Author Note: This story does not take place in the Starcraft Universe. The following trilogy is in no way meant to be a part of Starcraft canon. It is meant to be a standalone story only. As such, some artistic license had been assumed where the Zerg specie is concerned.

Chapter 1: Awakening

He felt only pain.

It was as though the inside of his skull was on fire. A storm of fragmented memories swirled around in his head.

He heard voices.

"Momma, big brother is moving," the voice of a young girl said.

He recognized the voice. Dawn, his sister. No, he was an only child, he didn't have a sister. No, he had a sister; she was four years old.

His eyes opened. He was lying on a tatter patch of hide. His clothes seemed to be made of the same material. Above him was the rock ceiling of a cavern. All of it was both familiar and strange. He felt a warm hand on his forehead.

"Night," a woman voice said. "How do you feel?"

He looked over to see woman with long black hair. She looked to be in her forties but he knew she was only in her mid thirties. Her beauty was marred by crowfeet on the corners of her eyes and a weariness that was beyond her age.

He knew her, at least part of him did.

Her name was Gemma and she was his mother. She had been raising him and Dawn for three years, after their father had abandoned them. At the same time, there was a fragmented memory of another robust woman called Sarah. She was also his mother. There were also memories of a tall, lanky man called Ethan. The man was his father.

Confusion caused his temple to throb in pain. How could he have two sets of parents?

"What happened?" he muttered, it was a question directed at the ether.

"Lightning!" Dawn's voice answered him.

He looked over to the raven haired little girl, trying to clearly see her feature through the pain.

"You were hit by a bolt of lightning," Gemma explained.

Yes, he remembered that. A flash of light from the sky, and then darkness.

In a moment, the storm of images in his head consolidated into cohesive memories. Instead of clearing his head, he was even more confused.

There were two distinctive sets of memories in his head.

One was of a person called Nathan Peter, the only son of a middle-class family from Cleveland, Ohio. Nathan lived on a peaceful planet called Earth. Earth was a planet of technologies. The humans there had successfully taken to the sky and were on the verge of exploring the stars.

One set of memories belong to a person called Night Tasana. Night lived on a world called Luminous. Luminous was a world whose technological progress was equal to that of Earth in the Middle Age.

The only memory that both Nathan and Night shared was the bolt of lightning. Both of them had been hit by lightning and lost consciousness. The next memories was Night/Nathan's awakening.

He didn't know which set of memories was real. He knew that he was on Luminous. This little cave was the home Night shared with his mother and sister. And yet, Nathan's memories seemed just as real. Sarah was as much his mother as Gemma was.

"How do you feel?" Gemma asked.

"My head hurts," Night answered, "and I'm a little hungry."

Gemma's expression softened. "I'll go find you some food." She stood up and turned to Dawn. "Stay with your brother."

"Ok, momma," the little girl said.

With that, Gemma left the cave.

A wave of worry gripped him. His mother was going hunting. According to Night's memories, humans did not rule this world. This world was populated by countless species of mystical and violent beasts called Hellites. Hellites were far stronger and faster than normal humans, and they greatly outnumbered the human race—no one knows by how much. To make matters worse, level three Hellites and up all possessed supernatural abilities.

Because of the threats of Hellites, large scale farmlands were near impossible to maintain and, consequently, large-scale raising of domesticated animals for food was impractical. Humans' main source of food was hunting Hellites, an extremely dangerous endeavor under the best circumstances.

The humans of this world only hope of survival was two types of energy. One was Magic, a force similar that written in the fantasy novels of earth, the other was Force, a type of energy that could enhance humans' physicals body to match Hellites. However, only one out of every four human could utilize Force and only one out of twenty could use Magic.

Force Users and Magic Users along with Hellites were divided into ten levels. Gemma was a level one Force User. If she encountered a level two Hellite, then her only recourse was to flee. If she encountered a level three Hellite, then it would take a miracle for her to survive. For her, a hunting trip was a dance with death.

Guilt consumed him. He shouldn't have said anything. He would never be able to live with himself if a little hunger caused Gemma her life.

It was too late, however. Gemma was already gone and he could wield neither Magic nor Force. His hands clenched into fists.

"Do you want power?" A voice echoed in his head.

Night bolted upright, starling Dawn.

"Big brother?" the little girl said.

"Did you hear that?" he asked him.

Dawn shook her head, worry and fear filled her eyes.

Night felt an ache in his heart. Dawn was only four. She shouldn't have that look in her eyes.

"Do you want power?" the voice asked again.

The voice seemed to resonate deep in his very soul. It sounded like an echo from the deepest depth of the stars. Night felt a touch of fear. He could feel the power in the voice. He knew that the owner of the voice could crush him from the face of this world with a thought.

At the same time, Night knew that the voice could give him power. He gritted his teeth.

"Yes!" he said.

"For what reason do you want power?"

"To protect my mother and my sister. To give them the life they deserve."

The tone changed and the voice laughed. "Good answer, kid."

Something inside him broke and a wave of heat surged to every corner of his body. He felt as though he was being burn alive. He heard screaming and it took a moment for him to realize that he was the one who was screaming.

The pain came and went within ten seconds but for him, it was a lifetime of agony. When he came to, he found that he had rolled off the piece of hide. His head was in the dirt floor of the cave. Dawn was crying, clinging onto the sleeve of his shirt.

"It's ok," he said, pulling her into his chest, soothing her. She felt so thin. He wondered when was the last time she had a good meal. For that matter, he couldn't remember the last decent meal they had had from Night's memories.

Holding his little sister, Night searched his mind. Beside the two set of memories, there was a few lines of new information in his head.

Collective Evolutionary Stage: 0

Overmind's Bio Energy: 100/100

Collective Stored Bio Energy: 0

Requirement to Evolve Collective: Hatchery

He felt hot. His blood was boiling. He felt a compulsion. He was alone. He should not be alone. There need to be more.

Strange thoughts swirled around in his head. Unable to resist the thoughts, he got up and headed for the entrance of the cave. As soon as he took a step, he felt someone tugging at his sleeve. He looked down to see Dawn pulling at him.

"Don't," she said. "We're not supposed to go outside when momma is not here."

He smiled and patted her head. "It's ok," he said. "It's all going to be ok."

It was getting harder to concentrate but that didn't matter. He needed to evolve. He needed the Collective. He needed to birth the swarm.