“Wow, you guys heard that?” one of the spirits within the hive asked.

“Yeah,” another answered. “So this Grand human is a very powerful mage. Wonder what great knowledge we are going to gain from him?”

“That’s if we can kill him.” A spirit said. “He must be difficult to…”

“No, no, no; that’s not what I/we are talking about!” the first spirit said. “Did you guys hear the plan the wolf…Speaker had?”

“Oh! The plan…yeah, it sounds okay. Maybe it could work.”

“Yes, but do we want it to work?” the first spirit asked.

“Uh…what do you mean?”

“Her plan you idiot!” The spirit fumed. “Think about it; if things works out as well as the Speaker hoped, what fun are we going to have?”

“…that’s a good point.”

“Yeah, he’s right! The Kin are going…”

“Wait a moment! What’s wrong with that?” A spirit protested. “If the Kin want to lure this Grand human further into the tunnel and overwhelmed him with numbers, let them! He’s still going to die and we are still going to be able to absorb him.”

“But what fun would that be?” the first spirit said.

“What?”

The spirit explained. “If the Speaker’s plan works, the rest of the humans will leave once the Kin manage to kill this Grand human. All those potential energy, bodies, blood…”

“Wait a moment…you’re not of those spirits who like death and destruction, are you?”

“So what?” The first spirit asked. “We have been killing since the beginning, death is what we do!”

“No it’s not! Creation is what we do!”

“No, caring for our creatures is what we do!”

“No, killing is what we do!”

“No, it’s creation!”

…Crack…

“No, it’s…wait a moment, is that a crack?”

“No way! We just spilt! We can’t be cracking again. Why are we cracking again?”

“Something must be causing the…what were we doing before the cracks?”

“Uh…arguing as usual. That’s common for us right? That shouldn’t be the cause for the cracks.”

“What if it is? What if our arguing is causing the cracks?”

“When the Fire spirits broke off, we were all angry with them…so arguing causes cracks and…”

“…and if the rest of us got mad at just a specific group within the hive, we can break them off!”

“That makes some sense.”

“If we are right, that’s useful information to have.”

“It is?”

“Sure! In the future, we can kick unwelcome spirits out. If some of us want to leave, we now also know of a way of how to do so!”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right! This is useful information to have!”

“Good news for the future, now what about the humans?” A spirit asked. “Are we’re really going to mess with the Speaker’s plan?”

“YES!”

“No!”

“The ‘Yes’ have it!” the spirit announced. “Let’s tell the Fire Hive about this.”

“Wait…we are going to tell them?”

“Sure! You know how long those guys have been dying to try out their giant fire-breathing flying horned lizard?” The spirit asked. “If the Speaker’s plan works, they don’t get to play. They would love to mess with her plan.”

“…Yeah, you’re right. Let’s tell them.”

So it was that when the humans arrived at the entrance of the tunnel, the spirits within the hive were waiting to greet them with a plan of their own. As the first human scouts were sent into the tunnels, the humans found the tunnel to be…empty.

There were no wolves, no attacks, and no You-Who-Are-Not-Bear at the end of the floor. Clearly surprised by this, the human scouts went further in. Down to the second floor of the tunnel they went, and the humans were still safe from attacks. It was becoming a stroll for the humans. The hive even heard the humans discussing among themselves if the “dark mage” had already left.

They went down to the third level.

The third floor was full of twisting tunnels and random rooms and the spirits once again had to spend a little energy to push through the influence of the Fire Hive. What the spirits found made it worth it! The human scouts seemed surprised by the various tunnels open to them and were arguing about whether they should continue on or returned back to the surface.

It was here that the Fire Hive launched its attack.

The human scouts were in the first room of the third floor and the room quickly filled up with steam. The humans were surprised but showed their training by immediately forming up. The three warriors stood in front of the two hunters. One of the hunters had his bow at the ready while the second was holding twin daggers, facing the slope up to the second floor. He was clearly protecting them from an attack from behind.

He didn’t have bothered.

As the room filled up with steam, the hunter with the bow said to the others he couldn’t see anything. One of the warriors, who must be the Boss of the group, said they were leaving. As the humans slowly made their way back to the entrance, bats flew down towards the group. Hidden by the steam, the humans couldn’t see them till the bats were right on top of them. The human group dispersed and the hive saw one of the human warriors struck one of the bats with his sword. It was an instant kill.

BOOM!

The sound echoed through the room as the bat exploded among death. The bat was called the Explosion Bat by the Fire Hive. They had created the bat after the spilt while testing out their powers and were quite happy with the result. The seemingly normal bat had no extra powers while alive but upon death the bat would explode, engulfing the area in flames.

The human warrior who struck the killing blow now felt the effect of the explosion. Covered in flames, the human warrior was now rolling on the ground in pain. Some members of his group tried to help but they were still being attack by the bats. The hunter with the bow shot an arrow into the ceiling where upon contact, the arrow spilt apart into 4 pieces. The 4 pieces shot downwards from the ceiling at random and struck one of the other bats. That bat exploded.

Luckily for the humans, none of them were near that bat. The humans used the chance to run back to the second floor. The hive saw that two of the human warriors were carrying their injured comrade. As two members of the group entered back onto the second floor though, they found that the way back was blocked by twin bars. Then a thundering sound echoed behind them as bars grew from the ground. The two humans had run too far ahead from the rest of the group and were now trapped inside the room. The other 3 were now trapped on the slope between the second and third floor.

As the two groups of humans at each other in shock and confusion through the bars, the spirits within the hive used the energy they have gathered and Smoky appeared out of the wall. As the Floor Boss of the second floor approached the two humans, Explosion Bats and Steamed Wolves attacked the other 3 humans trapped on the slope.

Moments later, the tunnels were quiet again as the first scouting group of the humans were wiped out. The spirits within the hive rejoiced. With the wipe, the humans would now have to send in more humans and in larger numbers.

This is going to be fun!

.............................................................................................................................................................

Please visit my blog on http://ghosttalesstories.blogspot.sg