The Bee Dungeon
Author: Icalos
POBee 304.1 - Heart of the Swarm
Belissar smiled. The negotiations with Aldatrad had gone perfectly smoothly given that her goals were completely aligned with his own, he very much looked forward to what the green elves could do for his flowers. Afterwards, he had a more casual conversation with Aldatrad before she took her leave, giving him and Tarwantrad a chance to speak on her new gardeners. It turned out Tarwantrad’s stingless queen had managed to evolve them by having workers work alongside the gardeners Belissar’s queens had sent to the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter’s Third Daughter, and then feeding those workers with Nature mana imbued honey.
Belissar asked Niobee to relay as much to the bees, as it was clear that there were more ways to evolve waiting out there for them. His queens had managed to evolve themselves and so had Beero, but thus far all the worker evolutions had been from reward options. Belissar figured the hive of hives would want to know it was possible for the workers as well.
But…before Niobee flew off, Belissar felt a pulse of mana surge through the Tower…at first. A moment later, he tilted his head, since that pulse felt different than any previous one. He then realized…the surge hadn’t been through the Tower’s mana, but through the mana of the hives.
Tarwantrad looked at him with slight concern.
“What is it, Belissar? Did something happen?”
Belissar began to grin a moment later as the mana began to resolve into a more coherent pattern.
“Yes. I think we have a new kind of bee.”
***
When the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter climbed into a cell full of the best honey her queen mother could produce, she still had her doubts. Yes, she had been of service to the King, the Fourth of the Seventh, her queen mother, and the hive of hives, this much she understood. And yet…she did not innovate like the Fourth of the Seventh, she did not produce amazing and incredible honey like her queen mother. She did not fight like the Firstborn and the battle meadow queens, she had not earned the attention of queens of all things like the Third of the Sixth or Frelis. She did not learn to build like the King as the Third of the Third had, nor to make moving hives like her Fourth and Seventh Sisters had.
Sure, she had connected the hive of hives and enabled them to speak more easily…but what had she really
, especially compared to all the amazing and incredible queens in the hive of hives? Would that
be enough to evolve? Did her efforts really justify the best honey her queen mother could produce?
But the honey was already here and she was already curled up in the cell as her workers waxed it over. She caught one final glimpse of the Fourth of the Seventh happily dancing about.
“See First Daughter again soon, can’t wait!”
She wanted to reply with a happy dance of her own but the workers finished covering over the cell, so the First Daughter instead resolved herself. Indeed, the Fourth of the Seventh had never worried so much, and that was how she had achieved such amazing and incredible things. The First Daughter decided to trust in her and the hive of hives and let herself drift off…
She found herself standing before the Queen of All Bees herself…but, surprisingly, that was not what drew the First Daughter’s attention most. She froze in shock as the mana of the Hive of All Bees brushed against her antennae. After coming to herself and dancing a salute to the Queen of All Bees, she could not help but ask a question.
“King’s bees…here?”
The Queen of All Bees danced a confirmation.
“All fallen here.”
The First Daughter shuddered. Not only did she feel the mana of familiar soldiers who fell in battle…she felt entire hives that bore the touch of the King’s mana. They could only be the hives of the First Dynasty, the Firstborn’s predecessors that lay the foundation of the King’s realm.
Now she stood in their presence, before the Queen of All Bees herself. And as she had sensed their mana, they had sensed hers. She subconsciously reached out, wanting to see the dance of the hives that had come before.
And they replied.
The First Daughter danced a salute.
The First Dynasty apparently shared the same will and desire as the hive of hives that succeeded them. She didn’t feel like she deserved their praise, as it was the Firstborn who had accomplished that task, but she knew now was not the time for doubts.
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“Hive of hives will protect. Promise will do best to help, make sure other hives can keep protecting. Hive of hives can do what I can’t.”
The queens of the First Dynasty did not reply at first. The First Daughter started to worry that she misspoke when their mana finally stirred again.
The queens of the First Dynasty reached their mana towards her. They did not know how to blend mana like the hive of hives had learned, but the First Daughter did, so she managed to combine their mana with her own, to receive what it was they wanted to show her.
She saw the Flower Meadow…but not like she had ever seen it before. The King’s magical palaces had not been assembled, the flowers were barely grown. There were no healing herbs or poisonous flowers, there were not even mana flowers. She watched as the King assembled a single frame, hanging it on a tree branch instead of placing it within solid walls. And the hives themselves consisted purely of workers and queens. There were no communers, no gardeners, no hive of the fallen and battlecasters. There weren’t even soldier bees.
She trembled as she realized she was watching the First Dynasty’s memories from their own eyes, the earliest days of the King’s realm, before even the Firstborn’s time. She watched as the invader came and the First Dynasty went to war. She watched the original Firstborn, the First Queen of the First Dynasty of the First Spawner, rush into battle after the Conduit fell.
She buzzed her wings as she watched the shade take a breath. She flooded her mana to the bees around her, trying to warn them of what she knew was coming. But this was just an image of the past, so she could do nothing but watch as the First Queen’s hive flew straight into the shade’s breath attack and the memory cut off.
The Fourth Queen of the First Dynasty of the First Spawner had no time to react. She had only just been born and had no hive of her own when the invader fell upon her. The Second Queen of the First Dynasty of the First Spawner only realized what was happening when the shade attacked her hive, for she had no contact with the First of the First. Thus, her hive met the same exact fate as the original Firstborn’s had, without even a chance to fight back.
The Third Queen of the First Dynasty of the First Spawner had, only by luck, a scout in the area who managed to report what had occurred. She, therefore, had advance warning of the breath attack. She told her workers not to swarm, but to attack a few at a time so they wouldn’t be killed all at once. The First Daughter happily spun about. This must be when the bee army learned to fight! She cheered as worker bee squads stung the shade and safely retreated as the soldier bee army would do time after time in the future. The shade would be stopped after all!
But the First Daughter had forgotten that no queen of the First Dynasty had survived. The shade took a deep breath and the First Daughter froze. She tried to dance out a warning again, but the Third of the First did not understand. She thought the shade was using another normal breath attack and did not react. The shade unleashed a cloud of mist in all directions, the Third of the First briefly had a flash of panic before the memory of her hive cut off as well.
The First Daughter buzzed and spread attack pheromones all around…but there were no bees left in the memory.
The First Daughter then received a bit of familiar mana. It appeared some of her own memories had passed to the First Dynasty as theirs did to her, and they now brought her attention back to one.
She saw one of the more recent purifications. She saw the queens passing word to one another so that all were aware of an incoming invader before they arrived. She saw the soldiers of multiple hives combining into an army bigger than any of them could have assembled alone. She saw queens conferring with one another, warning each other of threats, and teaching each other how to deal with them.
The First Daughter stood still as she processed their words. Then…she danced a salute with no hesitation in her steps. She understood, now. The hive of hives was what made the King’s bees strong, not the might or accomplishment of any single queen. And it was her job now to help the hive of hives come together. To ensure that no hive suffered alone as those of the First Dynasty had. As she nearly had, until the Fourth of the Seventh intervened.
It was then that the Queen of All Bees began to dance. She showed the First Daughter many things, many ways she could help the hive of hives. One vision stood out in particular.
The First Daughter saw a queen of queens, leading a hive of hives. She had been about to dismiss the vision, she knew from her queen mother’s experience there was no place for any one queen to elevate themselves over the rest in the hive of hives. But…she stayed for a moment, watching the vision more closely. She saw the queen of queens dance and all the others watch, no matter where they were. She saw the queen of queen’s mana weave through the others’, binding them all together. The vision shifted slightly and she saw the queen of queens not hovering over and commanding the rest but joining them all into a single hive that worked as one. Queens helping one another rather than competing, as the Fourth of the Seventh had done for her. And one queen helping them all, watching over all the hives so she could see which ones needed help and which ones had amazing and incredible things to offer the rest. The hive of hives made manifest.
She knew then what she needed to do…
***
Back in the present, Belissar and Tarwantrad skipped as they rushed over to the Orchard, where the newest evolution had just awoken. The Tower’s message made Belissar particularly interested to see what this one would be like…
Belissar asked Niobee to relay as much to the bees, as it was clear that there were more ways to evolve waiting out there for them. His queens had managed to evolve themselves and so had Beero, but thus far all the worker evolutions had been from reward options. Belissar figured the hive of hives would want to know it was possible for the workers as well.
But…before Niobee flew off, Belissar felt a pulse of mana surge through the Tower…at first. A moment later, he tilted his head, since that pulse felt different than any previous one. He then realized…the surge hadn’t been through the Tower’s mana, but through the mana of the hives.
Tarwantrad looked at him with slight concern.
“What is it, Belissar? Did something happen?”
Belissar began to grin a moment later as the mana began to resolve into a more coherent pattern.
“Yes. I think we have a new kind of bee.”
***
When the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter climbed into a cell full of the best honey her queen mother could produce, she still had her doubts. Yes, she had been of service to the King, the Fourth of the Seventh, her queen mother, and the hive of hives, this much she understood. And yet…she did not innovate like the Fourth of the Seventh, she did not produce amazing and incredible honey like her queen mother. She did not fight like the Firstborn and the battle meadow queens, she had not earned the attention of queens of all things like the Third of the Sixth or Frelis. She did not learn to build like the King as the Third of the Third had, nor to make moving hives like her Fourth and Seventh Sisters had.
Sure, she had connected the hive of hives and enabled them to speak more easily…but what had she really
, especially compared to all the amazing and incredible queens in the hive of hives? Would that
be enough to evolve? Did her efforts really justify the best honey her queen mother could produce?
But the honey was already here and she was already curled up in the cell as her workers waxed it over. She caught one final glimpse of the Fourth of the Seventh happily dancing about.
“See First Daughter again soon, can’t wait!”
She wanted to reply with a happy dance of her own but the workers finished covering over the cell, so the First Daughter instead resolved herself. Indeed, the Fourth of the Seventh had never worried so much, and that was how she had achieved such amazing and incredible things. The First Daughter decided to trust in her and the hive of hives and let herself drift off…
She found herself standing before the Queen of All Bees herself…but, surprisingly, that was not what drew the First Daughter’s attention most. She froze in shock as the mana of the Hive of All Bees brushed against her antennae. After coming to herself and dancing a salute to the Queen of All Bees, she could not help but ask a question.
“King’s bees…here?”
The Queen of All Bees danced a confirmation.
“All fallen here.”
The First Daughter shuddered. Not only did she feel the mana of familiar soldiers who fell in battle…she felt entire hives that bore the touch of the King’s mana. They could only be the hives of the First Dynasty, the Firstborn’s predecessors that lay the foundation of the King’s realm.
Now she stood in their presence, before the Queen of All Bees herself. And as she had sensed their mana, they had sensed hers. She subconsciously reached out, wanting to see the dance of the hives that had come before.
And they replied.
The First Daughter danced a salute.
The First Dynasty apparently shared the same will and desire as the hive of hives that succeeded them. She didn’t feel like she deserved their praise, as it was the Firstborn who had accomplished that task, but she knew now was not the time for doubts.
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“Hive of hives will protect. Promise will do best to help, make sure other hives can keep protecting. Hive of hives can do what I can’t.”
The queens of the First Dynasty did not reply at first. The First Daughter started to worry that she misspoke when their mana finally stirred again.
The queens of the First Dynasty reached their mana towards her. They did not know how to blend mana like the hive of hives had learned, but the First Daughter did, so she managed to combine their mana with her own, to receive what it was they wanted to show her.
She saw the Flower Meadow…but not like she had ever seen it before. The King’s magical palaces had not been assembled, the flowers were barely grown. There were no healing herbs or poisonous flowers, there were not even mana flowers. She watched as the King assembled a single frame, hanging it on a tree branch instead of placing it within solid walls. And the hives themselves consisted purely of workers and queens. There were no communers, no gardeners, no hive of the fallen and battlecasters. There weren’t even soldier bees.
She trembled as she realized she was watching the First Dynasty’s memories from their own eyes, the earliest days of the King’s realm, before even the Firstborn’s time. She watched as the invader came and the First Dynasty went to war. She watched the original Firstborn, the First Queen of the First Dynasty of the First Spawner, rush into battle after the Conduit fell.
She buzzed her wings as she watched the shade take a breath. She flooded her mana to the bees around her, trying to warn them of what she knew was coming. But this was just an image of the past, so she could do nothing but watch as the First Queen’s hive flew straight into the shade’s breath attack and the memory cut off.
The Fourth Queen of the First Dynasty of the First Spawner had no time to react. She had only just been born and had no hive of her own when the invader fell upon her. The Second Queen of the First Dynasty of the First Spawner only realized what was happening when the shade attacked her hive, for she had no contact with the First of the First. Thus, her hive met the same exact fate as the original Firstborn’s had, without even a chance to fight back.
The Third Queen of the First Dynasty of the First Spawner had, only by luck, a scout in the area who managed to report what had occurred. She, therefore, had advance warning of the breath attack. She told her workers not to swarm, but to attack a few at a time so they wouldn’t be killed all at once. The First Daughter happily spun about. This must be when the bee army learned to fight! She cheered as worker bee squads stung the shade and safely retreated as the soldier bee army would do time after time in the future. The shade would be stopped after all!
But the First Daughter had forgotten that no queen of the First Dynasty had survived. The shade took a deep breath and the First Daughter froze. She tried to dance out a warning again, but the Third of the First did not understand. She thought the shade was using another normal breath attack and did not react. The shade unleashed a cloud of mist in all directions, the Third of the First briefly had a flash of panic before the memory of her hive cut off as well.
The First Daughter buzzed and spread attack pheromones all around…but there were no bees left in the memory.
The First Daughter then received a bit of familiar mana. It appeared some of her own memories had passed to the First Dynasty as theirs did to her, and they now brought her attention back to one.
She saw one of the more recent purifications. She saw the queens passing word to one another so that all were aware of an incoming invader before they arrived. She saw the soldiers of multiple hives combining into an army bigger than any of them could have assembled alone. She saw queens conferring with one another, warning each other of threats, and teaching each other how to deal with them.
The First Daughter stood still as she processed their words. Then…she danced a salute with no hesitation in her steps. She understood, now. The hive of hives was what made the King’s bees strong, not the might or accomplishment of any single queen. And it was her job now to help the hive of hives come together. To ensure that no hive suffered alone as those of the First Dynasty had. As she nearly had, until the Fourth of the Seventh intervened.
It was then that the Queen of All Bees began to dance. She showed the First Daughter many things, many ways she could help the hive of hives. One vision stood out in particular.
The First Daughter saw a queen of queens, leading a hive of hives. She had been about to dismiss the vision, she knew from her queen mother’s experience there was no place for any one queen to elevate themselves over the rest in the hive of hives. But…she stayed for a moment, watching the vision more closely. She saw the queen of queens dance and all the others watch, no matter where they were. She saw the queen of queen’s mana weave through the others’, binding them all together. The vision shifted slightly and she saw the queen of queens not hovering over and commanding the rest but joining them all into a single hive that worked as one. Queens helping one another rather than competing, as the Fourth of the Seventh had done for her. And one queen helping them all, watching over all the hives so she could see which ones needed help and which ones had amazing and incredible things to offer the rest. The hive of hives made manifest.
She knew then what she needed to do…
***
Back in the present, Belissar and Tarwantrad skipped as they rushed over to the Orchard, where the newest evolution had just awoken. The Tower’s message made Belissar particularly interested to see what this one would be like…