Chrysalis

So... I mean.. It’s a little odd...

I was a human before after all. I may not have lived what people would call a ... normal life ... but hey, I went to school, a bit, I saw people, I ate human food.

Now I have a giant ant Queen staring down at me and insisting that she and my many siblings are my family now.

...

For some reason I’m surprisingly ok with that.

I had a pet ant colony as a human, I kept them contained and fed them, watched the colony grow and cleaned out their spaces for them. In some ways they were the most constant members of my household, I certainly saw them every day, which wasn’t really true of anyone else.

Perhaps that is why I don’t really mind being an ant.

If I’m going to be a member of this family then I have to do my best to save them!

I start thinking out loud.

"Ok then, Queen, I don’t think we are uh, strong enough to survive the wave. If our nest is invaded from the outside as well as the inside, we could be completely wiped out!"

The Queen looks concerned and taps me with her antennae, urging me to continue.

"I think we need to move the colony! We have to get somewhere ... else. Somewhere safer".

"Do you know where we should go child?"

Err.... No?

We live in the Dungeon, and from what I’m told the entire place is going to become a death zone for up to a week!

I don’t even know that the surface will be safe from the impending danger!

...

it may be

the surface might actually be better. Of course that doesn’t mean running headlong into the humans, that would be suicide, but with my Tunnel Map I can clearly see where the entrance

...

crazy? If I get the colony to relocate to the surface there’s definitely a chance that we all get killed by those powerful human soldiers, burnt

will the outcome

we have to take

my head. My resolution

a new tunnel to the surface!" I

digests this bombshell, taking time to think

Then she responds.

is the ’surface’?"

...

could she possibly know

a new tunnel upwards, that bypasses the existing Dungeon passages and if we can dig far enough upwards,

is simple enough that she can understand what

I wait nervously for her

my surprise she

as you suggest child. Where should the

getting the workers to cooperate. I’m not exactly sure how the pecking order works in a monstrous ant colony. In a normal ant colony

move the nest, they’ll lay down a trail and start moving the brood. If other ants find the trail, they will go and check it out and if they agree with the

slave, and she is far from a helpless creature at the mercy of the workers. If anything, she is probably

the workforce, it’s clear that they can understand my

these thoughts out of my head and address

the colony for us to abandon it. Once that is done I’ll start digging the tunnel, if you can help get the rest of the ...

Formo, I’ve already noticed the brightness of the forest has diminished. The mana is continuing to recede, just as the Sophos had predicted. The forest is going to grow even dimmer, perhaps

retreating back to the security of the nest, leaving the workers to do what they do best and complete the work required to secure

by the number of ants showing visible signs of mutation is increasing, here and

stronger then we

my sibling. I didn’t have any brothers or sisters that I knew of in my last life, going from that to having