Published at 3rd of March 2026 7:13 am

Chapter 340: Make or Break

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Nicolai and Serrin moved, Cloaked, through the Hive in search of the Queen. They were able to talk by directing ripples through the Cloaking and at one another.

‘Wait,’ Nicolai said, as they came to the end of a corridor and looked out upon the mass of Hornets beyond, here in the centre of the Hive, and the Queen amidst them.

‘What is it?’ Serrin asked.

‘Even here… she is unaware of you.’

‘Yes, obviously. I told you, I know how to hide from her.’

Nicolai nodded. ‘Good.’ He didn’t say that he hadn’t entirely trusted Serrin’s assurance, back then. But this proved it. He’d seen her desperation to find Serrin. Initially he’d thought Serrin might be dead, or still in that strange place, but based on what he’d witnessed here…

Serrin’s methods were good. He could relax a little regarding the Symbiotes he’d been given and the Quiet Knife.

The pair of them deactivated Cloaks and flew out. The Queen was in a large patch of open space and they landed within it. The Hands gathered there immediately turned toward them, emanating hostility, but stilled when the Queen sprang forward.

‘There you are!’ she cried, seizing Serrin and looking him over. ‘Who did this?!’

‘It was them, mother,’ replied Serrin, weary. ‘The Highspawn. They were chasing me. I don’t know what they wanted.’

‘I do,’ she echoed, a furious murmur. She turned and made a sharp gesture to Thryss who stood some distance away. The Daughter began coordinating things, though it looked to Nicolai like the search wasn’t ending. Merely shifting in targets to focus on the Highspawn.

The Queen strode towards a nearby tunnel, and he and Serrin followed. There she turned on them, came closer.

‘You have a place?’ she asked him. ‘Some… home. A safe place!’

He gave a measured nod. ‘I do.’

‘You will take Serrin there with you.’ She turned to Serrin. ‘They want to kill you, I am sure of it. They must have fled the Hive, but they may have left some agents. If you stay here you will be at risk, and in time more Highspawn will certainly arrive.’ She paused, thoughtful. ‘I will give you both supplies to reach Tier 2.’

Serrin, for some impossible reason, made an angry little grunt of refusal.

She whirled on him. ‘Do you still not see?!’ she hissed. ‘I only want the best for you, Serrin! You must stop this madness, you must… obey me!’ Her hands clenched as though desiring to seize him, perhaps strike him. But when she raised them her hands cupped his face gently. Nicolai could practically feel the effort of will the act had taken. ‘I only wish to make you stronger,’ she whispered, in a reasonable imitation of a doting mother.

From the side, Nicolai was staring meaningfully at Serrin. He wasn’t sure how effective this was, with the helmet, but Serrin did glance at him and seemed to understand.

‘Of course… mother…’ the Hornet grated out.

Vexira stared at him, unable to hide her surprise. ‘Good!’ She cried, mandibles wide with delight, and spun back to Nicolai. ‘You will keep him safe. Return when the poison compels you. When I next see you, I expect you to be Tier 2. My goals cannot be achieved by a mere Tier 1.’

‘It will be as you wish.’

In fact, it wouldn’t. He wanted to go to the City before reaching Tier 2, so as to buy all the augments he could afford. Then he’d push to Tier 2, as he was sure that changing limbs would cause issues with his Nodes. Considering her current investment in him, he knew she wouldn’t toss him away just because of a minor delay.

‘Good. Thryss will see to your supplies,’ said Vexira. Thryss had come to loiter beside the Queen by then, and she made a small noise of protestation. ‘What?’ The Queen’s tone was warning.

‘There is only enough Shardache for one to attain Tier 2.’

‘What?’ snapped the Queen. ‘How has this happened?’

‘You wanted ten more Hands, and more Artifacts. We now have both, but the resource use was large.’ Thryss spread her hands helplessly.

‘We need a fresh supply,’ muttered the Queen. She looked to him. ‘Do you have any?’

‘I do have a small amount. With what you’ve given, there may be just enough for me and Serrin to reach Tier 2.’

‘I hope so. After all your bragging, I expect results. The next time we meet, you and him had better be Tier 2.’

Nicolai nodded. He had a little silver Shardache, but no gold. Not enough for him and Serrin to both attain Tier 2 even with what she’d given. But he knew a large source of both. The Queen left.

Thryss led them to a room, told them to wait while she went to retrieve the supplies. Serrin wanted to speak, and was quite insistent.

‘It’s important!’ he hissed. ‘About Thryss, and Sythera!’

Nicolai eased closer to him, until their Soul Senses were touching. ‘Go on.’ Like this they didn’t even need to use ripples, but were able to almost communicate thought-to-thought. That was how it felt, anyway.

‘I saw her. Sythera. In her rooms. She was talking about working with Thryss to eliminate you!’

Nicolai’s eyes narrowed. ‘What does she plan?’

‘Well, just that. She said she was going to reach out to Thryss. That in spite of their rivalry, she was sure her sister would see the sense in allying to deal with you. That you’re… slippery.’

Nicolai nodded slowly, thoughtful. So, she hadn’t been working with Thryss when he talked with her, but was planning on reaching out. Most likely hadn’t yet done so, since it seemed shortly after Serrin had stolen the bowl the Hive had been thrown into the current frenzy.

That in mind, he needed to have a word with Thryss. A chance to ensure she viewed Sythera’s offer in the proper light. This was his chance.

Thryss appeared not long later, with two bags which she proffered to each of them. As she did so, he emanated a certain meaningfulness at her.

‘We need to talk.’

She paused, surprised, but nodded. ‘I suppose we do. Over here.’

She led him towards a far side of the room. Serrin moved to follow but he waved the Hornet off. ‘Give us some space.’

Serrin fell back to lean against a wall, arms crossed, and watched them unhappily.

Nicolai pulled free the broken bowl. ‘For you,’ he told her promptly.

Thryss reached eagerly, only for her hand to freeze. ‘It’s broken.’

‘Ah. Yes. Unfortunately she had some quite powerful protections around it. Without her key, it was impossible to take it without breaking it. I decided you would rather she not have it, than that it remain whole.’

Thryss released a ripple like a sigh. ‘I see. Get rid of it. I have no use for a broken bowl. Is that all?’

‘There is more. While seizing it, I learned that Sythera is plotting something more. You see, she doesn’t just want to eliminate you, but also me. She intends to make an offer to you, to say you will put aside your differences for a time to work together in order to remove me. From what I heard… she is hoping to play us one against the other, see us both weakened, then strike and remove us both at once.’

Thryss scoffed, and he felt her anger. ‘Of course she is… that sounds just like her.’

He shrugged. ‘You would know.’

 

###

 

It was night again, and a cold one. Nicolai and Serrin coasted over the trees. Now without the Queen’s Flying Art, he found he was able to reach a maximum speed of about 50 miles per hour, using the Hornet Wing Symbiotes. If he pushed them, he could get up to 60, but that put the Symbiotes under strain and couldn’t be kept up for long.

This was the second night since the day of the Phantom City’s opening. He had roughly six days until the next, when he would need to return to the Queen.

‘So. The bowl was for Thryss.’

Nicolai glanced at his companion. They’d flown for an hour and this was the first Serrin had spoken. ‘You saw that.’

‘I saw.’

‘And…’

‘Why?’

‘We need allies.’

‘No, I guessed that. I meant, why break it? Why not just… say it was broken, and you’d already gotten rid of it. You could’ve held onto it, used it.’

Not the question he’d expected. ‘If I hadn’t shown it, I would’ve made her suspicious. She’d have expected me of stealing it for myself. That would lead her to start thinking on whether I actually believe it’s in my interests for her to be stronger.’

‘Which I’m guessing you don’t.’

‘It’s good to have friends. But friends like her don’t last any longer than their need for you. If she’s strong enough to deal with her problems on her own, that’ll be the end of that.’

Serrin lapsed into silence. An unhappy, thoughtful kind of silence.

‘Go on,’ he prompted.

‘What?’

‘What you want to ask. Go on.’

Serrin scoffed. ‘Fine. What about friends like you and me?’

‘I thought we were past all that. I told you, I’ll stick with you, if you stick with me.’

‘That was before I saw how well you fit amongst them,’ Serrin muttered. ‘You could be playing me as easily as you’re playing Thryss.’ Now he was glaring.

There was a rage brewing in the Hornet. For whatever reason, he seemed to feel Nicolai had betrayed him in some way or another. Nicolai could see it in the depths of his eyes.

He paused as though taken aback and unsure what to say. It was an easy act because he was unsure what to say. This was a situation where he had to step carefully and he needed time to work out the best course of action.

Serrin truly had believed that, by dint of being human, he should be some saintly being. The Hornet’s unhappiness was coming about because the more he actually witnessed Nicolai in action, the more he realised that was not the case.

If he didn’t act properly, the Hornet might actually turn on him—even though doing so would be so obviously a mistake that would only cement his fate as a slave to the Queen.

That was the problem with good people. You never quite knew where their principles might lead them.

He conferred with Psychology and the Mask. The Mask gave him only one thing: a simple, pure drive to befriend Serrin and be good to him. Psychology gave him its detailed analysis of the Hornet’s profile and all kinds of conversational strategies. He fit all that over his own—admittedly, slightly off-kilter—methods and views.

A strategy emerged.

Wordless, Nicolai descended toward the ground. After a moment Serrin followed.

Landing, they faced one another. There was a tension in the air. Serrin stood like he thought he might have to fight, fists clenched tight around the shaft of his spear.

‘Are you working for my mother?’

Nicolai tilted his head. ‘I am your mother’s slave. Outwardly, everything I do must reflect that.’

Serrin scoffed. ‘And yet you seem so well suited to the Hive. Even your armour makes you look like one of them.’ The “them” was spat with a weight of loathing. That fury was growing. ‘I have fought her and refused her at every turn—for years! But now, as soon as you appear… all of a sudden I’m giving in to her demands. And you say to me that there is no choice, that I must be a monster when I am amongst monsters. But now, as I see you amongst them… it seems more and more that you say that because you are a monster. A monster who is using me for its own purposes!’

So that’s what it is. Nicolai raised a hand, reaching up towards his chest. For a moment he hovered over the grip of his Knife, hidden under the zip. Serrin tensed, black eyes full of fury and determination.

Then there came a quiet hiss of gas from Nicolai’s helmet. He twisted it and lifted it away. A rare event, standing here in the jungle unhelmeted, head and face bared. He attached the helmet to a hook on his belt, looking up at the moon, unfiltered by his helmet’s visor. Breathed deep of the cool night air.

Serrin stared at him, Soul now emanating a confused welter of emotion. The sight of his human face was surprisingly disarming for this particular Hornet.

In the coming moments Serrin would either become his worst enemy, or his greatest ally.

Nicolai took slow steps toward him, and began to speak.

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