CHAPTER 21: CHAPTER 21 : TINY THREAD OF HOPE

The Queen’s silence cracked. Not broken, not undone—but strained. Her wings flared wide, golden light pouring across the field like fire. The glow swallowed the canopy, drowned the drums, choked the silk threads, and pressed against every chest until breathing felt like betrayal.

Scarabs collapsed to the dirt, claws limp against broken drums. Centipedes writhed apart, their coils unraveling under the weight. Glowbeetles dropped from the air one by one, their lights winking out as the golden glare smothered them.

Buzz staggered forward, his knees sinking into the soil. His claws trembled, his vision blurred. He wanted to stand tall, to look unbroken, but his body refused.

Zza grabbed his arm, pulling him upright with silk that snapped the moment it tightened. Her voice broke against his ear. "Don’t let her end us here. Please."

"I’m trying," he rasped, dragging in one more breath. "I just don’t know if—"

The Queen screamed. The air split. Drones poured in waves thicker than before, clawing through Scarabs, tearing at Centipedes, ripping Glowbeetles from the sky. Her claw swept wide, splitting the ground, her wings sent shards of light that cut flesh from shell. The battlefield twisted into carnage.

Zza spun silk through the chaos, her hands shaking, binding wounds, yanking bodies free from the dirt. Her threads frayed as fast as she spun them, but she refused to stop. Buzz fought beside her, every strike slower than the last, his claws slick with blood, his body staggering but still moving.

The Queen rose above it all, light burning hotter, silence pressing deeper. For a moment it felt like the end—like every breath they took was borrowed, every step a delay of the inevitable.

Then the drums came again.

One Scarab, half his shell shattered, raised a claw and beat against the ground. Another joined, then another. Broken rhythm, fractured sound—but alive. The Glowbeetles answered with faint pulses, dim but steady. Centipedes dragged themselves into coils, weaker, smaller, but still forming walls. The Elder dropped silk like rain, threads binding shattered pieces back into something whole.

Buzz felt the rhythm crawl into his chest. His claws dug into the soil. His voice rose through blood and pain. "She can bleed. We make her bleed now."

Zza’s threads shot forward, wrapping the Queen’s wings. "Then hold her still."

Buzz roared and charged, his claws striking against her golden shell. The Scarabs swarmed with him, Glowbeetles flared above, Centipedes slammed their coils around her legs. Zza’s silk pulled tighter, threads glowing as if lit from inside.

The Queen screamed and thrashed, tearing through coils, snapping silk, crushing Scarabs under her claws. But the swarm held, just long enough.

Buzz’s claws drove in again—once, twice—until one found a crack. The shell split, thin but real. Golden ichor spilled, hot and blinding, dripping across his arms.

The Queen shrieked, wings flaring, silence shattering into rage. She ripped free of the coils, flung Scarabs across the clearing, tore Glowbeetles from the sky. Her claw swept Buzz from his feet, hurling him into the dirt, blood flooding his mouth.

Zza screamed his name, silk flinging wildly, dragging him back before drones could finish him. Her hands shook as she pressed against his wound, eyes wide with terror and fire. "You did it. You made her bleed."

Buzz coughed, blood spilling past his mandibles. His grin was jagged, broken, but alive. "Then she’s not a god. She’s just big."

The Queen stood above them, ichor dripping from the crack in her shell. Her golden light burned hotter, her silence heavier, but the certainty in her eyes had shifted.

For the first time, she looked at them with rage instead of patience.

The field shook with the sound of drums, silk, coils, and wings. The war was far from over, but the forest had seen her bleed.

**

The ichor slid down the Queen’s side in a thin stream, glowing gold against her shell. For a breath the battlefield froze, every eye fixed on that wound. The Scarabs raised their claws and pounded the dirt with renewed fury. Centipedes hissed, coiling tighter, their broken bodies surging forward. Glowbeetles flared in jagged bursts, stuttering but alive. Even the Elder’s silk seemed to glow brighter as it stretched across the clearing.

Buzz wiped blood from his mouth and pushed himself upright, every muscle trembling. His vision blurred, but he couldn’t look away from that line of gold. "We did it," he rasped, more to himself than anyone else.

Zza’s claws steadied him. Her breath came fast, her face pale with exhaustion, yet her voice was steady. "She bleeds. That means she can break."

The words spread like fire. Scarabs screamed louder. Centipedes crashed into the Queen’s legs again, their coils snapping but refusing to let go. Glowbeetles dove in waves, their light striking her wound again and again. Buzz staggered forward, Zza at his side, their bodies pressed close as they joined the surge.

The Queen recoiled. She swung her claw, smashing Scarabs into the ground, but others rushed to fill their place. She tore through coils, yet silk bound her wings tighter. Her patience cracked under the weight of their fury. For the first time, she stepped back not because she chose to but because they forced her to.

Buzz shouted, his voice ragged but fierce. "Push her! She can fall!"

Zza’s silk lashed with every word, each thread straining her claws raw. "Don’t stop! Don’t give her air!"

The Queen’s scream rolled across the clearing. The wound pulsed brighter, golden ichor spilling faster, staining the soil beneath her. The coalition pressed harder, the rhythm beating faster, the glow sharper. Hope filled the cracks where fear had lived.

Then the light changed.

The ichor stopped dripping and began to burn. Golden fire spread across her shell, pouring from the wound as if the forest itself had been set alight. Her wings snapped wide, every beat flooding the field with heat and weight. Drones shrieked and threw themselves harder into the fight, their movements sharper, faster, wild with hunger.

Scarabs faltered as the ground itself seared under the glow. Centipedes screamed as coils blackened. Glowbeetles fell from the air, their wings scorched by the heat. Silk threads caught fire the moment they touched her.

Buzz dropped to one knee, shielding Zza with his body as the light pressed down. His shell burned, every crack in it screaming, but he held.

Zza clutched his arm, her eyes wide with terror. "She’s turning her wound into a weapon."

Buzz coughed, blood streaking his mandibles. His grin was jagged, defiant. "Good. That means she’s scared."

The Queen’s voice rolled low, each word heavy enough to shake the breath in their lungs. "You will see what fear truly is."

Drones surged harder, tearing through the front lines. Scarabs screamed but fell back, Centipedes broke apart under the heat, Glowbeetles dimmed until the canopy was dark again. The coalition bent and bent, almost snapping.

Zza pulled Buzz tighter, her silk snapping as she tried to bind his wounds against the fire. Her voice shook, but she didn’t let go. "If she breaks us now, the whole forest breaks with us."

Buzz leaned into her, every breath sharp and painful, but his eyes still locked on the Queen’s wound. "Then we don’t give her that."

The army faltered, but it didn’t fall. Drums still beat, faint but alive. Silk still spun, frayed but holding. Light still flared, dim but steady.

And Buzz, bleeding and burned, still stood beside Zza, both of them facing her glow head on.

The Queen had bled. She had burned. But the fight was far from over.