Chrysalis

[DAMMIT CRINIS! I can't see!]

[It's fine!]

[How is it fine?!]

[IT JUST IS!]

[No! How the heck can I fight if I can't see the enemy?! What is even happening?!]

[I'll fight for you! You don't need to do anything!]

[Are you kidding me?! There's no way you can take them all on by yourself!]

[Watch me!]

[I CAN'T!]

I'm currently entombed in a shell of Crinis after all. Not only is she covering my eyes, she's covering all of me! How is she even doing this? She sent her entire body through my shadow in a flash! So much faster than she was able to use the Shadows before. This can only mean one thing…

[You've evolved!]

[Of course, Master! Did you think I would rest before coming back to your side?]

[Well… no. I didn't.]

My Vestibule tingles with energy, causing panic to spark inside me.

[Wait, Crinis! What's the Colony doing?!]

[Oh, they're coming! They'll be here any minute.]

Through the liquid shadow flesh of Crinis' body I can sense the ongoing battle. Thuds and impacts ripple through her form as she takes damage that had been directed at me.

coming?! They

seem to want to stop. I think

least let me see what's

I was gone. A writhing mass of flesh and tentacles rises from my back like a pillar, three separate mouths gaping and gnashing at the air as she sends her limbs twisting through the air toward the Golgari. For their part, the Warriors and Shapers are firing a literal barrage of strikes her way, the savage light from their weapons cutting into her flesh dozens

[Crinis! Are you alright?!]

about me, Master. I'm here

get off me, Crinis. We need to end this

as a huge pair of mandibles break through

"LEEEEEEROOOOOOY!!!!"

war cry of the dumbest ant in the history of the species floods the tunnel as a HUGE soldier bursts through the wall and dives headfirst into combat. The Golgari

heck are you doing?!" I scream, but since my pheromone

need to fix this! NOW!] I

The Golgari are overwhelmed in seconds, buried under an avalanche of insects. Only a few have the intelligence to flee the second an ant

Dammit.

Eldest has

"West tunnel, clear!"

"East tunnel, clear!"

stop those claws! Scouts every hundred metres for a kilometre

the emergency tunnels! Earth mages at the

council been

"They're on the way!"

buzz of my family wrap around me once more. The Vestibule is completely alive now, whispering to me the needs and desires of every ant within range. It's overwhelming at first, but when I hear the council members are coming

she's still clinging to my abdomen, stuck to me like putty from a hell

We

[Yes, Master!]

[Harrrr.]

[Yesssss.]

around me as I begin

me where my friend Jim went?" I ask the ants

few hundred metres down the

"Thanks."

least I think that was a scout. Judging by the long antennae and sleek carapace design, it would be weird if they were a soldier. As time passes and I move further away from the site of the battle, the number of ants congregating actually increases. More and more of them are flooding out of the nearby tunnels and