The Bee Dungeon

Rippotis and Heigiosa could not leave their guests unattended for too long, so they now stood before Queen Vanieskon, with Tower Keeper Belissar’s bees hovering around. Heigiosa narrowed her eyes at the pixie, who just smiled back.

And then…Heigiosa gave her a nod.

“Queen Vanieskon, I once again thank you for your assistance in returning General Rippotis to his army. The Conclave will honor the agreement you have with him, all humanity loyal to us will make war against you, your people, and your allies no longer, provided we are not given reason to. And we will hand over the agreed-upon Towers in exchange for your assistance in dealing with the traitors, though I must insist on humane treatment of the common folk that rely on those Towers.”

Queen Vanieskon just kept smiling.

“But of course. I never break my agreements, you know?”

Heigiosa gave her a stare but did not reply.

“Now then, we should discuss our next moves.”

Rippotis saluted to her.

“The Dragon Banner Army is prepared to march for the City of Light by the next morning.”

Heigiosa, however, shook her head.

“Belay that order, general.”

Rippotis froze. Heigiosa faced him, her eyes full of resolve.

“There is no point in relieving the City of Light, everything of true value is safely within my Tower and the traitor forces will never breach it. The traitor Tower Lords have already abandoned the field and command the siege from afar, so all we would achieve would be to slay monsters that will respawn. Instead, I presume you made it here unnoticed thanks to the pixie queen? If she were able to do the same for me and my forces, I can send them to link up with the Dragon Banner Army while we rally the loyal Tower Lords, and then we can take the fight to the traitor Towers, all while a good chunk of their armies are loitering uselessly outside of my walls.”

General Rippotis stared and raised an eyebrow. Heigiosa gave him a smirk.

“Come now, General, I’ve listened to you speak on warfare for over a thousand years. I’d like to think I’ve picked up a thing or two by now.”

General Rippotis blinked, then barked out a laugh.

“So it seems! Very well, we’ll leave the army here to their vain quest and go on the offensive. It is better for us too, I have faith in our Tower Guards but the traitors’ monster armies still dwarf our own and our Tower Guard do not respawn. It would behoove us to make use of our advantage while we still possess it.”

Heigiosa then glanced back at Queen Vanieskon.

“Additionally, it must be said that it will be a shock to the Conclave when it is revealed that we are cooperating with the pixie queen and raising monster armies of our own. We must consider that some Tower Lords may not remain loyal to us should they believe we are…being influenced. We had best position ourselves well before the traitor attempts to take advantage.”

Queen Vanieskon smirked and her pixie wings folded into her back and disappeared.

“Oh? But that is only a factor if there is a pixie among you, is it not?”

General Rippotis, however, shook his head.

“We want to start laying the groundwork for lasting peace and alliance after the conflict, especially since you’ll be taking over former Conclave Towers. To that end, having fair folk openly fighting on our side is important. The soldiers need to see you at their side, helping them carry the day.”

Queen Vanieskon shrugged and her pixie wings reappeared.

“Have it your way, general.”

General Rippotis grunted.

“Well then, let’s get started…”

Heigiosa interrupted.

“Tomorrow.”

General Rippotis raised an eyebrow.

“Tomorrow?”

Heigiosa nodded.

“Tomorrow. You and your guests have come a long way and been through much already. It would be best for you to take some time to rest while our enemy is still unaware we have reunited.”

General Rippotis was about to object when Heigiosa gripped his arm hard. He looked at her and saw her eyes full of conviction, there would be no diverting the Oracle of Light from her path. He could only swallow his concerns and nod.

“Tomorrow, then.”

Heigiosa smiled and turned to Queen Vanieskon.

“Then, please partake of my Tower’s hospitality for the day. Is there anything you would like?”

Queen Vanieskon made a sly smile.

“Why, indeed there is. The good general there tells me you are most devout, not only to your god, but to all of them. Is there, then, a temple devoted to all the gods in your Tower?”

Heigiosa narrowed her eyes.

“There is…but I did not take you for an acolyte, Queen Vanieskon.”

Queen Vanieskon waved her hand.

“Indeed I am not, but even the fair must give the gods their due respect, no?”

Heigiosa stared at her for a moment longer before she finally nodded.

“Very well, my acolytes will lead you there.”

After sending instructions to that effect, Heigiosa turned her attention to the bees and gave them a sincere smile.

“Children of the God of Bees, you should also partake of my Tower’s hospitality. We have many flowers for you to enjoy and we will have beehouses prepared for your rest. My queen acolytes will guide you.”

The bees danced happily and Heigiosa called for the First Queen Acolyte and the Fourth Queen Acolyte, now renamed as Heigiosa had formally inducted them into the service of the gods. The bees of Tower Keeper Belissar zipped forward and began dancing.

“Hi new bees! Want join hive of hives?”

The First Queen Acolyte’s antennae twitched.

“Hive of hives? What that?”

As the bees explained to the queen acolytes, Heigiosa turned to Rippotis. He explained for her as well about Tower Keeper Belissar’s hive of hives, a connection between all of his bees to promote cooperation between the hives. Heigiosa considered this as her bees replied.

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“Queen acolytes serve Oracle, serve Queens of All Things. Hive of hives serve Oracle and Queens of All Things?”

Tower Keeper Belissar’s bees kept dancing happily.

“Serve King! King has oracle, though? And King serves Queen of All Bees!”

Heigiosa’s eyes widened.

“The Tower we sought is home to an oracle?”

Rippotis nodded.

“Tower Keeper Belissar hosts the Oracle of Bees. Additionally, the fair folk host the Oracle of Flowers. And yes, the king they refer to is Tower Keeper Belissar, the human from the Conclave in charge of our lost Tower. His primary patron is the God of Bees.”

In the meantime, the queen acolytes had started buzzing.

“Oracle here! Only serves Queens of All Things, not king!”

Heigiosa, however, stepped in with a gentle smile.

“There is more than one oracle, my queen-acolyte, one for each of the gods. These bees’ home is blessed to have an oracle of their own.”

The First Queen Acolyte swayed about before replying.

“Then…shouldn’t join hive of hives? Different oracle?”

Heigiosa turned her smile to the bees from another Tower. The bees from the first and only known Tower of Bees, devoted to the god that kicked off this whole chain of events.

“I owe the God of Bees and her children a debt I can never repay…and I owe Tower Keeper Belissar as well. That he has chosen to help us after everything the Conclave has done to him is grace we do not deserve. If his bees are extending their hand to us, then I would be honored for you to learn from and work beside them. With the God of Bees as his patron and the Oracle of Bees at his side, he, more than anyone, should know how best to worship her.”

The First Queen Acolyte danced a salute and then turned back to the bees.

“Ok! Oracle commanded, so will join hive of hives.”

Belissar’s bees happily zipped about.

“Amazing, incredible!”

Heigiosa watched them all with a smile. These allies were much more pleasant to deal with than the other one…

Vanieskon surrounded herself with an attention-deflecting glamour as she entered one of the human’s temples, causing her human guides and hopefully their master to lose track of her. She marched through the temple without any of the humans within acknowledging her presence. The temple consisted of alcoves that each contained a statue and shrine of a different god, though most of these seemed handmade rather than created by the dungeon.

She made her way to an alcove towards the back, one with no humans around it at present. The statue in question was of a well-dressed young man, though his features were indistinct. Vanieskon glared up at the statue, then took a deep breath.

“Mischief, get down here. I know you can hear me.”

She was met with silence for several frustrating minutes, but she refused to lose her composure. Soon, she heard a voice grating on her ears from above.

“Vanie, Vanie, Vanie. Now, why would you be calling for little old me? You don’t seem to be offering a prayer out of your great devotion, after all.”

A comfortable-looking chair descended from above, surrounded by a halo of light. The God of Mischief lounged in the chair, one leg crossed over the other and a hand holding a glass full of wine. He gave her an infuriating smirk as his chair hovered over her.

Vanieskon rolled her eyes and flew up to eye level with him.

“I’m sure you know full well why. There’s something wrong.”

The God of Mischief took a slow sip of his wine.

“Let me guess, your charms are a bit…out of practice?”

Vanieskon glared at him. Mischief let out a chuckle.

“Well, the reason's obvious, you know?”

Vanieskon grit her teeth.

“So it’s the gods after all.”

Mischief raised an eyebrow.

“Uh, no.”

Vanieskon blinked. Mischief stared at her.

“Really, Vanie? You haven’t figured it out? Whatever happened to my clever pixie queen, huh? You got dull just sitting on your chair for a thousand years, hm?”

Vanieskon glared at him once more, with greater vitriol. Mischief sighed.

“The dungeons, Vanie. The dungeons.”

Vanieskon rolled her eyes.

“I know that. The gods are channeling their power through the dungeons to claim their servants.”

Mischief shook his head and tutted at her.

“No, Vanie…well, ok, yes, the gods do that as well, but that isn’t your problem. You’ve charmed servants of the gods before, haven’t you? Tell me, Vanie, what is the purpose of the dungeons?”

Vanieskon glared at him but Mischief glared right back. Vanieskon took a deep breath.

“They’re to defend the world from…the Hunger…”

Her eyes slowly widened. Mischief smiled.

“Ah, you’ve finally got it. The dungeons are meant to battle the Hunger…aka, the most corruptive influence we’ve ever seen. So you better believe that Light’s number one, overriding principle when designing the dungeons was anti-corruption. And given how adaptive the Hunger is…do you think she left any obvious loopholes in what counts as corruption?”

Vanieskon hung her head and clenched her fists.

“So…sworn defenders cannot be charmed?”

Mischief smirked.

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that. Listen, listen! Did you know that while you were gone, Beely went and convinced over a thousand Tower Guards to break their oaths and voluntarily hand themselves over to him? And Dragon couldn’t do a thing about it, it was absolutely hilarious! Also, Vanie, you’re losing to a human without an ounce of schemery in his body. I just wanted you to know that.”

Vanieskon began to tremble. Mischief kept talking.

“Oh, and Finny! I’ve got to tell you about Finny! She warped the mind of a Tower Guard and sent him to his doom by unintentionally abusing the fact that they can’t be directly charmed! Her glamour was completely ineffective, but she just stuffed it full with way too much mana! It was so blatant and grating an attempt that he couldn’t ignore it and got distracted while a bee snuck up and stung him! She deceived him by being bad at deceiving him! I’m so proud of her!”

Vanieskon finally had enough.

“Fine! I’ll do it!”

Mischief paused.

“Do what?”

Vanieskon whipped her head up and glared at him.

“Just get it over with.”

Mischief tilted his head.

“Get what over with?”

Vanieskon’s veins bulged.

“You know what I mean.”

Mischief chuckled and rose from his chair, stepping towards her in the air.

“Oh yes. I know, Vanie. I know exactly what you’re trying not to say. But what if I told you that…I want to hear it. I want to hear you say it. And I won’t cooperate until I do.”

He then smiled, leaned forward, turned his head so that his ear faced her, and then cupped that ear with his hand. Vanieskon nearly screamed.

But…she had no choice. Her plan had been to take control of the traitor Tower Lords’ forces so that when the Conclave handed over the promised Towers, the fair folk would have an army on par with theirs. The Compact would match or eclipse the humans in strength, they would be equals at the very least, if not the stronger party.

But since she had failed, the Compact would be left only with the fraction of their former might that still remained in the Land of the Fair…while the Conclave would retain an army of blessed human champions that could match the fair folk power for power and vastly surpassed them in numbers. Even after receiving the traitor factions’ Towers, the Compact would be far weaker than the Conclave. Before the Hunger, the fair folk had struggled to stay ahead of the humans, so driven and reckless as the mortals were. So if it were the humans who were ahead?

The fair folk would never catch up.

They would forever be the junior partners in the alliance, an alliance where neither party truly trusted the other. Should the alliance ever break down, the fair folk would be at the humans’ mercy.

And Vanieskon knew all too well what happened to pixies that trusted in human intentions.

“…give me your blessing.”

Mischief leaned back, placed a hand on his chest, slowly inhaled, and then let out a long, satisfied sigh.

“Ahhhhh…I never thought I’d see the day. The great queen of the pixies herself, humbling herself before me.”

Vanieskon closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Just get on with it.”

Mischief chuckled, stepped back, and sat back in his seat.

“Well, you see now, Vanie, it’s not that easy.”

Vanieskon’s eyes jumped open to glare at the god. Mischief just sipped his wine.

“Come now, Vanie, blessings aren’t just things you demand and poof, their yours. No, there are quests! Trials! Epic struggles! Tragic irony where the quest makes you lose sight of your original goal and ends up causing the very thing you were trying to avoid! Plus, you’re going to need, like, a lot of authority for me to give you a meaningful blessing compared to your current power and I already told you authority is tight right now. So, a quest. You do something for me, I do something for you, that’s how this works, you know?”

Vanieskon scoffed.

“So, in the end, you’re just like all the others, seeking to rule over us all. Fine, then, I’ll ask one of them. If I cannot escape servitude, then I may as well seek a greater power than you.”

Mischief chuckled, his voice growing lower with each laugh.

“Can you, Queen Vanieskon of the Pixie Court, ruler of the land of the fair? Do you think there are any other gods who would trust you? Do you think there are any other than me who would accept your half-hearted devotion?”

Mischief rose to his feet again and his presence grew. The room seemed to grow dimmer and Mischief’s body blended with the shadows. His voice took on a deep, rumbling undertone and came from all directions when he spoke.

“I’ll tell you the answer. No. There are not. There are no other gods who will offer you anything. There are no other gods who will even entertain your approach. Your relentless quest for control, your desire to make yourself equal to us has burned every other bridge. You have no choice, you are caught in a trick of your own making. There is only me, so you will bind yourself to my will and serve a god, or you will remain powerless before those that do. You will have to play the good, friendly pixie and hope against hope that the humans do not betray you in the end, else you will watch helplessly as they conquer all that is fair.”

A disembodied smile full of teeth appeared out of the shadows as Vanieskon drifted down to the floor, her magical flight failing in the face of divine authority. She was forced to look up at the God of Mischief’s grin as it curled into a sneer.

“So, Queen Vanieskon of the Pixies, what will it be?”

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