Published at 14th of February 2026 1:09 pm

Chapter 333: Into the Hive

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Nicolai couldnt help but be a little impressed. The Hive was immense, dominating this stretch of jungle. It was situated on not-quite-a-mountain, but rather a place where the earth had dreamt of being one and formed a great craggy spire which speared above the trees. Those trees were bloated by the chitin and resin the Hornets had built into them, meshing with the branches. These natural towers formed the outer layer, surrounding the Hive itselfa great spherical construction which swelled, bulbous, from the upper portion of the spire.

The size only grew more apparent as they approached. Nicolai realised only some small numbers of the Hornets living here had come for the Greybugs. The majority remained here, many of them visible darting between the outer towers and the central mass. Below, a circle of destruction spread out around the hive. Trees lay felled, pathways gouged through undergrowth. Other bugsnot Hornets, more slaves like the Greybugsscurried along the paths. Some dragged rock from tunnels burrowed into the base of the hill, others hauled timber back.

Nicolai gazed down with interest. The fact they reshaped the world around them as they ravaged it for resources meant these Hornets were not so different from his own kind.

The returning army was met by groups of sentries, flying out from the surrounding towers. Soon, the enslaved Greybugs were being prodded into the tunnels beneath the Hive. Nicolai could tell this area was rich in Oma. It was noticeable in the Aura, and the size of the trees suggested the same. This was an active area, a place where typically youd run into more jungle creatures. However, there were none anywhere near the Hive.

Once the Queen had sent the Greybug Queen below, she and the rest of the army (Nicolai kept close to her as always) entered through a great opening in the spherical central Hive.

It was busy inside, Hornets flying through the open spaces, other variants of bugs crawling on the curving walls and floors. It was formed of endless hexagons and had a very biological feeling to it. Layer after layer, like an onion, with tunnels leading here or there. He saw squealing, pale grub-creatures being tended by Hornets or other bugs. A great number of the Hornets engaged in the job of tending were smaller in stature. Immature Hornets, he guessed. These ones had no stingers, and often no wings. They climbed and dashed around, performing menial jobs.

The layout was alien, everything up and down and angled oddly. There was the awareness here of a place far removed from man, one not bound to treat him with any kindness or mercy. But in spite of this, as Nicolai looked upon it, it began to make a kind of sense.

Working Hornets swarmed like drones, landing and skittering on all-fours over surfaces, which were pocked with handholds. Here and there, he saw openings into slightly more normal looking rooms, these with level floors, but the spaces between them were twisted and confusing. In an odd way, the Hive reminded him of the inside of an ammunition factory. Here new Hornets were fashioned like bullets.

Hornets peeled off from Vexiras army one by one, vanishing into their chosen tunnels. Nicolai mightve lost his way, but Simulations was already building a 3D map, overlaying it onto his mind.

The Queen led him aside, then handed him off to Thryss.

Take him to the Ripper. He is to have wings and a cloak. Make sure nothing excessively unpleasant befalls him. With these terse instructions, the Queen turned away.

Thryss gazed after the Queen, mandibles tight in a way that Psychology posited signalled annoyance. Nicolai, meanwhile, was frowning at the Queens wording. After a moment Thryss looked him over with obvious contempt, then got moving without a word. She took him into a ground-level tunnel, hexagonal like the rest. The Daughter moved rapidly, quick twists and turns.

He stuck close enough to grab her as they paced through the dim, biological world of the Hive. He waited until they were in a deserted stretch of tunnel, then he spoke.

How long will this take?

She stopped and turned to face him, then took a sudden step, closing in. Nicolai read her intention long before she raised her arm.

He caught her wrist before the strike landed. Ripples of Symbiotic activation poured from her, her Soul Sense bursting into action. But in the same moment hed grabbed her, Nicolai had drawn the Quiet Knife. He held it low, close enough it was out of her view, and had dug it through a gap in her armour to prick her abdomen.

Careful, now. His ripples were a whisper.

You dare? she hissed. She was furious, but frozen by the touch of the Knife.

What do I dare?

To touch me!

You were going to hit me.

You deserve to be hit, human. You do not speak to me unless spoken to. I am a Daughter.

Nicolai snorted. To me you are just a Hornet. One of many. The only one of you who matters to me is your mother. She is strong enough to strike me and live. You are not, so take care

He shoved her away. She stumbled two steps, righted herself. Light flashed and she held a long, thin sword. Wide at the base and narrowing to a needle sharp point, no edges, Tier 2 Artifact from the ripples. The two tendrils of her Soul Sense moved left and right and aimed their stingers at him.

Nicolai did not feel threatened. Not all Tier 2s were equal. This one was powerful, but she wasnt a dedicated warrior.

Such arrogance, for a Tier 1, she spat.

Youve never met a Tier 1 like me.

You only beat Serrin on a technicality. He wouldve stabbed you, if he were a proper Hornet.

If he were the proper Hornet shed failed to turn him into. He tilted his head. Is that what youre upset about?

She snorted and spun away. Nicolai waited for her to turn a corner then tucked the Knife back into his skinsuit and followed.

After a few twists and turns, leading gradually downward, they reached an area where the floor was stone rather than the fibrous material of the rest of this place. Thryss stopped at a large hole. The same kind of hexagonal tunnel as everywhere else, but this one bored through rock. It went straight down for over a hundred metres. She stepped into it and dropped without even a glance at him. Peering down, he saw her spiritual wings stirring gently, controlling her fall.

He watched her go, thinking on the dangers of being trapped in a tube of rock. The middle would be the most dangerous as he would be furthest from escape. In his mind, he saw the top suddenly slam closed as a Hornet jumped out from hiding and shoved a giant rock over it, then the bottom went dark as it too was sealed

Various scansSoul Sense, sonar, infraredrevealed nothing to worry about up here, but he knew too little about these Hornets and how they operated to be entirely sure, and the Hive-material itself gave off a weird lack of ripples.

Thryss was almost at the bottom now. Though she had reason to act against him, she also had strict orders from the Queen. He didnt think she would try to kill him, merely sabotage him. After a moment of considered timing, he leapt. He plummeted straight down, smooth stone walls whipping by, air wailing around him. straight down.

He covered the space shed floated through in an instant, his Soul Sense roaming ahead to check for traps or other threats, Pegasi rings and Grasping Finger primed to halt his descent. But nothing pinged Threat Analysiss radar. When he was metres from the bottom, he raised a hand, activated the rings and the Symbiote. His plummet rapidly slowed and he touched down on the ground directly behind Thryss, just as she stepped clear of the hole.

If you had to put yourself at risk, it was better to limit that risk and get it over with as quickly as possible. Also best to stick close to one who might ambush you, so you could strike at them oruse them as a hostage.

The Hornet stepped back quickly, spinning to face him. He stepped smoothly out from the hole, cutting the line of sight between himself and anyone at the top.

She had one hand against the wrist of the other, and a line of light had appeared there, and from that line of light emerged the handle of her weapon, ready to be seized. He waited to see what she would do, scanning the area around him while he did so. No one nearby. They were in yet more tunnels. Sonar showed no one immediately nearby.

After a moment, she just shook her head and scoffed, turning away and stepping down the tunnel. The walls around were of white stone, nicely solid and thus far preferable to the fibrous walls of the Hive above.

Those walls had had some kind of spirit-dampening effect, and his Soul Sense had struggled to penetrate. They had also absorbed the sonar pings annoyingly well, limiting its range.

Sonar went much further down here. As the pings bounced back from further and further away, he detected a few other Hornets. Simulations was already building a map.

They continued down for some distance. As they came closer to the signatures hed noteda large group clustered in some kind of prisonhe realised, as the scans grew more detailed, that these werent Hornets.

She led him past a long cell. It was formed from a large hollow dug into the stone, rows of bars blocking exit. The bars were made from something like the fibrous material of the Hive above, but running his hand over it he found it solid and smooth, like metal or glass. Within he saw slumped figures, lying on the floor or against the wall. Closer were a few who pressed against the bars, faces peering out. Human faces, desperate and miserable and despairing. These must be the prisoners Serrin had mentioned. Their eyes found him, and most of them just stared, uncomprehending.

But one of them jerked with life, staring at him.

Youre not one of them. Hey, hey. Hey! The man scrabbled into motion, clambering to his feet as he threw himself sideways along the bars. Nicolai strode on after Thryss, ignoring him. Hey man, you gotta help us. Help us, man! These fucking bugs man, they stuck us in here, theyre doing some shit in here, like experiments!

The cell came to an end and the man disappeared behind him. There were more cells, some large, some small. There was a division in them, with some holding Shenrans, others those from Earth. The exception to this was one cell full of children, from both human races. The majority of the humans were left loose, but in some cases they were restrained, chained to walls.

He also noted that the cells were lined with ritual markings, and some humans wore a collar that released strange pulses. Looking closer, he recognised all of these were Cultivators, none above Tier 1. He guessed the collars and rituals together were thus meant to constrain spirits and perhaps Symbiotes.

As those for with augments, there were none who had any obvious one. Instead there were people from Earth missing arms, legs, eyes. One man had no jaw, but given that he was still alive and he had a mess of long-healed scar tissue there, it was clear hed once had an artificial one. He noted that the Earthers were more often chained to walls, perhaps out of worry of more subtle augments.

Hornet guards patrolled the corridors, some pacing up and down, others standing silently between the cells. They watched him warily, but Thrysss presence kept them calm.

The Daughters Soul Sense was still watching him, and he knew she was observing his reaction to all these other human prisoners. Outwardly, he gave none. Internally, he was working out how he would fare in one of those cells. If hed been imprisoned, they would likely have removed his bionic arm and eye. They may also have ripped out his Spine Jack, which was visible as a small metal disk on the back of his neck. With that he wouldnt have had his method of getting around Hornet venom. Presumably they would have stolen his Symbiotes, too. Hed heard Xyrrith mention a process to do so.

So, the vast majority of his tools removed, but hed still have his body and his Soul. But theyd put one of those collars on him and he didnt know how strongly it suppressed Soul. Probably to quite a degree. Then there was the fact that he saw no one at Tier 2, so there was likely separate, individual cells for them, with a higher level of restraint.

Overall, not a good place to be in. At the moment he did not think he would do at all well if he ended up inside. A new subsidiary goal formed: work out everything he could about these prisons and how to escape them, just in case.

He felt the Mask stirring.

It was far from happy. It hated the Queen, which was entirely reasonable. But now it saw these prisoners and thought on what would happen to them, its hate for Hornet-kind as a whole was growing.

There are even children! it was saying. What are they doing with them all? Experiments? Torture? Eating them? We need to free them!

Taking such action would not be wise, spoke Threat Analysis. With the Queens poison around Nicolais heart, we have to be very careful.

Even so, we have to do something. You promised you would, to Serrin, said the Mask. He felt its will firming into something almost physical. A need to save these humans. At the same time there was a dull horror, as it sensed his total lack of commitment to that particular of his promises to Serrin.

There are a lot of people on this planet currently in cages, he replied at length. In cages, or being killed, or being tortured. In fact, there are likely even morefar, far moreon Earth in much the same situation. Why is there any need for us to go out of our way to free these particular humans? Should I then make it my mission to free every human in the world? Because that is impossible. My efforts are more productively focused elsewhere.

Im not saying that! snapped the Mask. The difference is that you can see them. Not everyone can be saved, but if we can do something to save them, we should. The Queen values you, you can use that. Demand their freedom!

She values me as an especially useful tool, not as an ally or a partner. Such a request would be seen as weakness by her and the rest of them. The Queen needs no more leverage on me, but as to the rest of them If I care so much about these random human prisoners, they will think they can use them to manipulate me. Any Hornet who wants to control me will start presenting me with humans, and say, do what I want or Ill kill them.

The Mask let out a hiss of frustration. Fine, but there must be something you can do! If not now, then later! And what of Serrin?

A man in the cell he was passing by started begging him to look for his daughter. The voice faded as Nicolai moved past, leaving the man in darkness. The Mask was in a whirl of anguish as it thought on the mans plight. This, he could tell, was not something it was going to let go of.

Fine, he said at length. But Ill say the same to you as I would to him. If the situation allows, then in the futureshould I be in a position where Im able to free them without undue risk or excessively high costthen I will do what I can.

The Mask calmed, because it felt at him and knew he was speaking the truth.

The cells trailed off behind them and the tunnel widened ahead. A heavy circular doorway made from dark metal filled it. Thryss stopped and rippled at the door. Not words, more like the ripple commands the Highspawn had used to control its Artifact Ball.

The door let out a thump as some mechanism within it disengaged, then it hinged slowly open. The stink of blood filtered through his skinsuit.

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