Chrysalis

Some part of me is still buzzing about being in the fourth stratum. I can't believe we managed to get down here without having to fight some epic war for survival in the third, or conquer an oppressive foe, or face down a full legion of metal death soldiers. It just seems weird. I mean, the kaarmodo are knocking on our door, and we have to fight to protect the tree down here, but I still feel like we got off easy. I mean, we had to face down Garralosh before we could even descend down to the second stratum.

I almost feel relaxed about it. We have tension with the kaarmodo across two stratum, which is definitely an issue, but I'll keep my claws crossed so they don’t try to pull us into a conflict across the third and fourth. That'd suck. Big time.

Fortunately, it won't happen! We're cruising right now. All we have to do is hunker down, get ourselves properly dug in, and then hold off the termites in a war of attrition that they can never hope to win. Once we've fortified our hold on our territories in the third stratum, and expanded our numbers and nests within the second, we'll be able to flood down here and smash our colony rivals into smithereens. Once that happens, we'll be free to expand and explore down here to our heart's content. Things are looking good!

Until Vibrant went and threw a wrench in everything. Where the heck did she get to? She was supposed to chase after the termites until they left the tunnels we'd constructed to funnel them toward us and then come back. Naturally, Vibrant being Vibrant, she's probably found herself a pond or something and is trying to run on water or something ridiculous.

[Anthony!] a mind reaches out to me. [Wait for me!]

[Sarah?] I say as I turn and see the giant bear running up beside me. [You want to come along?]

[Yes,] she nods, [I'm not that useful for digging or constructing things, so I might as well come and help make sure you and Vibrant get back safely.]

shrug my antennae, [feel free to

for a

to be careful out there, Protectant. We're kicking around in the fourth now, you

spend more time worrying about them being safe, as opposed to them worry about me. They're probably constantly having to intervene behind the scenes to keep me on the straight and narrow

dedicate it to filtering through the wash of energy I receive from the Colony, spying on Protectant

then, let's get

to cover before we catch up to them. The tunnels around us feel strangely heavy, as if the whole weight of the immense mountain and tree above us bear down on them. It's kind of strange that it feels more claustrophobic here than it does when I can't

rather than walking through air. Perhaps it's like humidity was as a human, if I can even remember what that was like any more. High humidity, as I recall, felt like the air would stick to you as you walked around. This level of mana feels far beyond that to me as a monster. It's like the air is literally water. Or even thicker than that. Jelly, almost. My core sucks it in the second I lose a

in the tunnels and loops that have been carved into the rock here that the Colony still hasn't

that?] I

I