The Bee Dungeon

Belissar was resting in his room after a long day of woodworking. Niobee flew inside. Belissar smiled and held his finger out for her. She landed on it.

“King, ok?”

Belissar turned thoughtful for a second, and then nodded with a smile.

“You know what? I am.”

He glanced out the window at the Apiary’s beehives. Eight had been converted to his beehouses, only one of the basket hives remained. He could still catch glimpses of the bees returning to their hives.

“Better even. All of this, Towers and gods and Hunger, was all confusing and scary at first. But now...I can’t say I hate it. Just me and you and the other bees, all working together. I hope we can keep doing this.”

Niobee began dancing rapidly.

“King best king, will always be king! Workers and queens will always help!”

Belissar chuckled and then grinned.

The next morning, Belissar awoke to pleasant weather, as every morning had been in the Tower. He stretched, ate a bit of mana honeycomb, smiling as the warmth of mana spread through his body. Once his fears of spontaneous combustion had faded, he realized he had been eating the honey all along with no ill effect. In fact, he had come to enjoy the mana honey, it was quite pleasant.

He then exited the house and began carrying some wood over to the last basket hive remaining in the Apiary, intending to assemble the beehouse right next to it. He had learned after having to drag the first one over, after all.

He was just bending down to pick up a piece of wood when something changed.

Ongoing purification limit reached. Minor purification required.

Minor purification attempt in 3 days...

Belissar slowly rose back to his feet, his spine going completely straight. Niobee flew over to him.

“King, ok?”

Belissar’s face turned grim.

“It’s time, Niobee. The Hunger is coming again.”

Niobee flew about unsteadily.

“King have orders?”

Belissar slowly nodded.

“Inform the queens. We need to prepare for battle.”

Belissar took a deep breath as Niobee saluted and flew off. The queens received his intent even as he asked Niobee to inform them, and he could already feel them stir. Now was the key moment. Now was when Belissar would find out how his decisions would play out, and if all his decisions had been correct.

Minor purification attempt in 2 days, 23 hours, and 58 minutes...

But there was no time for further pondering. The clock was ticking, and Belissar intended to do everything he could to put the odds in his favor. Every preparation he could make would reduce the casualties among his bees, so he would spare no effort here. He walked over to the side of the farmhouse where firewood lay in large stacks. He grabbed as much as he could carry and made his way towards the Flower Meadow.

He kept the two Pit Traps by the Apiary entrance stocked with wood and kindling, but, now that he knew an assault was incoming, he planned to prepare as many fire pits as he could, starting with the ones closest to the entrance. The Sticky Honey Traps would help with that, but adding firewood and kindling to the pits would increase the blaze further, after all.

He would also need to prepare campfire pits near the other Pit Traps so he could be ready to set them ablaze. And, now that he had woodcutting tools and a forest beyond the Tower, he could also try to prepare actual fences on the path from the first gate, hopefully try to drive the shade into the first Pit Trap.

But all his thoughts ceased when he stepped through the Apiary entrance and into the Flower Meadow. His eyes went wide at the sight before him.

The air thrummed with the buzzing of countless wings. The sky turned yellow and black as a sea of chitin spread out above. An army of monster bee soldiers hovered before him, led by a dozen large monster bee queens. The lead monster bee queen shook her body and the others followed suit. Every monster bee soldier then curled back and thrust their abdomen forward, displaying their dagger-like stingers. Belissar felt a slight breeze from over a hundred simultaneous thrusts.

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His jaw dropped open and no words came to him. It seemed the Flower Meadow queens had been quite busy. Niobee flew in front of him.

“King! Queens say they fight! Soldiers want fight!”

The queens and the soldiers then hovered in place, remaining still as their eyes fixed upon Belissar. With such a scene before him, he could only manage a silent nod.

The Firstborn of the Second Dynasty of the First Spawner watched from the entrance of her hive as she waited for enough mana to lay another soldier egg. Her army flew up in the air. The soldier bees broke off into squads of different sizes and took turns diving down towards one of their own, who hovered close to the ground but otherwise did all that they could to evade.

The target soldier then shook themselves and all the bees in the air scattered in different directions, before coalescing back together. The target soldier swapped out for another in the process and rejoined the attackers above as the diving practice resumed.

The Conduit had shared all that she could of the First Dynasty’s fall, and the Firstborn had shared as much with her soldiers. They now prepared the tactics the Third Queen of the First Dynasty of the First Spawner had discovered in her final moments. They did not attack all at once, but practiced a rotation of small squads that would prevent the invader from wiping them all out in one go. They practiced quick scattering and evasion to avoid the deadly breath attacks the Firstborn of the Second Dynasty had witnessed firsthand. They practiced hit and run attacks that would keep them out of the jaws of the enemy.

It went against their instincts somewhat, but even mundane bees adapted to their foes and monster bees were something more. Besides, their King did not wish to see them perish any more than necessary. The soldiers’ instinct for sacrifice would not take precedence over the King’s desire.

Something the Firstborn had spoken to her soldiers about until each one of them understood personally. The King had permitted them to fight. He had even permitted them to make the first attempt, after a discussion with the Conduit and the queens of the Flower Meadow. He would withhold his fire and his plans, focusing on the burning chasms towards the back of the Flower Meadow, and so give the soldiers a chance to engage the enemy. Only if they failed would the King step in to protect the hives.

And so, they would not fail. The Firstborn swore they would not fail. The destruction of the First Dynasty and the weakness of the Second would be repaid in full. She and the other queens of the Flower Meadow had worked solely to achieve this task. They had cut their workers to the bare minimum. They drank as much mana honey as they could, all seeking to grow as fast as possible. And once they had grown, they turned every bit of mana and honey they could to raise as many soldier bees as possible, all to assemble the army training before them. They had set aside their rivalry and pooled their efforts in order to avoid even the slightest bit of waste. The workers pushed themselves to the brink, producing as much honey as they possibly could, restricting their own meals and rest to the barest minimum. The queens held nothing in reserve, they emptied the honey storage as soon as it was filled and turned every bit of strength they had to lay even one more soldier egg. If the cold of winter were to come, they would all perish.

And even with all that effort and sacrifice, they had barely assembled enough soldiers for a single battle. That was why the soldiers now drilled relentlessly and were told in no uncertain terms that sacrifice was the absolute last resort. Each one of them was precious, each one of them necessary if they were to achieve victory. For the fight to come, they would not have the reserves to replenish their numbers. They would not only need to fight, they would need to survive if they were to succeed. Even minimum casualties could be enough to tip the scales.

But such was the will of the bees to protect the hive, and right the wrongs of the First and Second Invasions. Not a worker complained about the strict rationing. Not a soldier complained about the endless drills. Not a queen complained as their abdomens burned and their mana drained to the bottom over and over.

This was why they could not be permitted to fail, now that the King had given them his trust. And yet...the Firstborn was worried. The hives of the Flower Meadow were all on the brink. Despite the best efforts of the workers, honey production was beginning to dip. The existing workers were at their physical limits, there was no spare honey to help them recover, and with the queens cutting worker egg numbers there were no reserves to relieve them. Try as they might, the queens would have to stop laying soldier eggs, or else their hives would collapse. But that...might be unavoidable as well. The queens had not saved any of their own mana and the honey stores were empty. The queens would hardly have the strength to lay new worker eggs at this point.

But then, the Firstborn heard the buzzing.

She turned and faced the entrance to the Apiary, and her antenna shot straight up. Waves upon waves of worker bees flew from the Apiary, carrying with them glistening drops of honey. They broke apart into separate formations and each made their way to one of the hives, including the Firstborn’s own. The Firstborn’s tired workers pulled themselves from their rest and moved to block the entrance to their hive, but the Firstborn waved them down. The worker bee leading the formation landed by the Firstborn and the two touched antenna, speaking to one another.

“Conduit says all help King.”

The Firstborn acknowledged this in a daze, stepping away from the entrance to her hive. Every instinct told her to retaliate as the bees of another hive flew into hers, yet she did not. And her shock only grew as the worker bees of the Apiary deposited their honey into the storage cells, before exiting the hive and flying back towards the Apiary. An endless stream of them seemed to arrive, filling her entire storage in mere minutes. She could not help but gape at the sheer abundance of honey the Apiary bees had brought. They now gave away more honey than her entire worker force could produce. She had to wonder if the Apiary hives had stripped themselves bare to achieve such a thing...but it did not seem so. Even as she gaped, more and more Apiary bees arrived, buzzing around the entrance since there were no cells left to fill.

The Firstborn shook herself and got to work. She rushed over to the nearest cell and drank deeply of the honey, refilling her mana up to full. She flew over to the nearest soldier cell and laid more eggs as quickly as she could. Her workers sipped on enough honey to get moving, and then began to expand the hive, creating more cells for the Apiary bees to fill.

She realized the truth. The bees of the Tower were not rival hives. They were all one, a colony of many. They were all the brood of the King. And together, they would win this fight and earn his trust.

So, all the bees devoted themselves to their work. There was much to do, and only a short time to do it.

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