Belissar touched the core and frowned.
“Ok then...we’ll finish the, um, room or whatever. Now...how do I actually do that?”
As he thought, his vision went white.
----------------------------------------
A moment later, he found himself...floating above a field of flowers. He gasped, but he wasn’t falling. He was...flying? How was that possible?
He tried to look down at himself for any hints and gasped again. He...couldn’t see his body. At all. But as he focused on it, he realized he could still feel it. As far as he was aware...he was still standing in the white room, with his hand on the core.
Weird.
But that was nothing new for this situation. This was a Tower of the Gods, after all! Who was he to say what was weird and what was normal? Maybe Tower Lords thought it weird that peasants had to walk around on their feet...and stay inside their bodies?
In any case, he was getting distracted again, and the room was still poking him. So, he set out to get to work. And again, once he had that thought, something changed.
Please place Monster Bee Queen Spawner(s). Upkeep: 20 Mana per active spawner.
Mana: 95/100
A tree with a larger beehive than Belissar had ever seen appeared on the ground below. It was transparent, as if made of light.
“Place, huh? Does that mean it can move?”
Belissar waved his hands around...or did the ghostly equivalent, he supposed. The tree moved as he did.
“Huh.”
He moved it around a bit more. He spun it around. He tried to lift it into the sky, but that didn’t work. He tried to sink it into the ground, but it turned red. It also turned red if he moved it on top of an existing tree.
Eventually though, he got tired of moving it around. And with no better ideas, he just put it back where it first appeared.
“Ok, um, the Tower seems to respond to my thoughts, or something? In that case, place it here?”
The tree rooted into the ground, and then slowly grew solid from the top down.
Monster Bee Queen spawner placed.
Mana: 75/100
Flower Meadow completed. Confirm?
Belissar blinked...or tried to as well as he could with his body elsewhere.
“Um, confirm?”
And then he felt as if he were being pulled up into the sky...
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Flower Meadow placed.
Mission: Complete at least one room completed!
Reward: One room feature selection.
Preparing for initial purification attempt. Next attempt in 2 days, 23 hours, and 59 minutes...
Belissar found himself back in the room with the core and felt as the Tower shifted. A doorway appeared in the room he was in. He blinked at it, and then looked at the bee, and then back at the core.
“Um...should we check it out?”
The bee flew up off of the core and landed on his shoulder.
“Ok!”
“Right...”
Belissar slowly began to step forward. He opened the door...and found the scene of a meadow before him, slightly shifting and distorting as if under a pool of water. He tried to stick his head through and peek outside...but his head passed right through the door and stayed in the white room. Belissar took a step back and frowned.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
A moment later he shook his head. The situation wasn’t going to change if he just sat there pondering things he didn’t understand. So, he might as well try something. He stepped through the door.
He blinked at the sight before him.
He was standing in a meadow full of flowers, surrounded by a wall of trees. The sun was shining down on him, and yellow dandelions covered the ground. A gentle breeze blew across the field, causing the dandelions to sway. The occasional tree provided a bit of shade. Behind him, a line of trees grew so closely together they formed a solid wall, preventing him from seeing or moving any further. A glowing doorway made of white light appeared within the tree wall. Far in front of him, a large wooden gate stood in a second wall of trees. Belissar glanced around in a daze.
It was exactly the field he had seen in the sphere.
“I...made this?”
He bent down and picked up one of the dandelions. It looked real. It felt real. It smelt real. He stopped himself just before putting it in his mouth, as he recalled he did not particularly enjoy the taste of raw dandelion.
“...a Tower of the Gods, indeed.”
After all, what else could he call something that could make an entire field like this out of nothing, and in moments? He gulped as his heart sank. This truly was the work of the gods...and that meant he had truly stolen said work from one of the chosen. To see the power of the gods at work made him dread to see their wrath.
He slowly walked through the field until he came to the center, where the tree with the beehive stood. As he approached it, he felt the warmth inside of both him and the Tower began to concentrate within the hive. Soon, the entrance to the beehive began to glow, and then a bee emerged. She was larger than any bee he had ever seen, about the length of his finger. As he looked over her, words appeared before him once again.
Monster Bee Queen
Vitality: Minimal
Strength: Minimal
Speed: Average
Magic: Minimal
Defense: Minimal
Resistance: Minimal
Special: Above Average
Notable Skills: Poison Sting, Brood Mother, Command Offspring
Description: A honey bee queen that has accumulated enough mana to become something more. Mostly similar to her mundane cousins, but more aggressive, and has slightly magical venom. This one is a queen, and capable of building a hive of monster bees.
As Belissar was trying to process the words, the monster bee queen shook herself, and then flew towards him. Belissar tensed for a moment, but she stopped in the air before him, watching his every move. He could...feel her intentions, somehow. She wanted...orders?
“Um...well...you’re the bee. Go and do bee things, I guess.”
The monster bee flew in a salute pattern and then flew off into the field. She began gathering pollen from the flowers, before flying off to one of the trees. There, she started building a small wax comb, and started laying eggs.
Belissar just watched in silence as the first bee flew off his shoulder and danced around in the air before him.
“Queen built hive, laid brood!”
Belissar rubbed his chin before nodding. Now was as good a time as ever.
“Um, you know I’m a guy, right?”
The bee paused.
“Guy?”
Belissar nodded.
“A boy, a man, a male?”
The bee’s flight grew unsteady.
“Queen is...drone? But...Queen made hive, laid brood? Drone can't.”
Belissar opened his mouth to object, but then glanced around at the field of flowers he had apparently made...and the monster queen bee he had apparently chosen...and the monster bee queen spawner he had apparently placed.
“That’s...um...well I guess that’s true? But, like, I am still a guy, you know?”
The bee shook in flight.
“But...how can Queen be a drone? Drone is not queen.”
Belissar blinked.
“Um...then how about a king?”
The bee flew unsteadily.
“King? What king?”
Belissar nodded to himself.
“It’s, um, like a queen, but male. Rules countries, raises armies? It’s, um, a human thing.”
The bee flew slowly.
“King like queen, but also drone? Do both job? Humans have drone queens?”
Belissar furrowed his brow.
“Um, kind of?”
The bee continued her slow flight.
“Queen want call king?”
Belissar slowly nodded.
“Yes please, if you don’t mind.”
The bee paused for a moment, then flew in a quick salute.
“Ok! Will call Queen King now!”
Belissar gave her a small grin.
“Thanks.”
Well...he had a feeling he hadn’t exactly resolved the fundamental misunderstanding, but close enough. As long as she didn’t expect him to lay eggs directly...
With that situation...resolved...somewhat...Belissar made his way to the other unique feature in his field. The large gate on the other side. Two large wooden doors, standing alone in the middle of the field. Belissar walked around it and found nothing behind or around it. It truly appeared as just a door, randomly standing in the middle of nowhere. He frowned, and then shrugged.
“Might as well...”
Begin initial purification attempt? Time remaining: 2 days, 23 hours, and 37 minutes...
Belissar immediately shut the door and braced his body against it as he saw a writhing, amorphous black mass outside.
The Hunger.
Outside the door was a sea of the Hunger.
The doom that haunted the world. The punishment from the gods upon the wicked. It consumed everything that it touched, be it human, beast, plant, or even metal and stone, and turned them into twisted shadows of their former selves. Those shades would then assault the living and continue to spread the Hunger.
Belissar would die in seconds if exposed to it. Even now his heart pounded as he slowly backed away from the gate. He was completely surrounded...which meant soon, this place would be corrupted too. There would be no escape.
And then he paused.
And remembered that he was standing inside a Tower of the Gods. The gift the gods had granted to combat that very Hunger. To protect the chosen from the doom.
He watched the gate for a few more minutes, but it seemed the Hunger somehow couldn’t make it past the wooden gates. He exhaled his breath. It seemed he was safe...for now.
In fact...weren’t Towers of the Gods supposed to purify the Hunger from their surroundings? Or had this one failed to do so because it was being defiled by him?
Belissar gulped, and once again prayed that the gods might forgive him. And given what he saw outside that gate, hopefully sooner than later...