What a shit day, Nomada thought as she fell. What a shit life.

Parents, dead. Most of the Apis family, dead. The few members that were left, all the worst people imaginable who seemed to only feel joy in her misery. She thought maybe outside the families, people would be kinder, but the first person she met from outside the families was the one who sent her to her death. How ironic. Dead by seventeen, before ever getting her first exoskeleton. Zatania would laugh herself to death when hearing about this. If she would hear about this. Nomada's corpse would probably be feasted on by the kvesh and no one back home would ever know whether she was dead or alive.

Her cocoon twisted in the air, and she faced her grandmother, perhaps for the last time, reminding her that this was all her fault. She was supposed to be on watch while Mellifera was sleeping but lost focus, allowing them to be caught by the kvesh, just adding to Nomada's list of many failures. Nomada was always a little too slow, a little too dull, a little too inattentive, a burden and a leech, yet Mellifera made her the heir of the Apis, likely one of Mellifera's tests to see whether she could take all the scorn and bullying from the others who all knew it was undeserved. To use that as fuel to rise above the occasion and prove them all wrong like Mellifera would herself. Nomada supposed that she failed that test too.

Nomada closed her eyes, hoping that her end would happen quickly.

It was cold. Exceptionally so. She opened her eyes and saw that the ice had spread across the entire cocoon. It became brittle, so brittle that with the smallest amount of force she was able to push her arms out and break it open, now flailing instead of immobile. But she was still falling to the ground, helplessly.

Her grandmother's cocoon, on the other hand, glowed faintly red, and pulsed with power from deep within. It exploded with light, and the cocoon broke open to reveal Mellifera at her best, coated in a red exoskeleton made of smooth chitinous material just like the kvesh, both segmented yet interconnected. But where the kvesh looked brutish and savage, she looked elegant, elevated above all humans and kvesh alike. She was beautiful, and most importantly, she was powerful.

Mellifera used the pieces of broken ice as a platform to jump towards Nomada's flapping form and cradled her in her arms as they crashed to the ground.

Nomada was dazed for a moment. Everything was blurry, and many parts she couldn't identify were in pain, but she was alive. She wanted to laugh and scream and cry.

"Are you alright?" Mellifera asked. Mellifera's head was covered by the exoskeleton, muffling her voice somewhat, giving it somewhat of an echo, but her words still got across. Mellifera's head then glowed and the mass that made up her faceplate bulged and moved across her face downwards, moving back into her chest, thickening it. The exoskeleton was like an extension of her, allowing her to have perfect control of where it manifested and where it didn't, but its mass always remained the same. It was a true work of the gods.

"Are you alright," Mellifera repeated. Her face looked a little worried, a first for Mellifera.

"I'm fine," Nomada responded. She couldn't act too weak around Mellifera, even now, she was sure she would be reprimanded if she expressed how much her back was on fire or that her head was killing her so badly that she just wanted to lie down on the ground forever even if that meant being devoured by hundreds of kvesh. "We need to kill that kid, he is an enemy of the Apis. I wouldn't be surprised if he was an assassin sent by the other families or even another nation."

Mellifera snorted. "None of the families would send an assassin in these times, our need for one another exceeds our hatred of one another." Mellifera put out her arm out to help her stand up. "And that includes the boy, we need to make sure he comes out of here alive."

Nomada nearly slapped her hand away from her face. Was Nomada concussed or was Mellifera senile? There were no other options.

"Rescue him? The boy just sent us to our deaths!" Nomada cried.

"And yet we are alive."

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"No thanks to him!"

"If not for him, we would not have escaped in the first place." The worry in Mellifera's eyes was replaced by annoyance. Nomada had to admit that it fit her face better.

"I don't think that was his main consideration."

"Nomada!" Mellifera's bellowed loudly, causing Nomada to curl herself away from her. "You forget yourself, I am radhan of the Apis. You will do what I say."

Nomada's stomach churned and boiled. Her face began to heat. This was what Mellifera always did, she imposes herself onto everyone else without explaining her thoughts or feelings and expected everyone to fall in line. Not after a day like today, today Nomada would finally defend herself, today she would make her own decisions. But the anger boiled into gas. There was no point, it was like getting angry at a stone.

"At least tell me why?" Nomada asked quietly, taking her hand up.

Mellifera's eyes softened. "Because of his glove. He has Ceratina's glove."

Their conversation was interrupted by a screaming yellow mantis leaping towards both of them. Mellifera dropped her to the grand and turned.

The swelling mass that entered her chest expanded to cover her head once more, and she punched the kvesh downwards so hard it left a crater in the silky ground. She out held her left hand out at the kvesh, and the plates rippled like molten metal, changing its form. It grew three sizes to form what looked like a spearhead. The exoskeleton in her arm thinned out to compensate. Then it launched forward, shooting like a comet right into the chest of the fallen kvesh, killing it instantly.

The [Stinger] trait in action. The first trait that every Apis got upon getting their exoskeletons. Nomada had practiced launching spearheads with her palm since she was five, but it was always different with the exoskeleton's strength behind the move. Where she was acting as a warrior, Mellifera was the real deal.

Nomada's head turned to Poda's Needle that was only 30 paces away. The designer of the exoskeleton was right here, all she needed was a yellow mana crystal and to come into contact with it, and she could Metamorphosize too. She would only be a Green, but she would still be twice as strong, twice as fast, twice as flexible. She could help Mellifera and win her forgiveness for getting them caught here.

More kvesh came and began to surround the two women. They were mostly Greens, with a few Yellows in the mix.

"Find the boy," Mellifera commanded, "He should still be in the chamber. I'll distract the kvesh." Her distraction was a slaughter. She released another stinger into the group, piercing through five of the kvesh at once. She did the same with her other arm, then became a blur as she jumped into the ones left. As a Red, Mellifera was 64 times stronger and faster than she normally was, allowing her to put up a great fight despite her old age. She also had more mass to work with than a Green, meaning she could shoot far more stingers.

The kvesh on the walls began jumping down to face her, but Mellifera spun like a tornado, shooting stingers in all directions that the enemy came. Mellifera made herself known, likely to distract from Nomada.

None of them are focused on me, she thought. Nomada grabbed the yellow mana crystal from the corpse that Mellifera killed right next to her. With that I've become a Green. She couldn't believe it was that easy. She could run to the crystal right now. But she wanted the [Stinger] trait. She needed it. She ran to the corpses that were being flung throughout the room, the aftereffects of facing her grandmother. One yellow here, a yellow over there. She needed 4 yellow mana crystals in total, one for Metamorphosis, and three to afford the actual trait. She had three in hand now. She just needed one more.

Another corpse was flung across from where Mellifera was fighting the group right in front of Nomada. It was a Yellow. Ask and you will receive, Nomada thought. She ran over to the corpse, but as she was running, she noticed a shadow cast over her. She looked up and saw the source of the shadow. A slide made of ice that curled around the chamber, all coming from the ledge that she was just stuck to. No, Nomada thought.

In front of her a boy jumped down, and jerk the yellow mana crystal from the kvesh's corpse. Her corpse. The boy was short and slender, had jade green eyes, and a pale complexion. His hair was tied in a ribbon, giving him a ponytail that reached down to the top of his back. He must have been around 15 or 16 years old. And he was the same one who made her fall.

"You!" Nomada yelled. "Give that back!"

"Wouldn't giving it back imply it was yours? And yet, it's in my hands, not yours," the boy replied with a smile.

Nomada ran at him, deciding to handle it with her own hands. Though she had no exoskeleton, she had trained with people who did, she was sure she would be able to handle a brat. But the boy was faster than she thought, when she got close he would sprint, and when she slowed to a jog to catch her breath, the boy would start walking. It was like he was taunting her.

Another yellow corpse was lobbed into the air and landed right between both of them. Nomada sprinted for it, but the boy was faster. He plucked it and slid under her arms landing on the other side. He looked back at her and shrugged. "Perks of being small," the boy said.

He then ran towards the Needle. Another yellow corpse landed near her, but Nomada didn't see it. The world turned red. The only thing in her view was the boy. He would be drowned, he would be burned, he would be flayed. He may not be an enemy of Mellifera's or the family, but he was an enemy to Nomada Apis.