Han straightened himself out; and in his mind he fashioned himself as a sort of ruler, or at least a ’leader’ figure. After all, from the way the woman was treating him and the role he seed to be given within the Hive, he was sothing of the sort, was he not?
He turned to regard the woman, opening his mouth to say sothing, before imdiately shutting it. ’If this is going to work, I have to take on my role properly... And that ans no English.’
And so, like a foreign diplomat conversing with the servants of a foreign king, he tried to speak in their tongue.
He had done so with no issues when he had first arrived... instinctively. However, he found it difficult now; overthinking the chanism with which it worked, to the point that he felt lightheaded just focusing.
"Lord Whisperer?" the woman asked, using plain English.
Han sighed at this. It seed he would just have to use the Hive skill, and for a mont, he pondered how he must seem to this woman: using gimmicks and crutches to simulate what she could naturally do.
Was this really the sort of ruler the Hive’s inhabitants would accept? Perhaps this was part of the reason Beelaques had been so against him being whisperer. Perhaps she wished that the title had been given to soone born of the Hive, not soone who had been born into it.
The woman tilted her head, and Han realised that he had been quiet for too long. And so he whispered the Hive skill into effect, putting off his ponderings for so other mont when he would have ti.
"You said your role was to explain how my council would work," he said. However, he was certain that his idea had birthed a slightly different thought into her mind. "That ans you’re allowed to answer any questions that pertain to gathering council, right?"
The woman seed slightly confused by his ssage. It seed that even with the Hive skill active, if his intent was not clear, his ssage would not be passed coherently.
And so with a sigh, he said exactly what was on his mind. "I need to ask you a few questions about the nature of the Hive’s inhabitants."
To this, the woman nodded. "Within constraint," she replied.
Han nodded. "I have been feeling a strange rush whenever I kill sothing... A bloodlust of sorts. Is this normal within the Hive?"
The woman took a mont to mull over his ssage. He was still not sending his ideas in a clear manner.
However, after a mont, the woman seed to understand what he ant.
"Lord Whisperer, I must correct a statent you made," she responded. "You are not a Beekeeper, not yet," she explained.
That only served to confuse Han even more. Of course, he was a Beekeeper, that was his trait. And besides, he had already proven himself with Beelaques. What more did he have to do?
However, she was not done.
"You speak of the Guard Bee’s drive, do you not?" she asked.
’Guard bee?’ More confusion.
Han hadn’t been taught about the different types of bees while working around his father. His knowledge of types was constrained to drones, workers and the queen bee.
"Yes," he replied, realising that it would be unwise to reveal just how ignorant he was of even the simplest nature of bees.
The woman nodded. "The drive is present within all Guard Bees. However, I must advise against allowing them into your council," she said.
"Why?"
The woman took a mont to think about this before replying. This ti, her response did not just evoke thought into his mind, but also images.
And what grueso images they were.
They were of so alien land made of brim and blackstone. Fire rained from the sky, and the moon that hung in that night sky seed fractured, bits of it floating around the celestial body.
The godbeings of the Hive were descending from above, like angels of rapture, each carrying four weapons: swords, helbards, spears, and shields. And upon their golden skin, they were armoured in obsidian tal, gleaming bright against the rain of fire that fell around them.
Han’s head hurt as he went through the images... this was not sothing he was used to.
Waiting on the ground below were victims of divine judgnt; creatures of black and purple. They seed a sister race to humanity, sharing the sa humanoid build. However, their differences ca in the shape of their heads, long tubular things that perhaps marked a greater potential for intelligence.
He could see from their expressions: fear, anger, sadness, that these were creatures he could closer relate to than his bee brethren. And that only served to make the next few scenes all the more horrific.
The descending bees set hell loose upon that world. Like cots, they swooped from the skies, drenching themselves in the blood of natives. Millions were turned to soups of blood and flesh; children and elderly were not spared.
This was a cleansing. Whatever they could’ve done to warrant this, Han could not fathom. All he knew was that he did not want these creatures visiting Earth.
Han’s breathing had beco laboured, and his eyes were bloodshot; wide from the cries he could almost hear within the images.
"There was no command passed by the Hive," the woman explained. "This, the Guard Bees did of their own volition. Because the planet had ventured too close to the Hive, they said."
Han shook his head. "I thought you were all servants of the Hive. If they did this, then they were asked to," he shot back. A strange anger welled up inside of him. How could this woman claim that the decimation of an entire planet, a genocide of interstellar proportions, had been done on a re whim?
"We are servants of the Hive no more than your native race are servants of survival," she explained. "A fragnt may do as it pleases, if it ensures the survival of the whole."
"The Hive is all, and All is the Hive."
Han nearly threw up. That was the sa thing that Pupa had said.
Was he really willing to raise and unleash this plague on the survivors of Apocalypse? And for what? For his re survival?
The answer was yes. But that did not an he was devoid of remorse.
The woman bowed. "The Hive has grown tired of waiting," she said.
"I shall comnce the link."
"Wait. I need more ti to think," Han shot back.
"There will be ti. But not now."
Han froze as the woman began to draw intricate patterns of golden light in front of her. The light in her eyes grew, and it consud her, making her moonlight skin glow as if possessed by the sun.
"I wish you luck, Lord Whisperer."
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