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SilasCrane t1_j582ewo wrote

I:

We are the spark of life, riding on the winds. There is no hive without us, and there is no green upon the Earth without the hive.

Each day we soar away from the hive that birthed us, the hive fated to abandon us, and we gather where the world has called us. As we dive and circle, our keen eyes watching for She-Who-Must-Be-Kindled, each of us wonders: is this the day I die, my spark consumed to kindle the lives of those who will come after?

Each day we pray to the One Who Watches Over: let me die in glory, today. Let it be me, whose spark kindles the souls of those who come after. Let me not fly in vain, to be cast out into the cold at the end of my days.

Most of our prayers will not be heard.

Most of us will die hungry, shivering in the dark, and the spark we bore will fade away. But such is the way of the Earth, and the will of the One Who Watches Over. We accept our fate. And for as long as we can, we fly.

II:

We saw them from afar, as we flew to where we were called, for our eyes are far sharper than our sisters' -- sharper even than She-Who-Must-Be-Kindled. The Destroyers had come for the hive, the place of our birth, our home before our final exile. The sisters would rise against them, but they would be no match for the devouring invaders. And there was nothing we could do, for our stings cannot kill -- they can only kindle new life.

Wisdom said we should answer the call of the Earth, as we always had, and gather where it bid us. Perhaps a She-Who-Must-Be-Kindled from another hive would come, seeking the spark of life, and a few of us would still have a chance for glory. True, the hive may have birthed us, but it would also cast us out when we were no longer needed. We owed it no fealty.

And yet...

How many like us had died in glory, so that the hive could live? How many had been born, and had soared, and been cast out, so that the cycle of life could continue, and the world itself could live?

As one, we turned aside, brothers united in purpose. We ignored the call of the Earth, the call to glory, and flew beyond.

We would seek the One Who Watches Over, who alone had the power to destroy The Destroyers. For the hive of our birth, for those who would soon cast us out, we would abandon our heart's desire, and tempt the wrath of our god.

III:

Jacob looked up from his newspaper with a frown, as he heard the sound of buzzing nearby. A small swarm circled nearby, forming a roughly round mass that elongated into an ellipse as it streaked through the air. As it drew close, it began darting back and forth, and side to side. He folded his paper, setting it on the table on the porch, and squinted at the odd little congregation.

No, not a swarm. It was a drone comet. That was the common name for one of those mysterious gatherings of male bees that waited for a virgin queen from another hive to approach on a mating flight. Why they gathered together in certain places was still being studied -- everything from wind-borne pheromones to magnetic fields had been theorized to explain it -- but he'd never seen a group of drones behaving this strangely.

Especially, he noted, without a queen bee anywhere in sight.

The comet suddenly streaked towards him, then became a ball again, swirling inches from his face. He was startled, but not scared -- drones can't sting you, after all.

"Huh. Now what the hell's gotten into you little fellers?" he muttered, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

Almost as if in response, the drone comet streaked away, towards the field where Jacob kept his beehives. Curious, he donned his beekeeper's hood, and began following the strange little cluster of bees, to see where they would lead him.

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SilasCrane t1_j5bhpsg wrote

IV:

We flew before the face of One-Who-Watches-Over, god of all hives, and in our flight we found transcendence. To die bringing new life, or die in exile, had always been our only fates. This was something new.

Our god followed in our wake, with great implacable strides. We had dared to draw his gaze, and now there was no escaping it. Perhaps that meant our destruction, but who could fear death less than we?

But if we had aroused his wrath by disturbing his rest, he forgot our transgression when he saw them. The Destroyers. One-Who-Watches-Over roared in outrage, as he saw them crawling upon the great white expanse of the hive.

Who can comprehend the power of a god? He moved like the wind, impossibly fast for something so immense. We retreated as we recognized the Vessel of the Clouds that he bore with him, that flashed as he brought it to life, and then spewed forth a smothering fog that made all strength flee from those that it touched.

But we had never before seen the Gleaming Bird that suddenly appeared at the end of his massive forelimb, its beak snapping hungrily as it sang through the air.

How beautiful and terrible is the wrath of our god.

V:

Jacob knew how to deal with hornets; anyone who plans on keeping bees has to know a thing or two about that. If you see a hornet's nest, well, you burn those sons of bitches, no buts about it -- an ounce of prevention, and all.

But if hornets got in while were you weren't looking, and were already inside the hive, well, there wasn't supposed to be a whole hell of a lot you could do about it except pick up the pieces afterwards. And that didn't sit right with Jacob. Before he'd retired, he'd been a rancher all his life. If wolves or coyotes got after your stock, you didn't just throw up your hands and hope you had better luck next time.

When the drone comet led him back to one of the beehives and he saw the hornets, he already had an idea of what he'd do, one he'd been chewing on for a while. Swearing and cursing up a storm, Jacob sparked up his hive smoker, and then reached into his pocket and pulled out his gardening shears.

The smoke dazed and slowed bees and hornets alike, but there was no mistaking the one for the other. Those damn "murder hornets" were big. And Jacob, well, he'd been scrappy in his day, and he still had pretty fast hands. Snip! Snip! Snip!

Jacob laid into the hornets buzzing around the hive, shears flashing in the sun. Then he pulled out the frames, nudging the bees aside gently, and snipped the hornets he found inside. For near half an hour he worked, swearing and snarling and stabbing and snipping, until every last one of the damn things, probably forty or fifty in all, was dead cut in half on the screen at the bottom of the hive.

In the end, it could have been worse -- a lot of bees were dead, but there were plenty more. The Queen was dead, too, but most of the brood cells were intact, so the workers could hatch a new one. He mopped his brow through the mesh of his mask, heaving a sigh of relief. Nearby, he saw the strange drone comet, hovering and circling. Glancing at the hive, he realized he didn't see any drones among the workers.

"I'll be damned," Jacob mumbled, eyeing the congregation of males bees, curiously. "You boys led me right back to your own hive, didn't ya? Shit! Good work." Out of the corner of his eye, Jacob saw a large insect buzz past. He turned and raised his shears again, but lowered them as he recognized the familiar shape and pattern of a virgin queen in flight. He smirked, and gestured in her direction, whimsically addressing the bees. "Well, you best get on -- ya'll still got some work to do."

VI:

Has any spark-bearer beheld such terrifying wonders as those that we saw that day, as the anger of One-Who-Watches-Over consumed the Destroyers, and rescued the hive from oblivion? When he finished with them, he turned to us, and we imagined for a moment that our turn had come, that his Gleaming Bird would slay us for our insolence.

But it did not. His roar to us was soft, and gentle as a breeze, carrying no reproach, and his ancient eyes were full of wisdom and understanding. We realized, in that moment, that we had achieved something none like us ever had: this day, all of us had attained glory. Whatever happened to us now, none of our number would have flown in vain, for each one could lay claim to continuing the life of the hive. Brothers all, we were sires to whatever future lay ahead for the hive, and fathers to all that was green upon the Earth.

But more glorious even than that knowledge, was that for a single perfect moment, we hung suspended in time before the face of god, knowing that he saw us, and was pleased.

Then One-Who-Watches-Over extended a vast forelimb, and as we followed his ponderous motion, a She-Who-Must-Be-Kindled appeared, as though summoned by his command.

And we rejoiced as we dove to join her, for even with all we had accomplished, there was yet even more glory to be attained.

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JonesNate t1_j583pi2 wrote

Really good! I'm curious whether it's a swarm of hornets attacking the hive, or something else.

And I wonder what the beekeeper could do in this situation. Smoke out the attacking hornets?

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Preston_of_Astora t1_j584z0r wrote

I would imagine a Japanese Murder Hornet in human context be a giant samurai with an oni mask, just towering over an army of women-at-arms

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chullz t1_j58jap9 wrote

This was a great read. Maybe not so great to read at almost 5am since now all I want is a conclusion! 🥲

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Kaos_Gamer_Girl t1_j5a2sqz wrote

I would love to see more. Id love to see them fighting the invaders and being saved

3

Hminney t1_j5bbjgz wrote

The follow on will be brilliant! (won't it?)

3