The Bee Dungeon

The Third Queen of the First Dynasty of the Fourth Spawner, the first of her line, hovered above fields of ash and lava. She was once a queen of the Flower Meadow, but she had since evolved into a burning queen in order to help the Third of the Sixth build an army for the Lava Field. Well, that was the original intent. The Third of the Sixth subsequently received the blessing of the Queen of All Fire and now surpassed her in fire-based capabilities. Likewise, the King imparting the knowledge of broodmothers to them meant the Third of the Sixth wouldn’t need assistance expanding the burning bees in the future.

The Third of the Fourth would fulfill her duty regardless. And for now, she was still necessary. The Third of the Sixth knew fire, but she knew battle. Today, they both would put that knowledge to use. The burning hives together had assembled enough soldier bees to confront a shade on their own, the King was allowing them to face the enemy first.

Their soldier and sprayer squads assembled in the air, bright red chitin reflecting the glow of the lava below and occasionally the sun peaking through the ash clouds above. The Third of the Sixth flew in their midst, while the Third of the Fourth hung back where she could see the battle as a whole. The Third of the Fourth had overall command today, but the Third of the Sixth was to participate and demonstrate what the Queen of All Fire’s blessing could do.

The enemy appeared, attempting to push back the King’s power and claim his realm as its own. The Third of the Sixth buzzed her wings, causing jets of fire to flare around her, but the Third of the Fourth didn’t react. Her children had faced this threat countless times before in the flower meadow, all that had changed today was the location. She danced to the Third of the Sixth’s communer waiting next to her.

“Remember plan, then begin.”

The Third of the Sixth danced a salute. Her flames flared up even more and leapt from her wings toward her soldiers all around her. The flames wrapped around and coated the soldiers…then leapt to the next soldier. The formation appeared to catch fire as the flames jumped from soldier to soldier. They stopped, however, when they reached the Third of the Fourth’s own children.

The two burning queens had already tested and accounted for this, however, so neither of them were surprised. And so, at the Third of the Fourth’s command, the Third of the Sixth’s soldiers took the lead and began their dives.

Fortunately, today they faced another turtle shade and not one of the ones immune to fire. But as the turtles were covered in spikes and immune to normal stings, the Third of the Fourth danced and the soldiers broke off their dive. There was a slight delay as the Third of the Sixth’s hive reorganized itself, but soon enough they had a squad of sprayers moving to attack.

The sprayers launched their burning venom…and the Third of the Sixth’s flames wrapped around them leapt onto the stream of toxins, lighting it ablaze. Cones of fire burst from the sprayers and engulfed the turtle. The shade screeched, it might be able to ignore toxins splashing on its shell, but the flames burned whether it hid its vulnerable parts or not.

The Third of the Fourth’s antennae twitched as she watched. The Third of the Sixth’s hive was still inexperienced and had much they could improve on…but their power was undeniable. Once they had mastered the ways of the Flower Meadow bees, they’d become a potent force for the hive of hives. At that point, the Third of the Fourth’s own contributions would dwindle as her hive lacked the Queen of All Fire’s power. It would be better for the Third of the Sixth to expand her own hive so that all the burning army could benefit from her blessing. But the Third of the Fourth couldn’t go back to the Flower Meadow, either, her bees and honey made her hive too hot for her to live in the Bee Barracks now. She was not certain what she was going to do.

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But that could wait. The Third of the Fourth watched as the Third of the Sixth zipped around in a happy dance, leaving a trail of flames highlighting her steps behind her. Today was indeed a great victory for the hive of hives and worth celebrating. Her own future in the hive of hives could wait.

The Third of the Fourth and Third of the Sixth made their way to the Flower Meadow and were greeted by the other queens. The Firstborn herself brushed their antennae.

“Good job, taught burning army well. Queen of All Fire’s power impressive.”

The Third of the Fourth danced a salute while the Third of the Sixth zipped about happily. Soon thereafter, the King himself arrived and smiled at them.

“Great job, you two. Thank you for protecting the Tower.”

The Third of the Fourth joined the Third of the Sixth’s happy dance at that.

When she had regained herself, the King had started the celebration. Trays of honey were laid out while the karnuq prepared their own food. The King, though, had mentioned that the bees should learn from that, so the Third of the Fourth paid more attention this time.

Curiously, the King himself was participating. Normally he focused on laying out honey trays, so he naturally drew all the bees’ attention. He and the karnuq set up a big metal stone with a hole on top over a fire, it appeared to be hollow on the inside. They then filled the stone with water and waited until steam and bubbles rose from it. At that point, the King and the dangerous one began dropping flowers into the water.

The Third of the Fourth had heard of this, apparently the dangerous one could make water do all sorts of things by putting flowers in it. But, as far as she was aware, that water was either used to heal wounded or hurt enemies. They didn’t have any wounded today and they had already defeated the enemies, so why was the dangerous one making special water now? And why was the King helping her?

Unless…maybe this was something different? The King had said he would bestow great gifts upon the bees tonight, a herbal infusion he had called it. Perhaps this was it?

The Third of the Fourth watched intently. The King waited for a few minutes, then he poured mana honey into the special water. With the karnuq’s help, he then removed the stone from the fire. He started dipping wooden containers into it, using them to pour the special water into shallow dishes. He then smiled and waved to her and the Third of the Sixth.

“Here, why don’t you two start tonight? This is a sleepy chamomile herbal infusion for you to drink, flavored with mana honey. I hope you like it! It might make you sleepy, so feel free to head back to your hives once you want to sleep. We had a meeting today already so we won’t have one after this.”

The Third of the Fourth and Third of the Sixth could not help but dance the King’s praises. They had merely done their duty, and yet he had offered them gifts such as these. The Third of the Fourth buzzed her wings in anticipation as she landed before one of the dishes and extended her proboscis.

The moment her tongue touched the special water, her mind went blank. The familiar taste of honey was there…but there was more, far more. The taste of nectar and pollen graced her tongue, the scent of flowers and leaves as well. It was an experience of flowers unlike she had ever had before. For a brief moment, she felt as if she were back in the Flower Meadow, looking over the wide and colorful fields swaying in the breeze as her hive and her fellow Barracks queens buzzed all around her. Warmth spread through her like the rays of the sun and heat of vibrating workers, along with the comforting mana of the King and his realm, connecting her to the Conduit and to every bee that worked for the King.

She returned to herself when the Conduit began to brush her antennae. She found the King looking at her with concern.

“Are you ok? Does it taste alright?”

She was still too dazed to dance, but she let her mana and her pheromones leak to the Conduit.

“Tastes…amazing. Incredible.”

The King smiled down upon her.

“I’m glad you enjoy it.”

Enjoy it…even the King’s words did not fully capture what she felt at that moment. She wasn’t sure if any dance she knew could. And, even as she pondered, something even more incredible happened. The mana spreading through her from the special water…stayed. It gently merged into her own and she froze. This…this was like when she had evolved with the burning honey. It was far more subtle and far less powerful…but it had changed her. It had made her stronger, if ever so slightly.

She looked down at the special water before her, this amazing, incredible experience made from fire, water, flower, and honey and just stared at it for a moment.

She decided that she needed to know more.