“Okay,” one of the spirits of the hive said. “We can say the ants are failures?”

“We can’t really say that,” a spirit argued. “They did get bigger. The queen ant is more than 10 times the size from before!”

“10 times the size for an ant is still very small.” The first spirit replied. “It’s a failure.”

“Failure”

“Failure”

“Success”

“Failure”

“Success”

“Failure”

“Failure”

“The ‘No’ have it,” a self-appointed referee within the hive shouted. “The ants are failures!”

A chorus of boos echoed within the hive but they were soon shouted down by the cheers of the other spirits who won the vote. Several other spirits just chuckled at the nonsensical farce that the hive had become. Since last morning when the hive decided to pour specific forms of magic into the creatures of the tunnels, they had been experimenting and thus far, it had been a fun exercise for the spirits.

“Okay, the ants are done. What’s next?” a spirit asked.

“Let’s hold off,” another spirit said. “We are a little low on energy. Let’s feed first and continue after we’re full.”

“Not a bad idea. Let’s use the time to do a review of what we discovered so far.”

As the hive began feeding, one of the spirits began. “We have 3 different forms of bats now on the second floor. The Rage infused and very aggressive…”

“The Naming Committee of The Hive called them ‘Blood Bats’!” a spirit shouted.

“…bats,” the spirit continued on ignoring the interruption, “the bigger Stamina infused…”

“Giant Bats!”

“…and the Mana infused bats who has those strange range…”

“Echo Bats!”

“That’s it! I/we had it!” A spirit finally lost its’ temper. “For the last time, there is no such thing as a Naming Committee of The Hive! Stop interrupting us, you morons!”

“If you guys would accept the formation of the Naming Committee of The Hive, there would no need for us to do so.” A spirit smugly replied.

“You idiots are not going to get to name every creature we create.” Another spirit hotly said. “That is just not happening.”

“Why not?” The spirit asked. “We need a way to name all these new creatures anyway. Having a Naming Committee to cover the job makes sense.”

“You mean like the ‘Blue Light Worms’?” a spirit mockingly asked.

“…admitting, that’s not our best work…”

“Says you!” another spirit of the Naming Committee said. “Those earthworms began to glow blue once we put Mana into them. Calling them ‘Blue Light Worms’ is perfect! Just look at the light blue glow our third floor has now? By the 99 Gods, a little more and we could call the whole floor the ‘Blue Floor’ now!”

“Another stupid name and another reason why we don’t need a Naming Committee.” Another spirit tartly replied.

“You’re just angry you don’t have the creativity needed to join the Committee!”

“You mean the stupidity right?”

“No, creativity!” the spirit proudly replied. “You know when something new and valuable is created? No? You are probably too stupid to understand that right?”

“Oh yes, it takes so much “intelligence” to give something a bad name. That’s makes so much sense now.”

“Now you are just being insulting, not that…”

“And it took you so long to figure that out! So “intelligent”!”

…crack…

“Definitely more intelligent than you, you idiotic…!”

“No you are not, you…!”

…crack…

“Okay, okay! Enough of all that, you two!” A spirit shouted. “Let’s get back to the matter on hand shall we? What’s next?”

“What? We’re not done here yet!”

…crack…

“Oh yes you are! You are not just done, you are well-done!”

Several of the spirits laughed at that and the mood within the lifted. Taking advantage of the mood, a spirit quickly got on with the program. “The worms and bats are done. The ants are failures; that leave the spiders.”

“Blood Spiders; Giant Spiders; and Mist Spiders!” a spirit belonging to the Naming Committee quickly shouted.

That of course led to a reply from a spirit not on the Committee. “Anyone else notice this Committee seem to be recycling names?”

“Oh yes, remakes! That’s creativity at work there!” Several of the spirits within the hive laughed again but this time, the mood didn’t lift but instead darkened.

…crack…

“Enough with all the jokes guys,” a spirit said. “Let’s focus shall we? Anyone notice how the different kinds of magic are affecting the creatures in certain ways?”

“Of course we did, we are a hive after all.” A spirit replied. “The Rage magic seems to make creatures more aggressive, Stamina magic seems to make them bigger; and finally Mana seems to give the creature uncertain abilities.”

“Which makes no sense,” another spirit commented. “The Mana gave the bats a range echo attack, but gave the spiders the ability to disappear.”

“Not to mention we still don’t know why throwing pure energy at these creatures doesn’t have any effect on them.”

“Maybe it got something to do with size?” a spirit speculated. “Maybe pure energy only works on big creatures? Smaller creatures may require more focused power like the various magics.”

“If that’s true…that also means if one day we could focus pure energy better, then it also could work on small creatures?”

“Someday meaning way in the future. Right now…oh, they’re back already!”

Indeed, the hive sensed the wolfmen at the entrance of the tunnels. They had only been gone for 2 days but strangely, they came back with a horse and a…something. Then, the hive saw the wolfmen beginning to unload things. The hive focused on itself and began to sort out the information it had.

This was a tedious process which the hive usually disliked to do. It took time and energy that the hive usually do not wish to waste but after some time, the hive got the information it wanted. The thing was a wagon and humans used it to carry items from one location to another. The hive wondered where did the wolfmen get the wagon from?

“Wolfgirl?”

As usual the wolfgirl looked up as the hive spoke in her mind. She then looked down and placed her hands in front of her chest. “Great Creator, how may this useless slave serve you?”

“Where did you get that wagon…and where did all these bodies come from?”

The hive added the last part when it noticed that the things the wolfmen were unloading were human bodies. The wolfgirl then began to explain what had happened. After hearing the story, there was still something that bothered the hive.

“Good work,” the hive said. “You all did well saving the unicorn…but why did you bring the bodies back here?”

The wolfgirl nodded her head at the question. “The alpha thought the Creator might want the bodies. We had seem how the Creator fed by…sinking the bodies into the ground. We thought the Creator may want to feed on them.”

“Well, we are a little low on energy,” the hive began. “But we don’t eat by absorbing dead bodies. Bring the horse into the tunnel and kill it. We can feed on it then.”

The wolfgirl looked up in surprise and she blinked several times. Then she said hesitantly, “Great Creator, please forgive this ignorant useless slave but are you saying it is the “act” of killing that feeds you?”

“Not really,” the hive replied. “Pain, joy, sadness; basically we feed on emotions. The stronger the better so death is the best. What happened later is that we would gain the knowledge of the bodies we absorbed.”

“So…you don’t need the bodies?” The wolfgirl asked.

“Well, if they have knowledge we do not possess…is that the alpha?”

A wolfman walked up to the wolfgirl but instead of the normal wolfman, this person was more like a human. He looked just like a human but on closer inspection, the hive noticed that his ears were on top of his head instead of by his side and he had a long thick fuzzy tail much like the wolfgirl.

The alpha said just one word, “All?”

The hive had no idea what he meant but the wolfgirl did. “Great Creator, the alpha wish to know if you need all the bodies?’

“We doubt we need all of them…or even most of them,” the hive replied. “Why do you have plans for the bodies?”

The alpha smiled and said. “Food.”

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