Chrysalis

There weren't too many times in his centuries of life that Rassan'tep had truly feared for his life. He'd been outnumbered and surrounded during a wave defence in the fourth in just his fifth decade, barely out of the nest. Only the intervention of an Old One had saved him from the jaws of a ravening horde of Emerald Lizards. As he had grown, increased his level, power and prestige, he had not found himself in that situation again.

Until today.

The Ka'armodo found a nice shady spot and crawled in before settling down to try and recover some equilibrium. Not far away, others tended to the termite brood, accelerating their growth and directing them to battle each other to improve their skills. The Old One felt nothing but contempt for the efforts of his comrades in their continued attempts to attack the Mother Tree, and by extension the ants. Even so, he would continue to use them for his own purpose.

[Master!] His faithful chief retainer, the Setsulah Ammon'sil, rushed to his side, placing both hands on the great lizard's side in an unusual public display of concern. [I felt your agitation through the bond. Is all well?]

Under the calming influence of his servant and the cool of the shade, the powerful mage began to feel his blood slow in his veins as he gathered himself.

[It goes to show what happens when I leave without my faithful servants by my side,] Rassan admitted, ruefully.

warned you

the risk, and I am

and calm himself as he kept his hands pressed to the great lizard's side. He monitored the breath and thoughts of Rassan'tep through the bond as he felt that ancient mind

our specimen,] Rassan'tep finally conferred. [Though I saw it much

of the servant at the thought of

it found me, but it came after me so quickly I didn't have the time to

the confusion in his Setsulah, but he made no effort to dispel it. Better that he remain

termites toward the tree, controlling the horde through the methods the Ka'armodo had built into their servants. Of course, he couldn't possibly refuse this opportunity to study the budding ancient in action and had purposefully attempted to

the target toward the centre of the lines. It had been trivial to arrange an engagement where he would be in position to both watch the conflict unfold and make a quick escape, yet things hadn't

radiating strength and power. The colossal ant had fallen upon his termite horde like a natural disaster, the pets kept by its side unable to keep up with the sheer fury on display. Magic of many elements, including that strange, unknown power, was on display, along with

was when things had

with watching the monster annihilate his troops that he had missed the window to retreat. When he tried to correct this mistake and withdraw, he’d already been noticed by the ant he’d been trying to study. Even so, he should have made it out; the distance between them was large enough, but necessity was the mother of invention, after all. The ant had leapt towards him, its body flying into the air as it burned its skills to accelerate as fast as possible. That still wouldn’t have been enough, but a powerful explosion