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 hadn’t been finished

discipline and the Immortals sat, lowering their bodies down to rest,

their shock 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 continued as they worked, but it had become clear

the shore. The ants looked out over the unbroken fields of white fungus, but there was

it

the fire mages, an ecstatic, almost rapturous Propellant stepped

Prepare to burn! Burn it all! ALL OF IT TO

were lobbed further up the mountain, starting spot fires that rapidly spread. In a matter of

themselves, waiting for any response from the termites, but none was forthcoming.

IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL!” she raged as she launched more and more flaming

they landed. When the fuel had burned itself out, all that remained

of their tunnels to fight, filled with rage and ready to

Leeroy stepped forward.

“Let’s go,” she said.

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

behind, flowing over the landscape like a natural disaster. The formation continued to be a tight column, the troops on high

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 to harden the

termites

leash. They would hold their monstrous army at bay until the ants had been drawn

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

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,