Flora Bloom and her three companions stopped, the humid heat of Morhaven leaving them drenched in sweat from the run. Shauna Wallace was especially covered in a cold sweat, her face unusually pale. Forget being chased by a swarm of giant bees—even a swarm of regular bees buzzing after you would be enough to send anyone running for their life.
Vert had followed the four of them all the way back, a bee still clutched in its leg. It dropped the bee from the air, and the corpse landed on the lawn beside them.
The tender green blades of grass sensed the foreign object and swarmed over, wrapping the bee's corpse up into a green cocoon. In less than ten seconds, the grass blades receded. The bee corpse that had been lying there was gone, leaving only a Crystal Core the size of a grain of rice.
The Crystal Core rolled on a blade of grass before a rootlet emerged from beneath the lawn, wrapped around it, and instantly absorbed it completely. The rootlet then retreated back into the ground.
