Well, calling a single story building a “tower” was a bit of an exaggeration, but Belissar couldn’t mistake the material, the perfectly smooth and round exterior, or the glowing sphere held by a ring of stone at the top. Descriptions of the Towers were taught to frontier children, illustrations filled every book on the subject, and stylized designs adorned the crests and banners of every Tower Lord.

Moreover...the moment he saw it in the sphere, and the “Dungeon Status” before his eyes, he knew. He could feel it...quite literally, in fact. The warmth inside him resonated and confirmed his thoughts. He was now aware that the Tower he viewed was the place he was standing in. He could feel the boundaries of the Tower like the edges of his skin. He could even feel the empty spot the flower meadow was waiting to fill. It felt like he was on the verge of sneezing or had something stuck in his teeth as the room was somehow there but not. Every inch of it had the same warmth flowing through it as did through the sphere and his body.

He, an unworthy peasant, was standing inside a Tower of the Gods...and yet he had not been smote.

No...that wasn’t all...

He looked at his hand, searching for the symbol. It responded and began to glow. His eyes widened as he saw the same symbol in the “Dungeon Status.” As he saw his name listed as the dungeon master.

And if this place was the dungeon...then a dungeon was what the strange words called a Tower. And if he was the master of the dungeon, then he was a...

“No no no, that’s blasphemy, Belissar!”

He grabbed his head and turned away from the sphere. It didn’t make any sense. The Towers of the Gods were special gifts granted to humanity to keep the Hunger at bay. And as gifts from the gods, only those specifically chosen by the gods were even allowed inside. And to become a Tower Lord? Only those truly favored by the gods were worthy of such an honor.

So Belissar, a random peasant from the frontier, certainly could not have become a Tower Lord. Such an event would go against everything he had ever been taught about Towers, the world, the gods, everything!

And yet...here he was. Everything he could see and feel told him that this was a Tower. And everything he could see and feel also told him...that this Tower was now connected to him.

Belissar trembled and fell to the ground.

This had to be a mistake. How could this even have happened? He was minding his own business and dying in the dirt and now he had somehow not merely defiled a Tower with his presence, but had gone and stolen it somehow? What would happen to him when everyone found out? What would the Tower Lords do to him? What would the gods do to him?

Of all the unlucky things to happen to him in this life, this must have been the worst yet. How was he going to explain himself to the gods? If he hadn’t been doomed at the Hall of Judgement before, he definitely was now.

Just then, the bee buzzed and flew in front of his face. She flew around in different circular patterns, and Belissar froze.

“What wrong? Queen still hurt?”

He heard...no, that was wrong. He didn’t hear anything but buzzing. And yet...somehow...he could tell what the bee was saying. Well, that or his mind had broken under the strain.

“You can talk?!”

The bee paused, and then began quickly zooming around.

“Queen can understand now?!”

Belissar’s jaw dropped.

“Wait...now?! You’ve always been talking?!”

“Yes?”

Belissar’s mouth opened and closed a couple of times before he managed to make any noise. Eventually though, he shook his head. The bee talking now...or, rather, he now being able to interpret the bee’s dancing and flying as words was...well deeply concerning but it paled in comparison to the rest of the issues of the day. And the bee had seemed to want him to touch the sphere that led to all this...so perhaps she knew what had happened.

And then Belissar froze again, and quickly scrambled to his feet. He rushed to bow towards the bee. Because if this was a Tower of the Gods and this bee was here from the start, and seemed to know how it worked, then wouldn’t that mean she was a...

“A-Are you a god?”

The bee buzzed and wobbled about on her flight. Belissar could perceive amusement.

“No? Am worker! Your worker, now!”

Belissar blinked and exhaled his breath, standing back up.

“Well, um, if not...do you know what happened, then? How we ended up in a Tower of the Gods?”

The bee began to dutifully weave her story through the air.

“Queen was hurt! Wanted to help, like Queen helped worker! Then moved here and became core! Core want choose queen, so made Queen queen!”

Belissar blinked again.

“Wait...you became a...core? What’s that?”

The bee flew over to the sphere and landed on it.

“This!”

Belissar blinked as the gears turned in his mind.

“Wait so...you became a Tower of the Gods?”

The bee flew about a bit unsteadily.

“Tower...is dungeon? Then, yes?”

Belissar’s jaw dropped.

“How?”

“Don’t know.”

Belissar grunted and held his head at that. He took a deep breath.

“Um, look, Miss Bee, I’m grateful that you helped me, and saved my life from the looks of it. But, um, this is a Tower of the Gods, and I’m definitely not one of the chosen. It’ll probably be a big problem once everyone finds out. So, um, could you...unconnect me, or something? Undo whatever happened?”

The bee flew slowly.

“Can’t.”

Belissar’s heart sank into his stomach.

“Can’t?”

The bee flew a little quicker.

“Can’t. Core says once queen, always queen. And Queen is worker’s queen! Can’t make not queen!”

Belissar held his head and sank to the ground again. He sat there as his heart pounded, before eventually taking a deep breath. He tried to organize his thoughts, and what he knew.

Ok, first of all, he had almost been killed.

Next, the bee, which apparently had been intelligent all along, tried to save him...and somehow succeeded. Well, he could be grateful to her for that. In fact, didn’t that confirm she actually was the same bee all along? That they were actually friends?

Belissar shook his head. He was getting distracted.

After that, they had somehow ended up here. The bee said she became the...core? Of a Tower of the Gods? How did that work?

And then she got him to touch said core, and now the Tower was somehow connected to him and listed him as its master. Him. An unworthy peasant who definitely wasn’t chosen by the gods to be here. Unless the bee was somehow connected to the gods? The Tower listed her as a “Conduit” or something if that meant anything. And if true, it would explain the talking bee thing...and the lack of smiting for his very presence defiling the gods’ gift.

And finally, the bee said whatever had happened could not be undone. The “stealing the Tower” thing was permanent.

Belissar nodded to himself.

Yep.

He still had absolutely no idea what was going on here.

“What do I do now?”

Well, he was mostly speaking to himself, but there was someone in the room he could respond. And she did.

“Queen says, not worker!”

He tilted his head.

“Hm?”

The bee was flying in front of him in excited loops.

“Queen is queen now! Queen of core! Queen leads, builds hive, lays brood! Worker listens!”

Belissar heaved a sigh. Being in charge was exactly the issue here. And being told he was supposed to lead did not help him figure out what to do. Not to mention the whole “build hive, lay brood” thing. He was pretty sure the bee was under a fundamental misconception of his capabilities.

Well, she was also calling him “queen.” He should probably correct her on that. Eventually though, as he had to figure out how to avoid the wrath of the gods first.

And also...something was drawing his attention and distracting him from solving his impending doom. The flower meadow room felt like it was poking at his side as a light kept blinking within the sphere...core...thing. Even if he turned away, it remained present on his mind and in his perception. He felt bloated, or maybe constipated?

He sighed and stood up, walking over to the sphere. He looked over it once more, and the status that lingered before his eyes. He noticed something that he had seen before.

Current Missions: Complete at least one room, Complete initial purification, Earn the favor of a patron

Ok, so apparently Tower Lords had missions? That made sense, they had the duty of watching over the gifts of the gods. Which meant...these missions might be assigned by the gods to the Tower Lord.

He crossed his arms and frowned.

The question was...would the gods be angrier if he messed around with one of their Towers even more than he had...or if he neglected these missions and left them unfulfilled after stealing the place of the chosen that was supposed to handle them?

The bee flew over to the core and landed on top of it as he pondered which decision was less likely to lead to divine judgement. She looked up at him, faintly buzzing her little wings. Belissar looked at her for a moment and then sighed. Then he reached for the core...

He really hoped he wouldn’t regret this.