3 Chapter 3 - The Hive Is Born

'Who is this?'

Staring down at the reflection of what was supposed to be herself, she couldn't help but be stunned at the fact that— it wasn't herself.

Before she was no outstanding beauty or anything, she was just above average, yet she never looked anything like how she looked now.

Her shoulder-length black hair had now turned into pure white hair, the like snow that fell untainted onto the winter's floor, with its length growing to around her waist.

The fact that she didn't notice it before could only be attributed to how out of it she was.

She was so focused on moving quickly to find something she never bothered to look at herself, her body, so she never saw the hair.

But that wasn't all that changed.

Her face— which was ok before had suddenly changed into a face that looked like it was perfectly carved out to suit her.

Calling it above average would be an understatement.

She had a sharp jawline that gave her face an intimidating feeling to it— with a small nose that easily complimented her small head.

But what surprised her most about her face would be her eyes.

Her eyes were just normal brown before, but now it was bright crimson, like the blood that flowed from one's body. But that wasn't all— while a normal person's eyes would be white, with a colored pupil.

Her eyes were pitch black, with crimson orbs in them that gave the feeling of staring into an abyss that stared back.

She had quite an intimidating face that even she was startled by it at first— before realizing it was her.

All this compared with her milky white skin, whiter than anything she had seen before, gave her the feeling of not being normal.

Not being human.

If she wasn't human, if she wasn't normal, then what was she?

As that thought entered her mind she felt a headache like she had never felt before suddenly erupt in her mind.

It felt as if her head was trying to split itself open, yet she couldn't even focus on the pain because of the thoughts.

Thoughts, feelings, and an underlining instinct that would pass on through blood to the offspring of an animalistic life form.

It all suddenly came filling her mind and body as she came to understand who she was. No. What she was.

A Mimictarion.

An alien species that was unknown to most of the universe that went extinct a long time ago because of their own actions.

A species that was capable of creating entire hive minds that served them and only them.

The downfall of the species wasn't clear from the thoughts that came to her, she couldn't even tell how an egg of this species found itself on earth or how she was reborn in it, but she knew one thing.

This would be a lot of fun.

For the first time in a long time, it seemed like she had something that she could spend a lot of time on, trying to do what was engraved into her very blood now.

Grow, spread, take over.

Her very blood was screaming to her— telling her to become stronger— become the strongest.

Telling her to create a hive so wide that she would never fail.

Not like the ones of the past did.

And she had full intentions of heeding this call. She didn't care who got hurt along the way, or even how many died.

And while that may not sound like something someone that used to be human would say, she didn't feel any connections to humans anymore.

Maybe it was her blood— maybe she was always messed up, or something inside her just made her not care about any race that wasn't her own.

Everything else was just a stepping stone to growth.

That's not to say she had any intention of becoming a genocidal maniac and killing everything she saw with only her growth in mind.

That would not only be foolish, but it would also be counterproductive because other races had their usage other than just dying.

Look at humans, a race so weak yet so creative that they were able to make TVs, movies, anime, music, and other modern-day technology that would revolutionize how someone did things.

Not to mention what other races might be out there in the vast universe with their own useful technology that she can use to her advantage.

So she had no plans to kill them all, only use them.

That's when an idea came to mind, something else she could use right now.

A system.

She had seen many systems over the years from the hundreds of novels she had read, and she could tell for certain that the system she had wasn't quite like the system in the novels.

Firstly, she wasn't granted it like most of the systems were granted in the novels— this wasn't given to her by some higher being.

Hell, it wouldn't even exist without her.

This system was born from her mind and body.

It is passed on through the blood of her species— and it originally takes the form of whatever interface the user is most knowledgeable of.

Hers simply happened to be a system.

And the system existed solely to serve her— it didn't create something out of nothing, and it didn't do anything she couldn't already do.

It simply quantified and simplified her abilities so she wouldn't need to.

That was why the system was useful— it was a visible representation of her growth, and aided her in said growth.

So, without overthinking the system much, she called for it.

'System Activate.'