Days after the human came, the hive sensed yet another creature in the tunnel. The hive immediately focused on the entrance and saw a creature on four limbs. It was much smaller than the bear however with grey fur and a long tail.

“A wolf” One of the spirits in the hive said.

The hive didn’t know if the knowledge came from the bear or the human, but it guessed that wasn’t important. What was important is that the wolf was now entering the tunnel. The wolf kept walking deeper into the tunnel till it reached the room where the hive used to be. It ran around the room a little, looking and smelling all around before entering the second tunnel at the back of the room. It didn’t take long for the wolf to reach the hive…and the bear.

The hive had powered up You-Who-Are-Not-Bear the moment the wolf entered the tunnel. One look at the glowing green bear and the wolf froze. It then slowly retreated back the way it came, not taking its’ eyes off the bear. The hive sensed the wolf running out of the tunnel and thought that was the end of it.

It was wrong.

A few days later, the wolf came back. This time it was not alone. It had led a pack back to the tunnel and they settled in the small room. You-Who-Are-Not-Bear once again came out and waited at the hive. Some of the spirits in the hive wanted You-Who-Are-Not-Bear to go out and kill the pack for their energy but they were overridden by others in the hive. The most important thing was to protect the hive and in the small tunnel, there was no room for the pack to get around the bear. So You-Who-Are-Not-Bear waited, and waited, and…waited.

After a while, the hive had to conclude that the pack of wolves had no interest with it. In fact the pack stayed within the room the hive had vacated and did not approach the hive at all. After a few days, the pack had clearly begun to make the room their den and the hive discovered an unexpected benefit from the pack.

It could get energy from them!

As long as a wolf stayed within the tunnels, within the hive’s influence, the hive could get energy passively from it. When the whole pack was in the room, it was literally a feast of energy. It wasn’t the burst of energy the hive got from deaths but more like a constant steady stream of vitality. The earth spirits in the hive loved it and began digging in earnest. Soon the tunnel the hive was in was deep into Big Keg.

After an argumentative conference, the hive then resolved to keep the pack in the tunnel. Of course, that led to yet another big argument on how to do this. Honestly, none of the spirits could come up with any good solution so the hive did about the only thing it could; it tried to make the pack comfortable.

The earth spirits of the hive began creating another room deeper from the first room, and the hive discovered that it could do several things at the same time. While the hive was digging deeper into Big Keg, it could also create the second room for the pack at the same time. With a hive-mind, it could spilt its’ attention without any problem. The hive wasn’t sure how useful the ability was but it knew it could be important in the future.

The pack seems to enjoy the arrangement as well. The increased space was something they enjoyed and the pack soon took up residences in the second room as well. They also brought their kills back to the den. The hive absorbed the leftovers and soon it began to know about other creatures. Rabbits, badgers, deer, moose, elk, and even a salmon once; the hive got the skills of these creatures even though it wasn’t sure how useful any of it was. The hive couldn’t even begin to guess what swimming and dam building meant but the knowledge was welcomed.

About the only thing the hive didn’t like was the fact that many of the wolves would occasionally go into the deep tunnel to look at it. The hive couldn’t feel any harmful intent from the pack but it was still very uncomfortable being so near to the teeth and claws of the pack. When one of the spirits suggested that the hive gets some distance from the pack by going downwards instead of backwards, the hive agreed.

The earth spirits of the hive dug a slope downwards before going sideways. They also created a third room just before the slope. So the layout of the tunnel system became clear. There was a short tunnel before the first room. At the back of the room, another short tunnel would lead to the second room. At the back of the second room, a long tunnel would lead to the third room. At the back of which would be the tunnel that led to the lower level where the hive was location. You-Who-Are-Not-Bear would now be permanently in the third room.

The idea of the hive was that You-Who-Are-Not-Bear would be in the third room to warn the wolves off. Whenever one of the wolves entered the third room, it would die. The hive thought and argued about it for a long time before deciding to do this. The argument was that if a wolf came that deep into the long tunnel and still entered the third room with the bear inside, it deserved to die. The hive discovered the idea had a big flaw. The wolves had no intention of fighting You-Who-Are-Not-Bear.

Every time a wolf came into the third room, it will maintain a distance from You-Who-Are-Not-Bear. When You-Who-Are-Not-Bear took a step or two towards the wolf, it would flee. Even at top speed, there was no way for You-Who-Are-Not-Bear to catch the wolf before it ran out of the room. The hive discovered that wolves were naturally faster than bears.

The hive now had a problem. Maintaining You-Who-Are-Not-Bear actually cost it less energy in the long run than the cost of creating it out of thin air every time a wolf came poking, but seeing its’ plan ruined like this was kind of off-putting. Several of the spirits in the hive even swear the wolves were laughing at them. In the end, it was You-Who-Are-Not-Bear who actually came up with an idea that worked.

The next time a wolf came to the room, You-Who-Are-Not-Bear was missing. The hive saw that this new development got the wolf curious and it went deeper into the third room. Once it got near the center of the room, the hive closed off both entrances. Earth shot up and the twin bars at both entrances trapped the wolf within the room. The wolf ran around and even tried to squeeze out between the bars but the hive made sure that was impossible.

Then You-Who-Are-Not-Bear came out of the wall.

When You-Who-Are-Not-Bear first came up with the plan, the hive decided against it. It took a lot of energy to create the bear and most of the spirits thought it wasn’t worth the cost just to make a point to the wolves. So after some discussion, the hive tried to come up with an idea to create You-Who-Are-Not-Bear without the energy cost involved. The hive tried various methods and finally decided on this; instead of trying to create the bear out of thin air, it would instead create it out of a point in the room.

The hives charged one side of the wall with energy and when the wolf was trapped in the room, the hive would condense the energy of the wall to one point and create You-Who-Are-Not-Bear out of it. The idea had many advantages over creating You-Who-Are-Not-Bear out of thin air.

It took less energy to create You-Who-Are-Not-Bear this way. Though the hive wasn’t sure why, it seems maintain energy along the wall and creating something out of it took less energy than turning on the energy and creating something immediately. This was also a faster way to create You-Who-Are-Not-Bear.

Now that the hive was doing it, it discovered another good point. The fear the method generated in the wolf was great. For some reason, seeing You-Who-Are-Not-Bear coming out of the wall generated a lot more fear from the wolf than seeing You-Who-Are-Not-Bear standing in the middle of the room.

However, the fight itself was much more difficult than the hive expected. The wolf ran around You-Who-Are-Not-Bear and had a big speed advantage. It clawed and bit the bear several times before You-Who-Are-Not-Bear managed to hit it with a swipe. The wolf got up but was now much slower than before. It still was faster though and You-Who-Are-Not-Bear still had a hard time hitting it. Then in frustration, You-Who-Are-Not-Bear roared and the wolf stopped, intimidated by the roar.

Seizing the chance, You-Who-Are-Not-Bear charged at the wolf and hit it against the wall. The wolf got up groggily and that was the last thing it did. You-Who-Are-Not-Bear knocked it down to the ground and bit its head off. The energy the hive gained was great and after the body of the wolf sunk to the ground, it also got knowledge of the wolf. After so many creatures, the hive now knew what to expect and was ready for the influx of knowledge and skills.

Species: Wolf

Sub-Species: Dire Wolf

Sex: Male

Attack: 22

Defense: 18

Health: 20

Strength: 26

Agility: 42

Stamina: 34

Weapons: Bite, Claws

Skills: Enhanced hearing, Enhanced smell, Enhanced speed, Night vision, Pack Tactics, Stealth

It was something new the hive discovered as it got stronger. When before, it could only see the weapons, skills and species, it now could see the other things like attack and defense of the things it absorbed.

It took 3 deaths before the pack got the warning. The pack understood the intention of the hive and the third room became a no-go area. Not that the hive was complaining. Each time the hive killed one of the wolves, it gained new knowledge. The hive also discovered that although these were all dire wolves, not all of them had the same skills and abilities. One of the wolves had a skill called Harrier, which the hive of course had no time what it was for.

However all was well. The hive and the wolves got an understanding that both sides were happy with and every year as the season passed from winter to spring, the alpha female of the pack would even give birth to a litter of wolf pups in the second room. It was a time the hive looked forward to.

The birth of the pups gave even more energy to the hive and the first time it happened, the hive understood it could gain energy through both life and death. The hive also enjoyed seeing the pups playing around the tunnels; so much that it didn’t kill the pups that wandered into the third room. Luckily for all concerned, even young wolf pups weren’t stupid enough to go to the lower level.

Everything seems great…then the group of humans arrived.