Initial Purification attempt in 3 seconds...

Initial Purification attempt in 2 seconds...

Initial Purification attempt in 1 second...

Belissar was hanging another frame on a tree when suddenly his body went hot. His eyes widened as he realized it wasn’t just him. The entire Tower had gone hot, he could feel streams of heat flowing through the ground and the air.

Initial Purification attempt commencing.

And then, the gates to the Hunger swung open.

Belissar gasped as the black, oil-like substance began to whip and reach into the flower meadow, only for the edges of the gates to begin glowing with bright light. The Hunger screeched and its tendrils retreated back through the gate.

Then the black substance began to condense and warp in the center of the gate. Belissar fell on his behind as he heard snarling and growling. A black paw with rainbow highlights broke out of the writhing mass and stepped into the gate, black mist emanating from it like tongues of fire as huge claws crushed the dandelions underfoot. A second paw stepped and then a snarling snout began to emerge above, with sharp fangs dripping with bits of the Hunger that melted into the ground, causing the flowers below to wilt in the process. Glowing red lights appeared where the creature may have had eyes...only that there were six of them in pairs climbing up its head.

Belissar began scooting back through the dirt as the creature fully exited the hunger and stepped into the field. The black mist emanating from it made its full body shape hard to distinguish, but it was vaguely in the shape of a canine, though larger than any dog or wolf Belissar had ever seen. What he could make out were the sharp claws on its feet, the fangs lining the snout that was a bit too long, and the sharp spike at the end of a snake-like tail.

Belissar turned pale.

“A-A...shade?”

The shade threw its head up into the sky and let out a roar. Belissar let out a whimper and then spun around, pulling on the dirt with his hands as he tried to stand up and start running at the same time.

“H-Help!”

Initial Purification attempt begun. Remaining hostiles: 1

The shade snarled and took off running, chasing after Belissar. The flowers wilted beneath its feet every time it stepped, leaving a trail of death in its wake. Belissar wasn’t a stranger to violence, he had warded off wild animals and such as all rural villagers must. But this...this was a shade of the Hunger. The disaster that brought ruin to the wicked kings of old and laid low the civilizations of the sub-humans. This was a threat that even the Tower Guard could not defeat without blood.

It was far beyond a single farmer with a spear...and Belissar didn’t even have his spear.

Belissar could hear the snarling and growling behind him. He could feel bits of dirt collide with the back of his legs as the shade chased after him. He began to feel cold as bits of the dark mist flickered around him. He whimpered as he could feel the fell creature's breath upon his back and could smell the stench of death.

It was then that his companion buzzed on his shoulder.

“King retreat. Worker save.”

Belissar turned to glance at his shoulder.

“What?!”

But the little bee didn’t answer. Instead, a faint light began to glow around her and Belissar could feel a spot of heat growing on his shoulder. Before Belissar could say anything else, she flew off his shoulder...and straight towards the shade.

Belissar’s eyes widened as the little bee flew straight into the shade’s forehead.

A moment later, there was a small flicker of light, and the shade roared. It skidded to a stop, letting Belissar gain some distance. He could see the small spark of light fly off the shade’s head, and into the side of its torso. The shade roared again.

The spark flew away once more, but this time the shade was ready. It whirled around...and its jaws snapped around the spark.

“No!”

Conduit Unnamed Bee has fallen.

Belissar grit his teeth and shut his eyes, but he kept running. There was nothing he could do now...and the shade had turned to face him once again. The shade started running towards him once more.

Belissar could hear more buzzing, and his eyes shot open. Bees were turning away from the flowers and flying towards the shade. First one, and then two, and then a dozen. The shade growled and snapped around at the air, swatting with its paws and tail.

Then Belissar saw a small cloud of bees approach from the nearest tree, where his first hive stood. He could feel his first monster queen bee as she rallied her forces and sallied out from the hive, urging him to move faster.

The shade snarled and took a deep breath. It let out a cloud of black mist from its mouth that surged forward. The bees dropped from the sky as the mist passed over them. The queen bee fell with them, and Belissar could feel as his bond with her faded.

Monster Bee Queen has fallen.

The shade then ran and pounced into the air towards the tree. It crushed the entire hive in a single bite.

Belissar grit his teeth even harder as he pushed off the ground with all his strength. His legs were burning, his heart was pounding in his chest, and his eyes were growing blurry, but he kept running.

On Belissar ran, and on the shade chased. He passed by the tree in the center, even as another monster bee queen was about to emerge, only for the shade to coat the hive in a breath of deadly mist once more.

Monster Bee Queen has fallen.

Monster Bee Queen Spawner disabled.

The second hive then flew into battle, only to again be brought down by the mist. The shade was sprinting as fast as it could, and quickly gaining on Belissar. He saw the light of the second door just ahead of him...but his legs were slowing down. He ran as fast as he could, but he had no further strength to give. He could not move any faster than he already was.

And the shade was about to reach him. It would catch him before he could reach the core room...

But the third and final monster queen bee then arrived. Her hive was not yet complete, and her brood was the smallest of the bunch. But she had watched the second fall, and so she did not have her workers swarm the foe as her instincts demanded.

Instead, small groups of the bees rushed in one by one, stinging and then fleeing. The shade snarled and bit at them, but they had already passed, and then another group stung its unprepared back. It whirled around but they too had fled.

In the meantime, Belissar reached the door and leapt through with one last push of his legs. He tumbled into the room and willed the door shut, but it remained open. Belissar’s eyes trembled as the core’s interior shifted, showing the fight in the meadow.

The shade let out a breath, but the bee groups scattered from one another, and only a few were caught. The shade snarled and snapped at the air, but the bees kept up their assault. With only a few of them falling at a time, Belissar began to hope.

“Come on, you can do it...”

The queen bee paused at Belissar’s words, and then the bees sprung into action, intensifying their assault. The groups were flying it at maximum speed, stinging the shade over and over. It growled, and then roared, and then took a deep breath.

Suddenly a cloud of the mist burst out of the shade, surging in every direction. The bee groups fell one by one. The queen barely had time to react before the cloud passed over her too.

Monster Bee Queen has fallen.

Belissar’s heart sank.

The shade still stood. It stalked forward slowly, growling softly as it stepped towards the door of light in front of it. It did not seem to have forgotten him, nor lost his trail. Belissar thought of grabbing his knife, but what was the point? How could he dodge the breath of death that flying bees couldn’t? How would his little knife fare against this shade’s fangs and claws?

He shut his eyes and whimpered, waiting for his death.

The shade dug its claws into the ground and lowered its body. It then snarled and leapt towards the door of light.

And the moment it touched the door...it exploded.

The whole Tower rumbled and shook, startling Belissar and causing him to open his eyes. He gasped as he saw black tendrils of the Hunger spread across the featureless white room. He could feel the heat running through the Tower go cold. He could see in his core as they spread across the flower meadow. He could see the Hunger pouring in through the gateway as the light around its edges faded.

And then Belissar collapsed to the ground.

Initial Purification attempt failed.