Naria's body throbbed with searing pain as she fell, tumbling from the kill box furnace, her charred skin cracking with every movement. The heat had drained her energy, and she barely registered the soft impact of locust eggs breaking beneath her, cushioning her descent. Her spirit sense flickered as she connected with the hive's telepathic network, releasing waves of her pain to disrupt the hive's concentration. Weak and fading, Naria clung to one hope—Faelan would find her.
Far below, Faelan gritted his teeth, battling through a horde of locusts. He had been holding his position, biding his time, waiting for a signal. The destruction around him was immense, tunnels sealed and egg chambers destroyed, but as he observed, he noticed several eggs cracking open. The sight was unsettling—newly hatched locusts already clawing and shrieking toward him, their high-pitched calls echoing through the hive. His eyes narrowed as he focused, gathering his energy.
With a surge, Faelan created a vortex of wind, pulling the newborn locusts toward him, tearing through the swarm as they disintegrated in the fierce gust. He fortified his stance, hands sparking with a newly learned elemental power. Electricity crackled in his grip as he drew on the charged air around him, holding his breath to gather every molecule of oxygen. With a final determined thought, he flung a bolt of lightning toward the chamber ceiling, creating a chain reaction that reverberated through the tunnels.
The explosion ripped through the core, breaking the resin seals of every tunnel it touched. Flames and shockwaves surged, blasting through chambers, tearing through resin walls, and igniting trails of oxygen-rich air. As Faelan took cover under a fallen locust's exoskeleton, he felt the devastating force shake through him, spreading through the upper levels. The hive above became a mass of confusion, eggs spilling and cracking, locusts smashing into walls, the hive's telepathic network fragmented by chaos.
Through the psychic shattering, he felt it—a piercing call of pain. Naria's voice reached him, frail and fading, calling out in agony.
'Oh NO. She got caught up in the blast. I should have waited a bit longer.' Faelan cursed himself. 'I used the explosion to escape my choke-hold and didn't consider if Naria got to safety.'
Faelan pushed himself up, finding his way through broken barriers, the remnants of the explosion clearing a path.
The chaos of the hive was his advantage now, and he sped through the corridors, his focus unwavering. Naria needed him.
Faelan flew cautiously through the disarrayed hive, arcs of electricity sparking over his body. He hadn't mastered the electricity element, but his desperation was feeding it, pushing it to surge over his skin in sharp bursts. Every arc felt like a response to his heightened emotions, each crackle reflecting his fear for Naria. "I led her here, and now she's dying," he thought bitterly. "She deserves so much more than this."
As he moved, he saw the carnage from the recent blast—locusts in pools of green blood, shattered eggs, broken wings dragging across the floor. The few that attempted an ambush met his wind-and-lightning attacks head-on. Each strike was filled with new power, his reflexes sharper and his movements faster with every pulse of energy coursing through him. He still didn't understand how the electricity element worked within him, but it felt like the element itself had responded to his desperation.
While moving through the tunnels, his senses were hyper-alert, every buzzing sound and shadow in the wrecked corridors caught his attention. Faelan cut down any locusts that approached, decapitating them with dual casting wind and lightning strikes, his resolve unwavering. It felt as though the electricity had become an extension of his will, a force bound to his determination to reach Naria. "Thank you," he thought, half to the gods of fate, half to this newfound power that had chosen this crucial moment to answer his call.
The hive trembled under the aftershocks of his initial explosion, and he pressed on, knowing each second could make the difference between life and death. He clung to the faint feeling of Naria's presence, moving forward with single-minded purpose, a storm within the storm, ready to fight his way to her no matter the cost.
Faelan sensed the shift in pressure and slipped into the shadows of a vast chamber glowing with an eerie, luminous green. Here, the telepathic force was overwhelming—this had to be the queen's chamber. He gritted his teeth, hoping desperately that Naria was somewhere within.
Moving stealthily, he scanned the carnage, and a chill ran down his spine at the sight of the sentinels: massive locusts with flaming wings, their red-streaked exoskeletons reflecting the green glow. There were at least two dozen of them, each searching the chamber with a deadly vigilance.
Then, at the far side, he saw it. The queen was sprawled on her side, her colossal body the size of a three-story building. Locusts of various sizes swarmed around her, painstakingly removing debris from her body and arranging fresh moss near her.
As Faelan's gaze focused, the queen's strange, unsettling features became clear. Though her abdomen was like any other locust's—albeit massive—her thorax was grotesquely enlarged, giving her a hulking, building-like appearance. And her face… it was eerily human.
She had a nearly humanoid visage with compound eyes that merged to form two large, expressive orbs, perfectly positioned to mimic human features. Her face was capped by a crown-like exoskeleton, and her mouth, with locust-like side-jointed jaws, revealed a row of powerful, serrated teeth.
Faelan steadied himself, knowing he had to find Naria amid this nightmare before making his next move.
When Faelan saw Naria's broken form before the queen, his heart nearly stopped. All strength drained from him as he took in her injuries: her clothing shredded, her body a horrific patchwork of blue, red, and charred black burns covering nearly every inch of her. She lay sprawled on the moss, lifeless and swollen, her injuries so severe that he couldn't tell if she was still breathing. Guilt and despair hit him with crushing force.
*"This is my fault," he whispered, fighting to keep his thoughts clear, but the grief cracked through. "I acted too quickly, she didn't get away. If she dies here... I will reduce this mountain to dust."
As his grief turned to rage, electricity flared across his body, surging outward in angry arcs. The charged energy cast a stark, white light around him, revealing his presence and setting off the entire hive.
In a synchronized motion, the sentinel locusts spun around and, spotting him, emitted a bloodthirsty roar that echoed through the chamber, their flaming wings casting eerie trails of fire as they rushed toward him.
But before he could fully brace himself for the onslaught, an earth-shaking roar filled the chamber.
"You did this. You killed my children. Now die."
The queen's voice echoed, vibrating the walls as her fury took physical form. Faelan's hands clenched, his powers charged to their peak.
"All in it is," he whispered, ready to face the wrath of the locust queen for the last stand.
As the sentinel locusts spotted Faelan, they unleashed beams of flames from all directions. Others skittered along the walls, positioning themselves to flank him. Swarming in, they came at him relentlessly, but arcs of lightning sparked around Faelan, automatically striking anything in range and frying the approaching locusts on impact. his volatile emotional state fed the intensity of his electricity element, creating a storm of lightning arcs around him. These arcs connected with anything conductive, frying locusts on impact, yet he could feel the energy sapping his strength. The electricity seemed alive, responding to his inner turmoil, making his movements instinctive and erratic.The electric energy coursed through him, straining his body as it fed off the distress within his mind, amplifying his emotions and heightening his reflexes. He found himself dodging, reacting, and countering at speeds he didn't know he was capable of.
Summoning a sword of wind, Faelan noticed with a flash of disappointment that the electricity did not carry over to his weapon, leaving his electric arcs as his sole defense. He flew through the chamber, like a whirlwind of wind and lightning, slicing through locusts with precision. Yet just as he seemed to gain control, massive roots shot out from the walls, whipping toward him with terrifying force.
'How many elements can this b*tch control?', Faelan thought in frustration.
The roots ignored his electric barrier entirely. One swatting him like a fly with devastating force, knocking him out of the air and into the chamber wall with an impact that left a crater. Dazed, he looked up, catching sight of the queen, who watched with gleeful malice.The queen's laughter echoed, shrill and sharp, as she sneered, "Bow down, you worm."
The impact reverberated through Faelan's skull, leaving his ears ringing as he spat out a mouthful of blood. His ribs had been fractured while his knees threatened to buckle from the pain, but then a voice echoed in his mind.
"Hold on a bit longer. I think I can take over the hive mind," Naria's voice whispered into his mind.
A wicked grin spread across Faelan's face as he steadied himself and glared at the queen. 'Naria's alive... We still have a chance.' The locust queen was flustered by the man's expression.
"Is that all you've got?" he taunted, gathering his resolve. From his chest, he unleashed a crackling bolt of lightning that arced from locust to locust, carving through the swarm as it surged toward the queen. Sparks flew and arcs of energy scorched the air, knocking dozens of locusts out of the sky. But despite his effort, none of the massive sentinel locusts fell.
The sentinels adjusted, their buzzing intensifying as they regrouped and refocused on Faelan. He could sense their killing intent, a determination that sent chills down his spine. They moved with intelligence, an unbreakable bond to their queen. The smaller locusts were baiting him while the sentinels prepared the finishing blow.
"Naria, say less. I can dance here all night", Faelan messaged back. He had been beaten and bruised but acting tough was his speciality.