Chrysalis

It wasn't easy to explain how they knew, but they did. A tantalising feeling, as if their minds were connected across a great space to something that collected all those thoughts like a whirlpool of the colonies wants and needs. The moment Vibrant placed a leg within its range, she could sense it.

"Finally!" She yelled with delight, slapping her followers around with her antennae enthusiastically. "That silly Eldest really went a long way but not far enough to escape from us!"

"Please, Vibrant," came the urgent whisper from a general within her squad, "it isn't wise to refer to the Eldest as silly! Or to suggest the Eldest ran away."

"You think weird, Emeliant," Vibrant assured her trusted follower, "That's why I like you."

Still unused to having a name, Emiliant was caught between the joy of being acknowledged by her leader and the fear of getting in trouble for her irreverence.

She worried too much, something that Vibrant found immensely amusing since Vibrant didn't worry at all.

"Stop your fussing! If you keep twitching your antenna like that, I'll have to take your name back."

Emeliant froze.

"C-can you do that?" She whispered.

"What? No! Geez, you need to relax a little. Let's go kill some monsters. We've almost made it!"

So saying, Vibrant dashed off with incredible speed, leaving Emiliant and the rest of her squad in the dust. This was the treatment they were well used to by this point, and they rushed to catch up, the less physical castes climbing onto the backs of the tier four soldiers and scouts in order to keep up.

Knowing they were following behind, Vibrant didn't go all out but instead comfortably rushed toward the front lines, her connection to the Eldest growing stronger with each stride. She'd travelled a long way to take part in this conflict, and she wasn't about to let it end before she got her slice of whatever had kept the Eldest from them.

She'd been in another zone entirely when word the Eldest had been detected rushed through the Colony. One ant passed it onto the next and word raced hundreds of kilometres into the deepest tunnels and most defended nests. At once, without any need to consult, the Colony's entire expansion process halted as ants began to reassign themselves to this new front. The regular business of the Colony continued, of course, but every ant not dedicated to producing, raising or feeding the young had barrelled through the tunnels, moving east. Always east. As a trickle turns into a flood, so too did the movements of the Colony as one group ran into the next which ran into the next.

Now thousands of siblings poured through the tunnels within range of the Eldest, each burned with an inner flame that only grew brighter the closer they got.

in and taken

a second for a

halt, dirt and rock flying as

it isn't Burke! You look…

wiggled her

few unusual surprises. We're still trying to work out the

right, the

"Exactly."

was larger than before, but not by much. She was dwarfed by some of the tier four soldiers, which were being called majors. She was sleeker, more streamlined and her colours had become more muted. In fact, it almost appeared as if she was blending into the rock behind her. He antennae

you went barging in. Things are

"Why not?" Vibrant queried.

her style, but she'd been forced to

evidence of a civilised

the ones holding

"Likely so."

Colony to a group more organised and powerful than the

the

listen when the council asked her to do things. She was strangely… independent. Always serving the Colony, but in the

teams of core shapers. Their pet shadow beasts can scout more openly and arouse less suspicion than we can. Tunneling crews have also been set up but we need more mage support. Some passages are hard to

But what do you need me to

to go forward, they have the Skills and

of those!" Declared Vibrant as her weary followers rushed into

her squad and cheer on their new role as hard running scouts, something else emerged from the tunnel behind them,

the open space and stilled. After a few seconds the pool darkened and a forest of black tentacles burst forth. They grasped and twisted through the air, gripping onto anything they could before they snapped

a horror. An amorphous blob of flesh with three mouths filled with barbed teeth that crackled with malicious energy. A terrible screech arose in the tunnel that