Belissar went about his day in a good mood. The Second of the Sixth had finally asked his permission to try evolving, meaning both that all the wounded bees and karnuq had stabilized and that they might have a new queen type soon. He was just finishing up his morning rounds through the Tower when he was interrupted…
The God of Fire wishes to offer you a quest. Accept?
Belissar smiled and nodded. He was always happy to show his gratitude to the gods. That such missions tended to come with powerful rewards only made him more willing.
New mission received: Offer ten jars of mead made with Fire-type honey to the God of Fire
Belissar’s grin grew, it seemed the God of Fire liked his mead after all.
Belissar then moved on to practicing his magic. He still hadn’t managed to form a core for the Fourth of the Seventh’s golem and was starting to feel bad about the delay. He could have always asked the First of the Fifth’s Seventh Daughter to make one for him…but this golem was supposed to be his gift to the Fourth of the Seventh for her evolution, so he really wanted to take part in the most important part if he could. Well, if he couldn’t manage it soon, he’d resort to that, but for today he’d do all he could to make some progress.
He decided to take a different approach to today. Rather than continue struggling with the core directly, he was going to try making swirled honey instead. The First of the Fifth had told him something about organizing the mana inside the honey to make it better, so Belissar hoped that might help him work out the mana core thing as well.
He held out both hands and stirred up his mana, creating two honeycomb patterns in the air. One began condensing into honey, though Belissar did his best to keep it in the honeycomb pattern rather than letting it drip everywhere. Spell-bees climbed out of the other pattern and flew over to the first. Belissar tried to link the mana of the two spells so the spell-bees could interact with the honey like the First of the Fifth had described.
Instead, the spell-bees and the honeycomb pattern merged together, spun around into a vortex of mana, and then burst with a flash of light. Belissar cried out and stumbled back, belatedly shielding his eyes. Niobee danced frantically on his head.
Belissar waved one hand about even as he rubbed his eyes with his other.
“I’m fine, I’m fine…I think. Just…give me a moment.”
When the light had finally faded from his eyes…there was no trace of either spell left. Belissar sighed.
It seemed he had a lot more to learn…
Belissar stared intently at the spell-bee and the honeycomb pattern. After blinding himself several more times, he started to make adjustments. He was now using, for the first time, a spell-drone, since the drones seemed more capable at blending mana together than the workers. Now, after learning to produce them, Belissar was having one spell-drone carefully, ever so carefully, reach out to the honeycomb pattern with the thinnest strand of mana possible.
And then suddenly a wall of messages appeared before his eyes. He jumped…and immediately lost control of his spells. Another bright flash of light blinded him once again. Belissar groaned.
“I almost had it! What is it this…time…”
He trailed off though, as even though his vision was filled with light he could still read the messages from the Tower somehow. What he saw left him gaping.
New mission received: Evolve a type of bee never before seen.
The God of Flowers wishes to offer you a quest. Accept?
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
The God of Fire wishes to offer you a quest. Accept?
A non-patron god, the God of Water, wishes to offer you a quest, and will grant you a blessing should you succeed. Accept?
Belissar didn’t even notice his vision return as he stared blankly at the messages before him.
His confusion was not helped when Niobee’s antennae began to glow and she started a rapid dance.
“King! Velebee says Queen of All Bees has message for King!”
Nenavann leaned back into his chair, barely focusing. He lifted a cup of tea and drank the whole thing in one go. Queen Vanieskon raised an eyebrow, but none of the other signatories reacted. All of them save the pixie queen were doing the same as he.
Henilett held an open scroll and giggled.
“Well then, I believe we’ve come to an agreement on the counteroffer. Does anyone have any further terms to discuss before we submit it to Tower Keeper Belissar?”
Silence hung over the room. All of the signatories leaned forward and began to glare at one another. Nenavann locked eyes with Forgemaster Ughlarer. The two men battled silently but decided to accept their current mutual desire. Both sat back without another word. Henilett glanced around the room.
“No? Then, let us adjourn for…”
The doors of the conference room slammed open. All the signatories spun to face the person responsible. Wardmaster Varilold and the wardens on standby had already moved to confront the intruder.
“Almablom, I trust you have a good reason to intrude on a meeting of the signatories?”
Almablom didn’t flinch, walking to the side of the wardens so she could face all the signatories with a grim expression.
“I, Almablom, Oracle of Flowers, bring urgent word from the God of Flowers regarding an incoming war between the Calwaskon Compact and the Conclave of Tower Lords, a nation of human dungeon masters.”
Nenavann stiffened as the signatories stared at Almablom. A new mission had just arrived from his patron as well. And barely a minute later, Tarwantrad and Urubran both arrived in a panic to report missions from their patrons as well.
All the signatories glanced nervously around. Even Queen Vanieskon let a frown show on her face. One thing was abundantly clear.
The gods were on the move. There would be no rest for the signatories today…
General Rippotis carried a kettle and a shallow dish through a field of flowers, until he arrived at a table set up near his beehives. He placed the dish at the table and poured the kettle’s contents into it. Once he had finished, he backed away and observed from a distance.
He had resolved to evolve the bees, but the truth was he didn’t know the first thing about direct magical manipulation of living things, and the Conclave had made a concerted effort to eliminate that knowledge from human consciousness. He instead fell back upon his experience with raising various dragonkin and the more natural forms of evolution they went through. He knew, at the very least, that mana was essential for all monsters and magical creatures. Dragonkin eggs grew best in a mana-rich environment and dragonkin hatchlings needed mana to survive. Preferably in their diet, though as magical creatures they could absorb ambient mana from their environment as well.
Mundane bees wouldn’t be able to do the latter, so General Rippotis focused on diet. At first, he had planted as many magical flowering plants in the area as he could. However, it appeared the foraging bees were wary of the mana-laden plants and mostly stuck to mundane flowers save for a few adventurous foragers. They did not seem to be accumulating much mana if at all…and when that mana was spread out over a hive of tens of thousands of bees with a lifespan of a few months…General Rippotis predicted it would be years at minimum until he saw any results.
He was willing to wait as long as necessary, but several years was a long time for him to be away from the frontlines, and Hegiosa had urged him to do all that he could to fulfill this mission. So, he observed the bees closely and searched for solutions.
His first attempt would be a simple one. He observed that bees, like all mundane creatures, required water, and would gather around nearby sources of it to drink. So, he brewed a herbal tea with magical flowers, hoping that diluting the mana would encourage the bees to drink it. He now waited to see how the bees would respond.
It took quite some time, but the general was patient, and his patience was soon rewarded. Thirsty bees soon landed by the dish, climbing along the edges as they stuck their little tongues into the cooled tea. Soon, a line of bees ran around the edges of the dish and drank their fill of the liquid. The general confirmed them consuming the small amounts of mana in the tea and smiled.
It would still be a gradual process on account of the dilution, but he could now expect to see bees growing their innate mana in a far quicker timeframe. He was making progess on his mission…
The general stiffened...for he had just received some more. He frowned and furrowed his brow. He took a deep breath. One of his hands trembled so he clenched it into a fist. These missions...contained information that would shake the Conclave to its core.
The fey had survived...and one of the Tower Lords on the Grand Subjugation was headed right towards them. The God of Fire had now directly indicated his will in the matter...and on the lost Tower Starami was moving towards as well. If the two missions were related...then the fey might even be involved with the lost Tower...which made the God of Fire's orders all the more difficult.
Hegiosa was right after all. Events of grave importance were occurring indeed…