The hundreds of molted husks lying on the field leading up to the egg-shaped hive made for an eerie sight. It was like a graveyard of remsectnids, but I knew better than to think that. The remnants of their exoskeletons teemed with traces of magic, enough to make me want to collect and grind them into reagents.

That was a new development. It could be that the rising concentration of magic affected them just like it had done to the vesper slugs. I hoped not. Remsectnids were already a fearsome race to begin with when provoked, if they had undergone mutations or rapid evolutions, I couldn't fathom how much stronger they would be.

As I got closer to the hive, slowly creeping up under the shadow cast by its enormous form, neither their guardians nor drones came to greet me. Which itself was already throwing up red flags since they were very protective of their shelter.

"Hey!" I shouted into the entrance.

Nothing but my echo responded.

"Nraa~" Rio headbutted my ankle.

"Good idea." I hijacked Rio's vision and had him walk into the hive. The structure was just as massive as it appeared on the outside. For the most part, the interior was hollow, lit up by watermelon-sized fireflies clinging to the waxy walls. Interconnected bridges criss-crossed each other leading into varying sizes of pods and perforated chambers. Hexagonal craters, perfectly spaced out from one another, were filled with viscous liquid that bubbled. Rio appeared particularly attracted to it. "Focus. It looks tasty, but you don't know what that is."

Rio grumbled. He found a ramp that spiraled along the hive wall, unimpeded by other bridges, that led directly to the top where it was then walled off. It was up there that I sensed powerful, condensed magic.

"Just where the hell are all the remsectnids?" I asked myself.

I took a deep breath and walked in uninvited.

No sudden stabbing, no buzzing swarm, no chittering mandible bearing down on me… I was safe. For now.

Rio signalled to me with a belch of fire. I caught up with him only to see his mouth stained with golden goo.

"What did I say?" I put my hands on my waist and stared.

My familiar did his best impression to shrug by raising his paws.

While traveling up the spiral ramp, I continued to call out in hopes of receiving an answer from anything. At this point, I was getting worried. No egg sacs meant they hadn't spawned offsprings yet. Which meant they had no reason to leave. So where the hell were they?

I had reached the top which could only be the queen's chamber. However, it was blocked off by a layer of wax and dried honey. Something so fragile could be broken by a single tap of my staff, but I was hesitant to see what was on the other side. When I listened closely, the pulsing magic that I detected felt like a heartbeat.

"Here goes nothing." I lit the blockage. It ignited like kindling but quickly went out as the material burned away.

Stale air filled my lungs, the rush of air behind me flooded into the chamber. The same breath I took was just as quickly taken away.

We were certainly at the top of the hive. The dome head formed the ceiling above us, thin so as to let light come through. There couldn't have been more than a hundred or so remsectnid kneeling and unmoving. They surrounded a single, blue egg that was significantly larger than them. It had deep grooves along the chitinous surface, branching veins that glowed and pulsated.

This explained everything.

They were waiting on a new queen to be born.

And by the gods, I might be lucky enough to bear witness to this event.

A sharp pain pricked my shoulder. "Human—"

"What the?!" I spun around, raising my staff.

The remsectnid skittered back, ducking low to make itself appear small.

It walked on four legs connected to its abdomen, two blades protruded from its arms and ended with a long, black claw. Two beady eyes blinked rapidly.

There were many kinds of remsectnids. This one was a species of mantis.

"Hi, there. You, uh… you guys waiting on the queen to be born?" I asked awkwardly.

His mandibles clacked together as though it were tasting the air in front of him.

"You are a witch?" It was a voice that sounded like a bag of beads being shaken, or rocks gently banging against each other.

"My name is Ellori." I bowed. "And you are?"

"A custodian." He rose to his full height, about the size of a centaur but half the bulk.

I forgot remsectnids didn't have names. They referred to themselves by their role in the hive. This one said it was a custodian, which was one of the lowest members in their caste system.

"Custodian, then. Mind explaining to me what's going on here?" I thumbed behind me.

"We await our queen's rebirth. She does not awaken. It has been… a long time," he said.

"R-Rebirth? You mean to tell me, this isn't a new queen?" Once again, I wished I had read up on remsectnids.

Custodian shook his head. He approached the egg, taking care not to trample over his fellows. I followed after him, and realized the shell was not made of chitin. It was soft to the touch— silk.

This wasn't an egg holding a newborn remsectnid queen. This was a cocoon holding—

"A queen undergoing metamorphosis?" I gasped.

Why? What? And, how?

A metamorphosing remsectnid queen was never heard of.

"At first, we were also stunned. But it is our duty to protect the queen. We cannot leave here without her birth. Many of my brothers and sisters have long died. I am all that remains, guarding her and the few fertile sperm in the lower chambers that await an egg." He bowed his head, almost like saying a prayer.

I put a hand on Custodian's abdomen. He stared down at me with eyes that looked like they could shed tears.

"You've done well to protect your queen and hive. Let me find a way to awaken her," I said.

Over the next few hours, I was able to set up a lab in the queen's chamber. Custodian used wax and honey to shape a cauldron, and I tempered it with heat to harden the material. There was an abundance of wildlife around us. Rio was able to fetch me two animals whose blood were vital in creating a cauldron— one of an innocent beast, and a heart of a vicious beast. The last touch was a magic crystal, of which I had plenty of in my satchel.

The mixture bubbled with such intensity that I thought it might spill over the lip. It settled down to a simmer after a few seconds, until finally going still. Alchemical waters ebbed and flowed like living blood— well, that's precisely what it was anyway.

"The reason for such a long metamorphosis could be a number of things. This is the first that's ever happened to a remsectnid of any species. Magic might have made the cocoon too thick, she could still be undergoing the metamorph inside, or worse, she might also already be—" I stopped myself short of finishing the sentence so as to not scare Custodian.

"How do we help my queen?" Custodian asked, peering into the cauldron as if expecting the answer to be at the bottom.

"By giving the cocoon a boost. If I concoct an insect version of a plant's growth enhance serum, it might accelerate her growth. But first… I'm going to need your sperm," I said to Custodian.

The mantis tilted his head to one side.

"Ones of my stature are not allowed to mate," he said.

"W-We're not mating. I just need the essence of your species to make the brew compatible." I waved an empty vial in his face.

Custodian was apprehensive. It might be because if his subspecies mated, the female typically chewed off the male's head during coitus.

"You said you're the only one left. Think about it: If you serve your queen well, she will have no other choice but to produce offspring with your seed. This is your chance to rise to her favor!" I said.

It somehow worked. Giving him the idea that his queen might have his children was turning him on. A squirmy penis that I couldn't describe any other way than like an eel or leech, wriggled out of the tip of his abdomen.

"Oh, gods… here goes nothing," I grabbed it. Custodian jerked back, but more of his penis slipped out from his body. It moved like it had a mind of its own, coated with an oily, lubricant that made it writhe in my grasp.

White liquid suddenly gushed out from the tip and onto the floor. A whole lot of it. Some even splashed onto my robes. I collected a few vials' worth in case I wanted to bring some home with me.

A few ingredients were needed here. I didn't know what was going to happen, but I knew how reagents interacted with each other. First, I emptied an elixir of strength into the cauldron. Next was a sephalothane root to serve as a buffer, followed by a growth serum. Already the liquid bubbled aggressively, heat emanated from the mixture. I dropped the last two ingredients in— Custodian's sperm and slice of mandragora root.

The blue and red alchemical liquid turned silver on the surface, only enough to fill a single vial.

"Is that… Will my sperm awaken her?" he asked.

"Among other things that were mixed in. Hopefully," I muttered to myself.

I had Rio fly me to the top of the cocoon and pour the serum onto it. The liquid dripped down the side, but was absorbed into the silken surface.

A pulse of energy. Then another. The third pulse came much louder, and the cocoon glowed and brightened, revealing the shadowy silhouette of a feminine figure within— not like the remsectnid queens I'd seen in books. In the brief second that I saw her, big was the first thing that came into my mind. Possibly as large as Lantessa. I also definitely saw what looked to be a protruding chest which could only have been breasts, which remsectnids shouldn't have since they weren't mammals.

The pulsing continued, but just as I thought we were going to witness a new queen's metamorphosis, the roof of the hive caved in. Pieces of it were being clawed away. A swarm of wyverns flew in, screeching and circling the room. They nosedived for dead remsectnids, others pecked at the cocoon.

"Custodian! We have to protect the egg until it hatches. She's vulnerable until then!" I shouted.

"My life for the queen!" He stood on his toes and slashed his armblades at wyverns.