Perhaps some of the others had noticed a conspicuous absence of a certain shadow on the sands.

or the heavy hissed breathing - or the sudden close scrutiny of an alien mind.

if they had perhaps they wondered where he was or where he had gone - or maybe they were relieved that the beast may have wandered away or died in the last raid.

sadly for those that wished that, it was untrue.

no just days before they were ready to move deeper into a new territory, the creature had seemingly vanished - the last sighting was him entering the pyramid - the very same he'd been born in.

and then no one saw him since.

but he wasn't dead or gone, oh no.

deep in the bowels of the pyramid  in those ancient untouched areas that had housed his egg and its nefarious contents - that were lavished with old decorating symbols of a time long ago - hunters, humans, sacrifices and dark serpents - here did he return only to traverse further down into that abyss where the walls became coated in a metallic-sheened substance, raised and murky, spiralling and twisted in a million different patterns - that time could not tarnish.

here did the mottled form of the once smooth-black carapace lay his head down - carving out a niche and slowly succumbing to slumber as the darkness grew and covered his small form, having eaten vermuch to provide the energy for what was to come.

days passed in this time - with the beast missing above ground but cocooned and hidden away deep below the ever shifting sands.

here in this cradle of shadows, a creature of void-promise grew - that juvenile malevolence taking a full form for its final stage

for hive, for queen

spine's trailed an elegant black carapiece - spikes shifting along shoulder blades where tubing outcrops morphed into sharper points and claws grew longer - a tail lengthening with it's bladed end sharp as ever.

just before the end days when the others would begin packing for the journey - a crack formed in that thinning shell, straight down the center of that eyeless cranium.

a guttural growl followed and the slick sound of fluid released, shredding noises of claws tearing through membrane and residue-

the sudden earth shaking thump when all four feet landed on the damp darkness of this twisted underworld below the dunes.

heavy, thrumming breaths as this newly moulted beast - this perfect alien darkness - hefted up an elegant crown of jagged spikes and silver teeth gleaming with spittle split open as a deep and resonating roar echoed through the void below.

Blacktide was Reborn.

© MADI

they were lucky Blacktide wasn't a mindless feral - he had his intelligence, alien as it was to all who would look through his viewpoint.

half-jaw and green-drone - when that massive regal cranium turned to them with a far more guttural rumble than his once lighter hiss revealing larger sharper teeth held in a grimacing smile it might've spooked them further but the beast had only greeted what he now knew to view as strange-hive.

the small taint of fear on the air from half-jaw caused curiosity but was banished, for strange-hivemates were not prey and blacktide could not blame them for their deaf senses - blind as they were and deaf to any true hive web, they were still of hive - and useful.

so when all 8 feet moved like the sinuously held together shadows of a far darker threat and fairly loom over them where once he had been of a height or slightly larger - only a guttural purr of greeting followed, small rivulets of drool visible between teeth.

a chuff of breath that possibly ruffled their not-carapace fur and a confirming trill to green-drone - tinged with question,

he was rather ravenous after emerging from the darkness inlaid cocoon, such processes always brought hunger.

© MADI