The hive felt them the moment they appeared. Out of nowhere, the hive felt the presence of the Fire Hive and not only that, they were right outside the entrance of the first floor. The spirits within the hive immediately focused their attention at the entrance and began speculating on how the Fire spirits managed to get to the Keg Mountains. Last they know, the Fire idiots were at Mount Morningstar and there was no way they should be here. Several of the spirits within the hive wondered if something was wrong.

The speculation died the moment the hive saw the Fire Hive; or the thing they knew that was the Fire Hive. The thing was a floating ball of fire. About half the size of a normal human, there was an eye in the middle of the floating ball that was able to move. Unlike the eye of a creature, this eye wasn’t restricted to looking forward and was able moved freely along the surface. The hive saw the eye moving to the top of the ball, to the back, to the bottom, and then back forward. Strange as that was, that wasn’t what truly shocked the hive.

The spirits were shocked by the Fire Hive’s need of an eye!

To the hive, creating an eye was something that had never occurred to them. Why should it when the hive could see and sense almost everything within it’s influence? To the spirits within the hive, the need for an eye was so stupid it had no idea why the Fire…

“They are not here.” One of the spirits remarked. “They are all the way to the south…the Fire Hive can’t be here but they are. This eye must be a way for them to…see beyond their volcano!”

The hive immediately went into discussion/argument overdrive. Many of the spirits could not (do not want to) believe the Fire idiots had found a way to see beyond their area of influence but the evidence was slowly floating further into their tunnels. The floating ball of fire reached the first room and stopped. At the end of the room were 3 openings and the hive immediately understood the Fire Hive’s problem.

In the time since they left, the hive had changed the layout of the tunnels. When they were still here, the first floor was basically 3 rooms connected to each other via a short tunnel. Since then, the hive had dug in more tunnels to confuse any potential enemy. Now there were 3 openings at the back of the first room, 2 of which led to dead ends. The hive was wondering if they need to send a guide for the Fire idiots when they saw that the Fire Hive needed no help. Three small red lights came out of the floating ball of fire and went through the three available tunnels. The spirits of the hive realized the red lights of the Fire Hive was some sort of recon spell as the red lights went through the whole tunnel before blinking out at the dead ends. The Fire Hive then proceeded through the correct tunnel.

When they reached the second room, the Fire Hive was faced with the same problem and once again, the Fire Hive sent out 3 small red lights. By this time, the argument within the hive had totally stopped. The Fire Hive had clearly discovered ways to use their power that the hive had not and the hive was spilt between those spirits that were proud of the Fire spirits and those who thought the Fire spirits were just lucky.

The trick the Fire Hive pulled with the red lights worked again as they once again chose the right tunnel. Just like that, the floating ball of fire that was the Fire Hive reached the last room of the first floor. Some of the spirits within the hive immediately wanted to bring out You-Who-Are-Not-Bear to fight the floating ball of fire but they were easily overruled by the rest of the hive.

This was a visit; not a challenge.

The Fire Hive went down the slope to the second floor and once more, it stopped. The second floor of the tunnels had underwent a major revamp and now was a maze of twisting tunnels that intersected with each other at various points. The attack by The Grand a few winters ago had showed the hive the usefulness of having a maze. During that attack, the maze of the third floor was a major success for the hive and since then, the hive had the idea of duplicating the maze. Now the second, third and fourth floor of their tunnels were all mazes and if not for the underground forest of the fifth floor, the hive would have made that floor a maze as well.

Turning so many floors into mazes did not come without objections of course. Several of the spirits within the hive thought that there were too many mazes and that the hive should have more variety in their defenses. The Fire Hive proved that these spirits were right. As useful as the maze was against humans, it was proving less than effective against the Fire Hive. It once again shot out small red lights into the second floor and proceeded to float in the right direction. Unlike the first floor which only had traps, there were several creatures that made the second floor their home. The hive sent out a call to the creatures, telling them not to attack the floating ball of fire.

Thus the Fire Hive went on to the third floor where they once again shot out their lights. Unlike the first two floors however, this time the Fire hive did not come straight down. Instead, the Fire Hive took a detour. It did not take long for the hive to figure out why.

One of the Fire Hive’s lights had reached one of the new creatures and it evidently got the Fire Hive’s interest. The Fire Hive reached the room where the creature was and when it saw the creature, the Fire Hive floated around the creature. The spirits within the hive wasn’t too sure but from the reaction of the floating ball of fire, they thought that the Fire Hive was impressed with it.

The creature in the room was named a “bull-man” by the Naming Committee of the hive simply because it had the head of a bull and the body of a man. Despite the less than imaginative name, the part man and part bull creature looked fearsome with a body that was ripping with muscles. The hive did not know why the bull-men was so muscular, they just turned out that way why they were changed. The hive also did not know why the bull-man loved the mazes so much. Unlike the other creatures they had, the bull-men seem to prefer the confusing mazes of the second, third, and fourth fifth floors to the underground forest of the fifth. The bull-men however weren’t too clever and this bull-man was snorting aggressively at the Fire Hive. This despite the hive’s call earlier not to attack! Some of the spirits within the hive immediately responded by saying the bull-man hadn’t attack yet so technically it wasn’t disobeying the hive but sometimes the hive do wondered...

Luckily for the hive, and the bull-man, the Fire Hive decided that it had seem enough and began floating away from the bull-man. It continued it’s journey down to the underground forest stopping only occasionally when it saw something that’s of interest. Those were the Chieftain and the Porkasus who both seem to understand that the floating ball of fire was the Fire Hive. The spirits within the hive wondered how they knew this because the hive never told the creatures…

The Fire Hive moved on. By this time several of the creatures had decided to follow the floating ball of fire and when it finally reached the underground forest, it had gained quite a following. It was met at the entrance of the forest by the Alpha and his entourage. Word of the arrival of the Fire Hive had spread and the leader of the Werewolves was there to greet the Fire Hive. He was not alone.

Outside other Werewolves and Ratlings, the Fox Mother and her foxmen were with the Alpha. The Fire Hive seem especially impressed with the Fox Mother, floating around the 5-tailed fox several times before moving on to the foxmen. The young foxmen were uncomfortable with the strange floating ball but a reassuring hand from the Alpha told them to keep still and let the Fire Hive finished it’s inspection.

After quite a while, it did so and moved on. This time the Fire Hive came straight to the hive, stopping only once when it spotted a horned rabbit. When it finally reached them, a strange feeling overcame the hive. Despite their recklessness and stupidity, the hive was glad to see the Fire Hive.

*Hi morons! Long time no see!*

The spirits within the hive roared into laughter at the greeting. They responded accordingly.

*Yeah, it’s been awhile. Welcome home you idiots!*

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