From the perspective of the hive, they could look at this in one of 3 ways.

The humans were so confident in their abilities they didn’t care if the fairy did betray them; the humans looked down on the fairy so much, they could not believe the small useless flighty creature was capable of doing them any harm; or the human were so stupid, the thought of the fairy betraying them never ever entered their minds. No matter the answer, the humans were now following the fairy to the last room of the third floor.

After the failed ambush, the Fire Hive had told the (fire?) fairy who had been leading the humans to lead the group to the last room directly. To the surprise of the hive, the fairy agreed immediately. The fairy went back to the group of human and began to, in its words, buttering the humans up. The fairy groveled before the humans and in short order, managed to convince the humans it had nothing to do with the ambush.

It was one of those things about humans the hive just did not understand. They had seen mages immediately try to kill the fairies when ambushes began but this group led by The Grand didn’t. To be fair, the mage in charge of the fairy looked like he knew something was wrong but The Grand overruled him. It looked to the hive that The Grand didn’t believe the fairy could betray the humans. The humans’ behavior was very strange to the spirits of the hive but they won’t complain. It did get the humans to the last room of the third floor.

At the entrance of the room, it was clear to the hive that the humans could feel the power within. Most of them looked scared and more than a few told The Grand of “the danger” in the room. However all it took was a look from The Grand and the “suggestions” stopped. Still, the humans weren’t total fools. Before entering the room, the warriors sharpened their weapons; the hunters readied their arrows; and the mages prepared their spells and potions. When all was ready, they entered the room...and were shocked!

The humans looked around the huge room and while they were clearly shocked by the size of it, what really surprised them was how empty it was. Listening in to the whispers of the humans, the spirits within the hive discovered that the humans were expecting a great monster in this room, but all they got was a floating crystal.

“Wait; WHAT!”

The hive immediately changed their focus and, lo and behold, there they were. The Fire Hive had not moved! They were still at the back of the last room and now in full view of the humans. The spirits within the hive were both surprised and unsurprised at the same time. Of course those idiots were not going to move! They were…

“A spirit matrix…how rare!” The Grand said. He looked very amused and then shouted to room. “Am I’m supposed to be impressed dark mage? Am I’m supposed to be surprised by the fact you could create a spirit matrix? HA HA HA…I made one before and right now it’s sitting nicely in my chamber in Yachium. Your matrix is nothing!”

As The Grand went into a laughter fit, one of the warriors asked a mage what was a spirit matrix. It was an answer the hive was very interested in.

“It’s that crystal.” The mage whispered back. “It’s a magical artifact that we mages used to store spirits.”  

“Spirits storage? What for?”

“Yes sir,” the mage answered. “We mages need to gather spirits to…well, I can’t tell you anything more than that but that artifact is used to store spirits so that we mages could use them.”

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“Never heard of it.”

“It’s very rare. You need several high mages, as many as 4 to 5 of them, to make one and even then there’s no guarantee of success. This dark mage must be truly powerful to be able to make one.”

The hive was in an uproar!

A spirit matrix! They were something called a spirit matrix! No; they were supposed to be a spirit matrix; a storage of some sorts for spirits. It could explain why and how the spirits were in the hive but…something felt wrong. The humans didn’t expect the hive to be able to create creatures and the humans were still talking about some “dark mage”. The Grand also spoke of another matrix in the human city of Yachium. Does that mean there’s another hive out there? Surely the humans…

The spirits within the hive sensed the unease of the humans immediately. A wave of dread erupted from the group of humans and the hive saw that the humans were now all looking up at the ceiling of the room. There, hanging on the ceiling, was the powerfully-unique-fire-flinger; the Floor Boss of the third floor.

Seeing that it had been spotted, the Fire Spirit controlling the powerfully-unique-fire-flinger let go of its grip of the ceiling and spread its wings. The creature floated down to the ground and the dread of the humans turned into panic. The hive could almost sense the satisfaction of the Fire Hive; those guys had been hoping for a chance to use their giant lizard for a long time. The spirits within the hive wondered how long the Fire spirits had been planning that entrance.

Murmurs could be heard from the humans and the spirits within the hive could hear them say things like “Spirit Beast”; “Dangerous reptile of some sort”; “Raging monster”. The humans were all scared, except one. The Grand stepped forward from the group of humans and chuckled.

“Another spirit beast? Is that the best you got dark mage? Seems like molding energy into beastlike monstrosities is the only thing you can do!” The Grand shook his head and mocked the dark mage that did not exist. “Dangerous lizard? No I say! This is nothing but an odorous nonsense from arrogant garbage of a mage! You are nothing! This is nothing! A laughing stock of a…”

“WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?”

Silence descended on the room. The humans were stunned. Some of them had their mouths open. Even The Grand looked like he was loss of words. They could not believe it. Then one of the human mage whispered, “It can talk…”

“OF COURSE WE CAN TALK! WHAT DO YOU STUPID HUMANS EXPECT? THIS IS THE POWERFULLY-UNIQUE-FIRE-FLINGER!”

Honestly, the hive was kind of surprised the giant horned lizard of the Fire Hive could speak too. They had never heard it speak but seeing the reactions of the humans, it seem that the Fire Hive does have some good ideas at times.

“Not possible,” The Grand murmured. “Beasts can’t talk. It’s impossible. No one…how did this dark mage managed to do it? It’s impossible…not possible…not…” For some reason, The Grand’s face had turned red. “IMPOSSIBLE! This is impossible! I am The Grand! I am the most powerful mage in the world! You can’t have done this! This is a trick; A TRICK!”

“WHAT DARK MAGE? WHAT IS THIS DARK MAGE YOU HUMANS HAD BEEN TALKING ABOUT! THERE’RE NO MAGES IN HERE BUT FOR YOU HUMANS!”

“No mage? You are not made by a mage? What are you then?” The Grand asked. In response, the Floor Boss of the third floor spread its wings and arched its long neck upwards.

“WE TOLD YOU ALREADY; THIS IS THE POWERFULLY-UNIQUE-FIRE-FLINGER! LOOK AT OUR BEAUTIFUL WINGS! LOOK AT OUR ENORMOUS SIZE! OUR TEETH CAN CUT THROUGH YOUR ARMOUR! OUR FIRE CAN BURN YOUR BODY TO YOUR BONES! SO OF COURSE, TALKING IS NOTHING TO US!”

“What are you?” The Grand’s question came out in a whisper but the room was so quiet now, the Fire Hive had no problem hearing it.

“WE HAVE BEEN CALLED MANY THINGS! GENIUSES! CREATORS! SPIRITS! MOSTLY, WE ARE CALLED A HIVE!”

The Grand took a moment to take in the information. Then he pointed at the powerfully-unique-fire-flinger and asked the question that would go down as one of the defining moment of history in the world of Ioplan.

“A hive! What does that mean? You are a hive?”

“NO, YOU FOOL! WE ALREADY TOLD YOU THIS IS THE POWERFULLY-UNIQUE-FIRE-FLINGER!” The Floor Boss of the third floor turned its long neck back towards the crystal at the back of the room and said. “WE ARE OVER THERE!”

The spirits within the hive looked on the exchange between The Grand and the Fire Hive in disbelief. Then one of the spirits had to ask. “Did the idiots just do that?”

The Grand looked at the crystal at the back of the room in puzzlement. Then his face changed. “Sentient! The spirit matrix is sentient! That stupid dark mage must have lost control when making that matrix and somehow the spirits within became…aware! DESTROY THAT MATRIX!”

At his command, the humans charged. The fight was on and in the hive the spirits did not know who to cheer for. Then one of spirits had to ask.

“Is it wrong for us to hope that the humans could kill these idiots?”

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