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.

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• 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!]

push away my irritation. It’s not exactly reasonable to expect them to be quiet

and I’ll try and get this ready as quickly as

[Okay!]

termite soldiers to start scissoring away at it. Even the workers are capable of

whipping up some stone, but personally

such a

by my mind constructs and condensed before they are added to the intricate weave that is this spell.

it goes off, but I don’t know how long

Exciting!

more

all that

don’t know, but they

like literal water, a densely packed wave that sloshes and froths as individuals are sent tumbling or flying by the sheer weight of mass

gotten out to the wider 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

with mighty headaches out there right

about it!] I tell them. [Unleash everything you’ve

[I-I’ve got it, Master.]

hasssss it! Givesss

eye beam. In fact, he appears to have supercharged it this time, the green light shredding through everything it touches. It looks like it’s

bleeding, thick ichor dripping onto the tunnel floor beneath his hovering form. That is

it, Invidia,] I tell

willssss be,] he replies with

I turn and pour all of my attention into the spell, weaving threads with all the delicacy and speed I can muster. Within, the omni-elemental construct spins and whirls as raw mana is pumped in one

thing is taking me

mana,

in triumph.