The moment their eyes locked, Alexander knew—he fucked up. He fucked up bad.

But even then, he refused to stop siphoning the energy. He couldn't. Every last second mattered. Every drop of energy was worth the risk.

If the queen hadn’t been pissed before, she was now. Not that it made much of a difference—she’d already been murderously enraged, so Alexander figured this wasn’t entirely his fault.

His scrambled mind barely had time to register his own nonsense before the queen lunged. The entire cave warped around her slithering mass, the air itself twisting under her sheer presence.

And yet, even as the monstrous force of nature barreled toward him, Alexander hesitated. Just a little longer. He could squeeze out just a little more—

Then, reality slammed back into him. Ten meters. That was all that separated them. For a creature of her size, that wasn’t even three seconds of distance. He wasn’t going to make it.

His body moved before his mind could. He ripped himself away from the crystal, rolling to the side with sheer, animal desperation. His eyes squeezed shut. He was dead. He had to be. He doubted he was fast enough to dodge in time.

But the pain never came.

Instead, a deafening crash rocked the entire cavern. A shockwave of air hit him, throwing dust and debris everywhere. His eyes snapped open to find himself lying far from the impact zone. The queen had slammed into the crystal, her massive body coiling around it in a dazed mess.

But the crystal—it was fine. Untouched.

Alexander barely registered his own survival. His first thought, to his own disbelief, was relief that the crystal hadn’t been destroyed.

“What the fuck are you doing, boy? Run!”

His ancestor’s voice snapped him back to reality like a whip.

The queen wouldn’t stay down for long. He didn’t have time to hesitate.

Without a second thought, Alexander turned and sprinted for the nearest tunnel, his breath ragged, his body screaming. Unlike the queen, he couldn’t just carve through rock and make his own path. He had to take whatever escape he could find.

But at least—at least his legs weren’t failing him.

Alexander had always believed that, if it truly came down to life or death, he could move faster than ever before. And now, as the monstrous presence behind him stirred, as survival surged through his veins like fire, he knew it was true.

He could go faster. He had to.

And he did.

Alexander barely avoided the massive thrashing body of the queen, the air around him whipping with the violent force of her attacks. His heart pounded as he twisted, narrowly dodging each blow. The ground beneath him cracked and groaned with each strike, and the air was thick with the stench of decay . Alexander’s instincts kicked in, and with one final desperate roll, he dove into one of the narrow tunnels, the cold stone walls barely squeezing him through.

But he knew it wasn’t over—not by a long shot. He could feel the presence of death lingering just behind him, the queen’s fury a constant pulse in the ground beneath his feet. His ancestor’s voice echoed in his mind, a steady reminder to keep moving. The walls of the tunnel seemed to close in on him as he sprinted, every muscle screaming in protest. He didn’t care. He had no choice.

Rumble.

Rumble.

Rumble.

The vibrations rattled through the earth like a warning, but Alexander didn’t dare stop to look. He just pushed harder, his breath coming in sharp gasps. The ground trembled beneath him, each shake amplifying the urgency in his chest. He was pushing himself harder, faster, his feet pounding against the tunnel floor with reckless determination. The rumbling grew louder, the force shaking through the air like an animal on the hunt.

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Alexander cursed under his breath. “The thing didn’t even take three minutes. Come the fuck on.” His voice was raw, frustration flooding his thoughts. His legs felt like they were turning to lead, but he poured everything he had into his feet, each step a desperate attempt to put more distance between him and the queen.

And, surprisingly, it worked. For a moment, the tunnel seemed to stretch just a little further ahead of him. His body was screaming, every tendon and muscle aching, but he felt the surge of adrenaline propelling him forward. He was faster. He was almost there.

But it didn’t matter. Not even a minute had passed when the sound of grinding stone reached his ears. Alexander’s heart stopped in his chest, and he dared to glance back. His blood turned to ice as he saw the queen’s enormous limbs smashing through the tunnel behind him. She wasn’t just chasing him anymore. She was destroying everything in her path, the walls crumbling and the earth splitting as she surged forward.

The queen’s body was a massive wrecking ball, and Alexander could hear the sickening crunch of stone and metal as she pulverized everything in her wake. Dust and debris filled the air, and Alexander’s breath hitched as he sprinted, the very ground beneath him cracking with each of her monstrous steps. Her breath was a toxic force, searing the air as it crashed down on him, and Alexander could feel the heat of her proximity like a storm in his veins.

Fuck.

The tunnel was shaking apart, the walls buckling under the queen’s assault. Her roar was deafening, and Alexander couldn’t hear anything over the sound of his heartbeat. He pushed harder, his body moving on sheer instinct now, but the shaking intensified. It was as if the very earth had turned against him.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck

Alexander pushed his legs harder, urging them to go faster, and to his surprise, they obeyed once more. For the first time in his life, it felt like things might actually go his way. But that was a laughable thought. Who was he kidding? The literal queen of the colony was on his tail, and this wasn’t some victory march. No, this was a desperate, heart-pounding escape.

Even with the newfound speed coursing through his body, it wasn’t enough. The queen was closing in—quickly. Alexander’s mind raced as he darted left, then right, shifting through thick vines and jagged rocks, trying to lose the queen in the labyrinth of nature. But the earth seemed to shudder beneath him as the beast just tore through everything in its path—an unstoppable juggernaut of destruction.

Nothing—nothing—could stop her. Not the trees, not the thick brush, not even her own children, who were crushed under the massive weight of her fury. The sound of bones snapping and bodies being ground into meat paste was a sickening accompaniment to the chaos. Alexander’s stomach churned at the thought. Then again, did it even matter? When you had hundreds—no, thousands—of children, what was a few crushed underfoot?

The queen was relentless. And now, she was only fifteen meters behind him.

Alexander’s heart skipped a beat. This was it. He was done for.

The ground shook with each massive step she took, feel the oppressive heat of her presence closing in. Her footsteps weren’t just loud—they were world-shaking. And the vibrations? They were slicing into his concentration like hot knives, each tremor pulling him back to the reality of his impending doom.

He glanced over his shoulder, just for a second. The queen’s massive body loomed, a monstrous silhouette that seemed to swallow the very air around it. And then—crack—it happened. The ground beneath him groaned, and he felt the shift in the air. The queen’s speed had suddenly increased. Without warning, she was on him.

In a blink, the distance between them closed from seventeen meters to a mere six.

Fuck.

The blood drained from Alexander’s face. His heart thundered in his chest, each beat louder than the last. There was no escape. No way out. The crushing weight of inevitability pressed down on him.

Alexander almost closed his eyes, ready to face the end. The crushing force, the suffocating weight of the queen’s attack—it was coming. He could already imagine the feel of her claws ripping through him, the crushing impact of her body.

But then, just as he steeled himself to be crushed like a bug—ironically, by some kind of bug—he felt it again. That warmth. That familiar, searing sensation deep within him, bubbling up from some forgotten place, as though it was about to explode.

It was the same feeling as before. The sensation he had last felt when he narrowly escaped the queen’s grasp the first time.

Rumble.

Rumble.

Rumble.

The ground beneath Alexander's feet trembled violently. The cave shuddered in response to the intense shaking. It felt like the entire mountain was about to come crashing down. His body swayed, unsteady, as he tried desperately to keep his balance.

But just as the earth beneath him rumbled with a deafening roar, Alexander lost his footing and fell hard. His head hit the ground with a sickening thud. The vibrations in the air were relentless, shaking the very bones of the cave. Every stone, every loose shard of rock trembled with the force of it.

Alexander thought, This is it. This is where I die.