Chrysalis

Rassan'tep kept his eyes lidded to conceal his impatience. Even the heated sand against his scales rubbed him the wrong way, irritating him further. The third stratum, it simply couldn't compare to the fine grain and hot sun of his native desert, but how many decades had it been since he could run freely on the surface? Too many.

[Enough,] he spoke to his chief servant, Ammon'sil, who signalled the others before they stopped producing fire beneath him.

The Old One stretched his hands, his claws flexed and scraped against the sand and he opened his mouth wide, stretching the loose skin and exposing his fangs, each a deadly blade that glistened with venom. Lethargy tugged at his thoughts but he pushed it away, there wasn't the time to sleep.

[You seem very antagonistic toward the ants,] he observed to his guest, [I would like to know why.]

High atop his mound of sand that steamed and sizzled within the confines of the brick walled furnace beneath, the great lizard looked down on the enormous worm who writhed in discomfort. Despite the tough outer covering of the Earth Worm, its flesh was still soft and vulnerable to heat. What would Yarrum think to see one of his own kind display such weakness? A foolish question. Yarrum would eat the entire city in a single bite, never caring if the city was filled with worm-type monsters or not. Of all the ancients, the Eternal Worm had a hunger second only to Tarriflyx.

Though there was quite a distance between the two.

[I-I'm not sure what you mean.]

Even the mind of this creature felt weak, slippery and noxious to Rassan'tep. In control as he was, he felt as if he gripped a poisonous toad as it wriggled within his grip. To think a creature such as this came from the same place as that ant. A much more promising specimen.

[You hate them,] Rassan'tep bared his teeth once more, a childish display, but he was angered. [You seek their destruction and you wish to use the kaarmodo to achieve it, because you are far too weak to achieve your desires alone.]

Sensing his master's distaste, Ammon'sil stepped forward and placed a hand against the Old One's side as he directed a glare at the worm. That such a thing would attempt to dissemble before his master was a sin that he would not forget.

[I b-betrayed them in the past. They seek my death! If they aren't stopped, there will never be a safe place for me in the Dungeon, or anywhere on the planet. They grow so quickly! You haven't seen what I've seen! The enemies they've defeated, the rate of their spread. Already they have a dozen nests, each with two Queens! They produce thousands of young each week. Already they can fight against you, they pushed you away from the garden didn't they? What will happen when there's a million of them? Or a hundred million? I might want them dead, but they are a threat that you cannot deny! Already they've defeated the golgari and the Legion. Will the kaarmodo be next?]

noxious breath and closed its eyes as it probed with its potent

the one you wish

recoiled,

[W-what do -]

her in your thoughts. A female, yes? She is

his eyes and stared

destroy the Colony, how will she be saved if you do not tell us? Have you

of his contempt leaked through and Jim shrank in on

meant… I wanted to bring

mercilessly, [I have it now. Sarah.

of

you can,] he flicked his tongue

worm

it all in your mind. A puffed up border clan, filled with arrogance and foolishness. A green Legion, forced back to more important duties by the coming of the wave. The Empire of Stone can be traced back to before the Rending, their greatest warriors wield the mightiest blades of living stone this world has ever seen, their bodies

[But they were defeated!]

say. You think the strongest golgari are in the second stratum? The second? Don't be a fool. It is a

saw them retreat with my

Mahaan will never take your warnings seriously enough to bring the required force to bear

[What?]

so stunned he actually stops writhing for

is no longer here,] Rassan'tep assured him. [The Mother Tree has called on the ants to protect her