The newborns lay helpless on the hardened plateau below the cave of the Beast.

The shells had been swept away by the emergence of a new Wiffet of Enoch. The jowls of the Beast had decomposed into a gray powdery dust that was swept away by the gusts as well.

Without shelter, the tiny bodies of the Swoons were buffeted by the force of the gusts the Enoch set free.

The howling of the Wiffet was soon replaced by the clicking of cromechs.

The army of ‘mechs smelled birth and hungered for the taste of death. Thousands gathered at the mouth of the cave of the Beast.

It seemed there would be no stopping them. The clicking intensified into a shrieking battle cry as each alpha tried to outdo the other for dominance of the betas.

A pair of fledgling swoons would be sumptuous spoils for the winner.

The ravenous rush began. The cromechs swarmed over the edge of the cave like a metallic flood of death.

Clicking gave way to hissing. Hissing gave way to a blistering silence as they neared the two newborns.

The swoons would have no chance against the hordes now rising up and darkening the sky with their numbers. Far away, the galaxy of Nigh were plunged into inconsolable anguish.

What began as a rainbow chorus of celebration a mere Turn ago was evolving into monotone dirge of despair.

The newborns were a single nano from their destiny.

Or death.