Chrysalis

“Hold, dammit!” Brilliant roared.

“I’m not sure it can take it,” Assistant cried out. “It’s going to overflow!”

“It needs more power! Give it everything you’ve got!”

“We can’t do any more, the matrix will collapse!”

“A little further,” Brilliant urged as the mana surged and frothed. Dimensional boundaries were cascading around them and she could peer into them all, flashing images of twisting reality that bent and warped themselves around her.

They were so close!

“It’s gone! Run!” Assistant shrieked, and Brilliant was vaguely aware of her followers ducking for cover or diving into the blast cages. She herself didn’t move, of course, transfixed as she was by the beauty she beheld in front of her.

“So beautiful,” she whispered.

A moment later, she was spear tackled and knocked from her observation platform.

“Experimant! What are you doing?!” she yelled.

her antennae with irritation. “It’s a little difficult

point the Eldest had been at pains

she boasted, “I see it coming a

moved to stand up only for Experimant to yank her back to the ground. Then the explosion finally happened, the haywire

Brilliant muttered. “Forgot

waited another minute before the mages and carvers that made up her merry band began to emerge from the reinforced concrete bunkers someone had decided to install in their research chamber. She strongly suspected Assistant

done, everyone,” Brilliant rushed around the team, giving everyone an enthusiastic tap with an antenna. “Fantastic experiment, another rousing success!

the last few sparks danced across the walls. “It seemed like it went

Brilliant chided, snapping her mandibles to emphasise her pheromones and mimic the human sound. “How many times do I have to teach you? Only a truly successful test will end

Reinforced behind thick layers of hardened ice and embedded within a holding structure of living stone, the array was a sophisticated piece of enchanting, the only one of its kind within the Colony. Smithant herself had been consulted on the crafting of it, to the specifications of

sixteen identifiable threads. Our spatial pathway managed to make it a

any ant who travelled through it would be liquified. Not quite

Great strides. You don’t discover the secrets of teleportation magic without exploding a few gateways. If you could

not sure my brain could handle it….” Assistant

swinging low. “If we only want to travel through regular space, why is it necessary to map such a difficult course? Why bother with these other dimensions

contempt evident in every line of

dimension.

in three dimensional space, but rather find our way back to it. Right now, all we