Patriarch of the Swarm

Disclaimer – I do not own StarCraft in any way

Inspired by "The Zerg Swarm" by East Bridge

Edited by WeaponX1023

"Talking" 'Thinking' 'Telepathic'

Chapter 1 – Soul Symbiosis

Daniel awoke with a scream. His body trembled and his chest ached, the bandages around him feeling too tight. His thoughts were a blur too. He could hear someone calling out a name, but it took him a couple of seconds to realize something. It was his name that was being repeated.

"Dain, please tell me you are alright!"

The young woman at his side was both familiar to him and a complete stranger. She was his sister, but he could remember being an only child. The dim light that a simple candle was bringing into the cavern revealed the soot covered lightly tanned cheeks of Vera, and Daniel inhaled deeply once to try and calm his mind.

"I'm alright. It hurts somewhat but I think I'll be okay."

What exactly had happened though? He had two sets of memories in his mind. One of them was of a twenty-four year old young man crossing a street and being hit by a car. He had been killed almost instantly. Another was of a young man called Dain in this savage world its people called Prime.

This Dain had been living in a little village when raiders attacked, slaughtering most men and taking women prisoner. Dain himself had been stabbed in the chest, and left for dead. By all accounts, he should be dead by now, but instead he could feel his heart beating in his chest. What's more, he could feel something else too.

It was like a whisper coming from far away, an echo of something. 'Remember your promise. Protect your family.'

There had been something both Dain and Daniel had wished for in those dying moments, more time with their family, protecting their family. They were linked, somehow, and Daniel knew that. Dain and Daniel had been so very much like one another, black haired young men still growing up to their responsibilities, although Dain was a couple of years younger physically.

"Is mom okay?"

His question raised a sad frown on Vera's face, making Dain sigh silently. If mother was captured, the chances were they'd never see her again. He recalled a brief moment from Dain's past, of their mother shouting for her to hide while Dain and Hana tried to repel the raiders.

"Sorry."

"Don't be, at least you are alive. I thought you were dead for sure when I came out from the wreckage, but you were still bleeding. I tried to tie it up but I didn't have any of the healing paste and I didn't know what to do but we couldn't stay in those smoldering ruins beasts were coming so I took us to this cave."

Smiling quietly Dain recalled again a brief moment of how he and Vera had discovered the little cavern and made it their secret. There weren't that many children in the village so the siblings had been forced to play together or play alone for most part.

"I'm fine; a little wound like that won't kill me."

His reassuring words felt hollow though. He had died, and almost left her alone. Something had pulled the souls of the two dying men together however, and returned them to this body, healing it just enough to survive, and start recovering.

'Remember your promise. You have been given the power to change things. Remember it, and wield it well.'

The words that came as a whisper made Dain tremble a bit. He was starting to think of that name as his own more than he considered the name Daniel. Daniel was dead, but lived on in Dain. The two sets of memories were confusing, but he could feel them both as real. He would have to take it easy or he might go insane from confusion.

The more pressing matter of these whispers though was that Vera did not appear to hear them. He wasn't sure if they were part of the confusion he was experiencing from the nearly fatal encounter earlier or if there was something out there, but he decided to gather his thoughts and focused on a single question.

'What power?'

As soon as he thought of the question a wave of heat pulsed through his body. His body felt like it was burning, the wound in his chest aching so he slumped on his back grasping over it. He could hear Vera shouting and felt her grasp on his hand. His mind was dizzy, the pain was excruciating, but yet he could feel it lightening.

His chest was closing up around the wound. The stab that had bandaged earlier was healing rapidly now, the wound caused seeming to be recovering within minutes when it should have taken days, or even weeks, perhaps never fully healing. He didn't need to remove the straps by the time the pain faded away; he knew there was nothing there anymore.

In his mind's eye, he could see something, like a page off a book with writing along it.

Swarm Evolutionary Stage: Zero

Patriarch Bio-Energy: 90/100

Patriarch Bio-Genesis: 10/cycle

Swarm Bio-Energy: Negligible

Swarm Bio-Genesis: Nil

Requirement for Evolution

+Hatchery

The information was confusing to him, but at the same time he felt that his body had already been fully charged on waking up, and the rapid regeneration had consumed a portion of it that was now missing. It was the same amount as he would recover in a single cycle, which he instinctively knew referred to the passing of a single day within this world, somehow.

"Brother, stay awake, please don't fall asleep again!"

Vera's pleading reached his ears again and, a bit ashamed of having scared her like that, Dain reached up to wrap his arms around her, petting her raven dark hair tenderly while embracing her. She was all the family he had left right now and he needed to protect her. There was nothing that could bring their mother back right now.

Daniel's mind was putting things together though. In his own world, on earth, Daniel had been a fan of StarCraft, and though the term patriarch was not from the game, the words swarm and hatchery sounded familiar, and he had a feeling there was a chance then.

'What are the requirements for a Hatchery?'

His thought words conjured up another mental page in his mind, showing a fleshy structure rising from the ground spreading a purple-shaded gel around its base, and a list of information besides it.

Hatchery

Primary complex

Larva generation: 25 per cycle

Cost: 100 Bio-Energy

Spawns: Drone, Zergling, Overlord

That was all that Dain needed to know for now. He had expected the drone and overlord to become available after creation of a hatchery, but having access to zerglings as well would help. Of course, it might still take a long time to build up any sizable force if he was the solitary source of bio-energy. He had to figure out how to create more of it, but as far as he knew, there were no crystals or easily accessible fountains of natural gas in this world.

"Let's rest for now, and we'll see about things tomorrow morning sis." Gently kissing Vera's head and hugging her closer, Dain wrapped his arms around her, promising to protect her. He would take care of his family.

A/N: When I began to write this story I was just looking for a chance to practice. I was looking for inspiration, and I was feeling rusty, so I wanted to create something that would be fun to write, and hopefully, fun to read. Now there is over 30 chapters of this tale.

I wrote those thirty chapters without any beta-readers on the site, a few off-site that gave a glance but the fact there were typoes and mistakes here and there showed. Thanks to WeaponX1023 this chapter has been cleaned up a lot, and I am grateful for the assistance.

I intend to keep writing new chapters, but in the meanwhile I thought I should post this remade first chapter.