Few dared to venture out at this hour. The small party, about twenty-five persons, hadn't passed by a single creature since the beginning of their journey. It was growing darker than usual out; the party would soon be resting, then continuing the next day (though really, the days seemed to fade together). If they made good time, they would reach their destination tomorrow.

To Poefi, it looked like the others were stopping. She couldn't be sure, though; she barely spoke a word of the others' tongue, the language of the Wyvern people. Big, strong, dangerous reptiles; almost draconic, they were. Very fierce, enjoyed the fight. Her people, the Shuri, were reptilian too, but they resembled snakes rather than dragons. Shuri were not like Wyvern. Shuri did not fight as a rule; they only watched and helped those injured, should they ask. They were wise. The Wyvern did not realize how futile fighting was yet, though. She supposed that was why they dominated this place, this small part of the continent. It went by many names; her people called it Sekaise, though most of the other races called it Thaveliak. She didn't know any of the others.

Poefi could heal. Poefi could heal quite well. That was why she was taken away, she supposed. The others, they spoke of a son who needed help. But they killed most of her tribe to get to her. She pulled the hood of her robe further over her head; she could feel a gust of wind coming her way, and she was sensitive to the cold.

There. They stopped. The others set up camp with efficiency; no fire was built, which was a shame. But she could still read by the moonlight. The scroll was all she had, really. Poefi watched as the others decided who would be watching for possible enemies. Then she began to read.

Nothing sat near the hilltop they had chosen to rest at, save for flatlands and grass. The wind blew every once in a while, but it wasn't such a big deal. Her tongue flitted out of her mouth for just a moment. She didn't smell anything strange in the air. A good omen, she supposed. Good omens were rare in this harsh land.

Then she heard a noise, a faint buzzing. The others heard it too; their heads rose, and they looked around frantically as it grew louder and louder and—

Suddenly, a long spike impaled one of the Wyverns, right through the chest. He coughed a few times before expiring.

Everyone in the camp knew what this meant.

Soul Bees.

Poefi could see them. There had to be at least fifty of them. Lithe, agile female insects littered the sky. Many attacked; more waited. She had never seen them this closely before, and especially not so many.

The few initial moments of panic subsided. Now the Wyverns were beginning to fight back. One of them pulled on Poefi's arm, trying to get her out of the area; apparently, they did not want her to die, at all costs. Healers were rare and valuable to them. She considered escaping. After all, she didn't really want to help them, but reconsidered. Better that than ending up a Soul Bee's meal.

Despite all efforts, though, the Soul Bees were winning. There remained only a dozen Wyverns. The Soul Bees refused to stop their assault; they wanted everyone dead.

Poefi and the Wyvern who was escorting her ran away from the battle. In mid-step, though, a Soul Bee suddenly appeared in front of them, and she looked hungry.

The two reptiles exchanged looks; they both knew they were dead.

Poefi attempted to call upon her years of training. There had to be a spell that would help her in this situation. But she couldn't think of anything; she was mostly a healer, after all.

She panicked, and wove the first possible spell that came to mind. She didn't know what it would do, if anything.

She disappeared, along with the Wyvern. They reappeared elsewhere. They looked around and saw no sign of the Soul Bees; in fact, Poefi doubted they were even in the same place. Had they teleported?

"Come," the Wyvern said, then a few words she couldn't understand, followed by, "town."

Did he mean that they were near a town?

She hoped so. She had never heard of a Soul Bee hive attacking a town.

Queen Bee thought the attack had gone well. Only a few Soul Bee casualties, good food (if not a bit tough), and more souls for Lord Jedah.

She heard lots of things about Lord Jedah; that he was a Dark God, that he created Mikai, that he did this and did that. She didn't know about any of those things, really. In fact, she didn't know what a Dark God was. All she knew was that she knew Lord Jedah, she liked serving him, and she really liked visiting him. He always had tasty things to eat.

So he wanted souls. Queen Bee, or Q-Bee, was only too happy to gather them. They had been lucky to stumble upon this group of delicious creatures with equally delicious souls. But alas, the souls were for Lord Jedah, not for her.

She had been hoping for more, but oh well! Lord Jedah was gone for a while, and when he returned, he'd be swimming in souls! He'd be very very happy with her!

"Yay!" Q-Bee cheered, unable to contain herself any longer. She jumped and flew in tight circles. Then she hovered, watching the worker bees gather up the souls. They were slippery little buggers sometimes.

Another Soul Bee approached her, taking to the air. They both had lavender hair, antennae, two pairs of eyes, striped abdomens, and other similar features, but the other lacked the height that Q-Bee possessed, being considerably shorter. "Those two got away," the other Soul Bee said in a tongue unlike any other in Mikai, gesturing towards where the robed snake and the dragon-thingie once stood. "Don't know where they went to."

"Aw, it's not that important," Q-Bee responded with. "Just two. We got the rest. I know you didn't let them get away, 083."

083's antennae twitched in confusion. Apparently, she still hadn't gotten used to the relatively new queen. The last queen had been strict, and probably would have punished such a failure. This queen didn't seem to care less, though.

"Besides," she continued, "we're hardly short on food. There's plenty for everyone. I sent out other groups to hunt, too."

"Understood." 083 touched down again to assist the others.

Shortly afterward, the Soul Bees finished their business there. With Q-Bee in the lead, they began their trek back to the hive. Their wings rapidly beat as they flew, creating that eerie (to others) buzzing noise. There they could eat, then sleep.

Then they could do the same thing the next day. It was repetitive, but they needed to, regardless.

Q-Bee hoped she could make Lord Jedah proud. She didn't mind that he was all the way in Ningenkai, unlike what the other members of the Elite seemed to think. After all, those things he was looking for sounded important; if Lord Jedah thought they were important, they had to be. Q-Bee wouldn't have wanted to go, herself. Ningenkai sounded like a nightmare, from the stories she had heard. It was light enough out there to make demons go blind! Q-Bee didn't want to go blind. It sounded scary. Everything was so weird there. There were lots of humans. Q-Bee didn't like humans. She wondered how they could survive in such a terrible world. They didn't have any fangs or claws or horns or magic or anything.

Maybe they had hidden claws or something, sort of like the way her stinger worked. But no humans in this place. Oh well. She wasn't itching to find out.

The group of Soul Bees reached their hive. They soon found out that a small group of their number had not returned. Q-Bee decided against searching for them immediately; they had been in the northern part of the continent, and she knew it was dangerous to search for them at this time. Many dangerous predators, those who could be a threat to Soul Bees, lurked there. They would search later, after everyone was up.

But for now, a meal and a long nap sounded nice.