The figures snuck through the darkness, not quite illuminated by the countless specks of light that flowed in an endless river. The group hurried as stealthily as possible, for if they were caught, the consequences would shake the very fabric of reality.

 

________

 

 

“Yo, Enno, check this out! Jess can do a freaking backflip!”

 

I ignored Kanan and continued spinning my pen. Was it so much to ask for a bit of peace and quiet to finish my part of the project? I could hear cheers and laughter in the conference room, followed by thuds and even more cheering. I tried my hardest to ignore them, but fiddling with the 3d model was getting tough with so much distraction.

 

I frowned. The designs for the new component were nearly complete, and testing would begin soon. The team was slightly behind schedule, which meant we were right on time. If I finished my part today, I could have a nice, relaxing weekend without thinking about work.

 

On the other hand, my coworkers would prefer to waste time with backflips rather than try to ensure a pleasant weekend.

 

“Do it again, Jess! Again!”

 

I let out a big sigh and continued to twirl my pen through my fingers. I couldn’t wait to go home.

 

________

 

 

“You should’ve seen it! Were you a cheerleader or somethin’ Jess?

 

“Nah, gymnast. Honestly, Kanan, it wasn’t that incredible.”

 

“Cease with your modesty, witch. I know you know the dark sorceries required to perform spells such as the backflip.”

 

The two continued their incessant chatter a few paces behind me. They, along with a few other coworkers, had noticed I was packing up and took that as the cue to head home for the day. Or rather, head for the bars.

 

“Which one we feeling today? You got a suggestion for once Enno?” Kanan nudged me.

 

“Yes. My house.”

 

“Ooh, you inviting us over?”

 

“No,” I replied curtly. I just didn’t have the energy after our (my) hectic work week, and if these numbskulls had done anything resembling a decent amount of work, they might feel the same.

 

I immediately felt like a buzzkill as the conversation behind me became decidedly less animated. Whatever. Don’t get me wrong, I was happy to work with people friendly enough to invite me to hang out. But I consistently refused their invitations, so I wanted them to get the hint already.

 

But their refusal to accept my refusal just rubbed me the wrong way.

 

Was it so much to ask just to… have some alone time?

 

An old and familiar feeling struck my stomach, one I was now adept at ignoring. I knew myself and knew I preferred being alone to relax. I like activities I can do by myself! I prefer playing single-player games and reading! If being around people exhausted me so much, then why should I go out of my way to tire myself out?

 

Suddenly, screeching filled the air. I turned, lazily looking for the source of the sound. A car wavered around the road for a moment before hitting the curb, rapidly veering towards our group.

 

“MOVE!” My shriek jolted the group members out of their stupor. Shit! I dove out of the way, the car missing me by mere inches. The speeding car crashed into an electrical pole and burned my ears with the sound of crumpling metal.

 

The seconds stretched on, screams filling the air. I was on my stomach. While my brain played catch-up, I felt my entire body shaking. Sure, I was looking to get out of my coworker’s plans, but this was a bit much. I pushed myself onto my hands and knees, trying to take deep breaths. Seemed like the near-death experience put me in a bit of shock.

 

*CRACK*

 

I looked up to see lightning. The power line the car crashed into snapped, and the exposed cable fell straight toward me. Each arc of electricity was branching beautifully as time seemed to slow, and only a single thought came to mind.

 

Fucking seriously?

 

The broken cable came close to my head and all went blank.

 

_______________

 

 

Enno could see, but he couldn’t see. He felt darkness and specks of light.

 

He groggily thought of his great nap after work, ready for a relaxing weekend alone.

 

Several spots in the darkness seemed even shadowier, almost seeming to creep.

 

Suddenly, a terrible screech filled the air. Enno tried to dive out of the way of the car, but there was no car to dodge and no body to dodge with. The shadows seemed to panic, reaching out and snatching some of the motes of light. One shadow approached Enno and grabbed him, pulling him free from his path.

 

A wave of anger and disgust overcame him. How dare they move him? How dare this thing disturb his peaceful weekend?

 

Enno was now along for the ride, the shadows scattering as the terrible screeching became a roar, threatening to destroy them.

 

In the darkness, suddenly Enno could see something clearly. It was a person. The most perfect, beautiful person Enno had ever seen. He had never expressed interest in other people’s appearance, but the daunting vista of this human being shook Enno to his very core.

 

The human calmly glided towards the shadows, the roaring seeming to echo through the inky blackness. Because they had scattered, the person did not seem able to catch them all. It caught up to three shadows, somehow freezing them in place. Enno’s shadow was out of reach and narrowly evaded capture at the hands of the perfect human.

 

Enno’s groggy state of unawareness persisted as time (maybe) passed. The shadow that had captured him often inspected and studied him. Thankfully it was gentle and didn’t seem like it wanted to hurt him. Could Enno even be hurt if he had no body? Oh well, this was a nice nap he was having anyways, and besides stealing him away this figure seemed to be nice enough.

 

At some point, the shadow became satisfied, or perhaps it was even more curious still? Either way, it made its way to another river of lights, much tinier and with much dimmer and smaller lights. One of the specks seemed to flicker and the figure grabbed it. It performed some sort of prayer, and Enno felt it smoosh himself and the flickering light together. Enno was livid. What exactly was this thing trying to do? What could it be-?

 

_______

 

Familiar pains sprouted throughout my body, the consequences of living for more than a couple decades. Unfortunately, it was Monday, and Monday called for work. I tried to stretch, but something strange happened…

 

It was more pain.

 

A stabbing pain unlike anything I had ever felt raced through my arm, and my lower body felt an excruciating series of pins and needles stabbing into me. I gasped and looked around. Surely I would have to go to the hospital if I hurt this badly, right?

 

I saw wood.

 

I could feel my mind returning to clarity, but all that did was make my panic set in more strongly. Where was my bed? My room? Surrounding me were scorched wood walls and a floor of dying leaves. I tried to get up but stumbled, the reason became clear when I saw my left arm. Or lack thereof.

 

It was at that moment that I realized I was an insect.

 

Such a thought typically wouldn’t occur to me, but it suddenly became incredibly obvious. My arms and legs looked insectoid, with chitin and tiny hairs covering the black appendages. Oh, and there were five of them. The stabbing pain in my left arm came from the fact that my front-left leg was nowhere to be seen, the stump charred and raw.

 

“Okay, okay. What.”

 

I tried to speak out loud, but all that came out were garbled, disgusting noises, sounding more like ‘ohkraashhate.’

 

This was becoming far too much to process.

 

The car crash. The power pole. The river of lights, The shadows. The human. The pain. A bee.

 

I’m a bee. I noted my gigantic abdomen and battered wings. If this wasn’t a dream, and I wasn’t in a coma, then I had died and come back to life as a bee. I knew for a fact the electricity from the pole would have killed me, so that was the only reasonable explanation. Obviously.

 

Satisfied with my conclusions, I swiftly hyperventilated and fell unconscious.

 

_______

 

 

I awoke to pain once again, but this time my mind was slightly more prepared for the countless questions plaguing me.

 

Alright then. What in the goddamn is this garbage?

 

Step by step is the way to go.

 

First, I died. Then, a lot of inexplicable stuff happened. Then I woke up as a mortally wounded bee in a giant burned tree carcass.

 

You know, it didn’t sound too bad when summed up like that.

 

Some experimentation would have to be done, but the immediate assumption was that I had been reincarnated in another world. The genre had become very popular so those were the easy assumptions to make. I was no stranger to such stories, but the genre had surely evolved far beyond my petty knowledge.

 

Presumably, the strange images I remembered before waking up would be some sort of deity putting me into the reincarnation cycle of another world. I could also assume this was a fantasy world of some kind. That was the most popular setting, if I recall. Now for something very important…

 

Status?

 

[Name: ERROR ERROR Age: ERROR]

[ClasERRORERROR SubtypERRORERRORERROR]

[ERRORERRORERROR]

[Please Stand By…]

 

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. Several suspicious things were going on. Yes, yes, too suspicious not to have a bit of suspicion.

 

Menu.

 

[Name: ERROR ERROR Age: ERROR]

[ClasERRORERROR SubtypERRORERRORERROR]

[ERRORERRORERROR]

[Please Stand By…]

 

I see. I see that I don’t see. Thankfully, this was a situation where some sort of game-like System governed the world’s rules. At the very least that meant less suffering and a reduced lack of knowledge on my part. However, it was unusual for there not to be a set keyword for opening something like the status menu. I tried a few other ideas. System. Self. Identify myself. Open menu. I tried several variations and every single one opened the status menu I expected them to, showing the same error messages.

 

I put the strangeness of the word choice out of my mind and concerned myself with the menu itself. I wasn’t too worried, contrary to expectations. Errors in this situation actually tend to be a good thing, granting powerful and unfair advantages. Hopefully.

 

[Through the power of the gods, you have obtained: Ability - {Combined Mind}!]

 

Suddenly, words floated into my mind. So even though I can’t view my status or anything, I still have access to the System?

 

Clearly, with the terrible shape of my new body, I’d need it.

 

“I apologize. My circumstances were… unfavorable before your appearance.”

 

I nearly jumped out of my new bee skin at the voice. Never a good thing to hear somber voices in your head. The voice was… weird. I could understand spoken words, but the sensation felt more like listening to pleasant humming. Emotions and feelings washed over me as the humming continued, which my mind seemed to somehow translate into words.

 

“Since you now inhabit my body, I must apologize again,” the voice whispered, “It seems you will perish painfully alongside me.”

 

“Whoah whoah. I’m not exactly kicking the bucket right this second.” I thought for a moment before slowly continuing. This could be a… delicate situation, and I wanted to handle it carefully.

 

“Your body… then, are you the bee?”

 

“Yes. If you wish to continue suffering, then by all means continue. I simply ask that you do not suffer too much. I can still feel things you know.”

 

“Sorry, but I’m going to continue living. My weekend was robbed from me. My life was taken in an exceedingly ironic way. My pens! Fuck I already miss them…” before I could stop myself my thoughts poured out. Everything I had gone through felt like a few seconds of nonstop chaos, and I just never had the opportunity to digest my situation.

 

I realized something terrible about myself. My pain, my fear, my sense of loss. I wasn’t upset about losing those close to me. There was nobody close enough to lose. My job? My coworkers? My hobbies?

 

The thing that brought me the most sadness was losing my extensive collection of pens.

 

Disturbing.

 

“Very well, however-”

 

Before the bee’s voice could continue, an alarm blared in my head.

 

[The Bee has taken responsibility for your plight and has modified your System]

 

[Your System has been modified by Divine Intervention! Human System and Bee System have combined to create The Beest System!]

 

No. This can’t be true. Please, anything but this.

 

This System likes goddamn puns.