With the team reset and Finn back in fighting shape, Adam stomped across the ground at the massive stone cocoon hiding the Queen. He had shrunk back to his normal size when he dismissed his armor, but there were still plenty of the black motes of pure Primordial Energy suffusing the air from the hundreds of ants they had slain earlier.
He willed his armor to absorb the energy. At first, nothing appeared to happen, but Adam could feel a pressure building in the armor until it reached a tipping point. Then, Adam grew to his titanic size from before. Power infused his War Regalia with the previously untapped potential, and he could feel the strength it lent him.
He was still nowhere near close to the size of Atlas that he had seen when accepting his skill crystal and wondered if one day he would be. For now, this would do the trick. Adam reached the cocoon and raised his hammer above his head, gripping the handle with both hands and pounding down on the rock with all his might. He was far stronger in this state, twice the size he had once been. He’d wager his strength had increased fivefold.
His hammer struck the rock with more force than he had ever hit anything, a shockwave jarring his arm in the process. There wasn’t even a scratch on the stone to show for it.
“Save your energy.” Caius said as he took up a position behind him and to the left. “You’re going to need it. I’m not sure what that Queen is going to come out as, but it will be much stronger than before. We’re going to need work together to get an opening.”
Adam nodded. He felt surprisingly calm. Perhaps it was ignorance in the face of forces he couldn’t understand. But he felt it was because he found a place he was needed. People that counted on him to fill a roll. He had been so hopelessly empty for years. He had tried to convince himself he was healing and moving on, but it never really was the case.
“There’s quite a few dimensional fluctuations emanating from that cocoon.” Finn called. “I think it’s about to emerge.” He stood about fifty yards away and to the left of Ava. The elemental he summoned mimicked his position but to the right. They spread out so no one attack of the Queen could target them all.
Adam braced himself. Be the sheepdog, not the sheep. He said to himself. Something his dad had always said to him before he passed. He heard a faint snicker deep in his mind at the thought. It was distant, as if a memory of a sound. He didn’t have time to think on it further as cracks appeared over the rock cocoon. They spread quickly before they exploded outward as if a bomb had been set off.
The Queen emerged – two massive black wings unfurling from her back as she stretched them to each side. She turned her head to each side as if inspecting her new body and raised her head, releasing a roar. A victorious bellow and a challenge in one. New white marks covered her body, and an extreme pressure exuded from her.
Two fire balls fell on the Queen, one from Finn and one from his elemental. The Queen looked up before they got to her and beat her wings, pushing her backwards and snuffing out the flames. As she landed, the earth embraced her – stone rose up each of her legs forming armor over her extremities.
Adam hit his shield with his hammer, a challenge of dominance. Even in his Titanic form, he was still much smaller than the Queen. She stood still four feet taller, with razor sharp mandibles extending from her mouth. The taunting ability of his armor had increased ten fold with the increase in size, and the smaller ants couldn’t help but attack him. The Queen however, was much more intelligent and powerful then them. She ignored Adams challenge and turned toward Caius.
Adam gritted his teeth and charged. Caius still held back, examining the Queen and waiting to make his move. Adam needed to give him an opening. He got to the Queen, hammer rising toward her jaw with an underhand swing. She raised a rock armored leg and deftly blocked. He struck again, spinning with the recoil and striking out toward a front leg. The Queen jumped to the side - her gaze still locked on Caius. Adam rushed and landed in front of her again, not giving her any space. He could play the bug that annoyed you so much that you had to deal with it before moving on.
The Queen glared at him in what he deciphered as an annoyed look. Good. He thought. He continued his flurry of attacks, never truly committing to a strike. He realized he wouldn’t be able to deliver any lasting damage to this monstrosity. He just needed to be able to hold out long enough for Caius and Finn to do some damage. Adam absolutely could net let himself be skewered by that stinger. He was confident his armor could take some blows, but something like that seemed a little above his pay grade at this point.
Caius and Finn committed now that the Queens attention was focused on Adam. Caius came in from the side, arcs of blue lightning jumping between his swords. He struck at where a joint should be, the lightning dissipated as soon as it hit stone but his blows were still nothing to be looked down on. Small chips appeared in the stone. Finn’s elemental continued to lob fire balls toward the Queens wings. They weren’t doing much damage, but the Queen had to constantly bat them to send currents of air toward the incoming infernos, stopping her from using them on Adam.
She jumped with the beating of her wings, moving with a surprising grace around the battlefield. Never able to fully take flight as a web of purple crackled around her anytime she took to the sky. No doubt Finn increasing the gravity around her, making it extraordinarily draining to fly.
Anytime she landed, Adam was there, ready to meet her with strikes of his hammer. Anytime she turned her attention toward Caius, Adam would commit to a powerful two-handed strike at her crown, one that ignoring would mean serious damage.
The battle went on like this for a few minutes, neither side gaining any reall advantage. The Queen was just too much stronger than they were. Every attack landed barely left more than a scratch. But at the same time, Adams team had too many potential threats for the Queen to ignore. She managed to pierce Adams armor a few times with those insanely sharp mandibles of hers when he got in too close or he didn’t get his shield around in time, but Ava was always ready with a [Healing Stream].
Adam did his best to keep up. His armor constantly drained the dissipating Primordial Energy in order to maintain his Titanic size, but it wouldn’t last forever. They needed to find a way to finish this fight before he shrunk back to normal size, or he would be in a world of trouble.
I could help. A sly voice whispered in his mind. It was the wolf. Adam froze for a second, startled at the whisper in his mind. As a result, he took a hard blow to the chest as the Queen sent a pillar of rock shooting at him through the ground. He tumbled backward, only stopping when he had slid a good twenty yards.
I can give you the power you need. Just let me help you. Afterall, if you die then all this time I’ve invested in you will go to waste. The whisper said again. Adam ignored it. He didn’t know who or what this whisper truly was. He saw it as a wolf and knew that wolf to have battled Atlas, but who could really know in a world where you could summon armor from thin air. Whether it was some twisted being that had set up shop in his soul or just a figment of his imagination, he wasn’t willing to allow it out of that cage in his mind. Regardless, he doubted any help he received would come free of cost.
The Queen took the opening it had created and leapt toward Finn’s elemental. It beat its wings furiously, sharp gusts of wind pelting the ground. The elemental put its hands together and released a massive torrent of flames at the underside of the descending Queen. Its body draining from a blistering blue heat to a soft red. The Queen landed on the elemental and it exploded, flames erupting outward and completely consuming the Queen.
The smoke cleared to reveal the Queens carapace smoldering from multiple spots, black ichor dripping from several wounds across its body but still largely unharmed. Caius charged the Queen, not wanting to give it any more breathing room but the Queen opened her maw, releasing multiple bursts of air that caused little sonic booms. Caius dodged the first few and Finn was able to redirect others, but he was hit by one eventually. It sent him careening through the air and into the corn stalks.
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It turned its attention on Ava. The stinger pulsed with a white light as it took to the skies again and began to fly toward her. She yelped and ran toward Adam. Ava still didn’t have any movement skills and was left largely unprotected. If she went down, it would only be a matter of time before Adam and Caius fell also.
Adam stepped in front of Ava, his shield set before him and hammer extended to its maximum length. Whatever the Queen was doing with that stinger, it couldn’t be good news for them. He would just have to hold out until Caius was back in the fight.
I can give you the strength. It would be so easy to crack that little shell of hers. To save your friends from becoming fodder for that Queens progression. The wolf whispered in his mind again. Adam gritted his teeth and ignored the whispers.
The Queen flew straight for them, the stinger emitting waves of increasing pressure with each passing second. He positioned Ava directly behind him, his towering frame leaving no room for the Queen to get to her unless she went through him. It was the exact lesson they had drilled into him from the start. He was meant to be the vanguard. The shield at the front so the others could survive. He had fully embraced that roll now, and he would be damned if he didn’t do his best. Only, the Queen flew directly over him and Ava and headed toward Finn who was another fifty yards behind them, hurling fireball after fireball at the approaching Queen.
“NO.” Adam yelled. He sprinted toward Finn, but the Queen descended rapidly and had a head start on him. He was bigger, faster, and stronger than before, but he couldn’t make up the distance in time to put himself in front of Finn.
Finn raised stone wall after wall from the earth, trying to bar the Queen’s descent toward him but she plowed through them barely slowing. It was as if Adam was watching the scene unfold in fast forward with how fast the Queen and Finn moved.
I could give you the strength to
“DO IT.” Adam roared, not giving the whisper more time to finish. He felt a snap in his mind as his body was immediately flooded with power. He felt his arms swell with power. Every fiber of his muscles feeling like they were being torn off the bone as he hurled his hammer toward the Queen. The very fabric of space seemed to warp around the hammer as it flew through the air. It impacted the Queen in the exact spot the stinger met its body.
In the blink of an eye, a hole ripped through the Queen followed by an implosion of space in its own body. The next second, black ichor burst everywhere, covering the clearing in shattered pieces of ant.
A silence fell over the clearing with the only noise the faint panting of Adam and Ava. His arm fell limply at his side. He heard a faint chuckle in his mind before the presence reseeded back to nothingness a moment later.
“Am I alive. Or is this the afterlife. Why is everything black and sticky.” Finn said. He crawled out from beneath the remains of the Queen. His body completely black and covered in ichor.
Caius entered the clearing, his swords raised and emanating thick bursts of electricity that arced over his body. The right side of his face was a bloody mess, his hair matted and stained red.
Ava sent a [Healing Stream] toward him and then one at Adam who had dropped to a knee. She let out a snort before sitting on the ground herself. The snort turned to a full body fit of laughter as she rolled on the ground.
“What happened.” Caius asked. He glanced around the clearing and let his swords burst to smoke as he dismissed them.
“Well.” Finn said. “It would appear the Queen self-imploded just before it managed to stab me with that terrifying stinger of hers. I was scared I was about to be sucked into that body of hers.”
Ava managed to calm herself enough to sit up, but soft chuckles still escaped her lips. “If only you were that lucky.” She said. “I just can’t believe we managed to survive a beast at the peak of barony. I thought we were dead for sure. How crazy that the stinger ended up being the weak spot.”
“Ahh I see.” Finn said. “Truly ingenious. Hide your largest weakness in the same spot as your greatest strength. Most would just naturally avoid that terrifying life draining stinger. But how did you manage to hit from all the way over there?”
Ava pointed at Adam. “He screamed like a mad man and threw his hammer. Never seen anything like it.” She said. “Next second the Queen was reduced to nothing. Serves it right coming after us like that.”
“Well to be fair, we kind of annihilated its entire hive first.” Finn said.
Caius walked over and put a hand on Adams shoulder. He had dismissed his armor and was back to normal size. “Well done, Adam.” He said. “You continue to surprise. You’ve really embraced your role.”
Adam met Caius’s eyes for a moment before looking down. His entire body throbbed, and he felt a spike of shame as he didn’t mention the whisper from the wolf or how he had destroyed the Queen. He just couldn’t risk it, not until he knew how they would react.
“Just got lucky, I guess.” He said.
“No, it’s more than that.” Caius said. He always seemed so confident. Never doubting anything. “You’re a natural. You’ve great instincts. You were exactly where you needed to be and did exactly what was asked of you. More even with that final blow.” Caius turned toward Finn who had stripped to his underwear and was stuffing his clothes into the green vial of cleaning solution he carried. “You’ve got to stop being so impulsive. That’s twice since we’ve gotten here that you’ve burned out and then you go and do something as idiotic as injecting yourself with an experimental liquid. What the hell were your thinking?”
Finn looked like a kid being chastised. “I’m. I’m sorry. I was just trying to help and got carried away.”
Caius shook his head and took some deep breaths. “You know, for being so smart you can really be an idiot sometimes. I could understand if Adam did it. I mean he’s brand new to this world. But you should know better, Finn. You need to stop acting like we’re at the Academy where mistakes won’t kill us.”
It was the first time Adam had seen Caius lose his composure. He was normally so calm and collected. He had built up this image of Caius as being this unshakable leader, but he could tell the fight had gotten to him. How close they were to death.
Finn nodded. “I know. You’re right. I’ll try and be better. I’ll…”
“There’s no trying Finn. You HAVE to be better. I’m beyond sick of making up excuses for you or covering for your actions. It almost got us all killed today.” Caius yelled.
“I know. I ‘m sorry. I just…”
“Finn. You know you’re like a brother but I need some time to think and cool down.” Caius shook his head and walked off into the corn stalks. Ava ran after him leaving just Finn and Adam in the clearing.
Adam walked over to Finn who had pulled a seat from his fanny pack and was sitting with his head in his hands. He patted his back. He had been on both the giving and receiving end of talks like that through his time in the military. It wasn’t fun either way.
“Got a chair for me?” He asked. Finn put his hand to his fanny pack and the next second a chair appeared beside him.
“How do you just know what to do?” Finn asked, head still buried in his hands.
Adam couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Finn, I have absolutely no idea what to do. I’m just trying to survive every second and do what I can to help. The difference between me and you are that there are absolutely no expectations on me. I could hunker down in my armor and just sit there and it would be acceptable where you carry the weight of your team.”
“But you don’t.” Finn said, eyes rimmed red as he looked up at Adam. “You’ve been throwing yourself in harm’s way ever since getting here. How do you always seem to do the right thing? I feel like I’m constantly worried I’m going to mess up.”
Adam felt anther pang of shame at keeping things from them but swallowed it down. “My dad used to tell me a story about a shepherd, his sheep, and wolves. Well, more of a poem really. It’s essentially an allegory for the different type of people.”
“Can I hear it?” Finn asked. “I need something to take my mind off things.”
Adam nodded. “The shepherd watched from high on the hill, as his flock grazed and the sun shone down. He stood strong wooden staff in hand, sweat creased his brow like a silent crown. He toiled all day, battling the sun and the wind. The sheep followed their shepherd happy in their ignorance. Heads down as they moved with no thought to stray. But as night fell and the last light left. The shepherd was left blind and needed to rest. It was not long before a cruel sound echoed. The howls of wolves sounded bringing the shepherd his test. He rushed to protect the flock for which he cared. But the cries of pain pierced the dark of the night. When at last the day did come with the suns first rays. The shepherd was left with a horrible sight. He cried and pleaded begging for an answer. A prayer to the all-mighty for the flocks protection. For the sheep were helpless and the shepherd alone. And the wolves prayed on their weakness while feigning affection. Though some nights were calm, and the wolves kept away, on some nights they came, and the sheep would then pay.”
“The shepherds solace hung heavy and his head did sag. As once again he was helpless as the howls pierced the night. At suns first light the shepherd rushed to his flock, and was shocked to find them safe in first light. In the middle sat panting a dog. Blood on his jaws and cuts on his feet. But smile he did and to the shepherd he ran. With tears in his eyes the man looked down and smiled. And with a voice that was soft and a hand that was grateful. He patted their protector and let out a grunt. For it’s better to be a sheepdog than a sheep the wolves hunt.”
“That’s a crappy poem.” Finn said. What is that even supposed to mean?”
“I never really understood it either until I got in the military. And I definitely butchered the words, but the moral of the story is that my dad believed that there’s three type of people in this world. Sheep, wolves, and sheep dogs. You’re going to be one, so you might as well be a sheep dog and protect people than be a sheep who needs protecting. Finn, I can tell you from the short amount of time that I’ve known you that you are absolutely not a sheep or a wolf. So just keep trying to protect the people you love, and it will all work out.” Adam heard the wolf stir in his mind at the story as if it was mocking him, but he ignored it for the time being.
“Still doesn’t change the fact that I can’t help but screw up.” Finn said.
Adam nodded. He knew that feeling as well. “Just keep trying to be a sheep dog and it will all work out. I promise.”
Finn nodded in thanks, clearly not wanting to talk about it further. He would be fine. And honestly, he didn’t blame Caius for what he had said. Sometimes you had to put friendship aside to get through to people especially when your lives were on the line.
A moment later, two glowing cubes appeared consolidated from the floating specs of Primordial Energy around them. The last remnants of the Queen.
“At least all that hard work paid off.” Finn said as he reached down and picked up the cubes.
“Maybe Ava and Caius won’t be in the mood after that battle.” Adam said, smiling toward Finn.
He smirked back, the mood lightening a bit. “I wouldn’t count on it. They essentially have some freedom for the first time in our lives. They’re going to be at each other every chance they get.”