The Bee Dungeon

Belissar watched through the eyes of the hive of hives as General Rippotis’ meteor crushed an entire monster army at once. Thanks to some clairvoyance wards by Wardmaster Varilold, everyone in the command area was able to watch as well. Belissar turned to Chief Rohsuak.
“Can you do that?”
Chief Rohsuak was staring wide-eyed at the ward projected on the wall of the command tent.
“If I could, the Inferno Empress would have never let me go.”
Belissar used his Tower sight to glance over at the Third of the Sixth and Beero. The Third of the Sixth was zipping around at full speed in an “amazing, incredible!” dance, while Beero was dancing intensely with the First Dronecaster and the hive of the fallen. That put a smile on his face.
The fair folk around him, though, were not smiling. They said nothing but were glancing around at each other with grim looks.
General Rippotis arrived soon after to rest. Wardmaster Varilold greeted him first.
“Welcome back, General Rippotis. A good start to the battle. How are your mana reserves?”
General Rippotis rolled his shoulders.
“Acceptable, for now. I can fight a while longer, but I don’t expect to fully recover before Starami clears the Underway or digs a new passage.”
Belissar hesitated for a moment, but quickly came to a decision.
“In that case, would some mana honey help?”
General Rippotis turned to him, slightly surprised judging by the widening of his eyes. He made a small smile and nodded.
“That would be most appreciated. My thanks, Tower Keeper Belissar.”
Belissar asked the hive of hives to bring up some burning mana honey…and even some swirled honey too. General Rippotis had just fought the Tower Guard and held off an entire monster army on their behalf. Belissar decided the general’s desire to atone had been proven genuine enough that he should lend him a hand.
Plus, having more meteors on their side wouldn’t hurt.
The command tent had a large table in its center where all the leaders of the alliance gathered. An illusory map of the purified area around Belissar’s Tower was displayed above the table, along with a map of the Underway below. General Rippotis joined them at the table while the bees brought him some honeycomb. Wardmaster Varilold waited only long enough for the general to take a quick bite before addressing him.
“Now then, General Rippotis, you said you wanted to confer with us? What's the situation?”
General Rippotis frowned.
“Collapsing the Underway should buy us some time, and the blow I dealt should force Starami to rethink his approach on top of it. We should have a few hours at the very least, maybe a day if Starami doesn’t have another plan ready right away. The problem is that I no longer believe Starami will back down, no matter how many of his forces I kill. He’s gone fully rogue and raised an army of monsters, breaking one of the biggest rules of the Conclave. He no longer
back down, the Conclave is going to subjugate him regardless. He has to achieve his objective here with the forces he has.”
Nenavann furrowed his brow.
“Raising monsters is that much of a taboo for the Conclave? How do you defend your Towers without them?”
General Rippotis sighed.
“We were determined to prevent another Sorcerer King from rising ever again. Monster armies, monster breeding, monster experimentation, we banned everything that even hinted of the Sorcerer King’s methods. We made do with the Tower Guard and the fortifications a Tower can create.”
King Taranskare hummed.
“An admirable intention. One that it seems your subordinate does not share.”
General Rippotis shook his head.
“No, it appears he does not.”
Wardmaster Varilold brought them back on task.
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“So, what is his objective, then? Is he still aiming for the Tower now that he’s not responding to your orders?”
General Rippotis rubbed his chin.
“Tactically, he seems to be aiming for me, even to the neglect of Tower Keeper Belissar and his Tower. I have guesses as to why…but I’m hesitant to assume anything right now. Starami is no longer acting like a normal Tower Lord so I can no longer predict his actions.”
Queen Vanieskon raised an eyebrow.
“You seemed troubled, General Rippotis. Is there something else?”
General Rippotis narrowed his eyes and slowly nodded his head.
“Starami shouldn’t have been able to raise a monster army like this in the first place. He had to have had help from those assigned to watch for that very thing. If it’s a simple case of bribery and corruption, then I can assume Starami is acting alone out here. But…if not…it’s possible I’m misreading the situation here. I might have been misreading the situation in the entire Conclave, maybe for a long time…”
At that moment, General Rippotis suddenly trailed off. His eyes went as wide as they could go…and then he burst into flames with a huge scowl on his face.
“No! Gods damn them all!”
The bees in the area began to buzz and surround the general. The fair folk’s guards moved next while Wardmaster Varilold through a ward over the leaders. The sigmaka and karnuq in the area hoisted their weapons as well. Wardmaster Varilold glared at the man.
“General Rippotis! Explain yourself before we assume you hostile!”
General Rippotis barely even acknowledged her as his flames continued to burn bright.
“A group of Tower Lords just started a coup!”
Oracle Heigiosa stood before a Shrine of Light in her Tower. The shrine itself consisted of a statue of the God of Light, a woman who shone so bright it was hard to distinguish her features, and a chest of polished metal that reflected the light of the statue such that it appeared to glow itself. Heigiosa had further adorned the shrine with flowers that naturally turned towards the light and with gems and metals that reflected its glow further. For once, however, Heigiosa was not the one bowing at the shrine.
Heigiosa usually kept this place silent for quiet contemplation…and in the hopes that she might hear the God of Light’s voice once more, no matter how quiet…but not today. Today the air was filled with the sound of buzzing, as countless bees danced around the shrine. They filled the chest directly with honeycomb at their queen’s command, while the queen herself danced before the statue of light.
Heigiosa smiled. The bees had asked, and insisted even, on doing some sort of work on her behalf. Heigiosa had no desire for monster servants, but since the God of Bees required her to make the bees happy she had to think of something she could tolerate them doing. In the end, she decided to try and teach them to honor the gods. She hoped they would be able to do so as the children of the God of Bees…
What she found later was that the bees never left the shrine. The hive kept a constant vigil, rotating workers in and out so that the shrine was never unattended and continuously danced the prayers Heigiosa had taught them. They began building honeycomb right in the offering box and delivering nectar directly to it, such that there was now a constant stream of offerings.
The bees were…some of the most devoted creatures Heigiosa had ever seen. Some of the most devoted acolytes she had ever taught. The God of Light’s statue constantly pulsed, briefly glowing even brighter to acknowledge the constant prayers and offerings, proving that the bees were completely sincere in their endless vigil.
And why had the bees done so? Was it because the God of Light had blessed them? Was it because the God of Light had saved them in their darkest hour? Was it because they hoped to hear the God of Light’s voice?
No. They did all this solely because Heigiosa taught them to. They revered the gods solely because to them, it was now a natural thing to do.
Heigiosa had called them children of the God of Bees just to rationalize taking care of monsters to herself. She realized now, though, that…they were indeed like children. The bees had not harmed a single living thing in the entire time they watched her. Instead, under her instruction, they had become acolytes she could be proud of. She could not see even a hint of the monsters she feared within them.
And that…made her realize she had gotten it all wrong, for over a thousand years. The monsters of the Towers were not like the innately hostile monsters of the wilds, nor the violent and cruel creations of the Sorcerer Kings that had hunted her and her people. They were…whatever their Tower Lord would raise them to be. When General Rippotis raised them, they wanted to become soldiers like him. When Heigiosa raised them, they took after her devotion to the gods, even in the mere weeks since she started taking care of them.
These monsters of the Towers…were just living things, like any other. Like humans. And like humans, they could become either good or evil. In fact…maybe that applied to the wild monsters and the Sorcerer Kings’ creations too. Maybe they were violent and cruel only because that’s what they were raised to be.
Maybe it was not the temptation of monster armies that made a Sorcerer King, but a Sorcerer King that made their monsters into the scourge that Heigiosa feared.
Heigiosa shook her head. There was…much she had missed over the past centuries, as she had become increasingly desperate to reach the God of Light once more. Her heart trembled when she thought of everything she had neglected, of what the Conclave had become while her gaze was turned away. How Starami had treated his own people was…appalling. Heigiosa’s heart nearly stopped when she read those reports. Starami…resembled the Sorcerer Kings more than the Tower Lords.
So, despite the terrible circumstances, part of her was relieved when General Rippotis reported Starami had gone rogue. She dreaded to even consider the scenario where Starami’s acts were the norm within the Conclave…
But her musings would come to an end then and there.
Heigiosa’s eyes went as wide as they could go as she turned to her Tower sight and this time, she felt as if her heart had actually stopped.
There, flying straight towards the mountain on which the Tower of Light stood…was an army of monsters. An army of monsters…being led by Tower Lords.