Brokenvoid

Deepnest

Once Phantom woke up, webbing was all around her, it shined with the lumifly lanterns. She made a small squeak of relief when she noticed the pain in her chest gone.

A weaver came along and went up to the silk cradle holding her. She squeaked and held her arms out for holding, he picked her up and rocked her, “You must be the one the queen told me to look after… you are very adorable… but don't know how to speak yet, hmm?” She just squeaked in response. He chuckled, “well, I'll see if I can help you with that…”

He sat her down, her tail wagging as she stared at him happily, he sat beside her and held her little hands, “Can you say ‘Dad’?” She tried to say it, but came out more as a whisper of a language not even the pale beings knew. He just had her try again. “D…. Da….dad! Dad!” He lifted her up, “There we go! That's a good pale being!”

He stayed with her, teaching her basic words like “the, mom, to, she, him, and, hurt” she added that last one, he paused and looked at her sadly, “Hurt? Why do you say that, did I say something that hurt you?” She shook her head, not really wanting to talk about it. He understood and lifted her up again, holding her in two of his many arms, “Well, how about we go see the queen, I'm sure she would love to see your lovely face…”

The throne room was occupied with the Queen of the hive and the mantis lord's having a  conversation with Herrah. They discussed an issue the king was not speaking of that they were finding in their own kingdoms.
“.... found attacking one another, it's becoming a worry of mine, we bees work in harmony, rarely does a fight break out, but it's been happening on a weekly basis now.” Queen Vespa said, clear worry in her voice of what was becoming of her bees.
Herrah sat there at the table, thinking on something, “The king knows something we don't. And he knows what is causing all of this and I know it.”
The mantis lords nodded to one another, one sister added, “our traitor brother broke out on a rampage recently. And we found he has something in common with the same problem. They all say something about a light guiding them. A voice. We don't know anything else. But all we should know, Hollownest is no longer the safe place it used to be.”
Herrah nodded, she didn't like the idea that Deepest could be in trouble soon as well from this.

Despite the worry going on, Phantom was brought in by the weaver, he presented her to Herrah and the other leaders, who looked at her, then Herrah. “Ah, I wasn't expecting her to be done healing and awake by now… hello little one, how was your sleep?”
Phantom was put on the table, she squeaked happily, “Good, good!” Vespa smiled, “Why isn't she an adorable one… did the king have another spawn that we didn't know about?” Herrah just rolled her eyes knowing the truth, “You could say that, now Phantom, being Princess of Hollownest, you should meet the leaders of the different tribes that reside in Hollownest. This is Vespa, queen of the Hive. And these are the mantis lords, rulers of the mantis tribe.”

Phantom in response put a hand on each of their faces, they smiled and chuckled in response. She giggled and her wings fluttered. Vespa gently lifted her, she flinched, but calmed down a little when she buzzed and nuzzled her. Phantom squeaked in response, her tail wagged a lot. “I would never think the king would make such a spawn with his looks, especially with his choices in the kingdom.” Herrah sighed and grabbed Phantom from Vespa and cradled her in her arms. She looked down, and Phantom looked up, now to think of it, Phantom was quite hungry. She whined and squirmed a little. Vespa and the mantis lords watched, one of the mantis lords pointed out, “She is quite skinny, when was the last time she was fed?” Herrah thought about it, “Not yet in my best age hasn't eaten. I'll have my weavers handle that and care for her as we finish the discussion.” She gave Phantom to the weaver that brought her in, and he left with her.

The weaver brought her to the weaver den, where they were snacking on silverfish. He set her down, and the other weavers looked at her with interest. She waved at them and squeaked, just happy to be there.

The weaver came back with the food, and she ate it happily. They watched and studied her, very curious. The weaver taking care of her before sat by her and helped her eat, petting her gently as he gave her small bite sized portions. He looked at the others, “We should teach her to speak more words, maybe how to hunt as well to add to it.” The other weavers nodded and got what they needed for it, she sat there and finished eating, watching what they were doing now.

They finished setting up, then lifted her up, one of the weavers stated, “over here we have a silverfish. What you're going to do is sneak up on it and attack with this.” They handed her a nail, it wasn't a full nail the white knights use, but it could still do damage. She nodded and held it, her body felt …. Powerful. She lifted the nail and ran at it, the silverfish squealed and tried to run, but with one swift move, the light went out from its eyes as blood started to pour out. She stared at the scene, the sudden image of her siblings dead corpse in front of her came, she dropped the nail and breathed heavily.

The body stood up.
It looked at her with hatred burning in its soulless eyes.

It's your fault I'm still down there.

She shook her head, backing up.

I helped you, and all you did was give me a glance as I fell to my death.

She was panicking, she looked around for the comfort of the weavers, but all she saw was the pit, falling body's. The dead corpses.

It came closer to her, making her panic even more.

We tried, and you got what we all wanted. You didn't deserve such a right.

She turned to run, but her arm was grabbed and she was turned around.

YOU COULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING, BUT YOU LEFT US TO DIE!

It stabbed her with the nail, she gasped out. She was sobbing, apologizing a lot. She shook a lot, just for her to be lifted up.

She blinked and the weaver held her in his arms, he looked worried, holding her and wiping her tears away, “h-hey….  I promise you are in no danger… you're ok now….”

She held him tightly as she cried into his chest.

The horrible sight was gone, but the hateful whispers continued chanting one thing.

“It's all your fault”