Chrysalis

Only now do I remember my two passengers that I’d thrown off in a rush. Poor Crinis! The little thing can’t even see!

[Crinis! Crinis! Where are you?!] I frantically yell in my mental channel.

Turning quickly I unceremoniously drag the Queen this way and that until I notice some movement in the grass on the forest floor. Rushing over I see several little tentacles extended straight up, wiggling frantically.

There it is!

I carefully place one of my legs so that it is just touching the seeking limbs.

[It’s me! Climb up!]

Moments a later a much more relaxed blob is resting on my back and a very small worker has emerged from behind a nearby tree to climb up onto my head. Mini crew assembled I return, Queen in tow, to the scene of the carnage.

Surrounded by the remains of her own deceased children the Queen isn’t looking good. A horde of workers are rushing about her, their anxiety is plain in their disjointed movements, darting backwards and forwards, unsure what they should do to help the situation.

The human Queen seems rather unhappy about being this close to such a massive monster but I hardly care. Her people are what caused this problem, if she gets uncomfortable I’ll shed no tears. If she tries to harm the real Queen then she will very quickly regret it.

"Mother! Are you ok?!" I cry.

In my mind I hadn’t imagined she could be injured this badly, she’d always seemed so indestructible that even if I worried about her getting injured, I hadn’t really believed it would happen.

Her super hard carapace met its match in those devastating sword skills today, numerous cuts and gashes mar her body, some of them very deep.

"I will ... be ok" she replies, her usual calm voice strained to the limit.

"Can you heal yourself? Cast some magic?" I urge her worriedly.

She doesn’t reply for a moment, her great body heaving as she labours to draw in air.

.... Strength" she

does that mean? She can’t concentrate enough to cast the spell? Does she not have enough mana?!

almost without thinking about

Holy heck!

center of her thorax a deep and wide wound has opened in her carapace, within

Is that her core?!

further then it might have damaged the core directly, something I feel very

sense and examine her core. Usually blazing bright, her core is more of a dim ember right now. Why is her core so weak?! It should be full of mana and packed with energy! Is this why she seems so weak? Is there something wrong

difference I start pulling all of the mana I can out of my own core and sending it in a stream of mist towards the Queens. Without knowing if it will help in any way I persist until my core has almost been tapped completely dry of

a slight different I think? The response I get seems

not getting enough mana in her

I shout as loudly as I can to all of the surrounding workers, "rush in there and destroy everything and then take

to be the best place we can find in the short term. If the workers pack in there tightly enough then there is practically no chance that a

need to heal yourself!" I urge the Queen, "your injuries are

she bothers to cast the spell on

to help her, many workers walking straight under her and using their own backs to lift up their parent, trying to help her take the weight

watch her go,

work to do right now though. I’ll have to trust that my siblings will be able to complete the task they’ve

on his way back to the battlefield to complete his task. He has already transported the officer to the top of the anthill where several workers have surrounded him, tapping him with antennae and taking the odd nibble as he resolutely

don’t let him move", I tell the workers as I move past, dragging the human Queen

going to be getting her

grab my mandibles with her hands in order to help carry her weight, rather than have all

Fortunately we don’t need to go far until I can

inside I lower her to the ground and release my

a Titan-Croca smacks me directly in

least that’s how I feel! My mind rocks back and forth within my head as if it were a bell that had been struck by a hammer. Gritting my mandibles hard I try to shake it off. What

BOOM!

I can tell that my body hasn’t been hit. Something