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

it to be worth the risk,

chief servant subsided and bottled his objections, allowing his master to think 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

[Though I saw it much closer than

the heart of the servant at the thought of such a lowly monster threatening his master, but Rassan'tep only chuckled across

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

his Setsulah, but he made no effort to dispel it. Better that he remain in ignorance than try to grasp the desperate

his turn to lead a brigade of 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

arrange an engagement where he would be in position to both

decisive, 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

was when things had

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 had erupted beneath the