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

got this close, they didn't seem to want

Crinis! At least let me see what's happening! That's

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 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

[Crinis! Are you alright?!]

worry about me, Master. I'm here to keep

need to get off me, Crinis. We need to end

crumbles as a huge pair of mandibles break through the

"LEEEEEEROOOOOOY!!!!"

reaches my antennae despite being almost totally covered by Crinis, the 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 are dumbfounded for the smallest of windows before they move to respond. That's Leeroy?! She's big! Some of the Colony members

doing?!" I scream, but since my pheromone gland is covered, they

to fix this! NOW!]

The Golgari are overwhelmed in seconds, buried under an avalanche of insects. Only a few have

Dammit.

has

"West tunnel, clear!"

"East tunnel, clear!"

stop those claws! Scouts every

to close the emergency tunnels! Earth mages

council been

"They're on the way!"

of pheromone conversations wash 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

has pulled back a little after I yelled at her, but she's still clinging to my abdomen,

Crinis, Invidia. We need to

[Yes, Master!]

[Harrrr.]

[Yesssss.]

each respond in their own way and gather around me as I begin to

tell me where my friend Jim went?" I ask

You should find him a few hundred metres down the

"Thanks."

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