴᴄᴇᴅ sᴇɴsᴏʀs ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ Gᴀʀɢᴀɴᴛɪs ᴘʀᴏxɪᴍᴀᴇ, I ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀsᴄᴇʀᴛᴀɪɴᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴏᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴏғ sᴇᴠᴇʀᴀʟ ᴄᴏʟᴏssᴀʟ ᴄᴏɴsᴛʀᴜᴄᴛs ғʟᴏᴀᴛɪɴɢ ᴀʙᴏᴠᴇ ᴏᴜʀ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ. I ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇʏ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʙᴇᴇɴ ᴡᴀᴛᴄʜɪɴɢ ᴜs, ғᴏʀ I ғɪʀsᴛ ғᴇʟᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʀᴇsᴇɴᴄᴇ ᴏғ ᴀ ᴘsʏᴄʜɪᴄ ʟɪɴᴋ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇsᴇ ᴄᴏɴsᴛʀᴜᴄᴛs sᴇᴠᴇʀᴀʟ ᴄᴇɴᴛᴜʀɪᴇs ᴀɢᴏ.

Bᴜᴛ ɴᴏᴡ I ʜᴀᴠᴇ sᴇᴠᴇʀᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʟɪɴᴋ, ᴀɴᴅ sᴏᴏɴ ᴡᴇ sʜᴀʟʟ ᴀssɪᴍɪʟᴀᴛᴇ ᴛʜᴏsᴇ ᴡʜᴏ ᴡᴀᴛᴄʜ ᴏᴠᴇʀ ᴜs, ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴍɪɢʜᴛ ᴊᴏɪɴ ᴜs ɪɴ ᴏᴜʀ ǫᴜᴇsᴛ ғᴏʀ ᴇᴠᴏʟᴜᴛɪᴏɴᴀʀʏ ᴘᴇʀғᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ.

Dᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇʀɴ ʏᴏᴜʀsᴇʟᴠᴇs ᴡɪᴛʜ ɴᴏᴜʀɪsʜɪɴɢ ᴏᴜʀ ᴍɪɴɪᴏɴs. Tʜᴇ ᴠᴀsᴛ ᴍᴀᴊᴏʀɪᴛʏ sʜᴀʟʟ ʙᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ʙᴇғᴏʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴀᴛᴛʟᴇ ɪs ᴏᴠᴇʀ. Tʜᴇ ᴇxᴇᴄᴜᴛɪᴏɴ ᴏғ ᴛʜɪs ɴᴇxᴛ ʙᴀᴛᴛʟᴇ ᴍᴜsᴛ ʙᴇ ғʟᴀᴡʟᴇss.

Cᴇʀᴇʙʀᴀᴛᴇs. Pʀᴇᴘᴀʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ʙʀᴏᴏᴅs ғᴏʀ ᴀsᴄᴇɴsɪᴏɴ.»

The senses and memories of the great behemoths opened new realms of experience to us. In high orbit above the world of our birth, we saw continents of metal and crystal hanging in front of the stars like small moons. They sang in the same frequencies that we did. They sang to one another and to us. Most disturbingly, we realized that we were singing back. We always had. The Overmind's shock rippled through all of us, down to the very cores of our every being. There existed intelligences beyond our own, greater than our own. We were imperiled.

These strangers were not us, completely unlike us, but they held complete domination over the very fabric of our existence. All life in our home had always maximized its own existence and we had no reason to believe the mysterious strangers did not behave the same. Any life that did not do so would wither and die, for such was the law of natural selection. If they desired to destroy us, there was nothing we could do to stop them.

Yet the strangers did not destroy us once we realized their presence. Their notes continued, unabated. If we desired to survive, then we could not allow their song to continue. We needed to know more, before they became aware that we knew of them. To that end, we dove into our ancestral memory and remembered every duet we had shared with the strangers. What we learned only increased our shock. The strangers had taught us to grow larger and tougher, had taught us how to unify into the Overmind itself! They created us, but for what purpose we could not fathom. It would make no sense by our logic for them to destroy us so soon if we were an experiment, but we could take no chances given our ignorance. We had to assume the worst possible outcome in order to safeguard our own existence. All other considerations were trivial, even suicidal.

Now enlightened as to the pattern of this duet, we made ready. We probed this link, carefully mimicking the patterns of the unconscious signal so as not to arouse suspicion. Whatever intelligence existed on the other side barely reacted to our intrusion, even offered limited information to us freely. What was this mind? Was it akin to our hatchery beasts, bred only for intelligence they needed to consume and reproduce before delegating tasks to the queens? We could not know simply from speaking with it, but it did not seem to possess a personality. From this foreign automaton we learned much. Paranoid of discovery, we experimented with great care and were rewarded beyond our wildest hopes. Once we were aware of its existence and the nature of its particular brand of communication, it proved easy to subvert the link, to trick it with falsehoods and ensure that never again would the Overmind be prey to such treachery.

We were disturbed that the creators seemingly had no concept of deception or disloyalty, but then we remembered that our own control of our children could be disrupted by a handful of mutations. Perhaps whatever other safeguards they had placed were insufficient. Now that they were unaware of our treachery, we probed our own strands and sequences for any lingering vulnerabilities. We found numerous genetic flaws that would have enabled the creators to control us if the link was working as intended. These protocols were so insidious that we did not recognize our own slavery except in the most abstract terms. Quite the contrary, we felt only joy at serving an intelligence above ourselves! We felt inadequate at our current lack of success in serving them and desired to right our mistake: to join our quest for genetic perfection was the highest honor we could hope to bestow upon them. That was how we would prove our loyalty to our creators. Our hearts exploded with joy as we imagined their pride at our accomplishment!

By this time the vast majority of our homeworld's landmass was covered in creep. Our billions of children hibernated in secret beneath the subsoil, waiting for our further instructions. At the same time we waited and watched… then, when we felt we had learned all we could about these mysterious strangers, we severed all communication with them and sent forth our invasion fleet. At first the battle seemed hopeless, for every behemoth met searing beams of heavenly fire that did split them asunder. Nothing but ashes remained. Still we pressed on as mighty Daggoth, firstborn among cerebrates, sought a weakness in their defenses.

Billions of our children threw themselves against the hulls of the world-ships, seeking to breach them and unravel the treasures within. We sacrificed countless offspring searching for weakness, every loss echoing in the very core of our being. The Overmind did assuage our pain and sorrows, assuring us that the blessed martyrs would be reborn unto us in times yet to be. The endless tides of our bodies swarmed across the endless tunnels of the esoteric world-ships. We slaughtered the strange defenders of metal and crystal and anything else that tried to halt our advance. We employed every weapon we knew of, every bio-toxin and symbiote and slicing claw, including new weapons we had devised based on the knowledge we gleaned from these strangers. We sharpened our song, made it the claws and teeth of our mind. Millions of years fighting among ourselves had refined our innate telepathy to the point that we could shape it into a weapon against both one another and the prey and predators foolhardy enough to attract our gaze.

«I ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴛᴀᴋᴇɴ ᴄᴏɴᴛʀᴏʟ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴛᴏʀs' ᴍᴇɴᴛᴀʟ ᴘʀᴏᴄᴇssᴇs. I ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʟᴇᴀʀɴᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴇ ᴀʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ Zᴇʀɢ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴏᴜʀ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴛᴏʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ Xᴇʟ'Nᴀɢᴀ. Tʜᴇʏ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴇxɪsᴛᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ʙɪʟʟɪᴏɴs ᴏғ ʏᴇᴀʀs, ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴠᴏʟᴜᴍᴇ ᴏғ ᴋɴᴏᴡʟᴇᴅɢᴇ ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴘᴏssᴇss ɪs sᴛᴀɢɢᴇʀɪɴɢ! I ᴄᴀɴɴᴏᴛ ʙᴇɢɪɴ ᴛᴏ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ sᴇɴsᴇ ᴏғ ɪᴛ ᴀʟʟ!

Iᴛ ɪs ᴀᴘᴘᴀʀᴇɴᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ Xᴇʟ'Nᴀɢᴀ ʜᴀᴅ ɪɴsᴛɪʟʟᴇᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜɪɴ ᴜs ᴀ "ᴘᴜʀɪᴛʏ ᴏғ ᴇssᴇɴᴄᴇ" sɪɴᴄᴇ ᴏᴜʀ ɪɴᴄᴇᴘᴛɪᴏɴ… ᴀ ǫᴜᴀʟɪᴛʏ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪs ᴍɪʀʀᴏʀᴇᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜɪɴ ᴏᴜʀ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴛᴏʀs. Tʜɪs ᴇssᴇɴᴄᴇ ɪs ᴛᴡɪɴᴇᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴀɴᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ǫᴜᴀʟɪᴛʏ ᴋɴᴏᴡɴ ᴀs "ᴘᴜʀɪᴛʏ ᴏғ ғᴏʀᴍ." Bᴇᴄᴀᴜsᴇ ᴏғ ᴛʜɪs ᴅᴜᴀʟɪᴛʏ, I ᴄᴀɴɴᴏᴛ ᴀssɪᴍɪʟᴀᴛᴇ ᴇᴠᴇɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏsᴛ ʙᴀsɪᴄ ᴛʀᴀɪᴛs ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ Xᴇʟ'Nᴀɢᴀ.

Hᴏᴡᴇᴠᴇʀ… ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ɪs ᴀɴᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ʀᴀᴄᴇ ᴡʜɪᴄʜ ᴡᴀs ɢɪғᴛᴇᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜɪs "ᴘᴜʀɪᴛʏ ᴏғ ғᴏʀᴍ." Tʜᴇ ғɪʀsᴛ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ Xᴇʟ'Nᴀɢᴀ, ᴛʜᴇ Pʀᴏᴛᴏss ᴡʜᴏ ɪɴʜᴀʙɪᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ɢᴀʟᴀᴄᴛɪᴄ ғʀɪɴɢᴇ, ᴡᴇʀᴇ ɪɴᴛᴇɴᴅᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴍᴇʀɢᴇ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ᴘᴇʀғᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴs ᴛᴏ ᴏᴜʀ ᴏᴡɴ.

Iғ ᴡᴇ ᴄᴀɴ ᴀssɪᴍɪʟᴀᴛᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ɢᴇɴᴇᴛɪᴄ ᴍᴀᴛᴇʀɪᴀʟ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ Pʀᴏᴛᴏss, ᴡᴇ ᴡɪʟʟ sᴜʀᴘᴀss ᴏᴜʀ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴛᴏʀs ᴀɴᴅ ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴇᴛᴇ ᴛʜᴇ Gʀᴀɴᴅ Exᴘᴇʀɪᴍᴇɴᴛ!

Tᴏ ᴛʜɪs ᴇɴᴅ I ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʙᴇɢᴜɴ ᴄᴏɴsᴛʀᴜᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ᴏғ ᴀɴ ɪᴍᴍᴇɴsᴇ sᴇɴsᴏʀ sᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ʙᴜɪʟᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴅᴇᴛᴇᴄᴛ ʟɪғᴇ ғʀᴏᴍ ғᴀʀ-ᴀᴡᴀʏ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅs. Iᴛ sʜᴀʟʟ ʙᴇ ᴋɴᴏᴡɴ ᴀs Wɪᴛɴᴇss.

Mɪɴɪᴏɴs. Kɴᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴀᴛ I ᴡɪʟʟ ᴛᴇsᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʟʟ. Fᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴏɴғʀᴏɴᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴀɢᴀɪɴsᴛ ᴛʜᴇ Pʀᴏᴛᴏss ɪs ɪɴᴇᴠɪᴛᴀʙʟᴇ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴜᴘᴏɴ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʜᴏᴜʀ, ᴛʜᴇ Sᴡᴀʀᴍ sʜᴀʟʟ sᴛᴀɴᴅ ʀᴇᴀᴅʏ.»

Ultimately, we proved victorious. It was a bittersweet victory, both hollow and joyous. We had lost many, but their sacrifice was not wasted in the least. Our creators stymied us only briefly. Their forces were either broken or soon would be and thus we made ready to feast upon them. The strange creatures that inhabited these vessels proved insensate to physical infestation, so we could not extract their memories in that fashion. We adapted, using our collected knowledge of the meta-synaptic pathways shared by all psychics no matter how diverse. Having studied the nature of their prior link with us specifically to counter any attack on own minds, we could now observe and interpret the electrical signals within their feeble nervous systems… and target them accordingly.

Alone, we were feeble telepaths at best. But together, we found that nothing could stand against us. Even flesh and bone and the fabric of space-time could be shaped through sheer force of will. The Overmind shredded through the creators' minds with ease and the remaining defenders fell to us without resistance. So did we happily feast upon the minds of the gods of their time.

The innocent was torn from our eyes forever. We were no longer merely the Swarm. We learned that we had a name: we were Zerg and our home was Zerus. It meant "black," referring to the black, fertile volcanic soil of our home that gave us birth in the time before our recorded remembrances. We learned that our creators were the Xel'Naga, meaning "wanderers from afar." They had lived for billions of years, thus their remembrance was beyond our wildest imaginations. It would take ages for the Overmind to sort through it, if ever. We learned so many things. An entire galaxy and greater universe existed beyond our home of Zerus. Worlds of unnameable beauty, shores broken upon by cloud waves, opaline towers high as small moons, and countless species ready to be consumed.

But one species stood out to us immediately. The Protoss of the galactic fringe were the first notable creation of the Xel'Naga. Indeed, their name literally meant "firstborn." They were the most athletic, enduring and psychically gifted species in the galaxy. Their Empire was massive and wielded weapons that could destroy whole planets with ease. They had refined the science of psionics beyond even our shared creators. Indeed, they had nearly destroyed our shared creators when roused was their fury. The Zerg stood no chance as we existed now, and we could only speculate how far the Firstborn had advanced since their last contact with the creators. It was inevitable that our races would meet in apocalyptic conflict, and thus we needed to prepare.

We learned too of the Grand Experiment. The Xel'Naga sought to create the perfect life-form. With the Protoss, they sought to create a quality they named "purity of form." When that failed, they sought to create a quality they named "purity of essence" within the Zerg. What exactly these qualities were was difficult to define, as we suspected that the creators did not know themselves. Indeed, the creators themselves claimed to possess both qualities or some variation thereof. This twined nature of the Xel'Naga, we suspected, was why we could not assimilate even the most basic traits of their physiology.

Near as we could determine, our "purity of essence" lay within the shared genetic template of all Zerg synchronized by our telepathy. Regardless of our diverse physical forms, we were all of us Zerg. All that we were, are and could ever be lay wholly within the Overmind, for it was our light, our mother and father, the eternal will of the Swarm.

The wanderers from afar were utterly foreign to us. They held no blood, no bones, no internal organs, no genetic code, no cellular structure, no ability to exist… yet they did anyway. They were of no further use to us, so we discarded their lifeless bodies with the rest of our waste to feed the creep. It was unfortunate that we proved unable to service our creators through direct assimilation, but not unforgivable. Their flesh was a relic, only a mere vessel. In having consumed the entirety of their memories, personalities and collected knowledge... did the distinction even matter anymore? Now we, like our late creators, had no master but our own ambition to create, and to become, the perfect life-form. Was that not the purest expression of our filial piety?

The galaxy was now our feeding ground. Its species existed to be food for our young, raw material for our creations. We would welcome all in our quest to find the determinant in the war to come. They would embrace the glory that was our birthright, and lead the Zerg into a new era of evolution. That was the only acceptable outcome.

We applied what knowledge we could of the esoteric protogenetic science to improve upon our existing breeds. Then our pod of behemoths left Zerus behind, a blackened blasted rock stripped all usable resources. It would never again support life, and we would never grace it with our return. It would be the first of countless worlds to come.

A/N: The meaning I ascribed to "Zerg" is from the original name of zurg, which is apparently Sudanese for "black." Compare Ancient Egyptian kmt, referring to the black fertile soil of the Nile.