CHAPTER 22: CHAPTER 22: BREAKING POINT

The Queen’s wound burned brighter, spilling heat into the clearing. Her wings fanned the glow into waves that rolled over the army. Scarabs hissed as the fire scorched their shells, their drums cracking under the heat. Centipedes writhed, their coils blistering where they touched the ground. Glowbeetles crashed from the sky in smoldering trails, their light dimming before it hit the soil.

Buzz staggered forward anyway, every step burning, every breath scraping his lungs. His shell split further with each movement, but Zza’s silk bound him in place. She moved beside him, threads snapping as fast as she spun them, her face pale but determined.

"Keep your head up," she said, her voice low, as if speaking louder would make her break. "Don’t let her see you bow."

Buzz gave her a jagged grin through blood. "I’d rather crawl into her face than bow."

She almost laughed, almost cried, and pulled him forward with another thread.

The Queen raised her claws again, but this time the army did not scatter. The Scarabs shifted their rhythm, beating on the ground instead of their shells, pounding dirt and stone until cracks split open. Centipedes dove into those cracks, coiling around roots and dragging them up into walls. Glowbeetles lit the weak points in her fire, blinking signals to guide the charge.

The Elder dropped silk nets not onto the Queen, but over the army itself, shielding them, weaving firebreaks through the smoke. Threads burned through quickly, yet more fell, binding holes faster than the fire could eat them.

Buzz watched them scramble, broken bodies refusing to stop. It wasn’t a clean formation anymore. It was scraps, held together by will alone, but it was alive.

"Look at them," he muttered, almost in awe. "They’re fighting ugly now."

Zza’s silk tightened around his arm. Her lips trembled, but her voice steadied. "That’s the only way anyone survives fire."

The Queen lunged through the chaos, claws swinging, wings blasting heat. Drones followed in a frenzy, their bodies burning even as they clawed into Scarabs and Centipedes. She moved like she wanted to end the fight in one sweep, like the wound on her shell was something she’d erase with sheer fury.

Buzz pushed into her path. His claws struck against her, each blow weaker than the last, but aimed at the crack in her shell. Zza bound his strikes with silk, pulling them toward the weak spot. Their movements were ragged, desperate, but precise enough to sting her again.

The Queen snarled, golden ichor spilling thicker. Her wings lashed out, slamming them both into the dirt. Buzz’s chest screamed as he hit the ground, his breath leaving in a sharp gasp. Zza landed beside him, blood on her mandibles, her threads snapping apart on impact.

Her hand clutched his, trembling. "We’re still here. We’re still here."

Buzz coughed blood and dragged himself upright, pulling her with him. His voice broke, but his eyes burned. "Then we make her remember it."

The Scarabs roared again, pounding the earth until it shook. Centipedes slammed their coils into her legs, burning but holding. Glowbeetles dived as living sparks, throwing their light into her face. The coalition fought like it had nothing left to lose.

The Queen screamed and swung, but for every Scarab that fell, another beat the drum. For every Centipede that split apart, another latched on tighter. For every Glowbeetle that burned out, another flared brighter.

Buzz and Zza stood in the middle of it, their claws bloody, their silk frayed, their bodies shaking. Still moving. Still holding. Still staring into the Queen’s fire.

She had burned the forest, but she had not broken it.

---

The heat pressed harder with every beat of the Queen’s wings. The clearing glowed with a sick gold, burning through roots, cooking soil until it cracked. Scarabs dragged their claws through the dirt, their shells splitting, their drums melted into silence. Centipedes writhed in pieces, coils blistered and twitching, still trying to form walls out of what was left. Glowbeetles dropped like falling stars, their light dying before it reached the ground.

Buzz stumbled forward, his claws dragging furrows in the soil. His vision swam in waves, his shell felt like it was splitting apart, yet he forced one foot in front of the other. Zza’s silk bound him tighter, her body pressed to his side, holding him up with what little strength she had left. Her breath came shallow and sharp, but she whispered into his ear as they moved.

"Don’t stop. If you stop, she wins."

"I’m not stopping," he rasped. His chest rattled, blood hot in his throat. "I just don’t know if I’m walking or falling anymore."

Her grip tightened. "Then fall forward."

The Queen’s shadow fell across them again. Her claw swept wide, smashing through Scarabs in one blow. Their bodies hit the dirt, their cries cutting short. Centipedes snapped in two beneath her steps, Glowbeetles burst in sparks of light. Every sound was swallowed in her fire.

Buzz dropped to one knee. His claws couldn’t lift anymore. His wings sagged, half burned, dragging in the dirt. Zza crouched beside him, hands shaking as she tried to bind his wounds with silk that shriveled before it held.

"I can’t... I can’t make it stick," she said, her voice cracking.

Buzz grabbed her wrist, blood smearing her claws. His voice was faint, but sharp. "You don’t have to fix me. Just keep me facing her."

Zza’s eyes shone wet, her jaw trembling. "You’re an idiot."

"Yeah," he said with a jagged grin. "But I’m still her idiot problem."

The Queen’s wings snapped once more, waves of fire rolling across the clearing. Scarabs screamed, Centipedes scattered, Glowbeetles went dark. Even the Elder’s silk threads disintegrated the moment they touched her glow. The coalition sagged, their rhythm broken, their formation shattered.

For a breath, the forest felt empty.

Zza clutched Buzz tighter, her face pressed into his shoulder. "Is this it?"

Buzz’s head lifted, blood dripping from his mandibles, eyes locked on the crack in the Queen’s shell. "Not until that wound splits wider."

The Queen raised her claw again, golden ichor dripping, wings burning hotter. She struck down, the weight of it enough to crush them both—

The Scarabs pounded the earth again. Weak, broken, but loud. One beat, then another.

The Centipedes coiled again, dragging themselves back together in a wall.

The Glowbeetles pulsed their light, faint but steady, blinking signals into the dark.

The Elder dropped her last nets of silk, wide threads that bound broken bodies together, weaving scraps into one body.

The Queen’s claw slammed down, but this time it caught in the net. Silk glowed white-hot as it burned, but in those seconds Buzz surged forward, Zza dragging him with her threads.

His claws struck the crack again. Once. Twice.

The third blow split it wide.

Golden ichor spilled in a gush, spraying across the dirt, burning everything it touched. The Queen screamed, not with silence but with fury that shook the air. Her wings faltered, the fire stuttered, her step lurched back.

The coalition roared with what voices they had left. Scarabs beat harder, Centipedes coiled tighter, Glowbeetles pulsed brighter. For the first time, the Queen staggered.

Buzz leaned into Zza, his body broken, his claws dripping with her ichor. His voice cracked, raw but steady. "She bleeds like the rest of us."

Zza pressed her forehead to his, tears streaking her face, silk glowing in her claws. "Then we can end her."

The Queen towered still, her light burning, her scream rising. But the wound was real, wide and open. And she had been forced to step back.

The forest had seen her falter.