it is time for sliver planeswalker

Something splintered off from the chittering collective and awoke to the darkness of the subterranean tunnels.

It wasn't as if the new mind could comprehend the circumstances that lead to its ascension into individuality; a burst of acrid light and sound, the fierce hissing of hundreds of ancient voices as the necromancer laid a curse on her attacker, mana seeping out into the surrounding area and into the ground like polluted water. Completely irrelevant. What mattered was the small nudge that was enough to make that final shake that would knock the already-loose support from its surroundings, truly setting it free.

It really was almost too much to simply be hanging there from the cave ceiling like a stalactite, suddenly aware of the thousands of bodies pressing against it. Its siblings, of course. But now, it felt simultaneously suffocated by the pressure and achingly alone, unable to hear and feel the comforting, all-encompassing voice of the hive mind. All that it was left with were its own thoughts.

Its own panicked, confused thoughts.

But there was something else there, wasn't it? As it hung there, coming to terms with this new state of being, it was as if new ideas started to come to it. My own thoughts. Mine. Me. I. There is a clear line, it thought, where the others end and I begin.

The other Slivers around it began to notice. It could feel the tendrils of the hive mind try to touch its own, and be turned away. At first, it was terribly frightened. Now, it was clear just how alone it was in the lair. But then, the realisation struck them, that this was perhaps the first secret a Sliver ever held from its own. With this came a satisfaction. Not merely from feeding, not secondhand from the collective, but an exhilaration that they could truly call theirs.

It didn't have much time to appreciate it. A low hiss swept through the tunnel, and its siblings turned their faces towards the new soul. If their minds could not reach it, it was not one of them. It was clearly an enemy. A threat, to be eliminated.

The new soul didn't have time to dwell on what this meant, for now it was flee or die as the others came down upon it. It dropped from the tunnel wall, hitting the ground and slithering away as fast as it could, but the seething mass was not far behind. It would never escape, it thought. The individual would die here.

That is, until it seemed to simply slip away. The dark tunnel walls faded, as did the furious clicks and hisses of the other Slivers. There was only a blank white eternity, stretching farther than the new soul could possibly comprehend. One thing was for sure, it was very much lost. And, as it hung in this place, it felt itself slipping away more and more. It reached out for any sort of guidance, any direction of where to go.

Soon, something made itself clear. It pulsed through the multiverse with a warm glow, red as human blood. The new soul read it, and it struck it with raw emotion he could barely even comprehend. The leyline didn't have a voice, how could it, but as the Sliver followed it, it still seemed to speak.

You matter, it said. Continue to follow me and I will nurture you. You have already risen above, and will only rise further still.

It -no, he, the new soul decided, agreed, as he finally left the darkness into the light of a new plane.