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 need to

to want to

me

black Crinis had inflicted on me. She appears to have gone through a few changes whilst 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

[Crinis! Are you alright?!]

worry about me, Master. I'm here

Crinis. We need to end this fight

to my right crumbles as a huge pair of mandibles break

"LEEEEEEROOOOOOY!!!!"

tunnel as a HUGE soldier bursts through the wall and dives headfirst into combat. The Golgari are dumbfounded for

scream, but since my pheromone gland is covered,

I need to fix this! NOW!]

from all angles of the tunnel and hundreds of ants swarm out of them. The Golgari are overwhelmed in seconds, buried under an avalanche of insects. Only a few have the intelligence to flee the second an ant is seen, the rest fall victim to the relentless crush of the Colony. Before I can

Dammit.

has

"West tunnel, clear!"

"East tunnel, clear!"

claws! Scouts every hundred metres for a kilometre

to close the emergency tunnels!

council been

"They're on the way!"

over my antennae, finally freed from Crinis' death grip, I feel the welcome 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 this way, I

back a little after I yelled at her, but she's still clinging to my abdomen, stuck to me like putty from a

We

[Yes, Master!]

[Harrrr.]

[Yesssss.]

gather around

tell me where my friend Jim went?" I ask

worm? You should find him a few hundred metres down the tunnel.

"Thanks."

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