Bug finished recounting his tale.

"So it's revenge, then?" Fila asked.

"No my hatred is not guiding my actions, this is curiosity," Bug said. "As I was aimless, I tried living like a human, building a cabin like theirs in my room, but it feels very unnatural. Mantises do not sit on chairs. The only way to get to know humans is to speak to them."

Now this was someone Fila could use. The creature was honest, affable and, best of all, talkative. Under normal conditions, all characteristics Fila would hate, but here he would be the tool that let them escape. Now he just needed to find a way to make the girl useful, too.

"Okay, we'll answer any questions you have about us as long as you help us a little more," Fila said.

"What do you need?"

"You said you can mask our smells, right?"

"That is correct!"

"How long can that last?"

"About six hours, I believe, unless I continuously apply it."

"Okay, so even if we went to the main chamber, we would smell like a regular kvesh, right? So if you can bring us there, and you go around the Nest spreading our original smells, the kvesh will come hunting for us as they want our blood, as you said. Then we can reach the Needle and Metamorphosize, easy."

"How does that help us get out?" Nomada asked.

"One step at a time," Fila responded.

Bug reflected on Fila's plan. He nodded.

"Okay, I can do it, but I have one request."

"Whatever you want," Fila said.

"No killing mantises. I don't want my queen to be disappointed when she gets back."

"As long as that rule starts now, I can agree to it."

"Okay!"

...

Nomada crept below a heap of silk as a kvesh passed by them.

"Are you sure this plan will work," she whispered quietly to Fila.

"All my plans work. I'm still alive aren't I?"

"What was your plan coming into this place again? Get in then get out?"

"All my plans work, eventually."

They stopped whispering as they heard more walking in their direction. Nomada was very hesitant following Fila. Bug had masked their smell and brought them to the main chamber of the Nest, hiding them behind clumps of detached silk threads that lied in the chamber. He was to go and spread their smell around the entire Nest, making the kvesh in the chamber leave and giving them an opportunity to reach the Needle, but Bug was taking a painfully long time. It was possible that he had just been caught and was dead, and they would just wait here until they were eventually caught and eaten.

All Nomada wanted to do was go back to Mellifera, to look at her face, and notice any movements. She wasn't sure whether she would survive or how long she would live and she was wasting her time spending time with this unfeeling, uncaring boy as her grandmother died. The more she spoke to him, the more she did not understand him. He was needlessly cold; he was unable to laugh unless he was the one telling the jokes; he was only driven to accomplish the things he wanted and did not care about the desires of others. Actually, he was very similar to Mellifera in that regard.

"Why are you here?" Nomada whispered to pass the time. She still did not trust Fila, nor did she like him, but she wanted to know the person she was going to die with.

"I've repeated it only about 100 times, so what's one more time? I'm here to get to the Needle and then leave," he whispered back.

"You've said it twice. But why do you want the Needle?"

"Like anyone else, I want an exoskeleton. It will help me survive out there, with more speed I could run from the skies. With more strength, I can fight mawlers and not have to eat chitara fruit every day. I haven't eaten meat in 4 years. Just chitara fruit day after day." Fila peeked over the clump of silk quickly to check whether the kvesh had left yet.

"Have you thought about what trait you will get?"

"To be honest, I don't know many of the traits. Everything I know about the exoskeletons comes from books, and there isn't a book detailing the list of traits. My mother did not have one and I never knew my father. She died before she could give me any details."

Right, the queen was the one person in Nitich not allowed to have an exoskeleton. It was considered impure, even though the first queen had one. Nomada was not quite sure when that notion arose in Nitich society.

"Me too. My parents died before they could tell me much. Did yours die to the skies too?"

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

"Maybe my father did, I'm not sure. My mother definitely did not."

"What did the queen die to then?"

"An illness, perhaps," Fila looked away from her, opting instead to look around their surroundings.

Perhaps? Maybe? If she died from an illness he should know, shouldn't he? Nomada did not press any further though, sensing his dislike of the topic.

"How about the rest of your family? How did they survive the skies?" Fila asked.

"Most of us died on the first day the skies fell. Especially in the cities. The skies compensates with bigger hail if one has an exoskeleton, even a single Red can bring down a piece of ice the size of this mountain, so in villages and minor cities people were concentrated, hail the size of the capital came falling down on us. I only survived because Mellifera used [For the Family] to grab me and a bunch of others out of Apissin as she noticed the hail was falling. But I was told that most died that day. From there we found survivors from nearby regions mostly among the Apis, Formicid and Vespidae Families as they already lived in the same region. We built The Hives together and continued looking for survivors wherever we could."

"There are other cities? How have I never run into any of them?"

"They are not meant to be found. They are all hidden in ways to avoid the skies. If you or the queen had an exoskeleton, you would have heard of them through the Network, but you guys were one of the unfortunate ones."

"Unfortunate indeed. Why do you not have an exoskeleton?" Fila asked.

"I was one of those who were too young. In the old world, when you were three you would go to the capital where the Needle was held and undergo your first Metamorphosis. I was meant to get it done during Queen Ceratina's coronation. But I was sick, so I stayed. The skies fell a week later, and the Needle was lost. Our town is full of people who were too old and tired to travel to the coronation or people who were too young. I happen to be even younger than them though, so I'm one of the few without one."

"The radhan with no clothes. Must be challenging," Fila commented.

"Like you can't imagine."

Nomada poked her head up to look at the Needle. The chamber was still full of kvesh.

"What is taking Bug so long?" she asked.

Fila shrugged. "So what trait will you get?" he asked her.

"[Stinger], of course. The Apis would never accept me as their leader if I didn't."

"And that's what you want? Their acceptance?"

"To be the leader of the Apis was what I was raised for, it's my responsibility. Just like a butcher's daughter or son will be a butcher as well."

"That's why I avoid people. They force you to do things you wouldn't do if you were alone. It's not your true self. They make you into lesser versions of themself"

"How many people have you even met in the wilderness?"

"Well since my mother, just you guys and a hunter. But I've heard stories."

"From your mother?"

"From other sources. It all seems repugnant."

Suddenly, the smell of the room concentrated immensely. A quick tapping of feet followed, the sounds getting more distant every breath. They were entering the tunnels.

"I believe that's our sign to go," Fila whispered.

They both popped up their heads this time, and saw that the entire room was clear save for the cocoons that surrounded the Needle itself. The plan actually worked! Nomada felt a deep breath that she didn't know she was holding in leave her body.

"They really want to kill us don't they," Fila noted.

Nomada held out her hand, "My half now please. Including the red crystal from the spider."

"What?" Fila said.

"My half of the spoils from earlier."

"Where was this attitude when we were chatting earlier? This is really not the time--"

"I thought I was going to die then, now I don't. I need crystals to be able to afford [Stinger]. I've trained like I've had it since I was three. Do you want us to stand a fighting chance or not?"

"If you had accepted my deal earlier, you would've gotten a quarter, and that was while my life was under duress. Why would I just give you half of my things?"

"Then I suppose I'll just call the kvesh back, and get you back under duress."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Without [Stinger], I'll just die in this place anyway. I refuse to die before you."

"Fine, I'll do the original deal, you get a quarter, and neither of us use the red mana crystal until later. Whichever one of us is more useful in getting us out of here will get it and become a Yellow. How about that?"

Nomada was confident that she would be a stronger fighter than the boy. He had proved that he was intelligent, but he was scrawny and thin, and clearly had done no combat training in his life. She would surely be more useful than him. An investment then.

"I agree," she said.

Fila took out all the contents of his bag and began to count out the crystals. Nomada watched him carefully to make sure that everything was removed. There was the one red mana crystal, 16 yellow mana crystals, and 233 green mana crystals.

"Was this all from kvesh?" she asked, genuinely surprised at how much he had.

"No, I've found mana crystals all over the wilderness, mostly greens in the houses of people who used them as lamps or stored them as treasures."

Nomada was given 4 yellow mana crystals and 58 green mana crystals while Fila remained with 12 yellow mana crystals and 175 green ones. *This is an investment,* she had to remind herself. It was enough to afford [Stinger], as it costed 3 yellow mana crystals and Metamorphosis costed 1, but she still found herself jealous of the boy's wealth.

Once the trade was settled, they ran towards the Needle's green light. Fila looked at the cocoons that surrounded the Needle. There were about 12 in total and inside the cocoons, there were translucent figures swimming around.

"Will they wake up?" Fila asked.

"Not until Metamorphosis is up. It always takes 6 hours, and these cocoons were here when we came to the chamber before. It cannot have been more than 4 hours since we were last here."

Fila knocked on the cocoons making a dull thud.

"Can we get rid of them?"

"No, the cocoons are made of the same stuff mana crystals are made of, solarite. They are virtually unbreakable. Even the skies are unable to do any damage to them. That's why the mana crystals survive even when the owner does not."

Fila clicked his tongue in disappointment.

"Well, we'll have to deal with them when we awaken then. So how do we get started?"

"Make sure that all mana crystals you have are on your person. It being in your bag is fine. Poda will take the crystals she needs for the process. Then you touch the Needle, thank Poda and the queen in your mind and it should start."

"Do I need to thank Poda and the queen or is that more of a tradition thing?"

"Just do it. If it's tradition it's probably there for a good reason. If it's not, you might get struck by a divine beam of light that ends your life right here and now."

Fila nodded. He gulped and touched the Needle. The green light coming from the Needle focused on Fila and surrounded him. He stared around in wonder as he became submerged in it. At first it was like a flash, but as it wrapped against him more tightly, forcing his body into fetal position, and it solidified into the same crystalline structure as the other cocoons.

Mellifera took a deep breath. She held out her hand to the Needle. *Thank you Poda and the queen for all your blessings, may my Metamorphosis be easy.* And then she too was submerged by the light.