The leader stared at the pulsing Blood Seed, his eyes darting toward the pitch-black horizon where the Adaptic lurked.
"Rist," the leader barked, "over here. Now!"
The wounded Vescrin lumbered forward, his massive, chitinous frame casting a long shadow. He looked down at the glowing shard embedded in the dirt. "What's the plan, Boss? We baiting it with this thing?"
"It's a call for help," the leader hissed, his mechanical hook clicking rhythmically with his heartbeat. "It's a one-way door to the Batch's hideout. But it's thirsty. It won't open without a tribute."
Rist's crystal eye flickered toward the two slaves, who were huddled together near the fire, trembling under the weight of their chains. "Then use the runts. Their blood is thin, but they've got enough to spare. Why waste mine?"
The leader's human hand clamped onto Rist's bandaged arm, squeezing the fresh wound. The Vescrin winced, a hiss of escaping air whistling through his mouth-plates.
"Because we don't have time!" the leader roared, his face inches from the Vescrin's shielded skull. "The Adaptic is out there changing, Rist! Every second we waste debating whose blood is 'purer,' that thing is growing another layer of armor or a new set of claws. "Slave blood is too weak for a jump this far—it would sputter out halfway. Yours is rich, thick with the dense engineering of your kind. It's the only way the portal holds."
Rist looked at his mangled hand, then back at the pulsing seed. He knew the leader was right, but the thought of feeding the earth his own life-force made his skin crawl.
"Hurry it up!" the leader snapped, shoving Rist toward the hole. "The seed is already sensing the predator. If we don't activate it now, we're just serving ourselves up as a four-course meal!"
The Vescrin knelt, holding his blood-soaked bandages over the glowing shard. Slowly, he began to unwind the cloth, letting the dark, viscous fluid drip onto the crimson surface.
In the darkness, the Adaptic watched the glow intensify. Its body rippled and cracked as new, dense plates of chitin—stolen from the Vescrin's DNA—erupted from its skin.
It didn't care about the seed. It only cared about the creatures who were about to vanish with its prize.
It began to run.