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Chapter 7: Hard Homecoming

Back at the Royal and Beautiful Locust Palace, Queen Myrrah sat on her throne, her hand made into a knuckle and gently pressed against her chin as she sat in silence, deep in thought.

Standing Alongside her were High Priest Skorge, a look of disappointed marked on his face after hearing the news of the Riftworm's death, and Commander Mustlar, who still looked as sick as ever, despite the constant protests from his aides about seeing a healer, he always refused.

Myrrah was thinking about what to do next, the Humans were pushing further towards them, while rumours of the Lambent attacking the city of Xenna had cracked the moral of even her most loyal and faithful soldiers. What's more, her aide-de-camp, Brother Markon, was thought to have gone missing when he travelled to the upper hollow.

"They have been gone for too long now." Myrrah said to Skorge and Mustlar, the two quickly turned to her. "What could be keeping them?"

"Humans?" asked Skorge.

"Impossible!" Mustlar shouted. "Humans are weak and spineless, they could not possibly defeat the horde."

"Do not be so sure Mustlar." Skorge pointed out. "I've witnessed them in battle, they may be barbaric, but they are still a powerful force."

Mustlar just huffed, unimpressed. Skorge brushed aside that snide little behaviour and turned to his Queen.

"My Queen, what of the Lambent?" he pitched in, though as he said this, Mustlar turned away from both of them, letting out a few quiet coughs.

"The Lambent are inferior to us." Myrrah hastily replied. "We will crush them."

At that moment, a Palace Guard quickly rushed in the chamber, he looked quite surprised.

"My Queen, The Soul Killers have returned! They have bought Brother Markon with them!" The guard announced, puffing and panting.

"Don't just stand there! Send them in!" Myrrah called back. The palace guard nodded and left the room.

---

The Soul Killers landed their Reavers at the Reaver pen, towing Brother Markon with them, they were welcomed by a group of Palace Guards and a few Maulers. The Maulers seemed a bit surprised to see Braahk, as he was a Grinder, and it was thought that only Maulers were present in the Palace. However, they had probably forgotten that Braahk was a Soul Killer now, he had privileges.

Braahk raised one of his large, bony eyebrows at the bewildered Maulers. When they realised he was looking at them, looked down at their own boots, hoping he'd look away.

Putting that aside, a lead Palace Guard approached The Soul Killers and gave them a humble bow.

"Welcome back Soul Killers." One of the guards said "Our Queen, Skorge and Mustlar await you."

"Thank you." Hakar replied. "We will see them."

The Palace Guards made way for the Soul Killers, while the Maulers continued to stare dumbfounded at Braahk. The Grinder gave them a disapproving huff as The Soul Killers were escorted to the Palace Entrance.

---

As they entered, they could sense something was wrong, Drones were walking around the palace with looks of great sorrow in them, some just sat around, sulking and moaning to each other. One Grenadier Elite looked to be downing himself with a drink made from a local flora, the contents of which were quite alcoholic. It was quite the heartbreaking scene, something had happened to them or perhaps they had heard something.

The Riftworm's death maybe?

Onwa quickly stopped a passing Theron Guard.

"You there." Onwa said. "What is going on? Why are the Drones acting this way?"

"The city of Xenna has fallen to the Lambent." The Theron whispered.

"What? How?!" Onwa demanded.

"Seems our own strategy betrayed us. The Riftworm's passage to the human city of Ilima ripped open the walls surrounding the city, allowing an easy entrance for the Lambent." The Theron explained.

"That's…" Onwa tried to say, but he soon saw he was behind the others, who had gone ahead. Hakar quickly called him back.

"Onwa! No time for talk, get back here!" He yelled. Onwa quickly dashed back to the others.

The Doors of the Queen's chamber were swung open by Two Palace Guards operating the door mechanisms, once they were fully open, the Soul Killers looked on and saw Queen Myrrah herself, clad in her highly unique regal dress, at first glance, one would think it were simply a peach coloured human dress, but on the back was a large appendage with various tentacle like limbs sticking out of the back. Next to her, The Kantus leader Skorge and the Commander of the Palace Guards Mustlar, who Onwa noted looked unwell.

"You are all alive." Myrrah said, smiling. "That is good to know."

"It not easy majesty!" Braahk called back. "Cog worms try to stop us!"

"I think she guessed that!" Sauvix snapped, but the Queen quickly raised her hand as if to tell Sauvix to be quiet. She nodded to Braahk and turned to Markon.

"Step forward Brother Markon." She ordered. "Resume your place, by my side."

Brother Markon rather uneasily nodded and stepped towards Queen Myrrah, as he approached, Hakar also stepped forward to inform Myrrah of the news.

"We found Brother Nushik… But he…" Hakar was going to announce, but the queen quickly cut him off.

"…Killed himself, yes I saw." She said, finishing Hakar's sentence. "Alas, he was a well respected figure among our society."

"How did you…" Zaach was going to ask, but Brother Markon interrupted him.

"The Queen and I observed your battle through my crystal orb. When we last checked up on you, we witnessed Brother Nushik's death. Afterwards, we could not seem to find you again." Markon explained.

"Brother Markon…" Onwa was about to ask Markon of the strange bite mark he had found on Hakar, as well as his rampancy on the surface, but Markon seemed to cut him off.

"Although Our Queen made decisions that I admit, I did not feel comfortable with, I still stood by her." Markon replied.

Onwa gave both Markon and The Queen a stern look, what had they done?

"Now that we are here, we must decide our next step." Skorge suggested.

"The ground walkers will never penetrate the Nexus." Mustlar said confidently. "So we should concentrate on the…err… other enemy."

Zaach looked at Mustlar, something was wrong with him, he had a look of sickness in his eyes and he was ghostly white, even for a Locust. Zaach also had to note that for someone who was Commander of the Palace Guards, he didn't seem well built up.

"Xenna had bought distraught to us all, we must save the other cities before they succumb to the Lambent scourge!" Markon announced.

"And how do you suppose we do that?" Sauvix asked sarcastically. "The Lambent just get stronger every day, the Lightmass bombing seemed to benefit them somehow."

"From what I hear, a strategy went wrong, the Riftworm caused the fall of Xenna!" Onwa exclaimed.

"Silence!" Mustlar shouted. "You have no right to question our power!"

An argument began to arise, although the only one was wasn't paying attention was Hakar, he seemed to go into a state of dizziness, he held onto his head and closed his eyes.

When he opened them, something was wrong, he was somewhere else in the Palace entirely, like a healing bay of sorts. The sounds of infant whimpering caught his attention as his perspective was suddenly forced in another direction entirely. All of a sudden, he found himself facing a Berserker.

However, this was no ordinary creature, Hakar recognized her almost saurian like face in an instant. It was his mother Veega. A Berserker gifted with sight and some degree of intelligence.

Hakar slapped the sides of his head to try and wake himself up, but it was too strange for words. He was seeing his point of view from when he was born, although normally it'd be hard to tell, Veega had a look of utter joy on her face as she amazingly cradled him ever so gently.

Suddenly, there was a flash and once again, Hakar had been shifted elsewhere, he wasn't at the Palace all together, he was somewhere else in the upper hollow. He looked around and saw a dead Drone lying underneath him, the body had a long slice wound in it's neck and was face down in a pool of it's own blood. Another Drone was standing nearby.

"Hakar, you are a true beast!" The Drone said. "You killed Groill!"

"I had to! He was a bully and had to learn his place!" Hakar heard himself growl, he couldn't feel his lips move, but he defiantly heard his own voice.

Hakar's point of view shifted to another Drone, it was another face he recognized right away, his name was Garek, Hakar's old friend from when he was training.

"Groill will bother you no longer Garek." Hakar heard himself say as he saw himself put his hand on Garek's shoulder.

Garek looked at Hakar with relief and warmth.

"Thank you… Friend." He sighed.

At that moment, much to Hakar's ever growing annoyance, there was a sudden flash in Hakar's vision, he was now standing in an Imulsion plant under the surface, dead human workers lay around him, he was holding a Boltok in his hand.

He remembered this place, it was where his Father RAAM let him tag along him for a human hunt after E-Day, not really mission critical, just a pleasure trip really. He looked around and sure enough, RAAM was standing next to him, arms folded.

"Impressive work Son." He said, nodding his head. "You are a natural, just like me."

"You think so Father?" Hakar heard himself ask.

"Indeed… or you just get the aggression from your mother's primitive side…" RAAM replied jokingly.

Another flash in his vision, forcing him somewhere new. Hakar was now looking around the Imulsion pumping station, again, underneath the surface, RAAM was holding a dead Gear with one hand and his blade in the other, two other Theron's stood by him.

"Lead you Soul Killers to victory Hakar!" He called out. "I must reach the Tyro Pillar before the humans do."

"Can I not lead my Soul Killers with you, mighty General?" Hakar asked.

RAAM suddenly seemed taken back by that request, he looked at his two Theron aides and ordered them to go ahead of him. As they left, RAAM gave Hakar a look.

"No son, you are needed elsewhere!" He replied. "But fear not! Your victory will be much more needed than mine…"

---

"… Hakar?! HAKAR!!" Screamed the voice of Onwa.

Onwa constantly shook Hakar violently as The Soul Killer leader had his eyes firmly shut, his hands placed on both sides of his heads as he hyperventilated. Onwa gave Hakar one last push before finally snapping him out of his panic.

Hakar opened his eyes and saw that everyone was looking at him with panic, fear and confusion, especially Onwa and Brother Markon. However, Hakar could not see Markon's worry.

The Soul Killer leader shook himself, startled and confused.

"I… err… forgive me… I had a nightmare of some sort…" Hakar nervously said.

"You are forgiven." Skorge replied.

Onwa took hold of Hakar and lead him out of the Palace, feeling that he would be comfortable elsewhere. Though just before he left, Onwa looked back and spotted Markon. Onwa growled and gave him a warning look.

Markon gulped as Onwa escorted Hakar away.

"Is he going to be okay?" Torgr asked.

"I… think so." Taus replied, obviously lying. He had no clue what he had just witnessed.

"Where were we?" Myrrah asked, amazingly able to just shake off such an sight so quickly.

"We were discussing our next strategy my Queen." Skorge replied. "I suggest we now concentrate on defending our cities from any further Lambent attacks."

"Agreed Skorge." Myrrah said. "Mustlar, double the security of the Nexus."

"It shall be done." Mustlar replied in a slightly sick tone.

"Thank you, all of you leave now." The Queen ordered.

Everyone except Brother Markon left the Queen alone. Without any hesitation, Markon stared daggers at Myrrah and let loose his anger.

"Did you see what happened to Hakar?" Brother Markon asked hastily. "Obviously it was a side effect of your little stunt!"

"He will be fine Markon, do not lose faith!" Myrrah replied, brushing aside Markon's anger.

"Do you not care that it might kill him?" Markon growled.

"Let me worry about my Soul Killers, thank you Markon." Myrrah stated, losing patience. "I know Hakar, he'll be fine soon enough."

Markon wasn't sure what to think, Queen Myrrah kept brushing him and any of his concerns away, like she didn't care. Markon sighed and left the chamber, leaving The Queen alone, as he left, he put his hands together and bowed his head.

"T'Chark, help me now!" He prayed…

Description
Chapter 7: Hard Homecoming

Back at the Royal and Beautiful Locust Palace, Queen Myrrah sat on her throne, her hand made into a knuckle and gently pressed against her chin as she sat in silence, deep in thought.

Standing Alongside her were High Priest Skorge, a look of disappointed marked on his face after hearing the news of the Riftworm's death, and Commander Mustlar, who still looked as sick as ever, despite the constant protests from his aides about seeing a healer, he always refused.

Myrrah was thinking about what to do next, the Humans were pushing further towards them, while rumours of the Lambent attacking the city of Xenna had cracked the moral of even her most loyal and faithful soldiers. What's more, her aide-de-camp, Brother Markon, was thought to have gone missing when he travelled to the upper hollow.

"They have been gone for too long now." Myrrah said to Skorge and Mustlar, the two quickly turned to her. "What could be keeping them?"

"Humans?" asked Skorge.

"Impossible!" Mustlar shouted. "Humans are weak and spineless, they could not possibly defeat the horde."

"Do not be so sure Mustlar." Skorge pointed out. "I've witnessed them in battle, they may be barbaric, but they are still a powerful force."

Mustlar just huffed, unimpressed. Skorge brushed aside that snide little behaviour and turned to his Queen.

"My Queen, what of the Lambent?" he pitched in, though as he said this, Mustlar turned away from both of them, letting out a few quiet coughs.

"The Lambent are inferior to us." Myrrah hastily replied. "We will crush them."

At that moment, a Palace Guard quickly rushed in the chamber, he looked quite surprised.

"My Queen, The Soul Killers have returned! They have bought Brother Markon with them!" The guard announced, puffing and panting.

"Don't just stand there! Send them in!" Myrrah called back. The palace guard nodded and left the room.

---

The Soul Killers landed their Reavers at the Reaver pen, towing Brother Markon with them, they were welcomed by a group of Palace Guards and a few Maulers. The Maulers seemed a bit surprised to see Braahk, as he was a Grinder, and it was thought that only Maulers were present in the Palace. However, they had probably forgotten that Braahk was a Soul Killer now, he had privileges.

Braahk raised one of his large, bony eyebrows at the bewildered Maulers. When they realised he was looking at them, looked down at their own boots, hoping he'd look away.

Putting that aside, a lead Palace Guard approached The Soul Killers and gave them a humble bow.

"Welcome back Soul Killers." One of the guards said "Our Queen, Skorge and Mustlar await you."

"Thank you." Hakar replied. "We will see them."

The Palace Guards made way for the Soul Killers, while the Maulers continued to stare dumbfounded at Braahk. The Grinder gave them a disapproving huff as The Soul Killers were escorted to the Palace Entrance.

---

As they entered, they could sense something was wrong, Drones were walking around the palace with looks of great sorrow in them, some just sat around, sulking and moaning to each other. One Grenadier Elite looked to be downing himself with a drink made from a local flora, the contents of which were quite alcoholic. It was quite the heartbreaking scene, something had happened to them or perhaps they had heard something.

The Riftworm's death maybe?

Onwa quickly stopped a passing Theron Guard.

"You there." Onwa said. "What is going on? Why are the Drones acting this way?"

"The city of Xenna has fallen to the Lambent." The Theron whispered.

"What? How?!" Onwa demanded.

"Seems our own strategy betrayed us. The Riftworm's passage to the human city of Ilima ripped open the walls surrounding the city, allowing an easy entrance for the Lambent." The Theron explained.

"That's…" Onwa tried to say, but he soon saw he was behind the others, who had gone ahead. Hakar quickly called him back.

"Onwa! No time for talk, get back here!" He yelled. Onwa quickly dashed back to the others.

The Doors of the Queen's chamber were swung open by Two Palace Guards operating the door mechanisms, once they were fully open, the Soul Killers looked on and saw Queen Myrrah herself, clad in her highly unique regal dress, at first glance, one would think it were simply a peach coloured human dress, but on the back was a large appendage with various tentacle like limbs sticking out of the back. Next to her, The Kantus leader Skorge and the Commander of the Palace Guards Mustlar, who Onwa noted looked unwell.

"You are all alive." Myrrah said, smiling. "That is good to know."

"It not easy majesty!" Braahk called back. "Cog worms try to stop us!"

"I think she guessed that!" Sauvix snapped, but the Queen quickly raised her hand as if to tell Sauvix to be quiet. She nodded to Braahk and turned to Markon.

"Step forward Brother Markon." She ordered. "Resume your place, by my side."

Brother Markon rather uneasily nodded and stepped towards Queen Myrrah, as he approached, Hakar also stepped forward to inform Myrrah of the news.

"We found Brother Nushik… But he…" Hakar was going to announce, but the queen quickly cut him off.

"…Killed himself, yes I saw." She said, finishing Hakar's sentence. "Alas, he was a well respected figure among our society."

"How did you…" Zaach was going to ask, but Brother Markon interrupted him.

"The Queen and I observed your battle through my crystal orb. When we last checked up on you, we witnessed Brother Nushik's death. Afterwards, we could not seem to find you again." Markon explained.

"Brother Markon…" Onwa was about to ask Markon of the strange bite mark he had found on Hakar, as well as his rampancy on the surface, but Markon seemed to cut him off.

"Although Our Queen made decisions that I admit, I did not feel comfortable with, I still stood by her." Markon replied.

Onwa gave both Markon and The Queen a stern look, what had they done?

"Now that we are here, we must decide our next step." Skorge suggested.

"The ground walkers will never penetrate the Nexus." Mustlar said confidently. "So we should concentrate on the…err… other enemy."

Zaach looked at Mustlar, something was wrong with him, he had a look of sickness in his eyes and he was ghostly white, even for a Locust. Zaach also had to note that for someone who was Commander of the Palace Guards, he didn't seem well built up.

"Xenna had bought distraught to us all, we must save the other cities before they succumb to the Lambent scourge!" Markon announced.

"And how do you suppose we do that?" Sauvix asked sarcastically. "The Lambent just get stronger every day, the Lightmass bombing seemed to benefit them somehow."

"From what I hear, a strategy went wrong, the Riftworm caused the fall of Xenna!" Onwa exclaimed.

"Silence!" Mustlar shouted. "You have no right to question our power!"

An argument began to arise, although the only one was wasn't paying attention was Hakar, he seemed to go into a state of dizziness, he held onto his head and closed his eyes.

When he opened them, something was wrong, he was somewhere else in the Palace entirely, like a healing bay of sorts. The sounds of infant whimpering caught his attention as his perspective was suddenly forced in another direction entirely. All of a sudden, he found himself facing a Berserker.

However, this was no ordinary creature, Hakar recognized her almost saurian like face in an instant. It was his mother Veega. A Berserker gifted with sight and some degree of intelligence.

Hakar slapped the sides of his head to try and wake himself up, but it was too strange for words. He was seeing his point of view from when he was born, although normally it'd be hard to tell, Veega had a look of utter joy on her face as she amazingly cradled him ever so gently.

Suddenly, there was a flash and once again, Hakar had been shifted elsewhere, he wasn't at the Palace all together, he was somewhere else in the upper hollow. He looked around and saw a dead Drone lying underneath him, the body had a long slice wound in it's neck and was face down in a pool of it's own blood. Another Drone was standing nearby.

"Hakar, you are a true beast!" The Drone said. "You killed Groill!"

"I had to! He was a bully and had to learn his place!" Hakar heard himself growl, he couldn't feel his lips move, but he defiantly heard his own voice.

Hakar's point of view shifted to another Drone, it was another face he recognized right away, his name was Garek, Hakar's old friend from when he was training.

"Groill will bother you no longer Garek." Hakar heard himself say as he saw himself put his hand on Garek's shoulder.

Garek looked at Hakar with relief and warmth.

"Thank you… Friend." He sighed.

At that moment, much to Hakar's ever growing annoyance, there was a sudden flash in Hakar's vision, he was now standing in an Imulsion plant under the surface, dead human workers lay around him, he was holding a Boltok in his hand.

He remembered this place, it was where his Father RAAM let him tag along him for a human hunt after E-Day, not really mission critical, just a pleasure trip really. He looked around and sure enough, RAAM was standing next to him, arms folded.

"Impressive work Son." He said, nodding his head. "You are a natural, just like me."

"You think so Father?" Hakar heard himself ask.

"Indeed… or you just get the aggression from your mother's primitive side…" RAAM replied jokingly.

Another flash in his vision, forcing him somewhere new. Hakar was now looking around the Imulsion pumping station, again, underneath the surface, RAAM was holding a dead Gear with one hand and his blade in the other, two other Theron's stood by him.

"Lead you Soul Killers to victory Hakar!" He called out. "I must reach the Tyro Pillar before the humans do."

"Can I not lead my Soul Killers with you, mighty General?" Hakar asked.

RAAM suddenly seemed taken back by that request, he looked at his two Theron aides and ordered them to go ahead of him. As they left, RAAM gave Hakar a look.

"No son, you are needed elsewhere!" He replied. "But fear not! Your victory will be much more needed than mine…"

---

"… Hakar?! HAKAR!!" Screamed the voice of Onwa.

Onwa constantly shook Hakar violently as The Soul Killer leader had his eyes firmly shut, his hands placed on both sides of his heads as he hyperventilated. Onwa gave Hakar one last push before finally snapping him out of his panic.

Hakar opened his eyes and saw that everyone was looking at him with panic, fear and confusion, especially Onwa and Brother Markon. However, Hakar could not see Markon's worry.

The Soul Killer leader shook himself, startled and confused.

"I… err… forgive me… I had a nightmare of some sort…" Hakar nervously said.

"You are forgiven." Skorge replied.

Onwa took hold of Hakar and lead him out of the Palace, feeling that he would be comfortable elsewhere. Though just before he left, Onwa looked back and spotted Markon. Onwa growled and gave him a warning look.

Markon gulped as Onwa escorted Hakar away.

"Is he going to be okay?" Torgr asked.

"I… think so." Taus replied, obviously lying. He had no clue what he had just witnessed.

"Where were we?" Myrrah asked, amazingly able to just shake off such an sight so quickly.

"We were discussing our next strategy my Queen." Skorge replied. "I suggest we now concentrate on defending our cities from any further Lambent attacks."

"Agreed Skorge." Myrrah said. "Mustlar, double the security of the Nexus."

"It shall be done." Mustlar replied in a slightly sick tone.

"Thank you, all of you leave now." The Queen ordered.

Everyone except Brother Markon left the Queen alone. Without any hesitation, Markon stared daggers at Myrrah and let loose his anger.

"Did you see what happened to Hakar?" Brother Markon asked hastily. "Obviously it was a side effect of your little stunt!"

"He will be fine Markon, do not lose faith!" Myrrah replied, brushing aside Markon's anger.

"Do you not care that it might kill him?" Markon growled.

"Let me worry about my Soul Killers, thank you Markon." Myrrah stated, losing patience. "I know Hakar, he'll be fine soon enough."

Markon wasn't sure what to think, Queen Myrrah kept brushing him and any of his concerns away, like she didn't care. Markon sighed and left the chamber, leaving The Queen alone, as he left, he put his hands together and bowed his head.

"T'Chark, help me now!" He prayed…