The Bee Dungeon

The Firstborn wanted to evolve? Belissar smiled and was about to agree when Niobee began to elaborate.

“Firstborn thinks need to fight to try evolve, can?”

Belissar frowned at that.

The Firstborn stood still on the ground. One of her soldiers buzzed in the air, swaying back and forth. She sent an encouraging dance to the soldier through her mana, as she had for each attempt beforehand. The soldier was still blaring concern through their mana connection, but true to her role her flight steadied as she took her position. The Firstborn withdrew her mana and focused it on her own body.

Mana flooded her chitin, reinforcing and strengthening it. The mana that couldn’t fit into the chitin itself spread out across the surface, forming additional layers of protection overtop. Once she was satisfied, she buzzed her wings to signal the soldier.

The soldier hesitated only a moment before beginning an attack dive on her own queen. The Firstborn watched with pride as the soldier held nothing back, diving at full speed as per her command. The Firstborn made no effort to dodge.

The soldier struck with her stinger. She pierced the layers of mana…and then came to a halt. Her stinger failed to penetrate the Firstborn’s chitin.

The moment the dive concluded the soldier spun around and began climbing over the Firstborn, poring over the sting site with both eyes and antennae. The Firstborn’s workers brought medicinal bees from the Second of the Sixth to check in more depth even as the soldier paced around them. The Firstborn brushed the soldier’s antennae.

“Good job, proud of. Is ok, not hurt.”

“No damage, not hurt.”

The same judgement as several tests prior. The Firstborn thanked them and then turned to her hive. All of them were swaying about in the air with antennae twitching and wings buzzing. She could feel their conflict. She could see some of them speed up for a second every now and then, wanting to praise her accomplishment as amazing and incredible. She could see the fear holding them back as they drifted towards her, barely stopping themselves from surrounding her in a protective ball. They knew what it meant that she had succeeded at this.

She felt as if she was being stung through the torso. She truly was putting her children through a lot. But she and they both knew that this was important, and so they held back their own fear. She would honor that bravery.

“Can stinger stronger, fly faster, survive more now. Almost ready to evolve with First of the Fifth’s honey, but need do more. Will ask King if can join fight tonight.”

Her hive collectively drooped in the air but slowly began to salute. The Firstborn sent word to the Conduit. Her instincts whispered to her and the First of the Fifth’s honey called her, it was nearly time. But she knew, deep down, that she was not finished. She could not attempt to evolve until she had proven that she could fight and defended the hive of hives with her own stinger.

The Conduit’s reply came quickly.

“King coming to see!”

The King soon arrived. The Firstborn could not help but droop a bit. She knew she was asking much, she knew it was the King’s desire that no queen come to harm ever again. And now she was asking to put herself in harm’s way, like the queens of the First Dynasty that came before her. Would the King permit such a thing?

The King stood before her, tall and strong as the trunk of a tree, with powerful limbs that had felled shades with their raw might. He did not smile at her today, his face was not pleased. She could not help but dread when he opened his mouth to speak.

“Can you show me your training?”

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The Firstborn’s dread eased and she saluted. She flew into the sky and danced with her soldiers. They took their positions with reluctance as she aimed down towards one of the metal slabs they used for practice.

She gathered her mana to her wings and dove down with the speed of a lancer. She spun around and activated the mana in her stinger, sending out her sting ahead of her to strike the slab. And all the while, her mana reinforced her chitin, blocking the stings of her soldiers as they counterattacked her after her dive.

She then presented herself to the King and awaited his judgement. Her dread returned at his displeased expression. He took a deep breath.

“This…is necessary for you to evolve?”

The Firstborn struggled to move under the weight of the King’s concern and displeasure. But she could not protect the hive of hives if she could not stand strong here. She knew what she, her hive, and her King would have to risk when she started on this path. She would not have bothered if she did not believe it necessary then. She could not falter if she thought it necessary now.

“Yes, do.”

She danced out her reply in firm steps and then awaited the King’s command. He took another deep breath, letting it out slowly as he closed his eyes. And then…slowly…he began to nod.

“Ok. You can join the daily purification. Just…be careful and stay safe, ok?”

The Firstborn nearly collapsed to the ground but steeled herself and danced a firm salute.

“Yes! Will! Will protect King and hive of hives!”

The Firstborn renewed her promises then and there. The King had chosen to believe in her, chose to risk a queen he had personally fought to protect on her request. Her children had done so as well, agreeing to risk their own queen mother in battle. She promised that she would not let them down.

The day wore on as the Firstborn continued to train until, finally, the time had come. The King gathered them for the daily invasion and the Firstborn took her place at the head of the army. For the sake of her test, the King had moved the Fairy Grove to the front of the Tower, since the Firstborn could not fight well in the Dirt Tunnels. She silently thanked him yet again, the King never failed to support them in their efforts. Now it was time for her part.

The invader’s mana struck at the King’s domain once again, coalescing and taking shape once it failed to break through. The Firstborn could not help but buzz louder when she saw the shapes forming. A group of the wolf-shades as the King called them, the very first invader ever to dare strike at the King. Reflections of the invader that had brought down the queens of the First Dynasty. The most fitting opponents for her to face today.

The Firstborn’s mana pulsed through the bees around her.

“Attack!”

And with that, she dove down. Her mana raged through her wings as she cut through the air, relying on the chromatic worker dancing on her back to navigate through the trees. She twisted about to adjust her path as she watched the sprayers and archers launch their attacks between the shades, forcing them to scatter away from each other. Once the shades lost sight of each other, the Fairy Grove itself would keep them isolated, while the rest of her army would drive them even further apart. Her target was now alone.

Mana flowed into her from her hive and the hive of hives beyond. Spots lit up on the shade like the petals of a flower ready for foraging as mana from the army’s assassins coated her eyes. She angled her dive towards one of them on the shade’s neck.

But the shade was no inert slab of metal. It snarled and snapped at the bees all around. It launched a breath of its deadly mist into her path and she was forced to turn hard to evade it. She managed to twist about, only to find the shade leaping to the side. For a brief moment she panicked. She was going to miss. She hadn’t ever attacked a true foe, one that was moving and attacking back. One doing everything in its power to kill her.

But while she hadn’t, her children had. Memories of countless dives against shades just like this one came to her. She had watched her children over and over as they braved the jaws of monsters such as these and came out on top. Once she had calmed herself…she realized she recognized the stance of the shade. She could see which way it intended to jump. She could see its tail coiling up for a counterattack. She could see it breathing in the way it did after a breath, indicating it could not use the breath attack just yet.

It was her first fight as a bee, but not as the queen. All of the experiences and feelings of her children flowed through her. She did not fight alone, and so she needed not fear this enemy.

Her mana burst out of her wings as she beat them the other way, slowing herself enough to adjust her course. And as she focused on the experiences of her soldiers, the excess mana leapt along her connection to them. The soldier squads escorting her began to beat their wings faster as mana gathered around them.

They sped forward and struck the shade. The monster roared and its tail lashed about…putting it in poor position to respond to the Firstborn once she had adjusted her aim. Her wings buzzed as she sped back up to top speed, thrusting her abdomen forward as her soldiers had countless times before.

A stinger coated in mana pierced right though the shade’s neck. It dropped to the ground with a yelp before it was beset upon by countless soldiers. It vanished before it could reply.

The Firstborn, knowing that archers and sprayers had already finished the other shades, stared at the mist fading into the air. Her wings fluttered lightly as her mana began to pulse within her, while her soldiers balled protectively around her.

She had done it. She had fought. She had personally protected the hive of hives. She had avenged the First Dynasty and struck down the enemy that had defeated them with her own stinger.

And as the mana pulses resonated within her, she knew. It was time to evolve.