Chrysalis

Big ‘ol chunk of mass, surrounded by many more, smaller chunks of mass. Huge amounts of toing and froing. It has to be the queen’s chamber. There’s no way the termites would allow egg production to cease, not even during a crisis. Especially during a crisis.

How is a social insect supposed to overcome its challenges? With overwhelming numbers! I didn’t come here with a half of a million of my own siblings because I love their company!

Although I do…

[Can you sense it Crinis?]

[I can’t… this whole area is shielded.]

My shadowy companion of death and darkness sounds frustrated, unusual for her, but I can understand it. For someone who started off completely blind, Crinis has evolved to the point where she’s possibly the most visually acute of us all. She can’t see light, but she can see mana, and shadows, and use both to ‘see’ through walls and deep into solid rock. Not being able to look at something right in front of her face must be a weird sensation.

[It’s fine,] I assure her, [this is it. We just need to dig our way through. You three keep them off of me and I’ll take care of the rest.]

Zen of digging, activate!

Not that I want to actually relax here, that would be profoundly unwise, but I do need to get my dig on in a serious way. I aim myself in the direction I need to dig and begin to pump my mandibles with furious energy, ripping into the stone. Haha! Making good progress here. At this point in my journey, I can cut through regular stone like it's butter. I’m just too strong and too heavily mutated to be resisted when it comes to digging!

THUNK!

Ouch! That is to say… unless you go ahead and heavily reinforce the rock. That one chomp has set my entire face to wobbling. What the heck did they do to this stone?

and scrabble at the wall to clear some space and get a good view before I

is. They’ve done something else entirely… this is a different type of rock from the stuff surrounding it. It’s chock full of mana, I can tell that much. In fact, it’s likely to be a big part of why Crinis

horde of termites and are bound to succumb if I take too

a second thought, I pump earth mana into my mandibles, vastly increasing their cutting power, lock my jaws into place, and

CRUNCH!

the mysterious stuff, but I haven't been able to rip through it like I would have liked. I could get through

VOID CHOMP COMBO!

the last bite slams shut, my vision nearly blanks out for a long moment. Thankfully I have a half million ants close by and

you all

I tell her. [I’ve cleared the way,

pets following along close behind. What I see spread out before

with that strange stone. Opposite from us I can see a weird sort of observation chamber shielded behind a shimmering pane of glass. It’s currently empty, but I can easily imagine that this is where the ka’armodo conducted their

queens is the

over twenty metres in length. A constant stream of termites rush into the chamber, delivering ton after

that? I

next clutch and let me tell you, those lines are moving fast. Forget about one every three seconds, this is more like three per

this nest! Just how many workers do they have tending to the

maintain the kind of

minds. Imagine if this had gotten out of their control, which it most likely would have. This colony of termites would have been a plague on the fourth

[Master!]

[Oh, shoot!]