CHAPTER 28: CHAPTER 28: THE STRENGTH OF THE CROWN

The fused Queen stepped closer. Each movement sank into the ground, leaving pits of ash that smoked long after her claws lifted. Her glow spread wider with every breath, spilling over the Scarabs, the Centipedes, the Glowbeetles, until their shapes seemed swallowed by her shadow.

Buzz pressed his claws into the dirt, forcing himself upright though every muscle screamed. His chest rattled with each breath, his cracked shell leaking slow rivers down his side. Zza’s silk bound him tight, her hands trembling as she tied the threads, her own claws bleeding where she pulled too hard.

The fused Queen tilted her head. Her mandibles parted.

Buzz expected a roar. A scream. Something to shatter the air.

Instead came a voice.

"You are mine."

It was deeper than silence, sharper than command. It sank into every chest, every skull. Scarabs dropped their claws and bowed low, their drums falling into dust. Centipedes froze mid-coil, their segments locked, shaking. Glowbeetles flickered in panicked rhythm before their light dimmed altogether. Even the Elder’s silk threads sagged, the web itself shuddering as though it had been caught in her voice.

Buzz’s body bent forward under the weight. His claws dragged lines in the dirt as his knees buckled. His thoughts flickered—the flood, the tunnels, every wound—and for a moment he almost let go.

Zza’s scream cut through it.

"Buzz! Look at me!"

Her silk lashed across his chest, burning where it pressed into his wounds, but it anchored him. She pressed her forehead to his, eyes wide and wet, her breath coming in sharp bursts. "Don’t bow. If you bow, I bow too."

Buzz’s mandibles clenched until blood dripped down his teeth. He forced himself upright, dragging her with him. His voice cracked but carried. "I don’t crawl to her."

The fused Queen tilted her head again, as if amused. Her glow pulsed brighter, washing the battlefield in firelight. The Scarabs trembled, trying to lift their claws, but the sound of their drums died in their throats. Centipedes writhed but collapsed back into the dirt. Glowbeetles blinked weak light in panic, with no rhythm to follow.

Buzz staggered forward. Zza clung to him, her threads wrapping both their bodies tight. His claws shook but stayed high. "She doesn’t own us."

The fused Queen spread her wings wide. For a breath, everything in the forest froze. Then she struck.

The ground split as she lunged. A claw swung down, wide as a tree trunk, glowing with ichor. Buzz shoved Zza behind him and raised his arms. The impact slammed into him, shattering soil, throwing Scarabs backward, snapping Centipedes in half. His shell cracked deeper, pain ripping through him, but he didn’t fall.

Zza screamed, silk shooting out to bind his arms and brace them. Her body locked against his, threads glowing white-hot as they strained against the blow. Together they held, even as the dirt crumbled beneath their feet.

"Buzz!" she cried, her claws shaking with effort.

His voice roared back, hoarse and broken. "We stand!"

The fused Queen pressed harder, ichor dripping down her claw, the weight of her body trying to bury them whole. The army writhed around them, helpless, broken under her shadow.

Buzz’s vision swam, the world flickering between gold and dark. He thought his arms would snap, his chest would cave, his body would split apart.

And then the drums started again.

One Scarab, bleeding, broken, slammed his claw against the dirt. Another followed. Then another. A rhythm rose, jagged but alive.

Centipedes dragged their ruined bodies into coils and wrapped around her legs. Glowbeetles burst bright again, their signals pulsing in chaotic waves. The Elder dropped silk nets across the fused Queen’s wings, threads smoking as they caught but holding just long enough.

The weight on Buzz’s arms lifted a fraction. Enough to breathe. Enough to scream.

"Push her back!" he roared.

The coalition surged. Scarabs slammed their claws in rhythm. Centipedes coiled tighter, dragging her down. Glowbeetles flared blinding light into her eyes. Silk snapped and burned, then snapped again.

The fused Queen reared back with a shriek that made the trees quake. Gold sprayed across the clearing as she ripped free, her wings slashing through air, her glow blazing hotter.

For the first time since she was born, she had been forced a step backward.

The battlefield roared in answer, every creature screaming, pounding, burning their last strength.

And then her wings folded inward. Her body lowered, mandibles dripping thicker streams of ichor. Her eyes fixed on Buzz and Zza.

The glow around her shell pulsed once, steady, deliberate.

And the forest went silent again.

The fused Queen crouched low, her glow folding tight against her shell, every drop of ichor running steady down her claws. She looked like she was gathering the whole world into her chest.

Buzz felt the silence press into him. It wasn’t just sound gone—it was choice, will, breath, everything stolen. His knees wanted to fold, his claws wanted to lower.

Then he looked at Zza.

Her silk was frayed to threads, her arms shaking, her mandibles streaked with blood. She met his stare anyway. No bow. No break.

"Buzz," she whispered, her voice hoarse but sharp, "this is the gap."

His chest heaved, air burning in his lungs. "Then we hit it before she closes it."

She wrapped silk around his arms, her body pressed to his side, binding herself to him until they were one shape. "Then don’t stop swinging."

The Scarabs saw them move. One slammed a claw against the dirt. Another beat against its cracked drum. The rhythm pulsed again, weak but fierce.

Centipedes dragged their bodies into new coils, smoke rising from their broken segments. Glowbeetles flared dim, pulsing their faint light toward the center. The Elder dropped one last web, strands trembling, anchoring to every claw, every coil, every wing.

Buzz roared and charged.

His claws slammed into the fused Queen’s chest, into the place where mother and spawn had fused raw. Zza’s silk snapped tight, pulling his arms deeper, forcing the blows toward the crack still glowing faint beneath the golden shell.

The ichor burst upward, hot and burning. Buzz’s shell scorched, Zza’s silk smoked and split, but they didn’t stop.

"Again!" Zza cried, her voice breaking.

He struck. Once. Twice. Each blow slower, each deeper. Gold sprayed across the field in sheets. The fused Queen staggered, her wings flaring, light lashing the air.

Scarabs surged in, their claws pounding in rhythm with his strikes. Centipedes wrapped their coils higher, pinning her legs. Glowbeetles burned brighter, pulsing in furious flashes. The Elder’s threads knotted around her wings, binding them down.

Buzz’s claws split further. His shell cracked open. Blood ran hot down his chest. Still he swung, still he screamed.

Zza’s silk burned her claws raw. Her body trembled as she braced him, pulling him tighter into the fight. "She bends, Buzz. She bends!"

The fused Queen shrieked, her scream tearing through the canopy, scattering leaves into fire. Her chest split wider, ichor flooding the ground. Her step lurched backward, claws digging into the soil to keep from falling.

For the first time, her balance broke.

Buzz staggered, his vision swimming. His claws dripped with gold, his body shaking. He leaned into Zza, forehead pressed to hers, his whisper cracked but steady.

"She bleeds. We can make her fall."

Zza’s breath hitched, tears burning down her ash-streaked face. "Then we don’t stop until she does."

The fused Queen’s wings tore free of the threads with a crack, her eyes burning hotter, her scream rolling over the field like thunder.

And yet—her body still swayed, gold spilling from a wound that wouldn’t close.

The army roared louder than her for the first time.