Chrysalis

As the villagers return to their homes and the rapidly expanding buildings that make up their new town, I breathed a deep sigh of relief. That was not something I had expected to have to deal with upon my return. Turning to one side I face Sloan, the general and organiser of this human round up.

[Gather your siblings together Sloan] I growl at him, [I need to have a word.]

[Of course Senior.]

He scuttled off to find his siblings. I'm sure I'll find them later down in my chamber, where I'll have to explain a few things to them. It's not their fault. I failed to explain the relationship I was trying to cultivate with the village and its potential benefits to the colony. I forgot to explain the concept of leaving friendly people well enough alone! In truth, a dramatic oversight on my part and not a fault of theirs. They saw a wealth of Biomass and experience in such close proximity and sought to claim it, as any good monster should.

At least disaster has been averted and the workers have been warned off attacking the villagers. My insides sweat when I think about how close to a massacre we had been. The only reason the workers would have left the humans alive was so they could feed the experience to the Queen since they weren't resisting in any way. The thought of those men, women and children being funnelled into the Queens chamber, believing they were about to experience something miraculous, only to have their lives ended by my mother's jaws … it's disturbing to say the least.

No need to think on what might have been! The worst case scenario has been averted and I'll work hard to make sure that something like this doesn't happen again! For now, it's time to introduce the Queen to my new creation!

Climbing up the nest with Tiny and Crinis close behind I pass numerous workers who are all happy to call out with their customary advice:

"Work hard, Senior!"

working till you

"Hi there Senior! Work!"

I GET IT.

something for them, some sort of ant diversion. Perhaps I could invent a sport of some kind? It

spend almost all her time in this room, being defended from the ever-spawning nightmares of the Dungeon by

the vague outline of

moments she shifts closer to me, the workers peeling away from her head so

at least twice as tall as I am and several times longer. An ant the size of a minibus is really quite the impressive sight. I can only image the havoc that would have occurred on earth had something like the Queen ever

child? I had heard that you were out exploring?" she asked

exploring was happening! But I've managed to cook up something that I

wave back and forth in curious patterns. "What is it that you need me for young one? You usually don't require my assistance

of amusement in her voice as

to explain what I found in the marsh expanse, a species of monster that can extract nutrition from plant life and convert it into Biomass that it offers up in exchange for being left alone. I went on to detail the poison that I had detected within

another reliable source of Biomass for the colony, one that doesn't even require us to have to fight and makes use of resources that we otherwise wouldn't be able to utilise. Those trees offer no sustenance to us, but through these aphids we can farm an infinite amount of Biomass over time! If the Dungeon Wave

see that the Queen is interested. She leaned down to inspect the core that I had Tiny place on the chamber floor. The gem glittered brightly in the blue light emanating from the veins of mana winding through the walls of the