Oza

On Kuuris, no one was ever alone. The Sari lived in hive cities, bound together by the Hive Mind. They shared memories, felt one another's pain, and fell asleep among familiar minds. Biological circuits shimmered beneath their chitin plates, and thought passed from one to another faster than light through those patterns.

Oza's voice disturbed the shared rhythm. Her fear entered others' dreams; her anger made her neighbors flinch. She tried to hold herself back. The elders performed rituals of suppression that left Oza barely able to remember her own name. But as soon as she recovered, her voice returned—stronger than before.

They called it Broken Rhythm.

During the Great Joining, as thousands of minds closed around her, Oza felt the boundaries of her will dissolving. She tried to hold on to a single thought that belonged to her alone. The Hive demanded obedience.

Oza resisted.

The link ruptured. A wave of terror swept through the cities, passing from mind to mind. Dozens of Sari stood with their circuits dark: their bodies lived on, but no one answered from within. The catastrophe became known as the Silent Cry of Kuuris. Oza remembered the last thoughts of those she had destroyed.

They sealed her in a crystal cocoon and cast her into the void. The elders declared that the Hive had found peace at last.

For the first time, Oza was cut off from every other mind. She called, threatened, begged for an answer. Her shell cracked; the light beneath it faded. In time, she would have welcomed even the voices of her judges.

Then a thought appeared in the silence:

“I hear you.”

Oza reached for it with all the will she had left.

The cocoon split open above the stone of the Arena of Eternity. Others' fears, memories, and hatred flooded her mind. Amid them stood Wargul, examining his new Piece.

Now Oza is known as the Whisper of Chitin. She fights for the right to command her own will and searches for a weakness in the one who used her rescue to claim her. The other warriors' thoughts lie open to her. But behind Wargul's smile, she hears nothing.

Oza means to break that silence.