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"

What the heck does that mean? She can’t concentrate enough to cast the spell? Does

my antennae almost without thinking about it, my ant instincts kicking in and overriding my more

Holy heck!

too deep! Right in the center of her thorax a deep and wide wound has opened in her carapace, within the wound I’m sure I can see

Is that her core?!

Had that skill gone any further then it might have damaged the core directly, something I feel very confident would be immediately fatal to a monster. Just

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?

to make a 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

is a slight different I think? The response I get seems a little

not getting enough mana in her

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

more mana then placing her inside the farm is going 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 monster will be able to

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

bothers to cast the spell on herself. She is

and painfully moving towards the farm. Half the colony has assembled to help her, many workers walking straight under her and using their own backs to lift up

go,

do right now though. I’ll have to trust that my siblings will be

the battlefield to complete his task. He has already transported the officer to the top of the anthill where

dragging the human Queen up the side of the ant hill towards the opening at

to

I slowly lift my head until my captive is forced onto her toes. Eventually she reaches up to grab my mandibles with her hands in order to help carry her weight, rather than have all

need to go far until I can stash the Queen in my

her to the ground and

a Titan-Croca smacks

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

BOOM!

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