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!

...

be safer than

mean running headlong into the humans, that would 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 way to the surface far enough away from a human settlement, we might be able to

...

If I get the colony to relocate to the surface there’s definitely a chance that we

stay down here, will the outcome be

have to take a

waited patiently as my thoughts run circles inside my head. My resolution firms as I see her commitment to waiting on

new tunnel to

Queen slowly digests this bombshell, taking time to think

Then she responds.

is the ’surface’?"

...

could she possibly

passages

is simple enough that

moment, her monster intelligence mulling over this suggestion. I wait nervously for her to puzzle out exactly what

my surprise

you suggest child.

agreed to my plan then I might have a chance of getting the workers to cooperate. I’m not exactly sure how the pecking order works in a monstrous ant colony. In a

kind of democracy system. For example, if one worker finds a good place to 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 first ants opinion, they will join in, eventually when enough workers have agreed on a course of action, it will happen. It isn’t always so smooth of course, sometimes the

and she is far from a helpless creature at the mercy of the workers. If anything, she is probably closer to what most humans think an ant Queen is like on earth, in charge, making decisions and actively helping to direct the

she can do to direct the workforce, it’s clear that they can understand my

shake these thoughts out of my head and address the Queen once

battlefield first, the Biomass is too valuable to 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 ... family ... digging, then we can make faster progress. Hopefully we can dig

diminished. The mana is continuing to recede, just as the Sophos had predicted. The forest is going to grow even dimmer, perhaps even fading to

with our discussion the Queen gives a few more friendly taps on the head with her antennae before retreating back to the security of the nest, leaving the workers to do what

by the number of ants showing

is excellent news! If the workforce becomes stronger then we will have a greater

every one of these ants is my sibling. I didn’t have any brothers or sisters that