The Bee Dungeon

The Fourth of the Seventh flew across the forest, coming to a rest on top of a large tree branch. Her workers and soldiers gathered around her, along with two communers. One of the communers was her own, but not the other. The other was squat, with thicker carapace, legs, and mandibles and a brown color to her hair, for she was from the digging hive.

And this was not their first time working together, either. Previously, the King had asked the Fourth of the Seventh to help map out the sigmaka’s territory. The digging queen raised a pair of communers, sending one with the karnuq as the newcomers escorted them through the tunnels below, while the other traveled with the Fourth of the Seventh. As a result, the Fourth of the Seventh and her scouts were able to follow along and figure out where the tunnels below matched up with the surface, at least up to where the sigmaka tunnels went underneath the Hunger. Her hive then marked out those borders, apparently scouting and foraging for nectar was fine, but building hives was forbidden in that area.

That made sense to her. Her instincts told her that nearby hives could try to rob her own, to which her bees would respond with violence. But apparently King and the sigmaka didn’t want to hurt each other, so it made sense to keep a bit of distance and avoid that sort of thing. Well, the hive of hives also didn’t do that to each other, but maybe newcomers living in the Beyond still did. She didn’t know but trusted that the King had it figured it out!

What she did know is that the King had asked her to scout out the surface above the sigmaka’s lands, which she was happy to do! So, she and her scout hive flew to the center of the area, then the scouts began to spread out in every direction while the Fourth of the Seventh coordinated via communer. She watched through dozens of eyes as they passed between trees and over bushes, taking note of any flowers or anything out of the ordinary.

So far, it was more of the same. The sigmaka area was on the southwestern side of the King’s Tower. The ruins she built her mini-hive, on the other hand, were located to the northwest, with the entrance to underground in between them both. From the initial flyover, the Fourth of the Seventh felt the mana concentration in the area was slightly lower than in the north side, and they had not identified any additional ruins. Her scouts found and sampled additional flowers, but none that they had not found elsewhere in the Beyond.

The digging communer helped point out where the tunnels below came close to the surface, and so where entrances might be constructed. The scouts marked out these areas as well, flying around them extensively to fix them in their memories. They found at least one tunnel, a small hole with signs that some sort of animal had gone in and out.

The Fourth of the Seventh beat her wings as she danced about. She wondered what sort of creature had arrived from underground. The hole seemed too small for a sigmaka or karnuq, and whoever had made it had clearly not stuck around. She assigned one of the scouts to remain nearby and keep an eye out for if they returned.

Additionally, this discovery meant that the Fourth of the Seventh would need to keep up the scouting patrols, not just here but all across the Beyond. Living things other than the karnuq and the bees were starting to arrive and discover the refuge the King had purified. Soon, the bees would not be alone out here. And the Fourth of the Seventh intended to know when they located new neighbors! Or predators to be stung. That was also possible, perhaps even likely. But that’d be fine, then the Fourth of the Seventh could try hunting like the karnuq apparently did!

As the day wore on, the scouts continued to make their way through the forest floor. At this point, some of them diverted up towards the canopy, scouting out the view from above, searching for flowers from the trees, and looking out to see if any flying creatures had located the purified area. Some of them approached the border with the Hunger, taking care not to stray too close. The Fourth of the Seventh watched through their eyes, having them stay to observe the enemy for a moment.

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It was a writhing mass of black mist with rainbow undertones, so densely packed that it became like a sea, held back by the invisible power of the King’s Tower. The border wasn’t clearly delineated, the Hunger constantly pushed and flowed into the purified zone, only to fade and disperse the further inside it got. And this motion was not limited to the border. The Fourth of the Seventh had one of her scouts fly high, even above the trees, to look out across the Hunger. It twisted and writhed, with waves moving across its surface and colliding into one another. Tendrils and wisps and columns all rose and fell from the surface up towards the sky, as if reaching for the lights above. Through the constant motion, the Fourth of the Seventh almost thought she could distinguish shapes at time. One wave almost seemed to hold the head of one of the invaders she had seen before it collided into another and dispersed. Sometimes the shifting colors of the Hunger seemed to form into red eyes for but a moment before they melted back into the black. And sometimes the tendrils and wisps rising into the air curled into what seemed like wings or legs or other such things.

She instinctively recoiled, even though she couldn’t keep her eyes off of it. She felt as if she was being watched by a predator, a monster sniffing about the walls of her hive, heedless to the threats of her guards. She could imagine the monsters that invaded her home forming out of the constant motion and charging across the Beyond. She buzzed her wings.

The hive of hives would not allow that to happen, the Fourth of the Seventh included. And to think there was an entire hive of King-like beings living deep underneath it all, without the protection of the King or his Tower or the Queen of All Bees, where at any moment the Hunger could pour in and attack. The Fourth of the Seventh couldn’t imagine such a thing.

But, ultimately, anything she thought she saw melted back into the mist before fully forming. The Hunger was in motion and trying its best, but it couldn’t reach her here. For all the fear she felt, the power of the King’s Tower was stronger. The very mana that flowed within her held the monsters at bay. And so, it would, so long as the hive of hives continued to protect their home.

So, even if one of those tendrils formed into something, she wouldn’t worry. Even that one that looked like a pair of wings. Even as that pair of wings began to flap. Even as a form broke off from the column of mist it was attached to and began to fly, not dispersing apart as normal.

The Fourth of the Seventh paused, then began to brush her eyes and antennae. She had just been about to sound the alarm, her workers and soldiers were already buzzing around her and telling her to return to the King’s Tower. But…the shade didn’t approach them. Indeed, it was flying away from them, towards other flying shades beginning to form. These, too, flew away from the purified zone, towards a couple more black dots hanging in the sky in the distance.

“Queen…need go! Dangerous!”

The Fourth of the Seventh danced her affirmative and took off. But as she started to fly back, she danced out some commands as well.

“Keep an eye on. Hunger…doing something different. Need to see, report to King.”

Her workers saluted and the communer relayed the order to the scouts. The scouts all began to fly up above the canopy, keeping their eyes on the flying shades as best they could from this distance. The black dots they were headed to began to grow a bit larger even as the flying shades grew smaller. The Fourth of the Seventh’s mind raced even as she flew back towards the safety of home. What was the Hunger doing? Why would the shades fly away from the King’s realm, which they were so intent on destroying? Were they gathering together for an attack? Was the Hunger about to swarm and escort a new queen somewhere? Did the Hunger even have queens?

Her questions only grew as the dots grew closer and the shades approached them. Her scouts started to see little flashes of light appear around the dots. That…was strange. As far as her workers had seen, the Hunger didn’t make lights like that. Even the lightning and fire the invading shades had produced didn’t light up the area like normal lightning and fire did.

It was only as she reached the gates of the King’s Tower that she started getting some answers. The dots flew close enough that they stopped being dots. Her scouts could see some sort of tiny winged creatures flying through the air, sending out flashes of light towards the flying shades that approached them.

She froze right at the entrance, much to the chagrin of her workers.

“Something…under attack?”

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