“Here you are, Lord Owen,” spoke a servant as she handed him a cup of warm soup. It was simple but hearty food. Despite the attack, most of their supplies were salvageable. A few crates broken here and there, but largely intact. It was one, if not the only, respite the survivors had. A good third of their guard and several contracted were dead. Cut down by the waves of bizarre insect-like monsters that had attacked. The corpses of the things still littered the ground as none had the time or energy to dispose of them. Between salvaging supplies and taking care of the dead, they only moved the bodies out of the way as needed.

Walking over to one, Owen stared at the remains. Apparently, these were the very beasts that ravaged a small nation to the north. Escapees from the quarantine maintained by the Northern Alliance and the temple. Despite being left out for several days now, the bodies didn’t even smell. Even the flies one would expect to be all over a rotting corpse seemed to stay away.

“Creepy, aren’t they?” a voice spoke from Owen’s side. It was Nora, the Justicar’s apprentice, with dark red hair and highlights of green. The young woman looked to be around Owen’s own age, maybe around seventeen. Granted, it was always hard to tell with elves.

“So these are what you and your Master were hunting?” he asked.

“Yes, well, more her. I may be able to handle a few drones, but the larger ones are beyond my skill to handle, even with their weakness to magic.”

“They are weak to it?”

“Sort of, from what I was told, it was the key to winning the war. The void-sent were caught entirely off guard by it. Any conventional, more mundane tactics they could counter. Despite being unable to establish communication, it was clear the void-sent are intelligent, the leaders at least. The tactics they used were like those of a seasoned army.

Magic, though, caught them off guard. They seemingly had no resistance or countermeasures. They ended up going on the defensive as a result, giving the alliance enough time to prepare and mount a proper offensive.”

Nora nudged one of the bodies with her boot. “I really hope Master can find and destroy the egg. Even if the alliance won in the end, the damage was already done.”

“Was it really that bad?” Owen asked.

“It was, from what Master Lysandra told me, the entire nation was destroyed. Nothing left but stone and rubble. They consumed everything like a swarm of locusts. Add on all the tactical-level spells being used, and it will be years, if not decades, before people can return. To think the initial invasion only started with a handful of individuals. That’s why everyone is so scared to let even one egg escape.”

Owen stood there, letting Nora’s words sink in. If the void-sent were really that dangerous, what in the world was his father trying to pull by stealing the egg and leading the beasts back to camp? His father was a cruel and proud man, but he was no fool. None of this added up.

“Will the temple prosecute my Father for interfering?” he asked, wary of the answer.

Nora shook her head. “Doubtful. From what I was told, the temple takes its stance of neutrality to the extreme. They won’t lift a finger against a noble without unquestionable proof. Needless to say, my master is furious, but her hands are tied.”

“But he stole the egg and led the void-sent here. All these deaths are his fault!” Owen shouted, then looked around and realized several people in the camp had overheard him. Thankfully, his father and the Justicar were both out of camp.

“Well, duh, but no one actually saw him or his men carrying the egg with them when they returned. The only person anyone saw with the egg was the branded woman.”

“Ves,” Owen snapped.

“What?”

“Her name was Ves,” he replied as the tears ran down his face. As his last memories of her flashed back. He tried foolishly to save her, and she saved him instead. The look of terror in her eyes as the hulking void-sent grabbed her, taking her into the forest. It was all his father’s fault.

“I’m sorry that was insensitive of me. I didn’t really know her, but I can tell she meant a lot to you.” The pair stood there awkwardly, not saying a word until cheers erupted from the entrance to the camp.

Curious to see what was going on, Owen and Nora ran up to the front to see a beaten, bloody but ultimately triumphant Lysandra stroll into camp. In her hand was the head of the brute that kidnapped Ves. From what he heard, they were essentially the generals of the void-sent swarms, each on par with a high-ranked cultivator in strength.

“Master Lysandra, you did it!” Nora cried out in joy as she ran to the haggard woman. Despite her apparent victory, the woman did not look happy. Glancing Owen’s way, “Lord Owen is your father available?”

“No, he is still out with one of the scouting teams.” Despite being a noble and a politician, Owen’s father served in the military under the former king. So while he couldn’t hold a candle against the justicar, the man was still a competent cultivator, and more importantly, a mage.

“Fine, you will have to do. Come with me, you too, Nora.” The woman didn’t even wait for a reply before she marched off to her tent. Not that she needed to, Owen and Nora did as they were told. By the time Owen reached the tent, Nora was already helping her master remove her armor and treating what looked to be rather severe slash marks along her arm and shoulder.

“What’s wrong?” Owen finally asked before Lysandra unexpectedly tossed a small object. On reflex, Owen caught it, albeit awkwardly. It was a carved stone pendant covered in runes, not that Owen had the specialized education of a mage required to read them.

“What’s this?” he asked as he turned back to the Justicar.

“A test, don’t ask me how it works, but it glows when in contact with anyone who is infected. When I found the larger drone I was tracking, the egg was nowhere to be found.”

“Infected? Infected with what?”

“The void-sent”

“What?”

“Hmm, I assumed your father would have already told you. No matter, while it’s not a complete secret, we have tried to keep this information on the down low, to avoid even more panic if nothing else.

Along with being able to create monstrosities like the drones that attacked us, the void-sent also had another, more insidious ability. They could infect another living being with some sort of parasite, taking control of the host like a puppet.”

Owen staggered back, falling into a chair. Ves was holding an egg. Could she be infected?

“At first, the infected were just monsters or beasts the void-sent used to bolster their own ranks. Soon, they started doing the same to people, infiltrating groups of refugees in the early parts of the war. Turning them into saboteurs and spies.”

“Spies? I thought we couldn’t communicate with them?”

Lysandra nodded, “No matter how many times we tried to communicate, they refused to respond. It didn’t take long before we realized it was a language barrier. It’s actually the primary way we spotted the infected before we had the pendants. At best, they would just repeat random words.

This approach worked for a while, but soon we learned the parasites could hide their presence from the infected. So long as they didn’t forcibly take control, the person in question did not know a void-sent was using their eyes and ears.

Thankfully, by the second year, we had those pendants to weed out the infected. They glow when in direct contact with the infected, which is what I need from you. I need you to check the camp. See if anyone is infected.”

“Wait, you really think someone among us is infected?”

Lysandra shook her head. “No, not really, but until we know what happened to the egg, it's best to be safe.”

Owen didn’t waste any time in carrying out the Justicar’s order. That and to give the woman some privacy while the rest of her wounds were treated. The thought that one of those things could be hiding among them was terrifying. The sooner he could rule it out, the better. Thankfully, no one seemed to protest as he checked them even without providing a proper explanation. Still, there were a fair number of people not present that he would need to check, including his own father. Not wanting to take a chance, Owen stood watch at the entrance of the camp, waiting for his father’s party to return.

Left with time to think, Owen’s thoughts drifted back to Ves. They still hadn’t found her body. Nor the egg, for that matter. He wasn’t sure whether that actually made him feel better. He had seen the creature carry her off into the forest with no realistic way he could imagine she could escape. Still, he had to hope until he learned otherwise; there was always a chance. Finally, just as sundown approached, his father and his scouting party returned.  

“Father, you’re back,” Owen called out, holding the pendant behind his back, unsure how to broach the topic with his father.

“Owen, I can see you fidgeting from here. What have you got?”

Hesitantly, Owen revealed the runed pendant to his father.

“Ah, I see the Justicar was prepared.” His father said as he extended a hand, gesturing for the item to be handed to him.

“You know what this is?”

“I do, and it’s a good idea, especially under the current circumstances.” Owen opened his mouth to ask how he knew before his father gestured to him to wait. The senator then proceeded to use the pendant himself before passing it around to the rest of his men. Thankfully, none of them showed signs of infection. With that done, the group quickly entered the camp, with most of the men rapidly fanning out, issuing orders to pack up. Owen had never seen his father look so on edge.

“Father, what’s wrong?”

His father ignored his question, only to ask one of his own, “Where is the Justicar?”

“In her tent, Nora is currently tending to her injuries.”

His father paused. “She’s injured? Did she succeed?”

Owen nodded. “Yes, she returned early this afternoon with the head of the beast that kidnapped Ves.”

“Hmm, did she find the branded with the beast?”

“She didn’t say.”

“Follow me, I need to speak to her about what we found.”

As soon as they reached the woman’s tent, his father announced himself. “Justicar Lysandra, it's Senator Berkandis. We need to speak.”

“Come in.”

As Owen followed his father inside, he saw the Justicar wearing a loose-fitting shirt. Just from a glance at her arms, it was clear the woman was covered in fresh bandages. In the corner was a pile of bloody rags and clothing. It was clear she had been injured worse than he thought. At the Justicar’s side stood Nora, standing at attention.

“I hear you found and killed the beast.”

“I did”

“Was my property with it?”

“Property?” Lysandra responded with a glare.

“My branded. Look, we don’t have time for games.”

“She was not. I can hear a clamor outside ever since you got back. What’s wrong?”

“I’ll get to that in a moment. First, I want you to know we found the egg downstream. It was empty.”

“Fuck!” the Justicar snapped as she bashed her fist into a nearby table, shattering it.

“What’s so special about this egg in particular? Didn’t the eggs just create more drones?” Owen asked.

“Not this egg, Goddess Perithia sent an Oracle, a warning. This egg, along with others held by the escapees, are special. Rather than a drone, they can create a new queen. This could be the start of a new hive.”

“We will need to set back out first thing in the morning and find whatever creature the queen crawled into before it’s too late.”

“We can’t, we leave at first light tomorrow,” Owen’s father spoke up.

The Justicar stood up and shouted. “Did you not hear a word I said? There is a newly hatched queen on the loose!”

“I did, but finding the empty egg isn’t the only thing that occurred today. One of my scouts ran into a monster, Old Gray.”

“Old Gray? I’m not familiar with that name. But what does that even matter? We were already prepared to encounter monsters.”

His father shook his head, “Old Gray isn’t any old monster. He is ancient; rumors are that he has been around since the descent. I don’t mean to disparage your strength, but even in top form, I doubt you would be a match for the beast. Injured as you are now, you wouldn’t last a minute.

Our only saving grace is that the old monster has given us the courtesy of a warning. A warning to leave now that his pack has moved into this part of the forest.”

“Damnit,” Lysandra cursed as she gritted her teeth.

“What’s worse is why they moved here despite hundreds of years spent living closer to the Scalebacks. The dead, an army of undead, drove them out.”

Lysandra fell backwards onto her cot and, in a whisper, “Goddess have mercy.”