Awaiting the King (NPC)

[Enel]

Shaiapouf covered his eyes with one hand, fingers wilted dramatically over his delicate features. “This is wrong,” breathed the noble chimera ant, voice drenched with despair. “All wrong.”

He sat in front of a public terminal in Coruscant, hunched forward so that the fringe of his mop-top blond hair covered his teary eyes, his long legs bent and resting upon the metal bars of the stool upon which he sat. With his dramatic posture and the dreamlike pastel colour of his wings, which were flared out behind him, one could have mistaken him for the subject of a painting. Certainly, many watched from afar as they passed through the brightly-lit streets of Tier One, but none stopped to inquire. None save a single police-division stormtrooper.

Weggs had been keeping an eye on the new reports from the Nexus, and recognised the Prime as one such who had been escorted by the gate-troopers to their shining city of Coruscant. Weggs was always wary of Primes, especially new ones, but this one didn’t seem to be dangerous. If anything, he looked like he needed a little help.

“Excuse me, sir,” he started. “I couldn’t help but notice you seem a little … distraught. Might I be of assistance?”

Shaiapouf didn’t react at first. He took a breath before holding a hand up, his palm as a barrier between him and the unwanted visitor. “You wouldn’t hope to understand, human.”

Weggs smiled, and although his face was hidden beneath his helmet, he hoped it carried through his voice. “I know it can be overwhelming.” His eyes glanced to the screen. “Are you looking for something? Or … someone?”

Tears actually dripped from the eyes of the chimera ant, seeming to twinkle on their descent to the white plasteel flooring. Shaiapouf drew a slender digit away from his eyes, revealing their downcast trajectory. “My King … is not here.”

“Your King …” Weggs repeated. “I see.” He took an educated guess. “You were a royal guard? A vassal, in your own world?”

Shaiapouf continued to drip. “I served the only King there ever was. King of the Chimera Ants …”

“I see.” Weggs maintained his stoic but upbeat professionalism. “Well, there’s good news. As a Prime, you should be able to summon him.”

Shaiapouf’s face rose from his hands, one eye widening. “Summon … him?”

“That’s right. As a Prime, you can …”

Weggs stopped. It was as though a crushing pressure was bearing down on him. He saw the thing before him for what it was – no human, not even human-like, despite the appearance. Beneath the veil of elegance and vulnerability was a monster. A true monster, like the kind he’d heard stories about. Demons, hellish animals that spoke the words of men.

He wanted to run, but his legs wouldn’t move. A trail of piss ran down the inside of his suit.

Shaiapouf’s beautiful face was twisted in rage. “You suggest that I … a royal guard, summon the King of Ants as a …” he spat the next word, “Secondary?”

Weggs fumbled his words. “I, I-”

Shaiapouf drew himself up to his full height, and Weggs could see that he was nearly seven feet tall. Shaiapouf threw his hand forward, and the fear in Weggs’s chest reached a crescendo. His world seemed to freeze in place as he anticipated the killing blow. This would be it. He’d been so foolish, so reckless, and now …

He winced, but the blow never came. The crushing force he’d expected. Instead, a cool wind. He felt … good. Content. At home. He had a purpose.

But how foolish he had been! To suggest that the King of Ants could ever be summoned by a mere Prime, and not Omni himself. Foolish beyond measure, and impudent. He shook his head. “Shaiapouf, I am sorry.”

“You are,” replied the ant. “And you know what your purpose is now, don’t you?”

“Yes,” muttered the secondary feverishly. “I will repent. Serve the Royal Guard. Serve the Ant King.”

He looked up to see Shaiapouf’s smiling face. What a god. How lucky he had been, to encounter a vassal of the great and mighty Ant King! Before, he had been a mere soldier of the Empire, a worker drone for a faceless leader. Now he had true purpose. He was part of something greater. He would live and die for the king of ants.

“We must make preparations,” whispered Shaiapouf. “For when the King arrives.”

Weggs nodded eagerly. “For the Ant King,” he replied in hushed tones.

“For the Ant King.”

[Samus Aran]

Shaiapouf was not best pleased. Either he was the only Chimaera Ant to have been pulled into the Omniverse … or others had arrived too, but as per usual, they were pursuing their own selfish agendas.

Shaiapouf had his own ideas of how to proceed, but … was it blasphemy to speak them? To even think them aloud? The butterfly-man shuddered. It wasn’t his place to direct the order of the race, but … without the King here, what could be done? He had to take some agency, for the King’s own good. Otherwise he would arrive, and there would be nothing for him. What a tragedy that would be!

But how far was too far? The chimera ant bit his lip, hard. The King was the rightful ruler of the chimera ants. He would never dispute that. But even a king needed help. Needed advice sometimes … or a bit of pushing in the right direction. Perhaps he’d arrived in the Omniverse first for a reason.

The butterfly-ant spun. Of course! This was all such wonderful opportunity.

He knew what he had to do.

The King was only a young man. He had needs. He had vigor. It was no wonder that a young human girl had been the object of such fascination for him. She’d merely been in the right place at the right time. That … foolish harlot! She’d unknowingly been the wrench in the machine that had brought the entire ant kingdom down.

And he’d tried to kill her. Against the King’s wishes. Such impudence, such foolishness! When in truth, the answer was so simple.

He had to find someone better.

And the answer was right in front of him.

[Meruem]

Shaiapouf shivered, hugging himself. It had taken so long. So long. But he’d found her.

It hadn’t been easy. He’d had to gradually, grudgingly ingratiate himself with the Empire. It had been largely thankless work. In the absence of his King, Shaiapouf found the idea of working for anyone else … humiliating. Humans were foul, worthless parasites whose only claim to power was their apparent numerousness in this world, and the multiverses that supposedly existed.

Shaiapouf found himself resentful towards the one named Omni. Yes, it was true that he was the sole reason the chimera ant still lived. But why, why would such an allegedly wise and powerful being, not a human himself, choose to populate the world with such … common savages? And to reduce his own power to the same as they! It was as though the … Shaiapouf hesitated to use the word ‘god’ – it was as though Omni was mocking the pride of the ants.

When the King comes … thought Shaiapouf, We shall see how long this ‘Omni’ remains at the top of the food chain.

Her name was Sarah Kerrigan. On the Dataverse they called her ‘The Queen of Blades’.

She was beautiful by human standards. Beautiful by ant standards. Just beautiful. She reminded Shaiapouf of Zazan, a tall and intensely charismatic chimera ant who’d broken away from the colony after the King’s birth. Except Kerrigan was truly a queen, truly the pinnacle of her own species – the Zerg – in the same way Meruem was the pinnacle of the chimera ants.

Shaiapouf clasped his hands together as he imagined what their offspring might look like. He spent a minute in front of the computer screen, enraptured by thoughts of little Merrigans running around, killing humans, eating their flesh.

No! It was too much! Beaming, Shaiapouf pushed the computer screen away. He took a minute to collect himself.

Her last known whereabouts were Darkshire, in the undead-infested verse known as the Pale Moors. She’d been killed. This grated on the butterfly-ant …. but had not he been killed? Had not the King? Humans were devious, disgusting creatures whose supremacy was only the product of their foulness. The ants – the new ants – would have to be better. More cunning. More powerful. More willing to do what had to be done.

Shaiapouf closed his fist.

He loved the King. The ant would never reproduce, but he imagined that he loved Meruem like a parent loved their child. It burned him to think of the King in pain, and the desire – the need to elevate the King to his proper position in the world, as ruler of everything! That burned too. It was the fire that kept Shaiapouf going.

And yet … the King alone could not elevate the ants to their true place at the head of the world. This, Shaiapouf knew. It was the King’s very perfection that stood in his way. He was beautiful in his own right – full of pride, honour, and a moral compass. It brought a tear to Shaiapouf’s eye … and yet, he knew that such beauty was also the King’s weakness. The humans had no such beauty, no such honour. They would stoop low, and lower still. They would lie and cheat, steal and stab each other in the back.

The King could not lower himself to that level. It was not in his nature.

But Shaiapouf was no king. He was an ant, yes – but a mere grub, an insect, a nothing in comparison. He had to be the one to lower himself. To do the tasks that the King would not. To hold close to his chest knowledge that the King would balk at. To do whatever it took.

Kerrigan. Sarah Kerrigan was the key. And she was out there somewhere.

It was only a matter of time.