Shift.
Shift.
Shake.
Dark.
So dark.
No light.
Warm.
Small.
Tight.
Something hard pressed against every part of the creature's tiny body. It could not stretch. It could not turn. Every attempt to move met the same unyielding wall.
It did not know what a wall was.
It only knew...
Stuck.
...
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
The sound echoed strangely through the tiny space surrounding it.
Hard.
Need...
Break.
The creature pushed with everything its tiny body possessed.
Nothing.
It stopped.
Waited.
Tried again.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
A faint vibration answered from somewhere beyond the shell.
Noise.
Not me.
More.
The realization was simple, almost instinctive.
Not alone.
Something moved outside.
Something alive.
The cramped body twisted as much as it could.
Move.
Move.
Move.
Its head struck the shell.
CRACK.
A thin line of light pierced the darkness.
Bright?
The creature froze.
Its entire body recoiled from the unfamiliar sensation.
Too bright.
A strange voice echoed inside its mind.
Embryo Lithobid has initiated hatching process.
15% Complete.
The sounds meant nothing.
The creature listened.
Then forgot them.
Need break.
The shell was still there.
Still trapped.
It pushed again.
Its many tiny legs scraped uselessly against the smooth inner surface.
Its head rammed forward.
CRACK.
Another fracture spread.
Cool air seeped inside.
Different.
Cold.
The voice returned.
Embryo Lithobid has completed 40% of hatching process.
Noise again.
What noise?
No matter.
Break.
The shell resisted.
The creature did not understand failure.
It only understood trying again.
Ram.
CRACK.
Ram.
CRACK.
Ram.
CRACK.
Light flooded inside.
The shell finally split apart.
The tiny body tumbled forward into open air.
Embryo Lithobid has completed 100% of hatching process.
Necessary conditions met.
Embryo Lithobid has evolved into Hatchling Lithobid.
The voice disappeared.
The creature curled tightly.
Bright.
Too bright.
Its many tiny eyes burned.
Noise.
So much noise.
Cracking.
Scratching.
Clicking.
Movement surrounded it from every direction.
The hatchling instinctively folded inward, covering its sensitive eyes beneath its body.
Slowly...
Very slowly...
The pain faded.
Its vision adjusted.
Shapes.
Stone.
Light.
Many.
So many.
The cave stretched farther than its young mind could understand.
Countless white eggs covered the floor, walls, and ceiling.
Some still shook gently.
Others were already broken open.
Small creatures, almost identical to itself, crawled in every direction.
Many others.
The hatchling looked downward.
Its own body filled its vision.
Long.
Gray.
Many tiny legs.
They moved.
Without asking.
Without thinking.
Can...
Move?
One leg lifted.
Then another.
Its body lurched awkwardly to one side.
The remaining legs tangled beneath it.
The hatchling stumbled forward before collapsing onto the uneven stone.
Wrong.
Again.
It tried once more.
This time only the front legs moved.
The back half refused.
The body twisted awkwardly.
Confusing.
Too many.
Far too many.
Without warning...
Something changed.
Species Skill Activated.
Segment Coordination Lv.1
The unfamiliar words lingered for only a heartbeat before fading away.
The hatchling blinked.
Skill?
The strange sound escaped its mouth instinctively.
Skill.
Important.
It did not know why.
Only that the word felt... right.
The next step came easier.
Then another.
The countless legs no longer fought one another.
Instead they moved together.
One smooth motion.
The body flowed naturally across the stone.
Move...
Better.
Its antennae twitched.
They had been moving constantly since it hatched.
Now they suddenly stiffened.
Something.
Smell.
No...
More.
A pull.
Not physical.
An instinct.
It tugged gently at its thoughts.
Go.
Food.
The hatchling obeyed without question.
Its tiny legs carried it alongside dozens of others moving in the same direction.
No one spoke.
No one hesitated.
There was only the scent.
Food.
The tunnels widened.
The clicking of thousands of tiny feet echoed endlessly through the stone passages.
The hatchling followed.
Then...
Everything stopped.
Its antennae froze.
The hatchling slowly looked upward.
Big...
No.
Huge.
A creature unlike anything it had ever seen stood before the swarm.
Its body stretched longer than the tunnel itself.
Dark crimson armor reflected the pale glow of strange fungi growing along the cavern walls.
Massive hooked mandibles flexed slowly.
Dozens upon dozens of gleaming eyes overlooked the hatchlings beneath them.
Each leg ended in a wicked point capable of piercing solid stone.
The hatchling did not know the name.
It did not know this was the Scolopendramax.
The Great Mother.
She did not look at any individual hatchling.
She looked only at the mass.
One enormous leg descended.
CRUNCH.
Several hatchlings disappeared beneath it.
Their tiny bodies burst apart without resistance.
The Great Mother lowered her head.
Her mandibles opened.
The crushed hatchlings vanished into her mouth.
She chewed.
Calmly.
Slowly.
As if nothing unusual had happened.
Around her stood several slightly smaller centipedes, each still unimaginably larger than the newborns.
The Scolopendex-Kopis.
Their duty was simple.
Guard.
Feed.
Cull.
One of them lunged forward.
Its mandibles snapped around two struggling hatchlings.
Gone.
The others did not flee.
They climbed over the blood.
Over the crushed shells.
Over one another.
Still chasing food.
Still biting siblings.
Still eating.
The hatchling stared.
Its thoughts struggled to understand.
Food...
Eat.
Big one...
Eat us.
Why?
The answer never came.
Instead...
Something deep inside it screamed.
Not words.
Not instinct alone.
Something older.
Sharper.
Danger.
Run.
Now.
The hatchling spun around.
Its countless legs moved before its thoughts could catch up.
It ran.
Not gracefully.
Not skillfully.
It stumbled.
Recovered.
Kept moving.
The sounds behind it grew quieter.
Stone rushed beneath its feet.
The tunnel narrowed.
Light faded.
It squeezed through a small opening no larger than itself.
Safe?
No.
Keep go.
The passage suddenly ended.
The stone beneath its feet crumbled away.
The hatchling had only just learned to walk.
It had never learned to stop.
Its tiny legs slipped.
The ground disappeared beneath it.
Then...
It fell.