Queen Bee had to work to keep the contents of her stomach from spilling out. Although she was used to filtering through hundreds of other people's emotions on a daily basis, that had taken time to get used to.
Seeing two different perspectives was a completely new sensation.
Lost was projecting his perception onto Bee's senses, causing her own to fight for control. The result was disastrous.
And nauseating.
No matter where she looked, her own face and movement were overlayed onto her vision. The spot where she had struck the man hurt on her body. Her ears were awash with the sounds of the crowd offset enough to make her head swim like she was underwater.
In a word, Bee was drowning.
She struggled to focus. 'Get control!'
Leaning into her years of training, Queen Bee reacted to the world around her instinctively. Her senses were lying to her, but Lost had no control over Bee's intuition.
Raising her [Unlikely End], she blocked a slash from the khopesh as it aimed for her head. The motion had not been a moment too soon.
Reacting quickly, the Queen activated her estoc's enchantment. She swung down, hoping to kill, or at least wound, her insidious opponent.
Unfortunately, she missed. Through her distorted vision, she saw Lost move his head away from her swing. The point of his sickle-shaped sword slipped past her guard and hit her chest.
The force of the hit knocked her backward.
'Ugh!'
But Lost was not done. She could already sense him coming toward her. He was brimming with excitement from his coming kill.
And why shouldn't he be? The only other person to kill the Queen had been Mongrel. He would be part of an elite group.
He was not alone in that desire, though. From the water, Bee could sense another set of emotions coming her way. Goldie had climbed out of the sea and was after more than just glory.
She wanted revenge.
'Just perfect.'
Actually, it wasn't as bad as Bee initially thought. In their hunger to be the one to claim victory, the pair abandoned the teamwork that would have probably ensured their victory.
Instead, they each struck at her without regard for the other. The decision turned what should have been an uneven battle into a three-sided brawl.
'Why not? I already feel like I'm drunk.' Bee tried to keep her spirits up.
With her skill, fighting two competitive forces was easier than a united force. That is not to say it was easy.
Bee used her Ability to sense emotions to locate the general vicinity of the two members of Gilded Glory. With the fractured input from her eyes and ears, she slashed and hacked wildly to keep the enemy at bay.
It was working, but barely. Precious seconds passed.
The voice of the Dreamscape echoed and overlapped.
"Sh—ha-ha—beeeeen—nated—eliminated."
'Who?' The floating Awakened tried and failed to comprehend the words. There was no time to contemplate them.
As Bee blocked Lost's jab, Goldie circled around and brought down both daggers at the Queen's neck.
Bee saw the action through Lost's eyes, but a second too late. She missed the block and barely moved her head in time to keep from losing it.
She felt her head suddenly grow lighter.
'My hair!'
One of the razor-sharp blades slipped through Queen Bee's loose locks and sent a flurry of chopped hair into the air. It was as humbling as it was infuriating.
Attempting to strike back, Bee missed and received a retaliatory hit from Lost on her side.
Bee was on the verge of losing control.
But then a voice broke through to her consciousness above the noise.
'Bee, what is happening?'
Fireshing! The brunette had never been so happy to have someone inside her head.
She worked to communicate as she spun away from the pair of assailants. 'It's Lost. I told you he would be a problem...'
'What is he doing…oh!' Fireshing's shock was profound.
'It's a mind attack. Stay back!" Bee was pretty sure there was a limit to how far Lost could reach. The one time the Queen had managed to push him away, she had felt mild relief.
'But you need help!' Fireshing continued forward despite her friend's warning.
It was true. Bee needed help desperately. But she didn't like the idea of putting her teammate in harm's way to come to her rescue.
'Maybe if you come closer, it will lessen his attack on both of us.' Bee began a tactical retreat.
Unfortunately, her theory was very quickly proven wrong.
Either the mind-bending Awakened grew stronger as he gained more victims or he decided to pour more essence into his attack.
Bee felt her mind begin to break.
'Fire, make a barrier.'
'You sure?' Fireshing used the shaft of her spear to clumsily block one of Goldie's daggers.
Bee checked to make sure the fire charm was around her neck. 'I'm sure.'
The redhead nodded. She reached out and found Bee's arm. Pulling her friend close, Fire ignited her flames.
The world around them became a fiery tornado. Gilded Glory had no choice but to back off or face Fire's deadly flames.
'You ok?' Fireshing asked examining Bee in the middle of the storm.
'No,' the Queen admitted. 'My head…'
'Mine too. I can see you and my flames at the same time. It's insane…' A headband formed around the spear wielder's head. 'That is better…but not perfect. You have anything for mind attacks?'
'Only a weapon, but I would have to dismiss my estoc to summon it…'
Queen Bee debated if the risk would be worth it.
'We need a plan. I cannot hold them off like this for long.' Fireshing was happy to give her friend a respite, but her essence would run out quickly with such a massive display of power. Fire was glad she had not used up her supply on Sharkey's ice rink earlier or they would already be finished.
'I wish we knew how much essence Lost has left. If we could wait him out…' Bee paused.
What she was proposing was risky. There had to be a better way than just blindly hoping that they could outlast such an oppressive force.
Her mind was resilient, but everyone had their limit. The Queen did not want to see if it was her body or mind that broke first if she could not stop Lost's assault.
Even now, she could see in his vision that he was circling the whirling tornado of flames, looking for a place to strike with his khopesh.
Frustration welled up in Bee. She could feel the smugness of her opponents. For the first time in a long time, she was very tempted to levitate them in the air and force some fear into them.
That might have been satisfying in theory, but Lost would only project the feelings and sensations back on her in double measure. 'I can't do that…'
'Do what?' Fire could tell she had missed something.
'I considered using my abilities. You know, giving Lost a taste of his own medicine. It's so tempting.' In her angst, Bee latched on to Lost's emotional signature and felt for his body to lift him. Even if she did it for a split second, maybe that would be enough to throw the man off balance and give them the edge.
That's when the world changed.