Meli doesn’t remember the Fey wilds anymore. They’re a distant fever dream built as a background to the path of the past fifteen years. Her family, her kin, all gone. Bled dry in an attack she herself barely escaped. A honey merchant should never have that much red in their memories. If only she paid attention and left the gate shut. They never would’ve gotten in. And they’d still live.

Vampires never seemed like creatures of opportunity to her, and yet they found their way into a place very few can navigate with certainty. The pair had delighted in the chance to drink from creatures with so much to offer. And fled when they’d knocked a candle into loose drapes. Leaving the farm and apiary in flames. And in her cowardice, she’d snatched a hive in her arms, endured the stings and retreated, rather than answer the pleas above the flames. Now the guilt seeps venom into her more than any stinger had that day. But she’s alive. That is what matters. At least that’s what she says to sleep at night.

Once it had been found she not only gifted the avenue of the undead’s entry, but also retreated. Meli was exiled from the only home she ever knew. Every eye narrowed on her in blame. Rightfully so. But it cut deep.

She kept the hive with her. Wandering with it in her arms. The swarm within hummed in such a way that it eased her mind’s suffering. Eventually becoming the one thing she truly trusted anymore. Herself and the swarm. Bonding into one singular mind. She hears them constantly. Answers them as one would absent thoughts. And has built a synergetic give and take with them that she would surely lose her mind over should she ever lose that too.

But the Mist..is its own isolation. The world that had taken her now swallowed in its clutches. Being underground may not seem so terrible, but the absence of sun invites the terror of what ifs. What if creatures of the night exist here too? Will she run again? Will the swarm save her or those she comes across? Or will she grow beneath the surface as a seed does? Blooming into something more.