A loud buzzing filled the air. The massive, six-legged, four-winged Apideis Queen hovered low. Her stinger was sharp, and a transparent, glass-like coating gleamed along it. Her abdomen was thick with fur, yet it still looked solid, hard to approach.
Her head was dominated by a single pair of massive mandibles, pinching and flexing. Two compound eyes swept the clearing, and Sol knew she had already found her target.
The two hive-destroying, honey-stealing, Apideis-murdering Helarzos.
Without the slightest hesitation, the Queen surged above them and began to buzz. The vibration from her forewings and hindwings rolled outward in a violent wave, forcing leaves to drop from the trees. That was not all. As if obeying a succinct command, the other Apideis moved as a unit, converging to enact revenge on the invaders.
Sol took a quick look around. The five pups were ready to help if he needed it, but something in him settled, instinctive and sure. This was still within his capabilities.
He looked at Wanwan and shook his head.
Wanwan accepted it with a sharp bark, followed by the other four pups answering in turn. They held their position, vigilant.
"Aunt Haati. There has been a situation."
"Fufu, a Queen?"
"How did you… yes. The Queen of the bees."
"Do you know what to do?"
"Honestly, no. But I'll manage."
"Fufu. I believe in you."
"Understood."
With that, Sol scanned his surroundings and spotted phonolites near the Apideis' hive. He dropped down and grabbed two larger stones from the scattered pile.
These rocks, the phonolites, could be found near the lower parts of the Stake. They were named for the loud ringing sound they emitted when they broke. The Apideis often used them as part of a hive's foundation to retain its natural structural integrity. The resonance from the hollow portions of the stone acted as an amplifier, allowing them to broadcast buzzing from deep within the hive, further protecting it from invaders.
Unfortunately, the Helarzos were immune to the buzzing, even when it was amplified with phonolites. It was unknown whether they could not detect the frequency, or whether they could detect it and simply did not care.
Sol weighed the two rocks and judged them perfect at a glance. He jumped, scaled the tree upward, then launched forward with all his strength to gain a clean angle. He threw the first rock far from the two Helarzos, still in danger beneath the Queen's shadow.
The phonolite lodged into a thick trunk just behind the Queen's massive thorax.
An exchange with Teacher Naama rang inside his mind.
"What's the weakness of the bees?"
"It's either fire, or water, or lots of snow. Or if you can't really find any… you can use loud sounds."
"Loud? How loud?"
"Let's see… as loud as you can take."
Still using the momentum from his first throw, Sol breathed in and spun his body in the air to gain more force. He hurled the second phonolite toward the same position.
RINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!
The stones struck with enough force to blow both apart into hundreds of pieces, sending shrapnel outward alongside a heavy, brutal ringing.
As if by reflex, the Apideis army stopped its charge toward the two cowering bears and scattered. The Queen wavered for a moment, then beat her wings faster, still focused on the two honey-glazed Helarzos trying to crawl out of the death arena beneath her.
It didn't work?
Sol moved sideways at once. He saw no change beyond the scattering and confusion of watermelon-sized bees. For the Queen, it seemed the ringing had done nothing.
Then he noticed it.
Her compound eyes were tracking him, too.
The Queen had acknowledged him as a threat, but she had not reached the point where she wanted to fight him.
All right. What's next?
The buzzing grew louder.
So loud, in fact, that Sol felt the liquid inside his body resonate with the vibration, locking him in place.
It wasn't painful at this range. Just debilitating.
But for the two bears, directly beneath her thorax, it was worse. They coughed up blood and writhed on the ground.
…Huh. This Queen hates the bears that much, apparently. Sol straightened and pushed back his hood, eyes fixed on the exchange between the two species. He took a deep breath and snapped his gaze up at the Queen, letting clear killing intent spill out.
"Hey. Big Bee."
Another invisible dome expanded from him, brushing over the Queen, the pups, and the two bears, who were already wounded beyond belief. The Apideis Queen shifted, slow and deliberate, until she aligned with Sol.
"You're not invited."
Her mandibles opened.
A shrill, high-frequency shriek tore out of her, and she shot toward Sol's position, threatened by the existence of a new predator in their midst. An invisible dome rushed outward from her and slammed into Sol's domain.
A loud cracking sound tore through the air.
Two predators were recognizing each other as equals, and now it was time to see who would be the one left standing.
The Queen's wings vibrated at an unprecedented speed, sending an invisible signal of resonance toward anything with liquid in its body.
Sol felt his body turn strange, and then that strange sensation became heat, the bad kind. He forced himself to evade to the side, realizing the vibration inside him intensified the closer he got to her.
This thing can use the vibrations from her wings to cook something alive from the inside? That's rough. He shifted farther from his previous position, making sure the resonance would not chew at his organs too quickly.
That posed a new problem.
His nonlethal arsenal, for now, depended on unarmed strikes. To strike, he had to get close. And to get close, he had to endure the vibration long enough to land something decisive. That meant he would have to risk severe internal injuries if he pushed through without thinking about this first.
Sol shifted and tried to disappear behind some trees. The Apideis Queen followed closely, along with her retinue.
The Queen's control in the air was phenomenal. She didn't crash into a tree the way Sol wanted. Instead, she drifted and stayed near, keeping the buzzing pressure tight and constant, making sure the vibration would cook him slowly from within.
Another shriek.
The previously scattered Apideis reorganized into a dense, living ball that blocked Sol's path right in front of him.
"…!!!" Sol changed direction sharply to the right. He sprinted up a trunk, ran vertically into the canopy, then leapt with all his might. Midair, he snapped off branches and flung them down toward the two incapacitated bears, hoping to wake them, hoping to push them into motion.
Wake up you two lazy bums! The vibration will kill you!
The branch pieces struck home. The smaller bear took one near the rear. The bigger one was hit square on the snout and jolted awake instantly. He scanned the clearing, understood the mire they were in, then clamped his jaws on the smaller bear's nape and began dragging her away, lumbering toward the Lowlands.
That's one problem out of the way…
Sol landed, rolled, and slipped aside as smaller Apideis lunged in. A few stingers struck the ground where he had been. Fortunately, the bees could withdraw their stingers safely without rupturing their abdomens, something that usually happened when the Apideis used their stingers to deter, or remove, an invader from the proximity of its hive.
So that was the number one reason there were so many bees lying around. Sol dodged again. Three more Apideis missed their stings and stuck themselves into the earth. They were trying to drive the Helarzos from the hive's vicinity so desperately that they were killing themselves in the process.
Sol knew he needed a real plan, soon. If he kept evading without addressing the Queen, the situation would snowball against him.
He scanned the terrain. He needed something bigger. Something decisive. If the phonolites he used earlier were not enough, he would need something substantially larger.
If I recall correctly… just outside this patch of woods are the cliffs. An idea struck him like lightning. That's it. The phonolites have to come from somewhere. It's the cliffs.
Sol shifted his weight and started dashing. The five pups followed outside the perimeter of the battlefield, still keen on giving him the chance to prove himself alone. The Apideis Queen and her horde pursued close behind, yet they could not quite close the distance. Sol's speed seemed to sharpen, even within the span of this fight.
The treeline ended abruptly. A sheer drop waited beyond.
Sol unsheathed his two new daggers, courtesy of his master, and used them to slow himself as he slid down the diagonal rocky terrain. His eyes darted, scanning everything.
Oh. That's a phonolite cluster. That's also a phonolite cluster. There are lots of phonolite clusters in this place, I was right! Huh, wait… He froze mid-slide, processing what he had just seen. The clusters were far below, near the drop-off toward a branch of Dalmas.
How can I see those? That's so far away. The clarity spooked him. He hadn't lost a single detail, not even at this distance.
"Aunt Haati!"
"I can hear you."
"My eyesight. I can see the phonolite clusters even from here. Is this because of your powers?"
"As much as I'm happy to hear that, little sun, great eyesight is not on the list of Moonwolf powers. That is yours."
"It's mine? But how?"
—
—
"...Tell the boy that it's his Nheos, his own Brand of Refusal. It might manifest as many things, but for him, as I've seen it, it's his terrifying ability to adapt." Grandpa Rahzgir took another sip and exhaled, relaxed in a way that didn't fit the ruined house around them.
"Are you sure? Won't it be too complicated for him to learn now?" Haati's ears angled with concern.
"He needs to learn sooner or later. Might as well start early." Rahzgir smiled, cheeky.
"Nheos? What's that, grampa?" Nia blew on her tea once more. Strangely, even with the Lightveil's protection, the heat still stung her tongue.
"Our answer to the world's questions, child. Our will, our ambition, made into one." Rahzgir stood and walked toward Haati. "The world is unfair. It asks questions throughout our lives. If we can answer, it grants boons. If we can't… let's just say the results haven't been pretty."
He stopped near Haati's flowing heavenly raiment.
"Can he hear my voice?"
"He cannot, but I might be able to do something."
"Good. Then do that something. There's never a better time for a lesson."
—
—
No answer, huh. Guess I gotta do this by myself. Sol pulled his daggers free and let his speed increase again. He had one chance.
He needed to dash left at the right moment and cut the first cluster at its base. If he timed it right, he could catch two large chunks of phonolite as they fell, or better yet, the whole damn cluster.
"Gja'rim! Can you hear me?"
"Huh? Grandpa?"
"That thing you feel. It's Nheos."
Another ancient Gehennic? Never heard of it before.
"I don't know what that is. Is it a good thing? A bad thing?"
"It comes from within our blood. An answer. A Brand of Refusal. You are Nhevari. Since time immemorial, we have held Gehenna against the infinite onslaught of the Forsaken. How do you think we do that? Think of it as a friend inside you, something that responds to your need in the middle of combat. Each Nhevari's refusal manifests differently. Yours might have something to do with adaptation and learning."
An answer. A Brand of Refusal. Sol's mind flashed to the moments he should have died, the sudden surge at his lowest points. He had thought it was desperation, a second wind.
It had been in his blood the entire time.
Adaptation and learning. He traced a line with his eyes. Before, he had hoped to cut the cluster at its base. Now he saw it, clean and possible.
Sol cut left in a sharp ninety-degree angle. The first cluster was twenty meters away, a distance he could clear in a heartbeat. Behind him, the Queen and her horde gathered to swarm as they closed.
Sol bent his left knee and let his momentum carry him forward as he slashed.
RING! RINGRING!
Three quick strikes with his left hand. His right dagger stayed planted for control, guiding his descent. The cliff steepened until it was almost vertical.
If he lost control now, he was done. No ancient Gehennic. No latent potential. No bloodline miracle would make him sprout wings and fly.
He planted his right dagger hard. The plan was simple. He would slide slower, then jump left at the first opening, grab a chunk of phonolite, and anchor himself again.
At least, that was the plan in his head.
It could have been a bad placement. A pebble in the way. Or just bad luck.
His right dagger slipped.
Shit.
He tumbled down the ravine.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
"Do not forget, little sun. You still carry a Moonwolf's power within you."
Shitshitshitshitshit! He tried to jam both daggers into the cliff again. He managed, barely, but his palms were slick with sweat. The blades skittered. He grabbed them again, stabbed again, found no purchase.
"Remember, you have the ability to control Frostflame, even just barely at the start."
"Would be great if you could tell me how to use the powers before I'm dead. Thank you!"
The five pups leapt into the ravine after him, frostflame flaring from their bodies.
Wait? What? Why are they jumping after me? Wanwan?! Pups?! Sol's eyes went wide with terror when he saw the five of them freefalling toward his position without even the slightest hint of hesitation. Worse, all five of them seemed happy to do it. Wanwan even lolled his tongue.
"Our mastery over Frostflame allows us to freeze anything we touch. Think of it as regular flame, just cold. That is a bad explanation, but you don't have to worry about that for now."
"AUNT HAATI!! I DON'T THINK I UNDERSTAND YOU CLEARLY!!"
"And as Moonwolves, we can scale anything that is freezing. And I meant it, little sun, when I say 'anything' that is freezing."
As if answering his desperation, light-blue frostflame erupted from Sol's chest, his hands, his feet. It felt amazingly cold, yet warm at the same time.
The five pups whooshed past him, then stopped in midair, their paws touching nothing but the thin, crystalline frozen platform they had made with their frostflame.
"And by 'anything', that includes the air."