tejoka

PotHQ: Chapter 33 (Draft)

Regina was living in a fantasy world now, something that could have come out of a story or movie in the vague memories she had of her former home. She hadn’t processed that fact well enough, hadn’t realized what it meant.

Now, as she considered the visitation by the woman that was clearly implied to be some kind of divine being, she cursed her short-sightedness. And her ignorance too, while she was at it. She’d known that the people of this world, or at least this region, believed in several gods. Given that elves and demihumans obviously existed, she should have considered that maybe physical gods did, too.

And here she was, if not the only Hive Queen in the world, then clearly the only one in a large area. Even if you disregarded whatever was up with her soul or memories or mind, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that she would be noticed. For all she knew, powerful wizards with oracular or clairvoyant powers had taken notice, too. Or maybe psychic dragons, or super-spy demihumans; she just didn’t know what was possible in this world.

She really needed to find out more about the names the woman had mentioned; presumably, two gods (given the comment about ‘divine favor’), and both of them apparently interested in her, though she didn’t know why, how much or what for.

For now, there was little she could do but keep an eye out and try to prepare. Regina had already decided that the next time elves came to visit, she would send at least one of her drones back with them, maybe even go herself. She wasn’t confident that she could find their city on their own, but the previous group had said they’d send tools.

Then there was the war. A part of her was irritated that they’d brought her in when they were clearly gearing up for a big conflict. It felt like she was getting played, and she did not like that. But Regina didn’t let that anger get out of hand. She would have probably done the same in their place, and they hadn’t even asked her for anything yet. Now, if she actually got drawn into this war, that would be a different story.

In the meantime, she focused on preparing and growing her hive. She’d already decided that she would focus on making more War Drones for now. Given the current situation, they could reliably and productively have several of them under control for every one of her sapient drones. Once she had a few dozen of them, she might focus on increasing the sapient drones’ numbers more heavily.

Regina went out a few more times to hunt down monsters, accompanied by a few of her warriors. They even took along a few War Drones. It seemed those could level up just like any other person, or monster. Sending them in groups against the weakest of monsters proved to be the best strategy to get them past the first level, although it took more fights that way. She’d already noticed that the System must adjust how much experience one gained for a fight based on several factors, like being in a party and everyone’s relative levels.

Regina reached level 11 a few days later, which increased her hive limit for sapient drones to twenty-eight and the limit for Swarm Drones to sixteen. She got the feeling that with a bit of practice or some more levels, she might actually be able to influence which of the caps got expanded. Although she didn’t really have anything concrete to base that supposition on, it was just a hunch.

For now, she filled up her limit of War Drones while the hive continued their expansion. They finished a few houses, though those were honestly little more than huts with four walls and a thatched roof. They also kept working on the defensive palisade, though that was slow going. Regina had marked out the part of the forest they would clear first, and started burning out the stumps of trees they’d felled. At least they were in no danger of running out of trees anytime soon, and clearing the forest further would give them more space to build on or use for other projects.

She used her Conjuration magic sparingly to create a few things they needed. Mostly, that meant small amounts of metal, which she already created in the basic shapes that were needed. She talked with Mia and made plans to start making charcoal and build a proper forge, although that would need to wait a little, since they had more important projects to tackle first, and not enough metal or ore to make it worthwile.

But she was starting to realize that what they needed most was still knowledge, and not just in the abstract sense, but practical know-how in how to make and use stuff on a medieval technology level. They could muddle through a bit with experimentation and the Workers’ instinct, but that would only take them so far. And while Regina might now a bit about electronic and more advanced technology, they just had no basis for building it. They needed to make the tools to make the tools to make something like an electrical generator. Although a proper waterwheel would probably be more useful at the moment.

That was what convinced her to call the meeting she was currently starting, gathered with her original four drones around the fireplace.

“We all understand how much we need more knowledge and understanding, my queen,” Mia said after she’d told them what she was considering. “But how much could we realistically hope to learn even if we sent someone to the human village?”

“They probably know at least some things that would be very useful,” Max said. “I think the issue is whether they would agree to teach us.”

The others nodded. “We don’t know anything about the situation there,” Tim said. “To be fair, that’s one reason that I do think we need to find out more. But it’s possible the Delvers are still there and would attack any drone they find. It’s even possible they’ve turned even the previously helpful humans against us so that those would do the same.”

“So, it’s risky even if it might be necessary,” Regina concluded.

“Yes, my queen,” Tim answered. “And not just for whoever we send, that’s not why I’m concerned. But do we want to tip them off that we’re still in the area?”

“Especially since we probably have much better odds of learning something useful from the elves,” Max added. “We’d just have to wait for their next group to come.”

“It would make us even more dependent on them, though,” Tia said.

Regina sighed and tugged on her mandibles. They all had good points.

“For now, we need to get a better idea of what’s happening over there,” she finally said. “The elves said that they’re rebuilding the fort, but I’d like to confirm that. Then it might be helpful even to just watch the village from a distance, and scout out the area a little more thoroughly.”

The drones nodded. “As you say, my queen,” Max said. “So who do you want to send?”

“I was going to ask one of the scouts.”

Max and Tim exchanged a look. “Then we should pick at least one or a few Warriors to go with them, my queen,” Max said. “There are still monsters around.”

Regina nodded. “Right. Not either of you two, though. I need you here.” And she didn’t want to risk them. Besides her personal attachment, they were her most experienced and highest-level warriors.

Neither of them looked happy, but they didn’t protest or point out that they were the only ones who’d actually been there. “Then I suggest Ben and Dan, my queen,” Tim said. “They’re the highest level after us. I’d put Ben in charge, he has a good head on his shoulders.”

“Alright,” she said. “Make the arrangements, then.”

Half an hour later, they set off, Ada accompanied by the two young Drone Warriors. Regina had debated sending a few War Drones along, but decided against it. They were too weak to be much use, considering they’d need to level up a lot just to have the same stats as a normal level 1, and she didn’t want to send too big a group.

With that matter taken care of, Regina tuned her attention to the next important point she wanted to consider: The structure of their settlement and the hive. She met with Mia and Tia again while Max and Tim went off to help the other warriors hunt or cut down trees.

“You can probably guess what I wanted to talk about,” she began. “Do we need or want an underground component of this hive?”

Mia frowned thoughtfully. The three of them sat around the low burning campfire, and she perched on top of a tree stump, dangling her legs. In contrast, Regina sat on a small pile of monster pelts, which had to be more comfortable.

“The boys would probably say that it would have a lot of defensive potential,” Tia said when Mia didn’t speak up right away. “Especially if we have actual tunnels and stuff.”

Regina nodded. “I know. But how feasible is it? Can we do a proper underground hive system?” If they could build something like that, it would be great, but so far she’d hesitated. At least log cabins weren’t likely to collapse if someone didn’t dig correctly or get flooded.

“It should be possible,” Mia said. “I wouldn’t like to dig too close to the lake, though. But farther up, especially in the direction of the rocky hills we saw before, it should be better.”

“So, it might be better to wait until our base is a little better established and we can expand?” Regina asked.

Mia and Tia exchanged a look, then shrugged. “If you want my recommendation, my queen, I think we can start right away,” Mia said. “We’ll just have to keep working on it and expand further in time. Besides, having longer tunnels that connect different places would be one of the advantages of something like this, right?”

“I’ll defer to your expertise,” Regina said with a small smile. “Alright, let’s do it this way, then. I’d like one of you two to take charge of that project.”

“Maybe I could do it, my queen?” Tia offered. “Then Mia could keep working on the houses and other buildings.”

Tia nodded, seemingly agreeing with that suggestion.

“Okay. Then you’re responsible for the fortifications and the underground part, Tia, and you for the rest of the work, Mia,” Regina said.

She paused and considered the situation for a moment, while Mia and Tia left to get to work. They were starting to get something like a real organization. It was probably inevitable that the older and more experienced drones would end up in charge of their fields. The need to allocate the War Drones just reinforced that. At least she hadn’t noticed any signs of resentment from the other drones.

Regina glanced at their budding village. She was living in one of the cabins at the moment. The drones had insisted on giving her one to herself. They shared the others, and from what she heard, were happy with it and wouldn’t have wanted their own bedrooms anyway. The War Drones usually slept outside in the old shelters, though there were always a few drones on watch at night.

It was probably about time to suit actions to words and organize some regular self-defense training for all of the Workers. They should work out more of a schedule, too. Regina liked having dinner with all of her hive. It gave her the opportunity to see all of them, even those she hadn’t talked to much.

She sighed, stood up and stretched. It was time to do some more training. She’d rationed all of her magic, but now that she had a little spare mana, she was determined to finally get that Firebolt spell worked out.

She wanted to learn a healing spell, too. She felt like she’d been close. That would need someone to be injured, though. Unless she could practice it on some monsters or animals that were injured in a hunt or not killed? Who knows, maybe making them capture something alive will be good practice for the warriors, anyway. Regina smiled to herself and walked to a tree stump she’d chosen as a target.

In her fifth try, she finally managed to set it on fire with her new attack. Shaping the mana correctly wasn’t easy, but her control had improved, and she still remembered the pattern precisely.

Regina grinned, focusing and forming another spell. She had a headache already and felt like she’d run for a few hours, but she wouldn’t let that stop her. After a moment, the streak of fire flew from her hand and crashed into the tree stump, making it smolder.

She pulled up her spells window, basking in the accomplishment.

[Spells:

Spark

Magic Missile

Lesser Basic Conjuration

Firebolt]

Regina smiled to herself and staggered off to find something to eat. Learning more spells would probably get harder from here.

PotHQ: Chapter 32 (Draft)

Whatever Regina might have been in a previous life before she came to wake up in the egg of a Hive Queen, she was pretty sure it hadn’t been something practical. Like an architect or engineer.

She felt the lack when she looked at the buildings they’d erected. Her hive finally had two log cabins and was in the process of building the third structure. They were bare, rectangular things, with no decorations or finesse. As Regina compared them to the skeleton of the next one, she couldn’t help but wonder if they would collapse.

Then she shook her head and turned away. She was being too negative. Besides, she might have been someone in the medical field, she did seem to have a bit of medical knowledge. That could be useful.

She walked over to Tia and Bea, who were working on the other project. They’d already dug a ditch that was at least fifteen meters long, with a corresponding mound of earth behind it. That was where they’d put sharpened stakes to make a palisade. It was about the best defensive fortification they could build under the circumstances. Still, it would take a while to finish.

“How is it going, girls?” Regina asked.

Tia looked up. “I think the amount of dirt I can remove when I use my Class Skill is increasing slightly, my queen. But it is still going slowly.”

Regina nodded. “That’s interesting, and don’t stress yourself too much about it. We knew this would take some effort.”

“It would also be helpful if you could finalize and mark out where you want the line to be, my queen.”

“I’ll talk to Max and the others about it. Although you should probably be part of that conversation, as well, Tia.” Regina glanced up at the sky to gauge the time, a habit she’d found herself developing. “Let’s say, today at dinner?”

“Whenever suits you, my queen. Is there anything else I can help you with?” Tia said.

“Not really, I’m just making the rounds. Keep up the good work.”

Regina nodded at them, then turned around. While their new home wasn’t quite the makeshift camp it had been, calling it a settlement would still be a bit of a stretch. Things were going well, though. They’d only been here for a few days, and that it was taking shape already probably said good things about her drones’ competence and motivation.

Regina strolled away from the two Workers and in a curve around the perimeter of the camp. She found herself a little lost, unsure what to do in general and how best to put her skills to use. She didn’t even have a clear picture of what her skills were.

She had been considering it and come to the conclusion that the issue was that she didn’t really have a clear goal. She wanted to build up her hive, sure, but what for? There was the question of how she’d come to be in this situation, but she didn’t exactly have many leads in figuring it out. In a way, things had been easier when they were running from the monster horde or trying to deal with the humans. For now, Regina thought that she wanted to get a clearer picture of the state of affairs in this world, and she would feel safer going out and trying to get information with a stronger base, a stronger hive. Which kind of puts me back at square one. Ugh. Maybe I just need to wait until it’s large enough to actually need a queen.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Dan, one of the younger Warriors, ran up to her. “My queen! Ace just came back with news.”

Regina turned to him and glanced toward the forest. “What did he find, did you hear?”

“He said that we’re going to have visitors from the forest, my queen.”

Regina nodded, then started hurrying towards there, with Dan falling into step behind her. Max was already there, talking to the young Scout.

“I hear we’re getting visitors?” she asked.

“A group of elves,” Max said. “They were going to come sooner or later, weren’t they?”

“I saw five elves, but there might have been more, my queen,” Ace reported. “They were all armed. That was about ten minutes at a run from here.”

That meant they were coming quickly. Regina nodded, then stepped forward. “Alright. Dan, go get Mia and Tia. It’s probably best if we have the drones who dealt with them before here.”

“You’re not going to try to hide the rest, my queen?” Max asked.

Regina hesitated for a moment, then shook her head. “That’s not going to work, at least not in the long term.” She frowned, considering if she should at least hide the War Drones, but then decided it wasn’t a good idea. “Besides, it would be foolish to assume that they didn’t already have a scout with stealth abilities check in on us. If not before, then for this trip.”

They didn’t have much time to prepare, and Regina didn’t see the point in doing much. If anything, this just showed her that she needed to have better eyes on her territory and its surroundings. They could have easily missed the visitors at all.

The elves came out of the forest a few minutes later. It was a group of three men and three women, which meant they had indeed had at least one more person in the treetops or elsewhere on the way.

“Welcome,” Regina greeted them. She stepped forward and smiled. “It’s nice to get visitors. I know our little settlement isn’t much, but we’re working on it.”

The man in the lead bowed his head slightly. It wasn’t anyone she recognized, although Regina had taken a look at what the System showed her for all of them. Unsurprisingly, they were all higher leveled. “Thank you, Hive Queen,” he responded. “You seem to have made good progress in a short time, simply judging by what I can see here.”

“Thank you.” Regina stepped back to invite them to come closer. “We can at least offer you some food and water. I have to admit I’m curious to hear what brought you here.”

They walked further inside, to the fireplace at the center of their camp. She saw the elves looking around curiously.

“Curiosity is what brought us here, in the main,” the leader answered. According to the System, he was named Lianan. “We wanted to check up on your group and perhaps give you some help if you needed it.”

Regina nodded. She gestured at some seats around the fire, little more than some grass that had been pressed down, and sat herself. “That is appreciated. You represent your government, then?”

He tilted his head slightly. “We do, yes.”

“Well, what we need most at the moment is, I think, good tools and perhaps weapons. Unfortunately, I don’t think we have much to trade for them with, at least not yet.”

The elf nodded. “I understand. We may be able to provide some tools to help you get started. Unfortunately, weapons are a different story. I’m afraid our government will not be able to spare those.”

Regina narrowed her eyes. She glanced at Max, who stood beside her and was clearly listening attentively, then back at the elves. “As I said, I am happy to have you visit, but why now? We have not been here long, and I was under the impression it was not a trip of just a few hours.”

Lianan looked undecided for a moment, before he nodded. “The journey would take several days ordinarily, yes, although that can be shortened for those with higher levels.”

That was interesting fact which Regina tucked away in her head carefully, but she didn’t want to get distracted.

“So there is a reason you are coming now?”

Another elf spoke up now, a woman with orange eyes who was apparently called Nias. “Yes. We have also come to warn you. Events are afoot that might impact you, and in any case we are to let you know, and see if there is perhaps even something you could contribute.”

“I’m all ears. What is this about?”

Lianan answered. “About three months ago, there was a raid on an elven enclave near the Brightvers Forest. That is several weeks’ travel roughly northwest of here. The locals found evidence that the local human kingdom we share a border with, Nerlia, was involved. The border has been disputed for a while, and we have disagreed over the ownership of the silver mines nearby, as well as the management of the monster spawning grounds in the area. In retaliation, the local detachment of the Guard raided an outpost that served as a base for adventurers and soldiers, trying to secure evidence. Unfortunately, the son of a local human noble was caught up in it and maimed in the fighting. To cut a long story short, there were several escalating incidents, and our attempts at diplomacy failed. The Nerlian king has officially declared war and mustered his armies.”

Regina sat back and crossed her arms, considering that. “So you are at war?”

He inclined his head affirmatively.

Well, that’s … interesting news. Regina frowned. This made her see a lot of what had happened with the elves in a new light. No wonder they didn’t want to send weapons, they probably needed all they had for themselves.

“I have to admit I’m not very familiar with the local geopolitical landscape,” she said. “How big of a threat is this?”

Nias grimaced. “We could handle Nerlia alone. Unfortunately, they have an alliance with the local human kingdom here, Cernlia. They might very well join the war soon.”

She glanced out over the lake. “This is the kingdom to which the village and the castle that fell to the horde belong?”

“They have retaken and are rebuilding the castle,” Lianan said. “But yes, indeed.”

Regina looked at her drones. They all seemed concerned.

“How much danger are we in?” Max asked.

Lianan and Nias exchanged a look. “We cannot say,” Lianan answered. “I do not think they will send soldiers here, but if they do, your settlement might be at risk. It is simply too close. And if they learn of our, well, relationship, they may consider you targets.”

“Well, thank you for letting us know,” Regina said. She fell silent for a moment, then shook her head. “We might be able to help, if not now, then soon. But I cannot make any promises.” This was just bad timing. If they had even a few more weeks, she’d feel much better prepared. As it was, sending just a few War Drones wouldn’t be more than a token gesture.

Lianan nodded. “We understand, and thank you for your understanding.”

That seemed to be all that the elves had wanted here, and they quickly prepared to leave again. Regina wondered if she felt offended that they hadn’t even accepted any food from them, but then she realized that she had no idea what elves ate, they might all be vegetarian, and most of what her hive had was monster meat.

She accompanied them back to the edge of the forest and exchanged polite goodbyes with the two leaders. The elves set off back into the trees.

When she turned to leave, she paused. There was something else there. She couldn’t hear or see it, but there was another scent in the air. She turned and frowned at the space to the side, where an old tree’s thick branched offered a good perch. “And who are you?”

The air shimmered and another woman appeared. She floated down to the ground as if gravity didn’t mean anything to her. “Oh, shoot. I must be losing my touch. Too long since I dealt with a race with such an enhanced sense of smell.”

Regina frowned. The woman’s scent was odd. The closest she could compare it to was the charged feeling in the air during a thunderstorm, before lightning struck. That comparison didn’t make any sense, but it was weird.

At first she’d thought the visitor was just another blonde elf, but on a second look she wasn’t so sure. While she did have pointed ears, her skin still looked just a little shimmery, her features seemed more human than elven, and her eyes were a very light gray that might be closer to silver, without the reflective quality of elves’ eyes. Regina focused on her for a long moment, but the System refused to pop up any information.

“I don’t mean to be rude,” she said, taking a step back and glancing at the Warriors stepping up beside her. This person was obviously powerful. “But I’d like to know who you are and what you’re doing here.”

“Watching you, of course,” the woman replied lightly, as if it didn’t matter. “Don’t worry, I was just leaving anyway. I just thought it would be interesting to see how you react to the news of a war. Tell me, are you thinking of participating?”

Regina resisted the urge to clench her hands. A part of her was really not happy about being questioned by a stranger showing up uninvited in her territory, and only their obvious strength kept her from showing it. “I don’t think so. Do you think I should?”

“You’re asking for my advice?” The woman clapped her hands together once. “Interesting indeed! I suppose Alianais might be onto something with you.”

That didn’t sound like she was going to get an answer. Regina paused, unsure what to say. “Alianais?”

“Oh, you’re just precious!” The strange woman grinned again, then turned to go. “Ciao for now, little Hive Queen.” Then she looked back and winked. “I wouldn’t depend too much on divine favor if I were you, kid. Benerron might have stuck his fingers in, but you’re just as likely to get burned than given a parasol, if you catch my drift.”

She disappeared. In an instant, none of Regina’s senses could detect her anymore.

She still stood there, staring at the spot where the woman had been for a moment. Regina shook her head, not sure what to think at all.

PotHQ: Chapter 31 (Draft)

It started to rain the day after Regina reached level 10. A light drizzle at first, that slowly turned into a pounding rain pouring down on them as they day wore on. Regina and her drones gritted their teeth and continued with their work.

Lots of animals seemed to seek shelter from the rain, and it hampered visibility as well, so Regina kept the Warriors close. With the additional help, despite the weather, work on their log cabin proceeded quickly. They cut down trees and prepared logs to use in building it. Max and Tim’s higher Con stat seemed to have made their blade-limbs tougher, tough enough that they could use them to chop down trees relatively well.

The rain continued through the night, but their shelters kept the worst of it off them. Regina heard the wind howling through the branches of the trees, but it never quite turned into a real storm. By the time the sun started to rise, the rain was tapering off, and the clouds parted to let some sunshine through. The western horizon showed a truly breathtaking rainbow that made Regina wish she had a camera to capture the sight.

Their meadow had turned to mud in a few places, but overall it was in pretty good shape. They were far enough from the river not to have to care about any flooding, and the little lake wasn’t going to be much of a problem even swelling with runoff water. Regina told herself that it could have been a lot worse. She wanted some proper walls by the time a real storm came, though.

She took a break from working in the woods to go to the lake and try to catch some fish with Tia and Tim. It turned out that her Magic Missile worked just as well underwater, so even without proper equipment, she could contribute. Tia used one of the crude spears they’d fashioned, while Tim preferred to dive. He was really good at crouching at the bottom of the lake’s shallows, still and hidden, then pouncing on an unsuspecting passing fish. His stats probably had something to do with it.

“My queen, maybe we should start trying to smoke some meat or fish,” Tia suggested. “Winter is going to come eventually, and there might be times when we don’t have time or opportunity to go hunting.”

Regina nodded. “That’s true. And we can’t rely on just meat for long. I don’t want to overhunt the area. Or even on the greenery. We don’t know if we can really sustain ourselves on that long-term.”

Tia cocked her head, looking thoughtful. “Do you want to start cultivating crops?”

Regina sighed and shrugged. “We’ll have to. I just wish we knew how best to do it or had some seed grains. Maybe we can gather some wild grains, but I’m not sure how well that’ll work.”

“Is it even the right time of the year for that?” Tim asked.

“I don’t know. I’m sure there are some crops that you can plant in the summer.”

Regina stretched where she was sitting on the grass, glancing around. It was a nice day, even with the smell of rain still in the air. She couldn’t bring herself to be too worried about food or crops. They’d get by, and they were still only starting out. Besides, she was sure she could trade something with the elves eventually.

Then she made herself get up. She ripped out some grass and ate it, just to try it out. It tasted surprisingly bitter and she had to chew it a bit, but overall it wasn’t so bad. Regina started walking up and down the lake, assessing her surroundings. The lake wasn’t large, but it would let them build and test boats later on, and the connection to the river would be useful for transport.

Just as she returned to the spot closest to the forest, Regina paused. She felt something shift again. This time, the sensation was different from the last, but she still had an idea of what it meant. Although it had only been two days, not three.

She briefly dipped into the connection she had to her hive as she turned and walked back, checking where everyone was. Max and most of the others were still working in the woods close to the shelters, though Ben plus Ace and Ada, the two new Scouts, were out patrolling.

By the time she arrived, the new hatchlings had apparently managed to free themselves of their eggs and stepped out into the open. There, they simply stood, still except for the way their eyes, antennae and occasionally heads tilted to take in their new environment.

Regina paused, coming to a stop a few meters away, and scrutinized them. The War Drones were clearly smaller than the other drones, and built somewhat differently. While their upper limbs had blades similar to the Warriors, their middle ones seemed to be designed to let them walk on four legs as easily as two. They had something resembling hands, though they were stubby, covered in their shell material and four-fingered.

But the most obvious difference wasn’t in their physical appearance, but in their minds. Since she picked her Class Ability, Regina had been more aware of the drones’ minds and found it easier to sense them. She didn’t even need to try with these Swarm Drones; they didn’t seem to have much of a barrier and almost automatically linked with her. And what she found was both easier and harder to interpret. They had the same senses and carried information as easily, but the drones’ own cognitive processes were basic.

Frowning, Regina picked one at random and dove deeper into it. She felt what it felt; the wind, the ground under its feet, the movement of the leaves in the trees, and more. But its feelings were erratic and transient, and barely went beyond hunger, warmth, companions — and something she found hard to put into words, but was something like duty. There was no real, higher-level thought. No awareness of itself as an entity.

Regina let out a deep breath and took a step forward. “Move forward,” she told them.

At once, the War Drones obeyed her command, walking a few steps forward. All of their attention was on her.

Regina frowned. This was very interesting. Then she focused and sent a mental command to the left-most drone. On cue, it started stepping back, then circling the others, then jumping into the air and finally cutting down a thick branch from a tree.

She took a moment to direct her attention to her telepathic sense again and focused on Max, sending a short message. She couldn’t really communicate with actual language and detailed thoughts, not yet. But it worked for simple ideas like ‘Come here’. Sure, she could have just called him over the normal way, she was trying to practice.

In the meantime, she focused on one of them again and tried to focus her attention in a way she’d come to associate with accessing the System. Right away, its status screen appeared.

[War Drone 

Level: 1

Mana: N/A

Con: 8 Str: 8

Dex: 8 End: 8

Int: 4 Wis: 4]

Regina frowned. It looked like they had considerably lower stats than other drones or people. Forty in total instead of sixty. And obviously low mental stats, although that raised the question if they could get smarter if they leveled up. Still, they weren’t so weak that they wouldn’t be a threat with superior numbers.

“My queen?” Max asked as he came to a stop beside her. “So, the new drones hatched. You called for me?”

Regina nodded and looked back at the Swarm Drones. “Order them to do something.”

Max frowned, but he turned his attention to them and took a step forward. “War Drones, form up in two ranks,” he said loudly.

The War Drones immediately formed two lines, although they were a little uneven since they were an odd number.

Max looked back at Regina, who shrugged. Then he continued, “Stand on two legs and jump into the air. Alright. Uh, patrol around this clearing in pairs while one of you stays here.”

That took a moment longer, and Regina felt an echo of more frenetic mental activity, but in the end the middle War Drone stayed in its place while the other four walked off straight away from it.

“It seems like that’s about the limit of what they can handle,” Regina noted.

Max looked thoughtful. “They’re not like us, are they?”

“No. They don’t seem to be sapient, as far as I can tell. And, well, I can definitely tell, with the telepathic connection To be honest, I feel like maybe I was supposed to get access to them first and your kind of drones later, but who knows.”

“What does this mean for us?”

“For starters, I’m going to lay another five of these eggs as soon as my mana refills.” Regina shrugged. “I think this development increases the hive’s strength a lot.”

Max nodded. The two of them turned and slowly started heading back towards the others through the trees. They paused as they passed two of the War Drones patrolling in a rough circle around the clearing, walking side by side on four legs.

“Forgive me if this is out of line, but you seem pretty happy about this,” Max observed.

Regina blinked and looked at him, then shrugged. “To be honest, I feel a little relieved. They’re quickly produced and don’t take as much mana out of me, and not being self-aware, they’re expendable combatants. More expendable, I mean. If we have to fight, I’d rather risk some of them than one of my Warriors.”

Max nodded. They’d stopped, close enough to hear the others at work, but still surrounded by trees. “All of us would gladly risk our lives for you and the hive, but I definitely agree, for what it’s worth.”

Regina ran hand through her hair, which was still little more than stubble. “I know.”

They stood there for a few seconds, looking at the War Drones and listening to the sounds of the others. Regina wasn’t in a hurry to move. Instead, she listened to their minds with half of her attention.

“It feels a little weird, doesn’t it?” Max finally said. “To me at least. I can’t imagine how it must feel like to you.”

“It does feel odd,” she said. “I mean, I laid their eggs.”

“They’re your children,” he said, tilting his head.

“Yeah. Although it feels really weird to think of them like that, having children that are non-sapient.” She exhaled and shook her head. “I mean, I know I haven’t been the best mother, but …”

Max shifted uncomfortably. After a moment, he laid a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t be too hard on yourself, Regina.”

She looked up, met his eyes. “That’s a case in point. You’re calling me by name because I’m not comfortable being called ‘mother’.”

Max winced a little and withdrew his hand, but he didn’t look away. 

“There will be too many of us, there already are,” he said after a moment, “for you to act like a parent in your human memories.”

This time it was Regina’s turn to look away. “I know,” she said quietly.

The underbrush rustled as Max stepped forward. “The knowledge you have, that our hive has, is a huge advantage, and it probably colors our view of the world. But I’m sure our species must do things differently.”

“I know,” she said, looking back.

In his eyes, she read an unspoken question. Do you know? But Max was too respectful to say it.

“When did you grow up so much?” she said with a light smile, breaking the moment. “Come on, let’s join the others.”

They turned and kept walking back, while Regina tried not to dwell on the conversation. She focused on the link to the Swarm Drones in her mind and called them back. She should probably feed them first, and then they could be useful helping with the work.

They reached the other drones quickly and caused a bit of a stir with the arrival of the War Drones. Regina watched with a smile as the work got abandoned and they started admiring and testing out the new troops.

Then she glanced at her status screen to distract herself.

[Regina Hive Queen 

Level: 10

Mana: 176/270

Hive: 10/25, 0 Swarm: 5/10, 0

Con: 12 Str: 12

Dex: 12 End: 12

Int: 15(+1) Wis: 14]

It now showed not just her regular old sapient Hive drones but also her Swarm Drones. Her mana had also increased a bit with the new drones hatching. It could still go further, although Regina wasn’t quite sure how many slots she wanted to fill in the hive. She’d probably level again before she could reach the limit, anyway.

Regina shook her head and mentally ordered the War Drones to get to work cutting down trees and hacking off branches. She’d have to experiment to see how detailed her commands could and would need to get, and how well her other drones could mimic it. They were presumably supposed to lead parts of the Hive’s Swarm.

Interlude: Embers

The monster roared, shaking the leaves of the nearby trees. But she could tell that it was a roar of pain. It crouched, blood dripping from the Lionit’s side.

Janis took a step back, her focus narrowing on her opponent. She breathed deeply, feeling her mana spread through her body and forcing it into shape. It twisted, almost slipping through her mental fingers. A drop of sweat dripped down her forehead and she blinked. Then she was ready and she cast the Spell.

A Magic Missile shot out of her hand, slamming into the wound on the monster’s side. The Lionit made a high-pitched yipping sound as it was thrown off its feet. It struggled for a few moments more, but finally lay still. Janis reached up a hand to rub her eyes.

[You have leveled up]

“Gods yes!” She stumbled over to an overturned rock and sat down, stretching out her legs, still grinning. She’d done it. She had learned Magic Missile, and she had reached level 10.

Janis sat there for a minute, recovering her breath. She felt too elated to care about her tiredness, the blood on her dress or the badly-wrapped gash in her left forearm.

She’d been stuck in level 7 for what felt like ages, even if it had really only been a few months. Then she’d finally reached level 8 helping defend the village against monsters. That had been the day the Delvers came. Her grin slipped from her face at the memory, and she took a deep breath and made an effort to release the tension in her body.

She’d gone out frequently since then, hunting monsters, at first near her village and then going into the outskirts of the forest. Janis shook her head at herself. After she’d lost her parents, she’d promised herself she would never become an adventurer, and look at her now.

But it had paid off. In only a week, she’d gained two levels. Of course, she knew she’d only gained that last level because of Magic Missile. Most people might not know, but one of the benefits of leveling without a Class was that the System would reward you for different things, not just accomplishments in line with your Class. Learning a Spell by herself must have got her a nice sum of experience.

Janis smiled again. Now that she’d reached level 10, it was time to finally get her class. With a shift of her attention, she pulled up the screen.

[You may choose your Class. This choice will define yourself and your path forward. It cannot be be undone. Choose wisely. Based on your racial characteristics, past actions and personal accomplishments, the System has selected the following Classes for your consideration.]

Below that was a list of Classes. Janis whistled silently as she read through it. There were more choices than she had expected, at least twenty. Focusing on any of them made a new screen expand, giving her a bit of information on it. But she quickly breezed past them. There was a lot that she didn’t care about, from Baker’s Apprentice (probably because she’d helped out at the village bakery a bit) to Hunter (these little excursions, presumably) to Disciple (she had no idea where that came from).

But she’d finally gotten the choice she wanted. Janis hesitated as she saw that the System offered her the option of Fire Mage as well as Mage. For a moment, she wavered, tempted to choose it. But then she shook her head. Old, almost forgotten advice from her father rang in her ears, warning her not to over-specialize. Besides, she didn’t want to restrict herself, not when it came to this. It might be childish, but she daydreamed of being able to fly. She’d need air magic for that, not fire. And she remembered the old adventurer who’d passed through Forest’s Haunt years ago, who she’d talked to for hours and persuaded to test her magical talent. She had an affinity for air magic as well, not just fire.

With her choice made, the System screen dissolved in a shower of colorful sparkles, and her bones thrummed like someone was blaring an inaudible trumpet. Janis shivered, feeling a warmth spreading throughout her body. She sensed her mana rise and vibrate for a long moment, before it calmed again. Then she stood up and flexed her hands. She felt a lot better now, like all of her prior pain and tiredness had been swept away. Grinning again, Janis called up her status sheet.

[Janis

Mage

Level: 10

Mana: 250/250

Con: 10 Str: 9

Dex: 10 End: 12

Int: 15 Wis: 14]

Janis nodded to herself, happy with what she saw. Then the echo of a far-off howl brought her back to reality. She stood up, glancing at the corpse of the monster she’d killed and at the sky. Usually, she would skin and harvest it here, but the sun was sinking and night would fall soon. She didn’t like the thought of leaving it behind, especially since the pelt and teeth would make her a nice profit. But as her mother used to say, you couldn’t spend any money if you were dead, and she didn’t fancy the thought of being in the forest at night, even if she was barely a few meters in. So she grabbed her hunting knife, secured her pack, and set off back to the village.

She felt her excitement drain out of her with every step and chided herself for it. The village might not be where she wanted to be, but it was her home for now. And her aunt might actually be worried for her, even if the old shrew wouldn’t show it.

Janis emerged from the forest quickly and crossed the fields towards the village, putting her newfound energy to good use. It was still getting noticeably dim outside by the time she reached it.

Janis frowned as she saw the soldiers standing by the entrance on the main road. The Delvers had finally left a few days ago, but things still hadn’t gone back to normal. At least she could finally walk around in the village without feeling like she was constantly being watched.

She pulled the strap of her pack tighter as she remembered what happened a week ago. She’d often found her thoughts straying to Regina, the strange ‘Hive Queen’, over the last week. And it wasn’t just because she was the reason Janis had learned her new Spell. The girl had shown her something she hadn’t seen in all the years she’d lived in the village and barely realized she missed. It felt odd to consider her like that, since she was only a fifteen-year-old girl, whatever her Class. But she hadn’t acted like a girl, she’d acted like a woman. A confident, if not quite regal, woman, sure of her power and her responsibilities.

Janis was no idiot and realized that Regina had seen her as a useful contact at best. An illusion of friendship was not why she’d headed out that day, resolved to do what she could to try and free her from the Delvers’ clutches. It was for the best that there had been no need to, of course. Janis hadn’t told anyone about her encounter, but she had been pondering it.

Although going out to search for a mysterious demihuman with unknown intentions in the wilderness sounded a lot like adventuring.

And there was the way Regina had looked at her in that alleyway, assessing. For a moment, she thought she’d seen what she’d rather not let people know. Janis frowned to herself at the thought, then glanced around at the village. She had reached level 10 far more quickly than someone without a class should. Still, she didn’t think any of the villagers would notice or realize anything. If the baron heard of it, he might, but she didn’t think he would say anything. As far as she knew, no one in Forest’s Haunt suspected that she was anything but completely human.

“He, Janis!”

She glanced up and blinked. Ty, the smith’s son, was carrying bags of ore out of his father’s shop without a shirt on. When he caught her gaze, he set it down and waved, tensing his muscles a bit more than was perhaps necessary.

Janis returned a small wave and quickly hurried on, forcing herself not to make a face. She knew that her aunt had been talking to Ty’s mother about arranging a betrothal. Janis could already hear her nagging her again about finding a husband and settling down. Yes, the boy was strapping and had a secure future, but it would take a lot more than that for her to let anyone tie her to this village, to a life like this. Besides, his family was most likely only interested because she had high Int and Wis stats.

By the gods, most of the people in this village could barely read and write. At least Janis had had the benefits of a real education, before. Her parents hadn’t been the most successful of adventurers, but they’d done well enough. Her life in the city sometimes felt like a pleasant dream, separated from her life by almost a decade of dirt and drudgery. Janis sometimes felt like it would be hard to find a more backwards place. Not that she was going to tempt fate by saying so.

Still, a voice in the back of the head was questioning her resolve. At least adventuring was one of the few careers where women could act almost equal to men.

Janis paused as she finally reached her aunt’s home, surprise pushing away her dark thoughts. After a glance at the black courser tied to the wooden post, she opened the door and entered with a smile.

“Janis! Good to see you. You look healthy.”

“Uncle Rich.” Janis closed the door and returned his hug, before she stepped back and looked the man over.

Her great-uncle had reached a high enough level that his aging had slowed. Although she knew he was at least sixty, he still looked like a middle-aged man. His black hair showed some gray, but he was still tall and broad with muscles instead of fat. His clothes looked dusty from travel, but still of finer make than hers, as expected for a knight in the service of the local marquis.

“Are you staying for dinner, Sir Richard?” her aunt asked, bustling out of the small attached kitchen. A few strands of red hair had broken free and were dangling down her face, and she’d rolled up the sleeves of her old dress slightly.

“No, thank you, madam Marian. I won’t be able to stay for long.”

“Janis, go stoke the fire!” Aunt Marian barked. “And make sure you clean your shoes properly this time.”

Janis rolled her eyes and went to do as she bid. With Spark, it didn’t taker her long, and she returned to the main and only room of the house quickly. Then she sat down on the chest opposite Uncle Rich.

“I’ve got news, Uncle. But first, what brings you here?”

“I was sent to talk to the baron, and I wanted to check on you,” he replied. His smile quickly faded into a serious expression.

Janis sat up straighter. She hadn’t seen him in almost a year and was looking forward to talking to him, but this seemed serious. “Has something happened?”

“You could say that, although it’s nothing that concerns you directly. But the conflict between the elves and the Nerlian kingdom has escalated.”

Janis paused. “You mean they’re going to start a war?”

He let out a small sigh. “The war has already started. We just got word from the capital. The Nerlians have already mustered their armies and they’re most likely fighting their first battle as we speak.”

Janis drummed her fingers on her thigh, trying to remember everything she knew about the situation. A cold shiver trickled down her spine. “But that means we’re going to be called on to join them, doesn’t it? The king is married to a princess from Nerlia, right? So … ”

Her Uncle shook his head and leaned forward. “I’m not sure, but I would guess that is likely. My lord has already implied that I would be given command of some levies we’d send to Nerlia.”

Janis grimaced. “They’re calling up levies?”

He sighed and shrugged. “We need men to defend against any major threat that might come from the forest, not to mention that we are close to an elven city. They won’t strip too many from the march.” His lips twitched into a small smile. “Besides, I may have mentioned that the marquis likes the king just as little as the reverse.”

Janis snorted. He had mentioned that, though she hadn’t cared much. It was the kind of gossip knights liked to pass around just as much as washerwomen, they just pretended to be more discreet about it.

“I even heard him say that if His Majesty orders him to move out in force into the forest against the elves, he’s going to mysteriously lose the missive,” he added in a conspiratorial tone.

Janis shook her head, but she couldn’t help but smile. Was he drunk or something? If Uncle Rich was telling her, this was probably all over the castle. Well, it wasn’t her problem.

Janis glanced up to see her aunt standing by the doorway. When their gazes met, she didn’t glare at her or move away. She just looked concerned.

“We’ll simply have to wait and see,” Uncle Rich continued in a louder voice. “I just wanted to see you before I left. Now, what is this news you have got?”

Janis smiled, feeling some of her excitement return. “I got a Class!”

He raised an eyebrow. “You mean you got a Class, or -?”

“I chose a Class,” she quickly corrected. “I’m a Mage, level 10, now.”

“Congratulations, Janis. I have to admit that I half-expected something like Fire Mage, though.”

“That was an option I considered,” she admitted, ignoring his teasing smile. She hesitated for a moment. “But I was hoping you might help me find a position with it. You said mages are always in demand.”

“You’re bound and determined to get away, aren’t you?” He frowned. “You know mage Classes are usually something for nobles and people from families with means. Books, for spells and such, aren’t cheap, not to mention the issue of leveling safely …”

“I know, you’ve told me before. Mages are weaker and more vulnerable at lower levels, although they’re powerful later. But I’ve already reached level 10, and I learned three Spells on my own!” Well, one of those was Spark, which barely counted, and she’d had help from someone for another, but it was still nothing to sneeze at.

He nodded slowly. “You clearly have talent. And my lord wouldn’t turn his nose up at the chance to get more mages, like most nobles. Alright, I’ll talk to a few people. Just don’t expect instant results.”

Janis grinned, barely containing herself from jumping up.

She knew she’d still need to be patient and that there might be issues, but still. She was confident she would finally get out of this village, hopefully to something better.

PotHQ: Chapter 30 (Draft)

The hive settled into a new routine quickly. Very quickly. Clearly, Regina wasn’t the only one who felt good about finally having a bit of space to call their own, and the drones were working hard to develop it into something approaching a real home.

She’d had a long discussion with Max and Tim about their security and defensive measures. In the end, Regina decided that their fortifications would have to wait a little. Not because they weren’t important, but because they wouldn’t be able to finish them quickly, anyway. She wanted a proper palisade around their homes, and since she expected rapid growth, that meant they’d need to reserve space inside it. There was just no way they would be able to chop down and process enough trees for such a large wall, at least not with their current strength.

That left the Warriors free to assist the Workers and to hunt. Regina had laid more eggs the same day they arrived here. Two Drone Scouts and a Drone Worker. The scouts should be able to help the warriors hunt, as well as help guard their hive. Her hive was growing by leaps and bounds, but it still felt small. Regina wanted to start a proper settlement, and that needed manpower.

She also needed to level up. Max had quickly followed Tim in reaching her level, which meant that even if the two of them fought enough monsters to earn another level-up, they wouldn’t be able to get it. A higher level would also raise Regina’s limit for her hive and possibly speed up her mana regeneration, if nothing else. She was probably gaining experience for establishing herself like this, but it hadn’t been enough to put her over the threshold yet. A part of her wanted to wait and see if the hatching of her three next drones would do so, but without any way to chart her progress or experience gain, that was probably not very helpful.

So she set out to hunt monsters, accompanied by Max and the two lower-level warriors. Tim was staying behind along with the higher-level Workers in order to protect the hive.

Regina had considered what might go wrong during this trip, resolved to stay close enough to get back quickly and take whatever they could use for first aid. What she had not thought about was the possibility that she wouldn’t find anything to fight.

“This is a little ridiculous,” she huffed, plopping down on a fallen tree trunk as they crested yet another hill. “I can’t believe there aren’t any strong monsters around.”

Tim glanced at Ben and Dan, who were breathing heavily and clutching their makeshift weapons. They’d both had several fights, with low-level monsters they had encountered. Tim had held back and only stepped in when they seemed to be in real danger to help them level up. It had paid off, since both were level 2 and could probably reach level 3 quickly.

“There are still monsters,” he noted.

“But they’re no challenge for me and I doubt I’ll get real experience from them,” Regina retorted. “That is why I left them to Ben and Dan.”

The two Warriors exchanged a glance. Ben looked like we wanted to say something, but then closed his mouth and looked away.

“Anuis did say that the stronger monsters are either dead or have retreated, my queen,” Tim reminded her.

“I know.” Regina sighed. “Do you think we should keep going or head back?”

Tim frowned, glancing at the sky. “We’ve been out here for several hours, and even if we’ve been walking in an arc around our territory, I wouldn’t go too much farther.”

“You’re right. Let’s go back. Maybe we’ll see some monsters on the way.”

On the way back, they encountered another small pack of Flametongue Wolves, none of them over level 4. Tim joined in and helped Ben and Dan fight them, taking on two of the wolves to leave them one each. Regina hesitated, but didn’t join the fight herself. She didn’t have a weapon at the moment, and she was more focused on using magic, anyway. But with her mana regen limited, she didn’t want to use any mana she didn’t have to.

It took longer to get back than she’d thought, especially since they waited for the younger Warriors to gut and clean their kills. Regina lent a hand in carrying them back to the camp. When she finally walked out of the forest and saw that everything appeared to be calm, the same as when they’d left, she breathed a sigh of relief.

She set the carcass of the wolf she was carrying down with a thump and watched as Bea hurried over to take it. Her hive couldn’t afford to waste any materials they got. Still, as Regina walked away and looked out over the field and the sparkling water of the lake, she felt cautiously optimistic. They just needed some time to grow. But we might not get that time.

That night, she slept in the first of the completed shelters, using wolf pelts as mattress and blanket. Her sleep was more restful than it had been in days, and she went about her day with new energy.

By her count, it had now been about three weeks since she first woke up in this world. Since she hatched. And a week since the monster horde started. It had been relatively short, but apparently vicious. Her hive would have to be strong enough to face the next one in five years, whatever else happened. Regina didn’t worry about that, though. Five years were a long time, especially to someone with her Class, or Template, or whatever made her a Hive Queen.

She helped the Workers finish up the last of their provisional shelters and with preparations for their real building projects. The boys were set to work chopping down trees, passing the one good ax they had between them. Regina and the Workers went to what she would optimistically call a clay pit and started experimenting with the material. They would probably need wooden frames to form proper bricks of the same size and shape, and from what she vaguely remembered, mixing in straw would be good. Maybe they could also try just using the clay as a binding material for walls with a structure of woven branches.

They didn’t get a lot done that day in terms of building, but they made good progress in figuring things out. Regina felt motivated to get it done quickly. The next day, she woke up early, took some of the cooked meat they had left from dinner, and set off to the location.

She wasn’t the first one to arrive, though. Mia was already there, bent over the frame of rough wooden planks they’d prepared the day before, apparently immersed in her work.

“I hope you got enough sleep,” Regina commented. She’d had to almost drag Mia away last evening, too.

The drone started, looking up and reflexively drawing in her work-limbs. After a moment, she relaxed. “Oh, my queen! I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there. Yes, I slept well and I feel rested enough.”

“Good. It’s nice to see you so engaged.” Regina put down the waterskin she’d taken along and started poking at some clay they’d dug out. “Do you think this is more promising than the log cabin idea, then?”

“I don’t know. We probably won’t know until we really get started. Speaking of, where do you think we should try to bake the bricks?”

“I was thinking just setting them up over there. It’s a clear space and the sun will shine directly on it. It’s going to be a warm day, too. Let’s see …”

They both dove into their work and didn’t talk much except to point out issues or suggestions. Tia was at the forest’s edge today, trying to get wooden beams prepared for the actual building. Ben occasionally showed up and she saw Dan patrolling around the field, but didn’t pay them much attention.

Regina was so engrossed in her work that when it was interrupted, she felt disoriented for a moment. She blinked and looked up, then paused as she realized what felt different. That sense inside of her, not quite her mana but connected to it, had shifted. If she focused on it, she could feel three presences more clearly. But her moment of realization was interrupted by the System.

[You have leveled up]

[You may now select your first Ability!]

Regina gasped and crouched down. She felt dizzy for a second, and there was a warm sensation in her body. It spiked until she she felt a stab of heat through her core. It took her a moment before she could focus on the next screen the System showed her.

[Congratulations, you have reached Level 10 as a Hive Queen and unlocked your second type of drones. You may now create Swarm Drones.]

“My queen! Are you alright? What’s happening?”

She felt Mia’s hands on her shoulder. Regina took a deep breath, pulling her attention from the System to her surroundings, and answered, “It’s okay. I leveled up and apparently unlocked a new type of drone.” She paused and grimaced. “I think we’re going to see what that means.”

A pressure grew in her abdomen, one that felt familiar, though slightly different. Regina closed her eyes, focused on the agitated mana in her body, and tried not to worry as she let her body do as it wanted.

When she was finished, Regina straightened up and took a step back, breathing deeply. She felt tired, though no worse than usual. Which was interesting, since there were five eggs laying in the grass this time.

They had the same coloring as her other eggs, swirling brownish gray color. But these eggs were a little smaller. Regina carefully picked one up, turning it in her hands thoughtfully. It felt slightly warm, almost alive, like the others.

Then she glanced at Mia. “Well, let’s get these into the shelter.”

Mia nodded and carefully gathered up the eggs. The two of them headed back to the edge of the forest, where they’d built their shelters. It wasn’t a long trip.

Once they arrived, Regina put the eggs into a small indentation on the ground in one of the shelters, braced by twigs and cushioned by leaves and fur scraps. Only then did she step back and look around for the former inhabitants of this space.

Max was talking to the three new drones a short distance away. They and Tia had all stopped what they were doing and were watching her, but clearly didn’t want to come and bother her. Regina eyed the two new Scouts for a moment. They looked like leaner versions of the Warriors, for the most part. Although, interestingly enough, one of them seemed to be female. Like the other Scout, one of her lower limbs extended into a blade like the Warriors’, but shorter. The other one instead was a more complicated, multi-pronged tool, and Regina couldn’t make much sense of it with only a quick glance.

But she turned her attention back to the System. It felt like it still held information for her. As soon as she thought about it, it showed her a new screen.

[ Hive [Unnamed]

Total: 11

Inner Hive: 10/25 (+0)

- Warriors: 4

- Workers: 4

- Scouts: 2

Swarm: 0

- War Drones: 0/10 (+5) ]

Regina whistled to herself. It sounded a bit higher-pitched and yet more scratchy than she would have liked. So, she now had a new type of drones, Swarm Drones, and their new Template was War Drones. From the name and the eggs, she could guess that they were intended to be weaker but more numerous. Still, that couldn’t be all of it. ‘War Drones’ sounded very generic, less like a proper class than something like ‘Drone Warrior’.

Regina blinked and turned her attention to the next notification screen the System was showing her. She’d finally unlocked her first Ability, and she was curious to see what that meant.

[You may now select your first Class Skill. Please choose one of the following:

Hive Locator: You can sense the location of all of your Hive members. You will now be able to pinpoint their coordinates and distance more precisely as well as receive more detailed information on their status. At higher levels of mastery, you will be able to project the location of your Hive as or into a fully visible map, including information on Hive members’ status.

Enhanced Telepathy: Your mind is the mind of your Hive. Your psychic connection to your Drones deepens, enabling closer communion. Telepathic contact is easier and may include broader targeting. At higher levels of mastery, you will be able to use your psychic power outside the context of your Hive.

Mage’s Focus: Your path is one of magic. Your rate of mana regeneration will be improved, as you will get an effective bonus to your Wis state, the size of which depends on your Int stat. Learning new spells will be easier for you. At higher levels of mastery, you will have greater control over casting your spells and be able to cast two at once.]

Regina couldn’t help herself and whistled again. All of these Abilities sounded very good. Even if she had to wait ten levels, they seemed a lot more powerful and complex than what the drones got. But she knew what she wanted as soon as she saw the option.

Mage’s Focus was tempting. Especially since the reduction in her mana regeneration rate was one of her greatest issues right now. But its main effect was something she would get anyway as she leveled up further. It was the only choice that focused on her own power, not her hive.

But she wasn’t just any mage. Regina knew that, while her path might be one of magic, her greatest strength was her hive. She should choose something that would help her strengthen it further. Hive Locator would be cool, but what really called to her was Enhanced Telepathy. Besides, it sounded like she could get most of the effects of the locator option with that, too. And if it strengthened the psychic connection between them, it might affect not just herself, but her whole hive. It might even allow the drones to talk to each other eventually.

And while Hive Locator’s map might be a great strategic asset, the prospect of using psychic power on people outside the hive was what really convinced her. If she could just walk up to an enemy and make them surrender, or stand still while her drones killed them, that would be a real game changer. Even if actual mind control wasn’t possible, it sounded very promising.

Resolved, Regina tapped on the middle option. The screen disappeared with a small shower of sparks. For a second, she just stood there, wondering if that was it.

But after a moment, she could tell that something had changed. Her sense of the drones was clearer. Not really any different, but it felt a bit deeper, for lack of a better word. She wouldn’t be able to describe their locations any easier than before, but it was far more profound than that. For an instant, she felt like they were a part of her in a way that she hadn’t noticed before.

Smiling, Regina turned and started heading to the cluster of drones, who were still not so discreetly watching her. Time to meet the new drones, and maybe try out her new Ability a little.

PotHQ: Chapter 29 (Draft)

The monster horde ended the day after her new drones hatched. If Regina had known that, she might have tried to just hide them in the forest.

When Max brought a group of three level one Drones into the outpost, the elves seemed just a little nonplussed. Regina watched them closely. She saw Anuis’ eyes narrow in what might have been realization or intense consideration, and Bianorn glanced at her with a look she found difficult to read. But at least none of them made a problem out of it.

She managed to deflect their questions, hopefully. For the most part, she just told them that she didn’t really knew where her people came from — which was at least a half-truth, since she had no idea where she had come from and how exactly whatever biological or magical process made the drones worked. She also said that there were some issues she would rather not speak about, as they were sensitive for her and her companions.

Regina didn’t get the impression that they were satisfied with it, but the elves didn’t press her too much. Instead, they focused on packing up their camp. The number of monsters in their surroundings had fallen off, and when Anuis declared that the horde was over and they were leaving, the forest seemed about as safe as it had been before, if not more so.

“It’s usually quiet after a monster horde,” Bianorn told her when she mentioned that. “Many strong monsters have been killed. Those that survive usually retreat and lick their wounds.”

“That’s why I’m confident you will be safe even without us,” Anuis said, stepping up to where they were standing at the base of the treehouse. She inclined her head towards her. “It has been a pleasure, Regina. I wish you the best of luck.”

Regina mirrored the gesture. “To you as well, Anuis. Safe journey.”

The others quickly made their goodbyes as well, and before she knew it, the elves were walking down the trail, leaving them behind. Regina stood looking after them for a while.

After a minute, she heard someone shifting behind her and turned. Her hive was gathered in the small clearing, looking at her expectantly.

She paused for a moment. Seeing them like this, the difference between her old companions and the new hatchlings was apparent. Not so much physically, of course. Max was just a bit taller than the new Warriors and Tim might be as well, and they might look just a bit sturdier and more muscular, but that was all. No, it was in the way they looked at her, in the way they held themselves. She could tell that Max, Tim and even Mia and Tia kept a small bit of their attention on the surrounding forest. The others just looked kind of eager.

She smiled at them. “How have you been settling in?”

Ben exchanged a look with his brother Dan, before he spoke. “I don’t think we’ve had much settling in to do, my queen.”

She chuckled and nodded. He wasn’t wrong. Regina considered them for another moment. Ben had started with the same stats as Tim, while Dan had one point less in Dex and one more in End. Bea, on the other hand, had stats like Mia’s, but with a point in Str traded for one in Con.

“Is there anything else we can do, my queen?” the young Worker asked now.

“Pack up everything if you haven’t already,” Regina answered. “We’re going to be moving to the new site immediately.”

The others nodded and hurried off to gather what supplies they had. Fortunately, the elves had been kind enough to leave them some camping supplies, and they had meat from the monsters they’d fought.

It didn’t take long for them to be ready to leave. Regina glanced back once, then led her expanded hive through the forest. She shook her head to herself. This was probably a big enough group not to have to worry about monsters, but a part of her still wanted more. She’d let her mana fill back up, use it for the most necessary tasks, wait until it was full again, then lay more eggs. At least a scout of two this time. Maybe another Worker. There was probably a lot of work in front of them.

Once they reached their new home, or rather where it would be, Regina felt herself smiling. It was a nice summer day, with a fresh breeze tempering the heat from the blazing sun overhead. The lake’s water glittered in the sunlight, and it smelled of grass, fresh earth and new beginnings.

“What now?” Max asked, glancing around.

Regina had given it some thought. “We should build some shelters first, like we had before, just to keep the rain off when it comes. Then we’ll get started building proper structures. There’s clay by the water, but we’ll probably have to just let it bake in the sun instead of firing bricks properly. We’ll also use the wood of trees we cut down. Does any of you have anything to add?”

She looked around, but they all shook their heads.

“Good. We’ll probably have to experiment a lot. I was thinking we might even try building two different houses in two styles, a log cabin and one with bricks, so we’ll see what works better and how much effort it takes.”

“We’ll need a lot more than two houses anyway,” Mia commented, frowning thoughtfully. “But it’s not like we have a time limit, do we, my queen?”

Regina shook her head. “I’d rather get a settlement going as soon as possible, but no, not really.”

“What about defenses?” Max asked.

“We can build a ditch and a palisade,” she answered. “I don’t think we have the means for anything more, but it should be enough to at least keep some monsters off and help us fight the ones who’ll attack anyway. But our biggest defense are probably going to be you Warriors. You’ll also do the bulk of the hunting for food and level that way.”

“There are also fish in the lake,” Tim noted. “And if it comes down to it, we can just eat grass and leaves from the forest.”

Regina nodded, then looked around. She suddenly saw their surroundings in a new light. “Has anyone actually tried eating grass or leaves yet?”

After a moment, Tia raised her hand. “I tried a few juicy leaves, just out of curiosity. They tasted kind of odd, but I didn’t have any problems.”

Regina just shook her head. Fucking weird alien biology. We really could be an apocalyptic swarm if we tried, couldn’t we? Well, at least I won’t have to worry too much about food supplies.

She looked at the others again, noting that the new drones had remained silent so far. That wasn’t much of a surprise, since they simply lacked the experience to contribute much. But her hive was still bigger than it had ever been, and the additional hands (and other limbs) would be useful.

“Alright,” she said. “Let’s get started.”

The went to the edge of the forest, about two hundred meters from the shore of the lake, to build their shelters. Regina sent Mia and Tia to look for the vines they’d used before, while the rest of them started cutting and gathering branches.

Building the shelters went a lot more quickly now that it had before, since they had some experience with the process. Regina also didn’t need them to be too fancy, since they were just temporary structures. It helped that they had some pelts from monsters they’d killed over the last few days. Those would help keep them warm at night, at least. Although she’d learned that the drones liked sleeping curled up together, Regina preferred less elbows getting in her face.

She was ripped from her thoughts by a familiar low growl. Regina stood up, dropping the branches she’d been holding, and squinted into the forest. After a moment, the System showed her the designation of the Monster stalking them.

[Black Panther — Level ?]

It was at least level 10, and quite a bit bigger than the other monsters of its kind she’d seen before. After a moment, when it apparently realized that she’d seen it, the branches of the tree rustled and she heard it getting closer.

“Hatchlings and Workers, get back,” Regina commanded. “It’s too strong. Max, Tim, we’ll take it together. I have the center.”

Max and Tim were both by her side in a flash. They advanced on the panther together, and Regina kept half a step back. She was glad she’d taken along the polearm she’d taken from that human guard.

The panther tried to swipe at Tim, but he deflected it with one of his blade-arms. Then Max attacked, getting its attention. Regina and Tim waited for an opening, trusting in his defense. When it came, Tim stabbed at it from the side while Regina aimed a blow at its legs. The panther dodged to the side, but she still managed to catch its right hind leg and make it stumble.

That was all the opportunity Tim needed. He Charged forward, thrusting his blade into the joint of its other leg. The panther made a yipping sound and folded. May bashed it over the head and Regina prepared another strike. Then Tim sidestepped with the motion of the panther’s turn and stabbed it into the neck.

That ended the fight. Regina took a deep breath and stepped back, glancing at the forest.

“I leveled up, my queen,” Tim reported quietly.

“Good job.” Regina smiled at him, then looked at Max, but he was just staring at the dead monster.

After a moment, she cleared her throat. “Would you get started on harvesting it? Teach the new guys how to do it.”

They still didn’t have consistent access to metal, except for her Conjuration spell, but Regina had been thinking they might be able to make use of monster parts. High-level ones were quite strong, and their fangs and claws should be more durable than mundane animals’. Probably good enough for some spearheads or arrowheads, or even to make things like needles or awls.

She got back to gathering branches and weaving them into the walls for the shelter she’d been working on, leaving the gory work to the drones. By this point, she no longer felt bad about that. Her main strength, besides making more drones, was in magic, anyway. She glanced at her status.

[Regina Hive Queen

Level: 9

Mana: 170/200

Hive: 7/25, 0

Con: 12 Str: 12

Dex: 12 End: 12

Int: 14 Wis: 14(+1)]

She’d used some of her mana earlier to conjure stuff they needed and it was filling back up. Her physical stats hadn’t risen since—ever, actually, as far as she knew. She didn’t think it would stay that way for long, but clearly her mental stats would keep ahead of them.

Regina frowned and sighed to herself. She should reach level 10 soon. She had the feeling that something interesting would happen when she did. She hadn’t gotten a new spell in a while. And she should really practice making Firebolt some more, she knew she was close to getting it. But it was more than that. She suspected that level 10 would be some kind of threshold. Already, she could feel a weird kind of tension in her body, as if it was preparing to do something new.

“How many of these shelters are we going to build, my queen?” Bea asked hesitantly.

Regina blinked, then looked at her and smiled. “At least three, I think. I have a feeling our hive might be growing quicker than we can keep up with building housing, soon.”

Bea smiled, and Tia, who had paused in her work to listen, did the same. Mia was still bent over the entrance to the shelter, measuring something in order to put in the door she was somehow putting together, and appeared immersed in her work.

Regina grinned and got back to work again. She felt more relaxed than she’d been in what felt like a long time, surrounded by her hive in their own territory.

PotHQ: Chapter 28 (Draft)

The monster horde had already lasted for several days, but it would carry on for several days more. Tim had managed to get that information from one of the elven rangers in the group. He didn’t mind it much, since it would offer him and his Hive the opportunity to gain more experience and hopefully levels. But listening to the constant sounds of monsters from the forest around them wore on his nerves, even if he did his best not to show it.

He and Max both reached level 8 the day after they arrived at the elven outpost. They fought another pack of Lionits, with the elves watching on. One of them was higher level than them, but they were never in real danger. Regina leveled up again in the same fight.

After that, she took Mia and followed Anuis and a few others into the forest again, heading for the site where their new hive would be built. She hadn’t said so in so many words, but Tim was sure of it anyway. He might not be as smart as Max, or his Queen, but he tried to keep his eyes and ears open, and he could put two and two together.

They were only gone for a minute when Tia sought him out. She crouched on a branch half a meter above the wooden platform some distance from the main structure where he was practicing with his blade. “Teach me how to fight,” she asked.

Tim nodded and tossed her the wooden sword he’d begged off Bianorn to practice fighting with different kinds of blades. He wasn’t too surprised at this development. He’d seen how fervently she’d thrown herself into the fights with monsters lately.

“Hold the sword like this,” he told her. “No, a little tighter, you don’t want it to slip out of your hand.”

The wooden sword was a short one, roughly carved out of a piece of wood in a way that made him suspect that the elves had just made it during the trip on a whim. But it worked well enough.

He led Tia through exercises mostly comprising how to hold the weapon and some basic movements. This was all instinctual to him, and teaching someone else often made him pause uncertainly. He’d never received any training himself. But he did his best to convey what he knew about fighting, and it even helped him better understand what he was doing. Even if he probably wasn’t the best teacher.

But at least this way, he could help Tia. He wouldn’t put it past her to sneak off and try to train on her own. Tim watched her closely, trying to see if she was overexerting herself. Her injury was mostly healed, but he could tell that it still bothered her. Besides, why else would their Queen have left her behind? So he focused on basics that weren’t physically demanding, just holding the weapon and a few stances.

"Alright,” he said after a while when it was clear she was getting frustrated. “Give it back to me, please, then we can work on some stuff using your work-limbs.”

“For all the good they are,” she muttered as she handed the wooden sword back.

Tim frowned. “They are,” he said. “If you have to fight and we’re not there, it’ll most likely be when there’s a surprise attack by monsters, so you probably won’t have any weapons on you.”

Tia mirrored his frown. “But -“ She hesitated.

They were interrupted by Max jumping onto the platform from a neighboring one. He landed with a thump and straightened to his full height. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m just showing Tia a few things,” Tim replied. “Do you want to join in? We could do a bit of group training.”

The other Warrior looked at both of them for a moment, narrowing his eyes. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” he said. “Don’t we have better things to do, and what if someone gets hurt?”

Tim paused. It hadn’t occurred to him that Max might not approve. He opened his mouth, but he wasn’t sure what to say.

“Why not?” Tia asked, putting her hands on her hips and stretching her work-limbs a little to the side. “I need to fight better.”

Max shook his head. “You’re doing fine, and you’re a Worker, not a Warrior. Maybe you should focus on what you can do in that area?”

“But Max! I need to learn how to fight. I don’t want to keep being useless.”

Oh. Tim took half a step back before he caught himself. “You’re not useless,” he said. He had felt pretty frustrated trying to build the shelters, but he wasn’t sure how to say that, and he didn’t really want to mention it. So he just said, “So what if you’re not as good at fighting as us? We’re higher level and Warriors.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to protect you from that monster.” Max’s tone was a lot gentler now, and he brushed the side of his blade-limb against her shoulder for a moment. “I promise I’ll do better from now on.” He glanced at Tim, who nodded. “We both will.”

“But we’ve been fighting all the time, and we need it to level and grow stronger for the hive.”

“You won’t need to fight to level,” Max countered. “If Mother had wanted only drones who would fight, don’t you think she would have laid only Warrior eggs?”

Tia hesitated for a moment. “But that was before the monster horde!”

"Which will be over soon.”

Tim cleared his throat and interjected hesitantly, “Maybe we should ask our Queen when she gets back?”

Max paused and nodded. “You’re right. In the meantime …” He glanced around and raised an eyebrow. “We should patrol the perimeter. And someone needs to move the eggs to a better spot, and Tia should study the treehouse to see how the elves built it and assess if we could do something like it. You’re not going to argue that you’re obviously the best suited of us for that, are you, Tia?”

Tia winced and stood up straighter. “I’ll get right on it, Max!” Then she turned and vaulted over a branch to the next platform.

Tim nodded at Max and grabbed one of the ropes to descend. He’d start looking for signs of monsters around the base. He caught an elf watching them, who quickly turned once he caught his gaze. Tim winced. In the future, they really needed to make sure conversations like that were more private. Maybe our low Wisdom stats are a problem after all.

Their Queen returned after several hours, looking tired but also smiling slightly. Mia, on the other hand, was looking more excited than he’d ever seen her. Granted, that wasn’t saying much.

Tim hopped onto a branch near them and sat down, waiting for the rest of the Hive to gather. As he did, he glanced at his status sheet again.

[Tim Drone Warrior 

Level: 8

Mana: N/A

Con: 11 Str: 13

Dex: 10 End: 11

Int: 13 Wis: 9] 

He’d gained another point in Str with his newest level. The next one would probably go to Con. His Int and Wis hadn’t risen since he hatched, so he had no idea when their turn might come. Although he felt like he was smarter now, so how well did they really describe someone’s intelligence or wisdom?

Max and Tia showed up shortly, and Regina smiled at them all. “We’re going to be staying here,” she announced. “In the place they showed me, I mean. We’ll wait out the end of the monster horde with the elves, then we’ll get started on building a proper hive. They’ll leave then. I also got promises for a bit of help, so it should hopefully go better than last time.”

Tim smiled, and saw the others grinning, too. He couldn’t help but feel excited. A real hive! A place to stay and build, at least. He knew it would mean a lot of work, but he didn’t mind that. And if his Queen thought they could handle the humans they would undoubtedly have to deal with, that was a bit of a relief, too.

“What can we do to prepare?” Max asked.

Regina chewed on her lower lip. “Try and learn as much as we can from the elves, I guess. We can also keep fighting monsters, but we’ll have to do that once we’re on our own, anyway.”

“What about the eggs?” Tim asked in a low voice. That bothered him. Did they trust the elves enough to show them new drones hatching? It would probably be pretty obvious what was going on.

Regina glanced around, probably checking to make sure they were alone. He couldn’t hear or smell anyone else close by, though, and that was probably a more reliable indicator.

“We’ll take them to a secluded spot in the forest,” she replied. “Then we’ll just come back with a few more people. I kind of already said that would happen to Alenas, and they’ll probably figure it out soon no matter what we do. If they haven’t already.”

Tim cocked his head. The way Regina was frowning slightly, the way she said her last sentence, implied that she thought they had. And considering what he’d heard Anuis say, that made sense.

And if the elves had, could the humans figure it out as well?

He shook his head and made himself focus on the conversation. Tia was asking about getting combat training.

“Sure,” Regina answered easily. “If you have the time, I don’t see why not. Actually …” she frowned thoughtfully. “I guess I could make that a rule, once we have more Workers, that they all need to get some self-defense training, at least. More advanced training if they want, as long as it doesn’t interfere with everyone’s work.”

Tia gave Max a pointed look. He glanced away, scratching the base of his right blade-limb. Mia, on the other hand, looked apprehensive more than anything.

“Go take a nap or something, Tia, I don’t like your color,” their Queen said. “Mia, go see about tools like we discussed. Max, I’d like to go on a patrol around the camp with you. Tim … do what you do, I guess.”

Tim felt his chest puff up a bit before he made himself stop. He saw the small smile on his Queen’s face, before she turned to jump to the ground with Max. He felt gratified that she didn’t feel the need to give him any specific instructions.

Gods knew (if they were real) she had more than enough to deal with already. He didn’t want to add to her burden. Even this crap with Mia and Max arguing over combat training. Tim resolved then and there to solve problems, not make them.

He knew he would probably end up in a leadership position once they had more, younger Warriors. Even if he would rather act on his own, fight without having to worry about others, he’d do his best.

He climbed to the higher platform where most of the elves were to talk to Bianorn again. They’d had to leave their weapons at the human village. Maybe he could get him to make them some more training weapons. They could use those. Or even real weapons.

Anything was better than a stone ax.

PotHQ: Chapter 27 (Draft)

Regina kept glancing back, looking for anyone who might be following them. The boat slowed down, not going quite as fast as during their escape. Everything seemed still and silent behind them except for the monsters.

After a while, when the trees made it hard to see anything, she came to the conclusion that they weren’t followed. Or if they were, she wouldn’t be able to detect them anyway. So she turned her full attention to her more immediate surroundings.

The boat was cramped, with the drones almost sitting in each other’s laps. The elves clearly tried to keep some distance, even if it was hard under these circumstances.

“Thank you for that,” Regina said. “What about the others? Your companions, I mean?”

“They shouldn’t be far behind us,” the elf who’d spoken before replied.

The boat slowed down further, and eventually drifted to the side until it almost beached on the river bank. Regina frowned and glanced around. They were in the outskirts of the forest now, and while she still saw monsters around, none of them got close to their group. Maybe one of the elves was using a Skill for that.

After a few minutes, she jumped as something bumped the boat. Regina blinked in surprise when she saw the figures coming out of the trees. I was only looking away for a moment!

The elves on the boat stood up, and Regina followed suit after a second. Hesitantly, she stepped out of the boat and onto the rocky shore of the river. She stumbled and hurried a few steps away, where the ground wasn’t as wet and slippery. The elves backed away enough to keep the space around her open.

“It’s good to see you all made it out unharmed,” Anuis said. She stood at the front of the second group, her bow slung over her back and her hood up. Her posture and bearing was more confident than it had been in the village, as if she was in her element now here in the forest.

Regina glanced at Tia, who was just climbing out of the boat as well, taking one of the bulging bags. She still moved a bit stiffly, but her wound seemed to be healed well enough not to cause trouble.

“We shouldn’t linger here for too long,” Bianorn cut in. “The Delvers might still be following, and we can’t keep the beasts away forever.”

“True,” another male elf agreed. He looked tired. “The sooner we get to the outpost, the better.”

“Outpost?” Regina asked as the elves all hefted their packs and prepared to leave. “We’re not going to your settlement?”

Anuis shook her head. “No, we are still in the middle of the monster horde, which makes trying to get you into the city tricky. But do not fear, you will not be in undue danger in our company. And you will want to see where I am taking you.”

Regina nodded and started walking as the elves did. One woman stayed behind with the boat, presumably to take it to wherever it came from.

She noticed that the drones stayed close to each other. After a moment of hesitation, Regina fell back to walk among them. She reached out her hands to squeeze Max’s shoulder softly and took Tia’s arm for a moment. They both seemed to relax visibly. She made herself smile at her hive. We’re going to need to have a long talk once we have some privacy.

“Where exactly are we going, then?” she asked Anuis after a few minutes of walking through the forest.

“An old outpost that is rarely in use anymore,” the elven ranger answered. In the forest’s light, the brown streaks in her hair seemed more like gold, reflecting the sunlight oddly. “It is reasonably close to a spot where we once thought to build a settlement before some unfortunate circumstances coinciding led to the project being abandoned. But it is still a good spot, at the edge of a bay in the forest.”

Regina raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

Anuis glanced back and gave her a smile. “It is still somewhat close to human lands, and more exposed to danger,” she said. “More out in the open than our kind typically prefer. But I’m sure having lots of space to grow would not be a problem for your hive.”

Regina paused. This sounded good. Remarkably good. “Is that so? Forgive the blunt question, but if you let me build my hive there, what is in it for your people?”

Anuis chuckled and shook her head. “I’m not the one who makes these decisions, child. But even I can see that having some people we are friendly with there would be good strategically, covering our flanks. Of course, that does presume your group will be strong enough to hold it.”

Regina nodded, but didn’t say anything. Anuis was looking at her with a clearly speculative look, a curious gleam in her eye. She decided not to risk revealing anything more than she had to.

Still, while the elf’s words made sense, and she could see the potential benefit of such an alliance for them, it presumed that they saw her as someone who could build a true settlement up, if not become a client state of sorts. That implied they had some knowledge of her capabilities. The thought made Regina’s heart beat faster, and she wasn’t entirely sure whether it was from anxiety, excitement, or something else.

The journey through the forest took several hours. They mostly followed some narrow, winding game trails. Anuis seemed to know exactly where she was going, even if there was no proper road here. There seemed to be monsters still in the forest, more than she’d seen before the horde, but still considerably less than in the thick of it. A few times, they were accosted by monsters. Anuis and the elves were nice enough to let Regina and her drones fight some of them.

She stayed back, biting her lower lip, as she watched Mia and Tia take down another Black Panther. The monster was only level 6, which made it good experience for them. Max and Tim had already defeated its companion, and were now trying to skin it, with one of the elves looking on and giving tips.

The panther lunged, but Mia managed to dodge and cracked it over the head with her work-limb, while Tia scraped it with the sword she’d borrowed. It was only a shallow cut, but the monster drew back, hissing. Tia followed it, charging forward, and managed score another cut with her sword. Mia sidestepped to keep it pinned between them. When Tia drew its attention again, Mia swung at its hindlimb. She didn’t seem to do much damage, but distracted the panther enough to Tia to stab it again, in the chest this time. The panther tried to retreat, but clearly had trouble keeping its feet, and fell down eventually. Tia stabbed it in the throat, then stepped back, grinning broadly.

“I reached level 6, my queen!” Tia told her.

“Me too,” Mia added.

“Well done!” Regina congratulated them. “Let’s get these taken care of quickly, then go on, I don’t think our new friends want to wait long.”

Only ten minutes later, they encountered another pack of monsters. This time, the elves didn’t even warn them. The ranger guarding their right flank simply stepped aside, grinning slightly.

Max charged at the Red-Striped Snake, level 8, before Regina could even say anything. Tim followed a moment later, capturing the attention of the second snake, which was a level lower.

Regina gathered her mana and prepared to throw a Magic Missile. She waited until she had a clear view before loosing her attack on the third snake. She couldn’t see its level, and her attack almost seemed to bounce off its scales. While it paused in its tracks, it didn’t seem very hurt.

Before she could continue the fight, another elf stepped in, drawing the higher-level monster away from the rest. Regina didn’t protest, and instead turned her attention to the other two. Tim was pushing his snake hard, while Max had adopted a more defensive style. Regina gathered the mana for a second Missile, then loosed it when it looked like Tim might be overextended. The attack caught the snake in the jaw it had just opened and caused it to jerk back. That proved to be its downfall as Tim quickly skewered it through the mouth. Then he pivoted and slashed at the other snake, which Max was keeping still. The two Warriors quickly ended that one, as well.

Regina glanced around. Most of the elves seemed to have vanished into the forest, but Anuis was just coming back towards them.

“You’re finished, good. We’re almost there. Let’s hurry, we still need to set up camp before nightfall.”

Regina nodded. A part of her wanted to keep fighting until the next level up, or at least until Max and Tim leveled up. They had to be really close to it, considering the fight against the monster horde in the village. But there’d probably opportunity enough for that later.

After only a few more minutes of walking, they finally reached the outpost. Regina paused and took it in. I probably should have expected a treehouse. Although calling it a treehouse was like calling the castle a walled hut. The outpost spread over several trees, anchored to broad branches and secured with intricately knotted ropes as well as wooden planks. Some parts of it looked like they’d grown naturally from a single piece of wood, but in impossible shapes. It was situated on top of a hill, and if Regina squinted, she could just see the end of the treeline further down.

The elves all seemed to cheer up as they reached it. They nimbly climbed up and even offered to help the hive with their bags, but Regina refused. She didn’t want them to see the eggs quite yet. Instead, she climbed up with one hand, holding a bag in the other. Once on a wooden platform, she found a secluded spot in an overlage knothole to deposit them for now.

“The others can set up camp for the night,” Anuis said, dropping down from above to appear beside her. “I thought we might take a look at the place I mentioned earlier.”

Regina tried not to wince and nodded. She glanced around at her drones. After a moment of consideration, she called, “Mia, with me, please. The rest of you, help the elves set up camp.”

Mia smiled as she jumped over to join Regina and Anuis. The elven ranger didn’t comment, but simply jumped down to the ground, barely touching the rope hanging down. Regina suppressed a sigh and chose to climb down the trunk of the tree, using her claws to secure her hold. Mia copied her.

She wanted to have a worker along to help her assess the space with an eye to construction and planning a settlement, and Mia seemed the best fit for the role. The young Drone Worker stuck close to her as Anuis led them through the forest, ducking behind trees and crossing game trails as she went down the hill. Regina heard some sounds from the canopy above that made her guess a few other elves were accompanying them, but she didn’t comment on it.

Finally, they emerged from the trees into open ground. They still stood on another hill, where the forested slope gradually gave way to a meadow. She could see what the elf had meant by calling it a bay; the forest seemed to encircle the place in a semicircle, and there was a small lake to the east, which probably connected to the river.

“I can see the strategic relevance, I think,” Regina said after a moment of looking at it. Then she glanced northeast with a frown. “But it is still pretty close to Forest’s Edge, isn’t it?”

Anuis nodded with a sober expression. “That it is.”

“And I don’t suppose the Delvers have forgotten about us,” she continued. “They might not go after it right away, but I doubt we’ve heard the last of that.”

“Most likely not,” the elf agreed. “I cannot promise you that my people will protect you from all threats, either. We have other commitments and conflicts.”

Regina shook her head. “I wouldn’t want that, anyway. We need to stand on our own, and be able to hold our own. No offense,” she added after a moment.

Even relying on the elves as much as they already did didn’t sit well with her. She tolerated it because this offered her the opportunity to build up her hive, to grow her own strength. That didn’t mean she was prepared to trust them unconditionally, or trust her safety and that of her hive to them.

“Well, in any case, you don’t need to decide this right away,” Anuis said in a gentle tone. “Let us go back to the others.”

Regina nodded and turned to go after a last look. She’d confer with Mia privately later, or better, bring her here again tomorrow to take a closer look at the whole valley.

But she still felt like the decision was already made.

Even if it would be dangerous, what were their alternatives? Go try to settle in the elven city? Try to find other human communities to take them in? She snorted to herself. No. She needed space for her hive to expand, if nothing else, and she wouldn’t bow to anyone else.

Poll: What would you like?

Hi everyone!

I want to offer some kind of bonus for my patrons, in addition to advance chapters, as thank you for supporting me. I've been considering what to do, but I'm not sure what you all would prefer. So, this poll. Feel free to choose more than one option, and if you have a suggestion that isn't included, please let me know in a comment!

As a note, I probably won't have any kind of regular schedule for this, and the options that take more effort would be rarer. For art, for example, I'd use money from Patreon to commission some, which means the quality and quantity would depend on how well it's going. Side stories would also probably take more effort than something like character sheets or things I've already written. Also, while I will definitely take the results of the poll into account, I can't promise to adhere to them exactly. There's some overlap between the options, anyway.

Thanks for your support, and let me know what you think.

PotHQ: Chapter 26 (Draft)

The sun slowly moved across the sky, and although Regina couldn’t see it, she could tell the passage of time by the activity of the people in the village. There was a guard shift change at some point, and it seemed like more Delvers trickled into the central part of the settlement. And then, of course, there were the elves. Luckily, they had no intention of leaving soon.

Regina had to stop herself from pacing and checking on their progress all the time. While she kept half of her attention with the drones, she tried to be unobtrusive and let them work, rather than taking control of one.

The only ones really working were the Drone Workers. Mia and Tia had been at it for what felt like hours already, and were clearly feeling the strain. But they grimly persevered.

The key to Regina’s idea was their ability to dig. Their Class Skill, Ground Evacuation, was perfectly suited for the task. So the both of them were making a tunnel, trying to dig as quietly as possible. It only had to be wide enough for one of them to crawl, but that meant it did still have to fit a person. They were also careful about the floor of the room they were in and trying to stabilize the tunnel so it didn’t collapse. You had to reach a certain depth for that. Not to mention avoiding the foundations of the house.

So far, they’d managed to keep their efforts secret from the guards. It helped that those didn’t seem to be professional soldiers, or at least not used to keeping prisoners. Regina had the impression they were distracted by the visit of the elves and their comrades fighting monsters.

She’d heard the occasional sounds of combat, but only rarely, and only for a short time. Given that they were probably only what reached her across some distance, they had to be deafening close up. She wouldn’t bet against monsters with sound-based attacks, though. In any case, this told her that the fighting was still ongoing. They were still only a few days into the monster horde, and it would probably continue for a while longer. Under the circumstances, she was almost glad of it.

If they tried to escape and were stopped, it would only make things worse. But she’d heard the way Trito spoke of so-called monsterbloods. She didn’t trust in his professionalism, and objectivity would be a pipe dream anyway. No one seemed particularly interested in finding facts or proof of anything. Why would he let a little thing like lack of evidence stand in his way?

She heard a loud noise from the others and froze, focusing more of her attention on them. Currently, she was watching through Tim’s eyes. That left Max, as the unspoken leader of the group, free to talk and act, while still giving her a close view point and not bothering the girls at work. At least Tim didn’t seem to mind at all. None of them did, now that she thought about it.

There was another crash outside, and then loud voices. Someone else came, a higher-pitched voice. The conversation faded as they moved farther away. Then Regina realized with a start that the loud argument was coming towards her. She could now hear it more clearly from her own ears. Frowning, she shakily stood up and crossed the room to the door, trying to watch whatever she could and listen closely. At least she was getting better at handling input from different consciousnesses at the same time.

Then the shutters on the small window in her room moved. Regina’s eyes widened, and she rushed over to quietly open it a little. They hadn’t been closed completely, presumably to let in some air, so it wasn’t hard. She took in a deep breath and listened hard.

The guard was obviously distracted, and the loud argument of people moving down the street right by the house covered for any suspicious sounds. An elf stood in front of the window. She could smell them. It seemed like the same woman who’d visited the others. Presumably the rogue or spy of the group. Regina smiled in her general direction and nodded slightly.

Then a roundish brown object appeared. She blinked in surprise as it moved through the window, then quickly grabbed it. Regina mouthed “thank you” at the elf, but she started moving away right away.

Frowning, she looked down at the object. It was about the size of a small apple. Regina closed the window carefully, then held it up and looked closer. After a moment, she bit into it.

It was pretty ingenious, really. A way to store and consume potions that didn’t leave any traces behind. The outer side was a bit like a cracker in taste and consistency. After she carefully started in on it, she saw the blue liquid inside. Regina sipped on it, but it only tasted like water, then resumed eating the covering. This wasn’t very sanitary, but she had bigger problems. Maybe this wouldn’t work for everyone, but so far, her people seemed to be able eat pretty much anything.

Regina finished it off, then called up her status and watched as her mana started climbing upwards. After a while, it was almost full again, at 150 out of 160. She grinned to herself. She felt a lot better already.

Then she turned around and checked out the room once more. She quickly ruled out the door into the building as a route. It was barricaded too tightly. Even if she could open it up, it would attract too much attention. That left the window and the back door to the outside.

The door was locked, but she had ways of helping with that. Regina focused on her mana and quickly cast a Lesser Basic Conjuration. The spell gave her a small, thin rod of iron, about as long as her hand. She grinned and started poking around inside the lock of the door.

They clearly hadn’t used any kind of magic to secure it, and technologically advanced this place was not. That affected things like locking mechanisms as well. Regina knew that a modern lock from the world of her memories would have been impossible for her to pick like this, but this one should be doable.

She still had to poke around in it for a bit before realizing she wasn’t getting anywhere, then withdrew her bit of iron and focused for a moment to conjure a second, smaller one. This one she shaped so it was vaguely T-shaped, with smaller bits on the end, which made it look more like a key. She had a good enough idea of the dimensions of the lock to make it fit. Then she inserted it and carefully tested to see if she could open the door.

Once she was sure she could get out, she paused and listened. The guard might not be a professional, but he’d notice when she opened the door. So she took a mental step back and focused on her hive.

Tia and Mia were just putting the finishing touches on the tunnel. Regina smiled and slipped deeper into Tim’s consciousness again.

“I’m ready to go,” she said. This time, it was even vaguely understandable.

The drones looked excited. “Alright, let’s do this!” Max was clearly trying to psych himself up, or maybe the others.

He insisted on going first, and Regina didn’t stop him. He crawled through the tunnel, then carefully poked his head out. Seeing that the coast was clear, he scrambled out, with Mia following him right away.

They’d picked a spot where a side alley dead-ended along the walls of some houses. Given the current situation, no one should be paying any attention to it. Regina still waited with bated breath as her hive climbed out of the tunnel. The hardest thing was taking the eggs out. They were still growing and almost bursting the seams of the bags they’d put them in, and trying to push them through a narrow tunnel wasn’t easy. But they managed it in time.

Once the drones were safely out of their prison, Regina took a deep breath, then turned back to her door. She waited, frowning to herself. If the elves abandoned them now …

But a tense minute later, the real distraction started. She heard raised voices, wordless shouts and exclamations. The roar of a monster that sounded deeper than a wyvern followed. And a few seconds later, the raised voices from closer to her own position escalated into a shouting match.

Regina opened the door, trying to be quiet but mostly going for speed. She only took a moment to take in the scene outside, before she rushed through it.

The guard outside her door had looked away to watch the brewing fight between two of the elven guests and some of the Delvers. He was just turned back towards her. But Regina didn’t give him any time to react. She barreled into him, pressing the shaft of his polearm between them so he couldn’t use it. Then she got her arm around his throat and started squeezing.

The Delver was wearing his helmet, but no gorget. He bucked and tried to get her off, but although he was clearly much stronger than her, he couldn’t use his strength to his advantage like this. Regina kept choking him out, dragging his body backwards once his struggles started slowing down. Once she was sure that he wasn’t just feigning, she released him and propped him up against the side of the building, taking his weapon. It looked a bit like a waraxe combined with a normal spear.

Regina slipped into the alley beside the building, breathing a sigh of relief. That could have gone worse. Then she froze. There, further in the alley, stood another person.

“I knew I heard something,” Janis said. The villager slowly moved closer, frowning at Regina. It was the same expression she’d worn when considering a magic-related question.

“Stop right there,” Regina said. “If you don’t want this situation to get worse, you’ll just let me pass. No one needs to know you ever saw me.”

Janis stopped. “Why would it get worse?”

“Because I can kill you before any of the Delvers get here, if you yell for them.”

“I wouldn’t have done that anyway,” Janis sniffed. She took a step to the side, pressing herself against the wall of the alley. “You should probably hurry, m’lady.”

Regina hesitated for a moment, before she got moving again. She paused as she passed Janis. The girl’s demeanor had changed a little. Now, she inhaled a deep breath. There was something about her scent that felt weird, or at least not like the other humans in the village.

“Why are you doing this, Janis?” she asked.

Janis shrugged. “Of course I’m on your side. These Delvers are prigs, and you don’t deserve the way they’ve treated you.” She frowned. “Not that others do.”

“Alright. If you really want to help, then go down the street to the other Delvers, make sure they’re distracted.” Regina hesitated for a moment. “Once I’m established somewhere, maybe we can continue that talk about magic.”

Janis smiled at her, then bowed her head and turned. Regina heard her leave and her steps speed up as she started jogging, while she did the same.

She tried to stay out of anywhere people might be watching, but it only took Regina a minute to reach the spot on the outside of the village where her hive was waiting for her. She untensed slightly as she joined them. A quick look confirmed that everything was as it should be.

“Catch up later,” she said. “We need to hurry. Let’s go.”

The drones fell into step behind her seamlessly, with Tim and the girls carrying one of the bags each.

They reached the river at the edge of the village quickly. A few cloaked figures already waited for them there. Once Regina approached, they lowered their hoods and Regina recognized two of the elves.

“Good, you’re here,” the man greeted them. A Forest Scout called Bianorn, according to the System. “Get in. The others will catch up quickly.”

A shimmering in the air suddenly appeared and faded after a second, and Regina got the faint sense of magic present. Then a small wooden boat became visible in the river, pulled up on the shore right between the elves. The first one jumped in without waiting for a reply.

Regina followed him in, then helped Mia climb in as well. The boat was packed full with all of them, but the elves didn’t seem to care. The second man pushed it off the shore and it quickly started moving. Faint wind started to rise and Regina sensed an intricate layering of mana as the boat started moving upriver.

Then a shout came from the shore. She turned around and froze as she saw the people standing on the shore. A few Delvers, with Trito’s scarred face in the lead. He started running, and even as the distance to the village visible increased, he kept pace with the boat.

Just as he left the outskirts of the village, a dark form dove from the sky. Regina winced slightly as she watched the wyvern crash down on the man. The Delver lit up with light just before they collided.

Regina scooted closer to the edge, trying to make out more details, although the boat was turning as it followed a bend in the river.

Just before they got too far away to see clearly, she watched the wyvern shudder and fall to the side, where it lay unmoving. The Sword of Light, still glowing faintly, still stood. He didn’t start chasing them and she quickly lost sight of him or the other Delvers.

PotHQ: Chapter 25 (Draft)

Regina paced up and down the room, feeling like the proverbial caged animal. Or caged monster, maybe. It was small and cramped, but no more so than the house they’d been quartered before. Still, she had to take tight turns to continue pacing.

Rather than a dedicated cell, she was in a ground-floor room of the biggest and fanciest house in town, built of stone. It was where the baron and his family lived. Presumably, they just didn’t have a proper prison in this village. A door opened from the room onto a sort of veranda outside, and she’d seen the Delver stationed there. She still smelled him and heard whenever he moved. The doorway to the rest of the house had been bricked up at some point, leaving the room inaccessible from there.

These men were reasonably competent, she had to admit. She’d looked over every part of the walls and door, but not found any weakness. Not competent enough to put a guard in the room with her or split her hive up completely, though. She could still sense them, and knew they were together in the house they’d been assigned before. She suspected that with the group of fighters coming, the village didn’t have much room. Maybe they thought they didn’t need anything fancy because they were so low level.

“Why are you doing this?” Regina called to test their reaction. “I haven’t hurt anyone, you can’t just keep us imprisoned without cause!”

“You will be dealt with fairly,” she heard the voice of their leader, Trito.

Regina paused. She’d almost missed the sound of his footsteps coming. He seemed to stop in the corridor outside the room.

“It certainly doesn’t look like that from where I’m standing,” she replied.

“Look at it from our point of view for a moment, if you’re capable of that,” he answered, soundly faintly amused and still condescending. “A group of strange and heretofore unknown demihumans - if that’s even what you are - came out of the forest before a monster horde. And right after that, the beast horde is stronger and more vicious than normal, almost suspiciously targeted, and overruns an entire castle. Somehow, the demihumans survive unscathed and show up at the settlement that’s the next target of the monsters. Suspicious, wouldn’t you say?”

Regina bit down on a curse. “I don’t see anything suspicious about us being driven out by a vicious monster horde,” she answered, trying for a calm tone of voice. “You can’t prove anything, and how would we even have done anything like that? Is it even possible?”

“There have been recorded instances of a horde being guided by an intelligent monster,” another voice chimed in. Baron Neralt. He was coming closer as well. “However, I do have to agree that this is all very speculative. Sir Egon, Lady Regina has fought at our side without any indications of betrayal.”

Regina took a deep breath. She had no idea what was going on with the horde, although she would really like to know, but she was glad that Neralt didn’t seem to be fully on the Delver’s side. Still, it was worrying that Trito seemed to have enough power to work around a noble on his own land. Even if he was just a baron. From the little she’d heard about Delvers in the village, they sounded more like an adventurer’s guild, if one only open to humans with some obvious prejudice.

“I didn’t suspect her of being an idiot, Neralt.” Trito sounded annoyed. “But she is just a monsterblood. Be careful of your words.”

There was a faint sigh, then she heard the baron retreating.

“I need to see to the defense of the village,” Trito said. “You will be held here until the monster horde is dealt with. I suggest you wait calmly, it will certainly be taken into consideration if you are quiet and cooperative.” Then she heard his steps receding as well.

Regina sat down on the straw-stuffed mattress of the narrow bed, tugging on her mandibles. She did not want to just sit and wait quietly until they decided whatever it was they wanted to do with her. So she closed her eyes and reached out to her drones.

They were all together, in the large room of the one-story wooden house. Regina mentally grabbed for Max’s mind and dove into his consciousness, sinking into place behind his eyes. It took her a moment to parse his senses, but she quickly gathered herself. Taking a moment to adjust, she turned his head, looking around him.

The other drones must have noticed something, since they had all stopped talking and were looking at him, or her. Regina pulled his lips into a smile. “Hello, guys, it’s just me,” she said, or tried to. The words came out a little garbled.

“Mother?” Tim jumped up and leaned forward. “Are you alright?”

Regina nodded with Max’s head. After a moment of consideration, she withdrew a little, giving him back sole control of his body even as she still got the information from his senses.

Max sighed and stood up as well from where he’d been sitting. “I don’t get the feeling that she’s hurt,” he said. He looked around again, focusing in on each of his companions for a few seconds.

“My queen, we are all unharmed, except for Tia’s injury, as you can see,” he said, talking quietly to himself. “There is one guard in the house, and at least five outside. Some of them appear to be normal soldiers instead of Delvers. They’re probably busy fighting the monsters. Anything else?”

“We’ve still got the, you know,” Mia said, glancing around. She clearly didn’t trust that the humans couldn’t listen in. “Where we put them before. If we manage to escape, we can bring them along. They went through our stuff, but I don’t think they recognized what they saw.”

“I think they thought it was food,” Tia muttered.

Regina smiled to herself where she sat in her own cell. It was good to know that the drones were alright, at least. She made Max nod and smile again, then withdrew to hang back in his mind, just enough so she was aware of what happened around him. There was no point in controlling him all the time, after all.

Just as she was considering whether talking to, or at least at, the guard outside her room was worth it, she noticed another change in their surroundings. Max shifted and moved to look out the window of their room. It was too small for even one of the drones to climb through, but they’d opened the wooden shutters to let fresh air in.

Regina tensed as she realized what he saw. The house was built close by the water and they had a view of a section of the river. Now, there was a boat gliding down it, moving remarkably quickly. It looked bigger than the one she’d seen before and like it was built of a single piece of wood, with elegant curves. It didn’t surprise her much to recognize sharp-eared figures in it. About half a dozen elves in total.

After Max stared at it for a moment, their descriptions popped up. It felt strange for Regina to see System notifications through another’s eyes. All of the elves were higher level than him and, judging by the class names, probably reasonably strong. She even recognized one, the Forest Ranger called Anuis, who they’d met in the forest.

Max followed them with his eyes as long as he could, but they moved out of his range of vision quickly. Regina could tell the others were all staying extra quiet and listening hard. Luckily, the walls of the house didn’t isolate sound very well and it was built right next to the center of the village, so what was happening wasn’t far away.

They could hear the sounds of the boat coming to a stop and people climbing out. Then there came the muffled sound of conversation. Regina got enough to guess that the elves were exchanging greetings with the locals and were being welcomed into the settlement. The voices’ position changed slightly as they walked further away from the river, and incidentally passed closer to the house her drones were kept in.

With a start, Regina realized that Anuis was asking about them. She was talking to Neralt and Trito.

“Yes, Regina and her companions came here,” Neralt said. “They are still here, although Sir Egon is concerned about a possible betrayal and is keeping them confined.”

There was a moment of silence, before she replied, her voice tight, “I see.”

“I do not see what concern it is of the elves,” Trito replied. “They are not of your people, I should think, and I will not compromise on ensuring these people’s safety.”

Regina frowned to herself at the Delver’s tone. She hadn’t really considered it in depth, but she wouldn’t have expected him to treat elves the way he did demihumans, ‘monsterbloods’. Since they were, well, humanoid. Maybe she was missing something.

Their voices grew weaker as they moved on, and Regina leaned back on her narrow cot with a sigh. She wasn’t quite sure what to think of the elves. They had undoubtedly been helpful. On the other hand, there were too many unexplained things with this whole situation.

Well, she already knew they had extensive defenses around their home, so it didn’t come as a surprise that they weathered the monster horde well. She’d also expect them to keep an eye on it and the human holdings, and the fall of the castle would have been hard to miss. That they came this early suggested that they really weren’t very concerned about their safety when it came to the monsters, though.

After maybe an hour, when Regina was considering taking a nap to keep her strength up and escape the boredom and unhelpful musings, something moved with the drones. She sat up again and focused on her connection to Max, which she’d left half-open in the back of her mind. His obvious agitation now bled in.

Regina blinked in her own body. There was suddenly a person standing outside the house, right by the the window probably looking at the drones. She, or rather Max, couldn’t see anyone, but they smelled them, the soft scent of leaves and an almost electric tingle she’d come to associate with the elves, and they’d just cleared their throat.

“Please don’t be alarmed,” the elf said softly. The voice sounded female, but wasn’t familiar. She spoke quietly enough that the human guards probably couldn’t hear. “We simply wanted to make sure you were alright.”

Regina took control again and tried to answer, but her words came out slurred. Frustrated, she retreated a little again, letting Max back in. When we’re out of here, I’m going to practice speaking through all of my drones, she resolved. I should have done that before.

“We are fine so far, thank you,” Max answered instead. “However, our queen has been separated from us.”

“Do you know where she is?”

Max hesitated. Regina nodded his head and pointed his finger in the exact direction where she was. Then she jumped into Tim, enduring the disorientation for a moment, and moved his arms to draw a rough map on the ground.

Luckily, Max caught on quickly. “She’s in the manor house, in a room on the ground floor to the northeast,” he said.

Regina couldn’t see the elf’s expression, but from the short pause, it was clear the woman was surprised at what they did. “Well,” she finally said. “Is there anything we can do for you?”

Regina switched again and scribbled on the ground with Mia’s work-limb, thankful that it was just packed dirt and not stone or anything. She knew she was showing the elves one of her cards, but under the circumstances, that seemed worth the risk.

“Can you please help us escape?” Max asked. He looked at her and widened his eyes, putting in an expression that abruptly reminded Regina how much like a kid he looked.

The elven woman was again quiet for a while before answering. “I cannot promise you much, children. However, we have little love for the Delvers and this would not be the first time we are helping someone unfortunately caught in their clutches. If you are able to act well enough to have a chance, we might be able to assist you.”

Regina smiled. She didn’t have a finished plan, but she did have a few ideas, and a few assets she could leverage.

It was frustrating trying to communicate that via short scribbles, and took longer than she wanted, but finally she thought she was getting the key ideas across.

“I see,” the elf replied, and Regina pictured her nodding decisively. “We should certainly manage to distract them for you, if nothing else.” She paused for a moment. “I will have to check with the others, you understand, but I am confident that if you are able to get out, we can also take you to safety from there. There is more to talk about, but Anuis will speak to you if this endeavor succeeds.”

“Thank you very much, ma’am,” Max replied politely.

Regina stood up, taking a moment to find her balance with most of her attention still tethered to Mia’s consciousness.

That promised to be interesting.

PotHQ: Chapter 24 (Draft)

One day. The monsters left them in peace for most of a day. Well, more a night and some change, actually.

As Regina stared out at the group of monsters approaching the village now, she couldn’t help but feel that it still wasn’t enough. But she hoped she was wrong. It wasn’t like she just had her hive to fight them off. And they had used the time they had well.

The morning sun was only just cresting the horizon, but thankfully it came from another direction, so she still got a good look at the pack of monsters drawing closer. They looked like overgrown, rabid dogs, except that there were odd spikes and plates of bone growing out of their bodies. Regina leaned her arm on the earthen ditch they’d built and glanced around for a moment.

Quite a few of the baron’s men covered this post, the main road leading into the village. They had, with the help of her workers, built a palisade together with the ditch. It was rough and quick work, but it should hold for a while. Or so she’d heard the commander saying, at least.

Her hive had used the night to recuperate, although they’d had one or two members at a time out to patrol the village. Regina took the last shift and didn’t move much from here until the others arrived. The evening before, Mia and Tia worked hard with the locals to build their improvised fortifications.

They’d both hit level 5 yesterday and, although Regina had missed it in the commotion, they’d gotten a new Ability. According to Mia, it was called ‘Meld and Merge’ and magically glued things together, basically. That would be very useful for crafting and had even come in handy in building the palisade. And even better, unless she was greatly mistaken, they would both get experience for that work.

That was one of the things she’d been able to confirm by watching and listening to the villagers: Combat wasn’t the only way to level, even if it was by far the fastest, and especially Classes with a non-combat focus gained experience by doing tasks that pertained to their Class. In her case, Regina suspected she’d get experience for doing queenly things - leadership, presumably - and perhaps growing her hive.

She shook her head and focused on the coming fight. Behind the horde of dogs - which she could now see were called ‘Spike Dogs’ by the System, very creative - other monsters were moving closer, too. This wasn’t the occasional stray monster they’d faced in the night, but a significant part of the horde in the area coming to them.

Suddenly, one of the human fighters in the group opened fire. Regina resisted the urge to turn and stare in surprise. She didn’t think they were in a reasonable range already, but his arrow shot out like a bullet and hit the closest dog right in the throat. It collapsed where it stood. The rest of the pack started to howl, but they didn’t change course.

Other fighters joined in, everyone with a ranged option unleashing it on the monsters. Regina resisted the urge to fire a Magic Missile. She needed to conserve her mana today. Even without the eggs, there was no way her mana regeneration would be able to keep pace with the fights.

Only two of the Spike Dogs survived to reach the palisade. There, two of the human warriors captured their attention, while Max and a human swordsman cut them down quickly. Regina wasn’t sure if they’d used Skills or not.

But they didn’t get much time to rest. The next group of monsters, a mixed pack of hyenas and feline monsters, was approaching already. This time, the soldiers took fewer of them out at range, probably because their more powerful abilities were spent or needed to recharge. Half a dozen of the monsters charged at the fortification at once. One got stuck in the ditch and three tried to scramble up the palisade, but one large black cat managed to vault it with a leap supported by a sudden gust of wind.

Regina thrust with her spear, but the monster evaded. Then Tim caught it in the side with his sword, almost ripping it open, just before a human warrior appeared at his side, skewering the monster. Regina assumed Tim had used his new Skill. He’d chosen to go for Strength of the Hive, and even with only one other Warrior present, the baseline buff wasn’t so bad.

Max used the shield he’d been given to bash a hyena off the palisade, and the rest of the pack was quickly killed, as well. But more and more monsters were approaching. Just as Regina considered moving her position, two black forms fell from the sky, quickly growing bigger, and resolved into large birds of prey. One falcon opened his beak and spewed a fireball right at their defensive emplacement.

Regina cursed and dodged to the side, wincing as a rush of air and heat shot through the space beside her and barreled into the side of a building. Shingles flew and tendrils of smoke curled into the sky.

She narrowed her eyes and focused on one of the birds, gathering her mana.

[Fiery Falcon — Level ?]

Her Magic Missile hit it in the wing and sent it plummeting downward, only to be engulfed by the Firebolt Janis sent up. The other bird was struck by an arrow and tumbled to the ground some meters away.

Regina stepped back and leaned against another wooden wall, taking a deep breath. The front-line fighters were fighting off the current group of beasts and seemed to have it well in hand, even if they fighting half a dozen at once now and were clearly pressed harder than before.

She frowned and absently poked at the feeling of the mana in her body and what else she could sense. There were the three eggs, hopefully save deeper in the village. It would still take some time until they hatched, but they could use the reinforcements. The more the better. Experimentally, Regina poked at the feeling inside her that was the call for new eggs. A System prompt popped up, and Regina grimaced, feeling the exhaustion from before again.

[Congratulations, you have unlocked a new Template: Drone Scout]

[You are able to lay another egg. Choose carefully what you will add to your hive.

Drone Warrior

Drone Worker

Drone Scout]

She still felt drained from before, and knew that even if she could push through this, that wouldn’t be a good idea. So she focused on closing the window and took a deep breath, regaining her mental equilibrium. Apparently, there wasn’t a System-enforced limit of how many eggs she could lay at a time, but a soft limit imposed by her own biology. Or the mana drain.

Regina frowned as she considered the message. She didn’t think a scout would be much use at the moment, even if she was curious about how one would look like. This also indicated that unlocking new Templates for her drones wasn’t just a matter of reaching the right level, but there were other prerequisites. Probably something like having three or four Warriors for this, if eggs counted.

Just then, the a System window popped up with a new notification.

[You have leveled up]

Regina blinked and shot upright, looking at the palisade. Max was just removing his ax from the corpse of a large crow monster with what looked like pebbles stuck between its feathers. More monsters were approaching, she smelled several new scents she hadn’t encountered before, and another hyena just vaulted the palisade while something big and heavy crashed against it.

Regina jumped forward, trying to help where she could. Thoughts of how this confirmed that she got experience from her drones were pushed to the back of her mind as the fight continued.

The number of monsters coming for the village seemed to increase instead of evening out. She occasionally heard sounds and saw flashes that showed the other positions were also having trouble, but she focused on the problem in front of her.

Regina had been given a spear with a fancy steel spearhead, which she suspected came from someone who’d died in the castle. She mostly used that, since it wasn’t a limited resource like her magic. Fighting in a group, if not quite formation, with others was a new experience for her. She rarely got a hit in, since most of the human fighters were faster and better coordinated. Max used the new Ability he’d chosen, Warrior’s Charge like Tim’s, a few times to get a strike in and take on a monster that might have attacked her, too.

The palisade didn’t survive the fight for long. A bigger Troll than she’d seen before started ripping out tree trunks, and some small level 6 Dirt Elemental actually produced earth to fill in the ditch. Most monsters were only slowed down by it, anyway. Slowly, the human and Hive defenders retreated, seeking the shelter of the narrow opening where the street led into the village.

Regina took to using Spark to light some wooden scraps she found, mostly from the houses which were a little worse for wear, on fire and tossed them at the monsters. She managed to distract them and even singe a level 8 Shadowing Stalker, burning some of the darkness covering it off and letting a human defender cave its head in.

That almost cost her a hand when another fireball from overhead crashed down into the group. Regina yelped and jumped back, stumbling over a broken tile on the ground. She glanced at the Fiery Falcon overhead, but it was already winging around and disappeared over the village’s houses.

A stone crashed into her shin and Regina fell to a knee, gasping in pain. She pushed herself upward, just in time to dodge the charge of a Lionit like the one she’d seen in the forest. Regina thrust with her spear, but it retreated and she only scored a shallow gash along its back.

Then Tim charged at it, throwing it back with a sweep of his blade-arm and sword at the same time. Regina retreated a step. Then she saw the black form darting at Tim from the side and jumped forward, thrusting with her spear.

She didn’t manage to arrest the panther’s momentum, but the cat’s lunge missed Tim. The Warrior retreated. The Lionit tensed in preparation for another pounce. A moment later, Tia’s work-limb swung at it and it turned on her, growling.

Regina watched the other monster carefully for a moment, then thrust out with her spear again. The panther was just dodging another swipe from Tim and ran into her thrust. Regina put all her strength into it and twised. She’d caught its shoulder, but the wound bled heavily. Tim stepped in and with another combined swipe, stabbed into its heart.

Then Regina felt something like a cold breath on her neck and turned. Her eyes widened. “Tia!”

The Worker was stumbling to the ground, blood flowing heavily down her side. The Lionit shook its head, teeth dyed red, and followed.

Regina’s spear caught it in the side and it hissed, turning. She smashed the Magic Missile she’d just formed into its head and it lurched to the side, where Tim waited for it.

Regina didn’t wait for him to stab it in the heart. She hurried over to Tia. The young drone was lying on the ground now, pressing a hand to her side. Regina fell to her knees beside her, wincing as she saw the cracked shell and bloody mess beneath it.

“It’s okay, just hold on,” she told her, tearing a strip from Tia’s dress to press against the wound. “We’ve got this.”

The Worker looked pale. She hadn’t even known they could do that. “Don’t make yourself a target, my queen,” she gasped.

“Shush,” Regina said, “the others have it in hand.” A quick glance confirmed that. They were holding the monsters off for the moment.

Regina looked at Tia’s injury and reached for her mana. She would not let one of her drones die like this!

She inhaled deeply and focused, trying to direct her mana through her hands into it. It was the only thing she could think of. A gut wound like Tia’s might be lethal even if it wasn’t infected. She didn’t have any medicine or even bandages. So Regina ignored the smell of blood and worse and focused on what she could tell of her drone’s anatomy.

She knew a lot more about how the body worked than she’d even realized. Granted, the human body, but some things couldn’t be too different. Regina focused on the cells in the affected area, trying to visualize them. The various organs, the smooth muscle cells, the endothelial cells of the blood vessels and the counterparts in the intestines. She lost herself in trying to remember how they regenerated from injury before she pushed that aside and just visualized them whole. Natural healing couldn’t deal with this, she needed magic.

Regina felt the little bit of mana she had leaving her, and suddenly grew dizzy. But she didn’t stop, eyes fixed on her target. She focused on the tissue beneath her hand, trying to shape mana and make it make her vision a reality. Was the blood flow slowing? A section of the wound slowly grew closer together, but it was such a small one. Regina swayed on her knees. It needed to be more, but it was so hard to focus.

Then suddenly, someone grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back. Regina blinked. It took her a long second to process what her senses were telling her. When she did, she stiffened up immediately.

Two men had grabbed her. They wore heavy plate armor, with visors covering their faces. There was another man looking at her, his helmet in his arm. His eyes were narrow and she had a feeling it wasn’t just the scar going down the side of his face that made his lips curl.

[Egon Trito — Level ? ]

“So, you are the little monsterblood they told me about,” he said. Then his eyes moved down to where Tia lay, still gasping. “It seems you had a turn of bad look.”

Regina gritted her teeth. “What do you want?” She started struggling, but the two other Delvers, going by what she’d heard before, didn’t move a centimeter.

“I want to protect the people of this village,” their leader answered seriously. “Against all threats that may have come to them.”

“Oh, fantastic,” she snarled. “And that gives you the right to come and harass the people who were protecting them?” She jerked her head back, trying to headbutt one of the men holding her. But she only struck something hard and unyielding that send a stinging spike of pain through her head.

A commotion to the side made her look up. More of the Delvers were holding their weapons at Max and Tim, who had turned to her. They bristled but kept standing where they were. Probably more because of her own captivity than theirs.

“Don’t struggle,” Trito said. “If you want your underling healed, stop distracting us.”

Regina stilled. “Then heal her.”

Trito held her gaze for a moment longer, before Regina made herself look at Tia with an effort of will, breaking the staring contest. Then he crouched down beside her. His gloves lit up faintly as hazy light spilled around and over the wound.

Regina took a deep breath, watching as the wound started closing before her eyes. She could sense his mana at work, but only very faintly. It took at least a minute until Tia looked in reasonably good shape, although there was still a lot of blood.

She sat up and he stepped back. While Tia struggled to stand, Mia rushed forward, finally let through by another fighter.

“Gather them up,” Trito commanded. He looked at Regina again. “Don’t resist.”

She stiffened as she realized what he intended. After a moment, she started gathering magic.

“Don’t,” he warned her, coming closer and grabbing her chin. “You only risk your followers getting killed in a fight, and you couldn’t defeat us anyway.”

Regina looked at the drones, breathing hard. What the hell does he think he’s doing, anyway? Is he holding them hostage to get me to cave? Would they kill them?

“Don’t be stupid, girl,” one of the men holding her spoke up. He sounded annoyed. “The weakest of us is twenty levels above you, there’s no way you could fight us. You might be a monsterblood, but I’m sure you’re smarter than that.”

After another long moment, Regina sighed and nodded slightly. She swallowed bile in the back of her throat and her pulse still hadn’t calmed down, but she knew she really couldn’t fight these people.

She just needed to find a way to either convince them they shouldn’t mess with her or to escape.

The two warriors started dragging her down the street. As they turned, she caught side of the remains of the palisades. The bodies of monsters littered the ground. None of them moved.

PotHQ: Chapter 23 (Draft)

Wearing proper clothing for the first time was an interesting, relieving and also a little annoying experience for Regina. She’d gotten used to not wearing much, and her shell as well as the high temperatures of summer had made it tolerable. But now that she had the option, she’d jumped on it.

Regina ran a hand down the front of her dress, frowning slightly. She wasn’t wearing a bra, since they apparently didn’t exist here, but her chest was small enough that it shouldn’t be much of a problem. The dress was a drab brown and made of a heavy, slightly itchy cloth. It went down to about halfway past her knees and only had short sleeves. She would have preferred to get some sturdy pants, but a woman from the village had brought this instead, and she’d been too eager to get into the bath to argue about it.

She glanced around the room one last time. She wouldn’t have expected a bathhouse in the village. But it was apparently a fairly prosperous settlement. For obvious reasons, the building was directly on the river, with some of its water diverted into its pool. There was a fireplace to heat water up, but Regina hadn’t wanted to wait that long. The cool water was refreshing, anyway. She’d left a lot of accumulated dirt and grime drift down into the river. I really hope the village has a clean water source. Wasn’t there a well earlier?

Regina shook her head and made herself move. She was exhausted and felt drained. It took more effort than it should just to walk. While the fighting could have been enough to do that, she knew the real culprits. Regina glared briefly at the three eggs sitting on the floor of the wooden room.

Now that it was over, she could tell she might have been a little too influenced by her Hive Queen’s urge to lay eggs. If nothing else, it might have been better to wait for a better place. But she was now warm and safe, had had enough to eat, and was much below the limit for her hive.

It had still been her decision, and she didn’t regret it. The monster horde could last up to a week. Even if they would start at level 1, getting reinforcements might be vital. And after that, she needed the strength of more drones, too.

She cracked the door open and glanced around. Mia and Tia had let her go first. Luckily, Max and Tim were already back from the men’s section of the baths.

“Boys, give me a hand please,” she said.

They entered the room and carefully took one of the eggs each. Regina picked up the third and they carried it outside.

Max raised an eyebrow at the coloring, but didn’t comment. These would be two warriors and one worker. Maybe she should have gone for three warriors, but workers could also be useful in fortifying the village and gave her a different kind of clout for beyond the fight. She’d settled on having three warriors and a worker, but three eggs was the limit of what she could do in one setting. Clearly, making them did take a toll on the body, and even if the process worked with magic, they probably still used up nutrients or something.

Quickly, they put the eggs into the bags they’d been given with supplies. The boys would just have to carry those directly. Luckily, the eggs were still small enough that this worked without problems. Regina glanced around, but there didn’t seem to be anyone watching them.

Then she straightened up, frowning at the side wall of the bathhouse, little more than a wooden shack, and squashed the impulse to lean against it.

She couldn’t help her lip curling as she looked around the village. It seemed so … small. Dirty, chaotic, battered. Human. Nothing at all like the cities of gleaming skyscrapers in her memory, but not inviting to the monster side of her, either. She knew that had little to do with the way they were built, really. Her hive would be lucky to manage something like these houses, at least for now. But they weren’t hers.

Regina sighed and set off. “Tim, you can join me. The rest of you, get some rest.”

“Yes, my queen.”

She hadn’t been inside the empty house the baron had assigned them yet, but she didn’t feel the need to right now. She was still quite low on mana, not to mention the effect of her recent production, but she didn’t feel like curling up. So she left the bags to the other two to watch over and left with Tim in tow.

The boys had been given pants, she noticed with a bit of grumpiness. Tim was wearing a short off-white tunic over it, but he’d cut holes in it to allow for his work-limbs. From the way he walked, she could tell that he didn’t like it. She suspected that if she let them, the boys were both going to end up going shirtless, at least. Well, she could care less.

Regina had thought to wander around a little and maybe ask people she passed, but it turned out that wasn’t necessary. As soon as they stepped onto the part of the main road leading to the town square, Janis hurried towards them.

“Well met again!” She smiled. “You look much better.” Then she clapped a hand before her mouth. “Oh, I didn’t mean it like that. Pardon me, please.”

Regina waved a hand dismissively. “You’re fine. I need to impose on you for a minute, actually.”

Janis looked surprised, but quickly mastered her expression. She glanced around. From the way the group of fighters gathered in the square were looking at them, Regina guessed that she was hanging around where she supposedly didn’t have a reason to be. “Alright, I’d be happy to help, m’lady. What is it I can do for you?”

Regina tilted her head, looking at the human. She’d been fully prepared to bully her into it, but Janis looked genuinely willing to help. That’s good. She can come in useful. Maybe I can even learn something about magic. I should have enough to entice her, too.

"Show me around the village,” she answered. “I need to know the lay of the land if we are to plan defenses.”

“Of course!”

Janis set off, with an unsure glance at them as if to check they were really following her. Regina smiled and walked down the road, looking around curiously and assessing what she found.

Unfortunately, she didn’t find much to contradict her first impression. The village was probably pretty fortunate, for a medieval shithole. They could walk all over it in just a few minutes, and Regina took note of the position of the houses. The narrow streets would probably help defend against the monsters, although she didn’t think the houses would do much to stop them if some of the stronger ones decided to go right through them. Still, with a few strategically placed ditches and maybe some spikes, they could do a lot to prepare the ground in their favor.

“There aren’t any monsters around now, thank the gods,” Janis explained.

“They’re probably swarming what remains of the castle and fighting over whatever they find there,” Regina commented.

The other girl shuddered, and Regina realized too late that that category probably included the bodies of the defenders. She’d been thinking in terms of whatever you might get from beast attracting mana enchantment materials.

“How old are you, anyway, Janis?” she asked, partly to divert attention from her last words.

The human gave her a sideways glance. “This is my eighteenth summer this year.”

Regina raised an eyebrow. She really was younger than she looked at first. Probably the conditions of life here. “I see.”

“And how old are you?” When she noticed Regina’s look, she hurriedly added, “Milady.”

Regina nodded. The villager had probably settled on that address because of her Class, or whatever you called the System identification it showed. Regina had no qualms about getting respect from these … well, ‘primitives’ was a little unkind. Probably poorly-educated and weak strangers?

She quickly thought back over the time since her awakening, trying to count the days. “I’m fifteen,” she said, simply neglecting to mention that she meant days instead of years.

Janis nodded, not looking surprised. So she really did look like fifteen for a human, then. Good to know.

“And you, young sir?” she asked Tim. “Pardon me, but I don’t think I’ve heard your name.”

“Tim,” he answered simply.

“Pleasure to meet you,” Janis responded. She looked at him for a moment longer, then turned back to Regina. “Anything else I can help you with?”

Regina glanced around. She’d already seen enough of this settlement. “Do you know any other spells?”

Janis shook her head. “Afraid not, m’lady. I’m not a real mage like you. That spell you cast, was that Magic Missile?” Her eyes brightened and she looked at Regina with unbridled enthusiasm. “It was, wasn’t it?”

“Yes,” Regina confirmed with a small smile. That was easy. “It’s a pretty simple little spell. You basically just gather your mana and press it into a simple form …”

She explained how she cast Magic Missile for a few minutes while they walked slowly down the road. Janis hung on her every word, while Tim’s eyes darted around, looking for any potential hidden dangers. He was probably listening too, though.

After she was done, Janis frowned, looking like she was trying to do a difficult calculus problem in her head. Regina watched attentively as mana flickered around her. Her own sense for it had grown, but it was still difficult to tell what went on inside someone else. Still, she found it fascinating to see someone else trying to do magic.

Janis didn’t manage to cast the spell, but Regina estimated that with some more time trying and maybe a few tips, she’d get there. “Why don’t you have a Class?” she asked.

“Huh?” Janis blinked, clearly ripped from her thoughts by the abrupt question. “Oh. I, well …” she tugged at her head covering and glanced to the side. “I was holding out, trying to get a better one. I want to be a mage!” She looked almost defiant as she said that.

Regina just nodded. She didn’t particularly care about whatever social taboos they might have regarding someone’s station and Class. But it was interesting to learn that humans did apparently choose their classes, and could even level without having one, although probably not as quickly as with a good Class. Presumably, there were prerequisites to meet before the System granted you one. Well, you couldn’t say Janis wasn’t being proactive in chasing her goal.

“How do you cast Firebolt?” Regina finally asked what she’d been leading up to.

The human chewed on her lip. “Well, you also push mana into a shape, but it’s a bit more, uh, restive for this one …”

They stopped at a corner of the town square while she tried to show Regina how the spelll worked. She could see people watching them, but ignored them, focusing on the lesson. Firebolt really was more complicated than Magic Missile, although it seemed like some elements were the same, and it had some of the properties of Spark as well. When Janis demonstrated how she moved the mana for it, it was hard for Regina to see, but she still managed to get an idea of how it was supposed to move. She made Janis repeat it until the human girl was looking pale with drops of sweat dripping down her forehead.

Finally, Regina took a deep breath and tried to copy her. Moving her mana this way was hard, and she felt like she was straining muscles she didn’t know she had, trying to bent something into a shape it didn’t want to go. But she persevered, and it got easier. After a few long seconds, she even managed to draw the form into her hand and let it bubble to the surface, causing sparks to flicker from her skin. The proto-spell fell apart after a moment. But she knew she’d made progress. With a bit of experimentation, she’d be able to learn it, she was sure of that.

Regina ran a hand through her stubble of hair and looked around. A few villagers who had been watching turned away as soon as they caught her gaze and hurried off. Some of the men in armor standing ready in the townsquare frowned disapprovingly at them.

She shook her head and started looking for the baron. She’d discuss what they needed to do to get the village ready for defense, then retreat to the house her hive had been given and get some rest.

She didn’t see him, so she set off towards the largest and fanciest house in the village, which actually had three stories and a base of stone. Janis trailed along behind her and Tim.

One of the soldiers stepped out of the group and almost directly into their path. “You should be careful, girl,” he said to Janis. “You know how the Delvers feel about people trying to go beyond what they should. Or associating with monsterbloods.” He glanced at Tim.

Janis frowned. “So they are really coming here, Alan?”

The fighter nodded. “They’re gonna be here soon enough. Just take care, Janis.” He shook his head, going back to join the rest of the group.

Janis looked a little bit paler suddenly, Regina noticed. Her fingers were hidden in the sleeves of her dress, fidgeting with the edges.

She sighed. This arrangement had been working out well. She was not looking forward to dealing with this.

PotHQ: Chapter 22 (Draft)

From outside of it, the way the monsters all seemed to home in on the castle was a lot more helpful. Not only did it mean that there were fewer monsters in the fields outside the forest, but it allowed Regina to extrapolate their movements. She could see the patterns in the way the monsters who were outside moved, which made it easier to guide her hive to avoid them.

Their trip away from the castle were the most nerve-wracking of her life. At least in the forest you couldn’t see the monsters who might be in your area, even if they could be waiting behind some trees to jump you. They also weren’t really at the edge of the monster horde anymore, which meant she could probably expect to encounter more high level monsters.

The further they traveled from the castle, though, the lower the monsters’ levels seemed to get. She only managed to get a blue box for some of them, those who were closest, but while at first they were mostly question marks, after leaving the castle behind them she could read the level about half of the time.

They couldn’t completely avoid meeting some monsters, unfortunately. A few of them simply moved away from their group, probably sensing that they were outclassed, or at least out-leveled. Regina and the warriors managed to scare away a few others. But they did have to fight.

Max pulled his ax out of the hide of a young Hill Troll, probably about level 10, and wiped it in the grass, as they finished their latest fight. Regina shook her head at how much of a difference a proper weapon made. They could have defeated the troll before, but it had gone much quicker now.

“I was hoping I would level up again,” he muttered.

“Soon,” Regina consoled him. “It’s obviously getting harder with higher levels, but given how much we’re fighting compared to before, our next levels shouldn’t be far off.” She certainly wouldn’t mind if Max and Tim reached level 7, too.

She glanced at the downed troll, then hurried away quickly. Already, she could see what looked like a vulture monster circling overhead, and a few dark shapes were also approaching. They needed to leave them the free meal and get gone.

She could see more of the village as they came closer. It looked bigger than she’d expected, she’d estimate it as housing at least a thousand people, rather than the little hamlet she’d imagined. Of course, that was only for medieval standards. Smoke was rising from several houses, and the wind carried the faint sounds of combat. It also smelled faintly of ash, which covered whatever other scents there might have been. Regina spared a moment to be thankful this direction was downwind of it.

It looked like the monster density was higher here, too. That didn’t bode well for any defenders, even if it wasn’t nearly as much as the castle. Regina glanced around, picked her steps carefully, and fell into a jog. The sound of her the drones’ steps behind her increased like hers and made it harder to hear any quiet noises, but that was worth it. She dashed across the field onto a dirt path leading into the village.

The village’s houses looked to have sprung up wherever there was room, without much in the way of organization or straight roads. The outer houses all had gardens extending into the fields around the village. One of them sported a few small fruit trees. Regina barely noticed a shadow moving behind one of them in time to stop.

A small fireball flew across the road right in front of her. A second later, her own Magic Missile responded. She managed to curve it slightly, and was rewarded by a small scream as a figure stumbled out from behind the tree.

Regina was already readying another spell when its appearance registered. She immediately canceled the spell and took a step forward, holding out her hands.

“Stop!” she barked.

The woman across from her started, but Regina hadn’t really been talking to her. Max and Tim stopped right away, and she saw Max slowly lower his blade-arm. But Regina didn’t take her eyes off the woman for long.

[Janis — Level 7]

The human woman was maybe twenty or thirty, it was hard to tell. She wore some kind of head covering Regina didn’t know the name for and a dress of roughspun material that didn’t look to have been dyed. There was dirt on her face and her dress, and she noticed a few rips near the hem. Not what she would have expected of the first human magic user she met.

“Calm down,” she said, unable to suppress all of the exasperation in her tone. “We’re not your enemies, but you’re lucky the boys there didn’t get to you before I could stop them after you attacked me.”

The villager frowned. She looked Regina up and down. “You’re actual people, then, not monsters,” she mumbled, as if to herself. “Begging your pardon, I’m a little on edge.”

“Of course we’re people,” Regina replied. Obviously, there was no need to tell the human that they were actually monsters, even if she suspected that would be accurate.

“Then maybe you can help fight the monsters in the village?” the girl asked, now sounding hopeful. Regina was starting to realize that she was younger than the grime made her seem.

She sighed, considering for a moment. They did intend to enter the village in the first place.

“They’re not strong, really,” Janis hurried to say. “I don’t think there’s any over level 10. I reckon the strong ones all went and tried to get into the castle. It’s just we don’t have many fighting men here, since they’re all gone to the fort, too.”

“Alright, then,” Regina said, looking around again. “Guide us to the monsters we can most easily take out. And maybe if you know a good defensive spot, too. We need to take shelter from the horde, but I’m not averse to helping out killing a few monsters.”

“Thank you, m’lady.” Janis smiled. “Right this way, then.”

Despite the way they’d met, it appeared she did know her way around, at least. She led them into the village through a back alley. It took less than a minute until they saw their first monsters.

Regina crept forward carefully, watching as Max let Tim go on ahead to peer around the wall of a house before she did the same. This one looked a bit like the Troll, but with a squatter frame and four arms. It also had a wide maw that gaped open to show an uneven row of teeth.

[Rockborn Abomination — Level ?]

Regina withdrew and nodded at the others. Tim nodded back before he visibly took a deep breath, then got a running start and jumped at the monster, using his Charge ability to cover the ground quickly.

His sword bit into the abomination’s side, but it didn’t seem to do much damage. Regina attacked with a Magic Missile, trying to hit the same spot, but she missed and only managed to hit its shoulder. The monster rocked back slightly, but seemed to regain its balance quickly.

Max attacked from the other direction, his ax crashing down on another arm. The monster withdrew a little, and Tim immediately followed it up with another cut.

“Careful!” Mia called. “There are more coming!”

Regina looked around and stepped closer to Max. Two other monsters seemed to have been attracted by the sound of the fight and were running at them now. They both had question marks for levels and names she didn’t recognize. One, a Flaming Fox, looked exactly what it sounded like, while the Rolling Grass seemed like a bigger version of the mimic they’d fought before.

She took a deep breath. She didn’t have much mana left, but this wasn’t the time to be stingy with it. So she sent a Magic Missile at the second monster, which stopped it in its tracks for a moment.

Tia swung her left work-limb at the fox, then snatched it back. Tim pivoted from the Rockborn and slashed at it with its sword. Mia didn’t miss her cue and stepped into his place immediately, taking a swing at the monster’s head.

That left the grass free, which was clearly angling to get at Tim’s side. But a moment later, another Firebolt roared out, throwing it back. The air started to smell of burnt grass.

Regina glanced at Janis, who looked paler than before and had one hand clutched tightly into her skirt, before she turned to the fight against the Rockborn, which was clearly their toughest opponent.

She’d lost her spear and didn’t have any proper weapon, or even natural weapons like the drones. But she did still have magic. Regina focused on her mana and held the spell she wanted in her mind, shaping its details meticulously.

A few long moments later, she had a little bit of lead in her hand. She’d sensed instinctively, with the knowledge the spell gave her, that it was cheaper than steel, or even diamond. It was a simple shape, oblong and coming to a point at one end. A simple dart.

Regina centered herself and weighed it in her hand, then let go. With her speed and Dexterity beyond the human norm, the projectile flew true, with more power behind it than any rock she’d thrown before. The short range helped.

The monster let out a shrill cry and clasped one hand over its right eye. Blood was starting to pool under it. Max didn’t give it any time to gather itself, but darted in. His ax bit deeply into its knee, where its defense was clearly weaker. The monster stumbled and fell, and while Mia cracked it over the head, Max swung at its neck. It gurgled and stopped moving.

Regina turned around and breathed in relief as she saw that the fight was over. Tia was standing over the burnt corpse of the grass monster, and Tim had given the other one several deep slashes. Apparently, the flames were only surface-level and it had a flesh-and-blood body beneath that.

“How did you learn how to cast that, anyway?” she asked the villager.

Janis ducked her head and glanced to the side. “I just figured it out,” she mumbled.

Regina raised a head. Considering her experience with the presumably much simpler Spark, that meant Janis was probably either talented or a pyromaniac. “Let’s keep going,” she said after a moment.

They moved through the outer parts of the village at a slow pace. She learnt from last time and only engaged monsters when there were no others close by. Once, they missed one and had to fight two to one again, but the monsters were both under level 7, so it wasn’t a problem. Max and Tim both reported leveling up after their third and last fight, against another Rockborn Abomination.

With this part of the village cleared, they started to move into the center. Regina decided to keep to the main road. While it might be more exposed, it also offered better visibility and let them fight side by side more easily. This road was actually paved and reasonably straight.

Funnily enough, they didn’t encounter any more monsters in the next few minutes. Regina frowned, taking a deep breath of the air. It smelled of fire with the scent of various monsters mixed in, but it was hard to differentiate which of those would still be alive or even nearby.

The road opened up to a small open yard which probably functioned as a townsquare or marketplace on specific days. She saw several people standing there. Two of them appeared to be in plate armor.

Then the last one turned around, and Regina frowned as she recognized the local baron. Apparently, they weren’t the only ones who’d abandoned the castle. He must have moved quickly.

“Lady Regina and companions,” Neralt drawled, shaking his head. “Thank you for escorting them, Janis. I am glad to see you still alive,” he gave her a meaningful glance, “although I admit I did not expect to meet you here.”

“I wouldn’t have expected to see you here, either,” Regina answered. “I take it the castle has fallen?”

He grimaced. “Unfortunately, it has. My duty compelled me to return here quickly to defend those I am sworn to protect.”

Or he just didn’t like the high-level monsters who had probably overrun the castle. But it wasn’t like Regina minded.

“We already killed quite a few monsters infesting the village,” she said. “I am prepared to help you defend in going forward, but not for free.”

The noble sighed. “With myself and what remains of my men here, I think we stand a decent chance of defending the village without any further casualties. But you are welcome to stay.”

Regina crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow. “We will need supplies and weapons.” She glanced down at herself. “Clothing. As well as food and such. Further compensation for our assistance can be discussed later.”

He stared at her for a moment, but she met his eyes calmly. She knew that she was negotiating what had to be mercenary work. Even if there weren’t exactly many other places they could go, he wasn’t in a position to turn away help.

“Fine,” he finally conceded. “I will arrange for a bath first.”

PotHQ: Chapter 21 (Draft)

Regina cursed her luck as she looked around. The castle buzzed like a kicked beehive, but the activity had a frantic edge. The gate was half hanging off its hinges, and already the first few monsters had forced their way inside. Soldiers and knights were swarming to the gate to hold it, but the walls weren’t clear either, and a wyvern still lurked at the top of the keep, sending broken tiles and pieces of stone showering down.

She didn’t see Tim and Tia, so she closed her eyes for a moment to check on them. She dove into Tim’s mind right away. It took her a second to process the view of the castle wall and buildings she got and extrapolate his position.

When she did, she opened her eyes again and glanced at the two drones with her. “Let’s go.”

Max stuck close to her as she started running, his blade-arm held at the ready. Mia trailed a step behind her. Regina wove her way through a group of agitated people without armor, then rushed down the side of another building.

Tia almost crashed into her as she and Tim rushed towards them. Regina smiled at them and squeezed her shoulder for a moment before she started walking again. She felt like they needed to keep moving. Seamlessly, Tim and Max fell into guard positions at either side.

 The battle had only gotten worse in the short time she’d been distracted. “Fuck,” Regina muttered, glancing at the circling monsters in the sky briefly. Some of them looked like oversized birds of prey, but there were the wyverns and what looked like a flying serpent as well as a twister of condensed wind that was probably some kind of elemental.

Some of the soldiers she’d looked at had been about at her level, but most seemed to be higher. She didn’t think there was much her little hive could do here. And she didn’t particularly feel like throwing her life away trying to save the castle, anyway. She just wanted to get out.

“Any ideas?” she asked her drones. “I’m not sure how we can make it out of here.”

They shared a look. Then Max said, “The Workers’ Ability.”

“Good idea.” Regina couldn’t help but smile briefly. She’d almost forgotten about that. “I don’t suppose you can dig through the castle wall, Mia, Tia?”

Tia shook her head. “No, my queen, that would take much too long.”

That figures. “If there’s a back door, we could dig under it,” Regina said. “Let’s go and look, at least.”

She glanced at the gate as they went. It was just about splintered in half now, with more and more monsters trying to force their way through and sometimes succeeding. A few had gotten past the soldiers at the gate, probably either flying or climbing the wall at a spot that was less guarded. There would be no escape that way, in any case. And even if they left the castle, they’d still have to contend with the monsters outside.

“Why are they trying to get in so badly?” Max asked.

“No idea,” Regina said.

“There’s the center and power source for the nearby enchantments of that defensive line here,” Tim answered. “Or so a soldier I talked to said, at least. The concentrated mana attracts monsters or something.”

Regina shook her head. She’d sensed that the castle was built right in the middle of that line.

Right at that moment, the wyvern atop the tower shifted. She reflexively ducked and covered her head as dust rained down, sprinkled with heavier stuff. Something creaked and cracked as the shadow of the wyvern moved from the keep and landed with a thump on the roof of another building. Soldiers started to pepper it with arrows, and it roared, making the nearest ones clutch their ears.

She looked up just in time to see a Flametongue Wolf pouncing at them, a tongue of fire shooting out towards Tim. The Warrior ducked and it crashed into the side of the house beside them, but didn’t manage to catch anything on fire. Max jumped at the monster and Tia followed, swinging her work-limb at its snout like a hammer.

It yowled and retreated, only to run right into Regina’s Magic Missile. She hit it in the eye, making the monster visibly shudder. Then Max’s blade ended any threat it posed.

It wasn’t the only monster that had made its way inside the walls, and she could tell that their number would only increase. They needed to get out as soon as possible, or they’d be overrun along with the castle defenders. Maybe they could take shelter in that village, some defensible structures had to be better than nothing.

The group kept walking, moving along the wall. Regina resisted the temptation to turn to look at every roar and crash she heard.

They only got a few meters before they were attacked by the next monster. This one jumped out of the shadows at them and Regina barely ducked away in time. Max’s blade limb jumped out and caught the monster, some kind of dark lizard-looking thing, in the gut. It screeched, then Tim caught it in the snout with another blow.

Mia and Tia stepped up and swung at it as well, while Regina exhaled and looked around. What she saw made her swallow hard. There was a breach in the wall, not all that far from them. It looked like half of the battlement was missing, and monsters were climbing over the wall. Human defenders were frantically trying to get there to close the breach, but they were being harried by other monsters and the gate wasn’t faring any better. Already, Regina could see and smell quite a few bodies lying on the ground that wouldn’t be standing up again.

“Screw it,” she said, “Let’s get onto the wall.”

There was a staircase at a corner tower not far from them. Soldiers were clogging it, but at least it was intact and they still moved. Regina hurried in that direction, taking a moment to check that all of her drones kept up with her.

Max stopped beside the prone figure of a fallen soldier for a moment. The guy had what looked like half his chest caved in beneath his chainmail, but Regina didn’t feel much looking at it. She shoved that observation to the back of her mind for later. At the moment, she couldn’t afford to be distracted. Max took the sword lying beside the dead soldier and passed it to Tim before grabbing the ax that had fallen a few meters further.

Regina nodded and kept moving at a faster pace. When they had the opportunity, they should look for more actual weapons, but they couldn’t afford to get bogged down.

Getting up the staircase was easier than expected. She squeezed herself past a human man and hurried up the stairs. It looked like reinforcements were slowing down, not a good sign. She glanced around, trying to ignore the noise of the battle coming from everywhere, then hurried along the walkway to the left, away from the spot where the fighting was fiercest.

“My queen, let me go first.” Max pushed himself past her and took the lead.

Another monster jumped at him before they could take more than a few steps. Max bashed it against the wall, and Regina fired a Magic Missile into its face point-blank. The monster, some kind of harpy-looking biped with scraggly feathers, screeched and shuffled backwards a meter. Then Tim and Max grabbed it and heaved it over the wall before Regina could even launch another attack.

They made their way along the wall, occasionally dodging humans and pushing off or cutting down monsters, until they reached a spot that Regina judged the best they could get. They were almost directly opposite the largest breach, and there weren’t as many monsters around here. A glance down the wall showed that the river looked clear and the riverbank, which was only a few meters away in this spot, was empty.

“I’ll go first.” Tia grabbed one of the vines they’d managed to take along and passed it to Max. Tim grabbed on, too. Then threw the rope over the wall and started following it.

Belatedly, Regina grabbed onto the rope as well. Tia started climbing right away, but her weight wasn’t too much for them, especially split between three people. Regina knew the vine rope wasn’t large enough to reach the bottom, and after what felt like a very short time, it slackened as Tia let go.

“You go next,” she told Mia, “then I’ll follow.”

Mia hesitated for a moment, before she grabbed the edge of the wall and pulled herself on top of it. Regina looked around, shooting a Magic Missile at a bird monster that looked like it was coming to close, then clenched her jaw as Mia began climbing.

Quickly, the rope was free again and it was her turn. Regina took a deep breath, but started moving right away. She couldn’t put the boys at more risk.

Climbing was awkward with her claws, but she managed. There were some small clefts in the stonework where she could put her feet. Regina resisted the urge to glance down more than once and just swung her legs over the wall and let herself drop, catching herself with the rope. She climbed down until she reached the end of the rope, then let herself dangle from it, pushing off with her right foot as she let go.

For a moment, she fell, the wind whistling past her, before cold waters closed around her. Regina kicked her feet and struggled until she broke the surface, gasping more from the shock than need to breathe. She started swimming for shore. Luckily, her Endurance and Strength were more than enough to contest with the rushing water.

Something warm brushed past her right leg and Regina instinctively jerked it away. She redoubled her efforts, her pulse pounding even faster. But despite what she half-expected, she managed to reach the river’s shore without encountering any water monsters.

Regina stumbled out of the water, taking a deep breath and looking around. Mia and Tia were waiting not far off. When she turned to look at the river, she saw Tim just behind her in the water. Max was climbing down the rope, presumably having tied it down somewhere.

She resisted the temptation to anxiously watch his progress and instead kept an eye out for monsters. She almost missed the slightly darker patch in the field just a few meters from her. But when she looked at it just a moment longer, the System gave her a notification.

[Track and Field Mimic - Level 7]

Regina cursed and loosened a Magic Missile. The green field jerked, letting her see it as the monster it was. Its beady dark eyes were very easy to miss, and the knobs on its underside looked faintly ominous.

Mia pounced on it quickly, using her little blade to cut it and spill bright green blood. Then Tia joined it, hammering it with her work-limb. Regina grimaced and stomped its head, feeling something deform beneath her foot.

Tim joined them right away and when she looked around, Max was just staggering onto the shore.

“Thank fuck,” she said. “Alright, let’s go.”

The warriors straightened up and moved to guard positions, their metal weapons held firmly. When Regina started walking, they stayed in step with her.

From here, it was easy to see that while there were a lot of monsters on the plains, they weren’t exactly blanketing it. It wasn’t immediately obvious, but she recognized a large-scale movement towards the castle. Mostly on its other side, where the main gate was. But the river curved here, so they were actually on the same side of it as well.

“Smoke is coming from up ahead,” Tim said.

Regina followed his gaze, frowning. He was right. Sighing, she adjusted her course to head more directly for the village.

“Are you sure this is wise, my queen?” Max asked hesitantly.

“We’re not going to survive long out in the open with the monster horde about,” she replied. “Let’s at least check it out. If it’s too dangerous, I’ll think of something else.”

The others didn’t say anything, but she knew they weren’t happy about her heading into danger. Too bad for them that we’re all already in the middle of it.

PotHQ: Chapter 20 (Draft)

Mia didn’t know everything her Queen did. Despite the danger and exhaustion of their journey, it had been obvious that Regina was looking forward to meeting humans. Now that they had, Mia couldn’t help but wonder why. The humans in her Mother’s memories had to be very different than this, because these ones were a little underwhelming.

Not that she was going to say anything. They had taken them in, after all, and while Mia really didn’t like the feeling of being dependent on someone outside the hive, she knew it was still better than taking their chances with the monsters outside. Besides, it wasn’t her place.

Still, as she looked around the castle, she couldn’t help a little voice in the back of her head saying that a properly run Hive would never be this dirty and disorderly. She could see some care and organization, in the way the soldiers were stationed at the gate and on the battlements, and what looked to be caches of supplies or ammunition distributed. There were barrels of water from the river, presumably for putting out fires, as well as buckets of arrows and munitions for the siege weaponry she saw on the corner towers of the fort. Some men in armor that generally looked fancier were walking around, probably knights or officers. There were also a few women bustling around, wearing simpler clothing without armor.

Mia looked around for a moment, trying to pick out a good target. Tia was already approaching one of the women, while Max and Tim were heading for men in armor. She didn’t see her Queen, but she knew she was still behind her.

Then Mia started walking, heading towards an older woman whose clothing looked a bit finer than that of the others. The human was even wearing a short sword on a belt. She stood close to the entrance of one of the buildings in the courtyard, beside the main keep, talking to another human female. As Mia watched, the other woman left, and her target turned, then paused as she saw her coming.

[Marianne Neralt — Level ? Lady]

The hive was to gather information, so Mia suppressed her hesitation and smiled at her as she approached. “Hello, ma’am, do you have a moment?” That was polite, wasn’t it?

The woman frowned slightly. “I suppose so,” she answered. “You are one of those demihumans from the forest, aren’t you? I thought you were quartered in some part of the cellars.”

“We are,” Mia answered. The smile was hard to keep up, especially with the twinge of pain from her right side. It had gotten better, but she knew her right work-limb wasn’t fully healed yet. “At least, I assume so. It’s a dank basement, anyway.”

The human’s frown deepened. “I see. What can I do for you, girl?”

Mia hesitated for a moment, quickly running through the information they wanted to gather in her mind. Reigna was curious about the language they spoke, but it probably wouldn’t be smart to just outright ask about that. Then they needed general information about the humans and the region, and about this fight.

A deep, bellowing roar resounded from behind them, and she heard human men crying out for a few moments before there was a hissing sound and the noise stopped.

“How is the battle going?” she asked. “How long until it’s finished?”

The human laughed. “Oh, if only I knew. Beast hordes can take a few days or a week.”

Mia cocked her head. “This isn’t the first monster horde you’ve seen?”

“Of course not.” The woman narrowed her eyes. “How old are you, girl?”

“Oh, I’m … five, I think.” Mia resisted the urge to smile at herself. It was five days, of course, but the human wouldn’t know that, so she should assume she meant years!

The woman blinked, apparently surprised. “Really? Five? Your people must be odder than I thought. But I suppose that explains why this is your first monster horde, they do come every five years.”

Mia nodded. Five years sounded like a really long time. At least it was good her hive wouldn’t have to worry about another horde for years. 

“What’s this castle called, anyway?” she asked. “And there’s a village near here, right?”

“This is Fort Forest’s Watch. Our village is usually called Forest’s Haunt, but its proper name is Neralt village.” The woman glanced around. “Where’s your mother, child?”

“Uh, probably still in the cellar room, I think,” Mia said. That wasn’t quite a lie. She didn’t know for sure if her Queen had left it, after all, although she was probably out here somewhere, too.

The human frowned. She looked suddenly disapproving. “I’d heard you were a group of adolescents.”

“Yes, I guess so?” Mia scratched at her work-limb. That was a stupid question.

The woman shook her head. “I think I see your big brother standing by the smithy, there. Why don’t you go to him, child?”

Mia took a step back. The human obviously wanted to leave. She probably wouldn’t answer any more questions. “Alright. See you later, ma’am.”

“… Perhaps, girl.”

Mia walked away. She did see Max standing by a building made of stone with a big chimney. She walked slower this time, trying not to jostle her injured arm. Mia felt like she hadn’t done so well back there. Hopefully, the others had more luck.

Coming up to him and with the human’s comment in mind, she noticed that Max really was bigger than her. Only a few centimeters, and he didn’t exactly look much older, but still. That only made sense, since he was the oldest drone in their hive. He extended his right blade-arm and Mia brushed her left work-arm around it, returning his greeting.

“What did you learn?” he asked.

Mia quickly explained the few facts she’d gotten from her conversation. Max nodded.

“I heard that they come every five years, too,” he said. “I also learned that the fighters here are a mixture of militia from the locals, soldiers from the kingdom and adventurers.”

“This probably isn’t the only fort they have, is it?” Mia said.

Max nodded in agreement. “Probably not. This area belongs to a kingdom and I got the feeling they sent soldiers to other castles along this defensive line the elf mentioned, too.”

“Maybe there are more villages further back,” Mia suggested. “You wouldn’t build a heap of stones like this just to protect one village, would you? I mean, maybe these humans would, they don’t seem like the most efficient people.”

Just then, the ground shook slightly and a streak of burning light arched across the sky, but it fell to pieces before it reached the walls of the castle, showers of light raining down beyond the walls until she couldn’t see them any more.

“Maybe one of the others found out more about that.” Max sighed. “I can’t help feeling uneasy about all this.”

“I suppose you’d rather we had taken shelter with the elves,” she said, raising her eyebrows at him.

Max winced slightly, lowering his eyes before he raised them to meet hers again. “Yes,” he agreed quietly. “I know that I spoke out of turn when I asked them. It’s just …”

Mia bumped him with her work-limb again. “Hey, it’s okay, our Queen wasn’t angry at you,” she said. “I mean, I wouldn’t have dared, but she did put you in charge when she’s gone. So you’re basically her second-in-command, right? It probably is your job to speak up, sometimes.”

Max smiled a little. “Thanks, Mia. Yeah, I was just trying to help. It’s not my place to speak for her, but she is our Hive Queen. There are some things a Queen shouldn’t have to say, you know?”

Mia nodded, grabbing his right hand. He was right. The idea of their Queen reduced to asking for help from strangers of another race made her feel bad, like she tasted something bitter in the back of her throat. She didn’t know if Regina would have done that, and she certainly wouldn’t judge, but she was glad it wasn’t an issue.

Max was smart. Probably smarter than drones usually were, at least young ones. He did what was best for the hive, even if it wasn’t just fighting. She felt a little proud of him and resolved to live up to his example. Maybe she wasn’t as smart, but she could still do her best for their Hive, couldn’t she? And their Queen had so few drones right now that they all had to do their best, so she could really rely on them.

They shared a look, and she knew they were thinking the same thing. The feeling of failure still burned in her insides whenever she thought about it. They’d lost their home, the place they’d been born and where they’d been building a settlement. Even if their Queen didn’t seem to care much, Mia couldn’t let it go that easily. It was the only place she’d ever really known. Except for this castle. Which was not as good.

Suddenly, the roar of the battle intensified. She glanced up, watching as what looked like all of the siege engines fired at the same time. Then she tensed up when she saw the monsters headed for them. She couldn’t look beyond the walls, but something was picking off the soldiers from the battlements. After a few seconds, there was a loud roar, and the earth shook so badly she almost stumbled. She grabbed onto Max to stabilize him, looking at the gate with wide eyes.

Something crashed against it. Then a shadow passed over it, and she looked up. The human who’d brought them here was flying on his wyvern, fighting flying monsters. But there were more, a pack of three wyverns coming from the direction of the forest. Mia squinted. Was there a shadow on the back of one of them, or was that just a trick of the light?

They closed in and she saw two of the wild monsters diving the tamed one with the mage. The other flew over the castle and crashed into the keep. The whole castle shook again. As if on cue, another roar sounded from outside, and something crashed into the gate again. She heard the telltale sound of splintering wood.

Max bristled, extending his blade-arms. He took a step forward as if to shield her.

Mia grabbed onto one just above the blade. “Max, where’s Mother?”

His eyes flickered around their surroundings. “Back there, I think. Let’s go!”

The two of them turned and ran, not sparing another glance for the fight at the gate. Even so, Mia heard more footsteps and more crashes. A fireball arced overhead. Then there was the sound of screaming metal and more bursting wood, and the heavy thumping of Trolls or other monsters. Her nose told her there were a lot of monsters, and they were closing in on them.

They didn’t find Regina near any of the other buildings, although she did see Tim and Tia, who seemed to have found each other. Max and Tim gestured at each other for a moment, then the two others ran to the left and Max guided her to the right, a simple search pattern.

Mia looked around frantically, trying to find any sign of their Queen. Why did they all leave her alone? Stupid. She mumbled curses at the fact that the humans all seemed to be taller than them. Many of them were running towards where she knew the monsters were coming into the fort, but a few just seemed to be running nowhere, panicking.

Finally, they found Regina behind the building where the door to their basement room was. She turned to Mia and Max, a relieved smile on her face. The human man in fancy armor who she must have been talking to rushed off without even saying goodbye.

“My queen,” Max gasped as they met up. “What do we do?”

Regina grimaced as she looked around. “I don’t think we have much of a choice. We need to fight our way out.”

Mia straightened up. She wasn’t much of a fighter, but if these monsters wanted to get at her Queen, they’d have to go through her, and she wouldn’t make it easy for them!

PotHQ: Chapter 19 (Draft)

As it turned out, Regina had been right in her assumption. There was a settlement close to the river, not too far from the forest’s edge. The thaumaturge with his wyvern led them there, staying silent most of the way. She quickly realized that the military base or outpost was the important part, though. It was built some distance from the village, in the middle of an island in the river.

Because of the limited space, it seemed to have been built mostly upwards. High walls encircled it, studded with battlements made of the same gray stone blocks. A keep rose in the middle, and through the currently open gate, she caught glimpses of other buildings inside. A drawbridge led up to it from the nearest shore. A few people were out, apparently preparing to pull it up, but they stopped to let her group inside.

Derrek rode his wyvern into the castle without a word. Regina hesitantly walked across the bridge, nodding at the humans. They stared.

Once they stepped past the gate and it started to rumble as they closed it, a System notification popped up. She blinked.

[You have leveled up]

“Regina?” Max asked in a low voice, glancing around.

“I just gained a level,” she explained. “Huh. I guess this confirms you can get experience for non-combat things. Unless this System has exploration XP, I’m guessing I got it for leading my hive out of danger.”

“Over here!” Derrek waved them over.

Regina hurried to him, glancing around the castle. Her first impression was dirty.There was an unpleasant smell coming from what were probably the stables. At least, she hoped so. But the rest of it wasn’t much better. The buildings looked primitive to her eyes, built low and dark. There were quite a few people around, all seeming busy with something and most of them wearing armor and weapons. Many of them paused to stare, and they started to whisper to each other about them. Regina tuned them out.

She felt vaguely disappointed and silly for feeling that way. Why did I want to go to civilization so badly? She couldn’t shake the thought that she’d much rather just build her own hive. There, things would have a proper order, at least. Her claws twitched and she resisted the urge to hiss at a passing woman in well-worn clothing. She itched to teach these gawkers some respect, but there were obviously high-level humans around, and she managed to restrain herself.

The mage led them through a door and down into a basement. It was bare stone with no carpets or wall paneling, and correspondingly dank. The low light didn’t present a problem for her, at least.

“Stay here until you’re called for,” he told them. “There’s a privy through there. Someone will come to bring you some water and rations.”

Regina glanced at the others. “We could help you fight the monster horde,” she suggested.

He shook his head. “Appreciate the offer, lady, but we’re ready enough for them and throwing in unknown elements at the last minute won’t help. Be seeing you.”

With that, he left, and the door clicked shut.

Regina sighed, then settled down to go to sleep. It was uncomfortable, but not much worse than what she’d had before. The others copied her, as well, and were soon drifting off. Now that they’d finally been able to stop moving, the exhaustion from running from the monster horde, staying on the move all day, was pressing her down like physical weights tied to her limbs.

They had to wait a long time for someone to show up. When they did, it was a young girl, maybe in her late teens, who timidly opened the door and passed them a few plates of food and a pitcher of water. When Regina tried to question her about the situation, she only shook her head and scurried off quickly. At least she didn’t lock the door.

Regina was very tempted to go exploring, but decided to stay a considerate guest for now. Occasionally, she could hear the roar of a monster from above, very muffled by the stone and probably distance. She didn’t want to pop up into a battlefield, and finding someone to explain things would probably be hard in that situation, anyway.

With nothing better to do, she called up and considered her status.

[Regina Hive Queen

Level: 7

Mana: 80/160

Hive: 4/16, 0

Con: 12 Str: 12

Dex: 12 End: 12

Int: 14(+1) Wis: 12]

Her mana had not gone up, even though both her Int and Wis had since the last time it did. That indicated that it really was a function of how many drones her hive had, instead of directly coming from her attributes.

The limit for her Hive, on the other hand, had risen by a lot. She’d gained three levels and it had more than doubled. She hadn’t checked it at level 6 because she’d had other things on her mind. But it had probably risen by three to 12 and then risen by four to 16 now, at level 7. Taking a bit of a stab in the dark here, but it looks like the cap increases every level, and by how much it does rises by one every two levels. That should give me … twenty-five spots by level 0 and thirty by level 10. Assuming it stays that way.

Regina closed her status with a sigh. She couldn’t just get started popping out eggs now, even if she was physically in the condition to do it. There would be questions, and she was reluctant to show these humans how her hive grew. Trying to hide the eggs didn’t strike her as a smart idea, either. And besides, they might not even finish developing by the time this monster attack ended.

The drones all seemed to be quiet and subdued. She wondered if the loss of their home, small as it had been, struck them harder than her. Or maybe they were just exhausted. She didn’t know what to say to comfort them. Their future was uncertain and she didn’t want to lie about it, and reiterating her promise to get their old territory back didn’t mean much.

After their short visit, it grew quiet and dark again. They only had a single flickering candle to light the cramped basement room. She didn’t think they’d get a resupply quickly, so Regina told the others to go to sleep and put it out. She tried to do the same, with one of the furs from the wolf monsters they had, but found it hard.

Now that exhaustion wasn’t dragging her down, at least not quite as much, the situation started to wear on her nerves. She didn’t mind being underground. There was even something vaguely comforting about the cozy darkness with her hive. But she did not like the people above, out of her sight, and her hive being dependent on them. She wished she didn’t have to go with that mage to this castle.

It was the next day by the time they got another visitor. When she listened closely, Regina could still hear sounds of battle, though they were intermittent and muffled. She estimated that it was sometime around noon when the door creaked open again.

She narrowed her eyes, distantly glad that not much light fell into the room, so it didn’t ruin her vision, but was enough to see by. Then the visitor muttered something and the room lit up with a blinding light. Regina grimaced and blinked, trying to focus her vision.

By the time she did, their visitor had entered the room. The drones had stood up and were gathered at her back, eying him warily. Max and Tim especially were clearly prepared for trouble.

“Greetings,” the man said, nodding at them. His eyes passed over the others before coming to rest on her.

“To you as well,” she replied, trying to focus on him and call up a description from the System.

[Elric Neralt — Level ? Master of the Earth]

On closer look, he clearly wasn’t a soldier, since he didn’t wear and armor and only carried a short blade at his hip, but he looked more like a medieval noble. She wouldn’t consider his clothing extravagant, but compared to the people outside, it was finely made and showed little signs of wear. It was also more colorful, held in dark green and orange tones.

“So, I assume you’re the leader of this group?” he asked.

Regina nodded. “Yes. I am Hive Queen Regina.” That much, he could probably get from the System.

“You seem to have a low level for a royal class,” he commented. “Not that I know the way of your people. What do you call yourselves, if I may ask?”

“I wouldn’t know,” she replied, narrowing her eyes. “What brings you here, Sir Neralt?”

“Baron Neralt.” He sketched a shallow bow. “I am the baron of the nearby village.”

“I see. It is a pleasure to meet you. So is this about strangers showing up close to your village?”

“You could say that, I suppose.” He smiled briefly. “I have heard you are of a strange and new kind of demihuman.”

Regina frowned. She felt he was a bit rude, more so than Zephyr, the mage who had brought them here. Although that one had arguably been ruder, this noble’s attitude felt more intentional or targeted. Maybe he was just testing them.

“I suppose you must have seen very much of the world, to decide if someone is so strange and new,” she replied, letting some coldness creep into her tone.

The baron chuckled. “That’s a fair point, Lady Regina. Although I have asked around and no one can remember having seen or heard of someone like you, it is true that we are hardly familiar with all the wonders of the gods’ creation.”

Regina nodded. “No offense taken,” she replied. “So, what can I do for you?” She gestured around the room. “I would offer you a seat, but I’m afraid the accommodations they’ve given us are rather spartan.”

He nodded with a little grimace. “I can see that. I hope you can forgive the lack, my lady. Considering the situation, we are not well placed to deal with guests, and space is scarce. Still, putting up a young lady in a place like this is a little much. I shall see if I can arrange for something better.”

Regina raised an eyebrow before she could stop herself. “That would be appreciated.”

“Apparently, you came from the forest. Am I correct in assuming that the monster horde drove you out of your homes? I’ve heard that you are now seeking shelter here.”

She nodded. She’d told the mage that already. Of course he’d passed it on. “That is correct, my lord. I am hoping that after this horde, we may be able to make arrangements. I would like to find a spot to rebuild.”

He looked at her curiously for a moment, then nodded. “I see. Truth be told, I came to speak to you for that reason. As I’m sure you’ve been told, my village is the closest to the forest, or at least the closest here.”

Regina leaned forward slightly. Making connections with the ruler of that village would be helpful, even if she didn’t to give up any of her independence. She saw that Max and Mia were looking similarly interested.

“That’s good to know,” she said.

“We do have some space for guests,” he continued. “Assuming they are not a burden on the people, if you’ll forgive my bluntness. I notice that your entourage has a rather martial appearance. I am considering whether I might host you until your people came for you.”

Regina smiled. “That sounds fine,” she said. “We would certainly be able to help you defend against monsters.”

The baron nodded slowly. “Good. Then, at the end of the monster horde, we might talk more. You understand if I am reluctant to make any promises until then.”

“Of course. You need to get our measure.”

“I wouldn’t put it quite like that, Lady Regina. In any case, I need to return to my duties. Have a pleasant day.”

“You as well.”

Regina frowned after him as the baron left. She was happy to get an offer, or potential offer, of a place to stay. On the other hand, he might have ulterior motives for this. She hoped he wouldn’t be trying to control her or boss her around.

She was Hive Queen; she was sovereign. She would not be bound by any of these humans.

But let’s not borrow trouble, she told herself. Besides, we need to wait for the end of this monster horde first.

She shook her head and turned to the others. “I think we’ve waited down here long enough,” she said. “Let’s see what we can find out up above.”

PotHQ: Chapter 18 (Draft)

Max didn’t have to wait long to get the experience the System had banked for him. The next fight after they left the elves, against a group of blue-colored monster snakes that were apparently different races going by the System’s naming, Regina reached level 6 as well.

Max leveled up right away, gaining the associated stat point, this time in Str, before she even checked her own status sheet. The System put her own point into Int again.

They kept going, keeping around a hundred meters away from the river, close enough to hear it but far enough to stay out of sight. None of them wanted to risk meeting any water monsters, and the open space meant flying creatures might be more of a danger there, as well.

The sun wandered across the sky and started to descend towards the western horizon as they traveled. Regina was forced to have them take more frequent breaks, but she estimated that they still made good time. All of them had gained some levels, including the Workers, and their higher Endurance stats were coming in useful. Max and Tim were actually struggling more than the girls.

The monsters of the forest avoided them more and more, but their numbers didn’t dwindle. If anything, she felt like there were more monsters around. So, even when the sun started to set and it grew darker, they pressed on. She would have preferred to stop for the night, but she didn’t want to risk getting woken up by being chewed on by a monster horde. It would be hard to reach civilization then.

Regina sighed and glanced at the small knife Max was clutching. Made of metal, it was their best weapon, even if it seemed more like a utility or camping knife than a proper weapon. It had been in the bag the elves had given them, along with some rations and a flask of water made of a milky translucent material that reminded her vaguely of plastic, although it obviously wasn’t. Blotches of dried blood decorated the knife now.

She was seriously considering the idea of trying to make some kind of boat or raft to move faster when the forest finally started lightening for real. Regina let out a long breath and glanced around. The song of the birds and even the call of monsters was slightly stronger in the direction they were coming from. That indicated they really were reaching the end of the forest.

“Alright, guys, keep your eyes open,” she said. “It seems like we’re finally approaching the end of this damned forest, but we still need to stay vigilant and prepared to deal with whatever we find there.”

“After today, I don’t think we have any problems understanding the need for vigilance, my queen,” Mia said.

Regina glanced at her and gave her a small grin. It was true that they’d only barely escaped an ambush from monsters several times. Their coordination and ability to work together, plan and notice patterns in their surroundings was one of the things that helped her hive the most. She didn’t think there was a team of experienced combat troops that she’d rather have following her for this. To be fair, their improved senses helped.

They’d stopped for a short snack a few times, when they’d defeated a monster that provided easy meat. She’d been considering a short trip to the water as well, to get some water, but not it was probably better to press on.

A roar greeted them as they stepped into the next clearing. Regina didn’t need the System to tell her what monster they faced this time, as they’d encountered it before. A Hull Turtle, a big rocky creature that was pretty fast for its size and even tougher than it seemed. She considered for a moment, then stepped sideways into the undergrowth.

“Let’s just avoid this one,” she said quietly as the others followed her.

They continued on their way, but circled around the turtle. They’d gone almost halfway around when the monster raised its head. It must have caught their scent, or heard something. 

Regina suppressed a curse and quickened her steps. She didn’t turn around, but she could hear the monster turning to follow them. Its scent moved closer.

Max broke into a run and she followed. They rushed along the forest, trying not to lose their footing on the low incline of the terrain and with the occasional rocks and twigs around. They made far too much noise, and the turtle was obviously chasing them. But they ran faster than it could follow, and its sounds fell behind as they started to outpace it.

Then another scent moved closer and Regina cursed, swerving around a thicket of bushes to try and get out of the sight of any monster coming from that sight. They were closer here, she realized. There were sounds and scents from the other side, too. Some of them withdrew from the barreling Hull Turtle, but not all.

The ground fell beneath her as they crested a low hill and started down a slope. Regina skittered down it, noticing from the corner of her eye that Mia, behind her, was using her additional arms to help her keep her balance. She almost crashed into a tree once, but managed to avoid it and keep her feet.

Then the slope leveled out and Regina kept rushing forward, bleeding off her momentum. It took her a moment to notice that the trees had grown scarcer. Just a few steps further, they completely stopped. She emerged from the treeline.

Regina surveyed her surroundings for a moment. They stood in a grassy, slightly uneven meadow. There was another forest or maybe a part of this one further to the left, though the plain seemed to continue beyond that. To the right, the river wound its way out of the forest and curved to the east. Hills rose directly in front of them, making it hard to see very far.

She took a deep breath and checked on her hive. They were all accounted for. Like her, they stepped out of the forest hesitantly, looking around, and keeping close together. There was no one else in sight and no sign of any manmade structures. The village was probably either behind the hills or the forest, or maybe further along the river.

The cry of some large bird of prey emerged from the forest behind them, and Regina winced. She looked at the others and cleared her throat. “Alright, that’s enough staring. We’re not safe yet. I don’t know why the monsters don’t seem to like leaving the forest, but they still might. So let’s go.”

They set off into the meadow. It was easier to walk here than in the forest, even if the grass was high and scraggly. Dirt of a healthy, brown color could be seen in splotches where it didn’t grow. Regina suspected that this was a fertile region people would have been happy to settle. She headed towards the river at an angle. Most likely, a settlement would be built near it, right? It was an easy source of water and transportation.

They had walked maybe a hundred meters when Regina felt something through her new sense for mana. She slowed down and looked at the ground.

There was a line in the ground which she was just stepping over. Several lines, actually, interwoven and spaced out around a central one. They weren’t visible with mundane senses, except perhaps for the oddly straight and lush bit of grass that grew marking out the line if you squinted. But there was power in it, throwing with a low hum and almost crackling in the space just above the ground. Regina felt a prickle going down her spine. She felt like something was flaying her shell back, but it didn’t hurt.

Then she was past and she took in a deep breath. She turned to watch the others. They all seemed fidgety, and she saw Max shiver, even though none of them was probably able to sense this like she did.

She turned around to continue walking, intending to keep close to the line to see if something might change about it or if it led somewhere. This had to be the defensive line the elf had mentioned. She’d expected something more about trenches, palisades and garrisons. Still, there were probably bases here, to monitor the area if nothing else.

She’d only taken a few steps before she felt the prickle of someone using magic again. Wincing at the sensation, she looked up. There was a dark spot in the sky growing rapidly closer.

Regina heard one of the others draw in a sharp breath as it resolved itself more clearly. She clutched her spear more tightly, but didn’t react otherwise. They’d come to a stop. It was better to wait this out.

A wyvern much like the one they’d seen in the forest circled in the sky, losing altitude and approaching them. But this one had a rider on his back. It was a figure in dark clothing holding something bright. Regina took a deep breath and shot her drones a reassuring smile, before she relaxed her grip on her weapon and leaned it against her shoulder.

“It’s alright,” she told the others. “Be polite.”

The wyvern landed in front of them with a thump, its rider jumping down right away. Now that she got a closer look at him, she saw that he was a middle-aged human with brown hair and a short black beard. He wore a dark robe that looked like it had armored padding in some places, and a wand with a glowing crystal on its tip in his belt.

[Derrek Zephyr — Level ? Thaumaturge]

Regina took a step forward and bowed her head. “Hello.”

The man came closer to them, stopping just far enough to be out of weapon range. He looked at them and grunted. “Hello to you, too. Not to be rude, but what are you supposed to be?” 

Regina gave him a quick smile. It was better than the alternative. “My name is Regina. Beyond that, I’m afraid I can’t tell you much. These are my companions.” She gestured at the forest. “We were chased out by the monster horde and are hoping to find shelter.”

The mage crossed his arms and frowned at them for a moment, but he didn’t seem particularly upset. “Alright. Truth be told, I have too much to do to waste time with pointless details.”

Her smile widened. That sounded pretty good.

“You’ll need to accompany me to the base,” he continued. “That’s not optional. We don’t have the resources or time to deal with this during the horde. Don’t worry, you’ll be safe there. You can leave once it’s over and you’re checked out and cleared.”

Regina grimaced. She didn’t like the idea of being brought to some military base. Are we being deported or put into quarantine? She shook her head. She couldn’t blame them much for not letting people wander around unsupervised during a monster horde attack.

“Alright,” she replied, shooting the others a stern glance. They clearly didn’t like it, but they’d just have to deal. “Point the way. How long do you expect this horde to last?”

He grunted. “Maybe another few days.”

She’d have to keep her eyes open. This time, she’d watched his face while he spoke and seen that how he moved his mouth lined up perfectly with his words. He even had a bit of an accent. Nothing she could place, just a way to draw out some syllables and a more lilting melody to his speech.

As he turned to mount his wyvern again, she shared a glance with Max.

“This is weird,” she muttered. “He’s definitely speaking Global.”

PotHQ: Chapter 17 (Draft)

The monster stumbled backwards, trying to rub the sting out of its eye. It had to be a young ‘Troll’ (according to the System), since it only stood a head taller than Regina instead of completely dwarfing her. Its size, bulky physique and oversized club were a poor match for the trees around them, as it might have discovered when it lost the club to a bush.

Max darted forward, cutting right into its knee. Its craggy-looking skin didn’t stop the thrust. The troll stumbled and fell to its other knee, which allowed Max to swing its ax at its neck. Regina watched carefully, but didn’t attack herself in order to conserve her mana.

Her intervention didn’t turn out to be necessary. The boys made short work of the monster, and its twitching body thudded into the ground after only a few seconds.

She glanced around, then kept going. There didn’t seem to be any other monsters around, for once. She didn’t know how long they’d been fighting their way through the forest, but this had to be the most safe they’d been. And just a few meters farther, there was a small clearing, caused by a toppled tree. Its trunk looked inviting.

“Alright, let’s take a five minute break,” she decided. With a sigh, she sat down.

Tim collapsed right where he’d been standing, and Max looked like it cost him serious effort to drag himself to the tree trunk and sit down. Mia and Tia were only a little better off.

They’d all gotten at lest one level, though Regina hadn’t had the time to pay much attention to it. It was a small miracle that none of them were seriously hurt. She had a nasty cut on her left arm and both Max and Tia were limping a little, but they could keep going.

And they did need to keep running. Regina could tell they were only at the outskirts of the monster horde. Whenever she caught a glimpse of the sky, she saw the dark spots gathering behind them. That would have been a clue if all the monsters moving this way weren’t.

“I wonder what the monsters are doing with our place?” Max asked.

“Probably not much,” Tim replied. “They’re just moving through, aren’t they?”

Regina grimaced. “He’s right. And we will come back one day.”

She saw their surprised expressions and shrugged. “Once we have built up our hive and gotten enough strength, we’ll come back and chase those monsters out, I promise you. If nothing else, there’s still that vault door I need to investigate.”

The others nodded. Max at least looked little comforted. Regina sighed and turned her attention to the System.

[You have leveled up]

[You may select a Spell. You can use a Spellbook, learn a Spell from a teacher or other source of information, or pick one from the list below:

Spark, Magic Missile, Firebolt, Magic Armor, Heat Vision, Expand Senses, Physical Augmentation, Water Manipulation, Lesser Basic Conjuration]

Regina chewed her lip as she considered her choices. A few were tempting, especially Magic Armor and, of course, Firebolt. That one was new. She needed something to help her survive this trek through the forest, and that was the obvious choice. But she still hesitated. For one thing, fire in a forest might not be the best idea. But the more important reason was that she wanted to consider her long-term strength and that of her hive.

One of the main problems they’d been facing was lack of tools and materials. She’d do a lot for just a bit of iron. Hell, even copper would be great. And it wasn’t like Conjuration would have no applications in combat, right? Resolved, she made her choice and tipped on Lesser Basic Conjuration.

The screen vanished with a small shower of sparks, and she felt the new spell settling into her, a shift in her mana. Regina closed her eyes and focused on it, but didn’t try actually casting it yet.

It was harder than casting Magic Missile, since conjuring something was complex. But she understood it now, intuitively, at least in its basics. She knew that this spell would be a mana hog for anything even halfway large or complicated. But getting a little bit of metal was now in her grasp. Only simple shapes, she couldn’t make arrowheads or something, but it was a start.

She opened her eyes again and looked around. “I have an idea,” she said, turning to the Workers. “Do you think you could make a slingshot?”

Tia stood up and grabbed a length of vine. “I’ll do my best, my queen!”

It only took her a few minutes. What she created was a very crude slingshot, little more than some flexible length of vine with a bit of leather attached to form a small open pocket in the middle. But it should work.

Regina focused, activating her new spell and concentrating on what she wanted. A moment later, she caught a small bit of metal in her palm. It was round, smaller but a lot smoother than the rocks they’d been using. She tossed it to Tia, who caught it and put it into her sling.

“Hey!” Max suddenly called. He jumped up from the tree trunk.

Regina whirled around, her eyes widening as she saw what had caused him to call out. She’d been too distracted to notice, but another monster was sneaking right into their clearing. It must have suppressed its scent somehow.

Somehow, the light of the rising sun didn’t seem able to illuminate it. Its outline reminded her of the Circle Vulture they’d killed, although it was sleeker, and like someone had dunked that bird in a pot of shadow.

[Shadowing Stalker]

Tia reacted quickly. The sling whined slightly as it sped through the air, then she loosed the bullet. It hit the monster and bounced, but the impact rocked it back.

Max roared and swung at it with his ax. Tim was circling around. He’d used his Charge ability too much and now couldn’t access it anymore, but that wouldn’t stop him from fighting. Regina watched for a moment and tried to get a good sense for the fight before she joined in with a Magic Missile.

For all its stealth, the monster didn’t seem that good in open combat. Max exchanged a few blows with it, catching all of them on his shield, which was getting more tattered by the minute. But he caught it a few times, and inky black blood started spraying the grass around it. Then Tim entered the fight as well, stabbing at it with three weapons simultaneously. The monster dodged them all, but that let Max strike at the area probably containing its neck.

Regina tensed up as a low hum sounded, but the Shadowing Stalker grew still. Tim retreated carefully, while Max poked it again with a blade-limb. It lunged forward one more time, but the Drone Warrior was prepared and met it with his ax. A moment later, the monster toppled backward, leaking solid shadows everywhere.

Regina released the breath she’d been holding and relaxed her stance. “Great work, guys. But this is probably a sign that we shouldn’t linger. Let’s keep going.”

She glanced at the girls, who were standing up, then back at the Warriors. “Max?”

The drone finally shook himself free and turned, stepping back to join them. “I got a level, my queen, kind of.”

Regina waved the others forward and turned to look at him as they started moving. “Congratulations, but what’s the matter?”

Max shook his head. “The System says that my level-up has been suspended due to exceeding my Hive’s current limit.” He cleared his throat and quoted, “’The level a Hive Drone may reach is bounded by their Hive Queen. Your experience has been banked.’”

She swore softly.

Well, she probably should have suspected that there was another shoe ready to drop when it came to a Hive and what they meant to a Hive Queen. It would have been very overpowered otherwise. Arguably, it still was, even with this limitation. Still, this meant that she would always have to have the highest level in the hive, didn’t it?

“So much for the idea of me sitting back and sending you guys out to hunt while I stay safely at home, I guess,” she said. “I’ll have to fight and level hard. Well, we still don’t know much about leveling outside of combat. Still …”

“You would have probably been the strongest, or at least one of the strongest, anyway,” Tim said. “You have been since the beginning.”

Regina pulled a face, but nodded. He wasn’t wrong about that.

“This also confirms there really is an experience mechanic, even if the System is using it behind the scenes,” she said, trying to focus on easier subjects. “Interesting. There may be a way to tell how far you are from leveling up after all.”

They kept discussing their notifications and the System as they continued traveling. They still seemed to be ahead of the monster horde or at least its main part, although they still saw monsters occasionally. They had to scare off or fight of some of them. Luckily, none was even close to as strong as that wyvern, and they managed it without getting more than a few scratches or bruises. Regina suspected that the stronger monsters were all behind them. The sun moving across the sky in the occasional glimpses they got under the forest’s canopy was the only way to tell time, but she estimated that they must have been traveling for a few hours at least.

Regina suspected that they were slowly reaching the edge of the forest. Its trees didn’t grow quite as closely together. Unfortunately, the number of monsters in the area increased. They had to slow down, especially when they spotted a horde of what looked like the cat cousins of the Flametongue Wolves circling a thicket around some trees.

One of them caught sight of their group, and alerted the others. Regina clutched her spear tighter and prepared to cast a Magic Missile, while Max and Tim lowered their shield and readied their axes.

Before they could engage, a hail of icicles rained down on a few of the monsters. Regina blinked, but didn’t miss the opportunity and shot one of her Magic Missiles at the closest monster. A moment later, a few arrows joined them, then two figures with swords fell on the wolves.

The fight was over quickly. Regina hung back, noticing that Max and Tim were also being wary of the others. When they turned to face them, Regina got a good look at their faces and the sharp ears poking out of their long hair. They were dressed pretty similar to Alenas, although they seemed a little more heavily armed, with everyone carrying at least three blades. She also got peaks of dark chainmail under their outer clothes.

After a moment of focus, the System gave her the names and classes of the group. They all had question marks for levels and seemed to be a mix of rangers, fighters and a Frost Mage.

“Greetings,” a middle-aged (looking) woman said, inclining her head. “You must be the group of demihumans the scout Alenas spoke of. I am glad to see you survived the arrival of the beast horde.”

“Hello,” Regina replied, stepping forward and bowing her head as well. “Yes, that’s us. I’m glad to meet you as well.” She glanced to the east, where a haunting howl was echoing from further into the forest at that moment. “What can you tell us about this beast horde?”

The elf, who according to the System was a Forest Ranger called Anuis, sighed. “We knew it would be coming soon, but it is earlier than expected. Beyond that, we haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary. The stronger monsters are all still inbound.” She glanced at her companions, who were gathering the bodies of the monsters. Two of them were heading off. “I wish we had more time to talk, but we need to finish securing this area.”

“Of course, this isn’t the time or place for a long chat,” Regina agreed, mentally lamenting that fact. There was so much she wanted to ask them!

“Say,” Max began, hesitantly. He glanced at her, then seemed to draw courage from her encouraging smile and kept talking to the woman. “Your home is safe from the monsters, isn’t it? Would you consider giving us shelter there?”

The elf’s face fell and she sighed mournfully. “Alas. I wish we could, children, but I’m afraid that’s not possible. You see, there are protections around our home that prevent anyone but an elf from entering. Of course they can be adjusted to allow visitors, but we don’t have the time to modify them now before the bulk of the horde arrives, especially with our mages fighting monsters.”

Regina sucked in air and just stopped herself from cursing again. That sucks. Finding shelter with the elves would have been perfect. Well, they might just be reluctant to let us in, anyway.

“I see,” she replied. “Well, if there is any help you can give us, it would be much appreciated. I’m afraid we don’t know the area very well.”

The woman exchanged a glance with a male elf who’d stayed. He nodded at her and passed her a leather satchel. Anuis glanced inside, then held it out to them. Tim stepped forward hesitantly and took it.

“There is a human village not too far in this direction, if you follow the river downstream,” she said. “Once you’re past the forest, you should pass the defensive line soon. You’ll be safe from the monsters there.” She glanced at the sky, in which a few more dark spots had appeared. “I suggest you hurry.”

Regina bowed her head again. “My thanks. I hope we will meet again, under better circumstances.” She stepped forward and turned to the others. “Let’s go.”

Despite the situation, a part of her was excited to meet humans.

PotHQ: Chapter 16 (Draft)

Regina jerked upright, her heart hammering. Blinking, she looked around, trying to see what had woken her. After a moment, she realized that Tim had shaken her. He was withdrawing his hand now and taking a step back.

She stood up, rubbing her eyes and trying to brush the last dregs of sleep away. It was still dark out, at least mostly. The moon was nearly full, and the eastern horizon might have been just a touch brighter than the west. It still felt like the middle of the night. She’d been too restless after the encounter with the elf to go to bed early, and she couldn’t have been asleep very long.

“What’s up?” she asked, looking around.

“Sorry to wake you, my queen.” Tim sounded tense. He kept glancing to the side. “I think you need to see this.”

Regina frowned, following his gaze and looking south. Then she stiffened. There were a few dark blots in the sky, and she heard a howl echoing over a great distance. Then the wind turned, and she faintly caught a spicy scent.

“Wake the others,” she told Tim. “Then gather our weapons.”

“Yes, my queen.”

He moved off. Regina crawled out of her shelter and grabbed her spear, which she’d left leaning against its wall. She stepped away from the trees to get a better look, rolling her shoulders. The sense of an impending threat helped her to disperse the last of her sleepiness

The drones worked quickly. Max and Tim grabbed their weapons, while Tia and Mia took what tools they had lying around that could double as weapons in a pinch. They also took anything important and put them into the slings and belts they’d made out of the vines they’d gathered. Regina glanced at the shelter where the eggs were waiting. They should be ready to hatch soon, but in the meantime, they were far too large and heavy to easily carry.

A bellowing sound turned her attention back to the forest. Max stepped beside her, his ax and shield clutched tightly. Regina didn’t take her eyes off the shadows. After a moment, she could make out the shape of the monster approaching them. It looked like an oversized fox.

Before she even got a System notification, Tim jumped at it with a shrill warcry. Regina blinked. He’d moved far quicker than normal and his lunge even pushed the beast back a little. 

Then she refocused and cast a Magic Missile. The magical projectile hit the fox in the face, causing it to jerk back. Tim took advantage, slashing with his left blade-arm at the same time as he swung his ax. The fox stumbled back, evading the swing, but the blade caught him in the throat. His fur stood up, bristling with spikes suddenly. But then a thrown stone from Max caught the monster again in the eye and the ability seemed to melt off its fur.

Tim dodged an errant swipe of its paws, then stepped forward, driving his blade in deep. The fox twitched before it fell backward.

They didn’t get any time to celebrate the victory. Another roar sounded out, still distant but noticeably louder. Regina inhaled sharply, and the scents she caught prickled in her nose, warning of danger.

“Tim, stay close,” she ordered him. “Defensive position.”

She didn’t really know what a good defensive position would be, but apparently Tim had a better idea than her. He and Max moved to flank her a few steps out, leaving all of them enough room to swing their weapons, with the Drone Workers behind them. That also put her in the middle of a rectangle with the warriors at the front and the workers at the back.

Another monster crested the top of the nearest hill, halting and hissing at them. It was some sort of big cat, looking like a cross between a lion and a jaguar. A moment later, another monster broke through the treeline into the cleared area around the hills. This one looked like a giant snake with red streaks across its body.

Regina cursed and launched another Magic Missile. She aimed for the snake on the theory that it would be slower to dodge. Her guess seemed to pan out, as the snake started slithering away, but still got its tail caught by the attack. It drew back, hissing at them again. Regina hissed back.

The cat used that moment to pounce. Tim activated his Charge ability again, meeting it a few steps out from her position. Max quickly stepped forward and bashed it with his shield, giving his fellow Warrior long enough to regain sure footing.

Regina hesitated, then decided not to risk another missile. She had to conserve her mana, anyway.

The warriors and the cat tousled for a few seconds. It looked like more of a shoving match than a proper fight. The hive drones had the advantage of being able to take cover behind their shields while at the same time menacing it with multiple weapons.

After a bit of back and forth during which Tim only got a scratch down his left leg and the cat got a few shallow cuts along its flanks, it backed away. Regina glared at it, trying to project threat. After a moment, the monster clearly decided this food wasn’t worth the fight and withdrew.

That left them with the snake, which had approached by now. They’d all stepped forward a little, fighting right at the edge of the treeline, not far from their shelters. Regina prepared a Magic Missile, just to be safe, but hesitated. She felt a prickly feeling, like an itch on the back of her neck. 

She raised her head and glanced at the sky, which nearly made her step back on reflex. There were several flying monsters in the sky now. Most of them were still a good distance away, except for a falcon that was circling above the hill. But her attention was drawn to the largest creature that was quickly nearing their position. Even the snake seemed to sense it, freezing in its tracks for a moment.

“Is that a dragon?” Max asked, sounding a little incredulous.

“Technically a wyvern, I think,” Regina answered, still staring. “It only has four limbs and its forelimbs are its wings.” 

The monster looked unmistakably lizard-like, with scaly dark green skin. It was long and sinuous, but she could tell that only hid how much bulk it had. Its head was ringed by small spikes, and its elongated snout fit large, sharp teeth, as she saw when it opened it to roar. The sound made Tia flinch.

Regina stared at it for a long moment, but for once, the System refused to provide a description. It approached rapidly, showing it was even larger than she thought, at least the size of an elephant. In fact, was it accelerating?

“Fuck! Duck! Get out of the way!” Regina yelled.

She suited actions to words and dove to the side, jumping into the forest and rolling behind a tree. Its leaves stirred in the wind caused by the wyvern’s passage. Regina blinked some spraying pieces of bark out of her eyes and scuttled backwards.

The monster must have had its eye on the snake. It was hard to make out what was going on, the details lost in the quickness of its descent and the way it crashed through the forest. Trees toppled or bowed and groaned with stress, twigs and leaves raining down all around.

Regina hopped back, trying to get distance, then froze. The wyvern had come down where they’d been, at the forest’s edge. Now its thick, scaly tail lashed through the air, shaking off a tree’s branches, and crashed to the ground right atop two of their shelters. They crumbled like cardboard houses.

Regina winced, then shook herself free of her paralysis. “Boys, girls,” she called. “Flee! Regroup by the berry bush!”

She didn’t wait around to see if they would follow her order, but turned and ran into the forest. There was no way they’d be able to fight that wyvern, and they needed to be gone before it noticed them.

There were no monsters in their immediate surroundings, probably because none of them wanted to get too close to the wyvern, either. Regina didn’t look back at what had become of their camp. Behind her, she heard the lizard roar again, a deep thrumming that seemed to shake the forest itself.

After a heart-pounding minute of frantic running, thanking whatever determined her biology for her low-light vision, she reached the rendezvous point she’d set. A dark shadow flitted away behind the tree trunks. Regina clutched onto her spear and slowed.

She took a deep breath when she saw that the others had made it. The boys and Tia were already there, and Mia was just emerging from behind a bush. They all turned to her with obvious expressions of relief.

“Alright, we don’t have the time to dawdle,” Regina said. “Let’s go. It clearly isn’t safe here anymore. Are any of you injured?”

“Just a scratch, it won’t slow me down,” Tim said.

“I twisted my right work-limb,” Mia said. “But I’m fine otherwise, and I can still run.”

“Okay. Let’s go.”

Max hurried forward to put himself in the lead, while Tim fell back to put the workers ahead of him. Regina walked after Max. She hesitated for a moment, glancing back, but there was nothing to see but the darkness of the forest. Shaking her head, she went.

They hurried, but didn’t run. She didn’t want anyone to twist an ankle in these conditions.

“Where are we going?” Tim asked quietly.

Regina ran a hand through the stubble of her hair, trying to think quickly. “Let’s head towards the river, then follow it downriver, but in the cover of the forest. I don’t think we should attempt a crossing right now. There will probably be other monsters, so stay sharp.”

They fell silent for a minute. Regina listened to the forest around her, her nerves wound tightly and her claws tapping against the shaft of her spear. The others were probably the same.

Then Max broke the silence. “What is going on?” He glanced back at her for a moment. “Just after we met that elf.”

“I don’t know. I don’t think the elves sicced a horde of beasts on us, they’d probably have better ways to make sure we die if that’s what they wanted. But this is weird.”

They were quiet for a few more seconds, until Max cleared his throat. He sounded hesitant when he spoke again. “My queen, when that wyvern came down … I saw it demolish the newest shelter.”

Regina didn’t turn to look at him, but kept scanning the forest. She could smell more beasts again. The main horde was probably behind them, but there would be others ranging ahead of the bulk. “Yes, that was the shelter with the eggs. They’re gone.”

“Are you sure?” Mia asked.

Regina sighed. She took her attention from her surroundings for a moment to try and chase down the mana sense she got of her hive. “I can’t sense them, so yes, I’m pretty sure. Actually …” She called up her status. “Yes, my mana regeneration is back up to a higher value. At least I’ll be able to fight more effectively. I have a feeling we’re going to need that.”

It was a shame. But the eggs had still been in development, not actual people. And there was no way they could have protected them.

They walked the rest of the way to the river in silence, on the alert for more beasts. The closer they got, the more signs of monsters Regina heard and saw.

This was not going to be an easy trip.

PotHQ: Chapter 15 (Draft)

To his credit, Alenas didn’t act intimidated or threatened, but rather as if he was a welcome guest in their camp. Regina didn’t really mind. She offered him a seat by the fire and considered offering some of the cooked meat they’d prepared, but then decided not to. He had to have his own provisions and she didn’t want to give what they had away to spies. Besides, it wasn’t exactly the peak of culinary hospitality.

“It seems you have not been here long, my lady Regina,” he remarked, glancing around.

“You could say that,” she replied.

“May I ask from where you hailed? I am afraid it must have slipped my people’s notice.”

“No, you may not,” she said, frowning a little. He might not even believe me if I told him I was just born here days ago. “Not that it matters. Save that I have no place else to return to.”

He nodded. “Of course. I only ask out of curiosity. I fancy myself to be familiar with the people of the world, but I must confess that I have never seen such as you before.”

He was speaking more formally, she noticed. Perhaps trying to be diplomatic? “That is a shame,” she replied, giving him a brief smile. “You see, I do not know much about my people, myself. I’m afraid I don’t know where you could find them, either.”

His right eyebrow raised a little. “That sounds like you must have quite an interesting tale.” Then he shook his head. “But I will pry no further, of course.”

Regina nodded. She felt Mia’s gaze on her one eyebrow slightly raised, although the Worker didn’t speak up. But Regina hadn’t revealed their isolation by accident. If it turned out that her people were actually known as a horrible scourge of some far away place, she could always insist that she didn’t have anything to do with that. It might not be worth much in such a case, but it would help. And if there were friendly relations, then the elves would hopefully see no reason not to help a young royal (kind of? Probably?) and her companions return to her people.

Of course, if they were the type to tolerate no others and just kill them all to be safe, that would backfire. It was a risk. But what she thought elves should be like and Alenas’ behavior made that scenario seem unlikely.

“These are my … companions,” she said, trying to be friendly. Weirdly, using that world felt like forcing out something sour. “Max, Tim, Mia and Tia.” She indicated each in turn.

Alenas’ mouth twitched, but he smoothed his expression quickly. “A pleasure to meet you all,” he responded, inclining his head to them.

After a sharp gaze from Regina, the drones all mumbled similar niceties.

If the elf was offended at the lackluster response, he didn’t show it. Probably, she figured, because he was aware they’d caught him sneaking around close to their camp and had little reason to feel nicely towards him.

She didn’t know what would have resulted if this had happened while Regina was away, leaving Max in charge. A slightly defiled corpse seemed likely, though. I need to have a talk with them after this. She suppressed a frown. They are still just kids.

She wondered what his level was. It couldn’t be obscenely high, or he wouldn’t be this wary of them, right? Unless it was an act and that was what he wanted her to think. She supposed she didn’t have any way of knowing.

“If it’s not too rude to ask, may I inquire how big your people’s community is?” she asked.

He shrugged and waved a hand airily. “Oh, not the biggest, but not the smallest, either.”

Very useful. But she hadn’t really expected a straight answer.

“Your own group seems quite small,” he remarked. “Unless there are more members that I’ve yet to meet.”

Regina’s eyebrow twitched. “Not quite.” She glanced at the others and shrugged slightly. “Not at the moment.”

That made him frown. He followed her gaze, and she could see him take in their features. Then his eyes returned to her.

Regina shifted slightly. She and all her drones were still mostly naked, and it made her feel uncomfortable. The elf was obviously taking note of their state of dress, too. It was in the way he was clearly deliberately keeping his eyes off her chest. She appreciated the courtesy, of course, but it was an odd feeling for her.

“As you can see, we are somewhat lacking in amenities,” she said with her best self-deprecating smile. “If your people are interested in trading, we would certainly welcome the chance.” Hopefully, that possibility would also provide incentive to deal with them.

He smiled slightly. “You are looking for necessities like clothing, I assume?”

“That,” she nodded, “as well as other things like medical supplies.”

His eyes wandered to Tia. Her injury had healed up a bit, but it was still clearly visible. “Yes, I can see the need for that,” he replied. Then he regarded her thoughtfully. “I hope you understand that I cannot make any promises. I am but a simple scout. Whether this is a possibility, or how we will deal with you will have to be my superiors’ decision.”

“Of course, I understand.” She wouldn’t like any of her drones making promises on her behalf, either. She hesitated for a moment. “But you do see the possibility of friendly interactions, Mister Alenas?”

His face closed off slightly. “I cannot say,” he repeated. His eyes narrowed. “I do think it would improve your chances if we knew more about you and your people. I’m sure you understand that the unknown can be concerning. Especially when dealing with people who are clearly monstrous, if you’ll forgive me pointing that out.”

Regina paused. “I suppose I cannot begrudge you the use of that term,” she said.

The elf grimaced slightly. “Monstrous or not, the elves have always understood that demihumans are children of the gods, too,” he assured her. “We are not like those fools who consider anything with monstrous traits inferior or cursed.”

Regina nodded, trying not to smile. He’d just given her quite a bit of information she needed about the world and its people. So, I may need to watch out for fanatics — probably human, they usually are in the stories I remember — but the elves at least aren’t xenophobic. Or no more so than usual. That’s good. And they have a polytheistic religion.

“So we will not have to worry about bigots in your ranks?” she asked. “If you’ll forgive the blunt question. I know little of elves.”

Alenas shook his head. “No, I wouldn’t think so. Obviously, you have Names and the System has granted you a Status. That should be more than enough proof for anyone.”

“Good. Then, to answer your question…” Regina frowned. “There truly isn’t much I can tell you. However, our group is most likely going to continue to grow, though I can’t say at what rate. I’ve only been here for, hm, I think it’s been twelve days?” She shook her head. “We are not particularly attached to this place, so if it is necessary, we would be happy to move, as long as there is a place for us somewhere.”

Alenas nodded. “That is good to know. If I may ask, how will your numbers grow? Are there more of you wandering the forest?”

“Uh, not quite.” Regina hesitated. She really didn’t like the idea of telling him about how she created drones. “I’m afraid it’s rather hard to explain, and a bit of an, ah, delicate subject. Quirks of our race, I suppose.” She also didn’t want to tell him about the two eggs currently sitting in one of their shelters, preparing to hatch soon.

His eyebrow raised slightly, but he nodded. “Of course. I don’t believe you’ve mentioned the name of your race?”

Regina grimaced slightly. “I haven’t, because I don’t know.” She shrugged at his look. “In truth, none of us has ever heard the name.”

“How curious. Well, I did promise not to pry. What else can you tell me about your people?”

“We’re omnivores, and as you can see, there is quite a bit of physical polymorphism in our race. We prefer warmer temperatures, and obviously, we have protective shells over our skin in addition to a proper skeleton. I can use magic, but I’ve had no real instruction in it.”

Alenas nodded. She couldn’t read his reaction very well. Did he think she’d given him too little or useless information?

“If you don’t mind, would you tell me about your people?” she asked. “As I mentioned, I don’t know much, and I’m rather curious.”

“I’m not the best person to ask when it comes to our lore,” he answered. “Obviously, we are one of the core sapient races. We are a long-lived people, and individual elves may devote themselves to many different pursuits.”

That sounded completely generic and very devoid of detail. But Regina didn’t press the point. She knew that if it could still come to hostilities between their people, he didn’t want to give her any information that might help her to fight them.

“I see,” she said.

He smiled again. “If that is all, I think it is time for me to take my leave. My colleagues will start to wonder where I am, and it wouldn’t do to worry them overmuch.”

Regina nodded and stood up as he did the same. “Of course. It was a pleasure to meet you, Mister Alenas. I do hope this will prove to be the start of a productive relationship between our groups. When might we expect to hear from you?”

“I’m sure. Unfortunately, I cannot say that. Perhaps in a week or two. Farewell, Hive Queen.” He inclined his head at her, then turned to leave.

Regina copied the gesture, then watched as he walked away. Alenas didn’t turn and didn’t run, although he did walk at a relatively quick pace. He moved with grace that probably spoke of a high Dex, or just elven heritage.

After a moment, she turned to her hive. “Tim. Go and see where he goes. Shadow him. If he notices you, that’s probably fine, but I want to know in which direction he leaves. Keep your distance and come back once you get to the edge of the territory we’ve explored.”

“At once, my queen.” Tim hurried off into the forest, where Alenas was disappearing between the trees.

Regina sighed and sat down again, resting her chin in a hand. She looked at the forest where their unexpected visitor had left, even though she couldn’t see anything. She felt Mia and Tia move off to resume their work, but Max stayed.

“I wish I could tell if I said the right things,” she said.

“I’m sure you did, my queen,” Max said. But when she glanced at him, his expression made her think he didn’t really believe that.

She sighed. “The thing is, Max, while we probably had him in our power right now, the actual power difference is definitely not in our favor. I don’t know how big his tribe or whatever are, but they could probably crush us easily if they wanted.”

“Is that why you were so friendly and open?”

“Was I?” Regina tugged on her right mandible. “I decided it was better to give them a few answers than make them feel like they would have to force them out of me. I think most of what I said was readily apparent or would have been obvious after repeated contact.”

“But you didn’t tell them about the eggs.” Max frowned.

“Right. There are a few cards up our sleeve. Like my ability to produce new warriors quickly and my ability to see through the eyes of hive drones.”

Max followed her gaze into the forest. “Do you think you convinced him we’re no threat to them?”

Regina sighed and shook her head. “I wish I knew.”

It felt like their quiet life in the forest was coming to an end. This encounter could be the start of something better, or a huge danger.

PotHQ: Chapter 14 (Draft)

Regina didn’t know how she’d managed to sleep in a tree or out in the open the first few nights. Compared to those, she slept like a baby now.

The shelters were a little small, but they had enough that they weren’t too cramped. The hive also now had enough people to stand a night watch, so she finally slept through the night. Granted, her heap of leaves still wasn’t the most comfortable, but she was nice and warm, at least.

The sun was still out for a long time. Regina suspected that it was the middle or end of June. That seemed to fit with the general temperatures and the vegetation they’d found in the forest. She was glad she hadn’t been dropped here in winter. But it also meant she should keep in mind that winter would come, and they needed to prepare. For all she knew, it would come early and be a bitter one.

Hopefully, they would have found civilization and reached some kind of arrangement until then.

“What we really need is some metal,” she said, looking at their pitiful supply of tools. “No, actually, what we need is knowledge and skill. There’s probably a lot more that we could do with what we have that we just don’t know.”

Max nodded. He was currently trying to make a new axe, with limited success. “I really wouldn’t say no to some worked metal,” he replied. “Stone just doesn’t make for good weapons, and we don’t even know how to work it. Even if we did, though, metal would probably be much better.”

Regina nodded thoughtfully. By now, she’d realized that all of he drones only knew what she knew. Plus maybe some basic, mostly instinctive things related to their duties, or what would be typical work for a Warrior or Worker of the Hive. She suspected they were actually drawing on her own knowledge.

“Do you know how to read?” she suddenly asked. “I mean, I guess you do, since you read your status screens, don’t you?”

Max paused. “Yeah. I do.” He frowned. “It’s the weirdest thing. At first, it was harder. I knew how to do it, but the knowledge was kind of odd, disconnected. It felt like I was learning it at the same time. But by now, I just read probably the same way you do.”

“Wow. That’s … interesting.”

It meant that he, and the others, might literally take this knowledge form her mind and integrate it. That would explain why they all spoke the same language she did, despite just being hatched. Reading was obviously another part of that.

Regina sighed and stared into the fire, absently twirling a stick in her hands. I wonder if that works for things I learn here, too? Only things I knew before? Only things I know up to the point I lay their eggs? She threw the stick into the fire. I guess there’s only one way to find out. If I learn a new language in the future and then make a drone, I’ll see if they speak it or not, I guess. Or does it need to be a native language?

“Do you speak any other languages, Max?” she asked.

“Not that I know of, my queen.” He looked a bit confused.

She shook her head. I’m not exactly good at any others, but that doesn’t mean much. I wonder what kind of knowledge gets transmitted? There have to be limits.

Just then, there was a crash behind them. Regina turned around quickly, half-rising from her seat. She relaxed as she saw that Tim had dropped a piece of wood and it had crashed into and thrown over a small pile of rocks. She couldn’t help but smile as he bent down and hurriedly tried to pick everything up under the faintly exasperated gaze of Tia. The boy had offered to help the workers, but Regina suspected they might be second-guessing their enthusiasm now. Or relegating him to grunt work.

The girls were trying to build some more tools for them. It was sorely needed, but Regina privately doubted their success, given their lack of materials. Still, they had the time for it, and the Drone Workers were ostensibly better suited to such a project than she herself. Maybe they’d surprise her.

The sun was climbing the eastern sky, and Regina estimated that noon was just around the corner. They’d caught a squirrel in one of their traps and still had meat left over from the wolves, so they were set when it came to food. Later on, she intended to gather the warriors and escort the workers to the river to check on the local terrain and soil, and look for any more monsters they could hunt. But that could wait.

“It’s weird to think I’ve been here for almost two weeks,” she commented to Max.

He titled his head, frowning for a moment, before his expression cleared. “Yeah,” he said. “It kind of is. Still, we’re making some progress, aren’t we? Don’t expect too much, my queen.”

Regina nodded, humming in agreement. That wasn’t really what she’d meant, but he wasn’t wrong, either. She stretched and stood up, looking at the rest of her hive once more.

Suddenly, Regina stiffened. She drew in a deep breath, and sensed her claws digging gently into the palms of her hands.

“Threat,” she hissed. Then, with a raised voice, she called, “Max, Tim! On alert!”

Max jumped to attention right away, tossing aside the piece of wood he’d been playing with. Tim stepped towards her as well, his posture rigid and his eyes darting between her and the workers and their surroundings.

Regina felt her pulse thumping in her ears as some undefinable excitement rushed through her. Suddenly, she felt more in tune with her nature than she had since the day she hatched. But that was a distant consideration, as her focus was turned on the threat encroaching on her territory, her Hive.

She picked up her spear and started walking almost before she knew it. In a corner of her mind, she felt Max fall into step slightly behind her, taking a guarding position. But she didn’t turn her head to see him.

Regina walked towards the edge of the forest, then turned sharply. The hills rose up here, dotted with rockier ground than the forest to the east, but this part of it wasn’t level, anyway. It created features like the dip she knew darted for, where a low growing bush and scattered rocks right where the forest relinquished its ground created a secluded alcove.

She reached out, unconsciously trying to spread her wings slightly, which didn’t work. Then she kicked a loose rock to the side.

With a muffled groan, the bush moved. Regina darted forward, but Max pushed slightly, coming into position to guard her. She stabbed down with her spear, feeling it meet some resistance and only just not crashing through it. She had pulled the blow.

The hidden person shifted again, which helped Regina convince her eyes not to fall for the trick and finally gave her a good view of who had hidden themselves so masterfully close to their campsite. Even knowing they were there, it was hard to make out more than a general shape and a few edges in the darkness of their nook.

“So there is an intruder,” she said, feeling a slight snarl on her face that didn’t want to leave. “Come on, come out. Slowly.”

The shape started to slowly slide out, giving Regina an even better view. “Alright, don’t stab me.”

Regina paused, tilting her head, and felt some of the aggression leak out of her as the human parts of her mind started churning faster. The voice was high-pitched, matching the slender form of the person now standing up carefully.

Her first thought was ‘elven ranger’. It was a young man (or young-looking, at least), clad in a mix of leather and cloth that did a surprisingly good job of providing camouflage in the forest. His face was all sharp lines and yet still looked vaguely delicate, and he had pointy ears, standing up at the sides of his head. As the sunlight hit him, she noticed that his ears gleamed a little with a reflection, like a cat’s eyes. They were a dark, burnt orange, while his hair, which fell to his shoulders, was an earthy brown.

[Alenas, Level ? Forest Scout]

Max put a sharp blade against his neck as soon as he was in reach. The elf stiffened slightly, but didn’t try to move away. Instead, he slowly raised his hands in an apparently universal gesture. Regina noticed that he had a bow strapped to his back and a pair of knives or daggers on his leather belt.

“Who are you?” she asked. “You were obviously spying on us.”

He gulped a little, clearly recognizing the barely restrained aggression in her stance or face. “I’m a scout of the nearby elven community,” he said.

Regina narrowed her eyes. There’s an elven tribe nearby? She hadn’t known about that, but they hadn’t traveled all that far from this spot, either.

“That’s not much of an explanation,” Max said.

By now, Tim had joined him, flanking Regina on her other side, and looked like he wanted to gut the intruder and present his corpse to his queen. Tia and Mia had also approached, though they kept a warier distance. Mia was holding a torch.

“I promise I didn’t mean any harm,” Alenas answered. He sounded earnest, and managed to meet Regina’s eyes evenly. “I simply wanted to know what your group was doing here this close to our homes. You understand the need to gather information, don’t you?”

“Hm.” Regina crossed her arms. Her fingers twitched. She still felt the impulse to rake them through his neck and deal with this possible threat, but she quashed that easily. He was only a part of a larger group, and that wouldn’t exactly help her position. Still, a part of her was alarmed by how easily this could have become violent.

“Alright, Max, let the guy breathe. Tim -“ she glanced at the younger Warrior - “hang back and keep an eye on the surroundings, there might be more of them.”

The two immediately did as commanded. Clearly, Alenas understood that he risked a quick meeting with something sharp and pointy if he made any suspicious moves. He stepped carefully forward, keeping his hands away from his weapons.

“Thank you,” he said. He glanced at each of them, then faced her again. “I assume you are the person in charge here?”

Regina narrowed her eyes, then told herself to calm down. “My name is Regina,” she said.

He nodded. “Alenas,” he replied.

He probably assumed that she’d read that already. Does that mean he’s got a notification for me, too? What is it telling him? Well, probably just Regina, Hive Queen Level 4. That could be bad enough.

He appeared to wait expectantly for a moment, but neither Max nor either of the girls felt the need to introduce themselves.

“Pleased to meet you,” the elf said with a smile. He took a step to the side. “My apologies for startling you. Then I’ll just stop bothering you and return to my people to inform them there’s no need to be concerned.”

Regina crossed her arms as Max stretched out one of his blade-arms to bar his way. “Not so fast, mister,” she said.

The elf turned to her, nothing but polite attentiveness on his face, but she still noticed the way he sagged slightly.

Regina smiled, showing a little more teeth than was strictly necessary. “I’m sure your people don’t expect you back right way. Stay with us for a minute,” she invited. “Let’s talk.”

He didn’t give any outward signs of it, but she still had the impression he sighed. After he gave Max another glance, he returned her smile. “Of course, Hive Queen Regina.”

PotHQ: Chapter 13 (Draft)

After she had made sure that none of them was in immediate danger and Mia was caring for Tia, Regina turned her attention to the notification the System held for her.

[You have leveled up]

[Mana: 55/160]

She grinned, then blinked it away. Level 4, yay! Only a few more fights and I’ll see if there are any significant thresholds in this System.

“I leveled up,” she announced to the others. “What about you?”

Tim shook his head, while Max nodded. “I did, as well. Level four now.”

Considering his contribution to the fight, and the fact that he’d probably been close to a level-up before it, that didn’t surprise her. It was a shame Tim hadn’t, but he probably wasn’t very far off now.

Regina stepped over to her Workers. Mia was trying to staunch the bleeding of Tia’s wound by pressing leaves against it, with mixed success. Regina quickly unwound one of the pieces of rope she was carrying and, with her help, wrapped it around her arm to press the leaves against it.

“Tim, get the waterskin and fetch water from the river for her,” she ordered. “Max, get started with the bodies. Mia, can you help him?”

“I can hardly do worse than the warriors, my queen,” she answered. “Leave it to me.”

I nodded and leaned against a tree beside Tia. “How are you feeling?” I asked her quietly.

“I’m alright, Mother,” she responded with a faint smile. “Maybe a little faint, and I’m really hungry right now.”

“Okay. Maybe you should eat some of that meat already.”

I looked at Max, who was starting to butcher one of the wolves. He must have heard, since he came over with a chunk of raw meat for Tia a minute later. She devoured it quickly while I looked away.

“The two of you didn’t level up, did you?”

Tia and Mia shook their heads. “I’m sorry, my queen,” Mia said, lowering her head. “We didn’t contribute much to the fight.”

“That’s alright,” she assured her. “You’re only level 1 and you’re obviously not a combat class, if that’s a thing in this system. You can just go out with the warriors to hunt some weaker monsters later.”

Tim returned soon, passing their crude waterskin to Tia, who guzzled down the water. They used the rest to try to clean her injury. With these wolves killed, they’d be able to get some more of them, now.

With three people working on it, they managed to take care of the carcasses quickly. Tia insisted on helping. She cradled her injured limb to her side and just used her left arms, but Regina could tell it hurt. She sighed and started fashioning a sling for her from another vine. She didn’t really want to join in the gory work, and none of the others seemed to mind that. So Regina kept an eye on the forest around them and told herself she was doing an important job standing watch.

She did help in carrying their prey when they finally returned to their campsite. Tia wanted to help with it, too, but Regina put her foot down. They had to make two trips to carry everything, but it didn’t take very long anyway.

While the boys and Mia continued their work and tried to preserve as much of the wolves as they could, Regina checked the campsite, then checked the sense she had of her drones. Tia’s injury was clearly noticeable. Regina didn’t feel her pain, even when she focused her attention on the Drone Worker, but she could tell it was there. She even got a pretty good sense of how badly injured the girl was.

Finally, she turned her attention to her most recent level-up and quickly checked her status. The Hive part gave her pause: It now listed her drones as 4/6. That meant her cap had risen by two again, not by three or four as you might expect. Regina frowned, then gave her status a closer look, and promptly jerked upright.

[Regina Hive Queen 

Level: 4

Mana: 75/160

Hive: 4/6, 0

Con: 12 Str: 12

Dex: 12 End: 12

Int: 12 Wis: 11(+1)]

“What the fuck,” Regina muttered.

Distantly, she noticed the others pause in their work. “What is it, Regina?” Max asked.

“My stats are finally unlocked.” She stood up and walked closer to him, checking on their progress absently. They’d gotten a lot done.

“I have more points than you,” she said. She frowned thoughtfully. “If I had to guess, it looks like I started with a twelve in all of the physical stats and a ten in Int and Wis, and then got one point in Int or now Wis with every level.”

“Hm.” Max straightened up and wiped his hands on a scrap of fur. “Really? That does seem a bit weird.”

“Aren’t you more suited to using magic in the first place?” Tim commented.

Regina shrugged. “My last point has apparently been put in Wis. And I haven’t noticed myself get any stronger or more dexterous, but my control over magic has grown. Not to mention my mana, though that’s apparently connected to you drones.” She scratched her cheek. “Well, I would have probably distributed my stat points from leveling up the same way the System has done it, so I guess I can’t complain.”

At higher levels, it might be a problem if her physical stats never rose. But she was obviously best suited to a mage build.  She wondered if there was a way to assign your stat points yourself. Maybe you needed to be a higher level?

“It looks like Hive Queens are just better at the start.” Mia shrugged. “That’s not a bad thing.”

The other drones nodded in agreement. After a moment, Max returned to his work and the others redoubled their efforts. Regina smiled faintly.

“I’ll go walk a perimeter of the camp, see if there are any monsters afoot,” she said. “Oh, and by the way. I should have probably said this sooner. If I’m ever away for a longer time or incapacitated for some reason, Max is in charge, okay?”

“Understood, my queen,” they chorused. Tim and Mia glanced at Max, who just stared at her for a moment.

“I’m honored, my queen,” he finally said. He looked like he wanted to ask if she was sure, but didn’t want to sound like he was questioning her.

Regina smiled at him, then turned to start her patrol. It was the obvious choice, since Max  not only had the highest level, but was the oldest and most experienced one, after herself.

As she walked, she considered how she wanted to go about laying eggs. There were two new ‘slots’ in her hive now. They still weren’t enough people that she was worried about getting enough food for everyone, so she didn’t see much reason not to have two new drones. More people would help to keep them safe and help with their undertakings. In general, considering their situation, she would prefer to have a few more warriors than workers right now. But they did need both. So since there were only two places, Regina decided to go for one of each. She’d wait until here mana was full again, though.

Her patrol was quiet, she didn’t even see any monsters. Once she returned, she saw that the others were mostly finished with their task. Tia was sitting on a log beside them, looking a bit paler than usual. The others must have managed to convince her that she should rest. Regina joined her.

“I don’t think building a house is going to work, or that trying is really such a good idea,” she said after a minute, glancing at the wood they’d stacked. “It would take a lot of time and effort, and by the time we’re finished, there are going to be new drones, so we’d have to do it all over again. And so on.”

Mia looked up from where she was cutting a wolf skin and nodded. “You’re probably right, my queen. We’d need to cut down quite a few trees if we want to do it properly, unless we manage to use different materials.”

Regina nodded. “I think you actually need straw for that method I mentioned earlier. And I’m pretty sure you’d need that to make bricks, at least, even if we found clay.” She sighed, looking out into the forest. “Let’s just build a few simple shelters, something to keep the rain off. Building a proper dwelling is a side project.”

Tia stood up. “Then I’ll get started!”

Regina resisted the urge to roll my eyes and got to her feet, as well. She’d feel bad if she lazed off while the injured girl was working.

It became obvious quickly that the Worker was a lot better at this than Max had been, and truthfully a lot better than Regina, too. It might have been connected to her relatively higher Dex stat, but Regina’s was also high. She probably just couldn’t make as good use of it as Tia.

After a while, the boys and Mia finished up for now and joined them. With the whole group, they made good progress. The experience from their first try helped, but they managed to improve on it.

A few hours later, Regina stepped back and surveyed their accommodations. Three shelters, all of them built up against thick tree trunks and looking roughly like round pyramids cut in half. They’d reinforced their original one, but the two new ones were taller and had a larger base area. They were built of wooden posts, branches, vines and pieces of bark that held together surprisingly well. Mia had even fashioned something that could work as a crude door.

“Well done, everyone,” Regina declared. “Very good work. I’d say we’ve earned a reward. Let’s make dinner.”

The boys grinned, and Max ran off to get the best cuts of wolf meat prepared. Regina followed them, smiling. She didn’t protest when Mia claimed the post of cook to start grilling the meat over the fire. Cooking probably was more in a Worker’s skillset.

They ate a lot that evening. Regina briefly considered rationing, but dismissed the notion. They still had more than enough, they didn’t have a good way of preserving it, anyway, and so far they hadn’t had too much trouble hunting. Instead, she ate a large portion herself, since she needed the energy for producing two eggs.

After dinner, she stood up and stretched. “Alright. Boys, would you go to the river and fetch water? Girls, please check on the plants with System screens and gather a few berries.”

Tia opened her mouth, looking confused, then looked at Max, who was quickly heading off, closed her mouth and turned to go to the shelters. The others left as well.

With them gone, Regina retreated to one of the shelters and prepared to lay her next two eggs. Now that they had some kind of dwelling that would offer them protection and concealment, it would be better to have them here than on the hill.

[You are able to lay another egg. Choose carefully what you will add to your hive.

Drone Worker

Drone Warrior]

She frowned a little. She’d hoped their might be new classes or templates available. Not yet, apparently. Shrugging, she mentally focused on both choices and settled down to grow her hive.

PotHQ: Chapter 12 (Draft)

The Workers took exactly as much time to hatch as the Warriors did. Their eggs were a little smaller in the end, but the hatched workers still came up to Regina’s chest.

Like the rest of them, they had six limbs. While the Warriors sported two scythe blade-like implements at the end, the Workers’ were less dangerous and more constructive. Their left one was shaped like a shovel, though you could also use the underside as a hammer, while the right was more of a grasper, with a small blade more suited to cutting cloth or food than combat beneath a pointy bit they might use as an awl and a hooked part bigger than a finger. Their skin was also covered in the chitin-like shell, but it looked thinner than for the warriors.

The most obvious difference to Regina was that they looked female. She wasn’t sure if that was coincidence, an integral feature of their different roles, or maybe even something she decided subconsciously when she picked those, but it didn’t matter much in practical terms.

The day after they hatched, while the Warriors went out hunting, Regina wanted to get started on constructing a proper building with them.

“My queen?” Tia asked. “Can we just dig out a room? That seems like it would be simpler.”

Regina shook her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“The ground here might not be good for digging,” Mia said. “At the hills, it’s rocky, and we’d have to be careful of tree roots and stuff in the forest. Besides, we’d have to be careful to make it so we don’t risk a collapse.”

Regina nodded, looking at her two newest drones. She’d named them Mia and Tia, not the most creative choice, but they didn’t seem to mind. The girls were still smaller than her, but they both had decently high Str, Dex and Int. She called up Mia’s status again.

[Mia Drone Worker 

Level: 1

Mana: N/A

Con: 6 Str: 11

Dex: 11 End: 10

Int: 14 Wis: 8]

She remembered that Tia’s was largely the same, except that she had a point more in Con and one less in Wis. The low Constitution meant Regina would hesitate to send them into combat, but at least they weren’t entirely helpless if they were attacked, and they’d hopefully be good in their intended role.

“We might still be able to use our skill in building a normal hut, I guess,” Tia said. “For foundations, maybe.”

“Right,” Regina said. “What was it called again?”

“Ground Evacuation, my queen,” Mia replied. “It’s mostly for dirt, but I think it might work on rock, too. It just vanishes it without us having to whisk it somewhere else, which should be really useful for digging, but maybe we can find uses for it in other tasks, too.”

Regina nodded and swiped her legs to clear some little sticks from the patch of ground in front of her. The Drone Workers having a starter Class Skill at level 1 had been a pleasant surprise. With a bit of creativity, it could probably be useful in war, as well, even if it was obviously meant for crafting, or rather, construction. Which was what they needed, anyway.

They drew in the dirt with sticks as they talked about what they were going to build. It didn’t take long, since they didn’t exactly have many options.

“A simple hut is probably best,” Regina said.

“We’ll need to make sure it gets a proper roof,” Tia said. “Shingles, maybe? And of course proper walls.”

“That means we need wood.” Regina glanced at the forest and frowned. “There aren’t many other building materials around. I guess if we had clay we might be able to make bricks, but I’m not sure we could get that.”

“We might be able to find some,” Mia spoke up. She glanced at her sister. “We have some knowledge. We should be able to recognize it if there is good clay.”

“Great. Then I’ll send you out with a warrior to look around the area, later.” Regina smiled. “Meanwhile, let’s get started here.”

They’d need to cut down a lot of trees if they wanted to build a log cabin. That would be a lot of work, but probably easiest. They could also try the method with mud and sticks, but Regina was afraid that might make for worse walls, especially without anything to cover them. Either way, they needed wood.

She led them into the forest to look for suitable trees, but the two Workers quickly took over assessing which ones were good candidates. They didn’t have a proper saw, but they did have a simple ax with a stone head, and the Workers would be able to use their inborn blades, too.

Regina hung back, feeling like she didn’t have much to contribute. She’d get Max and Tim to work on cutting down trees once they were back, too. Until then, she went to a tree and experimented with trying to use magic to help bring it down. Now that there were no eggs in development, her mana regenerated faster.

Her Spark spell wasn’t much good, since it was still mostly useful for starting fires. She tried using a Magic Missile, but that didn’t damage the trunk of the tree much. Then she tried to cast the Spell, but not release it, instead gathering the attack above her hand. She only managed it for half a second before the energy dissipated, shocking her hand and charring a few leaves.

Regina grimaced, but kept at it. Even after several tries, she only managed to keep the magic contained for a second or so, but when she held it close to the trunk, it had some effect. In the end, it would have been a lot easier to hack at it with a stone ax, though.

She took an break and instead started to burn out the remains of the trees that Tia and Mia had cut down. The two Drone Workers started stripping branches and bark off the trunks.

An hour later, Max and Tim finally returned, giving Regina all the excuse she needed to take a break and go talk to them.

“This is going to take a while,” Max commented, observing the Workers.

Regina shrugged. “Most likely. But it’ll go faster with the two of you helping.”

Max frowned slightly. “Maybe we should still focus on hunting. This work would go easier with higher stats, right? And we would also be safer if we had higher levels.”

She hesitated. He did make a good point there. “Alright. You’re not wrong.” She glanced at the two of them consideringly, then up at the sky. They still had a few hours of daylight left, at least.

She didn’t know if the Workers could also level up by doing their jobs, or if they also needed to go out and kill monsters. She figured it could go either way. There was little they could do but wait and hope for the best.

"Do you want to go out right now?” Max asked.

She nodded. “Might as well. The quicker I level, the faster our hive gets new members. And we still need all the help we can get.” Besides, she was curious about what progress her next levels would bring.

After a minute of back and forth, it was decided - mostly by Regina, since everyone deferred to her - that they would all go together. She didn’t want to leave the Workers unguarded, and while his injury was mostly healed, she didn’t want to strain Max too much. They set off quickly, with Tim going first and Max guarding their rear.

The younger Warrrior was silent on the way. Regina, who was walking in front with him, noticed that he was trying to keep his steps as quiet as possible and avoid making a commotion in the forest, which she approved of. That was a good habit to get into even if you weren’t trying to sneak up on a high-level monster at the moment. The two Workers tried their best, but they made a lot more noise.

“I seems that you didn’t have much success hunting earlier,” she finally commented, keeping her voice soft. “Any idea why?”

Tim glanced at her and ducked his head. “We called it a hunt, but really, it was mostly a patrol,” he replied.

She nodded. “Then I’ll rely on you to guide us to a good spot.”

Despite his shyness, he did know what he was doing. Tim led the group through the forest on a direct path to his goal, not slowing down or checking where he was going. Regina readied herself and kept her eyes on her surroundings. She didn’t want to get ambushed by a monster.

Luckily, they reached their target area without being ambushed. Tim slowed down and snuck behind a large bush. Regina joined him, noting a faintly familiar scent in the air as she did. They were downwind of its source. Mia and Tia stayed back, while Max came forward slowly.

A peek through the bush’s branches showed her what Tim had chosen as prey. There were a small group of large wolves lying on the soft ground of the forest in a clearing. Most of them were a bit smaller than the wolf monster she’d fought before.

“Well, I see you have a high opinion of our skills,” she commented.

Tim shrugged slightly. “They’re only level 2 or 3, and there are only four of them. I thought we could take them. But if you’re displeased, my queen, of course I’ll lead you to where we might find other prey.”

Regina frowned, considering the situation. She focused on one of the wolves.

[Flametongue Wolf — Level 2]

A quick check showed that the others were similar, with only one at level 3. Still, she hesitated. They could probably each take one. If it was only the three of them against three wolves, she’d be confident. With the workers to watch out for, it might be harder. Was it really worth the risk?

She stepped back and quietly walked to join Mia and Tia. “I would like you to participate in the fight so you can gain experience,” she said, keeping her voice down. “Is that okay for you? Can you fight?”

The two girls exchanged a glance, then Tia nodded. “We can, my queen. Not as well as a Warrior, but we won’t be a burden.”

“Alright, then. Let’s get started. Keep back and only attack when one of the wolves is already injured or distracted, and make sure you’re not in danger from more than one at a time.” She glanced at Max. “Look after them and make sure they don’t get overwhelmed.”

They all nodded. Regina gave them one last look before she quietly stepped forward again to join Tim.

She made sure that everyone was in position, mostly taking cover behind a tree but prepared to jump out, before she focused her attention on the wolves. She picked one of the weaker ones as a target and watched to make sure it wasn’t moving. It appeared to be dozing, like most of them.

Regina exhaled, pulling on her mana and directing it into shape. Then she let her gathered mana snap out. The attack shot out from her hand and raced towards her target.

The wolves were alarmed by the glowing ball coming for them, starting to stand up. But she’d aimed well, and her target didn’t make it to its feet before the attack hit it in the snout.

[Mana: 145/160]

Regina blinked the notification away, focused on her opponents. The wolves had obviously noticed them now and were starting to charge them. She quickly gathered mana for another shot.

The Magic Missile raced out, but this time the wolf was on its feet and managed to doge the attack. It hit another wolf behind it, impacting one of its hindquarters and causing it to stumble. Regina prepared another one as fast as she could.

Then the wolves reached them. Max stepped out behind a tree and roared, fixing their attention on him. A tongue of flame shot out, but he caught it on his shield. At the same time, Tim circled beside him. His scythe flashed out and he drove one of the wolves to the side.

Regina got another shot off, hitting the same wolf she’d already shot. This time, it stumbled to the side, though it kept its feet. But it was clearly hurt, crouching with its fur bristling. It shot a flaming attack at her, but Regina managed to dodge it, although she had to interrupt her casting of her next spell.

Mia and Tia jumped the injured wolf. Tia brought her shovel-limb down on its snout with force, dazing the wolf. Mia cut its right forelimb with her small blade. But then another wolf turned from Max’s shield and charged them.

Regina cursed and shot another Magic Missile, but it flew wide. The wolf’s fur might have been a little singed, but it didn’t halt, jumping Tia.

The girl screamed as the jaws of the wolf caught on her lower right arm. Then Mia bashed it over the head, but it didn’t let go.

Regina acted on instinct. She jumped forward, shoulder-checking the wolf. That finally made it let go. It was a stupid attack, but she was already preparing her next spell. Just when the wolf lunged for her, she let the Magic Missile fly.

It caught the wolf full-on on its open snout. Unfortunately, the magical attack didn’t arrest his momentum, and the wolf still crashed into her. But at least it had made it draw back, so it didn’t manage a proper bite and its teeth slid off her shell. Regina took a step back, preparing another spell as quickly as she could, despite the headache starting to pound through her skull and the burning feeling of using too much mana too quickly.

Then Tim was there. He stabbed the wolf, and his blade passed through its singed fur, reaching his heart. The monster shuddered and was finally still.

Regina took a moment to breathe, before she looked around. Two of the other wolves were down, one apparently dead and one badly injured. Max was holding off the last one. She breathed deeply and focused, before she cast another Magic Missile.

The attack caught the wolf on the side of its head, just as it was starting to lunge for Max’s shield again. The spell seemed to injure and daze the wolf, making it stumble forward instead of a proper attack. Max stabbed out from behind his shield, catching the wolf in the throat. He used his shield to push it back, the cut it again. The wolf finally fell.

Regina straightened up and looked around the battlefield, blinking. It was a mess, but they’d all made it. Tia was still standing. Then she noticed the notifications the System sent her, that must have been pushed aside until now. It was good that the System had a feature like that. But she didn’t focus on the blinking icon, instead turning to Tia. “How badly are you hurt?”

The Worker poked at her arm and grimaced. “It cracked my shell and it’s bleeding a lot, but I don’t think the bone is broken. It’ll heal.”

It had better. They didn’t have any medicine or even disinfectant. 

PotHQ: Chapter 11

With three people in their improvised camp, Regina felt like she could finally relax a little. They split night watches so everyone got some sleep. It was summer (probably), so the nights were pretty short, anyway, but she felt much better rested.

Max showed Tim around and explained everything they were doing. The younger Warrior tended to be quiet, but took to it with enthusiasm, and with Max’s help he quickly got himself a  shield similar to his. He’d been very helpful in dealing with the remains of the bird monster, too.

Today, the two Warriors were gone on their first hunt together while Regina stayed back to watch the camp. She looked out into the forest periodically, but they were too far for her to hear. She could always check in on their status through that psychic hive connection, but that didn’t seem necessary.

Regina sighed and stretched, before she glanced at her eggs. She’d laid two of them, both Drone Workers. Since they already had three combat-capable people, she didn’t think that was too much of a risk. They’d even managed to fight off a higher-level monster, even if Max had gotten injured. He wouldn’t be able to rely on his Skill now, though.

The eggs looked mostly the same as the Warrior eggs, although the coloring was a little different. It tended to be spottier, like blotches of paint rather than a swirling gradient of color. They had started at the same size and seemed to grow at about the same rate, though, which she took as a good sign.

Her mana regeneration was drained even more than before, probably because there were two eggs. It was slightly more than half as fast as it had been with one egg, though. Maybe that was because she’d leveled up. Even if she couldn’t see her stats, the System might still give her points in Int or Wis, or whatever governed how her mana worked.

Regina would have liked the chance to practice more. Unfortunately, with her mana regen that slow, she couldn’t afford to cast many spells. She did notice that Magic Missile had gotten slightly easier, though. She’d tried as best she could to investigate how the Spell worked, how her mana acted and reacted to her, and how best to shape it. She’d gotten a better feel for it, but she knew she was still far from making her own spells.

She stood up and paced up and down a few steps. The forest around her was quiet and couldn’t hold her attention. There wasn’t much of a breeze and her nose would warn her if any monster got too close. She glanced around her camp. She’d always had something to do, virtually every minute since she woke up in that vault. Boredom was novel. They didn’t have any books to read, but maybe later she could play simple board games with Max and Tim.

After an hour of sitting around and twiddling her thumbs, the two warriors finally returned. Regina stood up and watched a little anxiously as they came closer.

“Tim got his first level!” Max called, grinning.

The younger Drone Warrior was carrying two Spiky Squirrels. He set them down and nodded at her, also smiling.

“Great,” Regina responded. She glanced at Max. “How is your shoulder?”

Max shrugged. “Healing, I think. I made sure to be careful.”

They’d discovered, to her relief, that he didn’t appear to need any treatment. Instead, his wound was slowly closing and the shell around it regrowing. Looking at it now, it already seemed a lot better than just after he got the injury. It might be gone completely in a few days or weeks.

“So, let’s see your new stats.” Regina turned back to the other warrior, smiling.

[Tim Drone Warrior 

Level: 2

Mana: N/A

Con: 10 Str: 11

Dex: 9 End: 9

Int: 13 Wis: 9]

As expected. She nodded. Tim had a lower Int than Max, although it still seemed pretty high for a Warrior. He was probably going to get increases in Str and Con, too.

“It offered me my first Class Skill, my queen. I was thinking I could get the Warrior’s Charge one,” he said hesitantly.

“Sure,” Regina agreed. “You can do that.”

Tim stared into space for a few seconds, clearly selecting his Skill. Regina turned to watch Max, who was carefully handling the two squirrels with only his right arms. Tim quickly joined in.

“After you’re done, please add what you’ve seen today to the map.” She pointed at a wooden plank she’d drawn on with burnt sticks. Her first, crude map, which she’d drawn into the dirt, hadn’t survived the recent rains. They’d take this one with them into their shelter if necessary.

“Of course, my queen,” Max answered. “We didn’t see anything really new, though. Should we build another shelter?”

Regina smiled, pleased that he’d had the same thought. “Yes, I think that would be wise. Ours isn’t made for three people, and our hive is growing.”

“I’ll do my best with the construction, my queen,” Tim said.

Regina nodded, then got up and started gathering wood to get started. She suspected that she had the highest Dex score among them, which, admittedly, wouldn’t take much. With the experience they had from the first shelter, she was determined to make the next one better.

They had more than enough mud to plaster onto walls, but finding sticks large and straight enough to build the skeleton for the shelter was tricky. Regina went along the forest’s edge, trying to go where they hadn’t gathered wood before. After a while, she noted that she’d come pretty close to the vault where she’d woken up. Was that only a week ago?

Regina set down the bundle of sticks she’d gathered so far and stretched. She glanced at the rocky hill. Even knowing it was unlikely, she couldn’t quite shake the uneasy thought that there might be cameras watching from there.

She’d revised her earlier opinion about whether or not this was her world. There was actually a moon, which looked like she expected the moon to appear, it just wasn’t always visible due to terrain obstructions, clouds and the fact that it was summer. The gravity and atmosphere was also the same. Even the flora and fauna didn’t exactly scream ‘alien’, apart from the monsters.

She hesitated, then grabbed her sticks again and turned to head back towards the designated shelter. There was little point in constantly checking that spot when nothing changed. She’d have to get her answers another way. Maybe, once the Workers were hatched, she’d travel down the river a bit, see where it led her.

She went on a small detour on the way back to pass by the river and check it out again with an eye to how well you might traverse it. It was pretty thin and she was uncertain if it was deep enough to allow boats to use it. The current would also be a problem if you wanted to go upstream.

She eyed the banks of the river as she walked parallel to it, occasionally getting a good look through a hole in the canopy of the trees. The river had swelled a little, but it was still in no danger of flooding. There was a herd of deer drinking from it farther down the river, but she left them alone.

Then she stopped as a splashing sound reached her. Regina froze and turned to look upriver. There was a bend in the stream above her, so she couldn’t see far. She leaned forward and squinted. Was that - yes, a dark shape was coming down the river.

She dropped her sticks and jumped behind a tree. After a moment of frozen hesitation, she slowly crept forward until she reached a good spot, where she could look at the river but was still hidden by some dark branches.

It was a boat. An honest to goodness, wooden, artificially made boat. It looked pretty large to Regina, but she didn’t know much about boats. It didn’t have a sail, but did have a pair of oars. There were three people on board. She squinted and tried to get a closer look.

When she did, she might have dropped the sticks if she hadn’t already. The people all wore rough clothing in earthy colors, looking like someone dressing up for a medieval-themed event. Two were men with swords on their hips, shields and axes lying in the boat. The last, a woman, had a bow slung across her back. She wore her blond hair up in a braid, which gave Regina a clear look at her pointy ears. When the woman turned after a few seconds, she saw that she had a sharp, graceful face that you could easily describe as ‘elfin’.

Regina leaned back against her tree as the boat wound its way down the river. An elf. Medieval fighters and an honest-to-goodness elf. This really is a fantasy world, isn’t it?

She shook her head. She knew she shouldn’t make assumptions. Three people did not a population make. Still, it made her hesitate to reveal herself.

If she had the drones with her, a strong hive backing her up, that would be a different story. But if these three attacked her, she wasn’t confident in her chances. She did look like a monster, and it was impossible to know what sort of experience they might have with her species.

She hesitated, warring with indecision, until the sounds of the boat started to fade. She peeked beyond the canopy again to see the boat swiftly float downriver, effectively making her choice for her.

Regina stared after it for a moment, before she shook herself and went to pick up the wood she’d gathered. She started drudging back to camp, feeling like it had gotten heavier all of a sudden.

“Hey, I think we figured out a way to make the next shelter a little larger,” Max said when she returned and dropped the sticks. He looked excited, but then paused when he saw her. “Is everything alright, my queen?”

“Sure,” Regina said. She sat down on a convenient log.

After a moment of staring at the sticks and realizing that she hadn’t even started thinking about building the shelter, she sighed and leaned back. She decided she might as well talk about it. “I saw people,” she said.

Max and Tim both started, turning to look at her expectantly.

She quickly explained what she’d seen, and her decision not to attempt to contact them. There was a moment of silence after she’d finished.

Max chewed on his lip. “I think that was smart,” he said. “Rushing in unprepared just because we wanted to meet actual humans would have been a bad idea.”

“Your safety is more important,” Tim agreed.

Max just looked at her for a moment. “Are you alright, Regina? It can’t have been easy.”

Regina shrugged. “I don’t know.” She stared into the fire.

She told herself it was stupid to get depressed because of this, but that didn’t make it any easier. Previously, she hadn’t really thought about what being in the body of a Hive Queen with human memories meant. Not in that context. Now that she’d actually seen other humans, the fact that she was a monster, at least outwardly, suddenly gained a whole new weight.

“What are we going to do?” Tim asked. “We’re probably going to run into them or people like them eventually.”

Regina shook her head and stood up. “We prepare,” she said. She forced herself to smile slightly. “We need to get enough strength that we can hold our own and don’t need to be afraid of a random group of travelers, then we go looking for civilization.”

“Who knows, they might actually welcome us with open arms,” Max said. He caught their looks and shrugged. “Hey, it’s possible. We don’t need to just assume they’ll be hostile.”

“Hmm.” Regina frowned thoughtfully. “You’re right. We’re obviously a sapient species, at least in part. There definitely could be dealings and exchange between them and the local humans or elves.”

But she couldn’t quite bring herself to believe it would be so easy. Oh, he had a good point and she was definitely eager to find out what the locals knew about her people.

At the same time, when she considered the urges and instincts she’d felt from her Hive Queen side, especially before Max hatched, they seemed a little dubious.

Path of the Hive Queen - Launch and early chapters

My new story is here! I just submitted the first chapter to RoyalRoad and ScribbleHub. Let's see how long it takes to be approved.

I'm still thinking about how I'm going to handle early chapters for Patrons. Since I plan to have two stories running eventually, just using posts on Patreon is probably going to get too cluttered and confusing. Meanwhile, I've got the first few chapters of the new story for you as a file attached to this post.

Note that this is a (first) draft, and there may well be minor changes compared to the final version.

Epilogue (Draft)

… Most consider the end of the Great Zarian War, signified by the Sacking of Lialcil, to be the turning point of this time. I would respectfully disagree and instead point to the wedding of Princess Inaris and Princess Tenira. At that point, the war was already effectively over, as evinced by Their Highnesses’ return to the Empire proper from the southern warfront. The wedding itself thus not only heralded and signified the Empire’s victory and ascension, it also constituted an important social event, which offered many important people the chance to converse for perhaps the first time, and even caused quite a few cultural misunderstandings and friction.

For an outsider, it might perhaps be hard to understand how such a short war, which scarcely lasted a few years, could be so drastic and incisive for the Empire of the Sky that its end resulted in significant commotion and friction in its society. Yet this war fell into a time of turbulent, fast, and far-reaching changes in the Empire’s technological and social infrastructure. The Great Zarian War not only pushed new technology forward at a breakneck speed, it also catapulted the establishment of factories and mass production to wide-spread importance. The end of the war hardly caused these to disappear, but the demand for produced goods shifted quickly. Coupled with the unrest of the Strife of Ten Lord and Two Kings, it is a wonder that the disruption was not worse.

It is important to understand this in oder to comprehend how the Imperial Princess acted and was regarded in the old Empire. Inaris the Great, who was then commonly called Inaris the Conqueror or the New Phoenix, was in one way or another responsible for most if not all of these circumstances. Although it is easy to see the connection between the war and the Empire’s conquests and the profound changes of this time, few if any Imperials were displeased with it.

The Zarian had been a looming threat to the Empire’s south for a long time. Although I would contend that few people wanted to seriously acknowledge it, the effects of rising tensions and the threat of war could be felt in the years before their eventual attack. The Empire had enjoyed a long time of peace and had perhaps grown complacent, but distrust and dislike of their southern neighbors was deeply entrenched. One need only look at literature and theater pieces of the time to see this. Often linked to the Zarieni raiders that occasionally plagued the south, the Zarian and their Dominion were enemies mothers might use to scare their children into behaving. They had been such for many generations.

And now this ancestral enemy was vanquished. This by itself would have caused a stir in Imperial culture. Princess Inaris, who was given most of the credit in the eyes of the common people, saw her already great popularity rise to even greater heights. While the war was technically fought under Regent Kiyanu’s auspices, he never did receive very much credit for it, despite his work to enable and support the Imperial war machine.

In many years, the years after the war were a period of calming down and solidifying the accomplishments that had been reached. The greatest changes were of course experienced by the southern territories, which now had to be integrated into the Empire. This long and fraught process and its occasional headaches are covered sufficiently elsewhere. Several of my colleagues contend that the success of this effort is a more impressive accomplishment than a victory in war could ever be. I shall let the discerning reader draw their own conclusions, though I personally am not inclined to argue this point.

On the international stage, the Empire of the Sky had reached uncontested preeminence. Never before since the start of the Age of Colonisation had a nation gained this much power compared to its neighbors. The Empire was now the largest country on Aran in terms of population, territory, and economical might, and while its military superiority might not have been accepted as easily by other nations, few of them wanted to test it. As the reader will well know, by the time other nations banded together for that purpose, they were too late.

After the wedding, the Imperial Princess herself rarely appeared in public. Indications are that she withdrew to focus on her private life and family to a greater extent, as well as working on her technical projects. With the singular exception of her wedding to Princess Yarani, which was of course also a grand public event, she did not make or seek public spectacles.

Still, many of the inventions appearing in the years after the Great Zarian War bear her personal signature. There can be little doubt that the introduction of the camera, or the rapid progress in information technology, are due to her. Simultaneously, many new universities were founded and research into the sciences and the natural world accomplished one noteworthy achievement after another, expanding the knowledge available to the people of the Empire greatly. These are well-known to be the Princess’ personal project, as well, and her obvious favor spurred many of the new Institutes.

Despite the new communications technologies, the Imperial family continued to value their privacy highly. They attempted to keep out of the public eye, and even the birth of her first child still —

“What are you reading?”

Startled, I closed the book and looked up. When I met Tenira’s gaze, I smiled. I was sitting on one of the upper terraces of the palace, enjoying a nice summer day. Apparently, I’d been too absorbed in my reading to notice her approach.

“’The Rise of Inaris the Great: Being an account and commentary of her early years’, by Aiki Lis, University of Riacis Press, 29 C.E.,” I recited in a dry tone.

Tenira chuckled. “Oh, really? That could appear a little pretentious, reading a treatise about your own accomplishments. Don’t you get enough adoration in your daily life?”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m just curious. Don’t tell me you don’t want to know how people think of you. Besides, I find it pretty amusing.”

She smiled and came closer. “So, is it any good?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it is a little pretentious. The way she talks about it, you’d think this all happened centuries ago,” I complained. “And by cultivator standards, even my early years have barely begun.”

Tenira shook her head, still smiling, but didn’t say anything.

Just then, a bit of laughter drifted on the wind towards us, and I glanced at the lower courtyard. The younger kids were playing there, and I’d happened to choose a spot where I could see them clearly.

“I get the feeling our little boy is still trying too hard to prove himself,” Tenira commented quietly.

I watched for a moment as Rikilo tackled his older sister Acalis, who was barely moved by it. “He’ll manage,” I said confidently. “And soon.” I turned to Tenira and smiled. “Our son is too much like you to let anything hold him back for long.”

She shook her head, but smiled slightly. “I’m still a little in awe that I have a child sometimes, when I think about it,” she said. “I never would have thought so when I was younger.”

I laughed. “Well, I never thought I would have five children,” I replied. “Sometimes life just goes and does its own thing. At least they all grow up with loving parents.”

“And so many of them,” Tenira said, chuckling a little. She gave me a warm smile.

Even after all the years we’d been together, the love shining out of her eyes still made my heart skip a beat and throat tighten. I carelessly put the book on a side table and turned to take her hand in mine.

“At least Tarilo is happy to have a little brother,” Tenira said. “And it’s not like we can get Iniris out of the lab with anything less than him or her littlest sister.”

I grinned. My oldest, whose name I’d let Yarani choose, unfortunately, was a lot like me. She was just able to spend more time in the lab and pursue her passion for science than I’d been able to, and there was no one to demand that she had to be crown princess and pressure her with it.

“I wonder what bloodline abilities they’ll show?” I mused.

“No way to know, and you’re right not to pressure them about it.”

I hummed in agreement, then stood up and put my arm about her waist. We fell silent and continued watching the kids.

I had a small smile on my face, but didn’t bother to suppress it. It was a good day. With my family, they all were.

Conclusions and future plans

Hi everyone! I hope you had/have happy holidays and a happy new year!

As mentioned, Reverse Reincarnation is essentially over now. I will post the epilogue probably on Monday on Patreon.

This means it's finally time for me to move on to new series. I plan to keep the Patreon open and still offer bonus chapters for them, probably my current draft buffer once I start posting. That should mean at least 5-10 chapters at the beginning!

On the topic of new stories: I've been thinking about my next big series for a while, though I'm still in the planning stage. Meanwhile, though, a new plot bunny has snuck up on me, and I've decided to go ahead and give chase. This one will be, much like RR, with less planning and more discovery writing, though I do have an idea where it's going. It's also a (light) LitRPG with a system I've been planning out, so we're trying something new!

I intend to start posting this new series sometime next week or the week after. Long-term, it's going to be a side project while I'll eventually focus on my above-mentioned, new magnum opus. But it's a lot of fun for me to write and I expect to update quickly in the beginning.

But enough of that, let me present my new projects! Drumrolls please!

Across Worlds (Working title, subject to change)

When Kara stumbles through a portal into another world, she has little idea she just took her first steps into the wider multiverse. She has to find her way and survive in her new fantasy world, maybe even thrive. Learning magic is nice, but she’s determined to find her way home. Unfortunately, leaving her current world will only be the first step.

World Travelers have an immense potential for power, but the others might not like competition. Worse, things are changing in the wider multiverse, and Kara enters the scene at an unfortunate time. With a looming threat on the horizon, she will be pulled into a struggle with the potential to change the multiverse forever. What she doesn’t know could kill her, and the more Kara learns, the more she realizes how much she doesn’t know.

Least of all about herself.

A world-hopping tale with elements of fantasy, science fiction, adventure, magic, empire building, spaceships, epic battles, philosophical questions, moral questions, overly personal questions, and a snarky cat-dragon (eventually).

This is going to be a long series going from humble portal fantasy to epic fights across worlds, will feature LGBT+ characters and unconventional relationships (but no harems! Promise!), and one girl’s journey to dodge danger and face responsibility, or maybe the other way around.

And the other project you'll get to start reading soon:

Path of the Hive Queen

A girl wakes up alone in the wilderness with no memory. To be precise, in an egg. She has human knowledge that doesn’t seem to match her body. Now she needs to not only survive, but figure out the blue boxes, her biology, and how to build up and protect her hive, while balancing her Hive Queen instincts with the human parts of her mind. Her instincts want her to treat her progeny as expendable tools and destroy everything that might possibly one day be a threat. She’d rather not become the apocalypse. But she does need to secure resources and territory for her hive, and maybe a bit of conquest wouldn’t be so bad.

An isekai fantasy adventure with light litRPG elements, kingdom building, and a new take on a Hive Queen and her family.

I'm working on the cover (at least a temporary one), the current version is attached.

Chapter 195 (Draft)

A/N: Last chapter, folks! It's the end of the month, so I suggest you only continue if you're interested in seeing my new series. I'll start posting the first chapters of one before the last chapter of RR is posted on RoyalRoad/Scribblehub. I will probably post an Epilogue, too, though it might be a little delayed. It will be a bit different, though, and not essential to the story.

I guess I should make a proper announcement and introduce my ideas for my new series. Expect that tomorrow.

Tenira had told me not to duck out for too long, and of course I’d listen to her, today of all days. But I needed at least a small breather. Finding myself alone for the first time in what seemed like ages, I already felt some of my tension relax.

I smiled as I looked over the spectacular view spread out before me. I’d just landed on a small outcropping of the Central Mountains to the east. It was outside the palace grounds, though not by much, but it offered a spectacular view of the palace, the city and even the Central Plains stretching out to the horizon. And when I turned around, I got an equally spectacular view of the mountains themselves.

Despite all the stress and bustle, I had rarely kept the smile off my face all day. Even now, it widened as I looked down at my hand, though we hadn’t actually exchanged rings, and thought about the ceremony.

There’d been a mixture of old Sea People and classical Imperial traditions, with a few touches from our respective soul journey lives. I still wore the red wedding dress. A different one than from my wedding to Kajare, not that there would have been anything wrong with it, but Tenira had arranged for it. The banquet after Mior pronounced us wife and wife had lasted for hours, and was probably still ongoing.

I started walking, just to stretch my legs a little, and breathed the cool mountain air in deeply. Spring had already come to the valley, though up here the winter still lingered, and the caps of snow on the mountain tops still extended pretty far down. But I saw fresh grass and the occasional flow poking out of the ground here. Maybe I should pick a few wildflowers and bring them back to Tenira? Then again, she’d have to find it very romantic to make up for me leaving her alone with the guests for that long.

The palace was probably the busiest I’d ever seen it. Dignitaries had arrived from many neighboring countries, as well as all sorts of nobility and important people from the Empire itself. Kariva had been so busy in the last few days that I barely got to see her.

The whole situation with me and Tenira’s parents had been a little awkward. After all, I was the head of the clan and thus their superior. I also got the feeling they didn’t entirely approve of their daughter marrying another woman, though they were thrilled it was the heir to the throne.

I really needed to invite Yarani’s parents one of these days. At least I didn’t need to worry about Kajare’s family. Still, even with all of that, I felt more at peace and even elated than I had in years. Small points of friction notwithstanding, it was a happy day.

I glanced up at the mountain and thought back to the wedding ceremony, my smile fading. After we’d lit incense sticks and honored our ancestors and families, and Mior had bound our right hands together with a length of sailcloth, had come the wedding vows. Unbidden, my memory replayed a part of it, Tenira’s voice swearing “… to cherish, honor, and obey her … as my spouse before spirits and men”.

I sighed to myself and shook my head, glancing up at the mountain peaks again. I’d disliked the idea from the beginning, but Tenira had insisted on using the traditional formulation. I couldn’t have argued it. She was the one with the better instincts and skill regarding how things would be received, and how to best present it. Not that I thought that was all there was to it. If she’d been uncomfortable with that, she wouldn’t have made such a vow. I knew she took it seriously.

Well, I was still being a little ridiculous. I chuckled to myself and turned around. I’d finally married the woman I loved, we were both also with the other woman I loved, and I still had the man I loved. Could life get any better?

But instead of heading back right away, I still paused, simply looking down at the buildings spread out below. It was already evening, and the sun must have almost sunk beneath the horizon by now. The capital was alive with thousands of lights, more than earning its name. It was a breathtaking sight from up here. Millions of people and their livelihoods, their aspirations and setbacks.

These were the people I’d fought the war for. Won the war for. Very few of them had been directly touched by it. Even on the Zarian side, civilian casualties were far below a modern war, far less something like World War Two. Societies dominated by cultivators did have some side benefits. But they’d all been touched by it regardless. Now the factories were converting themselves to turn out different products, and people started new ventures. There were still more factory buildings close to the city than the last time I’d seen it, although less of them were pumping coal vapor into the atmosphere.

I sensed a familiar presence approaching. Folding my arms, I waited and kept looking down at the city until he was close enough.

“Admiring your domain?”

“You know very well it’s not that, Al,” I replied, also in English, turning to look at him and seeing his grin.

Al was hovering in the air on a flying sword, which he handled remarkably well considering he wasn’t yet in the fourth stage. Our guards were farther away, almost on the edge of my senses, giving us privacy. I still felt the presence of Rijoko in the back of my mind, distantly, not giving me much of his attention.

“I decided to take a break and get myself a moment to clear my head,” Al said as he set down. He walked up to stand beside me, sharing the view of the palace and city. “And lo and behold, Tenira grabbed me to pass you a message.” He grinned. “She says you can stay away for a little while longer, if you want.”

I raised an eyebrow, but smiled. They both knew me pretty well. “Oh, really?”

“Yeah. Apparently she wants you to be relaxed and not grumpy for the closing festivities. If you ask me, I think she actually just wants you out of the spotlight for a while to get people to back off. It’s not been that bad,” he hastened to add, “but you know how it is.”

I nodded. People had swarmed me like hungry piranhas with a little less bloodlust. This was the first opportunity many had since the war, of course. “I know every royal wants to be popular, but I can’t help but think I may have gotten too much of a good thing.”

Al laughed. “First-world problems, right? Except in this case, clearly second world problems. Don’t you just love it when people love you?”

I gave an exaggerated groan. “I’ve always said exaggerated idolization of anything or anyone is dangerous.”

“Well, it’s not just the nationalists who’re getting in on it. I just heard a few servants using your new epithet. Inaris the Conqueror, I mean. Metal, right?”

I rubbed the bridge of my nose, deciding not to respond to his teasing.

“I mean, I think it’s cool”, Al continued. He was still grinning. “They’ll call you Inaris the Great eventually, just you watch. You’d prefer that, right? Although I guess you wouldn’t like that while you’re still alive.”

“It would be a little gauche while I’m still alive,” I agreed, shaking my head. “I think I prefer the old names. I don’t think I’ll be able to keep a straight face for that one. It sounds like some wannabe viking.”

“You’re just uncomfortable because good little Western humanists aren’t supposed to conquer anyone,” he countered.

I pulled a face, but didn’t have a good retort. He wasn’t wrong, after all.

“I did the right thing, didn’t I, Al?” I asked quietly.

It startled me that I hadn’t asked that question sooner, and yet felt his answer was extremely important. It was probably because of anyone else I might ask for their opinion, he was the one with a similar background, the one familiar with Earth takes on ethics.

“Absolutely,” he answered, a serious look on his face now. “And I know that you’ll keep doing that, too.”

I smiled gratefully. It warmed my heart to see him this supportive. Although I didn’t really need it, in the end. I still was and would always be Tori, but now I was living the life of Inaris of the Leri, and it was this world my focus belonged to.

“Now, I’m off, before this gets any more sappy.” He hopped back onto his flying sword and gave me another grin. “Try not to stay away for too long, Nari. I know you don’t have a normal wedding night to look forward to, but I wouldn’t start a centuries-long marriage off with being late.”

I waved at him as he took off, looking after him for a moment. Something about what he’d said stuck with me. I had centuries with Tenira. With all of them, really. The thought was still a little odd, but less so than before. I’d marry Yarani, too, in good time, maybe in a year or two. And then, maybe a few years later, we might start having children. I could help Kajare get the success and recognition he deserved. And, of course, once Al started to bring someone home, I could pay back all of this teasing.

The thought made me grin. I stayed there, glancing at the palace. I was still in a contemplate mood and didn’t really want to go home yet. Instead, I sat down and tilted my head back, staring up at the stars. It was a nice night.

A half-moon hung in the sky, sending its light down. This close to the city, I didn’t see as many stars as sometimes on the campaign trail in the south, but I was still far enough from the palace to get a good view. I breathed in deeply and pulled in some qi. It came easily, light and darkness swirling into me and joining the spiraling rush in my core.

I closed my eyes, letting the night lull me into a calmer state and following the qi I was cultivating. After a while, I let my focus leave that, too, and instead took a step deeper into my own mind.

I wasn’t entirely sure what I was looking for here, if anything, but I found the changes I found interesting. I hadn’t had much time to examine my defenses after the battle, but Jideia’s visit had clearly left the visualization not the same. Of course, our struggle had damaged them, and while it seemed it had repaired itself some on its own - or maybe it would be better to say my subconscious mind had repaired it - that didn’t restore everything to how it had been.

It knew trying to recreate that would be a fool’s errand, if not impossible. Instead, I focused on the idea of it, what I wanted to accomplish. It took an effort of will, but I was used to that by now. I sensed and saw in my mind how the surreal labyrinth around my thoughts expanded and filled itself with more material. It ended up pretty nice, which meant even a little more labyrinthine than before.

After that, I dived a little deeper into my mind. After a moment of consideration, I tried to recreate the place I’d taken Stormy to. It wasn’t a normal part of my defenses that I needed to rebuild, but I was still curious. There was something I’d found here, a hint of something else, something I suspected might be buried in my mind. Or maybe not my mind, actually, but … something. Maybe it had taken a Greater Spirit’s presence to bring it out.

I focused on my visualization and put myself into a form in the middle of it. A quick check showed that I looked the same as last time.

This time, I kept the scene around me nebulous. No details stood out, and they would only become clear if I focused on them. I strolled around for a few meters, but it didn’t really change anything.

Then I took another step into a stone-paved yard beside a garden that resembled the one I’d sort of been to earlier. I stared around myself for a moment, then sat down. This was all only set dressing, really. I didn’t see what I had before.

I sighed and closed my eyes. Then I thought back to it, trying to remember every detail I could. What I’d seen didn’t really matter, so much as what I’d sensed. I dived deep into not just my qi, but my mind. Which was a little strange considering I was currently sitting in the middle of it, but whatever. It helped that I still felt my connection to Rijoko clearly. That gave me the equivalent of a navigation beacon.

Darkness and light swirled around me. Dim and blurred shapes twisted, low sounds faded into discordant, far-off music, and I felt hot and cold shivers. All of that was overlayed by a sensation even harder to describe, something I just couldn’t quite put my fingers on.

But eventually, after falling through myself for a second that stretched out uncomfortably into a timeless instant, I felt something. It was markedly different from the hint I’d caught before. Not just stronger, but like the difference between feeling out the paint brushed on a canvas in a dark cave and laying eyes on the painting in the sunlight outside. An entity beyond Aran. It has to be. I suspected before, but this … Was that who cursed Inera? The source of the soul journeys?

I opened my eyes. Before me, close and yet so far away, stood a figure. An entity in a human shape.

For another timeless yet short moment, we faced each other. My visualization shattered around me, and a cold shiver gripped me.

I gasped and rolled over. I saw little more than a silhouette in gray, a hood pulled over their head. I shivered violently, only realizing after a moment that I was lying on the grass. It took a few moments until the swirling light and darkness around me resolved into a proper view of the mountainside.

I stood up and pulled my flying sword from my storage ring. While I climbed on it, I clenched my fingers into the sleeves of my robes. I pushed some qi into it and rose into the air, moving off back towards the palace and my wedding party.

I blinked, glancing at the sky one more time. I had trouble coming to grips with the realization. There was one thing I had seen. One detail that had sprung out from me. Beneath the hood, in the shadowed face I hadn’t managed to make out, there’d been a pair of eyes.

Gray eyes, like those I saw in the mirror every day.

Chapter 194 (Draft)

“I would offer you congratulations, but I’m sure you must be sick of hearing them by now,” Kiyanu said.

“I don’t know, a little praise is always nice. Or almost always.” I grinned.

It felt a little weird to be sitting in his office in the Imperial palace again and notice that nothing had changed. Not that I’d been gone that long, especially from the viewpoint of an old cultivator like the regent, but we’d conquered the Dominion and I’d finally neutralized the threat Sparky posed to me in the meantime.

“Is that why you finally moved on to the palace?” He raised an eyebrow, and if I didn’t know him better, I might have missed the spark of humor in his eyes. “Quite a few people here were a little miffed that you didn’t return to the capital immediately, especially since you also won’t have a triumphant ceremony.”

“Ugh. I’ll maybe have a triumph when the war is completely over.”

It almost was. The army had moved into the southern tip of the Storm Continent, which would count as essentially completely conquered by now. But there was still fighting in a few other continents, where the Dominion had had colonies. A lot of that was born by our Terbekteri allies, who not coincidentally were also sweeping up some of those former colonies, but I wouldn’t complain about them contributing.

“If you’re sure,” Kiyanu chuckled. “It’s nice to have you back, in any case.”

I’d stayed at the estate with Al and the others for a bit over a week. In truth, I still felt the toll the war had taken, and I would have liked a few months of time away. But even with just this, I already felt a lot better. I wasn’t haunted by nightmares or other symptoms of PTSD, but some time spent with loved ones and not under constant subtle threat was great.

“I think Tenira is getting impatient about the wedding,” I said with a small grin. “Not that I could blame her, we’ve already waited for a while. I hope there are no problems with it?”

Kiyanu snorted lightly. “Actually, it might be best to strike while the ingot is fresh from the forge. At the moment, you could probably marry a random female street beggar and no one would complain. That doesn’t mean they’ll like it any more, of course, but that’s their problem. And it’s not like something like this is completely unknown anywhere.” He gazed out of the window. “I actually had an aunt who was living with another woman. Spirits, I haven’t thought about them in decades.”

I nodded and filed that information away as interesting trivia but probably useless.

“By the way, I’m not sure if asking this is rude, but is Ki Niyani actually related to you?”

Kiyanu smiled slightly. “Yes. She’s my great-great-great-granddaughter, as a matter of fact, although she’s never been my direct disciple.”

Interesting. I hadn’t found any note of a relation to the clan claiming descent from Kiyanu on the Forest Continent, so she or her ancestor had probably been born as a bastard or something. It definitely explained why she’d been acting in his interests on the war front. And probably kept an eye on me for him, but I’d taken it as a given that the eighth-stagers would be watching me for their own reasons. Also, it’s really weird just how old Kiyanu really is.

“Is there anything else we need to talk about?” I asked.

Kiyanu smiled. “Oh, quite a few things, I’d say. But there’s no need to go into everything right now. I can give you some time to get settled in. We should probably schedule a meeting with Gen, too.”

I grimaced a little, but nodded. I hadn’t forgotten my promise to start learning more about governance and such things from him, either. “Alright. Then, can you just give me an overview? How’s the economic situation?”

Kiyanu tapped his fingers on the desk briefly. “Complicated,” he answered. “How could it not be? But in brief, we’re shifting production away from war-related needs. We’ll still need quite a bit of it going forward, especially with the need to keep the Dominion under occupation, but this is still freeing up some material and labor. We’ve started establishing, or reactivating, some factories to build certain other things. A lot of new companies are springing up in response to this, and Gen and his people are hard at work drafting new regulations.”

I nodded. “We should finally be able to complete the telephone lines.”

Kiyanu returned my smile. “Yes, hopefully that will continue to go smoothly. The noble clans are also in a bit of a tizzy, but that hasn’t stopped since the coup attempt. I don’t anticipate any real problems from them.” He pursed his lips. “The greatest challenge will be integrating the newly gained territories. I’m hopeful for our prospects, though. None of the areas were damaged too terribly in the war, and the Zarian at least ensured they had a halfway decent level of development. There will be some problems, but more of our soldiers should be able to return to domestic duties soon.”

“That sounds good. We’ll need to make sure to integrate all of the people of these lands, and not leave any group feeling left out. At least the Empire should have experience with that, right?”

Kiyanu smiled slightly and shook his head. “It does. Not for a while, of course, but there are protocols we can build on. Don’t worry, I have no intention of seeing this be mismanaged.”

“Good.”

“And we will have some time to focus on it, too. I think the way things went down between you, the Moon and the Storm has caught people’s attention. I suspect that powerful spirits would have told the leadership of most nations something, at least. So far, no one seems intent on testing us.”

I frowned a little. That was probably a good thing. I didn’t think Rijoko would support me in a random, run-of-the-mill war, especially if we were the aggressors, but not all of the benefits I could bring to bear because of his bloodline needed him. With Rijoko’s major opposition defeated and on the retreat at least for a while, I could understand why people wouldn’t want to test it.

“That’s good,” I finally said. “I wouldn’t rely on something this fickle. But if we have some time, we’ll probably develop so far that they pose less threat to us, anyway.”

Kiyanu cocked an eyebrow. “Your intentions for the future haven’t changed, I see.”

I shrugged. “I’m not going to go looking for trouble, Kiyanu. To some extent, this is inevitable, a consequence of our technological progress and what comes with it. I know the way technological superiority informs global power. And if there are certain things I’d rather not have continue on Aran - certain things I would like to see widespread - well, I promise I’ll try to be careful.”

“If you say so.”

From there, our conversation turned to slightly lighter subjects, and we recapped the end of the war and our respective statuses. After a few more minutes, I bid Kiyanu goodbye and left his office, still mulling these things over in my head.

I stepped onto a balcony and jumped down onto a courtyard below. A few people gave me startled looks, but it was pretty empty. I glanced around, then started walking towards the higher areas. The upper terraces were usually more free of people compared to the lower regions of the palace complex.

I breathed in deeply, tasting the hint of spring in the air. There was still a thin covering of snow on the grounds, but most of it was in the process of melting. It made the side paths slippery, but I didn’t have to worry about that. With the robe I currently wore, growing my wings might be expensive, but hardly needed them.

I ended up at a secluded garden on one of the uppermost terraces of the palace, slowly ambling through the beds of flowers and bushes. I felt the familiar presence growing nearer and didn’t give any signs of surprise when Elis called out to me.

“Inaris! You look more like a princess every time I see you.”

I smiled as I stepped closer to him. “I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be a compliment or not.” Then I ran my eyes over his own body, pointedly taking in the well-tailored dark green clothes. “And you’re looking quite posh yourself.”

“Like it?” He smiled and leaned against the fountain in the middle of the garden. Formations kept the water flowing even in winter.

I tilted my head. “Not bad,” I acknowledged. “But I think I prefer you with windswept hair and slightly rumpled or torn clothes. You know, the ‘dashing rogue’ look.”

Elis laughed. “I’ll endeavor to look as dashing as I can even in formal clothing, then. You’re welcome to tousle my hair yourself.”

I grinned and leaned against the stone beside him. Eying his thick, brown hair, I was tempted for a moment to run my fingers through it. He’d let it grow out a little since I first saw him, so it reached down to about his ears. Of course, being a shapeshifter, he could easily change that if he wanted.

“Maybe later. Now that I see you, there’s something else I should take care of before I forget.”

I reached into my storage ring and produced a document in an envelope, which I held out to Elis. He raised an eyebrow and took it. Then he carefully opened it and started reading through the paper. I heard him suck in a surprised breath. “Inaris, is that …?”

“Our forces on the Earth Continent have all but pushed the Zarian out,” I said. “That includes all the land they had previously occupied. I thought it was about time to give you back your family’s land, so I had that drawn up. There’s the legal proof of ownership and deed, with all the legalities taken care of.”

He lowered the document and looked at me. “This is a little more than just that.”

I shrugged. “Some of the surrounding land was left without owners, so we decided to just tack them on.” I grinned at him. “This is actually for you and Elia both, of course, but I thought I’d give it to you. As the eldest son, I assume you would have inherited it anyway, right?”

He nodded. “Regardless of my gender, but yes. Still.” He frowned a little. “That’s my mother’s family’s estate. It’s technically hers.”

Huh. I’d assumed the land and title were originally their father’s. Learned something new, I guess. “I suppose,” I said. “You’re free to hand the deed to her when you meet her again, though honestly, I don’t think it makes much of a difference.”

“I suppose you’re right. I don’t know when I’ll see the rest of my family again, anyway.” His gaze turned darker.

I took his arm and gave it a small squeeze. “With the war over, I suspect that Elia will want to return to the Earth Continent and find them. It shouldn’t be too hard for you, but you’ll have the Empire’s help if there are any issues.”

Elis smiled softly and turned to take my other hand. “Thank you, Nari.”

I remained quiet for a few seconds. Then I gave in to temptation and ran a hand through Elis’ hair. “You know,” I said, “I never asked you what you see when you look at me.”

“Do you mean what I see in you?” He frowned.

“No, not that,” I said. “Although feel free to compliment me later. No, I meant your bloodline abilities.”

“Ah!” He chuckled. “Well, mine aren’t quite as well suited to that as Elia’s, to tell the truth. We both know when someone is lying, but when it comes to the rest, I’m not as good. Alright, let me see.” He tilted his head and squinted slightly. “Well, I see that I’d rather not be your enemy, to be honest.”

I snorted and lightly punched his arm. “Elis! Come on, tell me more.”

“Alright.” His expression turned serious. “I suspect that even Elia would see you as less, uh, righteous now, Inaris. After everything that’s happened, that’s not a surprise. But you’re still generally just. I can tell that much. You’re also setting new standards for your people, and while I approve of that, it muddles things a little.”

I nodded. I probably should have expected something like that.

“I can also see that you’re generally an honest person,” he continued. “Not that I would have needed a spirit’s bloodline to know that, I don’t think I’ve ever caught you lying in your personal life. You’re quite self-aware and true to yourself, at least in most respects. And your emotional processing and moral judgment are unlike most people I’ve seen. That’s all I’ve got.”

I leaned against him and stayed silent for a while, thinking about what he’d said. None of that was really much of a surprise. The bit about ‘righteousness’ I bothered me a little, although I could see why it would be like that. I didn’t know how much his perception of me was influenced by his personal opinion and experience, either.

“Do you want the compliments now?” He said in a playful tone. “Or maybe you can tell me what you see in me, instead?”

“Maybe later.” I pulled him closer to me. “For now, I’d rather take advantage of this moment to ourselves we’ve suddenly got.”

He smiled. “We can always talk more later,” he agreed.

Then he pulled my head to his and I captured his lips with mine, starting a passionate kiss. The wait had been worth it.