The Swarm Novels & Stories

Lucien barked as he placed me down, his voice booming over the chaos. Pedro looked up, his expression grim. "Boss, it's terrible. The secondary perimeter sensors miles out on the highway just went offline—the horde literally stomped the ground units to pieces as they ran over them. The physical motion-tracking sensors, camera rigs, and seismic monitoring equipment installed at ground level along the outer perimeter are no longer responsive. We have a swarm heading straight for us—estimated count is at least fifteen thousand." Gasps echoed from the junior commanders nearby. I stepped closer to the display, my eyes widening as I took in the sheer size of the crimson wave on the map.

“They go out alone into the city and find a food source and come back and communicate it through movement. That’s. The solitary part before the return. I think about that.” He looked at the hive entrance. “I think about the collective part,” he said. “The way the decision to swarm isn’t made by any individual. It just. Becomes the decision.” “How does that work?” He explained it. The waggle dance, the quorum sensing, the way individual scouts advocated for sites until enough agreement accumulated and the swarm moved as one body. She listened with her knees pulled up and the notebook open in her lap and the August sun hitting the back of her neck.

The sound that followed wasn’t thunder, it was mechanical, resonant, alive. Ava covered her ears and screamed as the air vibrated. Liam grabbed her and pulled her close, shielding her as the light pulsed again. The beam expanded, and within it, shapes began to move thousands of small drones rising from the depths, their sleek metallic forms glinting like shards of glass. The swarm spread out across the sky, rearranging in perfect synchronization. Within seconds, they formed a massive symbol of Victoria's insignia, a serpent coiled around a circuit. Ava gasped. “She’s marking the sky.”

​The Arrival of the Swarm ​And then, the sky went black. ​It wasn't nightfall. It was the Swarm. ​Millions of silver, needle-like drones began to pour through the upper atmosphere, blotting out the stars. They didn't fire weapons. They simply descended in a perfect, silent sphere around the violet dome. ​From the center of the Swarm, a single, massive broadcast hit the island—a frequency so high it made Kael’s ears bleed. ​"SUBMIT THE BIOMASS. THE ARCHIVE REQUIRES THE DATA. RESISTANCE IS AN INEFFICIENCY IN THE CALCULATION."

"She's the only one who can keep the world from destroying itself." As they ascended back to the surface, the Lumina Ring in the sky began to change again. The Swarm, left without their "Stellar Idol," had found a new way to worship. They weren't building monuments anymore. They were falling. Trillions of Swarm-units entered the atmosphere, but they weren't attacking. They were shedding their obsidian shells and becoming organic dust. "They're coming to join her," Axiom whispered. "The Swarm is moving in."

I also made an effort to listen to Madeline’s thoughts, putting myself in her shoes and trying to understand her perspective. Their lives began to improve, and they often shared stories about the friends they made at school. They became close companions as they learned from each other. Together, they succeeded in getting into prestigious universities. I watched them smile often and I quietly exhaled with relief. As I became more empathetic, I no longer blamed others for my suffering. Slowly, my business began to flourish. The soul swap was perhaps a gift from the heavens. It not only saved Madeline but also rescued me from becoming someone increasingly arrogant and self-centered.

She was with him the first time she came here, and now she was alone. However, she wasn’t sad or disappointed. Her body and soul were ruined beyond repair… She was still calm; Silje realized that if a person was in too much pain, it could make that person tranquil. It was a gloomy winter day and too early for the park to be crowded with people. Oddly enough though, the lake was swarming with white swans. Staring at them, Silje suddenly felt something. The white swans… “…” The whiteness of them reminded her of ashes, bringing back the devastation to her heart.

Lia wiped her hands on a towel and turned to me with a small smile. “Mind if I stay for a bit?” “Sure,” I said. Beside me, Gwen’s entire posture went rigid. Even with her head lowered, I could feel the anger rolling off her. Her jaw was tight. Her fingers curled into fists inside the sleeves of the hoodie. She was fuming. I leaned in just enough to whisper near her ear, my voice barely audible. “Stop it. Shut up.” She didn’t answer, but every time Lia glanced in her direction, Gwen immediately turned her face away, keeping the hood low. She was being careful. Smart enough to know that almost anyone in the kingdom would recognize the princess if they got a clear look at her.

"Just think warm thoughts, Benny! Think about a sauna! Think about a volcano! Think about your laptop overheating!" "That's not helping!" Above them, the sky was a swirling vortex of grey and white. But through the breaks in the snow, red lights flashed. Bzzt-bzzt-bzzt. The drone swarm. They were like a cloud of angry, mechanical mosquitoes hunting for a vein. "They're losing the thermal lock because of the storm," Jack gritted his teeth, his eyes scanning the whiteout. "But if we stop moving, the snow will bury us in ten minutes. Then they just scan for the bumps."

In a split second, countless insects filled the sky and surrounded the three Grand Elders without any seams. Swoosh... Bzz... The next moment, an endless swarm of insects rushed like a tide, covering the sky and obscuring everything.