During the trek forward, Naive thought on the feeling that overtook its actions. When Cognate had called for Naive, what force drove its legs to step so quickly? What filled its arms with such strength? So thoroughly entrenched in thought was Naive, that it didn’t notice it had been walking up a mound and with a final step, dropped through air. Falling face first, Naive briefly noticed how perfectly cylindrical the hole was before smashing into the ground. Its hand wrapped around Cognate’s, Naive’s crash was quickly joined by another.

Getting up, the two surveyed the hole. Perfectly cylindrical, it dropped straight down before curving ahead and upwards. Finding nothing strange about the new setting, they continued onwards. The forward journey was short as Naive found climbing a vertical passage to be quite the challenge. Putting a foot on the wall resulted in it slipping off and Naive falling on its back. Out of ideas, the duo consulted each other.

“How do we get up?”

“I don’t know.”

Consultation over, the two stared up at the exit in contemplation. Many moments passed in silence. Naive’s clever machinations ground to a halt as a figure came over the edge of their desired exit. Unlike any it had any seen, this unfamiliar creature captivated Naive. It looked as though it was laying on the ground except legs came out of its side to support its weight. Its body came in three segments, with its legs being all attached to its middle section. If it stood straight up it would be as tall as Naive, not counting its mandibles. Naive, getting over its shock at the new party, made what was quickly becoming, a traditional skeleton greeting.

“Hello, i’m Naive.”

The creature snapped its mandibles in response. Stepping in quick, stuttering movements, it snatched Cognate by the skull and dragged it off. Hands still held, Naive was also taken along. It flipped them out of the hole and into a new cavern, larger than any Naive had seen. It was at least twice as large as the coffin cave of its birth and every surface was covered with skittering creatures. Curious as it was, Naive couldn’t get a good look at them all. Dragged behind Cognate, Naive was thrashed along the ground as their chauffeur violently ran along. It found that having its vision wildly thrown about made it difficult to take in the room. Over the sound of bones hitting the ground and rapid footsteps of their kidnapper, Naive heard Cognate making pleasantries.

“Hello. My name is Cognate.”

It didn’t answer. As Naive was about to suggest looking for the next exit, it collided with another creature. While Naive was able to hold on, Cognate’s joints were not. Naive tumbled along the ground, disembodied arm in hand. Its ability to determine where it looked and moved, Naive went back to examining the creatures that filled the room. They were of all shapes and sizes. Some were huge, big enough that ten skeletons piled ontop of each other wouldn’t match its height. Others small, barely as big as Naive’s foot. The variety didn’t stop with size, some had a few legs others a great many, some black others bright red. There was so many different kinds that Naive found it hard to single one out from the mass of crawling legs and writhing bodies. Naive was amazed by this display. Never before had it seen so many creatures, let alone in one place.

Most of them didn’t pay Naive any mind as it gawked, but a small creature landed on the back of Naive’s hand. It small, its body smaller than a metacarpal. Against its back laid two clean white flaps. Curious, Naive brought its hand up to examine further and the visitor fanned out the white appendages and with a flap, flew off. Only after the little thing flew off did Naive realize, it had forgotten to introduce itself.

Wading through the crowd, Naive searched for its lost companion. On occasion some of the larger creatures would address the skeleton, poking and prodding with claw and leg but quickly lost interest. The smaller creatures found Naive quite the attraction. Climbing up him as it walked, a wiggling layer was working its way up Naive’s leg. Naive wandered aimlessly for some time, greeting various things as it went along, but it wasn’t until it found a familiar looking one that Naive got a response.

“Hi. Are you looking for Cognate?”

The same creature that had taken Cognate approached.

“We’ve taken him to speak with our queen. You are invited to join.”

Seeing no reason to refuse, Naive agreed and moved walked along. Full of questions Naive asked away.

“What’s your name?”

“We don’t have names. We don’t need them.”

“What are you?”

“We’re ants.”

A skeleton and an ant walked together through a sea of like creatures. The ant explained that everything that lived here were insects, including the little ones that had completely blanketed Naive, who found it completely confusing. They were insects and ants? Was Naive something else as well? Naive and the ant climbed up another, much larger mound. At the top was a hole, which the ant crawled down the wall of. Naive, having never considered to try, was amazed and went to copy the technique. As Naive fell past the wall bound at, it grabbed the skeleton with its mandibles and carried it the rest of the way.

Dropped off in an open chamber, an absolutely massive ant welcomed Naive. Cognate stood before it, waving at Naive.

“Greetings young skeletons. Our people would like to request your help.”

“What do you need help with?”

“We need you to investigate the bees.”