IMPERIUM INSECTUM

“JUST HOW MANY ARE THERE!” Penn cried as Sally gave her another larvae.

“You said you wanted to get a closer look. Well, nothing is as close as this!” I joked. She glared at me like a devil. To be fair, it has been a lot of work dealing with the conga line of larvae that is coming out of me. One after another, like buses. As for me well-

“Just how many did you make?!>

“Around 60, bear with it!”

“Another one!”

Penn screamed as she was given another larvae sally. Watching These two scramble around is great entertainment. What was I saying? Oh yeah! Giving birth is surprisingly relaxing. There was little to no pain, and the larvae just popped out of me with no drama. I guess it helps that my body was made for this. My contractions were barely noticeable, just a tingling in my stomach.

Sally and Penn moved like a well-oiled machine, removing the larvae from my snatch and placing them in the clearing where they were tended by the nurses. All in all, it took a good hour to give birth to All 60 of my babies. Leaving them both exhausted and me feeling surprisingly energised.

“I could go for another round!”

“DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT” They both yelled. I gave a small chuckle as I stood up from the area Sally had made for me. It was a small part of the clearing made of soft fabrics and animal pelts. It was pretty comfortable, and it made birthing them a lot easier.

<GOD! I feel like I could run around the world! Why am I so energised!”

*sqwieee, sqwieeee*

I looked down To the ground to see a stray larvae wriggling towards me.

<What are you doing here.> I picked him up and stroked his back. I looked around for a nurse, but they had all disappeared.

< They must have gone underground.>

I cupped him against my chest and moved him down into the nursery/food storage section of the hive. Inside the room was a buzz with nurses working overtime tending to all the larvae. A cacophony of squeals from the larvae filled the air as they called for food.

<Found this one outside.>

I placed him in the middle, where one of the nurses quickly swooped him up.

<Sorry, mother! I did->

<Don’t worry. Just be careful next time.> The nurse nodded, returning back to its duties of feeding and tending to the children. I quickly went to one of the nurses and started giving him a hand feeding the children

<Mother, you don’t need to->

< I'll help. You are overwhelmed, and besides, I need to burn off this excess energy>

And help I did. Over the coming days, I tended to the larvae with the nurses. Watching them, feeding them and cleaning them when needed. For the first time in a while, I felt like a hive queen, watching her hive develop and grow into a formidable force. And before I knew it, the baby larvae I looked after grew into strong adults.

The first ones to mature were the combat units, which added 30 new combat units to our ranks, increasing the number of combat units to around 60. The force was now big enough to be an effective fighting force, so I put them to work, claiming territory in the north where the mana beasts were located. This was a good call on my part because we were haemorrhaging food even with what they eat being reduced by my ability. Since their birth, our food stores have decreased by an entire quarter. Thankfully, The meat they got from their missions into the north helped stem the bleeding, but we had to get on top of the food quickly, or we would all starve to death. Thankfully for me, all the workers matured around about the same time, giving us around 80 or so workers to work with. Azuura pounced on this immediately and started construction on a large project under our home. Which I was standing in now.

<Why are we here?>

<Well, due to the increase in workers, the construction of the starter hive can start.>

<Wait, what do you mean “Starter hive”?> I said, putting my hand against the thick waxy wall holding back lord knows how much dirt. Azuura and the other workers had constructed a massive underground tunnel below our current hive, which was connected by a reinforced tunnel that led back to the old hive. This room itself was truly impressive. The ceiling was 24 meters high and around 500 square meters in area, or around the size 2 tennis courts put together. It’s a marvel they could build this in such a short time. If it took 80 of them to build this within 3 days, then what would double, triple or quadruple that do. My body shook at the thought. Just how big could I go with a thou-

<mother!>

<Hmmm? Sorry azuura, what were you saying?>

He let out a deep sigh. < As I was saying, The starter hive is something we can use as a stepping gor when we start construction on an actual hive.>

<Interesting. So, the actual hive wont be built here?>

He shook his head. <We could use this place like a sort of outpost, but as the main hive? No. We need a blank slate to start properly.>

<I see; I trust your reasoning azuura. Do as you wish. Now tell me, what do you plan to actually build here?>

<I plan for this room to be dedicated towards food production. We plan to construct another room adjacent to this one for storage.>

<Is it possible before the storage room you can build me two large chambers next to each other.>

His head twisted in curiosity.

<What do you have planned, mother?>

<I need an area dedicated to breeding. Right now, all my walking wombs live in my room and out in the clearing. It's not good. We need somewhere more appropriate>

<I see your reasoning, Mother; what would you want in those rooms?>

<A place for breeding new hosts and imprisoning them and a room for the nurses next to it for raising the larvae for simplicity's sake. Let's call the entire thing a hatchery. This is also the place where I will move my personal quarters.>

<Mother, are you sure you want your personal quarters to be in the hatchery? Sleeping next to vermin is….beneath you.>

<it is, however. My role is to create more children for this hive. There is no better place for me to sleep, and besides, this is only temporary.>

Azuura nodded. < I'll get to work straight away on the hatchery. In the meantime, can I ask you to do something>

I raised an eyebrow. <Go ahead.>

<Can you speak to Apollinaris about the optimal growth conditions for her mushrooms? The nature workers have tried to set it up themselves, but they just can't wrap their heads around it.>

I let out a sigh. I'm not surprised they are struggling. Really, Apollinaris always took the time to set up the mushroom patches for the hive, making sure they grew quickly.

< I'll speak to her.>

<Thank you, mother.>

we both went our separate ways. He walked towards a group of workers in the corner and me up into the older parts of the hive using the new tunnel. The tunnel came out into the old food room. At some point, I plan to destroy this entire area up here and create a new hive entrance, but that’s something for later. As for now, well, It's been a while since I've spoken to my other half.

I found a quiet place in the hive, sat down and closed my eyes. I accessed the weave and started looking for one royal fly. One royal fly who was very, very far away…                                                                                                                         

********

Apollinaris pov:

<Ahhhhhh that’s what I needed>

Several ice cubes brushed against my skin, removing tiny amounts of the pain. It was a good idea to take an ice bath to ease my pain. Seriously, this training regimen I'm on is no joke. Who knew Andre was such a slave driver?

I Sank into the water and was assaulted with the sounds of dozens of ice cubes colliding with my body. At the same time, my vision blurred, making the world look like it had been tie-dyed. Before I could get out of the water, several lenses shifted in my eyes, and the blurriness instantly disappeared. I'll have to thank Diva for these eyes sometimes. They are so useful!

<Apollinaris. Are you there? Mother wishes to speak to you.>

Diva? Wants to speak with me??? Is she back already? My head shot out of the water instantly. I looked around for her but was only met with one solitary royal fly.

<Where is Diva.>

<She will be here shortly> Suddenly, The fly’s body began to shake wildly like it was having some sort of seizure.

<What the? What's going on? Are you okay?>

<woahhh!> the fly yelled in what sounded like Divas voice. < It's been a while since I've done this, sorry little one, I think I was quite rough> Diva's voice echoed from the fly like she was right next to me.

<Diva…. What is this?>

< It's an old ability, well 2 abilities I have. Hive link and Royal Mouthpiece using them both at once allows me to see and speak to you from afar>

<How nice.>

I went back into the ice water to help ease my pain. The fly landed on the edge of the bathtub, making sure to avoid the water droplets.

<So how are things? A few days ago, all the children looked riled up about something. Some of them even tried to leave and go home

<Oh, so they noticed that… Interesting. Our hive was attacked by a gang of goblins.>

<What! Are you okay?>

< It's fine. We repelled them quickly, however…. One of the combat units died. It was my fault.>

<Diva. Don’t blame yourself. Not everything was your faul->

<It was! This time, it was, and I've accepted that and taken responsibility. It's fine, I'll tell you everything later>

<…okay, as long as you feel fine, we’ll talk later. Is there anything I can do to help you? or is this just a catch-up?>

<Yes, there is something you can help with; Azuura has finished construction on a room for the mushrooms, but the nature workers are struggling to get them to grow well. Is there anything we are missing>

Hmmm, I think I know where they are probably going wrong.

< Sounds like you haven't got the right building blocks for the mushrooms. Tell me exactly what they did>

Diva went into detail, telling me the size of the room and its dimensions. The hive must grow massively there if it needs to be that big.

<It sounds to me like you are missing 2 things: Decay and humidity>

<Decay?>

<Corpses! and lots of them. It doesn’t need to be human but something the mushrooms can feed off. Over here, I used meat from a butcher. As for humidity, you don’t need a lot. The mushrooms will make their own, but you need some to start.>

<I see. I'll speak to Pen and Sally and see what we can cook up. Thank you.>

<Anytime! Just don’t be a stranger, okay? It gets lonely without you here.>

<Sorry. We’ll speak tonight, promise.>

<Thank you.>

The fly suddenly started shaking again as I assumed Diva left its body.

<Diva?>

<Sory big sis apollinaris. Mother is gone.> The fly sounded absolutely exhausted. I'll have to speak to her about how exhausting that is for our kids. I told the fly to get some rest in my bedroom as I sunk back into the water. Now I can get back to my reeeelaaax-

<OH FOR FUCK SAKES ANDRE!>

I lept out of the bathtub in a flash just in time to see several large sharp icicles form where I was.

“BREAK TIMES OVER!”  I looked towards the window just in time to see a torrent of water head towards me. My fist planted itself into the ground, causing green mana to illuminate the bathroom and a wall of vines to erupt in front of me.

The water jet hit the vines with a loud thud, as the attack was defeated easily.

“Good defence, Apollinaris; however, have you forgotten where you are?”

I looked around and noticed the floor was covered in water.

“SHIT!”

I Leapt off the ground just in time to dodge more icicles that Andre summoned at my feet.

“You got lucky there. Next time, you might not get so lucky. Always pay attention to the battlefield you’re standing on” The icicles melted and formed into a watery shape of Andre.

“You're paying for the damages to the bathroom, you know that, right?”

“oh? You want me to pay? Make me.” The shape solidified into andre holding a water trident. A smirk appeared on my face as two large Blades of mana shot out of my arms.

“It would be my pleasure”

I charged towards him, Blades ready to kill. This time, for sure!

******

I headed out of the underground hive and back up into the clearing. apolliaris says we need corpses, and a lot of them, but where can we get so many corpses in such a short amount of time?

<Mother! I bring news>

A loud buzz filled the air as one of the spitters came in to land. I've been using them as aerial scouts. They are not great at it, but they will suffice for now.

<What is the issue.>

<No issue, just an observation. Over the last few days, we have seen a large amount of mana beast collecting in the north of the forest.>

<What do you mean collecting? Last time I checked, they don’t play well together unless…>

< It's as you suspect; we think several Alphas are leading this large pack.>

<What are their numbers?>

<Around 40 or so, but there could be more coming.>

At first glance, we outnumber them, but let's not get too hasty. Several alphas working together make no sense unless there is another one in charge. However, for this to happen just when we need a whole bunch of bodies, I guess Lady Fortune is on my side today.

<You rest here in the hive.>

I closed my eyes, accessed the hive weave, and linked myself to all the surrounding children.

<All of you are to return immediately and Rest. There is a battle to come 3  days from now>

I turned around and headed back down into the cave. The outcome of this fight will be very different. I will make sure of it.

I headed towards the prison cells where my two captives were waiting. I have 3 days; let's beef up our forces a little. And I know exactly the units I need to make this fight a cakewalk.