Beeeeep??!!

In the midst of the chilly nights of the Fog Islands, living up to its name, the fog permeated the city of Mongrel. Empty streets were the norm in Mongrel; no beggars or panhandlers were seen on such a cold night. However, one thing was certain: Beep wandered the streets, shivering with cold and hunger. As a Hiver, the citizens of Mongrel were tired of constant Fogman attacks and denied his existence. Being defective, he was marked as Hiveless, unable to seek refuge in the various Hives. Only his unwavering will kept him standing - a will so great and presumptuous that it led him to desire to become the best and strongest swordsman in the world. But how could a defective Hiver achieve such a goal? After all, willpower is not a weapon. However, what if it is? What if, perhaps, Beep's destiny is different? Maybe he could indeed become the strongest, but not in the cruel and desolate Kenshi. There is a place where people can turn their will into a weapon. A will so strong that it can extend its presence to incredible levels, even reaching into the future. A will so strong to keep on fighting that it empowers itself and others beyond the ordinary. A will so strong that, when awakened, even the world bends to its command - a will befitting a king. This place is ideal for someone like Beep, but how would he get there? Beep can barely make it to Mongrel alive; how would he leave the safety of the independent city to venture into such a strange place? It's simply impossible, forget it.

But this night was not normal. What everyone thought was just another cold dawn turned into a stormy dawn, with lightning, thunder, and an entirely abnormal rain. Never since the fall of the first empire had such a phenomenon occurred; it was complete pandemonium. It seemed like the entire Kenshi was trembling and roaring, with a long-dormant goddess now awakening. Strangely, no one died, no buildings were destroyed, nothing out of the ordinary happened, as if nothing had occurred. An event that would later be known as the "Wrath of Okran" left no physical evidence beyond visual testimonies. The Okranites preached the word of Okran with more fervor than ever, gaining more followers and strengthening the Holy Nation. With more power came the need for more lands, leading to invasions into foreign territories and consequently a war. A United Cities offensive against the Holy Nation blinded them to the threat of the Shek Kingdom, resulting in a two-front war against two of the largest factions, driving the sacred and unstable Phoenix to madness, ordering attacks on neutral territories, and plunging the world into a global war. Meanwhile, the Tech Hunters profited from all three sides and the threat of the Ashlands, completely apathetic, ignoring the ungrateful humans and their sub-races, while slowly gathering power, their army of skeletons growing every day.

Tens of thousands of deaths, destruction beyond anything witnessed before, widespread suffering, and in the midst of it all, no one noticed that a simple defective Hiveless had disappeared.

In another place, in another world, the same storm that occurred in Kenshi happened here, as quickly as it came, it vanished, leaving nothing behind. Where in Kenshi it was a storm felt across an entire continent, here it was just an ordinary storm, after all, this world is a super world many times larger than Kenshi, an oceanic paradise. The storm was mistaken for one of many faced by the sailors of this world.

On a desolate island, Beep finds himself, left by the storm, disoriented, lost, and hungry, at least he is not cold. "Beep," Beep says as he tries to understand what just happened, but his small brain does not have the capacity to reason his situation. Beep simply walks in search of something to satisfy his hunger. As a Hiver, there are few things that Beep cannot eat. Beep wanders aimlessly, the thought that he might be on a planet other than Kenshi does not cross his mind. Few thoughts cross his mind. Even as a Worker Drone, which means he is smarter than other castes of his race, he is defective and does not think much. At least, that's what he believes. We know that Beep's will surpasses even the barrier that separates dimensions; nothing is impossible for Beep.

As Beep continues to walk through the island, he begins to notice something. The nature around him seems more vivid, more vibrant, as if he is seeing colors for the first time. He can feel the wind on his skin in a way he has never felt before, the air so clean as it enters his lungs, and every sound he hears seems more intense than before. In desolate Kenshi, such things are rare, unique, or nonexistent; such biodiversity is not present in Kenshi.

Enthralled by this place, Beep almost loses sight of a small animal followed by several tiny clones - a mother and her offspring. Beep thinks these animals might make a good meal, but how will he catch them? He carries nothing but tattered cloth that he uses as pants, not even the simplest of toothpicks. It's impossible, forget it.

But as a Hiver, he is naturally talented in stealth. Crouching down and trying to appear smaller, Beep follows the creature and her young, always a few meters away so as not to be noticed. Beep thinks he has got the hang of stealth. Hours later, the creature finally reaches its nest - a hole dug by the mother on a hillside, large enough to fit her and all her offspring comfortably.

Beep waits a few more hours until the creatures are asleep to make his move. He grabs a large stick and bites the end, trying to make an improvised point. Slowly, Beep approaches. His feet - if they can be called that - are thin enough for Beep not to worry about stepping on something. Slowly, Beep is on top of the adult creature. With a strong thrust - as strong as the Hiver can manage - Beep pierces the creature's eye. The being doesn't even struggle, a quick and clean death.

Now, Beep finds himself with eight of the creature's offspring, quickly grabbing them so the creature doesn't scream with the jolt, waking its brothers and sisters. The offspring run away in fear as Beep bites the head of one, ripping it off in the process. As the body stops wriggling, Beep relishes the meat of the creature's offspring. It is incredibly tasty; none of the beings Beep has eaten in Kenshi compare to this. It is the best meat he has ever tasted. The Hiver deeply regrets letting the other offspring run away. Beep devours the offspring's body and, with his hunger satisfied, he feels drowsy.

Beep, even with the little time he wandered as a Hiveless in Kenshi, knows that death always attracts danger, be it from animals or people. Beep remembers his best friend, Agnu, who, before parting ways with the Hiveless, said, "GRAAR! AAAAR! AAAAAA!" - a two-meter-tall skeleton speaks with chilling conviction. "BEEEEP!" - a Hiver responds with even greater conviction. The two beings separate, with the skeleton going from one dry place to another, while the Hiver heads towards a foggy location.

"I must do as Agnu told me, I must hide my tracks and my prey," Beep thinks as he drags the creature into the cave. The entrance to the cave is not large, eighty centimeters in height and sixty centimeters in width, which means it can be closed. The Hiver takes branch after branch and starts closing the small entrance. Half an hour later, Beep, now protected from the outside, starts praising himself: "Yes, Beep is the smartest," the Hiver says while celebrating.

Upon closer examination of the cave, Beep realizes it is large enough for a person to stand and deep enough for two of himself to lie on the ground, which is exactly what he does. As he lies down, the Hiver thinks about this place and how he will find his friend Agnu now. Full of thoughts, Beep falls asleep beside his prey, unconcerned and ignorant of the pandemonium happening in his home, if Kenshi can be called a home.

While the Hiver sleeps, a figure just over 2 meters tall lurks among the trees near the cave where Beep is. The figure is muscular and imposing, yet at the same time ethereal, almost like an alien to this place, as if it shouldn't be there, with its semi-transparent body concealed in dark cloaks. It watches without moving, and every creature that approaches the cave has an immediate instinct to run. The stronger predators muster the courage to look around as if searching for the presence causing this effect, only to cower and run like the rest. On this night, nothing approaches the cave other than the figure. As the day begins to approach, the figure becomes increasingly translucent until it disappears completely.

Beep doesn't know how long he slept, but it seems like it was a long time. Removing his makeshift door made of branches, Beep looks up, and the sun in the center of the sky indicates it's noon. The Hiver slept for over 20 hours, enough for his hunger to subside to the point where Beep is now hungry. Crouching down and burying the remains in the cave, the hungry Hiver uses all his strength to tear off one of the creature's hind legs, chewing on the ham. Beep ventures into the wilderness once again, not knowing what to do in this foreign land. Beep must at least secure his basic needs: a place that is not dangerous to sleep, a place that is not dangerous to drink and eat, and a place that is not dangerous to defecate. These are the basic needs of the entire population in the cruel Kenshi, and Beep has one of them already.

In Agnu's teachings, there was nothing about these needs, as Agnu is a Skeleton, and Skeletons do not have these needs. However, Beep has heard many tips from veteran Kenshi explorers, so he knows the basics of how to set up a settlement. In the process of creating a place to defecate - in a hole he dug under a tree not far from the cave - Beep realizes that he doesn't have a water source, and digging a well would be too complicated. In fact, the Hiver has no detailed knowledge of the process of digging a well. This leaves him with few options.

Option 1: Beep buys water from the nearest trader, something momentarily impossible since Beep doesn't have any Cats with him, nor does he know the location of a local trader. Option 2: Beep finds a location that has water naturally, but for someone in Kenshi, this option is practically impossible. All water formations in Kenshi are accompanied by an ecosystem where almost everything wants to kill you or is completely non-potable. Beep can still recall the terrified faces of wanderers telling stories about their encounters with Blood Spiders.

Fearing the deadly fauna near natural water formations, Beep decides not to engage in a search for one. The Hiver then chooses the safer option: he decides to dig a well, even though he doesn't know the exact details of the process. "It can't be that difficult - just dig a very deep hole," Beep thinks to himself. What could go wrong?

Apparently, everything. Hours and hours of tireless work, and Beep has a hole that is apparently 3 meters deep and almost 2 meters wide, but still no sign of water. Beep is tired, hungry, thirsty, and urgently needs to defecate. Coming out of the well, the Hiver realizes it's almost night. He has been digging for over 10 hours; his hands are covered in dirt, and in fact, his whole body is dirty, something that can only be fixed with water. Beep would give anything for a few sips.

After finishing defecating, Beep returns to his cave and once again seals it with twigs, satisfying his hunger with the creature once more. The Hiver begins to sleep without worrying about anything other than his rest.

Night falls again in this strange land, predators go out hunting, and the figure appears once more. This time, not even the strongest of predators show up. Instead of staying in the trees, the figure starts walking, his gaze fixed on the entrance of the cave, like a predator stalking its prey. Suddenly, the figure loses balance and stumbles; one of his legs stepped into a hole. Looking down, the figure sees his boot covered in Hiver's feces. "What the hell, MOTHERFUCKER!!" - the figure exclaims. His voice is masculine and hoarse and carries experience. While swearing some more, the man tries to clean his boot by dragging it on the ground as he walks quickly towards the cave, paying attention to his dirty boot, he doesn't realize he's heading straight into Beep's improvised puddle.

Looking up at the sky while lying on the ground, the man, now with his face uncovered and dirt-streaked, reveals his old age, with gray hair and a white beard. Anger is all that appears on his aged face. " WHAT THE FUCK!!!" - he shouts, causing even the nearby birds to take flight.

Beep wakes up startled. "Beeeeep?!" - the Hiver exclaims as he gets up, grabs his makeshift weapon, and starts removing the cave's door. Stepping outside, Beep prepares himself to possibly run into the creature that made such a noise. Looking around, the Hiver doesn't see anything that could make such a sound. Until a voice speaks from behind him, sending shivers down his body.

"Noble traveler, I-" - the man starts, attempting to sound dignified and powerful, but the moment he speaks to the Hiver, Beep is already running as if there's no tomorrow. "Wait!!!" - the man pleads, but his plea falls on deaf ears. "Dammit!" - the man curses as he disappears. Was it pure speed, or did he possess some other power?

Appearing in front of Beep, startling him enough to lose his balance and fall. "Wait, traveler, do not be frightened. I only wish to offer help," the man speaks with an honest tone.

"Beep?" - The Hiver, still unconvinced, gets up and grabs his spear, prepared to fight the creature since running won't help. Beep will fight until the last second. Attempting a thrusting motion, trying to impale the being with his spear, only to have it stopped as the creature holds onto it. No matter how much force Beep puts into the spear, it doesn't budge. "What do I do now?" - Beep thinks as he gives up resistance. The being is stronger and faster than him. There's nothing to be done. In Kenshi, he'd either become food or a slave. Both options are unappealing to Beep, but he can't give up. Beep has an unshakable will. There's always something that can be done.