Primal I (9)

I looked down at the smaller Zerg, slightly large dog sized... barely anything compared to the rest of us, I’d have to divvy up its body into pieces and use those pieces to share the essence of it with every member of my own small sub-pack. It was too small and runty to really do much else. It meant that they essence of it was permeated with the information needed, that this was something programmed into its very baseline of genetic expression. Essence built up as a psionic construct, a body within the body, giving abilities and adaptations of its own if a being understood its expression well enough.

It was almost as if Zerg had an ‘XP bar’ and one could drain it. More complicated than that really, but it boiled down simply that essence was essentially a finite resource within a single Zerg, and while multiple Zerg could draw from the source it was a destructive ‘scan’ of sorts.

“Generous.” I replied to the Elder before me, one eye near the back of my head tracking his movements. “But I can’t help but wonder at the criteria for this sacrifice. How was it chosen? Agreement among peers, competition pressure, or merely singled out because of his size relative to the others of his pack?”

I let my larger array of frontal eyes roam the small creature. It didn’t seem particularly special, just small and beaten, its body like a cross between a fuzzy Zergling and a hunting bird. It clearly had adapted itself to a niche of small game at the very least.

“Mmm, do you doubt the quality of the essence before you? That matters little, partake of its essence and share the meat.” The elder replied, sounding as if he’d needed to make this exact speech time and time again.

“No, I merely am thinking that it smacks of unfairness if one is selected for such an honour without a chance to prove themselves directly.” I tried to keep my essence steady, walking a short tightrope. On the one hand, I didn’t particularly care about the prospect of rendering the little thing into scraps for my table; I doubted I could ring much more than a few mouthfuls out of it. But at the same time I couldn’t help but wonder if there wasn’t something being left out, a niche unexplored by the pack that was being given up.

… or maybe I just had a penchant for liking small cute things.

“Unfairness? Hmm. This is the first time such a charge has been leveled at my process.” He stared at me accusingly.

“To be fair my lord.” I figured my essence would translate that much appropriately. “You’re presence does tend to enforce your choices on matters even if it happens to be a minor bit of unfairness which only impacts those who have little power to work against you or against such choices.”

“You make a valid point. But even so, this is my gift to you. You will partake of it. And you will share it with your new pack.” The elder spoke with dread finality.

“I obey.” I spoke without hesitation, and then turned to the small creature. It’s heckles raised as it prepared for the impossible fight to come.

“I will not go gently.” It cursed, essence flagging under the terror of the inevitable, still it stood in a combat ready stance, looking to take even the smallest chance at survival.

The elder nodded his head with a small note of satisfied pride. “Good, even the weakest of my line should fight till the end of the end. REJOICE my child. Your sacrifice will grant the Pack new strength. Struggle all the way down.”

The small Zerg turned, a look of fearsome hate burning in its progenitor’s direction.

“I do not think that such is absolutely necessary, my lord Gozark.” I spoke up, my thick tail whipping about briefly even as I moved to interpose myself between the Pack Alpha and the morsel which he’d given to my pack. The elder Zerg’s interest perked and his focus fell upon me. “I have a different solution. I find even the weakest tend to have their uses if nurtured correctly. My Skizzy here is an example of such. She was once nothing more than a slinking herbivore in the underbrush once. I have been learning to mold her into something more. This little one you’ve given me at least seems to have a willingness to fight while out matched. I only ask your permission that you not take it as an insult if I keep this one alive.”

The elder’s head turned sideways in a very birdlike motion. “It depends completely on if you intend to accept the essence offered, I will tolerate no opposition to this demand.”

“And I have no plan on doing so. Merely that I might divide up this one without resorting to its death.” I spoke even as I reached out, folding out my more sturdy finger claws, the blunted ones which would serve as to give a solid grip without worrying about the small one’s spines. It reacted poorly, biting, snarling and trying in general to defend itself, but I was too large in comparison and my armoured hide too thick to be denied. Even if I spoke of its survival, the implications of what I was about to do were grim.

Meh. It was Zerg. It would learn to deal with this. To live through this ordeal would be better than to die to it.

“Then you may keep it. If such is your fancy. Beyond my orders, your pack is yours, unless another should rise in your place to take it from you. Do as you will.” Gozark lowered his head back into ‘sleeping’ position before adding. “Once you have taken in the essence of this Omega, I will give instruction to you and yours. Do not disappoint.”

I nodded, shifting my essence in acceptance of his demand.

I left with the still squirming Zerg in my hand, it’s wriggling  a vague annoyance even as some of its spines were sharp enough to pierce some of the softer sections between the armoured fingers it was pressed between, still trying to escape my grasp.

“You know if you escape it will simply be a death sentence.” I commented even as I walked back to my new founded pack, barely a hour passed since I’d claimed them fully. “And besides, I will not let you die.”

The little thing went limp in my hand, only to turn a glare upon me, waves of angry and hateful essence practically searing my palm. “And I should be grateful, to live as your toy, broken and savaged?”

“You should be grateful to live to see a future where you could be strong, if you put up with falling a bit further down.” I answered, honest with the little ball of rage, though sympathetic as I realized just what it was thinking was coming. “I don’t plan to use you as a chew-toy for the rest of my pack. I don’t see that a productive use of potential talent.”

The smaller Zerg snorted derisively. “Your claims are less than believable.”

“Then do not believe me.” I shrugged, even as I continued to carry it slowly off to its doom. “You will either die here, or you will survive. Everything from there will be up to you. I would suggest that if you understand such things well enough by now, you should turn off your pain sensitivity. I will not serve you here.”

“Why, thank you!” The zergling sized Zerg snarled in rebellious rebuttal.

“Your body, not mine. I merely hope to have a fully intact mind when we are finished.” I commented, a bit uncomfortable about what I was about to do, both for its sake and my own. “It occurs to me that I do not know your name. Do you have any particular thing that you wish me to call you?”

“Last.” The little Zerg groaned as it hung limp from my arm. “I’ve always been Last. Last to the prey, last to discover new sources of essence. Just… last.” It sounded tired, a bone deep weariness that made me question if I was doing it any favors in saving its life.

“Stay alive. Feed well. Lack strong… get strong.” Neither I nor Last had been prepared when Skizzy spoke up from her perch on my shoulder. I think I may have been the more surprised on to be honest. I suppose I’d been taking my little companion for granted a bit. Her mental development was running along in leaps and bounds. “Xi feeds, I eat. Lack smart, get smarts.”

The Zerg, Last, looked down at the ground. I didn’t say anything more as I arrived to seal its fate.

“We have been given a gift from the one who called us; an offering of flesh and essence to be shared among us, to teach us what we need to be successful within this pack. I will share it to you. Come.” I beckoned them in, organizing them to stand in a circle with me, as every step of the way I made them listen and act upon what I willed. It was a simple starting exercise in exerting my control over them, directing them and getting them accustomed to bowing to my desires.

A ritual in the making.

“This one before us is Last. It is our sacrifice, given to us from the Alpha of this pack himself to foster proper integration. From here on, its flesh is our flesh, its essence our essence. It shall be one of our weapons, our claws, and our teeth. We will feed it, as we feed upon it.” I spoke solemnly, my eyes each tracking a different Zerg. The most powerful four having decided to move into different quadrants of the circle I’d constructed of us almost by instinct, standing apart as much as possible while keeping all others within easy angles of view.

“And why would we waste meat and essence on this? Even the smallest of ours could take it on and win.” The largest among us spoke, his voice like a heavy truck. Relur it seemed, had managed to regain a measure of his boastful pride in my absence, his essence disdainful even as his powerful body sat curled in compliance with my order.

“There is no waste in caring for each other. In tending to each other to ensure that the pack is strong. It is no waste in nurturing and directing another to grow strong and compliment your own strengths.” I spoke up, surveying the group which I’d tamed.

A long silence followed my statement as I allowed what I’d said to sink deeper in.

“We are all weak.” I spoke again after the long silence, my tentacle tail whipping with electrical surges even as I leaned forward, grasping poor Last in my grip. “We are all weak in some way that cannot be made up for, a price for the strength we gain. To attempt to be strong in every way is to be brittle and weak in every way. It is the specialist who learns its role and becomes immersed in that role that finds the time energy and effort rewarded in ways far beyond what their essence and flesh suggests. Every one of us is strong yet weak in some manner, and yet we can each make up for it. The point of the pack itself is that all can be strong together, and be allowed to be strong in ways different from each other. Those different paths to strength leave us exposed to other paths… and yet when intertwined may yield far greater strength than any single path alone.”

I leaned forward and pulled the smaller Zerg up by the foot, then bit down upon the end of one struggling leg. It screamed out, but I couldn’t tell if it was in pain or in frustration. It’s body writhing and attacking to no avail as I swallowed down the essence laden meat.

Leader goes first.

I reached to its next leg and broke off another foot, throwing the piece to Relur, who’d seated himself far across from me. Then another to Atmaz, then Borgus, reminding them of the order in which they’d bowed their heads to my rule. Each brought Last into writhing contortions, its body rebelling against the slow methodical dismemberment as systematically I tore away flesh and bone from its body, barely giving it a chance to heal and stabilize itself before tearing into it for the next, piece, and the next piece, even as I was careful not to rip at anything vital to its immediate survival.

Zerg were nothing if not tough.

And then at the moment when the last of my pack had eaten of this offering... I could hear the powerful essence of the elder. Not speech, nothing so simple or crude, just a flow of information, of instruction, of sequence after sequence of careful and detailed direction.

Almost in a trance we all swooned, bodies following as the powerful essence intended, building internal structures and neurological circuitry, building instincts and understandings, building emotional centers constructed in commonality, building inbuilt understandings of strategies, tactics, and rules.

Building our way into the Pack in truth.

It was all but a religious experience...

It was a moment more before I fully recovered, eyes coming into focus as I looked upon each and every one of My Pack... My Pack… Emotion swelled within me, a deep well which burned with a desire to be closer, to have them at hand. Emotion which I could see reflexed in the essence of them all.

A deep seeded connection which held us firmly as a one.

They were MINE.

… it was intense, even more so as each one looked up from their own reverie, all eyes upon me.

A strange mixture of amazed desires.

I pushed myself to calm. To settle…

And then I reached to my lower arm and took hold of the smallest finger, the most delicate, breaking it off at the root as I winced at the triggering of pain sensors in the delicate organ. Then I reached up and cradled the decimated body of the still mewling Last… feeding the finger to him as if I were feeding a child.

“His flesh was offered to bind us. And now our flesh will be offered to bind us further… we are Pack. And we will be Strong.”

Skizzy chittered and cooed.

It felt Right.