Epic of Bee

"You will have access to many different things now that you have reached your first evolution. You also have far better control over your facilities now, and the Queen's Blessing will give you access to special abilities that you other Royal Subjects have access to, but you will not be able to activate them like the other skills that you have," Hilda explained to me, and I raised my eyebrow at her.

"So then they just activate whenever they feel like it? I suppose that isn't horrible, but I won't be able to count on that, but I should have access to things like the Tread Reading," I said, and Hilda's Boxy Bee body bobbed up and down.

"As you level up now to forty, you will gain access to the skills that are most important to you from the Queen's Blessing. At first, it will seem like a pain, but this is the God-Tech way of feeling you out so it can properly help you in the best way," Hilda explained, and I nodded my head; that wasn't that bad.

"Well, I am glad to see that the Queen System is going to start pulling its weight, but what about the subjects? How are the SugaBees doing? You had also said that you had got the Snake Folk ready to join us? How did that go? Do I want to know?" I asked as me, and my five wives walked over to the Levi-Stone pad, but then I remembered something.

I started to buzz my wings, and my body lifted off the ground with almost no effort, and part of me wanted to start screaming in excitement. I had forgotten just how much I had missed this feeling, and now being in the air again was a magical experience.

"SugaBees are doing very well, and yes, the Snake Folk are ready to Join, but I will leave that story to Beezli and Pelleta," Miasma said as she and the girls lifted into the air with me.

I was a bit worried to hear about how Beezli had dealt with them, but she couldn't have done that bad of a job if they were ready to join. I flew up to the Navigation Level, but I was surprised to find the place completely empty.

"Where is everyone? I was not expecting everyone to Bee here, but maybe one or two wouldn't have been that bad, right? What is everyone doing?" I asked as I sat down, but none of the girls would answer me, and instead, Serria came and took my hand.

"Come, follow us," was all Serria would say to me, and I decided that I would just play along.

The girls must have something planned, and I wasn't going to ruin the surprise that they had prepared for me if it was one. I didn't want to assume that they would have put something together for me, but the closed lips made it hard to think that it could be anything else.

"Fine, lead the way, and I will ask no more questions," I said as I let myself be led into the Honey Gate.

The girls all had a knowing smile, but nothing could prepare me for the scene that I walked out onto the HexScape. The air was filled with Bees, and the ground made up the rest of my subjects and the moment I walked out with my wives, the crowd erupted into a cheer that turned into a chant, making my blood pump faster as I was filled with a multitude of emotions.

"LONG LIVE THE QUEEN! LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!" All my subjects chanted, and I swear that the air started to vibrate.

Nothing could have prepared me for this; I could feel my eyes starting to fill with tears as I was filled with a kaleidoscope of positive emotions. Serria squeezed my hand, and I took a deep breath after not breathing since walking through the Honey Gate.

"We missed you, and we are all thrilled to have you back with us," Miasma said as she leaned in and then kissed my cheek.

There was just no way for me to express just how grateful I was to have so many people that felt this way. I exhaled and then turned to each of my wives and smiled at each of them before stepping forward.

I was about to start yelling to everyone, but Gamble came over to me with a hand up. He had what looked like a telemarketer's headphones and microphone set that he was presenting to me.

Okay, it was a lot fancier than that. It was golden and shiny, and I gratefully accepted it from Gamble, nodding my head in thanks.

"You will be able to hear your voice through the pieces that cover your ears when you talk, so you will know how loud you are. I have this hooked up to special sound projectors I created so everyone will be able to hear you," Gamble explained to me, and I nodded in amazement.

"Thank you for everything that you have been doing; I want to talk to you about the Threads after we are done here," I said to Gamble before putting the golden headphones on, and he nodded to me.

I looked up to the gathered people, and it was amazing just how many people were there. I would have to check the Hive System later, but now I needed to thank everyone and tell them what was about to happen in the coming days.

"Testing?" I said but cringed and wicked, but everyone went dead silent as my voice rocketed out from somewhere behind me.

"Sorry," I said in a much quieter voice, and it came out a lot clearer and not nearly as loud.

I looked up and around at all the people gathered and prepared myself. Everyone would accept what I said; that was not even a question at this point.

I needed to prepare myself to send people to a place where people could possibly die. This was not something I would do without significant consideration, but at this moment, this was what needed to be done.