The Bee Dungeon

POBee 366.2 - A Bees-ful Night's Rest

The Fourth of the Seventh’s First Communer clung to the edge of a wax cell, filled with the best honey in the hive of hives. She turned to the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter one last time.

“Empress mother sure? Sure worker should use good honey? Can use for more queens?”

The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter, the empress mother of the hive of hives and of the First Communer’s own joint hive, danced with firm steps.

“Sure. First Communer deserves, couldn’t let Fourth of the Seventh scout or manage hive of hives without. New queen helps, adds new hive to hive of hives. New evolution helps more, gives new bee to all hives. Need First Communer evolve.”

They had danced this dance several times already, the First Communer just wanted to finalize her resolve. As the former worker who managed the day to day operations of both the primary scouting hive and the hive of the hive of hives’ empress, she was more aware of the hive of hives than even many of the queens. She knew how much honey was needed by all the different hives for all their different tasks and how much effort the workers spent to make all that honey. It was hard for her to consider using it on herself, but her empress mother had convinced her. It was not only for the good of the hive of hives, it was also her queens’ command. It was even the King’s own command.

The Fourth of the Seventh, meanwhile, happily brushed her child’s antennae with her own.

“First Communer best communer! Let scout, raised amazing hive! Can’t wait to see evolve! Will be amazing, incredible!”

All the First Communer’s remaining doubts melted away as she burst out into a happy dance.

“Queen mother best mother!”

And so, the First Communer climbed into the cell and curled up to sleep. Her queen mother danced one final dance before her fellow workers sealed the cell.

“Say hi to Queen of All Bees!”

The First Communer found herself in a greater hive than she could ever imagine, a hive of hives that dwarfed her own. She saw gardeners and workers and honeypots arranged in tightly organized lines, creating the best honey that they could in the most efficient manner possible. She saw workers left to their own devices, flying and foraging and making honey as they each decided, yet still all contributing to the whole. She saw bees like the carpenters, where each bee was a queen and worker both.

And above them all, she saw the Queen of All Bees, the queen mother of all queen mothers. And, therefore, the queen mother of every worker. The First Communer flew over to her and began tapping her antenna against the Queen of All Bees chitin, attuning herself to the big queen’s pheromones and hive.

Only after she had finished did her mind begin consciously processing the situation. She danced a salute dance and then her greeting.

“Queen mother says hi to Queen of All Bees.”

The Queen of All Bees danced her reply.

“When done, say hi to Fourth of Seventh, best dungeon master Belissar, and Belissar’s hive of hives for.”

“Ok!”

The First Communer danced another salute, but the Queen of All Bees then started to stir up her mana.

“First Communer of the Fourth Queen of the First Dynasty of the Seventh Spawner needs decide own evolution”

The First Communer’s antennae twitched.

“Decide?”

The Queen of All Bees released pheromones conveying a complete sense of surety.

“First Communer different from other workers, communers. Others evolve with instinct, or instructed by queen’s mana. First Communer beyond instinct, First Communer’s queen mother’s mana instructs to choose by self.”

The First Communer...knew that to be true. Even now, her queen mother’s mana filled her with the latest dance and command her queen mother had given...that she was looking forward to the First Communer’s evolution. That she wanted to see something new and amazing and incredible, not something she could simply command her First Communer to become. It was up to the First Communer to find something on her own, something that would make her queen mother happy.

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“Ok, will.”

The First Communer didn’t hesitate. Honestly, deciding herself what her queen mother would want was basically what she did every day ever since the First of the Fifth offered the right to forage new flowers to her queen mother...possibly before that, if she was honest.

The Queen of All Bees did not reply with a dance. Instead, the First Communer’s vision faded...and was replaced with an image of herself.

The first image she saw...was that of a queen. A true queen, with all of the powers and capabilities that entailed. But...not a queen of her own hive, but rather part of another’s. A partner queen, one that lived in harmony with another hive and expanded it like her own.

The First Communer immediately danced the negative. Her queen mother was her hive’s queen, her empress mother their queen after that. She had no desire to become a queen of her own, all that she had achieved she had done as her queen mother’s faithful worker, even if that required her to go far beyond what a normal worker’s tasks.

The vision immediately shifted in response. The First Communer now saw herself back as a type of communer...as different types of communers. She saw one with big antennae that flew alongside her queen mother wherever she went, sending dances far and wide to keep her queen mother in contact with her hive no matter how far they flew. She saw herself as a dancer, not only passing on her queen mother’s will but realizing it, her dances empowering the workers that received them to better complete their tasks. She saw a communer that stood between the hives, binding them together like the drones did, able to perfectly balance a joint hive and make it one.

But one in particular stood out above all. A communer that not only received commands but that gave commands of her own, who organized the workers and whom the workers acknowledged. One who could sense her sisters as their queen did, who could feel the hive like their queen did. A communer that could act like a queen but was not one.

And that...well, was what she was already trying to be. Trying to organize the hive as a queen would so that her queen mother would be free to do as she pleased. With that evolution...she could truly set her queen mother free.

She made her choice and her vision faded as she drifted off to sleep...

In one of the bumblebee nests, a bunch of big wax pots sat in the center, their mana occasionally pulsing as new bumblebee queens grew inside. The pulses were becoming stronger and more frequent now. The bumblebee drones taking care of them received the mana, telling them it was soon time to leave the nest...though, only temporarily, since the bumblebees of the hive of hives would welcome them back. The drones informed their queens and then prepared to fly out first thing in the morning.

One of the wax pots pulsed with soft light alternating colors between golden yellow and lavender purple each time it sent out its mana, but it had done that before and the drones confirmed the queen inside was healthy, so they paid it no mind. They also paid it no mind when some of that glowing mana seeped down into the ground, into the mycelium network of the greenwood mushrooms that King had received from flower one and planted all across the flower rooms. The light traveled along the mycelium until it reached the roots of a growing plant. The light seeped into the roots, then the roots pulsed with soft forest green light that raced back the other way across the mycelium.

And as evening faded and night came, a bud sprouted from the Heart of the Forest. It rapidly grew in size over the night, nearly ready to bloom when the sun began to rise...

All through the night, soft mana pulses emanated through the hive of hives from communers and monster bee queens and bumblebees. All the bees of the hive of hives rested peacefully in their hives, their nests, or even out on the flowers under the clear night sky. They all had a sense, somehow, that tomorrow would be a good day, when the hive of hives would do amazing and incredible things for their home and their King...

A Tower Guard laid on his cot, staring up at the tent above him though he knew it was futile. The screeching noise went off again, as it had every minute for the past half hour or so. The Tower Guard had lost count at this point.

He ground his teeth but what could they do? Every single time the Tower Guard deployed, they found nothing. At some point, one of the higher ups set up guards within the camp and told everyone else to ignore the alarms. Unfortunately, the alarm spells had been specifically designed to be as loud and disturbing as possible, precisely to prevent a Tower Guard from sleeping through an attack.

Then, the alarms stopped. The Tower Guard knew better than to hope, but he still couldn’t help but bask in the blessed silence...though his heart pounded in anticipation of what was to come. And, sure enough, just when his eyes began to close, just when he began to hope that maybe, just maybe, he might get an ounce of sleep this night...the alarm went off again.

“HUNGER TAKE YOU, FEY!”

Groans and curses and angry shouts came from all around the guard. This had become a pattern, the fey would rotate constant, grating alarms with extended but all too brief bouts of silence, just enough for the guards to get their hopes up and start to rest before they resumed the barrage.

The Tower Guard clenched his fists, but there was nothing he could do. If only those Hunger-touched fey would show themselves...

“Hi there! Trouble sleeping?”

The Tower Guard stared, wondering if his exhausted mind was playing tricks on him. Because if not, then there was a little person with wings flying up above him with a grin on her face.

He blinked and rubbed his eyes, but still the little person remained, now giving him a small wave.

His mind finally caught up...and his face contorted in rage. He reacted on pure instinct, before even making a conscious decision, and unleashed his fire breath upon his hated foe...

When he was done, the little fey was gone...and his tent was on fire, sending the camp scrambling once more. His fire was not the first that night, nor would it be the last...