The Bee Dungeon

Belissar didn’t even need to use his Tower Sight to determine which bee had evolved…because the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter told him herself. Her mana spread across the Tower, sending her dance to everyone who had ever linked to her hive. Which apparently included Belissar, since she had helped him collaborate with the Fourth of the Seventh and the First of the Fifth’s Fourth and Seventh Daughter for golem-building.
Tarwantrad blinked.
“I felt some kind of mana pulse, was that the new bee?”
Belissar grinned.
“Yes, it was. Do you want to know what she did?”
Tarwantrad returned his smile.
“Absolutely!”
Belissar obliged and looked for what additional details the Tower could tell them.
As Belissar finished reading the description, he and Tarwantrad arrived in the Orchard. They found the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter zipping around with the Fourth of the Seventh up in the sky. She, like the other evolved queens, had grown much bigger, though she kept more of her original form than the nomadic, honeyswirler, or chivalric queens did. The main difference was that she now had the fuzzy antennae of a communer that glowed with constantly changing colors and distorted the air around them with the dense mana surrounding them.
Belissar was about to call out to her when he had an idea. He made a playful smile as, instead, he stirred up his mana, sending toward the First Daughter’s own as it flowed throughout the Tower. He specifically tried to avoid sending a Tower message, seeing if he could contact her like the bees did.
The First Daughter froze midair, then dove down towards him at maximum speed.
“KING! King called?! King in hive of hives?!”
Belissar reached out with both hands and caught the First Daughter as she swooped down.
“Yes, I felt your mana spreading throughout the Tower. Congratulations on the evolution, it’s amazing!”
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The First Daughter immediate sent him a happy “King is best king!” dance through her mana before abruptly halting.
“King! Queens of First Dynasty said King is best King! Said happy hive of hives is protecting now.”
Belissar froze, blinking repeatedly as he tried to process that dance. His eyes slowly widened until they were as wide as they could go.
“Wait…by First Dynasty you mean…the first queens? The ones who…died in the first purification? You…spoke to them? How?”
Belissar had let go of the First Daughter in his surprise, so she zipped about dancing her reply midair.
“Saw when spoke to Queen of All Bees about evolution! First Dynasty in Hive of All Bees now!”
Belissar began to tremble and tears welled up in his eyes. The first monster bees were alive! Or…not, but they still existed! The God of Bees was taking care of the bees he had lost, the ones he had failed.
“Thank goodness…”
Those were the only words Belissar could get out before he was overcome by his emotions. Niobee and the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter, along with the Fourth of the Seventh and all the bees of the Orchard nearby, began to buzz and zip around him.
“King! King ok?! King hurt?!”
Belissar could not reply right away, but Tarwantrad stepped forward. She placed a hand on Belissar’s shoulder and looked up at the bees, making a soft smile.
“He’s ok. He’s just relieved and happy to hear about those bees.”
The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter panicked. She did not expect passing on the message from the First Dynasty would make King feel bad! But the flower one claimed he wasn’t feeling bad and his mana was still connected to hers, so she tried to see if she could check on him. It was…harder than with the mana of her hive, but she managed to make out enough to confirm what the flower one claimed. The First Daughter and the Conduit both stopped buzzing at the same time and moved to reassure the other bees.
Only for a barrage of mana to hit the First Daughter.
The First Daughter replied as quickly as she could.
In her panic, she had forgotten she was still connected to a joint dance. In fact…she now noticed that maintaining a joint dance was so simple now she didn’t even need to think about it. All of her dances would be joint now unless she specifically chose to limit them.
She could not help zipping about again. Her evolution was amazing and incredible! She could now produce the joint dance alone and without effort, a task which once required many communers and drones and still caused her great strain. With this, she’d be able to support the hive of hives better than ever before!
And that, in turn, led her to her first task.
The queens all agreed so she began her dance.
Her instincts told her that her new evolution could carve out an empire of hives, could force other queens and bees to submit to her will, but that was not who she or the hive of hives was. The hive of hives already had the King to lead them, after all. Instead, she wanted to use her new abilities to connect the hive of hives, so that they could all come together and strengthen one another whenever they pleased, without pulling the queens away from their work. She would be at the center of it, but she would not be above it, more like a communer of queens than a queen of queens.
To enforce that distinction, her instincts told her it was important that each queen explicitly and voluntarily chose to join the hive link. The hive of hives likely would accept the link regardless…and indeed, already had accepted her initial message…but to let things progress in that manner might result in a different kind of link than the First Daughter wanted.
She wondered what the other queens would think of this. She was, after all, just a princess queen, not even a member of the original spawner generations. She never fought, she didn’t produce much honey and even ended up dependent on the Fourth of the Seventh to feed her own hive. She had evolved specifically for this task, but was she really the best bee to become the heart of the hive of hives?
It turned out, though, that she didn’t have long to wonder as the Firstborn replied near immediately.
Her own queen mother chimed in just a moment later.
The Fourth of the Seventh had been sending a constant stream of happy dances ever since the joint link was established and these only intensified in response. The Third of the Sixth was excited to grow stronger, the Fourth of the Eighth expressed gratitude that the First Daughter was asking her at all.
The queens of the Ninth spawner danced as well, one of the first times the hive of hives had ever heard them.
The First Daughter happily replied.
Letting the queens of the Ninth spawner feel disconnected had been an oversight by the hive of hives. Those queens had an important role in the King’s plans for the karnuq, but the need for them to mimic natural honeybee hives meant the hive of hives couldn’t provide them with the honey and support they gave to other queens. The First Daughter was glad she could now include them within the hive of hives even as they fulfilled their task.
But then came a dance that none of the queens expected.
The Conduit herself had joined the dance and relayed the reaction of the King, setting off a wave of happy dances across the entire hive of hives. With her support, there could be no further doubt in the First Daughter’s mind. And every single queen in the King’s realm had pledged her support as well.
The First Daughter thus began to dance, reaching out to the mana of each and every hive. The Fourth of the Seventh latched on immediately, her hive inseparably joined with the First Daughter’s already. Her queen mother reacted next, accepting the link, then the Firstborn and the battle meadow queens. One by one, each queen joined the link and the First Daughter felt the hive expand, one not dominating by a single heart but upheld by many connected by the same desire.
Soon, she could feel them all. She could
the hive of hives, now truly one hive of many. She danced once more, letting the mana she had received from the First Dynasty pass through the hive of hives as well. Now, truly, all the bees of the King would protect him as one.