The Bee Dungeon
Author: Icalos
PONon-Bee 346.1 - The Defenders of the Light
Bells rang out through the city of light. A ball of fire came crashing down, exploding overhead as it struck the barrier of light. Screams filled the air, but the armored soldiers of the City Guard rushed to maintain order. They guided tightly-packed crowds through the streets as the citizens of the city grabbed whatever possessions they could carry and fled. The City Guard led them to numerous fortified towers set up across the city, where they could use external shortcuts to reach the evacuation zones in the Tower of Light itself.
Overhead, a flight of lesser dragons dove towards the barrier and unleashed their breath. Ball of fire, ice, lightning, and all manner of elements crashed against the barrier. Down below, on top of one of the fortified towers, a man in white and golden robes stood before a half dome, its interior filled with mirrors. He lifted a staff topped with a transparent crystal and began to chant. The crystal started to glow and the mirrors in the dome reflected its light, glowing bright until the dome appeared as miniature sun.
A moment later, the man pointed his staff and a beam of light shot from the dome, passing harmlessly through the transparent barrier to strike at the dragons above. A dragon yelped as the beam scoured the scales on its belly and flew away, climbing to take distance and breaking the formation. A few more beams and the entire flight was scattering.
Konilias watched this all with a stern expression. The Tower Lords beside him were not so stoic.
“High Councilor…how do we breach the barrier?! Should we send in the true dragons?”
Konilias shook his head.
“Patience. We need them to apprehend Heigiosa when she makes her move.”
“But…”
Konilias lifted a hand to silence the Tower Lords.
“I hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but I did prepare for this contingency. Just watch.”
At that moment, the ground began to rumble. Citizens of the city began to trip and collapse, the City Guard rushed to help them up and keep them moving until they, too, found it difficult to stay on their feet. The rumbling grew louder and louder with each passing moment…
Then, a great crash resounded through the city as the stone of the mountain exploded. A giant serpentine dragon burst from the ground, destroying the buildings above, and let out a roar that shook the mountain.
Konilias enjoyed the look on the Tower Lords faces.
“Yes, a great wyrm, one of the mighty dragons of the ground below that carved out the Underway itself. The City of Light’s barrier does not extend down below, Heigiosa cannot defend herself where there is no light.”
Every fortified tower in view turned their light beams towards the wyrm. Their combined attack turned the wyrm’s scales red as they scoured the beast. The giant roared once again before arcing down towards the mountain once again, smashing into another block as it tunneled back into the ground. As soon as it left its original tunnel, monsters began to pour out of it. Hordes of kobolds, drakes began running into the streets, even some wyverns crawled out and began to take flight underneath the barrier.
Heigiosa’s City Guard moved to respond. Fully armored knights in polished, shining armor rode out from the fortified towers atop powerful war horses. They carried shields so polished they could act as mirrors as they rode straight towards the monster horde. As they approached, they lifted their shields up high. A mage riding with them created a ball of light directly above the horde, the shields reflected and amplified the burst of light directly into the eyes of the dragonkin. Kobolds hissed and blocked their eyes with their hands and weapon, drakes growled and shook their heads. They were thus in disarray as the knights charged into them.
The City Guard’s infantry used the time they bought to set up formations along the path of the horde. Spearmen with the same mirror shields as the knights and polearms tipped with glowing blades, archers carrying shining bows that created arrows form pure light, acolytes that could bring down the God of Light’s power to heal or to harm, all while the trainees ran around the streets and into buildings to carry citizens away from the battle. More barriers of light appeared, cutting off the streets around the horde and directing them towards the City Guard, while wyvern riders, courtesy of Rippotis, no doubt, took to the air to fight the horde’s fliers.
The City Guard were the match of any normal lord’s Tower Guard…but they were finite in numbers. As they turned their attention to the enemy within the city, they turned their attention away from the skies. Lesser dragons blotted out the sun as they made a mass attack against the barrier. The barrier started to flicker under their assault, it would not last for long.
Once it fell, the City Guard would come under attack both from above and below. And to make matters worse, the great wyrm returned, breaking through the ground underneath one of the fortified towers and destroying it. The City Guard simply couldn’t deal with all the threats they now faced at once.
Konilias checked his preparations and then began to weave his magic circles.
“Get ready, the city’s defenses will soon collapse. Heigiosa will have to move personally to overturn the situation. That is when we will make our move.”
***
Heigiosa, meanwhile, stood in a field within her Tower while holding a white and golden staff, with the light of the sun bathing down on her. She had a stern expression as she looked out across the field.
“Do you swear to devote yourselves to the God of Light, in mind, body, and soul?”
“Do!”
“Do you swear to become her light in the darkness, to strike down her foes as her sword and spear?”
“Do!”
“Do you swear to protect all who seek the light, to become the God of Light’s shield for all who revere her name?”
“Do!”
Heigiosa lifted her staff up high.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“The God of Light accepts your oaths and declares you her champions! Receive the Blessing of Light, you who the God of Light has chosen!”
The staff burst into light even brighter than the sun above. Heigiosa slammed it to the ground and the light washed over the field. She nearly fell to her feet as she pushed out every last drop of mana she had, channeling all the power of the God of Light she could as both Oracle of Light and steward of the first and greatest Tower. But she remained standing by force of will and turned around, pointing her staff towards a wall of shortcuts.
“Then go, now, champions of Light! Fulfill your oaths and protect our people!”
“Ok!”
***
The battle had turned against the City Guard. The barrier overhead had broken, flocks of wyverns and dragons now dove down towards the fortified towers, the same place all the people of the city were fleeing to. The towers replied with beams of light, as well as attacks from archers and mages stationed within them, but they were but a drop in the sea.
The City Guard in the streets panicked and tried to fall back and defend the towers, but the hordes took advantage of the break in their cohesion. Soon, kobolds and drakes had broken through their lines and mixed among their ranks, causing the battle to descend into chaos. The wyvern riders in the skies found themselves surrounded and overwhelmed, dragons now dove down on the knights assembling for another charge and showered them with dragonbreath.
But as the flying dragonkin approached the towers, they began to hear a sound most curious. A buzzing noise, growing louder each second…
Then, what appeared as rivers made of blinding light burst from each of the towers and shot straight for the dragonkin. The lesser dragons launched their breaths but the rivers pierced through them without pause. The dragonkin snapped at the rivers, but they weaved around the big fangs and claws and landed on the dragonkin directly.
Then, dragons began to cry out and fall from the sky as the rivers engulfed them.
The flying dragon horde was spooked as the first lines of dragons fell and began to scatter. The rivers then turned their attention down on the hordes below and rushed down over the beleaguered City Guard. It was then that the City Guard learned just who had come to their aid.
Swarms of monster bee workers, only each now glowing as bright as a miniature sun, turned into a champion of Light and blessed with all the power Oracle Heigiosa could muster.
of blessed champions of light now swarmed over the horde. They flew so fast they seemed to appear on their targets in flashes of light, easily dodging the swords and spears of the kobolds and the fangs and claws of the drakes. They crawled around scales and into the chinks in armor, their stings sent spears of light stabbing deep into the monsters. Light burst from the mouths and eyes of the monsters as the bees’ venom overwhelmed with the power of Light. Even the beating of their wings created blinding flashes of light that disoriented the dragonkin and left them helpless, while barriers of light protected them from harm.
In mere moments, the monsters assaulting the City Guard had fallen and the horde had broken, fleeing back into the tunnels in blind panic.
But then, the great wyrm broke out from the ground once more. It snapped up an entire river of light in bite, then looked around to find its next target.
A moment later, the wyrm paused…and then started to trash about. It opened its mouth to roar…revealing its entire mouth and throat were now coated in a river of light as the bees stung it from the inside. Spears of light began to stab out of the thinner parts of its mouth as the empowered stings pierced it from within. Soon, the wyrm dove back down into the ground…and did not return again.
Konilias stared in disbelief before his face warped into a vicious scowl.
“Heigiosa, you Hunger-bitten hypocrite!”
The Tower Lords around him all turned to him.
“High Councilor, what do we do?”
Konilias ignored them as his mind raced. He watched as dragonbreath washed over the tiny insects and failed to destroy them. He watched as spells and spears and claws all missed the tiny, fast moving monsters. He watched as tiny stingers and venom slipped past scales and brought down dragons from the inside.
He ground his teeth as nothing came to mind. Of all the contingencies he had prepared for, a swarm of stinging insect monsters was not one of them! Heigiosa shouldn’t have had any monsters at all, how was he supposed to have prepared for this?!
But time was running out. He and his collaborators had lost control of the dragonkin, the lesser species fleeing in terror after the great wyrm was defeated. It would take the Tower Lords time to restore order. Time they did not have as one of the rivers of light made a beeline straight towards them.
Konilias scowled…and started flying back to a safe distance.
***
Heigiosa watched as the new champions of light drove away Konilias’ army. The survivors of the City Guard quickly rallied and rushed to complete the evacuation in the respite they had gained. The majority of her people would now be saved even should Konilias’ forces rally, while she remained secure within her Tower and avoided giving Konilias the opportunity she knew he sought.
And yet, tears streamed down Heigiosa’s cheeks as she watched the little bees, the brave champions of light who had saved her people.
Because they were all going to die. The children of the queen commanders, the devoted little acolytes she had instructed. Their little bodies simply couldn’t handle the amount of power Heigiosa and the God of Light had given them, the power necessary to enable worker bees to contend with dragons. She had warned them as much, both their queens and the workers themselves, before they took their oaths.
Not a single one had hesitated.
She turned to the two queens hovering around her with the pittance of workers they had remaining and bowed her head.
“Queen Commander of the First Bee Hive, Queen Commander of the Fourth Bee Hive, my fellow acolytes of Light…I will never forget this debt, and neither shall the God of Light. Thanks to the deaths of your children, the people of Light shall live.”
The queen commanders just danced a salute.
“Will protect Oracle and Oracle’s hive!”
Heigiosa lifted her head and smiled even through her tears.
“Better protectors I could not have prayed for.”
Heigiosa swore again to remember all of the defenders of light that fell, bees and humans alike…and never to forgive Konilias for this day. Then, she turned her attention back to the gods.
The missions received and completed continued on and on for some time. The will of the gods was abundantly clear. Heigiosa looked away…and to the monster bee queen spawners now filling the field ahead of her…and the new monster bee queens now crawling out of them.
“You wanted the Conclave to use monster armies, Konilias? Take heart, for by the will of the gods, I will fulfill your desire.”
Overhead, a flight of lesser dragons dove towards the barrier and unleashed their breath. Ball of fire, ice, lightning, and all manner of elements crashed against the barrier. Down below, on top of one of the fortified towers, a man in white and golden robes stood before a half dome, its interior filled with mirrors. He lifted a staff topped with a transparent crystal and began to chant. The crystal started to glow and the mirrors in the dome reflected its light, glowing bright until the dome appeared as miniature sun.
A moment later, the man pointed his staff and a beam of light shot from the dome, passing harmlessly through the transparent barrier to strike at the dragons above. A dragon yelped as the beam scoured the scales on its belly and flew away, climbing to take distance and breaking the formation. A few more beams and the entire flight was scattering.
Konilias watched this all with a stern expression. The Tower Lords beside him were not so stoic.
“High Councilor…how do we breach the barrier?! Should we send in the true dragons?”
Konilias shook his head.
“Patience. We need them to apprehend Heigiosa when she makes her move.”
“But…”
Konilias lifted a hand to silence the Tower Lords.
“I hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but I did prepare for this contingency. Just watch.”
At that moment, the ground began to rumble. Citizens of the city began to trip and collapse, the City Guard rushed to help them up and keep them moving until they, too, found it difficult to stay on their feet. The rumbling grew louder and louder with each passing moment…
Then, a great crash resounded through the city as the stone of the mountain exploded. A giant serpentine dragon burst from the ground, destroying the buildings above, and let out a roar that shook the mountain.
Konilias enjoyed the look on the Tower Lords faces.
“Yes, a great wyrm, one of the mighty dragons of the ground below that carved out the Underway itself. The City of Light’s barrier does not extend down below, Heigiosa cannot defend herself where there is no light.”
Every fortified tower in view turned their light beams towards the wyrm. Their combined attack turned the wyrm’s scales red as they scoured the beast. The giant roared once again before arcing down towards the mountain once again, smashing into another block as it tunneled back into the ground. As soon as it left its original tunnel, monsters began to pour out of it. Hordes of kobolds, drakes began running into the streets, even some wyverns crawled out and began to take flight underneath the barrier.
Heigiosa’s City Guard moved to respond. Fully armored knights in polished, shining armor rode out from the fortified towers atop powerful war horses. They carried shields so polished they could act as mirrors as they rode straight towards the monster horde. As they approached, they lifted their shields up high. A mage riding with them created a ball of light directly above the horde, the shields reflected and amplified the burst of light directly into the eyes of the dragonkin. Kobolds hissed and blocked their eyes with their hands and weapon, drakes growled and shook their heads. They were thus in disarray as the knights charged into them.
The City Guard’s infantry used the time they bought to set up formations along the path of the horde. Spearmen with the same mirror shields as the knights and polearms tipped with glowing blades, archers carrying shining bows that created arrows form pure light, acolytes that could bring down the God of Light’s power to heal or to harm, all while the trainees ran around the streets and into buildings to carry citizens away from the battle. More barriers of light appeared, cutting off the streets around the horde and directing them towards the City Guard, while wyvern riders, courtesy of Rippotis, no doubt, took to the air to fight the horde’s fliers.
The City Guard were the match of any normal lord’s Tower Guard…but they were finite in numbers. As they turned their attention to the enemy within the city, they turned their attention away from the skies. Lesser dragons blotted out the sun as they made a mass attack against the barrier. The barrier started to flicker under their assault, it would not last for long.
Once it fell, the City Guard would come under attack both from above and below. And to make matters worse, the great wyrm returned, breaking through the ground underneath one of the fortified towers and destroying it. The City Guard simply couldn’t deal with all the threats they now faced at once.
Konilias checked his preparations and then began to weave his magic circles.
“Get ready, the city’s defenses will soon collapse. Heigiosa will have to move personally to overturn the situation. That is when we will make our move.”
***
Heigiosa, meanwhile, stood in a field within her Tower while holding a white and golden staff, with the light of the sun bathing down on her. She had a stern expression as she looked out across the field.
“Do you swear to devote yourselves to the God of Light, in mind, body, and soul?”
“Do!”
“Do you swear to become her light in the darkness, to strike down her foes as her sword and spear?”
“Do!”
“Do you swear to protect all who seek the light, to become the God of Light’s shield for all who revere her name?”
“Do!”
Heigiosa lifted her staff up high.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“The God of Light accepts your oaths and declares you her champions! Receive the Blessing of Light, you who the God of Light has chosen!”
The staff burst into light even brighter than the sun above. Heigiosa slammed it to the ground and the light washed over the field. She nearly fell to her feet as she pushed out every last drop of mana she had, channeling all the power of the God of Light she could as both Oracle of Light and steward of the first and greatest Tower. But she remained standing by force of will and turned around, pointing her staff towards a wall of shortcuts.
“Then go, now, champions of Light! Fulfill your oaths and protect our people!”
“Ok!”
***
The battle had turned against the City Guard. The barrier overhead had broken, flocks of wyverns and dragons now dove down towards the fortified towers, the same place all the people of the city were fleeing to. The towers replied with beams of light, as well as attacks from archers and mages stationed within them, but they were but a drop in the sea.
The City Guard in the streets panicked and tried to fall back and defend the towers, but the hordes took advantage of the break in their cohesion. Soon, kobolds and drakes had broken through their lines and mixed among their ranks, causing the battle to descend into chaos. The wyvern riders in the skies found themselves surrounded and overwhelmed, dragons now dove down on the knights assembling for another charge and showered them with dragonbreath.
But as the flying dragonkin approached the towers, they began to hear a sound most curious. A buzzing noise, growing louder each second…
Then, what appeared as rivers made of blinding light burst from each of the towers and shot straight for the dragonkin. The lesser dragons launched their breaths but the rivers pierced through them without pause. The dragonkin snapped at the rivers, but they weaved around the big fangs and claws and landed on the dragonkin directly.
Then, dragons began to cry out and fall from the sky as the rivers engulfed them.
The flying dragon horde was spooked as the first lines of dragons fell and began to scatter. The rivers then turned their attention down on the hordes below and rushed down over the beleaguered City Guard. It was then that the City Guard learned just who had come to their aid.
Swarms of monster bee workers, only each now glowing as bright as a miniature sun, turned into a champion of Light and blessed with all the power Oracle Heigiosa could muster.
of blessed champions of light now swarmed over the horde. They flew so fast they seemed to appear on their targets in flashes of light, easily dodging the swords and spears of the kobolds and the fangs and claws of the drakes. They crawled around scales and into the chinks in armor, their stings sent spears of light stabbing deep into the monsters. Light burst from the mouths and eyes of the monsters as the bees’ venom overwhelmed with the power of Light. Even the beating of their wings created blinding flashes of light that disoriented the dragonkin and left them helpless, while barriers of light protected them from harm.
In mere moments, the monsters assaulting the City Guard had fallen and the horde had broken, fleeing back into the tunnels in blind panic.
But then, the great wyrm broke out from the ground once more. It snapped up an entire river of light in bite, then looked around to find its next target.
A moment later, the wyrm paused…and then started to trash about. It opened its mouth to roar…revealing its entire mouth and throat were now coated in a river of light as the bees stung it from the inside. Spears of light began to stab out of the thinner parts of its mouth as the empowered stings pierced it from within. Soon, the wyrm dove back down into the ground…and did not return again.
Konilias stared in disbelief before his face warped into a vicious scowl.
“Heigiosa, you Hunger-bitten hypocrite!”
The Tower Lords around him all turned to him.
“High Councilor, what do we do?”
Konilias ignored them as his mind raced. He watched as dragonbreath washed over the tiny insects and failed to destroy them. He watched as spells and spears and claws all missed the tiny, fast moving monsters. He watched as tiny stingers and venom slipped past scales and brought down dragons from the inside.
He ground his teeth as nothing came to mind. Of all the contingencies he had prepared for, a swarm of stinging insect monsters was not one of them! Heigiosa shouldn’t have had any monsters at all, how was he supposed to have prepared for this?!
But time was running out. He and his collaborators had lost control of the dragonkin, the lesser species fleeing in terror after the great wyrm was defeated. It would take the Tower Lords time to restore order. Time they did not have as one of the rivers of light made a beeline straight towards them.
Konilias scowled…and started flying back to a safe distance.
***
Heigiosa watched as the new champions of light drove away Konilias’ army. The survivors of the City Guard quickly rallied and rushed to complete the evacuation in the respite they had gained. The majority of her people would now be saved even should Konilias’ forces rally, while she remained secure within her Tower and avoided giving Konilias the opportunity she knew he sought.
And yet, tears streamed down Heigiosa’s cheeks as she watched the little bees, the brave champions of light who had saved her people.
Because they were all going to die. The children of the queen commanders, the devoted little acolytes she had instructed. Their little bodies simply couldn’t handle the amount of power Heigiosa and the God of Light had given them, the power necessary to enable worker bees to contend with dragons. She had warned them as much, both their queens and the workers themselves, before they took their oaths.
Not a single one had hesitated.
She turned to the two queens hovering around her with the pittance of workers they had remaining and bowed her head.
“Queen Commander of the First Bee Hive, Queen Commander of the Fourth Bee Hive, my fellow acolytes of Light…I will never forget this debt, and neither shall the God of Light. Thanks to the deaths of your children, the people of Light shall live.”
The queen commanders just danced a salute.
“Will protect Oracle and Oracle’s hive!”
Heigiosa lifted her head and smiled even through her tears.
“Better protectors I could not have prayed for.”
Heigiosa swore again to remember all of the defenders of light that fell, bees and humans alike…and never to forgive Konilias for this day. Then, she turned her attention back to the gods.
The missions received and completed continued on and on for some time. The will of the gods was abundantly clear. Heigiosa looked away…and to the monster bee queen spawners now filling the field ahead of her…and the new monster bee queens now crawling out of them.
“You wanted the Conclave to use monster armies, Konilias? Take heart, for by the will of the gods, I will fulfill your desire.”