The Bee Dungeon

The sun shown down on a green and golden world. Fields of flowers blended right into hexagonal walls made of wax. Bees of all shapes and sizes filled the ground and skies, crawling out of neatly ordered hives, haphazardly placed wax pots, or out of burrows dug right into the ground. Honeybees and stingless bees swarmed around bumblebees, carpenter bees crawled out of nest bored into trees while digger bees pushed dirt out of their tunnels. The bees swarmed around newly blooming mana flowers and confronted one another for the best of the nectar, while cuckoo bees tried to steal honey and lay their eggs in the other bees’ cells. Some bees even broke out into war, swarms colliding in the air as they fought to claim or defend their hives in turn.

Additionally, new wooden beehouses rose from the ground while a large bee apartment expanded across several trees’ canopies. New kinds of honey filled row after row of neat trays. Squads of soldier bees flew through the skies, training their formations, while communer bees spread out and gathered information. The edges of the world continued to grow as well, sprouting new flowers and new hives with each passing day.

And bees of other sorts, as well. Bees with blades for stingers, bees that could channel the elements, bees made of wood and metal. Bees without wings, bees without stingers, bees with claws, bees covered in spikes. Gargantuan bees that covered the sky and drank from flowers the size of the tallest trees. And bees that combined the forms of other creatures. Bees with more fur than normal, bees with scales and claws, bees with feathers and beaks. Any bee that did or could exist.

And in the center of it all was the largest bee to have ever existed, laying eggs of all shapes and sizes, watching as the brood tenders helped never before seen bees emerge from their cells before proceeding to lay yet another.

This was the Queen of All Bees, the God of Bees herself, as hard at work as any worker might be. Unfortunately, her work was about to be interrupted.

A fire burst into existence just before the God of Bees. The bees all around her began to swarm angrily but she calmed them down with a short and graceful dance. Four of the swarms took a bit of convincing, for their queens burned with the desire to protect their second home after their failure to save their first. But the God of Bees convinced them that the fire was not a threat. Indeed, if it was as she expected, there was an opportunity to assist their first home even from here. The queens of the First Dynasty of the First Spawner of the First Bee Dungeon stopped and pulled back their armies at that.

A moment later, the flames expanded and formed into the shape of a man, with flames for his flesh and hot embers forming his clothes. Flames filled out the simple shorts and breastplate of embers. A bright blue fire formed the core of the man, his torso, limbs, and head, while yellow and red flames formed his hair, a great coat like the main of a lion surrounding his head and covering his arms and legs. His eyes were pure white stars piercing through the blues and reds and yellows all around, causing even those flames to appear dim in comparison. He stood straight and tall with his arms crossed as his mere presence set the air around him ablaze.

And then the God of Fire…fell to his knees and clasped his hands together.

“Bee, you gotta let me into your Tower!”