Bugs, bugs everywhere!

The Wasp woman had been in Veda when things had gone from bad to worse as the normally familiar and comforting buzzing of insects had set her own instincts on edge. This wasn’t right, the sound of insects had never bothered her before, but these sounds didn’t sound natural, not to her. With the moons purple in the sky Sharifa could only look up and watch the cloud of insects descend onto the lands. ”Ah, so this is what it’s like to have a swarm after you.” Sharifa whispered to herself as she opened her own wings and started to fly away.

However as she did the sound of the buzzing changed and when she glanced back the Wasp noticed that now the swarm had started to come after her! ”Damn.” She swore and picked up speed only to end up having a cloud of the little insects drop down from the sky in front of her. Shar activated the ring on her finger and a magical barrier popped out around her. Unable to stop her forward momentum in time the Wasp was forced to plow through the swarm in front of her. She could hear the insects on the outside of the barrier bouncing off.

”Ah!” She screeched as sudden pain ran up her leg from her ankle and she looked down to see a bug had been trapped INSIDE of her barrier when she had activated it. That pain was excruciating and rather distracting as Shar kicked her leg around to get the bug off of her, only to see it tear itself away and leave the stinger in place like a bee.

Weakness swept through her and her connection to the ring faltered first and dropped and she was swarmed again. Heart racing Sharifa did something that she’d rather not have done, but felt she had no choice, and used her lightning magic to shock herself and, as a result, the air around her. Acting like one large living bug zapper for a few moments did clear the bugs away from her and burn some of the stingers off as well.

~Need to tell Angela.~ Shar thought and instantly looked to see that the heartstring was not leading the way. Her speed had been reduced as her weakness continued to grow and she could feel her sinuses starting to clog in as a slow throbbing started in the back of her head. Starting to breath heavily Sharifa almost missed the fact that she had in fact entered Elysia already and was heading towards the palace.

There was a resounding crash and shattering of glass as Sharifa flew through a stained glass window and landed on the floor, rolling a few feet until a wall stopped her skidding. Slowly getting to her feet she was clearly disoriented and was breathing heavily from her mouth with her sinuses clogged and a massive headache formed, though the crash landing didn’t help much on that front.

Now having not only a few stingers from the insects still stuck in her black skin now she was bleeding from some cuts and gashes from the broken glass that she had rolled in before stopping. One of the people who had been close by came running over to see what was going on. ”Sharifa, what is going on?!”

”Ang… Angela, I need to speak with her, now.” Shar slurred unable to walk in a straight line and having to use the wall to prop herself up.

”Here, let me help you…”

”Stay back!” Shar suddenly snapped as the attendant came closer, and this was someone that Shar knew from having lived here for some time. Her black eyes wide with sudden panic. ”Just, stay away from me!” She yelled as something seemed to catch her eye for a moment and glanced at it only to see that was not there. Despite the fact that she was armed all four of Sharifa’s stingers popped out from her arms as she put her back to a wall, utterly disoriented and was looking like she was seeing things that weren’t there.

The swarm that was happening Vada and the nature that the bites were causing… It was concerning. Though it did appear that Nemesis had things all under control she decided to keep a watchful but far eye from the excitement happening. After all, she was still working on her own surprise for the world deep within the reaches of her temple and away from eyes that would pry.

There was now panic in her temple and that was the first thing that made Angela stop and put down the brush she had been using moments prior. As meticulous as she was Angela dropped it to the floor something that was out of character for the red-haired goddess. “This will need to wait.”

The goddess appeared before Sharifa and held out her hands. There was panic everywhere now. It looked like the insects had managed to make even her own fall. “You,” she called out one of her men standing not too far from her. “Stop all of our movement towards Vada and quarantine those coming out of it.” She looked at Melina and Anemone who had run into the room minutes before the goddess showed up. “Girls, I will need you to keep the peace.” There was a strong nod from both of them.

“Now Sharifa… You’ve brought something dangerous here… Haven’t you?” She saw the stained glass broken and the wasp was all cut up. Angela snapped her fingers and a few hidden insects floated out from hiding on Sharifa. “Be gone!” She snapped her fingers once more and the bugs burst into a golden flame that could have only been her domain magic.

Now that the immediate threat was dealt with the goddess swooped in and took Sharifa gently but with a stern authority. “I’m going to need you to trust me.” Sharifa lost all of her senses for the moment but her ability to hear. “Focus on the sound.” There was a steady beating and it would probably take Sharifa a moment to realize it was Angela’s own heart she was hearing so loudly.

“That’s a good girl,” Angela whispered close to the wasp as she took one of Sharifa’s arms and held her other shoulder. “Walk with me carefully.” It was a slow move as Angela tried not to overwhelm her. She feared the sudden spike of magic would set the wasp off again so they slowly traveled to a private clinic room of her healing quarters. “I’m going to lay you down okay?” Gently she put the wasp onto the stone bed and gave Sharifa back her senses.

“For my safety and yours I’ve made it so you can’t use your stingers.” She loomed over Sharifa and slowly moved to pull the glass out from the wasp’s body. “Easy does it.” Calming magic came over the wasp as Angela moved her hands healing the wounds she had managed to get thanks to the panic. “You’ve been bitten by those nasty little things.” She pulled a rather large jar out filled with bodies from the Vada where the insects were. “Been looking at it from a distance… It’s going to take some time for me to be able to heal you so please try and relax… This should help.”

She grabbed a bottle from her shelf and popped the cork to it. “It’s an elixir for stress relief. It should dull your senses enough so you aren’t panicking.” She helped her take it and stroked the wasp’s head for a moment. “It’s alright now. As long as you are with me nothing can hurt you… but I need you to endure this a bit longer until I can get as close as I can to a cure… Are you okay with that?”

When Angel appeared before her Shar’s eyes widened and she reached out to take Angela’s hands with all four of her own. Paranoid as she was, Angela was someone that Shar had come to trust and respect and even the insect induced paranoia didn’t break past that. Sharifa was shaking like a leaf and now only had eyes on Angela, which was good since it was possible she might attack anyone else aside from Angela.

”I what?” Shar questioned as she glanced behind her as Angela used her powers to make the insects that Sharifa didn’t even know where were there float off of her. Lightning crackled in Shar’s two bottom hands as she let them go from Angela. But she didn’t get her spell off in time before Angela had them dead and the lightning faded as she looked back to Angela. At Angela’s words the Wasp nodded, who else could she trust anymore anyway? She listened to the sound, it was comforting and soon after she realized that it was Angela’s heartbeat she was hearing as she lost all other senses.

She let Angela help her to the private room, but the only thing Shar was really paying any attention to was the sound of Ang’s heartbeat. She laid down and her senses back to her and Shar gasped, oh yes, pain! She tried to get up in that moment of panic but settled when her black eyes settled on Angela again. ”Ok.” Shar replied to the new that her stingers wouldn’t be of use for now. She could feel the glass being pulled from her skin but Shar didn’t react to it, she had been through worse as Angele well knew.

Drinking the elixir as asked Sharifa leaned back in the bed and gave a sigh, but her eyes were still wide and she was looking around her in panic each time she lost sight of Angela. Her body was sweating heavily as well and the fever had ramped up as well. ”I, I can do that, for you. Thank you.” Shar managed to get out, reaching out to take and squeeze one of Ang’s hands for a moment. ”Whatever, I can do, to, help, I’ll, do.” She promised.