Chrysalis

The gravity bomb screams into life and I almost instantly die. The pulling force of the spell is so strong it almost rips me from my feet before I grip hard to the ground beneath me to prevent being ripped from the ground. The spell soon moves far enough away that the immediate danger is over and I can relax my hold, but a whole new fear is born in my heart.

If that's what it's like now… what will happen when it hits?

["EVERYBODY OVER HERE! NOW!"] I roar in every way I can.

[Master! What's happening?] Crinis asks.

[I just unleashed the mother of all gravity bombs and I'm worried we're all going to die when it pops off. Get everyone over here on the edge of the shield so we can dig in!]

And I start to do just that, ripping into the ground with my mandibles to create more distance and give myself a firmer foothold.

All the while that horrible scream shatters the air, the wind howling with despair as it is consumed by the bomb in flight. Even the light is eaten, the ball itself is almost impossible to see, it's so dark around it. The reaction of the kaarmodo is immediate, the lizards going pale (that might just be my imagination) and their servants reinforce the shield Invidia had already been battering with his eye beam.

["Move it, dammit!"] I scream as the ants turn and disengage from the termites. ["Aren't you supposed to be fast?!”]

Crinis is already retracting her limbs back into the shadows and emerging next to me as Tiny leaps out of the tunnel mouth, Invidia once more riding on his shoulder.

HOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWLLLL!!!

I do not want to be anywhere near this thing when it goes off. I continue to frantically shovel tons of soil and rock with my mandibles, hoping to see the shield end at some point but the damn

Vibrant rushes up next to

When the shield goes,

loose soil I've created and take a gander at the bomb's progress. I can feel the lizards desperately ripping into the spell, trying to reduce its strength before the detonation, but when I focus on the slowly revolving ball of gravity mana, I notice something strange. As they try to tear mana free, the ball is trying to pull it back in, refusing to let any energy escape from its orbit. They're managing

terrifying! This is a spell that

into the shield in front of me and I confirm that it's significantly weakened. Already the kaarmodo have been forced to pull their attention from it in order to protect themselves. With effort, the combined efforts of my family and I could break through it now, but I get the feeling that in a

the spell hits, the ants begin to arrive, diving over the earth mound I've been piling up and frantically digging holes for themselves to hide in, even if they don't understand why. A small number of termites have begun to charge out of the tunnel mouth after us and I almost feel

don't see what happens next, since I stick my head as low as I can get it and hold on

["GRAB HOLD!"]

rushes to do just that and for a brief moment, there is perfect stillness, as

a

dirt, pulling up fungus, plants, trees, rocks, everything. I don't dare poke my

legs! Do it!"]

Crinis has positioned herself underneath my abdomen, absorbed into the shadow there. His eye aglow, Invidia does as I ask, along with all the other ant mages in the group, reaching out with their minds to compress the soil beneath us, tightening its

until not a speck of space remains between their carapace and the ground beneath. The loose soil that had piled behind me as I dug is already gone, torn away in the first few seconds. If I angle my head even slightly, I'd