Chrysalis

The captain of the Rylleh guard knew, deep in his gut, that he was dead, that everyone around him was dead. He felt as if his blood had slowed to a crawl in his veins as he stared at the projection, more red lights blooming to life each second. There were thousands of them, because of course there were. He knew what was coming. In that moment, he felt as if two divergent paths lay before him. He could surrender to the inevitable death that awaited him and every person living in the city, lay down and give in, or he could fight and take as many of the filthy monsters down with him as he could.

It didn't seem like much of a choice at all to Wallace.

"Yasmine! YAS! Get over here!"

His second in command, a quaver of panic running just beneath the surface, rushed back to his side and he stepped in front of the display before he turned to speak to her.

"What's been happening?" he asked.

He could hear the rumbling and clatter of more guardsmen piling into the headquarters, responding to the emergency summons that was automatically sent out once the alarms were tripped.

"Well," Yasmine steadied herself, "I've done as you asked. All of the outer guardsmen are retreating to the gates, which are being closed and reinforced. The reserves have been summoned and the city has been notified of an attack."

Wallace nodded.

"Right, I want everyone to abandon the gates and fall back to the city centre. Issue an evacuation order to the populace. Everyone into the city centre, collapse the buildings in a hundred metre radius beyond the square. Then I want -"

"Have you gone mad?" Yasmine demanded, aghast. "Are you abandoning the city?! You'll kill us all!"

"They're tunnelling through the rock! The walls are useless, they're just going to go around them. They're tunnelling up from underneath us as we speak!"

"That's impossible! What about the enchantments? The reinforced rock? It's absurdly hard to break through the stone!"

"It would be if they were human," he ground out, "but they bloody well aren't. Now listen close and keep your bloody mouth shut, alright?"

He reached out and grabbed her by the shoulder, his old calloused hand digging painfully into her flesh. She looked at him and noticed for the first time the faint glint of something mad in his eyes, something other.

alright, captain?"

chuckled, "now shut up and listen. I'm going to tell you something and it's very important that you don't spread this around. The last thing we want is

"I-I think so, captain."

under attack by ants. This is an ant

forcing her to lean closer to hear him. He could see the moment she comprehended him as her face drained of blood and she began to shake. He gripped her tighter and

Not a single one below tier three. I know, shut up," he held her eyes as she tried to break in but he refused to allow her to panic. "The gates are going to be useless, they'll tunnel around and come at our people from behind. The only way we have a chance is if we gather in the square and use those walls

wasn't equipped to handle this, but she gathered her courage and nodded. She would

the ants would tunnel under the walls and come at them from beneath, but hopefully they'd be able to swat a few of the filthy bugs as they approached. It was the best they could

twisted his face, Wallace rushed

Not far away.

want us to

the gate! Orders came straight

back through the communication crystal, "has that old fool

of the

men to the square and

if he was going to abandon his post during an invasion, regardless what his orders were! When it was all said and done, he'd be commended for holding his ground whilst Wallace was dragged through

orders, Ernes?" one of his

is stupid enough to take this city on is going to

finish closing and sealing the gate. A massive construction of enchanted metal and stone, the gates had held off

the firing ports! Mages at the ready, archers behind! Shields up!"

gate by now and they leapt to their tasks like a well-oiled machine. As their major, his heart swelled with pride as he rushed to join them. A full fifteen metres high, the back of the gate was lined with three tiers of viewing ports accessed by ramps that joined across the centre. At his command, the guards flew up the ladders and took their positions, ready to throw open the hatches built into

"when I give the command, unleash

himself. His reputation would be made by what he did here today. This was going to be the defining moment of his

open his own hatch and courageously lent over to look, exposing his head to enemy fire. For a brief second, he gained vision of the tunnel approach to the gate before he flicked his head

it, sir?" the

he'd just seen.

another look," he muttered and performed the action