Path of the Hive Queen

“Regina,” Max called from the edge of the forest, “do we need more wood?”

Regina turned to watch him stagger under a big pile of sticks and broken off branches. Having four arms came in handy, even if two of his lacked proper grasping implements like hands.

“I think that’s enough,” she replied as she approached him, glancing over what they’d gathered so far.

Max had settled in pretty well and the two of them had even started to develop something of a routine in the day or so since he’d woken up. She’d finally gotten some proper sleep while he was staying on watch, then switched with him to watch for monsters or other dangers while he slept. They’d even caught another rabbit, which provided them a good breakfast.

“I’m not quite sure what we’re supposed to do with all this,” Max admitted, stretching his upper arms and cracking his neck after he’d set down his batch.

“Neither am I,” she replied. “But we need some sort of shelter. It hasn’t rained yet, but that’s only a matter of time.”

Regina looked up at the sky with a frown. Clouds were gathering in the north. It might even rain later today.

“We should build it in the forest, so we have the shelter of the trees,” he suggested. “Maybe up against one of them?”

“That’s what I was thinking, yes. A shame we didn’t find any other caves, that would have spared us a lot of work.” She sighed. “Well, let’s get started.”

As it turned out, building a crude shelter wasn’t all that difficult. They used the bigger and more robust logs of wood to form the basic structure, then added smaller sticks and a few large leaves they’d found. Regina used copious amounts of vines to tie it all together. She had some vague impressions of a building technique that used mud, maybe straw, and interwoven sticks to make walls, though that wasn’t very useful yet. She knew her limits, and started with a shelter that looked like a small half cylinder built against a thick tree trunk. It should be just enough to fit the two of them. It didn’t need to have a lot of space, just offer them some shelter from the elements.

It wasn’t like they had any delicate possessions to protect.

“Once this is done, we should get started with building a proper building,” she grumbled. “Or at least something close to it. Even just a hut. I guess that might go better if we wait until we have some Workers, though.”

Max glanced up. “That means you intend to continue leveling, my queen?”

“Of course. There are hopefully enough small monsters around to push both of us up a few levels.” Regina shook her head. “We should probably focus on that once we’re done here.”

The other egg was still in development, and Regina couldn’t help but be a little resentful of her System limits in making drones. She might not have the ability to take care of many of them, but it was still her body and her hive!

They built their shelter near the treeline, so they still kept as close to the fireplace and the egg as possible. Later, Regina could ask Max to cut down some more tree branches for some more protection against wind and rain.

Once they were finished, she stepped back to take in their work. It wouldn’t win any beauty contests, but it should be functional enough.

Max cleared his throat. “I’d like to go to the river, and maybe gather some more food on the way back. Can I go?”

“Of course.” She gave him a distracted smile, then returned to her fire to make a new torch they could use.

After she was done with that, she gathered new firewood, then checked on the egg again. It was growing quickly, at about the rate Max had, as far as she could tell. Already, it looked bigger than any bird egg she’d expect to see. Although in a world that might very well have giant monster birds, maybe that didn’t mean much.

Max was still out, so Regina made a slow circuit of the immediate environment around their camp, setting up a few new traps on the other side of the hill. She paused when she came to the cave system where she’d entered the world, checking the entrance. It was still sealed, and the door still didn’t react to her efforts to get in at all. She shook out her hands and moved on.

When Max still didn’t return, Regina grew a bit worried. She considered going after him, but she didn’t know exactly which path he’d taken. Besides, he might have just wanted some time alone. They’d been together almost non-stop since he was born, and with the apparent urge to be loyal that he felt, he might need some space.

Still, after she waited for maybe fifteen minutes without a peep, Regina sighed and closed her eyes. She just wanted to check on him quickly. So she focused on that sense of him that she’d gotten before, and tried to see if she could feel anything.

Almost immediately, she realized that she needn’t have worried. Their minds were obviously still linked, and this little distance between them wouldn’t even begin to hurt the connection. She could pinpoint Max’s location pretty well, or at least his bearing and distance from her. Dropping quickly into his mind to get more info, she realized that he was heading back to the camp, carrying a small animal.

Regina withdrew and instead turned her attention to one of her projects. She’d started trying to carve something from a log of wood, though it was slow-going. Stones really weren’t good enough for that kind of work, and her claws weren’t well suited to it, either.

A few minutes later, she sensed Max approaching and put it away. He walked closer with a grin on his face, holding up his catch to show it to her. “Mother, I leveled up!”

Regina cocked her head. “You did? Is that a monster?” She tried focusing on it, but the System didn’t give her anything.

“The System told me it was a ‘Spiky Squirrel’.” Max lowered it to the ground. “I guess it stops after a monster is dead. Maybe because it’s not really a monster anymore?”

Regina shook her head. “There may be an ‘Identify’ or ‘Analyze’ skill we could get. Anyway, what happened?”

Max scratched his nose. “Ah, I stumbled on it on my way back from the river. It was a pretty aggressive little thing. It hit me with a few spikes, but my armor turned away most of them, and I got it with my blade-arm.”

She could see that. It was a bit of a bloody mess. “I’m not sure I like you going off and fighting a monster on your own,” she stated.

He bowed his head, but she could still see his crestfallen expression. “I’m sorry, my queen. It won’t happen again.”

Regina pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head. “Never mind. At least you’re Level 2 now, that’s a good thing. We can eat that for dinner later. What did leveling up do for you?”

Max brightened up again. “My Con increased! I guess the System automatically allocated a stat point. It also lets me choose an Ability. Give me a second.”

Regina looked over his new status sheet.

“That’s good,” she said. “You could use some more End, but Con’s not bad, either. Although Warrior is probably a Strength-heavy build with a minor focus of Con. I guess we’ll see. So what abilities did it offer you?”

Max appeared to stare into space as he presumably accessed another System window. “Only a few. They’re called Class Skills here. I could get ‘Warrior’s Charge’, ‘Strength for the Hive’ or ‘Last Bastion’.” He frowned as his eyes darted side to side. “It seems like Charge is a movement ability that gives me a short-term boost to my stats, and the Strength thing is a direct increase to Str that varies based on other hive drones in your group and might give bonus effects. Bastion only works if I’m the only fighter of the Hive in the vicinity, it boosts my Con and basically makes me immune to fatigue or effects that would impede my mind or my movements.”

That sounded interesting. “Do the descriptions give any more details?”

“No, I’m sorry. They’re pretty vague.” Max looked at her. “Which should I take?”

“It’s your decision. I’m not going to force you to take a Skill you don’t want.”

Max frowned. “Really? I want to be as useful as I can for you and the hive, and I’m not sure I know what’s best.”

“Still. It’s generally better if we don’t rely on me to make these decisions or micromanage everything. Besides, making people get specific skills and forcing them down a path that doesn’t suit them won’t work out well in the long run. But if you want my opinion, I can still give you tips.” Regina frowned thoughtfully. “They all sound pretty nice, especially if this is a basic skill. We don’t have many drones in the hive right now, obviously, so that one’s probably not a good choice. The charge sounds good, but with our current situation, that Last Bastion could be a real lifeline. Even later, there will probably still be situations where it’s applicable. It will probably be more situational, long-term, but we have to survive to get there first.”

Max nodded seriously. “Thank you, my queen. Then I’ll choose Last Bastion.”

“Good. I wonder if the choice of skills is influenced by our situation, or if everyone gets those starting options?”

Max stretched. He didn’t look any different. “I don’t know. I don’t think we have any way to find out.”

“Of course.” Regina turned to throw a new log into the fire. They didn’t really need it during the day, but she preferred to keep it burning.

Their situation was getting better. Weirdly, that just made her nervous. They still hadn’t seen much of this world they lived in. She barely had any idea what she wanted to do, and without more information on what was even possible, making detailed plans would be an exercise in futility, anyway. There had to be a way to find out what happened to her, but how?

Max stepped away to take care of his kill while Regina sat on a pile of leaves, staring into the fire and thinking. Somewhere along the way, establishing a real hive had gone from a possibility for the future to a goal. It was probably her Hive Queen instincts at work.

And it wasn’t like the human part of her could disagree. A bigger hive meant more power. Alone in a strange land with only the companions and tools she could make herself, who wouldn’t use the advantages they had and try to grow their power? Not to mention that having some semblance of civilization would be nice. She’d kill for proper toilets and a soft bed, not to mention things like electricity.

“Regina?” Max approached hesitantly, interrupting her musings. “Is there anything else I can do?”

“No. I think we’re finished with everything I’d planned for today.” She glanced up at the sky, assessing the cloud cover. It seemed like they might yet get lucky and avoid rain.

Max nodded, then started pacing slowly behind the fire. After a few minutes, he stopped again. “You’re sure, my queen? There’s nothing I can do for you?”

Regina was about to tell him to just relax, then hesitated. “Well, actually, you might help me with my wings, or whatever those are. I can’t reach back there myself, and there’s no good way to get that area clean.”

“Of course!” Max jumped to get their water, in the waterskin they’d finally made, and a few soft leaves.

Regina smiled slightly. She supposed they could always refill the water later. Then she stood up and tried to stretch out what passed for her middle limbs.

Max was very careful. It was obvious he wasn’t really built for it and had little idea what to do, but Regina still appreciated it. He quickly removed some of the dried gunk, and she finally felt the breeze on something she hadn’t been very aware of previously.

After a while, she twisted her head as much as she could and flexed muscles she hadn’t really used before. This time, her body responded much better, and Regina actually saw what she was dealing with.

It looked like she did have wings, which were usually folded tightly against her body under a kind of protective covering that extended from the limbs anchoring them. The wings didn’t have feathers and didn’t quite look like insect wings. Fully unfolded, they would be a lot bigger than the more rigid parts suggested.

Regina shivered slightly and let out an involuntary sigh as she moved her wings. “Well,” she said after a moment, “I don’t think I can fly with these, at least not yet.”

She tried beating them a little, and although she felt the force of it, it was clear that wouldn’t be nearly enough to lift her. She couldn’t even do a full movement of the wings.

“You look really cool!” Max commented.

She smiled at him. “Thank you, Max.” Then she carefully folded them back against her body. He had to help her get everything into the correct position.

Regina sat down again, running a finger along her side. “I guess they’re still growing in. I can’t wait.”

She could already tell they would probably be a headache, but if she could someday actually fly on her own power, that would be worth it.