Chrysalis

With my delivery done I head back to the nest to await the looming emergence of my finest creations.

These ants could change many things. For one it would be nice to have more options for conversation. Vibrant talks, probably too much for my comfort, and mother has many responsibilities, not to mention many children, so I can’t exactly monopolise her time, in good conscience.

Tiny and Crinis aren’t the best conversationalists either. Tiny barely has the brain capacity to speak and Crinis has a few hang ups that make talking to her, somewhat difficult. Perhaps if I ever work out a way to free them for their pet status they might be a little more engaged, and not quite so respectful.

Obviously having a decent chat isn’t the reason why I embarked on this project. I wanted to fill the colony with smarter, deadlier workers. Ants with the capacity to reason, to communicate, to think cooperatively and most of all, to fight strategically and tactically. No more suicidal charges, no more throwing their lives away. Instead, teamwork, some self-preservation instinct, planning and loss minimisation.

An ant colony that is capable of all the tactical thinking of a nation. That is what I wanted. And now, here I stand, on the dawn of a glorious new ant era!

My new siblings will soon be born and I’m willing to bet this world has never seen anything quite like them. Smart monsters exist, sure, but not like this. Ants are different, ants are special. They cover the earth, the combined mass of ants is estimated to be the same that of humans, assuming one million ants weighs the same as one person. That’s seven quadrillion ants. On Earth, ants were tiny little insects, unable to increase too much in size as their bodies are unable to support that kind of mass.

Here on Pangera? This world has magic and all sorts of crazy stuff. Ants the size of large dogs? Sure why not? What if we get seven quadrillion ants the size of large dogs? What if we get that many and all of them are as intelligent as a human?

We’d be unstoppable!

I have to admit though, as I crawl into the nesting chamber where the twenty pupae are resting against the wall, tended to by a small team of workers, that I also have some worries. Fundamentally, what makes an ant colony so successful is the cooperation between each individual member, to the point where the colony can be considered one creature, each ant a single cell of something greater than itself.

Where humanity on earth is riven by strife, within nations, within cities and within families, an ant colony is unified, singular in mind and purpose.

By elevating their intelligence to that of a human, have I introduced those chaotic impulses? Will the new workers exercise free will? Tearing the colony apart from within?

Once I give space to doubts they begin to scale out of control. Will there be civil war? Will ant fight against ant within the colony, pitting sibling against sibling? Will a tearful Queen be forced to put down an uprising of her own children?

That would be horrific!

It isn’t as if I HAD to cooperate with the colony. I, as a human reborn as monster, could have chosen to do whatever I wanted. I decided to embrace the colony, to support and help it, to depend on it and thrive alongside it. Someone else might have chosen differently. Perhaps they would instead feast on the colony, killing workers who wouldn’t fight back, harvesting them for experience and Biomass, growing fat on their supposed family before moving on in the Dungeon as an independent monster, leaving behind a destroyed colony in their wake.

Is that the kind of thing we’ll have to deal with now? Selfish ants? Who ever heard of selfish ants?! Such a thing doesn’t even make sense! It’s not a concept that should exist in this world or any other. It goes against the very nature of ant kind! Ants are selfless! I mean, they are also mostly brainless, but that’s beside the point!

My mind is filled with the tragic image of my siblings ripping each other apart in the tunnels of our nest over a stupid and petty justification. Will the unity of the colony be destroyed by the new generation?

Have I undone the very fabric of ant society with my evil experimentation?!

WHAT HAVE I DONE?!

Wait.

I heard something.

Silence.

heard it. It was

the cocoons, pushing my way amongst the suddenly buzzing workers.

They’re breaking out!

to break out of their cocoons and the workers on the outside move to assist, peeling away the layers with

boy, oh

also nervous! Making intelligent ants, was it a mistake? Will this

regret now, the fruits of my labour are being released into

his creation come to life. I played with these ants when they were grubs but it’s often hard to put them together in my mind as the same creatures. Looking at

within my chest. I’m light headed. I need to breathe. In, out, in, out. Relax Anthony, its fine. You’ve either elevated your colony to the peak of the world or doomed them to collapse is savage internal strife

So no stress.

GAWD I

now, cutting into the fibres of the cocoons and tearing them open, gradually the still soft and pale workers within are being revealed. They are smaller than normal hatchlings. Hatchlings were already quite small but these are noticeably smaller.

once they start to evolve though. The early part of their lives will be tougher, sure, but the payoff will be there after

little workers are able to talk the moment they are born. I

soon for

Will the anguished cries from their very souls

of it depends on the mind they are born with? This is a whole lot of questions I

these ants are going to do

That one is

So is that one!

and the ants inside start to be able to move more, their new bodies stiff and unresponsive. Soon the cocoons are torn

I’ve worked myself up too much,

of them

"D.... Death."

What?

"M... mah.... My death."

already?! Are you like Frankenstein’s monster?! Do you yearn to be free of your tormented