Chapter Text
Dear Io of the Moth Tribe,
Thank you for giving me a chance to tell my kingdom's story. I wasn’t alive for it, in fact my mother only just hatched during the halfway point of the infection, but because of how impactful the event was, it has been recorded quite heavily.
This started a long time ago, many, many lifetimes ago when my grandfather was king. A stranger from an unknown land came to us. He never showed his form, hiding under a large cloak. He came with vials of a blue liquid, as well as having a large glowing blue sac that was brought on a cart. The stranger attempted to give away the vials, having such a surplus he didn’t charge for it. He claimed the substance, which he had called "Blue Nectar", had incredible properties. It apparently would heal any injuries, make you stronger, faster, jump higher, have your attacks be more powerful, etc. All claims were true, but they had a nasty side effect.
Those who would take the substance would get these benefits at first, but over time their body would rot, strange pustules and vines would grow from them. They’d be in constant pain, the only thing that would relieve the pain would be the consumption of more Blue Nectar. What made things worse was how addictive the substance was, so even if individuals knew the substance wasn’t good for them, they would inevitably return for more.
Because of this the stranger was driven out of many towns. The only place that would let him near was the ancient temple in the Crimson Cliffs, the temple being home to an ancient order of monks. They were kind enough to offer the stranger home in their temple, a decision that sadly only led to death and destruction.
The king, my grandfather, banned all use of the Blue Nectar. The closest towns and villages had this law enforced, but despite the incredibly large amount of effort put into doing so, bugs in the furthest towns and villages continued to get their hands on the substance. No matter how hard they tried, the guard could never figure out how they were getting their claws on the Blue Nectar…
Things only got worse though.
As more and more bugs took the substance, and with bugs consuming more and more of the substance, they began to swell, and mutate, and… eugh… I may not have been there, but from what I’ve read, heard, and even seen paintings of, it was very much NOT pretty. Disgusting, even.
So many bugs died, and their bodies just became ways for the Blue Nectar to take over land in its pure, physical form. The vines that sprouted from the bodies would dig into the earth, pustules and cocoons of the substance forming around them. Wildlife and even bugs who actively avoided the Blue Nectar became infected from these infected lands. These biome’s, once beautiful and pretty, became inhospitable in a matter of days.
Evacuations were called, bugs were forced to retreat to the central city of the kingdom, the furthest towns being abandoned for the safety of the bugs. Many bee and wasp hives sealed themselves inside, blocking off all entrances to avoid the growing infection. It was terrifying for those who were surviving. Even now I get nightmares of this, despite never actually seeing the stuff.
The king began to weaponise fire, using it to keep back the growing infection. The Blue Nectar began to raise the dead, using their bodies as puppets, turning them into violent, rabid creatures. Many scouting parties were sent into the infected blightland, that was once many different biomes, in order to find the source of the spread. Eventually one party did find the source.
This party consisted of many bugs, a party of about seven. But only one returned. After informing the king of what happened, the soldier willingly had himself killed, as he had returned infected with the Blue Nectar. The information that was relayed to the king was this:
Soldier - “We travelled far, following the roots, as ordered, and we saw that they grew larger and larger, pustules growing from the cracked stone and dirt. The plants… Oh wasps almighty, the plants had been corrupted beyond recognition, somehow being just as hostile as the creatures we faced. Even the surroundings tried to kill us, many chunks of earth, that were now lifted and held in the air by roots, would somehow launch Blue Nectar as a projectile at us.
“We lost two good bugs on the journey…
“We eventually found the roots led to the temple in the Crimson Cliffs, it had been… well… the temple wasn’t the same anymore. When we entered we found many of the monks mounted to the walls, bodies ripped open with those butterfly shaped flowers coming out of them. They…
“Oh god.. I’m sorry…”
King - “It’s alright, take your time.”
Soldier - “They… They had some… opening… in their stomach. Like some sort of mouth or… something. Roots hung out of it, like tendrils just,,, swaying, floating. It was like the monks had become some sort of… I dunno… It wasn’t right.
“We descended into the catacombs of the temple, it looked worse the further we went. The place began to change, we saw less and less of the actual temple walls, and more… organic… wall stuff. It was similar to the sort of stuff the bees make their hive from, kinda like the Blue Nectar was creating its own, new environment. I… I think… I think it intends on… rebuilding the kingdom in its image…”
King - “You speak as if it has a mind?”
Soldier - “Y-yeah… I… It’s alive… It’s aware, it- it… It has intent…”
King - “I see… Please, continue.”
Soldier - “So… We walked further into the catacombs, and eventually we reached this large, open area. I… I don’t think it used to be like that, but… It is now…
“Inside we saw some… monster… It… It’s whatever used to be that stranger who came here with the stuff… The…The bastard is a Snail Shamen!”
King - “What!”
Wrym - “That can’t be, surely we should have known, right?”
Mother of Root -”I suppose it’s possible we overlooked something…”
Father of Root - “But the Dukun would have noticed!”
Weaver Queen - “Well, maybe she just didn’t? She’s not a higher being like the rest of you.”
Father of Root - “You know what she is, spider. What if she’s working with her fa-”
King - “Enough, all of you.
“Please, continue.”
Soldier - “R-right… So… The Shaman… He… He had been… consumed… He… wasn’t himself anymore. I… I think he had become some sort of… vessel for the… infection…
He… no… it attacked us. It was GIANT. I think it had been using the bodies of the monks and other victims to… grow itself. It had many more appendages… tendrils, roots… It… was horrific. I… I struggle to describe it, I’m sorry.”
Weaver Queen - “What did you do when you saw it?”
Soldier - “We… Didn’t get much of a chance to do anything. The… The thing, it attacked us. It immediately killed our ranger, I… I think it consumed her? It.. it absorbed her into its mass… We tried to save her, but another of our ranks also got absorbed trying.
“The… The team leader, he told me to run… to return to you… our leader stayed behind to draw its attention… And… our medic, who came with me… He died on the way back…”
King - “Thank you…”
This is an excerpt I found in a book detailing the event. All meetings of the royal court are recorded, this one especially. But, basically the stranger was, of course, a Snail Shaman, and he had somehow merged with that strange Blue Nectar cocoon he had brought with him. Because of him the Blue Nectar was spreading like crazy, taking over entire biomes.
What happened next I… Don’t really know. It’s not as well documented as everything else is. What little information we do have is that fire was used to push back the Blue Nectar, but aside from that, that’s it. One moment we’re in a really, really bad spot, near the point of our kingdom being lost. Then we’re celebrating our success, building a statue in the honour of the soldier and in memoriam of those who died.
I asked my mother about it, about why there's so little information but she kinda… ignored me? I know she heard what I said, but she seemed to walk away, almost like she’s… hiding something?
Or I’m just imagining things. She was a newly hatched at the time, so maybe it’s all been hidden away so we can move forward? Maybe? After all, so much was lost because of it, and many biomes have been irreparably destroyed. The Crimson Cliffs is completely fucked, the Flaming Frontiers, the Rebuilt Ruins, even the Honey Hive was so overrun that the Bees were almost driven to extinction, this leading to the Bee Queen giving her life so a few Worker Bees and Soldier Bees could escape with her only egg.
Anyway, I hope this helps you, Io. I do realise that this is… A LOT. So, I’ll attempt to write a small TLDR.
TLDR: During my grandfather's reign, a Snail Shaman (who we didn’t know was a Snail Shaman) arrived with Blue Nectar and gave so much of it away that he, seemingly intentionally, caused an apocalypse that has permanently damaged our kingdom. It’s not known how it was stopped, but many died in the process. Now we are free of it, and the kingdom has declared war against the Blue Nectar's very existence.
Anyway, again, I do hope this is of some help, Io. I’ll keep looking into this and will be sure to send you any more letters if I come across anything else. Plus, with the current lockdown because of the Black Fog afflicting many bugs, this might be important? Maybe?
Yours cordially,
Princess Sapphireal of the Kingdom of ForeverBloom
P.S.
I hid a packet of really cute stickers in this letter! I do hope you like them! They’re very cute, pretty, and VERY sparkly! Also, I hope you like how I dressed up the envelope! I used LOTS of glitter and fancy glue and, of course, even more stickers!