Chrysalis

Life without the Eldest to guide has been difficult for the Colony. They sleep, a deserved rest to be sure, and in the meantime we have had to adjust, to overcome the challenges that Pangera presents to us without our wisest councillor and most farseeing leader. It has been like growing up for the Colony, in many ways. No longer were we able to rely on someone to guide our destiny, instead we had to collectively decide it for ourselves. Perhaps this was the intention of the Eldest all along, but only know that they sleep are we truly able to break away from this dependence.

I hope they are proud of us for what we have done. I believe they will understand, when the time comes.

• Notes from the personal writings of Historiant.

In a few scant minutes the kaarmodo and setsulah had gone to work, taking a commanding hold over the mana around them and drawing it in to form intricate weaves of magic. For every kaarmodo there were at least two bondservants, which meant each team contained at least fifteen minds, pooling their mental resources to craft the great siege spells that they would launch to destroy the budding garden of the mother tree.

It was a difficult spell and one that required a powerful collective to craft. The Old One did not join any of the teams, instead he observed the reaction amongst the ants as he worked with his setsulah to craft his own artillery spell. One of the many benefits that age brought was the means necessary to support a greater number of bond servants, and Rassan'tep had been particularly choosy in selecting his setsulah, each of them were powerful mana manipulators with their own specialities. What's more, they were excellent at cooperative spell casting, everything a kaarmodo could possibly ask for. He was exceptionally proud of them.

As for the ants, they didn't appear to have a strong reaction at all, which surprised him. There was almost no chance they were unaware of the spells being woven so close to them, most of the teams that had been formed were putting no effort at all into concealing their work,. As if daring the monsters to do something about it. As he watched, his vision enhanced, he could see the ants still stood at attention in neatly ordered rows.

It was fascinating to observe them. There were many varieties of ant in attendance. Different sizes, different shape, even different colouration. It was easy to determine the purpose of the larger ones, they had thick plating for their carapace, and large heads that were no doubt packed with muscle to enhance their bite strength. A melee or warrior class if ever he'd seen one. This only reinforced his opinion that a frontal charge was tantamount to suicide. One on one, he had little doubt he could crush one of these physical ants, but a hundred to one? Unlikely.

The smaller ant types were no doubt the more magical ones, mages of varying purposes. Against a single kaarmodo, he had no doubt the ants would be laughably outmatched, but that simply wasn't how a swarming insect operated. It mattered nothing if a kaarmodo was better one to one, they would never fight one to one. A single ant was helpless, a hundred thousand of them? A force to be recognised.

intelligent, and strong, something that he hadn't seen before. It was a worrying development. If possible he did not want to enter an open conflict against them right now, the kingdom had more than enough on its plate fighting off the recurring waves and contesting for territory against the mother tree. There was no need to go looking

his eye once more. Large, shiny and with a brightly burning core, there was little doubt that this monster was a powerful individual without any support, yet here it had support in measures. If he judged rightly the other monsters nearby, the only non-ants in

was little to sense from the ants. Perhaps they intended to allow the kaarmodo to succeed? Was the intention to demonstrate that they were not in alliance

he sent

formed that burned ever hotter at their cores as each of the kaarmodo stepped back from the blaze they had created. The fires drew down on themselves until they formed an impossibly bright core of pure white fire that seared the air until it crackled. Then, all at once, the superheated cores blasted into the air, arcing high as they blazed a trail through the scorched atmosphere of the

temperature skyrocketed and Rassan'tep basked in the heat as he watched to see what the

it was true, but even so he hadn't seen so much a glimmer of what they'd been weaving. It turns out they were constructing an enormous shield, but due to the effort required to keep in hidden, it wasn't yet complete. As he watched a tremendous flood of mana began to sweep around the insect formation, being drawn in and woven at incredible speed as even more

wonder, [all of their efforts

level of cooperation,] Rassan'tep observed. [Though

but there were different spells being formed in various pockets around the formation, including by the big ant in the front. Soon these workings took shape and great spears of water were launched into the air, crashing into the

nearly enough,]

[reduce the strength so

spears rose, then more as the ants churned them out as fast as they could manage it. The fireballs ate the water as if it were nothing, the concentrated heat melting them almost before they touched, yet even so, they began to shave

large ant

into the sky, packed to bursting with a form of mana that he did not recognise, yet the air itself felt drawn into it, creating a wind that increased in speed the longer the spell hung in the air.

HOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWL.

other, the energy

that?] Rassan'tep wondered aloud across

master, but I fear it,] came the

his mind to examine the conflicting energy more closely and what he saw shocked him. Ever so slightly, but with increasing speed, the fireball was beginning to break apart.