The Bee Dungeon

The day had finally come. Belissar stood before the nexus door. Niobee was sitting on his head as had become her usual place, Frelis glanced about on his shoulder, and the Fourth of the Seventh was flying laps overhead. Three squads of soldier bees hovered just behind him, including one of the bumblebees. Chief Rohsuak and Juosiutik stood to either side of him, the latter tapping one of her feet.

All of them waited in the Fairy Grove. And then, finally, the nexus door sprang to life and Tarwantrad emerged.

“Hi Belissar! Ready to see my dungeon?”

Belissar grinned.

“Yes. All of us are.”

Tarwantrad beamed and waved to Niobee, Frelis, and the Fourth of the Seventh. She greeted Chief Rohsuak in turn before turning to the last of Belissar’s group.

“Hi! You must be Juosiutik, it’s nice to meet you!”

Juosiutik nodded quickly.

“Yes! I’m Juosiutik! You’re Tarwantrad, right? I’ve heard so much about you!”

“As have I! I’m sure we’ll have much to discuss going forward. For now, though…”

Tarwantrad grinned and stepped to the side, motioning to the nexus door.

“How would you all like to see the flowers?”

Frelis perked up at that while the Fourth of the Seventh’s laps sped up. Juosiutik made a huge smile while Chief Rohsuak chuckled. Belissar matched Tarwantrad’s grin as he nodded.

“We’d love to.”

Tarwantrad waved at them as she stepped through the door.

“Then follow me!”

Niobee danced on Belissar’s head and the bees leapt into action. One of the soldier squads flew through the door. A moment later, one of them popped back through and danced a salute.

“King, is safe! Can go now!”

Belissar smiled at her and the soldier both.

“Thanks everyone.”

Then, he stepped into the nexus door. The leaves began to pick up and swirl around him with ever greater speed and numbers until eventually all he could see was a river of green. There was a flash of rainbow light and then the leaves began to slow. Belissar glanced around as the leaves floated down to the ground. His eyes widened.

He had expected a small garden much like the Apothecary’s Hut, or maybe a Flower Meadow of some description.

What he saw was an entire world. He stood upon a small plateau at the top of a hill, seemingly at the center of the room. In every direction he turned, he saw a different kind of terrain stretching out from the bottom of the hill. He saw a familiar meadow and forest, he saw swamps and marshes blending into one another. He saw places he had only ever heard vague mention of, like an arid and sandy desert on the other side of a rocky mountain. There was a graveyard next to a forest of blackened trees, and he even saw a volcano complete with flows of lava sitting next to the largest body of water he had ever seen, steam rising into the air where lava flowed down into the water. Each of these different places blended into one another, seamlessly flowing from one biome to the next.

And, each and every way he turned, he saw flowers. Rainbows covered ground and sky alike as color spread out across the meadows and the canopies of the forest. Flower bloomed in the desert and the mountain or floated in lava and water both. Flowers covered the graves and bloomed from black trees that otherwise would have seemed dead. There were giant flowers as tall as trees, flying flowers floating through the air, vines breaking through ground and rock, and flowers that crawled around on their own roots.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

He stood in silence, taking in the sights before him until Tarwantrad prompted him.

“So, what do you think?”

He continued staring out.

“It’s amazing. How did you make a room like this?”

Tarwantrad smiled.

“The Circle’s taught me a lot about different mana and terrain types. It took me a while to get this many to work nicely together, but I wanted to show your bees as many of my flowers as I could. Especially since…” Ꞧᴀ₦ȰＢΕŚ

She sighed. It was only then that Belissar noted Tarwantrad wasn't alone. A second elf woman stood behind Tarwantrad, this one wearing silver armor adorned with curved and smoothed patterns. The woman took Tarwantrad’s sigh as her cue and stepped forward.

“Hello, I am Wardmaster Varilold. You must be Tower Keeper Belissar.”

Belissar was taken aback for a moment, not expecting to meet anyone other than maybe another member of the Circle.

“…hi. Yes, that’s me.”

Wardmaster Varilold nodded and stood up straight.

“It’s good to meet you. Now, to get this out of the way, Dungeon Master Tarwantrad, by order of the Conclave you are not to permit any outsiders to pass through the wards protecting the nexus door, including Tower Keeper Belissar and his subordinates. For now, they must not pass beyond this room. Understood?”

Tarwantrad rolled her eyes.

“A stupid order, but yes. That’s why I had to try and recreate as much of my entire dungeon as I could in a single room, after all. Since when does the Conclave get to interfere with Circle dungeons anyways?”

Wardmaster Varilold smirked.

“Ever since you opened an unsanctioned nexus door that both ensures our survival and exposes us to the outside world. Well, you’re not wrong about the Conclave acting foolishly as well, which is why I went and redid all of my wards to be outside of this room instead of by the nexus.”

She then placed her right hand across her chest and bowed her head before extending her hand out towards him.

“Tower Keeper Belissar, you have my sincerest gratitude. The others may not have acknowledged it yet, but your cooperation is reversing the doom of our people.”

Belissar remained silent for a moment as he decided how to respond.

“…you’re welcome?”

She gave him a smile.

“Indeed I am. Let me know should you ever need help; I can only overrule the signatories on matters of the wards and of existential threats to the Conclave but any emergency that threatens your dungeon or the nexus door within it would qualify. Hopefully, the signatories will open to you sooner than that and we can discuss adding some wards to your defenses before any crisis, as I am repeatedly warning them about. I will also invite you to a banquet at that time. For now, I hope that you will enjoy your time here, and that Dungeon Master Tarwantrad will show you her finest hospitality in our stead. May you find safe refuge, Tower Keeper.”

With that, she turned and marched away. Tarwantrad stared at her back.

“…Wardmaster Varilold never participates in banquets, much less holding one…”

She then shook her head.

“Well, enough of the Conclave being dumb! I have something more to show you, Belissar!”

Belissar smiled.

“I look forward to it.”

Tarwantrad made a mischievous smile.

“Ok, you can come out now, everyone.”

Belissar then began to hear buzzing and saw the flowers around the hill began to stir. Bees began to climb out from under the flowers or from underground burrows and took to the air. Tarwantrad flared her mana and the bees flew towards her, landing upon the flowers woven into her hair and clothes. She held out her hands and turned to Belissar with a grin.

“These are my bees, what do you think?”

Belissar’s eyes widened as he stared at them.

“They’re beautiful.”

Indeed, Belissar was initially struck by the colors. There were little bees in red and black. There were bright blue and green bees that almost appeared to be glowing. There were bees that almost seemed like they had leaves and flowers growing on them. Tarwantrad smiled warmly as she looked at the bees landing on her.

“Stingless bees, mason bees, orchid bees, leafcutter bees…my bees may not be as powerful as yours, but I’ve tried to raise as many different types as I could and I’m quite fond of them.”

A moment later, the Fourth of the Seventh dove down to hover before Tarwantrad.

“New bees! Amazing, incredible! Want to join hive of hives?”

The bees, though, shied away from the giant nomadic queen swooping down on them, or otherwise stayed focused on their flowers. Tarwantrad shook her head, chuckling a bit.

“My bees tend to be more mundane, with only a few having become monster species over time. Many of them are also solitary types that don’t communicate as much even with each other, so you might find them a bit shier than your own. I leave them to themselves for the most part, so they haven’t developed as socially as yours. I’m sure, though, that you’ll be able to welcome them in without issue once you are ready to trade. Dungeon monsters do vary somewhat based on their master, so I’ll be looking forward to how you change them.”

Belissar could only nod as he continued to watch the different types of bees come and go.

“They’re amazing.”

Tarwantrad just smiled and the two watched the bees in silence for a while. In the meantime, Juosiutik and Frelis crouched and hovered down to begin examining the flowers right on the hill. Chief Rohsuak chuckled as she watched over them all.

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