Janis didn’t know how much time had passed. Something as distant and unimportant as the passage of time ceased to matter when your whole being was narrowed down to the magic. The pain, and the mana. She wasn’t sure how long she hovered between them, and she only vaguely became aware of anything happening in the outside world after things started improving.

It wasn’t easy. She had to corral her mana, which was suddenly much more restive than she’d ever experienced it before. And she felt strained and hurt on some fundamental level by whatever the backlash of their magic had done. It made it hard to focus, which was dangerous in this situation.

Finally, though, she’d imposed a semblance of order on it and the pain was receding, turning into only a blinding headache that pulsed behind her closed eyes and wrapped like a tightening steel vise around her temples. It made it hard to move, but not impossible. So, Janis blinked her eyes open.

It took a minute until she stopped seeing spots and her vision was no longer swimming, so she could try to take in what she saw.

She’d been vaguely aware of people nearby, towards the end, and now realized they must have moved her. She was lying on soft grass with folded-up cloth beneath her head, and several presences hovered near her. She could sense them even without seeing them, through the psychic link. Despite everything else, feeling herself being connected to it again was a relief.

She also immediately became aware of Regina’s attention on her. The Hive Queen’s notice was something she suspected all drones or members of the Hive could learn to feel, and as she’d been growing more powerful it had been growing less subtle. Janis groaned and sat up, blinking and trying to assess what her senses told her.

There was one person nearby who she couldn’t sense through the link, although, after a moment of surprise, she realized it only made sense. Madris stood over her, perhaps a meter away, looking down at her with a contemplative expression.

“Take it easy,” she said. “You are mostly recovered, but I wouldn’t do anything too strenuous for a while. Do not immerse yourself into your hive link too deeply, yet, at least.”

Janis nodded, which she quickly regretted. “Alright,” she said. “Thanks for the tip, and, uh, the help?” she trailed off.

“I did not do much,” Madris replied. “You dealt with the backlash yourself rather well.” The corners of her lips lifted up into a slight, lopsided smile that looked closer to a smirk. “Good job, girl.”

“The backlash?” Janis repeated, questioning.

“It was worse than I anticipated,” Madris replied. “I suspect that may be a feature intentionally built into the ritual. Or perhaps the use and effect of mana in the affected location is the cause. It will need some more research and perhaps careful testing.”

She apparently dealt with it well enough, Regina said. She also brought back a prisoner to ask about the ritual. She paused and then sent the equivalent of a warm hug. I’m glad you’re okay, Janis.

Thank you, Regina, Janis replied, relaxing a little despite herself. It seemed like things had gone pretty well while she was incapacitated, at least. Although she hoped it hadn’t been too long.

A System screen in the corner of her vision caught her attention, and Janis smiled when she read the notification.

You have leveled up

She was almost at the next threshold. That was great. Janis wasn’t sure where the Experience for this level-up had come from, if it was breaking the ritual effect or maybe the fight, but she supposed it didn’t matter now. Instead, she quickly checked on the battle.

It looked like she really had missed all of the excitement. The battle was as good as over, from what she could see, they were just wrapping up. Judging from the drones’ positions and the impression she got from the psychic link, her plan had worked. That gave her a feeling of pride she was sure Regina could sense.

The woman in question was also close by, as she now noted. As always, she was accompanied by Max and Ira, as well as a few others. Janis could see that Max had positioned himself to be almost directly between Regina and Madris, to protect her from an attack. Overall, though, the Hive seemed pretty relaxed around the dark elf Delver. And her companion, who Janis noticed now as well. She examined him curiously for a second, but didn’t see any obvious signs of spirit blood. His dark hair and eyes seemed just like normal human features. She supposed it made sense if he was going to hide, at least.

Janis made an effort to contain her curiosity. She’d have time to talk to him later, hopefully. For now, she still felt exhausted and in need of a good meal and a night’s sleep, but she’d already missed too much. She sat up and then got to her feet slowly and carefully. Luckily, the vertigo she’d half-expected didn’t materialize.

“What now?” she asked after a moment of hesitation.

Regina didn’t look very sure, herself. “We still need to interrogate Zephyr again,” she said. “He gave us a bit of information on the ritual, but I’d like more details. And then there’s the rest of their army to deal with, and the Esemen of course. And I’m not sure if our guest has any requirements,” she finished, glancing at Madris.

“Wait, Zephyr? You captured him?” Janis quickly checked through the psychic link and whistled tunelessly when she found it was true. He seemed to be asleep and was guarded by quite a few drones.

“Indeed,” Madris responded with a faint smile. “And I have no pressing needs or demands at present, Hive Queen.”

Regina looked at her, frowning slightly. “We need to talk.”

“That we need to do, certainly,” Madris agreed right away. “But perhaps you would prefer to settle urgent matters first? Like these armies?”

“Have they still not surrendered?” Janis asked.

“No,” Regina replied, her frown deepening. “They’re losing people, although so are we.”

“Have you tried asking?” Madris asked.

Regina just gave her a look, before she glanced to the side. “We’ll try telling them to surrender again.”

Janis tried to follow her attention through the psychic link, focusing on the drones fighting the human soldiers and those circling above. There were less of either than there had been at the beginning of this, although that might be because the front line had also shrunk and not every drone could actually be engaged in combat.

The battle had mostly died down, with the humans huddled together in the center and forming a shield wall around them, which they were trying to push against the drones. They kept back, mostly harrying them and content to exhaust the humans. It kept casualties down, which was one of Regina’s goals.

Now, Dan stepped up, climbing on top of a large War Drone and shouting across to the human soldiers. “Surrender!” His words echoed for a moment, and he paused as they assessed the impact of the words, before he continued, “You have lost this battle! Surrender to save your lives! You will be treated well and released once the war is over or parole arrangements have been reached! Else you would die needlessly for a man who has abandoned you!”

Janis watched, resisting the urge to tap her fingers, as their reaction spread through the human army. Any division between Cernlians and Nerlians had mostly disappeared, with them fighting a desperate defense together. Now it became a little more apparent, but she still saw that it wouldn’t be enough to stop the momentum of the situation.

It took a few more minutes and repeated calls before most of the humans laid down their weapons. Once a significant portion of them had done it, it was like a dam broke loose and everyone followed suit.

Janis released a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. She’d been braced for some kind of trick to turn things around at the last moment, a card up their sleeve, even as she realized it was rather unlikely. Maybe they’d even prepared something, but with the Cernlian king having fled and Zephyr captured by Madris, it would have fallen apart before they could start.

“We’re going to need you,” Regina said quietly as she stepped up beside Janis, laying a hand on her shoulder. “You’ve done very well dealing with humans, and the more human faces we have to show them instead of ‘monsters’, the easier this will go.”

Janis sighed. She understood her logic, even if she didn’t necessarily like it. Then again, after what had happened, maybe it would be good to take a step back from fighting and focus on other things. She wasn’t exactly raring to go storming off into the next battle.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to sideline you, Regina assured her silently with a small smile. You’ve just proved you’re one of my best commanders, after all.

Janis smiled back. It felt surprisingly good to hear that, even if she wasn’t entirely sure she could live up to it.

“I’d also like to have you here for this talk,” Regina continued quietly. She straightened up and turned to the side, where Madris and Galatea were still hovering. Janis realized they were talking quietly and tried to strain her ears to hear, but she didn’t get anything. They stopped talking quickly.

“I suppose you have some questions,” Madris acknowledged, coming closer.

“I do,” Regina responded seriously. “For starters, why did you come here?”

“That’s a loaded question,” Madris said. “I sensed what was happening, but we’ve been keeping an eye on this war anyhow. I was concerned with this phenomenon, so I decided to intervene personally.” She hesitated for a moment. “I also wanted the opportunity to talk to you again.”

She wanted to talk to her? Janis wondered. For a specific reason?

"Well, we’re here now,” Regina said. “You’ve intervened.”

Madris visibly took a deep breath and a grimace flickered across her face before she spoke again, her eyes fixed on Regina. “First of all, I want to apologize. I was … overly rash when we last met.”

Regina blinked, and Janis shared her surprise. Despite Madris’ behavior this time, when she’d clearly been trying to be nice and cooperative, she had not expected an actual apology. She could sense that Regina was pleased to hear it, though, almost despite herself. “Okay,” she said, not having anything better to offer.

Madris just looked at her for a moment, before she glanced away, at the others.

“Was there something else?” Janis prompted.

“Indeed,” Madris said, focusing back on Regina. It was clear that she didn’t care nearly as much about the rest of them. “I have some more information that I believe you would want to hear. It relates to why we have decided to change our stance. That is why I would like to reiterate Gwen’s invitation.”

“What sort of information?” Regina asked.

Madris shook her head hesitantly. “I can’t say — or at least, I’d rather not,” she corrected herself. “It is the sort of thing that is easier to show you.”

Regina gave her a look. “You need to give me more than that, Madris,” she said. “I’m sure you realize how this sounds.”

Madris sighed. “Of course. We have certain new findings, that’s all I’d say.”

“So you want me to come to your base? That would be a major risk, you understand.”

“No. Of course you’d be welcome there, but what I’d like to show you is not at our base. Instead, it would be -“ she tilted her head slightly - “about where you previously cooperated with us.”

That must mean the underground tunnels, and the ruins, Janis realized. She inhaled a quiet breath and looked deeper into the psychic link, exchanging impressions with Regina. Her own reaction was much the same. Skeptical, but also intrigued.

“I see,” Regina said. “That is an intriguing proposal. We will see.”

“I would be willing to leave Armin behind as a hostage to assure you that we are acting in good faith and mean no harm,” Madris said. Janis could see the tension in her face. It was clearly not an offer she made gladly, but she didn’t hesitate. “So long as you give assurances not to harm him, of course.”

Regina raised an eyebrow. She glanced at Madris’ companion, who watched the conversation stoically, before nodding. “Oh. I’m sure we can arrange something. I promise you I have no intention of harming him as long as he is our guest, anyway.”

Clearly, Madris sensed that Regina didn’t want to commit to anything right now, even if she was interested, because she didn’t push it.

Janis exhaled and turned her attention to the psychic link again, only listening with one ear as the conversation moved to lighter topics and they started to talk about magic. Usually, she’d listen with interest, but right now she was still tired and found it really hard to focus. She reluctantly decided to go and get a few hours of sleep, so she’d be able to concentrate. She’d see if she could find at least the gist of their conversation in the psychic link later, or just ask Regina.

Before she left, she still checked quickly on the rest of the psychic link. She was curious to see how the war had been going, not just here. Ben had been pretty absent in the link, recently, and she had the impression it was because he was busy with another important task.

Now that she looked, she realized that the other main army the Hive currently had, deeper in Nerlia, had moved. At least a little. It was now occupying what remained of the Nerlians’ fortified positions, although the fortifications had been reduced to rubble, charred pieces of wood and burned out ground. The soldiers themselves had surrendered, she realized.

Well, Janis smiled to herself. It seems like the new guns were a success. Ignoring her tiredness for the moment, she dove deeper into the link and contacted a few of the sapient drones there who didn’t currently seem too occupied, to get the details of the battle.