Kazimir emerged from a shadow on the upper branches of the tree, his boots landing soundlessly on the pitch-black wood. Towering red leaves surrounded him, their edges glowing faintly in the moonlight. The branch was enormous, wide enough to support the Umbrax Highway, giving him ample space to move.
He stepped toward the edge and peered downward.
The wasp hive sprawled across the massive trunk like a grotesque parasite, its vast structure nearly the size of a small lake. From this vantage point, Kazimir could see the full horror of it, chitinous creatures swarming in and out of its gaping openings. Their bodies pulsed with eerie, shifting eyes, unblinking and all-seeing. Countless spindly legs, sharp as needles, gripped the hive's surface as they scuttled with unnatural precision. Their antennae twitched, sensing everything around them.
A constant, droning buzz filled the air.
Far below, Selis stood at the edge of the empty space surrounding the tree, a lone figure against the dark expanse. From up here, she was little more than a white ember flickering in the night, a firefly among the shadows. Yet Kazimir would recognize her anywhere. Her stance. Her shadow. Even from this distance, she radiated a presence that was unmistakable.
She tilted her head up, locking eyes with him. A small smile curled on her lips.
Then, she summoned a flame.
Not her usual white fire, this one was different. Denser. Brighter. Hungrier. It coiled around her fingers like a living thing, casting sharp shadows across the ground. Even from this height, Kazimir could feel the heat. The earth beneath her feet darkened, scorched merely by its presence.
Selis molded the fire, letting it glide between her hands like molten silk. Slowly, deliberately, she grasped it in her left palm. Then, she lifted her left hand, fingers pointing towards the tree. She pulled her right hand back, The flame stretched taut, pulled back like a bowstring.
A fire arrow.
Kazimir had seen her use this technique before, back at the training grounds, but this was something else. This was stronger.
Selis exhaled. Then.
Snap.
A thunderous bang split the air as the fire arrow shot forward, a blazing star streaking through the night. It moved with terrifying speed, a falling star aimed straight for the hive.
Impact.
The explosion swallowed the hive in white fire. The flames did not spread, did not touch the tree trunk, as if bound by an unseen force. But the hive? The hive burned. It burned like dry parchment, consumed in seconds. The jungle was bathed in its glow, the towering inferno casting an eerie light across the land. Like an artificial moon.
Then came the chaos.
The wasps erupted from the hive in a frenzied swarm, their nightmarish bodies writhing against the light.
Kazimir tensed, fingers tightening around his bow.
Then, the wasps saw her.
Selis stood beneath the tree, a beacon in the darkness. White flames flickered at her feet, her silver armor gleaming through the smoke. The wasps screeched, their bodies shifting in unison. And then.
They dashed towards her.
A grin flickered across Selis's face. She had them.
In one fluid motion, she unsheathed her sword. The moment it left its scabbard, it blazed with white fire.
Flames ignited beneath her feet, then she moved.
Selis dashed toward the tree trunk, impossibly fast. She didn't climb, she ran. Her feet barely touched the bark before she launched herself into the air. She soared, wings adjusting her trajectory as she leaped from branch to branch, weaving through the swarm.
The first wasp reached her.
It never got the chance to attack.
In a flash of white, her blade sliced through its body, cleaving it in two before it even realized it was dead.
Kazimir was so shocked he almost forgot to fire.
His arrows would never match her flames in sheer destruction, but he didn't need power, he needed precision. From his vantage point, he could see their wings clearly. That was their weakness. If he could cripple them, their own height would do the rest.
He loosed an arrow.
The shot was clean, it tore through a wasp's wing, sending it plummeting toward the jungle below.
Kazimir kept his focus sharp, eyes flicking between the swarm and Selis's shadow. He tracked her movements, making sure never to aim too close. Instead, he targeted the wasps most dangerous to her, the ones lurking just beyond her line of sight.
One by one, they fell.
Selis danced between the creatures, unstoppable. Her sword left trails of white fire in the air as she tore through them, blood and flame mixing in a violent spectacle. At times, she used the wasps themselves as stepping stones, leaping onto their backs, cutting them down before jumping to another.
She was fearless. Dauntless.
A knight angel, drenched in ichor and flame.
By the time the last wasps fell, the branches were painted red, matching the crimson leaves.
The last one remaining were the ones last to leave the hive, so their bodies were already weakened by the fire.
Then,
A tremor.
The burning hive shuddered. A deep, reverberating sound echoed through the air, so powerful that even the high branch Kazimir stood on quivered beneath him. He dropped to one knee, steadying himself.
Selis froze.
The remaining wasps froze.
Then.
It emerged.
From the heart of the burning hive, something massive took flight. Its wings sent a blast of wind through the jungle, nearly extinguishing the flames around it.
A wasp.
No.
The Queen.
It was colossal, ten times the size of the others, its armored body gleaming with an unnatural sheen. Unlike the others, its eyes did not dart frantically. It was calm.
It was aware.
Kazimir felt a chill run down his spine.
Selis exhaled, gripping her sword tighter. Then, ever so slightly.
She smiled.