Chrysalis

Cardigant, the one who fell, and in falling, achieved true immortality. Her existence, or rather, the lack of ongoing existence, was something amazing to the Immortals, something precious.

It was, Leeroy decided, something that could not afford to be lost.

She and her sisters had come so close to losing hope! They had come within an antenna’s width of letting go of their dream. The rejection of their creed by the Colony, the ire and condemnation of the Eldest, the crushing failure of their tier six evolution, all of it had piled up to become a weight that was almost too heavy to bear.

Then Cardigant had done as they had done, she had gone into battle. But then she had done the miraculous. She had sacrificed her life, successfully!

It was a revelation! A confirmation! A resuscitation! All that Leeroy had dreamed of, all that the Immortals had dreamed of, it was still within their reach! They only had to stretch forth with their mandibles, grasp the sword of the enemy, and pull it into their own faces.

They would not lose their way again. She refused to let them! And so, something had to be done.

“Wait a second.” Smithant lowered her tools and looked at the crowd of anxious, heavily armoured ants crowded around her anvil. “You want me to what?”

“It’s very simple,” Leeroy said impatiently. They couldn’t afford to waste time! “We want you to create a permanent metal container to store the body of our beloved, fallen sister for eternity. That’s not hard to understand!”

Smithant stared hard at the council member, observing the maniacal, fanatical gleam in her eyes.

“W-why?” she asked flatly. “I can make something like that, sure, but why should I? It’s a waste of materials and a waste of my time. I’m supposed to be down here to help repair and upkeep your armour, not making elaborate boxes for you to store dead family members in. I’m terribly sorry for your loss, I mourn this fallen sister along with you, but let it go. Let her return to the Dungeon and let's get on with things.”

Leeroy was frustrated. She wasn’t one for words, normally, and had no idea how she could communicate just what she wanted, just what they felt.

“Smithant, this might be hard to believe,” she began, “but we aren’t sad that our sister has fallen, we are happy. She wanted this, we all want this, but she succeeded. We want to carry her with us, always, so that we never forget that we can succeed too.”

She stared hard at the smith, trying to help her understand just how important this was to them.

From Smithant’s point of view, they just looked insane. They had compound eyes, they were always looking in all directions, it’s not like they could actually stare at one thing. All Leeroy was doing was leaning uncomfortably close, to the point she might soon catch some red hot tongs in the eye.

“All right, all right! Back up a little would you, you moron! So, what, you want me to encase Cardigant in a… in a what? A box made of metal?”

The Immortals considered it for a long moment.

of them suggested from

Smithant glared at them.

nice box?” she

Another moment of silence.

of the

it should look

some words of encouragement should be put on it? That might be

portable! We get sent to a lot of different places after all.… I wouldn’t want to leave

chorus of agreement

so we can mount it on

More agreement.

those nice vine carvings? They look nice. You know the ones that

“Good idea.”

“I like the vines…”

“Very appealing.”

the

Another long pause.

we can spread messages of comfort

“Flowers?”

face on the

include the

The armour is

had grown attached to their metal shells after all this

Maybe? Something

should include her core,

“Obviously!”

can’t recycle her

on the anvil,

pheromones blasting away the others’ words in an instant. “Just

her