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 safer than the

be suicide, but with my Tunnel Map I can clearly see where the entrance I first encountered the humans is. If we can find a

...

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

will

think we have to take a

as my thoughts run circles inside my head. My resolution firms as

have to dig a new tunnel to

slowly digests this bombshell, taking time to think them

Then she responds.

is the

...

how could she

new tunnel upwards, that bypasses the existing Dungeon passages and if we can dig far enough upwards, we’ll be safe!"

is simple enough that she can

this suggestion. I wait nervously for her to puzzle out

surprise she

will do as you suggest child. Where should

of 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 on earth, the Queen doesn’t actually ’rule’ over the rest of the ants, in fact, she is basically

will go and check it out and if they agree with the first ants opinion, they will join in, eventually when enough workers have agreed on a course of action, it will happen. It

of the workers. If anything, she is probably closer to what most humans think an ant Queen is like on earth,

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

out of my head

if you can help get the rest of the ... family ... digging, then we can make faster progress. Hopefully we can dig our way clear

diminished. The mana is continuing to recede, just as the Sophos had

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

war. As more times goes by the number of ants showing visible signs of mutation is increasing, here and there a worker with longer antennae, or stronger looking legs, or larger mandibles can be

workforce becomes stronger

rushing about, this is my family now and every one of these ants is my sibling. I didn’t have any brothers or sisters that I knew of in my last life, going from that to having hundreds is