Bee Queen Alma stretched as she walked along, her entourage of 5 knights, 10 soldiers born from her brood, 15 workers, and two drones, following along. From the teachings imparted by the old queen when she was still a grub, she understood the difference between each, and what she lacked. The knights were her elite guards, technically no different from her soldiers, just more versed in combat. Them and her soldiers are all equipped with shields and one handed spears, along with their stingers with their potent venom. The workers could also fight, but they were also carrying their rations of concentrated honey. Lastly were the drones, they were only to breed with her when they established the new hive. Queen Alma too was holding a shield on one of her left hands, and a spear on both her rights. She was the new queen of the hive, standing almost double the height of her companions, her glistening, black eyes scanning the environment around in search for signs of a mana well, one preferably uninhabited. Queen Alma licked her lips in anticipation as she spotted swirls of mana in the distance, her free hand going to her currently flat belly.
 
 
It was a few days since they had left their old home, and she had fed herself off of clones of her former human self she had conjured from her own innate magic, using the ambient mana around them at first. But it soon became apparent that such spells were a mana-intensive task, similar to what the honeypot bees she is currently lacking could do to produce honey. The old hive had only one such bee, and she kept herself hidden in its deepest depths, far from where she could venture. She wanted one for her own hive, but needed a proper sacrifice to make such a prime specimen. Shelving such thoughts for the future, Alma directed her troops forwards, towards the mana well in the distance.
 
 
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Closer to the well, they found the trees growing sturdier, and bigger, similar to the area around the old hive. There was gentle smoke rising in the distance, likely coming from a village at the edge of the forest. Coming upon the core of the well of mana, she ordered her workers to begin building, while having her soldiers secure the perimeter. With orders sent, she decided to relax against the massive tree that will be their new home, lazily waving her arms as she channels the surrounding mana, creating a clone of her human self, who she slowly consumed, savouring the sweet, meaty taste and finally filling the emptiness in her stomach. With a bit of practice from the journey, she found she could control two clones now, before having to draw her consciousness from one of the clones, leaving it more or less a comatose body. She consumed another one, then summoned a third to massage her belly from the outside, while one who remained conscious in her belly massaged her from within. Her relaxation was interrupted by one of her knights, however.
 
“M-my queen… is now a good time to be enjoying yourself like this? We are still out in the open…” The knight asks, looking curiously as both the queen and her clone looks at her, annoyance clear on the clone’s more expressive face from the fussy knight.
 
“There is little to do while we wait, but I guess we can explore a bit. I will need some clothes though.” The clone Alma remarks with a sigh, looking at her nude self.
 
“I was asking the queen, not her food.” The knight replied, a bit annoyed that this human was taking such a tone with her.
 
“Ah, but she is a part of me, just as I am a part of her. We both share minds, and as such, you shall treat her with the same respect you treat me.” The queen orders with a fierce glare that her human self mimicked perfectly, a threat veiled by authority.
 
 
Sufficentially cowed by her authority, the knight quickly kneeled and apologised, Alma smirking with her human face. “I will go and explore that village, alone. This body can be disposed of easily, but without cost to the hive.” She said as she gave her true body’s squirming belly one last kiss before leaping off. She then called one of the workers to quickly fashion her some simple clothes with the thin silk they use to reinforce the wax, and made her way towards the village.
 
 
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Alma’s clone, now dressed in a rather bright yellow robe, her short blonde hair flipping in the wind and her sizable breasts bound with the same yellow silk, deftly ran through the trees as she headed towards what she assumed was a village. Deciding to be purely a scout, she didn’t take any weapons with her and relied purely on her own skill to get out of any situations. Unfortunately, her hopes for human civilization were dashed quite quickly when she reached the clearing. Before her was a rather heavily fortified base, and judging by the clear mismatch and wear of the stationed guards, it was likely a bandit encampment. Fortunately they were more focused on celebrating than keeping a lookout, likely having succeeded in a recent raid. She took a mental note to position more guards in this direction as she scanned the perimeter, spotting three of the bandits sneaking away into the forest, in the direction of her new home. Worried that they were sent to check out their hive, Alma stalked them, keeping a good distance away so as to not be spotted while informing her knights with her true body of the possible threat
 
 
The bandit trio eventually stopped at a small shack that blended within the trees, one Alma had failed to notice of her trek to the bandit encampment. Seeing no one else around, she crept close to the building, though she didn’t need to go close to hear the bandits yelling at someone angrily, demanding for more booze. The argument seems to have reached its peak as she got closer when suddenly the whole roof of the shack was blown apart, two of the bandits getting thrown from the wreckage by the expansive force of a enormous mushroom that seems to have grown very suddenly from the ground, hitting the dirt with a meaty crunch, making Alma wince from it.
 
 
Alma could see past the mushroom, the third and the remaining bandit picking himself off the strained wall after getting sent into it from the mushroom, his sword drawn and charging at a hunched hooded figure, likely the owner of the shack. Alma quickly rushed to one of the downed bandits, an archer by his equipment, and took the dagger from his belt, rushing to assist the hooded figure as they tried batting away the sword with what looks like a long mushroom tipped pole. However, the bandit expertly redirected the attack, and embedded his blade deep through the hooded figure’s chest, who coughed up blood as it leaked into her lungs when the sword was removed.
 
 
As he was about to begin mocking the figure with a self-righteous sneer, who’s hood now revealed them to be an elderly woman, Alma went behind him and slit his throat with the dagger, while her true body ordered a drone with two soldiers for escort to rush down and collect the woman.
 
 
“H-hey… Stay with me!” Alma calls out, as the woman seems surprisingly calm despite the collapsed lung, trying to reply but only getting gurgles. “Don’t worry. Do you want to live, madam? I can help you.” The woman continued to look at Alma curiously, before nodding.
 
 
Getting approval, Alma looked towards the direction of the hive, seeing the drone and soldiers already flying towards her. She waved them down while the elderly woman continued to look curiously at Alma, before seeing the bees step into view. “Don’t worry. You will live on in the hive~. You will make a great honeypot with your arcane skills~.” The elderly woman tried to struggle as she was lifted up, but could barely move as her body was already shutting down. The group quickly fed the woman down the drone’s cock, Alma cooing reassuringly as the drone’s balls begin to expand from the human within. Within a minute, the body was already melted down, the orbs rounding out and evening, much to Alma’s surprise. “Wow, you really wanted to become part of the hive, I guess if they were accepting, it goes by faster.” Alma remarked with a chuckle, looking hungrily at the drone’s still hard cock, but shaking the thought of sex out from her head. Her true body needed it more than a clone anyway, and such a lucky find would only be wasted.
 
 
“Alright, drone, you need to return back to the hive so we can get them processed. Soldiers, clean up the damage as best you can, then take the bodies for rations with you back to the hive. Take the weapons too, while you’re at it.” Alma ordered her subjects before her. They gave a crisp salute in return and began their assigned tasks.
 
 
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Barbra had lived a rather short life… well, short for her race anyway. She was originally a human, but her interest in brewing and mushroom of all kinds got the attention of a higher being. After many decades of tutelage in the culinary arts surrounding her interests since she was a young lass, Barbra was granted the privilege to change her race.
 
 
However, changing race didn’t erase her elderly form from her mind, and kept her old body despite her renewed youth. With that in mind, she had ventured around, staying in small, remote houses, away from civilization to truly perfect her mushroom-related craft. Of course, such isolation wouldn’t last forever, as her latest hideout had been discovered by bandits a week ago. She had kept them at bay, exchanging peace for the fruits of her labour, her many exquisite brews.
 
 
But their greed knew no bounds, and thus came to today, as they demanded for drinks that had all run dry. The argument soon turned to violence as the lead drew his sword, and Barbra managed to catch the others by surprise by growing a mushroom through her feet into the ground to attack, but her elderly body she was trapped in failed her with its weak movements, ending the fight with the blade through her lungs.
 
 
What she didn’t expect was another one of her kind to rescue her, or so she thought. The delicious aura of honey made her mouth water as her savior panicked to save her. Judging by her words, her savior was not like her, but after seeing the bees, she was curious what would happen to her. What she also didn’t expect was her being shoved down the hungry cock of the drone, and her fleshy prison being melted down rather quickly into seed, revealing her true form within the sea of spunk.
 
 
Barbra was a race few know of, calling themselves “Foodites”. They are a race of flesh golems whose desire is to feed all who come across them, gathering culinary knowledge from the world. Their flesh body was magically constructed, by absorbing ambient mana through their core and pushing it out with almost perfect mimicry of typical body functions, including nerves. Barbra could have struggled and even forced herself out of the drone’s sack, had she trained more as a core, but this is the very first time she had ever lost her body.
 
 
Unable to do much, she just enjoyed the ride, wondering what the curious honey person was planning, while analysing the area around her. She soon found the seed around her to carry her genetic code, and decided to mimic that which surrounds her, forming a sperm-like form around her body. She assumed she would be made to impregnate someone, and she didn’t want to lose out on this unique and strange opportunity.
 
 
 Sure enough, a few minutes later, she felt her prison shaking rhythmically back and forth, the moans of pleasure resonating through her prison, and she swam her way upwards, closer towards the exit, eager to be the first one to leave. With a cry of pleasure, the drone shoots her load, directly into her queen’s womb, and Barbra swims for her life, outpacing the seed she swam with, soon finding her choice of unfertilized eggs vast. She swam towards the biggest one, sensing something unique about it, and allowed it to absorb her body, her core still bouncing about within the egg as it is fertilized.
 
 
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Alma cried out in pleasure as a surprisingly big bulge pushed its way from the drone’s cock into her womb, before the flood of seed bloated her belly. She could feel something squirming within, pushing past her initial segregation within her body and headed right for her eggs. “M-my, what did we find? I hope that wasn’t a kind of parasite~” Alma coos, patting her expanding abdomen, feeling the egg count slowly rising. Whatever that was, it seemed eager to be amongst her eggs, and it had already vanished within one of them. She gave her drone a kiss, patting her rounded, cum and food filled belly, as she gently helped the drone rise, letting them rest from a partially clogged orgasm.
 
 
She looked up at the construction of the hive, seeing it going rather well already, but not to the point they can move in just yet. Concerned that one of her eggs is already fertilized, but unwilling to force them all out to check, Alma decided to see for herself, mentally calling out the clone she had sent scouting over, who had gone to clean the blood off her in a nearby river. Already knowing what to do, the smaller human clone gently went to the queen’s pussy, gently licking it clean of spilled seed before sliding herself deeper.
 
 
Alma moaned in pleasure as she felt herself sliding into her pussy, finding this much more intense than the sex she had earlier, but forced herself to not get distracted by her lust. She can have more fun later after ensuring her eggs are safe. Her clone crawled deeper into her pussy, finding the same bypass the mysterious squirming took to get to the eggs, though it took a bit more of a conscious effort from the queen to allow passage. Alma then found herself within the queen’s abdomen, filled with many soft eggs, glistening in the soft light.
 
 
With delicate movements, she carefully made her way deeper, looking for the culprit of the movements and examining the eggs as she passed by them. She eventually found something strange with one of the eggs. What looked like a small ball of centipedes were somehow within the biggest egg within her, the egg that would become the honeypot bee. Maternal panic flooded Alma’s system as she saw the creature within and began to reach for it, but quickly calmed herself down and tried to think logically.
 
 
‘Calm down… It would be disastrous to try and remove this thing now; all it would accomplish is killing the egg, and such an egg would take too much time to make again…’
 
 
After thinking it through, Alma decided to leave the creature, but lay the egg out so they can observe it properly. With that, Alma gently moved the egg towards the queen’s ovipositor, as the queen called one of her soldiers to prepare for the egg. The queen shivered in pleasure as she felt her clone move deeper into her, and with a pop, she felt the infested egg leave her body. She had the clone examine her insides some more, ensuring that nothing else was infested, while ordering the soldier to keep watch on the egg, and place it within the still under construction nursery.
 
 
Of course, Alma enjoyed the feeling of herself squirming in her abdomen, but she was a bit too worried about her eggs to take pleasure in it, even after searching through everything and ensuring nothing else was tampered with. She eventually let her clone out, and kept the clone with the egg to observe any abnormalities.
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“What are you…?” Alma’s human form muttered curiously as she examined the egg, gently lifting it and cleaning it like how the workers did, which is gently licking the egg clean. She lacked the long tongue the bees have, but she quite enjoyed doing such tasks, as her main body continued monitoring the construction. The bundle of centipedes seems unmoving, stuck in place attached to what she knew would grow into the grub that would hatch. It doesn’t seem to be doing anything dangerous, but she was worried such a mass might hinder the grub’s growth.
 
 
Barbra, meanwhile, was worried she angered her benefactor when she was discovered, and stayed unmoving, slowly allowing herself to be absorbed by the growing creature that would come from the egg. Alma didn’t know this, but she was similar, a crystal that floated within the egg till it became one with the growing grub, as the grub had already grown a substantial amount when she was laid.
 
 
Seeing no harm in taking care of the egg, Alma tasked her clone to keep watch on it, slowly watching the bundle disappear into the forming grub while their hive took shape. She found it quite worrisome when she noticed mushrooms sprouting atop the egg hours later, which she quickly got rid of, and subsequently examined the egg to find no damage to it. Barbra was accidentally growing them upon her new body as she was still getting accustomed to her new form as a grub. Alma was at least glad the mushrooms didn’t seem poisonous, having consumed some out of curiosity.
 
 
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A few months had passed since then. The hive was starting to truly take shape, and the nursery was already filled with fresh eggs that would become more soldiers and workers. Thankfully for a starting hive, the workers don’t require as much time as their more advanced variants, and a number of them have already hatched, and without the need to feed them honey thanks to the queen’s unique and strange skill.
 
 
Alma meanwhile, had slowly grown more proficient in her clone making and arcane conjuration in general, and is now able to control 5 others along with her main body. Of course, delicate or fast paced work would require more focus and thus limit the number of clones she can control, but for the basic task of tending to the hive, it was enough. She could also make honey similar to what a honeypot should be doing, but not as efficiently or in vast quantities to sustain the hive, with all the honey going to the grubs while the adults fed on her clones. She had sent one clone out, equipped with the weapons of the bandits that were slain by the mysterious old mage, to keep watch on the bandit encampment as the rest worked on the hive; one of course personally tending to the honeypot grub, which recently hatched.
 
 
Barbra was a bit annoyed at the lack of arms in her current form, but figured it was part of the lifecycle and was eager to become an adult. In the meantime, she already began helping the hive’s food variety by growing mushrooms upon her body. It initially evoked panic on her caretakers, thinking the grub had contracted a fungal infection somewhere, but after they found that it seems to be strangely natural to her, they let her continue to do it, enjoying the fresh and quite frankly delicious mushrooms from time to time.
 
 
She kept a special bouquet of mushrooms on her rear end however, one that she can reach with her new long tongue to harvest and present to the only human in the hive. She wanted to ask about her place in the hive, but unfortunately could only let out squeaks, which ultimately led to a rather awkward miscommunication.
 
 
Alma was spending the days as usual, taking care of the newly hatched grubs, focusing on the strange honeypot grub in particular. She giggled as it purred in pleasure as she massaged its body, watching curiously as mushrooms sprouted from its body and speeds no normal mushroom should grow. She then moaned a bit as the grub drew its tongue across her body, in truth trying to reach the special mushrooms on its tail but due to positioning, had to graze her body to be able to reach the mushrooms.
 
“Oh, you want a taste of me?” Alma maternally coos, running her fingers along the long tongue, making Barbra taste her sweet flesh. Said Foodite began letting out a few squeaks,trying to say she was going to get her gift for her.
 
“Well, I don’t mind giving you a good meal. I’m sure you are bored just eating honey all day~” . Alma coos, kneeling down to be face to face with the massive grub, though said grub was still smaller than when her true body was a grub.
 
 
Barbra was confused about what she meant, but allowed her body to be gently manipulated by her caretaker, gently opening her maw from Alma’s ministrations. With the adorable grub’s maw open before her, she grasped the tongue, and brought it down to her moist crotch, her love juices strangely sweet and salty. Alma had been eager to feed herself to a grub again, but felt it a bit inappropriate unless the grub allowed it first. Barbra, meanwhile, was amazed at how delicious her caretaker was, and slid her tongue deeper to get a taste of her depths.
 
 
Alma’s moans was muffled by the buzzing of the wings of the other workers, who all chuckle amongst themselves upon seeing the scene, all knowing about their queen’s preyish desires when it comes to her clones. Barbra’s tongue reached deep into her pussy, slowly bumping against her cervix as it soon reached the end. She wanted more, however, and with a bit of coaxing, managed to squeeze her tongue deep into Alma’s womb, the human letting out a gasp of pleasure as her womb was filled with the warm appendage, cumming hard on the tongue and coating Barbra’s pallet with her delicious juices. It was at that point, however, that Barbra realised she went a bit too far, as her tongue was now stuck within the mewing human, and her attempts at extracting it only caused Alma’s body to clamp tighter on her tongue.
 
 
“A-ahh… s-still don’t want to let go o-of your meal, huh~. D-don’t worry, momma will feed you~” Alma coos after a bit, shakingly getting on her knees, facing towards Barbra’s still open maw once more. Barbra squeaked in apology, trying to say she was stuck, but Alma continued to get closer, sliding her hands into her maw, gently feeding herself to the panicking grub. She took her time as she slid deeper, rubbing her tongue-bulging belly against the fleshy walls as she sunk deeper and deeper into Barbra’s throat, the grub having no other option than to swallow. Eventually, Alma reached her destination, the strong smell of digesting honey coiling around her body as she relaxed within Barbra’s stomach, still patting the bulge that her tongue is making. “D-don’t worry, after I’m digested, you can get your tongue back~” Alma moans, as she begins to masturbuate within the grub.
 
 
Barbra meanwhile, was panicking, not wanting to digest her caretaker, but also unable to spit her back out. Her panic lasts only for a moment, however, and is replaced by confusion when another Alma walks towards her, coming from the queen’s chamber. “I hope you enjoyed your meal, little one. She will be squirming for many days in you…. Ah,such a treat it is indeed. I'm kinda jealous… but then again, I’m also her… So yeah…” The Alma coos, giving the grub loving licks as she massages its belly, feeling to bulges of her other self going at it within.
 
 
Barbra slowly got accustomed to the squirming, as her weak stomach indeed took days to finally digest the clone, leaving her feeling rather empty afterwards. Thankfully, that moment of emptiness didn’t last long, as her body was already preparing to pupate.
 
 
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Barbra was thinking about her life going forwards as she slowly felt her body changing within her pupa. From all she heard, she knows her new role is a key one for the hive’s survival, so her just leaving would be outright selfish towards her benefactors. As she thought, her mind slowly wandered to the human Alma. She seemed a lot like a fellow Foodite, judging by the mana signature she had tasted in her flesh, but lacked a core. She figured she would ask her about it after she emerges, but as she thought about it, decided to modify her flesh a bit, making it taste similar to Alma’s honey glazed taste.
 
 
Her thoughts continue to wander as she waits for her body to mould into an adult honeypot bee, and as the brain begins to form, she brings her core tendrils towards it, to really get a good understanding of her new body’s instincts.
 
 
She felt the instinctual knowledge she gains about weaving mana into honey very similar to the Foodite’s instinctual knowledge to form mana into food, in her case meat and mushrooms. Excited to try it out, she already begins weaving the mana around her into delectable honey that starts dribbling down the sides of her (once) sealed egg cell, spurting from the cracks in the wax and silk mixture.
 
 
It caused a bit of panic amongst the workers and had gone to repair the damage, but Queen Alma just chuckled when she saw it. “My, you are so eager to serve the hive, and you aren’t even fully formed yet~.” She cooed, patting the cap as her words barely reached the pupa within.
 
 
There was much celebration when Barbra finally hatched, coated in honey thanks to all her experimentation. She stands a head taller than Alma’s human clone, who was the first one to come to her aid when she began breaking free, her wings glistening a beautiful honey gold as they spread out to dry. With an expert wave of her four hands, the mana around her coalesced into honey, making cheers ring out in the hive. Finally, their food concerns were finally alleviated.
 
 
Barbra would be given a chamber above the queen’s chamber, connected to a sprawling network of tubes that would channel any honey she creates to various parts of the hive for use. In her free time, she would also experiment with combining honey and her old speciality of mushrooms, making fungal fermented beverages flavoured with honey or fruits.
 
 
As Barbra was getting comfortable in her new home, Alma decided to visit her with her true body. The honeypot was surprised when she finally saw the queen for the first time, as the queen’s clones prepared the area for her to sit. “So, you seem to have quite a number of special abilities. Do you remember your past at all?” Queen Alma asks, as she sits down on the wax chair, towering over the smaller honeypot bee.
 
 
“Yes.. um… I’m not sure how to tell you this… but I’m not exactly… umm.. Fully a bee.” Barbra replies nervously, hesitant to lie to the queen.
“Is it about that bundle of worms that was in your egg? I’m guessing that is your true form?”
 
 
“Y-you saw my core? Y-yes, that is my true body. I-i’m part of a race called foodites.”
 
The queen pauses for a moment, trying to recall if she ever heard that before, before ultimately deciding that she didn’t. “What is a Foodite? I’m guessing you have something to do with food… Though, as our honeypot, you still do.”
 
“Y-yes. Well, we foodites are technically flesh golems. Our bodies are conjured by mana, a bit like them.” Barbra replies, pointing at the clones around them. “Though, I have never seen coreless foodites before, Are they working on a network?”
 
 
“To be honest, I have no idea how they work either… All I know is they are a part of me, and I can control them as I see fit.” Alma replies, summoning a clone right before Barbra’s eyes, before gulping that copy down rather quickly. “Ahh.. I just love doing that, they are so filling. But thanks to this ability, we needn't hunt for our food.” She continues, patting her now squirming belly.
 
 
“Ah, they come about similar to how I make my body then. If I really wanted, I could return to my human form too, but this body is so much better anyway… Oh, I forgot to mention, my name is Barbra.”
 
“Hmm. That’s good to know. My name is Alma, I used to be a thief before all this, and through that profession, I stole some strange magical gem that turned out had trapped my soul within. The crystal is now stuck in this body, but I have a feeling that if I died, I could just make a new one like I have been with my clones.” Alma replied, thinking about the implications.
 
 
The two continued to converse about their past, and the future of the hive. The conversation reached a peak when Barbra showed Alma her core, her chest opening up like a flower and allowing the queen bee to see within, Barbra’s heart still pumping right beside the bundle of centipede looking tendrils.
 
 
In the end of the conversation, Alma figured the mage was trying to mimic the Foodite’s reformation ability with his research, and she had stolen the completed prototype before it could be used, and accidentally used it on herself. Not that it mattered much now, but she was curious about this rare race, and already had thoughts of further diplomatic relations with such an elusive group. But such plans would be for the far future, with the hive steadily growing, and a powerful ally at her side, she was sure they would continue progressing.
 
 
She just hoped the nearby bandits won’t become a pressing issue…
 
 
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