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.

wasn’t possible. The bridge

with surprising discipline and the Immortals

extending the bridge. Earth magic churned once again as thousands of minds linked together to work the energy that suffused the air. The bombardment continued as they worked, but it had become clear that the ka’armodo lacked the firepower to

ants looked

it was

mages, an ecstatic,

to burn! Burn it all! ALL OF IT TO THE GROUND!

pure blue flame were lobbed further up the mountain, starting spot fires that rapidly spread. In a

response from the termites, but none

raged as she launched

so hot they started new fires wherever they landed. When the fuel had burned itself out, all that remained was charred ground that still sizzled with remembered heat. In the distance, the smoke still billowed up into the sky,

silence 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

Leeroy stepped forward.

“Let’s go,” she said.

would return. The Reliquary of Eternal Rest marched with them, the peaceful gaze of Cardigant

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

smouldering tree could conceal a tunnel or cavern filled with termites. Mages extended their senses as far as they could, even going so far as

termites

their monstrous army

waver. They would see the enemy destroyed here today, regardless of the tricks and stratagems. When the battle was

termite nest itself. Although repairs had been made, signs of the damage caused by the Eldest could still