In his tinnitus, he had failed to perceive the presence of the queen bee. There were traces of the previous impact on the queen bee, but it didn't seem to deter her as much. Her wings, though, seemed to have taken the worst hit. One of the wings had been taken by the jaws of the leader. The other bore traces of burns, they were holes that had formed in those wings, some of them smaller while some of them large enough that the queen bee was having difficulty remaining in the air.
Miguel just laid frozen in her presence. His eyes took in the severity of her presence. For an instant he could feel himself reflecting upon the myriad of her eyes. But she didn't seem to have much interest in him as she got hang of her broken wings and started flying toward to look for the creature.
Her buzzing left a trail of sound that Miguel didn't seem to have difficulty recognizing. "Vile .Kritters. Betrayers…"
A wind swept in Miguel's direction, strong enough for him to narrow his eyes as the bee was gone past him.
After a minute or so, he just laid on the ground, waiting for something to happen. Miguel sighed in relief, when he found that no one was coming for him. His eyes traced for the queen bee far away, her figure became tiny in that distance. He could also see a small silhouette of the leader, making its way toward her despite its haggardness.
His eyes looked again toward where the queen bee had been standing. It was truly a close call. As he thought about that, he saw an object shining with an immense light. Hidden from the vision, because of all the scattered bits. Miguel looked toward the other creatures. Finding none of them looking for him. He finally crawled his way toward the shining object.
A green ring laid on the ground. It was giving a greenish glow. For a moment Miguel was tempted to just grab and pocket the ring. But his previous experience with the mirror stopped him.
"What if, this object is just like the mirror. If it sends me somewhere else." Miguel couldn't accept that possibility and was afraid to take the ring in his hands. His hands searched for a suitable bit of material. He decided to take apart his already ripped t-shirt.
"Sigh, I need a new t-shirt when I return home." Miguel said as he ripped a small part of the still clinging fabric. He lifted the ring inside the fabric, covering it inside out and putting it inside his pocket.
Now that there wasn't anyone to block his path outside the flower field. He might get away from this place. Miguel crept forward, hiding himself in every possible way.
How he was going to get away from this place, avoiding the detection from all these creatures was something he needed to consider. But he can consider it, when he reaches the edge of the flower fields. For now, he needed to consider the healing of his body and make suitable actions.
He reached farther and farther. The battle lessened, as he moved. And thus the difficulty to crept up away from the creature felt easier than before. Miguel was just passing by another battle happening at a place, when he decided to stop because the person fighting felt familiar to him.
Two bees had surrounded the gray-eyed creature. Its half-torn face gave a terrifying sight to anyone present. But the creature was on the verge of defeat. Almost clinging to its death, Kha'zix still gave a terrifying glare to its enemy.
Miguel's heart skipped a bit looking at those eyes. One of the bees too was clinging to its life, the other bee wasn't any better. But even in those conditions, the bees had confidence to kill Kha'zix. Kha'zix wasn't backing out. It tried to swing, with whatever strength it could gather from one of its claws. The other of its hand clung dully from its shoulder. He kept the bees from approaching itself.
Its body was riddled with many wounds, one of the many wounds on its leg oozed with a terrifying green corrosion.
Miguel was filled with apprehension looking at the creature. It was true that it had saved his life, but there wasn't a guarantee that it wasn't going to kill him after it was free from here. After all, he and the creature had fought each other to death.
While Kha'zix was busy swatting away one of the bees, the other one came from behind to pierce its body with its sharp sting. Kha'zix stood stunned for a second. The pain paralyzed it.
Still it didn't leave the hold of the other bee that had come in its claw. Bringing its own maw against the bee's neck, Kha'zix gave a crunch of its half torn mouth. Miguel could see the torn side of its face welling with dark blood. But in such pain Kha'zix didn't leave the creature.
With a soundless grunt of its mouth, it ripped apart the side of the bee's neck. The bee's head separated from its body. The twitching of its wings stopped eventually as it slumped on the ground, lifelessly.
The other bee behind Kha'zix stood in a stupor after separating away from its sting. The instant it could take control of its body, thunder eventually cracked through its antenna, eventually passing through its body, zipping into Kha'zix.
Kha'zix buckled under the thunder, the greenish blood of the other bee, still clung from its jaws. In such a fragile moment, even the thunder from the bee was poisonous to its body. It waited for its death, but even then the stare didn't leave its eyes.
"I should have ignored him, when I had the chance." Miguel said, rushing toward Kha'zix. For a moment, he seemed to have considered Kha'zix a person, same as him.
"Oye," Miguel shouted at the creature. The voice was loud enough to attract other creatures, but he didn't care at that moment. The voice distracted the bee. Enough for the lightning on its antennas to stop for a moment.
Kha'zix body turned around, his hands behind his back. A corrosive burn spread through his claw. He took the sting still latched onto his chest, and hurled it deep within the bees eyes. The corrosion spread deep within the bee's face.
The body of the bee came down immediately onto the surface. Its face twitched under the corrosion from its own sting, until its eyes dimmed out. The twitching stopped and finally the bee was no more.
"Well, I didn't have to do anything." Miguel said as his body approached the creature. The gray-eyed creature looked into his eyes. The look on seeing someone familiar. Kha'zix seemed to be thanking him, but the glow from the creature's eyes seemed to dull at that instant.
'No' Miguel thought as he sat near the creature. Kha'zix was kneeling on the ground. Its movement had come to a stop. The corrosion must have reached deep inside the creature. Miguel felt helpless looking at the dying creature.
'Don't just go, after I helped you.' Miguel thought as he hastily tried to search for anything to heal the creature's body. But there wasn't anything except the bracelet he was wearing right now. The same metallic bracelet, that had somehow conjured that strange screen, which had healed him. If he could somehow get it out. Miguel tried it with all his might, but still the bracelet didn't seem to let go of him.
Miguel just stood helplessly, in front of the creature. His eyes showed no emotion, but what was this feeling inside his chest? He straight hugged the creature. It didn't move under the movement. The feeling inside his chest grew bigger with each instant. His voice cracked, as he murmured. "Farewell, my friend."
For a few minutes, he just kept hugging Kha'zix. But he needed to go away. It was at that moment, Miguel felt something move around him. The clinging creature came down from his head, straight traveling toward his pocket.
"What are you doing?" Miguel asked, but he knew somehow. It took out the ring.
"Will this help?" Miguel took the covered ring from the clinging creature's little body.
Separating a bit of its cover, Miguel brought the ring to the creature's clawy hands, and inserted the ring in it. But at that moment, the cloth separated from the ring's surface and his hands accidentally touched the ring.
The strange screen lit up with a notification.
[You have found a fallen artifact.]
[Sending the users to the fallen time.]
[Countdown 10 seconds.]
At the same moment, Miguel heard a scream filling the skies. The air rumbled around him, the strange ring seemed to glow at that moment.
[8…7…]
"You. Little. Thief." A lady voice boomed from a distance yet so close to him. Miguel looked to see the angry queen bee coming from far away. The distance between him and her seemed to close at an alarming rate. Another voice came along, a feral one. Miguel looked to see the leader, heading in his direction, on its all fours and with that terrifying speed, the leader's body seemed blurred in the distance.
[5…4…]
"Kharisto…my…guano…fangs…"