AnnouncementSorry for the no-show st week. I was dealing with some IRL bullshit that made it impossible to write. everything should be good now fingers crossed enjoy the chapter.I woke up alone to a sadly empty bed. Diva was nowhere to be seen. The only thing left was her scent on the bed sheets. I let out a sigh. It's better this way. I feel that if I had been awake when she left, she may not have left at all. She has other responsibilities, sadly. I Looked down at my belly to see what she left me with. At least it isn't all bad it would be nice to raise children for a while. It’s a nice change of pace from the training. Suddenly, a delicious smell came from behind me. I turned around and was met with the severed arm on a pte with a note attached to it. It read.

  Sorry to suddenly leave you like that. Trust me, it's not what I want to do, but I think you understand why I did so. However, it's still a dick thing to do and I apologise. To make it up to you, I caught breakfast.

  Enjoy

  -Diva

  I put the note down and looked towards the arm. I should be disgusted, but honestly, I was just hungry and this honestly looked like it would hit the spot.

  < There is a first time for everything, I guess>

  I took a piece of the arm and tentatively took a bite. Suddenly, my mouth exploded with fvour I couldn’t even expin

  

  Diva pov….

  

  “AGHAAAAAAA. PLEASE LET ME GO. PLEASE”

  

  “Waghaaaaaa TOO HIGH! Please STOP”

  “You keep interrupting my thoughts. It's very annoying!” I said

  I looked down towards the one-armed man holding onto my hand for dear life. By my calcutions, we were several miles above the ground, halfway between Doonvatel and the hive. The man squirmed as I easily held up in the sky. In my other hand was another man, but this one was the por opposite. He was quiet as a church mouse, but his eyes were trained on the ground/.

  ‘I’m sorry! Please just put me back on the ground!”

  “Well, if you say so...”

  “WAIT, NO DON-“

  He screamed as my hand suddenly let go. In the blink of an eye, he turned into a small dot in the ground

  <5.....4....3....2.....1>

  I dove down towards him easily picking up tons of speed; his scream got louder and louder as I approached, and just as he was about turned into a kebab by a tree, I easily caught his hand and pulled him up.

  “Why are you screaming? Didn’t you say you want to go back to the ground?” I teased. The man was a bbbering mess as I flew back home. As for why I'm bringing him home, well. I can't just go into town and not bring something, can I? And besides, the combat units have been restless tely.

  A few moments ter, the hive came into view. I started my descent, and within a few minutes I was gliding through the tree tops approaching the enrged empty clearing.

   I yelled as I flew over and dropped the two of them onto the ground. I turned around and hovered and watched as they panicked and bolted away.

   on cue, the ground broke, and several combat units climbed and charged towards him. Their screams jumped up several times in volume as 12 combat units pounced.

  I chuckled. He isn’t gonna st much longer. As if fate was hearing my word, a combat unit cmped its mandibles around his leg and dragged him to the ground. Almost instantly, they pounced on them and started literally tearing them to shreds. Blood and viscera pstered the ground, and in a few seconds, he was food in the belly of my children.

  I nded in the centre of the clearing. Suddenly, the ground shook as a rge circur hole appeared in the centre of the ground, revealing a tunnel.

  

  I flew into the tunnel, where I was met by 2 nature workers.

  

  

   I flew down into the hive. The hive has grown a lot over the past few days. The workers have widened a lot of the tunnels, allowing for me to fly. Which made navigating the hive much quicker. In no time I was in the mushroom farm.

  I walked through the dense mushrooms that dominated this room. Workers moved by me quickly as they harvested and grew new mushrooms. The process was mesmerising to watch just how they all worked without pause as a perfect team.

   I heard a voice echo out above me. So that’s where he was. I quickly made up there, where I found azuura and my 2 new architects.

   I asked as I approached the 3 of them. All of them focused on me.

   One of the architects chimed in.

  I looked towards him. He had a rge American football-shaped head adorned with 4 antennae and decorated with 6 beedy eyes and a very tiny mouth. His body was incredibly thin and wiry and he had 2 sets of arms like me. It was clear he had no offensive power at all however, to make up for that, he had a lot of intelligence

  

  

  Ahh, that’s why I'm here. Jee, I don’t know, really. I looked towards the architects

  His eyes instantly lit up.

  

   He said with excitement.

  Hmmm. So we have the resources to build all 3. My only concern was that this was a temporary hive. The logistics hub and chamber, for me, whilst nice, should be saved for a bigger, more permanent hive, leaving bio serum production.

   I asked.

  

  My eyes bulged. Well, it’s a no-brainer then, isn't it!

   Azuura asked.

  < I'll expin it to all of you, but first I need Sally>

   My head snapped just in time to see her appear from behind a mushroom. How long has she been waiting there for?

  < How can I be of service, Mother.>

  

   she said with excitement.

  < You are going ahead with a small group of warriors as backup>

  

  

  Her face twisted with confusion

  

  I beckoned her and the others closer and gave them a breakdown of the pn.

  

   Instantly, she darted off with joy.

  

  

  Very efficient. Azuura scurried off along with the architects to get to work. The goblins, whilst they haven't posed a threat in a while, why should I risk that happening in the future? I think now is the time to be proactive, and besides, they are only half the story. Right now, the goblins occupy the south, which is the same space as the flying creatures I scouted a while back. Because of this, we are gonna fight to battles at the same time. I know fighting on two fronts is risky, but it's something we, the alvearix, will have to do in the future. We, no, I must get comfortable.

  My wings chittered in excitement and anticipation. Sadly, however, I won't be physically taking part. Instead, I'll be right here in the hive. I found a tall mushroom and rested my back against it. Thinking about it lying against a mushroom to do this is terrible. I'll have to get azuura and Company to make me a war room, NO a throne room, haha, yes, that would be very fitting. I shut my eyes and tapped into the hive weave. Suddenly, hundreds of minds snapped their attention towards me. Like I was a teacher who entered the cssroom

  Suddenly, there was a deep rumbling throughout the hive. It’s nice to know they are eager. This is gonna be fun to watch.

  Several minutes ter...

  Sally pov:

  The moon hung up high in the sky. What a fantastic night for an attack. I looked behind me and was met by several dozen glowing yellow eyes and a brutal, sharp-toothed maw. The warrior units, the newest addition to the hive they stood at at least 6 feet tall and had hind legs like Diva. Their heads were huge and well armoured, covered in a dense green carapace that fanned upwards to make a sort of helmet and made them look more imposing. On top of that, 6 pitch bck eyes dotted the sides of their rge, angur head. And if that wasn’t enough nightmare fuel, they had a rge gaping maw filled with dozens of razor-sharp teeth and a long, pointy yellow tongue.

  Thankfully, they are on my side. Getting in a fight with the warriors does not sound like a fun time. I looked down towards its brawny armour-pted body. Like Diva, the hardest part of its armour was a dense dark green colour around its chest area. The armour ptes had the same bck lining that allowed them to move. This would be needed due to the other feature they copied from Diva. They had 4 arms; however, 2 of them curved and formed into a bde, whilst the other had a deadly 3 fingered cw.

  

  I snapped out of it. I shook my head and focused ahead. We've got a mission to complete. Suddenly, a stream of information from the scout flying above us filled my mind. They had found the goblin camp. We have come at a good time because they had all turned in to sleep for the night.

  We quietly snuck towards the camp; the element of surprise will be key for this to work. I took a quick gnce upwards and noticed several dull green balls flying through the sky. The spitters were busy fighting as well. I couldn’t tell much, but seeing how I'm not feeling any of them die, I know they must be winning.

  We moved closer and closer soon; a fowl stench bnketed the air. Something akin to faeces and rotting flesh. The warriors, unwavered by the stench, fanned out and around the camp and had it surrounded on all sides. We got closer and closer until the orange hue of a fire broke through the trees.

  A pulse shot out from my mind, signalling everyone to stop. I scanned the camp; 50 goblins were lying out in the open around a deep hole that led into the ground. Did they dig that? Doubtful. I signalled to the workers to get ready and follow my lead. A few moments passed before I finally made my move.

  I bolted forward into the camp. My bde slid out of my arm as soon as I burst out of the tree line. Instantly, my eyes nded on 3 big-eyed goblins. I pounced on one, pnting my bde deep into its head. Like a fsh, the two pincers in my back shot out and stabbed the two goblins.

  The goblins finally snapped awake, but it was too te. Soon, a torrent of angry, wrathful chitin swarmed out of the bushes and quickly got to work. Panic spread throughout the camp as the attack began. One of the warriors charged into a group of goblins and started cleaving through them with ease. I quickly got up and started moving dodging the Heads, limbs and organs that flew everywhere. As the warrriors continued to make light work of the goblins.

  “WAAAGAAAHHHHAAAAA|!!”

  My head snapped just in time to see a goblin charging at the warrior with a wooden club in hand and nothing else. The warrior ignored it until it got into melee range. Like a fsh, it twisted around and backhanded the goblin; a loud snap reverberated through the camp as several bones shattered at the impact, causing the goblin to crumple into a pile on the ground. Without skipping a beat, The warrior walked over to the goblin and stomped on its head before returning to the fight.

  The same sight repeated over and over again as the goblins were swiftly annihited.

  

  *crunch* my head snapped to see one of the warriors feasting on the corpses of the dead goblins. I quickly ignored it as I took the lead and moved down the deep hole. The chances are high that they know something is attacking them, so we will have to keep our guard up.

  The hole led into a rge tunnel that split off into dead-end chambers and pathways. The deeper we went, the more and more complex we became, with passageways that split off into different rooms. We sughtered any goblins we found on our way as our descent continued. Time passed steadily as we moved. This cave was insane, with so many winding paths and dead ends. Good job; Diva extracted a lot of information from that goblin when she caught it. Making it easier for us to dodge the dead ends. Suddenly, the cave started to widen even more. This must be a good sign. We continued walking until the tunnel suddenly took a sharp right.

  I stopped the group and gave them an order to be silent. Something was off about this. The number of goblins slowly decreased, and the tunnels became eerily quiet. I sat and listened, but I couldn’t hear anything.

  I tapped into the hive again and told them all to follow me but to be vigint. We slowly edged forward around the corner. Suddenly, the tunnel widened into a rge open entrance that expanded into a deep darkness. My eyes suddenly got warm as my insect vision activated. However, even with that, I could hardly see anything.

  I took a step forward before suddenly something grabbed my skirt. It was the warrior. His eyes were trained on what was ahead of him

  

  I didn’t question his instincts. Mine were screaming as well, But we can't just stay here. Suddenly, on cue, a loud scream hit our ears from the darkness. Suddenly, several green orbs unched themselves into the air before exploding in a bright green light. Suddenly, hundreds of bck eyes stared back towards me.

  Instantly, we all sprung into defensive positions. In a split second, a pn was developed we would hold and let them come to us. A goblin flew out of the darkness towards us. My arm bde quickly moved upwards, slicing through him; a loud roar came from the darkness as several hundred feet charged towards us. Mother, I hope you are watching; the rest is now on you.