Chrysalis

"Whooooooooo!" Vibrant cheered as she raced across the Plains of Leng, delighting in watching the larval demons leap from her path just in time to miss her flashing legs.

The air was boiling hot and seared against her carapace as it drove her antennae back. The smell of ash and molten rock smothered her senses as the terrain flashed by but Vibrant cared little for any of it. The rush of pure speed was what she craved and these wide open plains gave her an opportunity to run as she had never had a chance to before.

"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" she hollered, her legs flickering so quickly they couldn't be seen, her brain flashing just as quickly as she processed the barrage of visual information that flooded her eyes each second.

Far behind, though not as far as one might think, her followers were working hard to keep up as best they could. Their job was made far more difficult by the fact that they'd long since fallen out of range of the aura that boosted their own speed, since their leader had raced so far ahead. Still, they too yearned for speed, just as their leader did, and their hearts were thumping with joy as they raced across the plains as a unit, desperate to keep up.

When they eventually did so, they found Vibrant standing rock still, staring up the target of their current mission. Emilia the general was among the first to arrive and boldly approached their uncharacteristically still leader.

"Vibrant? Is everything alright?" she asked.

The large yet sleek soldier twitched her antennae as she recognised the scent.

laughed. "Have a look up there, it’s a little different,

whims of her leader, the general leaned back and looked up at the demon city of Orpule far above. Just like Roklu, it was situated on a disc of stone that extended out from the pillar that supported the roof of the stratum so far above, but it was immediately clear what Vibrant was referring

much larger, isn't it…"

that the Colony had conquered, there was more than one plate! The second, which hung beneath the first, in its shadow so to speak, was much smaller than that above it, as if it had only begun to form recently. Which raised the question, how did a demon city expand? Or was this a sign of a more powerful and ambitious leader driving her population to

we need to be careful," Emilia made sure to remind her glorious leader. "There are

make a general nuisance of ourselves in

the hundreds of ants who made up her followers were emboldened. When Vibrant was happy, things were generally going well. They might be hectic, or even dangerous, but usually manageable. When she was serious, that was

see! Let's keep an eye on the city as we do and make sure we keep our distance! Let's also make sure that we go super-fast! Do your best to keep up with me everyone, I don't want anyone falling

off, speeding across the plains and running a broad circle

off once again. The experience and biomass were welcome, of course, but more than that any evolved demon was a potential recruit for the enemy. If one of these were to reach tier six and gain their full awareness, then to Orpule they would go, recruited for the enemy. So long as

watching from above realised what was happening and a sortie was sent forth, powerful