POBee 437.4 - The Essence of Bee-velopment

In the hive of the fallen after King’s council, Beero hovered before a bunch of workers waiting on a tray, with First Dronecaster at her side as usual. These were the workers of the fallen that had been acknowledged by King himself for their contributions in the latest battle. Beero had thus requested a portion of swirled honey for each and every one of them, which had duly been delivered.

Beero now hovered over to the nearest worker and covered herself with lightning. She tapped the worker with her antennae, sending a little zap of lighting into the worker, then began a dance.

“Welcome to hive of fallen!”

The worker danced a happy salute, then crawled into the swirled honey cell below her. Other workers came over and sealed up the cell with wax.

Then Beero moved to the next ward-making worker and repeated the process, on and on, personally welcoming each worker into the hive of the fallen as a warrior acknowledged by King. Before the night was over, the tray was full of capped cells, with new warriors of the fallen sleeping…and growing…within.

The hive of the fallen were not the only ones to received swirled honey that day. The First of the Fourth all but dove into an outsized cell full of it, drinking before the workers even sealed her in. She had fought in battle personally, won a victory with her own stinger, and now had powerful mana swirling within her. It was time for her to evolve.

Such was her excitement that it took her a while to lose consciousness. After all, how could she calm down?! From what the queens who evolved before her said, she was about to meet the Queen of All Bees, as well as all the warriors of the hive of hives who had fallen in battle, the bees who gave it their all and achieved victory at great sacrifice!

Eventually, instinct took over and she finally fell asleep. And, as the others had promised, she awoke in the Hive of All Bees, with the Queen of All Bees standing before her.

She immediately starting zipping around, before the Queen of All Bees could even dance.

“Amazing! Incredible!”

There was the Queen of All Bees, as big and powerful and majestic as the others had said! There were the queens of the First Dynasty of the First Spawner, the only queens to give their lives in battle! The only queens with the right to join the hive of the fallen!

And there were the soldier bees of the hive of hives who fought until the end! Including some of her own! There was the one she was especially proud of, one of the bees who had called down King’s fire upon herself and held the enemy down until they both burned! What greater defender could any queen ever ask for?

“Queen-mother? Queen-mother!”

Her soldier zipped over and landed on her, basking in her mana and pheromones. The First of the Fourth spread her mana to embrace her amazing and incredible soldier.

Then a big antennae tapped the First of the Fourth’s head and she remembered where she was. She danced a belated salute to the Queen of All Bees, but the bee of bees did not seem upset. Instead, the Queen of All Bees danced a question, asking the First of the Fourth how she wanted to grow.

The First of the Fourth already knew!

“Want fight! Want face enemies! Want fly ahead of soldiers and help!”

Because if she wanted to live up to her dead soldier’s courage, then her entire hive needed to fight with all it had. And it could not do so if the queen herself, the most powerful bee in the hive, could not fight as well.

And…she had been unable to do anything but watch the first few times her soldiers had fought, as they gave their lives on King’s behalf. She had been unable to do anything but watch when Frelis’ flower got hurt and the gardener that King and the Queen of All Flowers acknowledged became distraught.

The First of the Fourth had decided she had enough of watching. She enjoyed battle, she enjoyed defending King’s realm, but she did not enjoy her children’s pain. So…the solution was simple. She would be the one to fight, the first into battle. Her children would not be hurt before her, future battles would be fought and won with her own stinger.

Well, her dead soldier didn’t seem to approve, given that she started buzzing, but the Queen of All Bees was not so disturbed. Instead, the First of the Fourth was treated to visions of different kinds of queens, all of which had the power to fight. She even saw the one the Firstborn had chosen, a queen that not only fought but empowered others.

Stolen from NovelPhoenix, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

But the First of the Fourth’s attention was drawn elsewhere, to a queen that used all of her power for battle, and so became like a one-bee hive unto herself. She immediately began spinning and vibrating in an “Amazing, incredible!” dance and knew that was what she wanted.

Though, before she finished, she turned her attention to her buzzing soldier.

“Is ok! Soldiers and Firstborn taught how fight, won’t die! And even if die, hive of hives will take care of hive, so will just come here to take care of soldier! Will protect King like soldier did, can’t do less than soldier!”

Her soldier still didn’t seem happy, but slowly danced a salute. The Queen of All Bees then acknowledged her choice and the First of the Fourth fell asleep once more…

The First Chimeric Queen awoke to a new day, proving that she had not been killed in her sleep. She was only slightly surprised at that fact, she knew that the Great Essence-Weaver’s plans required her to remain alive, no matter how anxious her instincts got last night. She might be starting to adapt to her circumstances!

So, she remained only slightly surprised to find the hive still filled with workers and honey, or to find the workers had continued tending her brood instead of killing it. She set to work claiming the rest of the workers in the hive, at this point even her instincts acknowledged that she was safe here. She now had a prey hive of her own, an amazing, incredible achievement for a chimeric cuckoo bee that wasn’t even a day old yet!

She was starting to like the Great Essence-Weaver’s plan, even if it meant she couldn’t prey upon all the essence around her. Slowly acquiring the essence through honey and mana alone would be completely fine since she had been gifted an entire hive from the start, with the assurance that the prey would not kill her even though they knew she was there!

But then, a pulse of the monster bee empress’s mana surged through her, calling her to the front of her hive. The First Chimeric Queen had a brief rush of panic…before she recalled herself and forced her instincts down. She crawled to the hive’s entrance, trying her best not to be afraid. The monster bee empress would not harm her, on the Great Essence-Weaver’s orders, so long as she too obeyed their maker. She gathered herself instead, the monster bee empress would likely now reveal part of the plan. The First Chimeric Queen would be prepared for it this time, no matter how inconceivable it was to her instincts!

So, the First Chimeric Queen confidently strode out of her hive, her wings relaxed and her antennae held high…and then immediately froze once she stepped outside.

Outside of her hive, the monster bee empress was surrounded by soldier bees. The First Chimeric Queen nearly dove back into her hive on instinct, but forced herself to observe the situation first. She then noticed the soldiers were not extending their stingers…and had their legs wrapped around things.

The soldiers were carrying…pieces of honeycomb, of many different colors. Others were carrying larva moltings and cocoon debris. The soldiers began dropping off their cargo…right in front of her hive. In the meantime, the monster bee empress, the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter, began to dance.

“Hi First Chimeric Queen. Queen-mother wanted give honey and moltings, hopes will give essence? Says can grow hive first, but wants First Chimeric Queen visit once hive established so can try make new bees.”

The First Chimeric Queen’s mind failed her. The First of the Fifth, that prey bee that had so boldly approached her like no prey bee ever should have, was…gifting her all this? A smorgasbord of essence so vast and varied it would make up for the lack of brood to eat by far? A collection any chimeric bee would envy…and she was receiving it without effort? The monster bee empress’ queen-mother, presumably the most powerful prey bee created by the Great Essence-Weaver, was willingly empowering her most dangerous predator thus?

Try as she might, the First Chimeric Queen found herself unable to comprehend the situation once more. Truly, how vast and unknowable were the Great Essence-Weaver’s plans?

She stared up at the monster bee empress and at all the essence at the same time, but the monster bee empress danced no more. The First Chimeric Queen had enough monster bee essence to feel the empress’ mana and it seemed to remain calm. She gingerly crawled over to the one of the larva moltings and opened her jaws, watching the empress all the while. After all, this was perhaps the empress’ last chance to suppress her and prevent her from growing into a threat one day. Honey alone provided her sustenance and power, but only a bit of essence. A chimeric cuckoo bee with lots of mana but only basic aspects would be simple to handle, her growth would be slow and manageable.

Not so if she consumed these larva moltings and gained access to all the varied essence the Great Essence-Weaver had made. If she had access to all the warrior and evolved aspects, along with an entire hive of prey-workers to provide her with mana honey…she could quickly become a threat to any prey bee, maybe even an empress.

Both bees stood and hovered in place, the empress making no move to command all the soldiers around her to stop the chimeric bee. The First Chimeric Queen grabbed the molting with her mandibles and still the empress did not respond. So, the First Chimeric Queen began to chew.

Essence began to flood into her. She saw the hive that laid this larva. She saw the bee that this larva had become, and hints of different bees the larva could have become. This one had become a modified worker, one that specialized purely in honey production. Not the most useful aspect for a predator…though, maybe something could be done with the honeypot’s superior ability to process resources and imbue mana?

But…more important than the actual essence this molting provided was the fact that the First Chimeric Queen had consumed it and the monster bee empress had done nothing to stop her. In fact, the monster bee empress now started dancing once she was done eating. She danced with…approval?

“Let know if need anything else. Can’t give more workers yet because need prepare for Second Chimeric Queen, but have more honey if need.”

And with that, the monster bee empress flew off. The First Chimeric Queen stood still, pondering her confusing life….but eventually gave up and started to eat instead. If the prey bees were going to just hand her all this essence…then she may as well enjoy it.