Day 15: The Queen in the Cage
Date: Thursday, January 15, 2026 — 04:00 Hours Location: Sublevel 4, Xenobiology Containment (Ruined) By: Captain Hedges
The glass didn't just break. It exploded.
At 03:50 AM, the pressure inside the "World Egg" became too much. A shockwave of green energy blew out the containment tank, sending shards of transparisteel flying like shrapnel. Dr. Thorne dove behind a console. I threw up a kinetic shield.
But Bayou Earl didn't flinch.
As the smoke cleared and the emergency sprinklers hissed, we saw her. The Naga Queen was free. She uncoiled to her full height—easily eight feet of serpentine muscle and terrifying grace. Her six arms spread wide, holding crackling blades of psychic energy. Her eyes, burning with yellow hate, locked onto us. She took a breath to scream a command that would likely enslave our minds.
"SIT. DOWN."
It wasn't a request. Bayou Earl slammed his cypress staff onto the wet concrete floor with a crack like thunder.
A circle of emerald-green runes flared to life on the floor around her. Swamp moss and spectral vines erupted from the concrete, whipping around her tail and arms, binding her in a cage of pure natural magic.
She hissed, thrashing against the bindings, but the Hedge Wizard’s magic held. "You dare?" she spat, her voice sounding like dry leaves skittering on stone. "I am Matriarch V’Zara. I am the architect of worlds. You are nothing but fur and dirt."
Earl lit a cigar, his hand shaking just a little. "Well, your highness, right now you're a guest of the Tygerian Union. And around here, we don't terraform the neighbors' yards."
He looked at me, exhausted. "Cap, I got her in a 'Circle of the Cypress,' but it won't hold forever. She’s a Class-5 psychic entity. You better find a place to put her where she can't think her way out."
We survived the hatching. But now we have a pissed-off Naga Queen as a prisoner of war.
So I summond the Tygerian Marines to deal with her................
Product Identity & Legal The following items are designated Product Identity of Arthur Earl C. Hedges Jr. / The Adventures of Captain Hedges: The Tygerian Isles setting, The Naga Queen "Matriarch V’Zara," and the "Hedge Wizard of the Shreveport Cabin" persona / Bayou Earl. Monsters! Monsters! is a trademark of Ken St. Andre. © 2026 Arthur Earl C. Hedges Jr.
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