Chrysalis

We warred for survival. That was our driving motivation for so long that when we eventually reached the point that survival wasn’t threatened, we almost didn’t know how to act. We had established enough power, enough allies, that the forces who sought to exterminate us were unwilling to pay the cost, and thus secured our ongoing existence.

Some theorise that it is only when one doesn’t have to struggle day to day that their true personality can shine through. In that case, this period would reveal who the Colony was, what our priorities were, and who we saw ourselves being in the future.

Even the Eldest, so often the driving force behind our development and direction, stepped into the background. Left to our own devices, the Colony had to search deep within itself to find a new direction, a new channel in which to place its bottomless energy.

·

• Excerpt from the private notes of Historiant

Turns out, it takes a lot of mana to create a volcanic eruption.

[Stay away from the master you trash! Die!]

[GRAAAAAH!]

[Ssssurrender your livesss to me!]

BOOM! BOOM!

And it requires an extreme level of concentration and focus.

[Succumb to fear! Retreat from the shadows!]

[Ahhh. The experience isss mine!]

[HRAAAAAAAAA!]

[Can you keep it down, dammit! I’m trying to focus!]

[Sorry, Master!]

not exactly reasonable to expect them

and I’ll

[Okay!]

doesn’t take long for the larger termite soldiers to start scissoring away at it. Even the workers are capable of nibbling at the stone and tearing it

attention to whipping up some stone, but personally I’d rather

spell is such a freakin’

construct at a constant rate, each seized by my mind constructs and condensed before they are added to the intricate weave that is this spell. Its structure is almost like a spherical

to be standing next to when it goes off, but I don’t know how long it takes to detonate

Exciting!

more of

the name of all that is ant can there be

but they managed

corner like literal water, a densely packed wave that sloshes and froths as individuals are sent tumbling or flying

nest that the queens were under threat. Naturally they drop everything, no matter what is happening, to come and defend the queen. In fact, the ka’armodo might have found their mental control breaking if they tried to deny the termites their most basic

lizards with mighty headaches out there

I tell them. [Unleash everything you’ve

[I-I’ve got it, Master.]

hasssss it! Givesss it to

appears to have supercharged it this time, the green light shredding through everything it touches. It looks

now his eye is bleeding, thick ichor dripping onto the tunnel floor beneath his

I tell him. [We’re

be,] he replies with supreme

and pour all of my attention into the spell, weaving threads with all the delicacy and speed I

damn thing is taking

on mana,

in triumph.