The air didn’t still. Time moved normally. What Grehn experienced was a severe queasiness followed by a burst of wind as Jey appeared in thin air, landing on the ground with a thud.

Nobody was quite sure what to make of this new appearance. At least, Grehn was confused about how to react. He hadn’t known Jey very long, but she didn’t strike him as the poetic type, much less in the middle of the nerve-wracking situation Lemonholm was embroiled in. She must have lost her damn Mind thanks to Beelzebub’s venom, because otherwise she was doing little more than spouting inane nonsense.

“…What do you mean ‘your name’? Aren’t you one of those Knights?” a bystander, a young man no older than twenty, asked after a moment.

Grehn observed the surrounding people, and he realized the people of Lemonholm were becoming increasingly dangerous and unstable. To be fair, that was, in part, their goal. If the Lemonholmians could save the lives of the hive members, Grehn would gladly take their help. But combining the sudden violence towards and by their old leader’s elderly wife with this bizarre rambling was throwing people for a loop.

“The Human, child. Of course. That is who I am, inhabiting this child’s body.”

Grehn had no idea how to react to that information. Did Beelzebub misinform him about her Ability? It would make sense to withhold information from a potential enemy, so he didn’t exactly fault her, but a shiver ran through his body at the involuntary thought of her turning him into someone so insane.

“How dare you? How dare you be so arrogant as to take our god’s name in vain?” a woman shouted.

“You’re trying to kill the Lemonholm Betterment Club and you’re saying these things? Do the Knights have no shame?”

“Fuck you!”

Mass panic had turned into mass confusion, and now it all transformed into mass anger. Waves of angry Lemonholmians grumbled and shouted, waving their fists at the clear spot in the street where Jey stood, head cocked to one side. Whatever Jey was going through, Grehn couldn’t relax. The amount of power she was exuding was extreme, and her mental state was clearly in a place where she wouldn’t mind a bit of slaughter. As if that weren’t enough, the confusion and dimming of the crowd had allowed Greyan to squeeze through, and he was clomping towards Elofan and Grehn much too fast for their liking.

“Oh children, understand your position. You are being manipulated by a deceptive creature. You saw one - a bee. They have come to harm you, to take advantage of you. Already they control your beloved forest and are greedy for more.”

The crowd was already riled up, the empty space between people and Jey decreasing by the second. Some people did have their interest piqued, though. Unfortunately, this included some of the people close to Grehn, who were acting as an unknowing wall between himself and Greyan.

“Of course! I’ve been saying for ages: animals have powerful Minds and want to control us all!”

“No, you idiot. It’s the aliens I keep telling you about. This Knight knows about them and is betraying the other Knights to reveal their secret alien overlords!”

“You’re both wrong. It must be demons.”

The crowd turned in on itself, the deeply religious who were still angry at Jey for pretending to be actual God clashing with the classic Lemonholmian conspiracy theorist. Greyan was still pushing through the crowd, so Grehn looked around, searching for a way out. Their situation was looking less favorable by the second; the people had succeeded in slowing Greyan down, but they weren’t becoming excessively angry and attacking either. Jey’s appearance had thrown a wrench in the situation in a way none of them predicted. He looked at the Knight in question and found that she was staring right at him. He shivered again. Was it because of the extreme calm washing over her face, the slight, almost drunken smile? The contrast between that and the uncontrollable anger of her Mind lashing out? No, it was none of those. It was something deeper, as if his Mind were being touched by an endless pit that consumed everything it came across.

That was actually the Human. He tried to dismiss the thought, but it stuck there. The actual Human, the god, was inhabiting Jey’s body.

Grehn didn’t fancy himself particularly religious. Sure, he worshipped the Human on some days and prayed occasionally, but what person didn’t? Besides Drevans, of course. But the gods always seemed so distant, like something from the past that only lived on through the words that echoed in everyone’s Minds. The thought of a god appearing before his eyes wasn’t something he ever considered. And now, that god was looking him in the eyes, staring out of the angry body of a weakening Knight. Him. A traitor to his kind.

Another presence appeared. The hole Grehn was being drawn into was suddenly filled with the sound of buzzing, the darkness interspersed with yellow. And he was back, his Mind pulled from the brink by his new master. The Mother had use for him yet, so there was no escaping now.

“Elofan, we need to do something,” he whispered to the fernen, making sure the people around him were too busy talking about metal men and underground cities to hear him.

“Use the bees.”

She understood immediately. Or he hoped she did. The last time he didn’t fully explain his plan, she had shot it.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Hey everyone! Look at me! The bees are my Ability, obviously. You think little insects are capable of such crafty deception? Think again.”

Her words were wasted, but the whooping noises did attract attention. Many people stopped to stare at Elofan as she waved her arms around. Grehn’s idea was conveyed to the bees, and Ben flew over from his hiding place atop a nearby building. Elofan waved her finger around, and Ben began to dance, doing a twirl and flying a loop like a trained bird. Grehn decided to speak up.

“Bees? You mean Elofan’s bees? I get you’re not feeling well after you got poisoned, Jey, but I think you’re going a bit far. We were just trying to help the townspeople you attacked.”

Jey - the Human - said nothing, only keeping the creepy half-smile on their calm face. However, Muweh, who had stopped writhing on the ground and was shakily standing, acted anything but calm.

“Idiot! What are you thinking, jeopardizing us? First you run around on an inane chase, now you speak nonsense. All I wanted was revenge on my husband’s true killers, and this is what you do for me?”

Grehn almost missed what Muweh was talking about over the din of the crowd, but he caught it in time to suck in a breath. The woman was subtle, and devious to boot. Not many people in the crowd would have heard her, but those that did would only be more confused and less likely to retaliate. And this was while Beelzebub’s venom was working its way into her system - not that there was time for it to take full effect. Some people were trying to hold Greyan back, preventing him from reaching Elofan. Others were trying to help him by shoving people out of the way. Herwen was swamped on all sides, people pressing up against his armor like a bunch of pillows restricting his movements, and Meyara was still staring, eyes narrowed, at Lahim and the Lemonholm Betterment Club, no doubt to finish what they started.

Pain blossomed in Grehn’s jaw as a random man’s fist swung for his lip. He staggered back, mostly in surprise. The man hit surprisingly hard, but he’d experienced worse. A thought , and he looked at Elofan as the man advanced, confusion still evident in his eyes. Elofan, who was staring at the new development, caught Grehn’s gaze and nodded grimly. They were still in her Ability. And the only people she had designated as enemies were the Knights and Muweh. Which meant that, even though some Lemonholmians were deciding to attack them, they were still considered allies.

Grehn spoke in his Mind, hoping Elofan would eventually get the message. “We need to find Vlugh and get out of here.”

Beelzebub and Ben agreed, but he felt nothing from Vlugh. He was either out cold or dead. The man attacking Grehn swung again, but he dodged easily, the man too slow and inexperienced to catch him even in his broken state. However, what the man said almost made Grehn cry in frustration.

“I don’t really know what’s going on, but I do know that you’re all demons of some kind. I mean, you’re not scared of us at all, and everyone scared of everyone. So I think I’ll just attack all you outsiders until everything is peaceful again.”

The man wasn’t some leader. He wasn’t coordinating anything, and there was no training or mutual understanding in the town to speak of. But when he said that, it was as if every Lemonholmian came to the same conclusion at that very same moment, because they all began to radiate fear. The fear their Minds produced covered the town, shrouding it in a thick miasma, a foul-smelling stench that could only be described as the feeling of terror at everything around them. Grehn realized this smell was always there in Lemonholm, permeating the air, seeping into the skin of anyone who entered. He had felt it since they entered, making him suspicious of the team of Knights who played no part in even the Burning. It had influenced his decisions, making him want to rashly betray the bees. Made him fear the control Beatrice or Belphegora had on his Mind. Or maybe these thoughts were the fear, and even now he wasn’t thinking straight. It was difficult to say, because the stench of fear was almost always hidden by the tangy scent of lemons.

“We need to go now.”

Ben and Beelzebub sprang into action, the smaller one racing to find Vlugh in the direction Grehn had seen him fly, while Beelzebub grabbed Elofan and Grehn with her Mind. They rose above the ground, the task trivial for Beelzebub’s powerful Mind, and with no subtlety at all, ran from the converging crowd. Greyan looked like he wanted to jump up after them, but he was swamped by Lemonholmians and refused to harm them. Or, at least, he refused to harm them seriously. Because it was apparently fine to jump up onto people’s shoulders while decked in a full suit of armor before leaping onto a nearby roof. Herwen wasn’t so gentle, the space between his body and the people around him increasing as his armor seemed to grow, mashing people against each other. Meyara was still staring daggers at the cult members, but she stood still, unmoving, even as people whacked her with sticks and stones.

Muweh screamed. It was a combination of rage and indignation as people tried to hold her, to ask her the truth of the matter. But nothing she said made it through to people. They asked what the real truth was, not the fake story the Knights were spinning.

And in the middle was Jey, still given something a berth. Some people tried to approach, but just as soon held their heads or stomachs and stumbled away. Since Grehn had spoken, she hadn’t moved, not even turning her head to look towards the hive as they fled. Grehn had barely noticed it in the chaos, but he couldn’t feel her rage as strongly. Was her Mind finally Collapsing?

Right as he wondered, Jey suddenly spun and looked at Grehn again. No, they weren’t Jey, and they weren’t looking at Grehn. They were looking past him. To Beelzebub? Or the Mother? Or somewhere past that?

Jey’s mouth opened wide, and she screeched. People around her flinched, and Grehn felt distinctly uncomfortable at the sound. But in his Mind, the Mother’s Mind exploded with activity, the hive descending into madness. Within her Mind, she had felt something when she heard the sound, and even Grehn felt the effect through the Link. It was something etched there, never to be forgotten. A distinct form of terror.

Greyan looked up at them as Beelzebub faltered, the Mother’s sudden burst of fear affecting each bee in the hive He took a step. If he tried, he could surely kill them now. But when Jey’s screech was suddenly cut off, and he saw her collapse unceremoniously, surrounded by vengeful, empowered townsfolk, he stopped. Then he turned, leaped over the crowd, and began to lift his comrades one by one onto a roof. Including Muweh Sawah.

Grehn grimaced. They weren’t in the clear yet. The sudden fear had caused Ben to nearly crash into a building, and Vlugh was still missing. And although Beelzebub was fast, she was injured, tired, and her Mind drained. Grehn could only hope the Knights wouldn’t pursue them. If they did, expecting to catch them after the effects of Elofan’s Ability wore off, they might eventually catch up. But by the time they did, there would likely be more than just two bees waiting for them. The hive would probably have some new members then.