The entirety of Eukaryota consisted of only ten great colonies. Ten wills ruling billions of bodies. Ten purposes driving the world. The needs of ten wills—no matter how great—would never be larger than the desires of billions of individuals, each pursuing their own goals.
When free will was reborn, the old equilibrium collapsed. Wars that previously only occurred between colonies now turned into endless conflicts. Struggles for territory, resources, and power became rampant across every corner of the world.
Ironically, the Matriarchs who once held absolute control were now no longer able to command their subordinates. The psychic bond that was once so formidable had weakened from generation to generation. The queens, who previously only needed to dictate, were now forced to learn something they had never needed before: Leadership.
They had to learn to negotiate, to persuade, and to balance the interests of various factions within their kingdoms. If they failed… there was always another queen candidate ready to replace them.
Consequently, a world once ruled by a single will was now plagued by incessant power struggles. Eukaryota, slowly but surely, began to lose its equilibrium. Ceaseless wars and increasingly ravenous resource consumption caused the planet to change rapidly. Ancient mushroom forests began to wither. Fertile lands transformed into cracked chitin barrens. The oceans began to lose the life that was once so abundant. The planet that was once so rich was slowly turning yellow—like a body losing its blood drop by drop.
The thinkers and sages saw the signs long before anyone else noticed. They wrote warnings. They delivered speeches in the cities. They tried to explain that their world was heading toward destruction. But who could restrain the greed of billions of individuals, each thinking only of their own interests?
When one kingdom tried to exercise restraint, another would seize the opportunity. When one nation economized, another would consume even more resources to strengthen itself.
Gradually, the thinkers began to realize a bitter truth. Stopping the war might be impossible. Restraining the greed of their civilization might be even more so. Because of that, they began to contemplate another path. An idea that initially sounded far more preposterous than simply stopping the war or saving resources. A plan that did not attempt to save their world… but rather to abandon it.
Project Genesis.
At first, this notion sounded like madness. Yet the longer the thinkers studied it, the clearer it became that the idea might be the only path left for the Arachnoax species.
The foundation of Project Genesis stemmed from a fact long known by the Matriarchs: the Realm of Thought was not a dimension exclusive to Eukaryota. It was a universal dimension connected to every sentient being in the universe. Every mind capable of forming consciousness would leave its mark there—a mental echo that transcended the boundaries of space and time.
Up until now, the Matriarchs had only used the Realm of Thought to create their own offspring. But the thinkers began to ask something much larger. If the Arachnoax mind could reach the Realm of Thought… then perhaps the minds of other beings in the universe could also be reached from there.
From that hypothesis, Project Genesis was born. The plan required something that had never been done before: The ten Matriarchs had to work together.
By combining their psychic powers, the Matriarchs would open a path much deeper into the Realm of Thought—not merely opening a small crack as they did when hatching eggs, but creating a permanent gateway. This gate would function as a consciousness HUB, a meeting point that allowed the Arachnoax mind to reach the echoes of consciousness of other beings throughout the universe. Once that path was open, the second stage of the project would begin.
The search teams—specially trained psychic explorers—would enter the Realm of Thought and navigate the countless currents of consciousness within it. They would look for mental echoes strong enough, stable enough, and complex enough to indicate the existence of a sentient civilization.
Once a world was discovered, the Matriarchs would use those mental coordinates to anchor a path between the two realities. From there, the Arachnoax would perform something unprecedented in the history of their species: An interdimensional invasion.
A physical gate would be opened using the combined psychic energy of the Matriarchs, connecting two planets separated by cosmic distances impossible to reach by conventional means. An Arachnoax colony would then be sent through the gate. The new planet would become a field of expansion for their species.
For the designers of this project, the goal was simple. By opening new worlds to conquer, the gluttony and warlike instincts that had become part of the Arachnoax nature would no longer have to be vented upon Eukaryota. War could be moved elsewhere. Greed could be directed toward new resources. Expansion could be carried out without destroying their own home world.
Eukaryota would no longer have to be an eternal battlefield for its children. Instead, the planet would become the mother hive, the birthplace of an Arachnoax civilization that would continue to thrive across other worlds.
To some, Project Genesis was the path to the survival of their species. To others… it was merely a much grander way to continue the same war. A war that was no longer limited to a single planet, but to the entire universe.
But of course, at this moment, all of it was still an impossibility. Not because they lacked the resources to execute it—the kingdoms of Eukaryota still possessed enough power, enough technology, and enough knowledge to try. The problem was far simpler and far more difficult.
No one dared to start it.
The risk was too great. To combine the psychic powers of all the Matriarchs meant making those ten queens open their minds to one another. No secrets could be hidden. No deceptions could be covered. All their ambitions, hatreds, and fears would be clearly visible to each other. They would have to trust one another completely.
If such a thing could happen, the question that arose would be far more painful: Why had they been fighting all this time?
The war that had persisted since before the Arachnoax were even able to write their own history could not simply be stopped.
Moreover, Project Genesis required cooperation from numerous parties—nobles, thinkers, militarists, and the Matriarchs—who had all grown accustomed to considering only their own interests. Perhaps if the project could be guaranteed a hundred percent success, many would be tempted to join. Unfortunately, no one was capable of providing such certainty.
Space was too vast. No one knew if there truly were other sentient beings out there… or only an endless void.
Kristo was one of the few who supported the project wholeheartedly. Yet even he, after seeing the sheer magnitude of the obstacles they had to face, nearly gave up.
Until one day… that man appeared.