"Thank you, Erelta. I will return," Kreelos says as he takes his apprentice sword and cuts a hole in the bark to the outside. Still holding onto his parents' gift in his arms, he jumps down to the ground below and begins running. Knowing he won't out-run the putsifa swarm, he heads for a cave his brothers used to speak of.

The putsifa bees pour out of the tree to find out why they cannot enter their hive. Their swarm casts a shadow, as every one of their two-hundred-sized swarm is eager to strike. They quickly sense the young prymarian running through the brush.

Kreelos frantically looks for the cave's entrance, but since it looks like no one has been here in many cycles, the entrance must be covered in an mixture of overgrown weeds, leaves, and vines.

The bees' collective hum vibrates every leaf, every blade of grass, and every tree around them. It gets louder as they hone in on their prey.

Feeling their presence on top of him, Kreelos turns around, places Erelta’s helmet on the ground, and pulls out his apprentice sword one more time – this time to repel the aggression of the putsifa swarm.

The first putsifa bees dive in at Kreelos. They rattle off Kreelos' blade and land on the ground aside of him in a daze. Dive after dive, the bees plunge from out of the sky and down upon Kreelos. They glance off the young man's blade to the left and to the right. Putsifa bee after putsifa bee tries until the entire hive is diminished – the queen bee remains waiting in the sky above.

A drop of rain is heard on a nearby leaf.

She looms. All the queen’s children have attempted to strike at the boy and failed.

Angrily, she dives from out of the sky and knocks the sword from his hand. She flies back up into the clouds and turns around for a final plunge. For a sumi, Kreelos looks for his sword in the weeds, but only manages to tip over the helmet – he is defenseless!

A drop of rain is heard on a nearby leaf…then another.