Polaris

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The sun was setting over the horizon as the night drew near. Polaris flew ever cautiously towards to edge of the Churnscar Wharf, seeking the dragon that invited her there. Looking around she eventually spotted a skydancer, sitting at the edge of an empty dock, looking out into the vast ocean.

Polaris landed behind the skydancer, curious yet nervous of what she was about to get herself into. The skydancer, hearing Polaris land, turned his head towards her.

"So you did decide to come."

"You were expecting me not to?"

"I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting, to be honest with you... Anyways I won't have you wait, you want proof right?"

"Yes, yes I do," she said as she took out the notebook that was sent to her, "This book is quite an interesting one if I'm being honest."

"Thank you, I suppose, though I feel that perhaps it would be better if it was more boring.. well, follow me and I'll show you.. proof, I suppose."

"Wait; I haven't gotten your name yet."

"It's Bittern," he said, then flew off towards the vast ocean of the Sea of a Thousand Currents. Polaris slipped the notebook back into her bag and quickly took off behind the skydancer, eager to see what he was about to show her.

After a while of flying, they made it over the Fishspine Reef. After scanning the area, Bittern suddenly plunged into the ocean towards the reef. Polaris, startled by the sudden and unexpected movement, simply starred into the water, trying to see what Bittern dove towards. The area of the Reef was no different to the rest, at least on the surface, and Polaris would soon lose sight of Bittern if she didn't follow. I should've sent Osmium, she briefly thought to herself, then held her breath and dove towards the Reef where Bittern went, following him into the depths of the ocean.

Looking around, she eventually spotted Bittern; He was swimming towards something within the coral, too hidden to see from where Polaris was at. As she got closer, she could see a hidden opening within the tangled coral, just big enough to act as an entrance. Bittern easily swam through the opening, though Polaris had some trouble squeezing through. Under all the coral, on the ground, was a large tunnel. Wherever this led to was, without doubt, supposed to be a secret. Perhaps this was Maelstrom's base? She somewhat hoped so, as there wasn't exactly an alternative she'd prefer.

The two dragons swam through the large tunnel for a while. Eventually they made it to an old, rusty, metal hatch on the ceiling. Bittern struggled to open the hatch, as it seemed stuck in place, but eventually succeeded, the hatch opening with a loud creak. Bittern went through, and Polaris followed suit.

The hatch opened up to a large cave with multiple tunnels dug into its side and floor. The cave was partially flooded, the water a dark, murky color. The bodies of dead dragons littered the floor of the cave and were all partially decayed; It seemed they died some time ago. Something odd about the dragons was the fact that they didn't really look like dragons. They all had bodies covered in spiny carapace instead of scales, most being black in color. Some of them had bodies heavily mutated to have extra limbs, extra heads, large spikes protruding out their bodies, abnormally large tails, and many more odd mutations. Polaris tried to say something, but the thoughts in her head weren't registering as words and she merely stared, mouth agape.

Soon after Bittern approached one of the bodies floating in the water. It was a fae, or at least it looked like one; like the others, it was covered in chitin rather than scales, but this was wasn't black, it was pink, like coral, and it's chitin seemed rough and rocky in texture. It also had an extra pair of arms, and odd coral-like growths protruding out its back, somewhat like the shardflank of a gaoler.

Bittern scorned at the dead creature, a look of disgust present on his face.

"These are drones. Though, I suppose that was already an obvious fact," he said, not looking away from the body, "This one in particular is a sentinel. They're mutated in such a way that lets them camouflage. Of course, they are limited to whatever environment they resemble most, but well for one, this does not make them any less dangerous, and I'm hives can make as many sentinels for as many environments there are."

Bittern turned his head towards the rest of the room, blankly staring at the long dead bodies of the drones.

"This hive... it got into a fight with another; or at least we think it did. But what else could do this..? I don't know why they fought.. perhaps they disagreed on something, perhaps they got in the way of each others' goals, or perhaps.. perhaps one of them grew a conscience.. either way, I don't think we'll ever find out. I supposed a favor was done for us, unintentionally of course, but one less hive in the world, and another weakened from a fight," The skydancer let out a sigh, "Without any magic to keep the water out the hive will, eventually, be completely submerged in water. Maelstrom has taken all we need from here, but if you want, you and your group can salvage some things I suppose."

Bittern turned his head towards another drone, its mangled body pinned to a wall by a large, dark blue spike, "I'm assuming that you want more than just a dead hive, you have questions, you want explanations, and you are skeptical, no?

Polaris, surprised by the sudden question, said, "I-I.. yes, yes I do; How do I trust you that the Hivemind is really as horrible as you and your group make it out to be?"

Bittern turned his head towards Polaris, a subtle but visible sadness present on his face.

"Because there are things that I've lost, and there are things that we - those of Maelstrom - have all lost to the Hivemind, and maybe one day you will lose something too."

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