CHAPTER 27: CHAPTER 27: AND THE TWO BECAME ONE

The two Queens moved as if bound by invisible threads. Golden ichor streamed from their wounds and twisted upward, coiling between them like veins searching for a body. Every step pulled their shells closer, their wings beating in uneven rhythm until it blurred into one.

Scarabs pounded their claws against the dirt in panic, the sound clattering instead of steady. Centipedes whipped broken coils into barricades that melted as soon as ichor touched them. Glowbeetles darted in jagged spirals overhead, their lights flashing without meaning. The Elder’s silk drifted wide, shaking as if even the web didn’t know which side to fall on.

Buzz’s claws trembled where they dug into the ground. His chest burned with every breath, his vision swimming, but he couldn’t look away. "It’s happening. She’s swallowing her own child."

Zza clung to him, silk wrapped around his waist and her own, binding them together. Her claws shook, blood streaking the threads as she forced them tighter. "If they finish this, there’s nothing left for us to fight. Nothing left for us to stop."

The glow thickened. Two shadows bled into one. Mandibles blurred into each other. Wings sparked as they touched, gold flames licking through the air. The clearing filled with a sound deeper than any roar—it was the pulse of something being born.

Buzz dragged himself upright, ripping Zza’s threads as he rose. His claws lifted, jagged and dripping. "We don’t wait for it. We break it now."

Zza’s eyes widened, wet and terrified. "Buzz, if we go in there, we die."

He grinned through blood, teeth cracked but certain. "Then we make dying count."

She cursed under her breath, then spun what silk she had left and lashed it tight around his arms. "If you go, I go."

They staggered forward together. Scarabs saw them and pounded their claws harder, rhythm rising shaky but fierce. Centipedes lurched, coiling broken bodies tighter. Glowbeetles burst brighter in answer. The Elder dropped a net of silk that snapped taut across the army like a single heartbeat.

Buzz and Zza broke through the light and struck.

His claws slammed into the place where mother and spawn were melting into one. Zza’s silk lashed around their wings, pulling them apart with a scream. The golden ichor split, spraying across the battlefield in waves of fire.

For a heartbeat, it worked.

The two figures tore back, their fusion unraveling. The newborn shrieked and twisted, wings flaring wild, ichor pouring from its throat. The Queen staggered with it, her body jerking, her wound splitting wider.

But the moment cracked.

Their blood flooded together again, twice as fast, pulled by rage instead of hunger. Their roars overlapped until they became one sound. Their bodies lurched forward, pressing together, forcing themselves through the split Buzz and Zza had carved.

The glow exploded outward, blinding the clearing. When it dimmed, the two were gone.

In their place stood a single shape, towering, wings spread wide, mandibles dripping rivers of gold. Its eyes glared down at the forest, not with hunger, not with patience, but with something worse.

Awareness.

Buzz collapsed against Zza, his claws still burning, his voice raw. "We didn’t stop it."

Her threads shook as she pulled him close, her whisper breaking. "We made it worse."

The fused Queen stepped forward, and the ground shook like the forest itself bowed.

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The thing that stepped out of the light wasn’t the Queen anymore. It wasn’t the newborn either. It was both and neither, a shape stretched wrong, too much shell and too many wings. Gold dripped down its body in steady streams, hissing as it touched the ground.

The coalition shrank back without needing orders. Scarabs clutched their cracked drums but didn’t strike them. Centipedes uncoiled, their segments trembling as if every nerve told them to flee. Glowbeetles hovered in silence, their light dim, blinking out of rhythm. Even the Elder’s threads swayed uselessly from the canopy, weaving and unweaving like a web that had forgotten its pattern.

Buzz coughed blood and wiped it from his mandibles with the back of his claw. His chest heaved, his body shaking. Zza crouched against him, silk pulled so tight around his middle that it dug into his wounds. Her hands never stopped binding, even when her own claws bled from the strain.

He stared at the monster towering in front of them and whispered, "She looks like the end of the forest."

Zza didn’t look away, her breath shallow. "Then we fight like the forest deserves to live."

The fused Queen moved. Its steps didn’t shake the dirt like before. They sank into it. Every place it touched withered, roots curling into ash, the soil blackening beneath her claws. When her wings opened, the glow didn’t flare bright. It spread slow, like oil seeping into water, filling every space.

Buzz forced himself up, leaning heavy into Zza’s side. "If she’s aware, she’ll remember every strike that ever touched her. Every weakness we found."

Zza shook her head. "And if she’s aware, she’ll remember how to erase them."

The creature’s mandibles spread wide, a steady hiss rolling out. Not a scream, not a roar—something worse. The sound of claiming, like the forest already belonged to her.

The army bent under it. Scarabs dropped to their knees, pressing claws to their chests. Centipedes writhed in half-coils, unable to hold shape. Glowbeetles dimmed further, some falling from the air.

Buzz’s claws dug into the dirt, dragging lines through ash. "She’s breaking them without even touching them."

Zza’s silk lashed around his arm, anchoring him. Her voice cracked but steadied. "Then we don’t let her break us."

Buzz leaned close, their foreheads pressed together, blood and sweat mingling. His whisper came sharp, fierce. "Not now. Not while they’re still watching."

Behind them, the Scarabs pounded their claws weakly. One, then another, until a shaky rhythm pulsed. Centipedes inched closer, their coils reforming in trembling lines. Glowbeetles blinked faint lights, faltering but present. The Elder’s threads stretched tighter, swaying but not breaking.

The fused Queen tilted its head, golden ichor dripping from her mandibles. Its eyes swept over the survivors and then settled, once again, on Buzz and Zza.

The sound of claiming stopped.

She was done warning.

Zza’s silk tightened around him as the air grew heavier. Her whisper was almost lost in the silence. "She doesn’t just want to kill us."

Buzz’s mandibles clenched. His claws rose, shaking but ready. "She wants to make us hers."

The fused Queen stepped forward, and the forest bent with her.