Chrysalis

Down in the darkness we plunge. It’s strange. Normally this kind of environment would be so familiar, so welcoming to me, it’s a social insect nest after all, but it just… doesn’t. Instead, it feels alien, and twisted from everything it should be.

There are no comforting pheromones of my family spread across the walls and floor, no warm messages or encouragement or friendly reminders to get some rest or they’ll come for you. Instead there’s an omnipresent, suffocating stink that coats my antennae and makes me twitch in discomfort. The design of the nest is also not what I would expect. Despite being similar(ish) creatures, the construction of an ant nest isn’t all that similar to a termite nest, depending on the variety of termite and ant you choose to compare.

The flow of air through the tunnels isn’t what I would expect, the complex ventilation systems these cockroach descended mugs build are all about temperature control, ensuring that exactly two places inside their fortress are always kept at the perfect temp: the fungus garden and the queen’s chamber.

Which means if I follow the warm air current… I should be able to find the royal family…

And of course, the other unwelcoming and disconcerting aspect of this nest is the neverending hordes of termites and their desperate attempts to rip me limb from limb. Naturally, that goes without saying.

The four of us continue our push, advancing steadily into the nest and refusing to allow ourselves to get surrounded. With the Colony warring on the surface, the termite forces are divided, allowing our small team, with its overwhelming, concentrated power, to dive deep without being overwhelmed.

[Crinis, do you sense anything?] I call to the writhing mass of tentacles flowing along behind me.

[I sense too many of them to be sure of anything. They’re all around us, the disgusting filth! How dare they lay a single claw on Master…]

[I mean… we are trying to kill them.]

[Our cause is just!]

[Going to leave that well enough alone. How about you Invidia?]

[Thisssss wealth. I shall havesssss it all!]

Are you talking about

eye glitters,

[Yesssssss.]

We need to

them too,]

for concentrations of mana,

turn to Tiny. He looks back

stuff, Tiny. You’re doing good,] I

any more brainpower than

another hundred metres down,

what

feels heavily warded. I can’t stretch my shadow sight into the chamber. Perhaps the ka’armodo

or maybe we’ll find the ka’armodo

got words for

Pull back,

i’d been preparing with a flex of my will. The small sphere of slowly rotating doom howls down the tunnel, dragging

I warn the others. [I

break the thing. Having virtually endless amounts of stamina and replenishing my other organs, such as acid and regeneration, is already bonus

some depth. I don’t want

have all their secretssssss,]

heard. We cling to the wall, our claws, tentacles and fingers lodged

it fades away, we leap down, throwing ourselves out into the almost vertical shaft and plummeting through the air. The termites behind us thrash wildly, but catch themselves before they join us in our fall, putting a gap between us

metres before we catch hold of the wall again, our huge mass causing