With a heave, the Matriarch placed her four muscled arms behind her on the riverbank and shoved at the final pile of rocks with her feet. I marveled again at her size and strength. The water she was standing in would have had me swimming. With a sputter, the broken shell of the last remaining intake pipe let out a dull roar as the impellers inside of it came into contact with free-flowing water, pulling the life-giving fluid into its depth and whisking it away to the town.

"Kriesh adolo," she said. "That is to say," "a job well done," she finished her thought telepathically. 

I smirked. "You did most of the work, so that's kind of patting yourself on the back."

She looked at me with something that I almost thought might be amusement. She wade through the rushing water with ease and, with a fluid motion, leapt onto the bank, showering me with a great gout of water.

I nodded in resignation and blinked through the water running down my face. I scrunched my nose as my hair flowed over it, tickling. I deserved that. "Indeed, you did," Echo chuckled.

I titled my head, surveying the monster before me. My heart was still racing being this close to her, but she'd had ample opportunity to kill me if that's what she desired.

She eyed me with equal suspicion, which surprised me. We'd touched on a few subjects, but there was no way she understood the true depths of my abilities. Perhaps that was the reason for her suspicion.

As if she'd read my mind, she spoke again, this time silently. "You are an interesting individual. I still suspect that you're not telling me everything."

I sat, quiet for a moment, debating the merits of sharing what I could do with this creature. "Should we?" I asked Echo.

"Would it accomplish anything?"

It studied me a moment longer and then moved away, gazing at the other side of the river. "Are you aware of the term, 'Vishtal,' Echo?

As Echo thought "No," I shook my head in response and spoke the word aloud. It was perturbing, and I frowned. I was sure that Echo had not taken any control away from me, I didn't believe that it could, but still... I reacted naturally in response to its thoughts, like it was an extension of me. A part of me. I wasn't sure I was ready to think of it in that way.

"I am Vishtal," the Matriarch responded. "I have severed my own connection to the Hive. Do you understand the risk that entails?"

This time, Echo was understanding, and let out a small emote of horror. I didn't get it.

"What am I missing here?"

The Matriarch turned back to me, and this time something akin to sadness was on its face. "Vishtal is about the most insulting thing any hive member can call another of our race. To be Vishtal is to turn your back on your species. It is considered the ultimate defect, beyond even a Drayna. Any member of our species that is discovered to have committed this crime, this sin... Every single existing member of their gene line that came after them is stamped out, without warning."

Oh man. That was heavy. "So... Have you been discovered?"

"Thankfully, no. It pains me to think that so many hundreds of thousands might die because of my choice... But in the end, my ideals, my values, and the ideals of my mentor, matter so much more."

Hundreds of thousands. I staggered a little.

"I am very old," she remarked, seeing my reaction.

"Mentor?" Echo asked. I hadn't caught that, I was too focused on the "hundreds of thousands" comment.

She bared her teeth in what passed for a grin. "Yes, my mentor. Far older than even I. The Karagorn. He found me, in my despair and loss, and showed me the true path."

What? I was very confused at this point. So was Echo.

"What is a Karagorn?"

"Show me your power, Drayna, and I will share my wisdom," she replied cryptically.

"Well, what do we think," I said to Echo, then paused. There it was again. What do "we" think. I shook my head in disgust with myself, but Echo didn't seem to notice.

"She really could have just slaughtered us, I think," Echo replied. "If anything, it will make her think twice if she... Well, ever thinks twice."

I nodded. Its logic was sound. If she ever decided she'd made a bad decision here, knowing at least some of what we were capable of would give her pause.

"Very well," I said, and took a few paces back. I opened my mind and felt Echo slide into the nook it occupied when we underwent the change. I slowly slipped out of my shoes and removed an article of clothing with each pace. Finally, as I stood naked and vulnerable between the cavern wall and this queen of death, I released Echo from their chains.

The transformation began with a deafening roar that shook me to my core, a primal force surging through every inch of my body. It was an ancient call from the depths of the void, demanding an answer, and I could feel it in my bones, aching and throbbing with power.

But as the transformation took hold, pain tore through me like a thousand fiery needles, searing through my veins and muscles. My body convulsed and twisted, helpless under the grip of an alien force. Bones snapped and cracked, reshaping into a new form with each agonizing shift.

With a gut-wrenching snap, my legs contorted and rearranged themselves into a digitigrade form, forcing me onto my toes in a stance fit for a deadly predator. My feet stretched and split until I stood on seven razor-sharp claws that dug into the ground beneath me. Muscles bulged and multiplied at an unnatural rate, giving me strength beyond what any human could possess.

My skin ripped apart in gory bursts as my body expanded and morphed into its new shape. Blood sprayed across the ground, only to be instantaneously healed by the pulsating energy coursing through me.

A surge of electrifying power coursed through my veins, igniting a strength within me that was both exhilarating and petrifying. My muscles bulged with newfound mass, throbbing and pulsating as if yearning to be unleashed.

Without warning, my spine arched as what felt like molten metal erupted from it, searing through my skin and emerging as razor-sharp spikes that jutted out in a deadly row. All along my vertebrae, from the nape of my neck, all the way down, sprouted long, sinewy tendrils that writhed and twisted with their own consciousness, sensing every movement with an insatiable hunger for destruction. Just above my haunches, more erupted and twined together, melting and twisting together. I bent forward and readjusted my stance as my tail pounded the ground, thrashing about as I writhed in pain.

Backward-facing blades burst forth from the skin of my forearms, serrated and jagged like the teeth of a ferocious beast. They glimmered with a blue sheen under the dim light, oozing with my alien blood.

My hands contorted and shifted into an otherworldly form, elongating into seven clawed digits on each hand. Each digit was agile and powerful, tipped with a sharp and hardened claw that could rend flesh and steel alike without ease.

My head exploded in a searing burst of agony, bones snapping and reshaping. My features stretched and distorted, taking on an unearthly beauty that chilled me to the core. A serpent-like jaw unhinged from my face with a sickening crack, extending into a gaping maw lined with rows of razor-sharp teeth ready to tear apart any prey.

As I stood there, transformed into a creature beyond human comprehension, six eyes opened across my face, each one burning with newfound power. With these new senses, I saw the world in ways no human could imagine. In one, heat signatures bloomed: the Matriarch, hot and white and yellow, the ground beneath my feet dark blue and purple, the freezing river we stood upon, nearly black. In another, ultraviolet hues shone bright, faint hints of light sparkling in the igneous rock around us.

The pain was excruciating as my transformation completed, but it left behind a body honed for survival in this strange new world. I took a shuddering breath, feeling the immense power of the Visharath coursing through me. This monstrous form was proof of the symbiotic bond I shared with Echo; a fusion of two worlds that should have never met.

As I stood at my full height of nine feet, my body rippled with bulging muscles that pulsated with raw strength. My skin was a deep midnight blue, almost black, with swirling patterns etched across it like constellations in the night sky.

I could feel the terrifying power coursing through every fiber of my being, and it both exhilarated and horrified me. In this form, I was no longer Alec – I was something else entirely. Something beyond human, infused with unimaginable power.

My very existence was a weapon, a tool for destruction. I had become a harbinger of destruction.

This body disgusted me, yet I knew it was necessary for survival.

While she still stood over me, I did not have to tilt my head so much to look the Matriarch in the face. I spread my arms wide. "Now you know," I thought at her.

She smiled as she began backing away, and spread her four arms as well, returning my gesture. "What is the Karagorn... You shall find out. He will seek you." With an unnatural grace, she crouched and propelled herself across the river, flinging herself through the thirty feet of air with ease, landing on the opposite shore, still facing me. "Befriend the small animals of the night, warrior," she spoke in my mind. "Krakolm, aborket. Go in peace. And... You really could have helped with the rocks, you know."

I chuckled, a deep grating huff that escaped my jaws.

With that, she looked about, snagged her water barrels, and slipped into a tunnel in the wall which had previously escaped my attention, drawing a large boulder across the entrance behind her.

"Well, what now?" I asked Echo.

"Shall we hunt?"

I thought about it for a moment. "Yes. Let's hunt."