After leaving the clearing with my egg, I begin to run forward as fast as my legs can carry me. The suspense caused by the recent message is propelling me towards the camp I saw before.
After several minutes, I find myself back at the outskirts of the clearing. Tens of aliens stand gathered around some sort of object. I'm unable to tell from here what the object is, however.
Three small aliens stand guarding the entrance of the clearing. They seem ripe for picking. It would be nice if I could evolve some sort of cloaking ability, however, that is wishful thinking. I only have the claws on my hands at the moment.
The guarding aliens seem to be around fifty meters away from the group, and ten away from me. I'm behind a rock at the moment so I'm not the most worried about gaining their attention. Deciding that there's no point in waiting, I creep forwards, staying hidden behind rocks. It seems to work decently well, as they don't seem to notice me. Pretty soon, I've made it to a spot right behind them.
The one directly next to me has some sort of pistol in his hand, it seems like the same one that I saw before. Deciding to get rid of this one first, I take my sharpened claws and stab at the throat of the alien. The new and improved weapons cut through its neck like butter, slicing a deep groove in its neck as it falls to the ground, convulsing and bleeding out.
This attracts the attention of the other two guards, as they turn towards me. Luckily, they were slow to react, as I pounce on them, slashing at one's chest and the other's head. My claws seep deep into their flesh, practically touching their bones, as blue blood drips from their wounds as they slowly bleed to death.
Since the battle happened so fast, I was able to avoid gaining the attention of the group.
With my new position, I can now see what they're gathering around. Some sort of cylinder-shaped device, with orange lights on the side. To be honest, it looks like a bomb. If I could just shoot it, that would be great. However, I doubt that my claws would allow me to use one of their weapons.
It is a shame, one bullet would be able to directly wipe out all of them right now, but I unfortunately don't have the ability to-
*BOOM*
What? Why did the bomb go off? I didn't shoot it.
From the dead bodies of one of the aliens sprouts a blue dodecahedron. I'm not too sure what it is. However, someone does.
Out from the darkness, a strangely armored man comes out, carrying a rifle. Behind him sits a floating white object, radiating a blue glow.
The man speaks in a deep voice, one that I can understand.
"A rare engram! Ghost, we hit the jackpot! Store it!"
As he commands this, the floating object hums some words and floats towards the so called 'rare engram' on the ground, turning it into particles.
"This Fallen cache had some nice resources, however it seems like they were in contact with the Hive. I saw several eggs while we were coming here."
So the aliens are known as Fallen? And what, I'm the Hive? If only I was brought here as one of those guys, I would have such an easier time.
The floating object speaks once more.
"I can sense Hive nearby. Guardian, we have to move."
"Got it! Mark the way!"
With this, both of them leave in the direction that they came from. Thankfully, they left the charred corpses of the 'Fallen', it would be a shame if all of that Biomass was wasted. However, what did that thing call him? A Guardian? A Guardian of what? So much information that I need, and there's no way to get it yet. The best I can do is consume the bodies of the Fallen here and return to my egg.
Which is what I did. Thirty bodies seems like a lot, but it's surprisingly little when you have near infinite hunger. After completing the feast, I started to head back to the egg, the scene of the 'Guardian' effortlessly eliminating thirty Fallen ringing in my head.
Once making it back, the message appears once more.
.
[Sufficient Biomass consumed]
[Rapid evolution will now begin]
.
What the hell? Rapid Evolution? I better not morph into some monstrosity, well, one worse than what I am now. As long as the evolution is fruitful, I'll be satisfied.
As I think, my mind begins to fade, as I feel myself get encompassed by some strange skin, extremely similar to the egg I was born in.
As I fade away, I feel my body begin to rapidly change. My legs and arms get reduced to liquids, as they are reformed into something greater. I was unable to tell much more as my mind switched off.
.
.
.
I have no idea how long I was out for. It could have been days or weeks for all I know. All that is known to me is that I'm awake once more, my body brimming with power.
.
[Rapid evolution completed]
.
I must be in another egg. Clawing at it, I can feel that my claws have been fined to a razor sharp edge, almost cutting through the skin of the egg as if it were air.
Pretty soon, I find myself still in the cave, however, it seems much brighter than before. Looking down at my body, it seems that I have also gone through huge changes. My body has gotten much bulkier, and claws have gotten much larger, sitting at almost five inches in length.
My legs not only seem much stronger, but they now have black strips of supposed bone running down the sides, seeming to run down to my feet.
My head rings with pain as more messages flood into it.
.
[Sharpened Claws 1 has evolved into Sharpened Claws 4]
[Enhanced Ligaments 1 has evolved into Enhanced Ligaments 3]
[Strengthened Carapace 1 has evolved into Strengthened Carapace 3]
A bit of a shorter one today.
Happy Thanksgiving!