Chrysalis

“WE ARE BATHED IN HER BENEVOLENT LIGHT!”

“WE SEEK!”

“WHERE SHE HAS LED, WE SHALL FOLLOW!”

“WE SEEK!”

“ETERNAL REST! ETERNAL GLORY! IT IS NOW HERS! SOON, IT WILL BE OURS!”

“WE SEEK!”

The column of Immortals continued to march through the ranks of ants who had parted for them. Towards the front of their formation, the Reliquary of Eternal Rest was borne upon their backs, its sacred smokes infused with pheromonal messages of hope and comfort.

“Death is near! Glory to the Colony! The end has come! Death is near!”

The waves of pheromones rolled over the ants to either side, who rolled their antennae and clacked their mandibles, unimpressed.

Leeroy continued to exhort her followers all the way to the head of the column. By the time they reached the end of the bridge, the Immortals had been whipped into a frenzy, their hearts surging with devotion to the Colony and eyes ablaze with a desperate need to lay down their lives.

The Reliquary had a multiplicative effect on the eagerness of the Immortals. They were so eager to fly into battle their armour rattled on their backs.

it wasn’t possible. The bridge

steel clad column came to a halt with surprising discipline and the Immortals sat, lowering their bodies

troops in position, the Colony once more got to work extending the bridge. Earth magic churned once again as thousands of minds linked together to work the energy that suffused the air. The bombardment

ants looked out over the unbroken fields

it was

the fire mages, an ecstatic, almost rapturous Propellant

mages! Prepare to burn! Burn it all! ALL

fungal forest ablaze. Huge orbs of pure blue flame were lobbed further up the mountain, starting spot fires that rapidly spread. In a matter of moments a raging

braced themselves, waiting for any response from the termites,

raged as she launched more and more flaming missiles

wherever they landed.

was deafening. The Colony had expected to see the enemy boiling out of their tunnels to fight, filled with rage and ready to defend their precious garden. Instead, the mighty column of ants looked out over a barren field,

Leeroy stepped forward.

“Let’s go,” she said.

With luck, none of them would return. The Reliquary of Eternal Rest marched with them, the peaceful gaze

army followed behind, flowing over the landscape like a natural disaster. The formation continued to be a tight column, the troops on high alert. This was not friendly territory; the ground

cavern filled with termites. Mages extended their

termites did not

a tight leash. They would hold their monstrous army at bay

this, the Colony advanced. Their resolution did not waver. They would see the enemy destroyed here today, regardless of the tricks and stratagems. When the battle was done,

and alert, the army marched all the way to the mouth of the termite nest itself. Although repairs had been made, signs of the damage caused by the Eldest could still be seen, the